Greetings!
The following message was posted to a number of ALA-related listservs, and
with ARLIS starting in a few days, I thought some of you might find it
helpful. Please excuse any duplication.
Amy
Amy Navratil Ciccone
University of Southern California
A word of warning to all Librarians who may be headed to PLA, ALA
Annual or elsewhere via airplane.
PLEASE remember to place clearly identifiable stickers and ownership
information on both the outside top and bottom of your laptop computers ---
not the cases, but on the actual units themselves. Do this before you go.
Do it now! Don't Forget!
Unless you do so, here is what could happen. A group of 10 or 15 business
travelers (including a librarian) are going through the security scan
station at an airport. The rule is that you must take your laptop computer
out of its case and place it "naked" on the scanner. The Librarian does so
and it slowly rolls through the scanner device. Then she/he naturally
moves through the gate to quickly retrieve the laptop and other personal
property on the other side of the scanner. However, Librarian A is called
aside for a body search or scan and is unable to quickly retrieve the
laptop. Meanwhile, a dozen other travelers with laptops appearing to be
almost exactly the same as that of the Librarian are moving through the
security station. Commotion, crowding around the scanner belt, everybody
under stress and in a hurry to catch their respective airplanes, etc., etc.
---
Four hours later, Librarian A arrives in Phoenix and discovers that he/she
has the wrong laptop computer. Business travelers in Detroit, Los Angeles,
Columbus and Miami discover that they also have someone else’s laptop
computer. Not just lost luggage, but lost information. Five business
travelers are in big trouble. The laptop itself might be worth two or three
thousand dollars, but the information and programs resident on the laptop
might be worth a great deal more.
The unhappy travelers can't get into the "other persons laptop” without the
correct password and/or power devices to even turn it on. No labels! Who
does it belong to? The travelers call security at the airport where the
mix up took place. The head of security at the airport of departure
reminds the panic stricken librarian, doctor, business executive, professor,
etc. that it is the passenger’s own responsibility to keep track of her/his
own luggage. "Maybe someone will call in over the next few days or weeks.?"
Nor can the baggage handler operation of your airline help. "That’s carry
on luggage and it's between you and security if a problem occurred."
Is this fantasy? I assure you --- from personal and very recent experience
--- that it is not. Security at Chicago's Midway Airport admits that an
average of 9 (nine) laptops have been mixed up EVERY WEEK since the security
was tightened up.
Place labels on the top and bottom of your laptops before you forget==
before you get to the airport!
James B. Casey, ALA Councilor-at-Large
Addenda on same subject:
I'll add to Casey's warning -- also put a label on your modem card. Mine
was _removed_ from my laptop in New Orleans without my knowledge, and it
never occurred to me to check the modem port after I went through security.
Fortunately someone turned it in and after about 2 dozen phone calls to
various airport locations I tracked it down and Southwest Airlines (the
airline in charge of security at the gate I entered through -- I was flying
with Continental however) FedEx'd it to me. It's good to know that airports
seem to have several lost-and-found locations.
Elaine Harger, ALA Councilor
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