Boosting Library Computer Performance with Deep Freeze

If you go up to somebody who was a child in the 1990s, and you say to them, “Having fun isn’t hard …” there’s at least a 50/50 chance they will reply, “When you’ve got a library card!”

If you didn’t grow up in the ‘90s and are utterly perplexed by this intro, it’s a reference to the Library Card Song, which was essentially a public service effort by the PBS cartoon Arthur, the famously small-nosed aardvark. There’s a reason Arthur and his friends so enthusiastically proclaimed the virtues of the public library system: Libraries are awesome.

Public libraries help kids learn and offer essential resources to families and lower-income people. School libraries supply kids with the books they need for class and teach them valuable computer skills. College and university libraries offer great resources for grad students conducting advanced academic research and for undergrads frantically cramming for their psychology exam the next day.

But libraries have changed significantly since the 1990s. Back then, computers were an important but secondary resource. Now, computers are at least as important as physical books, if not more. That’s why libraries can really benefit from a solution that offers the efficiency, security and reliability they need.

The Plight of the Library Computer

It ain’t easy being a library computer. Many adults at a public library and students at a university library bring their own laptops to work on. Those using the library’s computers are often children, the elderly and those who maybe can’t afford a computer or monthly at-home internet bills. Many of these people are not particularly computer-savvy.

That’s why it’s wonderful that public libraries exist to give people like this an opportunity to learn how to use computers and just have fun with them. But it’s not without risk. Library computer users often damage these workstations unwittingly. They may accidentally download a virus, install an application without knowing it, use up the computer’s memory or even alter the system configuration. It’s a lot for librarians and library IT specialists to keep track of and the solutions to these issues haven’t always been easy.

Common Library IT Challenges

If library computer problems were as simple as checking the download folders of each computer at the end of every day and cleaning the peanut butter off the keyboards that the kids left behind, their jobs would still be difficult, but not overwhelmingly so. Unfortunately, libraries face myriad issues concerning their workstations and networks. These include:

Restrictive Budgets

Pretty much all but the most renowned university libraries operate under modest budgets. Public libraries and public schools often have to be very careful with every dollar they spend. They typically can’t afford robust IT departments to look after every workstation and ensure network security.

Security Threats

Unfortunately, libraries’ altruistic mission doesn’t spare them from cybercriminals and threat actors. With so many people checking their emails on library computers every day, it’s a near certainty that one will eventually click on a dodgy link and fall prey to a phishing scam. Or they may download a corrupted file. 

The result could be malware that compromises the entire network. Or it might be ransomware, a type of malware that cybercriminals use to hold data and system ransom. Malicious actors can immobilize an entire library network until their victims pay the demanded ransom — not an easy decision for an organization with a limited budget.

Network Issues

Because libraries often offer Wi-Fi, this offers another potential vulnerability for threat actors to exploit. One misstep on a smart phone or a corrupted laptop and the whole network is in trouble.

Maintenance Challenges

Library staff often spend a lot of their time troubleshooting and trying to correct computer and network errors. They have to manage and install upgrades, lest their workstations become too slow or too vulnerable to threats to be usable. With everything else they have to do, and their budget constraints, updating hardware and software often isn’t a top priority for librarians and their staff. Libraries need a cost-effective option to maintain their IT infrastructure and boost their computers’ performance.

Deep Freeze: A Library Network’s Best Friend

Libraries can use Deep Freeze to maintain optimal performance and reliability of their public-access computers, ensuring a consistent user experience while minimizing IT maintenance efforts. Here are some of the benefits Deep Freeze can offer libraries:

Easier Management

Rather than library staff having to tend to each computer individually, Deep Freeze can provide a centralized, web-based console that helps IT staff manage all library workstations efficiently. This console enables administrators to deploy software upgrades and schedule automatic upgrades and patches during downtimes, so they don’t interfere with people using the computers during library hours. 

Deep Freeze also makes it easy to monitor system behavior. Staff can track computer health and performance metrics in real time. 

Improved Security

Deep Freeze features Reboot To Restore technology. This automatically resets each computer to a pre-approved state every time you turn it off and on. Therefore, if a user downloads a virus or makes an unauthorized change during a session, simply turn it off and on again. Boom — the system’s been restored.

Deep Freeze also enables application whitelisting so administrators can specify which apps can run, disabling unauthorized software from executing. Administrators can also set browser restrictions and use kiosk mode to limit user access to specific applications and functionalities. 

Having Fun Isn’t Hard …

When your library has Deep Freeze protecting its system and boosting its computers’ performance!OK, maybe not as catchy as the Arthur song, but Deep Freeze offers vital services that can ensure system integrity and efficiency for libraries. Best of all, Deep Freeze is a cost-effective solution; libraries needn’t hire an entire IT department they can’t afford. Many libraries and library systems already benefit from Deep Freeze. To learn how Deep Freeze can aid your library’s or organizations’ cybersecurity and IT management, reach out to our experts today.