If you have some questions and answers regarding SSLIC I wrote up a small Q & A sheet to help answer them. Q. What is SSLIC and how did it get started? A. The Illinois State Library had some money they needed to spend in a hurry so Susan Roberts at the Grande Prairie library called some neighboring libraries to see if they wanted to get together and share Internet service. The State Library liked the idea that libraries were cooperating so the consortium was awarded a grant which allowed the libraries to upgrade their multiplexors to routers that could access the Internet. Q. Which libraries are involved with SSLIC? A. Currently Acorn, Alsip-Merrionette Park, Crete, Flossmoor, Frankfort, Glenwood- Lynwood, Grande Prairie, Harvey, Homewood, Matteson, Nancy McConathy, Orland Park, Park Forest, Steger-South Chicago Heights and Tinley Park. Q. How did the Harvey Library get to be the hub for SSL IC? A. SSLIC originally had a third party Internet Service Provider (ISP) in mind but things didn't work out. Harvey already had dedicated Internet Service at their library because they were offering dialup Internet access to their patrons so they were already acting as an ISP. When other plans fell through Harvey volunteered to act as a hub and away we went. Q. Can I still join SSLIC? A. Sure. Everything is going well and new members are welcome. Q. What Internet Services are provided by SSLIC? A. Full access Internet Service, just like any ISP. The main difference is technical support. We only support from the outside world to your router and hub. You're on your own for the rest. Since the Illinois Century Network came into being many libraries are only using SSLIC for email and their websites Q. What kind of equipment do I need and what kind of co sts are involved? A. If you want to use SSLIC to access the internet, the main piece of equipment you need is a router or a router card. You also need a hub to plug the router into. You can check the SLS schedule of prices or contact Diane Wilhelm for pricing information. We recommend going through SLS for the equipment because we are using the same company (Logical) and it will keep the administrative details to a minimum. As far as ongoing expenses, there is 1) a donation to Harvey to help pay for their computer room staff, 2) if you're using Harvey for internet access the telecommunications costs to connect from your library to Harvey and any internal costs you may have (wiring, adding network cards to the computers, etc.) are the responsibility of the individual library. The same goes for technical support on equipment/software inside your library. Q. We are working on our budget, can you give us some figures? A. I can only give you some "very" rough estimates: Donation to Harvey $100/year Telecommunications for T-1 $4000-$4500/year For 64k $1500-$2000/year These are VERY rough estimates. I just can't give you a better estimate at this time because there are many factors involved. I could make this document ten pages long but I think this is enough for now. If you have other questions give Jay Kalman a call at 708-331-0757, ext. 205, or email jkalman@sslic.net.

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