Highlighting some of the success stories that The Brush Geek has helped its customers to accomplish!

East Morgan County Library – showcasing how technology can be a part of a rural library

EMCL entranceFree Wi-Fi for all! Today, patrons at East Morgan County Library (EMCL) in Brush, CO enjoy free internet access in semi-private booths featuring Windows 10 computers, by checking out laptops for use anywhere within the building, or by bringing their own devices and utilizing the Wi-Fi service provided.

It is EMCL’s policy to provide technology resources to the community and the Wi-Fi extends past the boundaries of the park surrounding the building.

An internet user environment that supports both adult use and student restrictions! EMCL has successfully managed to walk the line between providing unfettered and unrestricted internet access upon request in compliance with rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment with the equally as important safety protections for students required by CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act). Student computers are physically located in a specially designated student area.

Bridging the digital divide! Patrons can access the card catalog on-line and check out books either by going to the front counter or by using a self-service station. All books are bar-coded and scanned in and out. They can also download books to their own devices and read them digitally.

A people counter monitors how many people a day enter the building and an LED sign at the street announces upcoming programs and events. The staff can focus on communicating with and serving patrons effectively and meeting one of EMCL’s goals to continue to bridge the digital divide in a rural community.

Providing safety and security! A dozen security cameras on the exterior of the building help provide protection for those who enjoy relaxing or playing in the park.

All these different technologies are integrated into a firewalled and secured network that isolates each function guaranteeing maximum safety and privacy for the patrons as well as protecting the staff network and patron information from external threats.

The Brush Geek – Bringing it all together! When Russ Kauk of The Brush Geek began providing IT services to the library 5 years ago there were a handful of public computers and some staff computers. These were all still running Windows XP and were on a single unprotected network that comingled everything with essentially no security or protection of sensitive information.

Russ has worked with the director and staff at EMCL guiding the process of building on what they already had and providing the technical skills to bring them to the point where they are today. Russ performed the installation of the secured network and security cameras, successfully integrating all the differing technologies, and has provided training for the staff as technology was upgraded.

According to Laura McConnell, director at EMCL, “Russ has provided staff training in such a way as to “translate” tech terminology into terms that the library staff can understand.  Most of the library staff is not very tech-savvy, and Russ has gone above and beyond in adjusting the typical tech language into a way that the staff can still use the technology effectively and then assist the public.”