And talking of scare stories and rumours...

Many of the staff (who sadly have ten year old PCs) and even the public (working on nice new ones) have complained about the speed of the internet (at times) since we moved into the new building.

Given that both old and new PCs suffer from it, we all assume it is the network.  Not many of us know very much about networks (if I ring Virgin about bad service at home they start talking about 'load-balancing' and other esoterica). Then they stop taking my calls (but they don't stop taking my money).

Since a Cardiff school (with a quite specific problem, I might add) got into the local papers speculating that it was the adoption of Kaspersky anti-virus software which had caused problems with their new IT Suite - staff have generalized from that to blame K for the performance here, too.

It seems possible, of course, but I don't speculate beyond the data.  ICT deny that K has caused performance issues for libraries, and I accept their current assessment.

School blames K    23 May 09   South Wales Echo

K denies liability    28 May 09  South Wales Echo

Of course, it doesn't answer the question as to what DOES cause the problem, and even more importantly, HOW CAN WE MAKE IT GO AWAY?

It appears to be something to do with the infrastructure from which the Council purchases its services, and outside of ICT's sphere of influence...we'll just have to wait and see.
The internet is falling apart, maybe?
Back to the books, people!

Make a Noise in the Library

We will be having a 'grand opening' on June 18th - with 'mystery guest stars'. (I have been discouraged from actually naming them).  In the modern world, the only usual reason for not naming your 'celebrity guest star' is because most people may not have actually heard of the latest drop-out from Big Brother or a person who came second in a talent contest - better to use the buzz words - 'famous' 'celebrity'  'star'.

As it happens, you probably have heard of this band, even if you couldn't necessarily name one of their songs, and they won't be playing - just showing their faces, and maybe cutting a ribbon, but hey.

And I could have sworn we had been open to the public for months now, but I am a mere public servant (touchs forelock)... not invited to the 'drinkies'...    :-)