A little more than ten years ago, before wireless was prevalent, as a Life Trustee of the very historic Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie, Pennsylvania I was responsible for having our building wired for public Internet access computers. Particularly for our historic, and very well-built building, this was not an inexpensive venture. However, it was done and the wired Internet network worked well for several years.

Although that Internet network still exists, the Library Board of Trustees (I left the Board in 2000) has installed a wi-fi system for our Internet access computers. In our case, the wi-fi system (along with all of the Internet computers and network) are managed by a county-wide Electronic Information Network, which operates hundreds of public Internet access computers in about 65 public libraries throughout Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Metro Pittsburgh).

So, our wi-fi system is managed by a network operated by professionals, with all of the needed software to ensure security.

In your case, you need to find professionals (perhaps your Board members can help you) to set-up a secure mini-network.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
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--- On Tue, 3/31/09, Holly Wilhelm <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Holly Wilhelm <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Cable or wireless in historic structure -- security concerns
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 11:50 PM
> 
> 
>  
>  
> 
> 
>   
> Thanks in advance for any advice remarks, suggestions,
> etc.
>  
> My immediate question is this:  
>  
> What concerns should I have (or not have) with using a
> wireless network for 
> a county museum/local historical society?  
>  
> One of the board members has brought in a school IT
> person to tell us how 
> to set up our computers.  He tells us we should not
> use a wireless network 
> because he can break into it from the parking lot in a
> half hour.  Two 
> board members have family members who specialize in
> computer setup, repair, 
> etc., and they both have expressed concerns about the
> claim.  He wants us 
> to have cables put in.  I understand that 64 bit
> encryption can be 
> hacked, but we are now talking about 128 and 256. 
> Unlike schools, we do 
> not keep grades or social security numbers.  As a
> nonprofit, our 
> finances are public.  What should I be worried
> about?  Additionally, 
> at a recent conference, a museum software designer did not
> see any problem with 
> going wireless, especially with an historic
> structure.
>  
>  
>  
> The background:
>  
> I manage a small county museum combined with the local
> historical society 
> and report to a board of eleven.  The building is an
> historic home (1907) 
> although the board has not pursued placing it on the
> Register.  I am sole 
> employee.  The museum is equipped with a computer on
> each of the two 
> floors.  One of the ten-year-old computers has just
> been replaced, courtesy 
> of an anonymous donor, with a brand new machine with
> Vista.  
>  
> The two computers were linked by a wireless network,
> easy enough since they 
> were located directly above and below each other and the
> base and receivers were 
> situated in the windows.  When the new one was
> installed  the wireless 
> network was removed and has not been put back in
> place.  (This is currently 
> a moot point since the older, unreplaced computer barely
> works, certainly not 
> reliably.)
>  
>  
> Holly W. Mills
> Virginia Worried about job security? Check
> out the 5 safest jobs in a recession. 
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