Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58912
Technology Biz Library for the Tech Generation Printed materials aren't the only literary convention being transformed by the digital revolution. Academic libraries also have come a long way from dusty card cata- logs and hand-written checkout cards. Many libraries today are undergoing state- of-the-art digital makeovers, taking advantage of everything from the Internet, to database technologies, to radio frequency identification (RFID), to offer campus communi- ties quicker, more comprehensive access to information. One $16 million makeover was recently completed at the busi- ness library at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. The newly renovated library has doubled its online resources, which include electronic access to more than 70 databases. The library improved its PC access with Internet and power ports located throughout the building. Each study carrel is also equipped with wireless access. The library features a cybercafe, art gallery, research space, offices for doctoral candi- dates, and individual and collab- orative study rooms for students. Nineteen of the 24 study rooms include flat-panel LCD screens to facilitate group work. The library also is equipped with an RFID library collection management system by 3M. The electronic self-checkout system uses computer RFID tags inside each book that allow library users to check out a stack of books with a single swipe across a detector. 56 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 The mission for the Bentley College's new state- of-the-art business library. renovation was to go beyond the conven- tions of a traditional academic library, notes Philip Knutel, Bentley's director of academic technology, library and research services, and a principal designer for the project. "We've combined all the resources of an academic library with the elements that make a commercial bookstore so inviting," he says. Fox Helps Philly Go Wireless The Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, recently worked with that city's government to develop a plan for a citywide wireless net- work. The team of faculty and stu- dents who worked on the project hopes its plan will serve as a model for other cities that want to estab- lish wireless environments. The team from the Fox School included Munir Mandviwalla, founding chair of the management information systems department and executive director of the Irwin L. Gross eBusiness Institute; Julie Fesenmaier, associate research director of the Cochran Research Center; Paul Weinberg, senior fel- NEWSBYTES n ONLINE RESOURCES FOR THE DISABLED Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, has expanded its career services Web site to include a new resource page and online skills- based workshop to help students with disabilities. The site includes links to information regarding employers and legal protections for the disabled, as well as an audio workshop titled "Disclosure and Accommodations," designed to help disabled job appli- cants approach and inform potential employers. n CALL FOR SAFER NANOTECH The Nanoethics Group (www.nano ethics.org), a nonprofit based in Santa Barbara, California, is creat- ing a 30-member advisory board made up of industry leaders and academics to examine the ethical and social impact of nanotechnol- ogy. What makes nanotechnology so appealing—its ability to produce very strong materials and high computing capacities on an atomically small scale—also presents a potential danger. Little is known about what would happen if a person were to ingest or inhale nanomaterials, or somehow absorb them through the skin, say organization repre- sentatives. Officials of the Nano- ethics Group say that its goal is to anticipate and respond to any risk the technology may represent.