I should echo Jessy Randall's message:
>>> None of these are ideal, but I understand from the I.T. folks that
open
wireless would be a disaster for the college, security-wise.
I too suspect this is (nearly?) universal; and there is probably no way
around it. If someone logs wirelessly to the internet from our reading
room, they then come into our portal as a public user -- which means no
access to databases restricted (by contract) to University users (which
includes readers using publicly-accessible machines in the Library). To
access restricted resources, they would have to be assigned an ID and
password which would permit them to log on as authorized users or check
out a wireless laptop which our network can identify as a machine
authorized to access restricted resources. Permitting unauthenticated
access to the University network would indeed breach security in major
ways.
So, the reader in the reading room has to make a choice: (1) use a
personal laptop and access its contents and the internet in public mode,
(2) use an institutional machine and access restricted resources,
without direct, simultaneous access to resources on a personal machine,
or (3) become an authenticated user by undergoing whatever process local
IT policy requires.
Since you can now put a lot of content on a flash stick, sticks become
an attractive option -- if you are allowed to use a USB port on an
institutional machine you may be able to put your personal machine
(virtually) on the stick. Launch of software from a stick to a network
may still be blocked, but you should be able to access your data folders
and files and change or add to them.
Cordially --------- Sid Huttner, The University of Iowa Libraries