What we’ve learned with implementing lynda.com at UCPL

We offer three main access options for lynda.com: 1) public PCs, 2) Google Chromebooks, and 3) BYOD utilizing the wireless network. 

Prior to signing with lynda.com, we participated in a one week service trial.  The goal was to validate the library infrastructure and determine if our existing equipment would work without issue on the site.  For lyndaKiosk, we requested our entire public IP scope to be allowed access, instead of limiting to specific addresses.  For the library environment, and for ease of administration, we determined it best to allow the entire scope.

Our public workstations are Lenovo ThinkCentre M58e desktops running Microsoft Windows XP SP3 and browsers Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome.  We had trouble with Adobe Flash player on IE and Chrome, but it worked perfectly on Firefox.   We created a custom icon with the lynda.com logo and placed on each public user desktop.  When launched, Firefox automatically directs the patron to the lyndaKiosk environment via a specific website provided by lynda.com. 

Each time a connection is made to lyndaKiosk, a single license is used.  Each connection has a 30 minute session timeout. If a user does not click “Log out” or simply closes the browser window, the session still remains active on lynda.com. The timeout period cannot be changed at this time.  If all licenses are currently in-use, the user will receive a message indicating such.  We would like to know dates/times for how often this occurs, and would be a determining factor if additional licenses are needed.  The current reporting options don’t provide those figures today.  Last, when signing into lyndaKiosk, the welcome note at the top of the website says “Hi, IP user”.   The message cannot be changed at this time, but again, could be made customizable in a future lynda.com update.

Although we’ve only had the service offering for a short while now, we’ve received nothing but positive feedback on the quality of the video and site navigation.   Our most common feedback is request for lynda.com to provide more content on a broader range of categories.