When the Dickinson College Library wanted to install an information display system to communicate upcoming events and highlight Library activities, they contacted the User Services division for input. Rather than paying thousands of dollars on a turnkey solution, two industrious Computing Specialists decided they could build the ideal system using old computers and elbow grease.Our presentation will detail the history of creating a system which includes an interactive touch panel system and an information display system which has received high praise from both the end users and those people responsible for adding the content. The finished product uses a ColdFusion backend for administering the display content and determining priority for how often and how long slides should be displayed. The touch panel system includes an interactive map of the Library in addition to easy access to Library Study Room availability, computer lab use, and Library news, and rotating content when not in use. The computers driving the displays connect to the server using either wired or wireless connections.From the humble beginnings of a laptop with the display removed and put back on backwards, to the custom built furniture that was designed to house the production system that was put into place this winter; attendees will learn the challenges of designing a system from the ground up and leave with the details they need to put such a system in place at their institutions. HISTORY OF INFORMATION DISPLAY PROJECTLike many stories, this project has two beginnings which merge to become one and form a new story. In the summer of 2006, my colleague, Andrew Connell, and I were discussing uses for old laptops. Many of these laptops were in working order, but weren't serviceable for most users. We lamented that there weren't many practical uses for this equipment and decided to spend some time working on the problem. About this time, digital photo frames were just starting to become popular, although they were quite expensive. Several gadget and hacking websites features successful modifications of old laptops into digital photo frames. Andrew and I decided that we would like to try this with some of our old laptops.The conversion of a laptop to a photo frame involves removing the display from the unit, rotating it 180 degrees and re-attaching it such that the display unit is now parallel to the keyboard, but facing away from the keys, similar to how a convertible tablet PC is oriented when being used as a tablet. Software is then used to display photos on the device. The laptop was then fastened to the wall in our work space rather crudely. At this point, we were still just tinkering with things and weren't concerned with aesthetics.We soon realized that with the addition of a wireless network card, we could easily display more than photos on the device. Andrew programmed several web pages to show useful information, such as the weather, current date and time and the day's specials at the campus cafeteria. These pages were rather rudimentary ...