Doing More with Less: Maximizing Your Hardware and Your Budget

One of the harsh realities of library work today is dealing with funding. Some libraries have higher budgets than others, but at some point every librarian will find themselves trying desperately to do with less. When that more is technology, it becomes difficult to move a library forward during a negative financial period. With some basic guidelines for purchases and some creativity, you can make your hardware work for you long after its shelf life is over. There are many steps that librarians can take regardless of technological proficiency to ensure that hardware lasts as long as it can and that the library gets the maximum possible use from it. First of all, the truth that most computer manufacturers don't want you know is that the aging of your computer is as often due to software bloat as it is to physical wear-and-tear. With today's computers, there just isn't much inside that sustains major physical damage over a normal lifespan (the exception here is the hard drive, which is a mechanical device that inevitably will deteriorate). A modern computer, barring an electrical surge, water damage, or other major trauma, is likely as good 5 years from purchase as the day you opened the box. (1) The real secret to helping your hardware help you in an economic downturn is to buy smart when you can, and make the machines as flexible as possible for the future. While the PC in the ultra-mini case that straps to the back of the monitor might be really attractive and might be nice for saving desk space, when you need to replace its parts you will find yourself spending time and money than with a standard machine. What if you decide you want to add an extra monitor to it and discover that none of the dual-head video cards will fit because the case is too small? In a situation where we truly want our technology to last as long as possible and perform as well as possible during that time, sticking with standard tower or desktop cases will ensure that you never have compatibility problems when swapping out hardware. When you do purchase hardware on a budget, you can often find amazing after-market savings on certain upgrades. For instance, upgrading the RAM in an Apple iMac direct from the Apple store can cost 4 times as much as buying the RAM separately from a reseller and installing it yourself. Instructions for replacing the RAM are just a Google away, and it won't even void your warranty. The modern PC is a complicated machine, but it is designed around a few easily replaceable parts. Upgrading just the necessary parts of the system, instead of buying whole new machines, is a great way to stretch your IT budget. RAM gives you the most bang for your buck in terms of improving computer performance and is also the easiest thing to replace physically. Upgrading the amount of RAM in a system can stretch the usefulness of a PC significantly. Most modern computers running a current operating system will perform best running between 2 and 4 gigabytes of RAM, so if you are below that threshold, an upgrade to the RAM will make a huge difference in the speed of your system. Currently, the cost of RAM is around $20 per gigabyte, so you can max most systems for less than $80--a great investment in your everyday computing experience. Buying an inexpensive external hard drive in order to corral the stampede of files drowning your old computer is another great way to stretch the life of the system. Documents pile up over time and most people are not diligent about deleting them. As your hard drive fills, less and less of it is available for the system to use, and at a certain point it will slow your system. Backing up files that are no longer needed on a regular basis is a good practice, and an external hard drive makes that process easier. It will also make the primary disk, and therefore the operating system much stable. It's not just hardware that can make a huge difference in the lifespan of your PC. …