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Date:         Tue, 21 Jul 1992 08:12:40 CDT
From:         Gleason Sackman <sackman@plains.NoDak.edu>
Subject:      Economy of Scale (fwd)

Moderator's Note:  This message has been reposted with permission of the
author.  --Dana Rooks
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Forwarded message:

> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 92 08:15:19 PDT
> From: Bill Sears <bsears>
> To: lm_net@surm.acs.syr.edu
> Subject: Economy of Scale
>
>
>          Network School Libraries--Economy of Scale
>                              by
>             Bill Sears, Library Media Specialist
>                    Mesa Verde High School
>
>      Imagine sitting in front of a computer, in a high school
> library, researching the Social Issues Resources Series
> (SIRS), knowing that the source of this series is ten miles
> away. This is possible in the San Juan Unified School District
> (SJUSD), where Bill Sears, Library Media Specialist, and his
> Mesa Verde Technology Committee (MVTC) have developed not only
> a Local Area Network (LAN) in the school library but a Wide
> Area Network (WAN) for the whole school district.  In times of
> shrinking budgets this idea can develop into an unheard of
> "economy of scale."  The WAN is still in an experimental
> stages but it is working. Casa Roble, Del Campo, and Mesa
> Verde High Schools were networked together through the Wide
> Area Network (WAN) called SanJuanNet.  The SanJaunNet connects
> all SJUSD to the Administration Office for attendance
> purposes.
>      So, the MVTC had an idea.  They wrote and received a
> $35,000 grant from Hewlett Packard to develop a LAN in the
> Mesa Verde Library.  The committee also received $8,000 from
> Pacific Bell Telephone.  Part of that money ($2263) was used
> to buy a Micro Multi CD-ROM Platform, from P.C.Focus, that
> would hold five CD-ROM players.  We also called the SIRS
> vendors to see if they would contribute to our experiment and
> donate their new CD-ROM, Full Text, SIRS ($1250) containing
> three years of articles (1989-1991).  They said yes!
>      The MVTC decided to connect the computer server and the
> Micro Multi CD-ROM Platform on the LAN to the districts
> SanJuanNet to see what benefit if any we could derive.
> Mesa Verde invited Casa Roble High School to connect their
> library to the SanJuanNet to see what they could derive.  To
> all our surprises Casa Roble students began printing SIRS
> articles from the WAN to their local printers.
>      Bill Sears, then called the SIRS vendors to negotiate a
> district license.  We were told the district license would be
> the price of the original plus $250 for each additional
> school. We were so excited we invited all nineteen 7-12
> schools to participate.  To this date we have Mesa Verde with
> the source and Casa Roble High School and Del Campo High
> School networked.  Rio Americano High School will network next
> fall with some middle schools showing much interest.
>      To put the cost in perspective let me start by giving you
> the cost for one year of the print-on-paper version of SIRS,
> $2500. That is 32 volumes of 100 articles per volume. Articles
> originate from hundreds of newspapers, magazines and
> government documents and cover important events and enduring
> issues in the sciences and social sciences.  In difficult
> budget crunch years it could take the place of all your
> periodicals.  I do agree that one should have a back up of the
> print-on-paper version if your budget can afford it.
>      The cost of three years of SIRS on CD-ROM, for one
> school, stand-alone or networkable version, is $1250.  A
> savings of $1250 over the print-on paper version.  Criticism
> comes from those who say, many can look at the print-on-paper
> version while only one can look at the CD-ROM stand-alone
> version.  That is why your technology plan calls for a
> Networkable CD-ROM version networked on a local area network
> (LAN) of many computers. We at Mesa Verde believe the ultimate
> plan is to place the networkable version on a Wide Area
> Network (WAN), like the SanJuanNet. The cost for the ultimate
> is an economy of scale.  The cost is the original $1250 for
> the source school plus $250 for each additional school.  If
> each school shares in the total cost, the economy of scale
> gets greater.  If all 76 schools in the SJUSD shared the cost
> it would come to $261.62 for each school to share 3 years
> worth of SIRS.  Unbelievable!
>      The Mesa Verde CD-ROM Multi-Player server has the
> capacity of 5 players.  We have only used one player.  We have
> four more CD-ROM players to share.  If networked libraries
> would form a buying consortium we could share the cost of
> those resources also.  The three schools that are networked,
> Mesa, Casa, DC, have budgeted $583.33 for the SIRS for next
> year.
>      At most San Juan High Schools, one to two network lines
> have been pulled into the school, but may not be where the
> librarian needs them.  Some of the middle school libraries
> have also been cabled; however, those middle schools or high
> schools that are not part of the main office area probably
> have not been cabled to the SanJuanNet and will require
> special consideration (cost) to get cable to them.
> Additionally, if one wants more than one or two PC's hooked up
> one will need a LAN Hub, which will support up to twelve PC's.
> The cost for each new school to be networked depends on what
> technology they have now.
>      For those in the San Juan District who are starting from
> scratch, the following is what one will need to network.  For
> those in other districts, pull the prices of what you don't
> have and add them up.
>
> $ 1,999.00  Computer, vectra, 386/16N, with 16MHz 80386SX, 2MB
>             system memory, 52 MB hard disk, 3.5" 1.44MB
>             flexible disk, serial/parallel ports, SVGA
>             adapter, keyboard, setting up kit and power cord,
>             color Super VGA Monitor.
> $   215.00  Hp EtherTwist Lan Card #27245A
> $    64.00  Dan O'Halloran's overtime to Setup PC (cable
>             already installed) and connect to network.
> $    ??.00  Additional Cabling (M&O pulls cable).
> $ 1,450.00  HP EtherTwist Hub Plus #28688A.
> $    ??.00  SIRS site license (base price + $250/school
>             devided by no. of schools = site license).
>
>
>
>  This message is forwarded from bsears
>


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