WML Tech Updates

1. New VU website – Vanderbilt University has a new look! Check it out!
2. Public Workstations – Rachel conducted a little orientation to the public workstations at the end of the staff meeting on August 10. She will be numbering them soon, and is working with the Datastream database vendor to correctly configure the database so it will work. Everything else seems to be working smoothly. Yeah!
3. VUprint – The CSprint software is installed and currently working correctly (amazingly enough) on all 8 public workstations. Students will not get charged for it until it is working in all the libraries and computer labs across campus, and everyone is ready to go. The original date to start charging was August 15, but as that date is Monday, and several places still are having difficulty with getting consistent results, or they haven’t even installed the client software yet, charging patrons has been delayed. It was decided to just announce to the students instead that “VUprint is coming!” and not provide a definite date.Oddities about VUprint: Items that are sent to the printer remain in the printer queue for 20 minutes WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE BEEN PRINTED. This means, even after you printed and picked up your document, that individual job remains visible in the printer queue for 20 minutes. This will probably cause much confusion to the user. And every time you hit print, you must authenticate with your VUnet ID and password. Jody Combs said that in the next upgrade of the product, this lingering print queue issue and many other quirks and oddities hope to be fixed.Another thing to be aware of the VUprint system is that it may slow the printing process, but is estimated to cut the volume of printing by approximately 30%. If the user is experiencing difficulty printing, look at the status bar of the VUprint window that is open. After putting in a username/password, it will either say that the user is denied access or their information has been accepted. If they are continuously experiencing problems with their password, point out the bookmark in the browser that goes to the VUnet ID page, or direct them to the VUprint page. This site is maintained by the library and is still be updated and things about the program are being discovered and policies are being developed.

   Actually, Rachel encourages you to read through the VUprint wiki site, but especially the Who Can Print page which discusses who can and cannot print.

   Also, Bill Hook, who has been leading the implementation of VUprint on campus and has done an amazing job coordinating with the huge team involved in this task, has also set up a VUprint Open House which will take place August 17th, from 2:00 – 4:30pm in the GLB’s electronic classroom. Rachel plans on attending, and although she did a brief demo, she strongly encourages as many of the Access Services team to attend if possible. Being here in Owen makes us special when it comes to technology, but the VUprint team should still be able to answer your toughest questions. Please make suggestions too!

4. Databases Update
   • Thomson ONE Banker and Thomson ONE Analytics – These both have 5 simultaneous users, but Dale said that setting them up is trickier than he thought. Rachel is still discussing this with Dale.
   • Adcritic.com – Dale is still working on this one.
   • FARS – Dale is still working on this one.
   • MultexNet is now officially Reuters Research On-Demand. It is cross referenced in the drop-down menu on the databases page of the WML website.
   • Datamonitor is now officially MarketLine Business Information Centre. It is cross referenced in the drop-down menu on the databases page of the WML website.
5. Tech Support Coordinators – On Tuesday, August 9, Rachel attended the Technology Support Coordinators meeting. They met in the newly renovated Baker Building LITS suite. There were lots of announcements:
   • Dennis Boswell is the new guy in LITS. He has replaced Mill’s position, which was mostly deployment of new workstations and dealing with Deep Freeze. He has working in the VU medical system for 5 years and said he is already enjoying the less chaotic, more casual atmosphere of LITS.
   • Jody provided some statistics on printing: in 2005-2005 school year, the library spent $115,000 on paper and toner alone, and said that with the steady growth in printing over the years, every 2 years that number doubles. So 2 years from now, the estimated cost of paper and toner will be a quarter million dollar, and 4 years from now, about a half a million dollars. The library cannot keep up, obviously, with these growing costs. And it has taken a little over 4 years to come to a campus-wide consensus and commit to implementing a pay-for-print system. Anyway, out of all the libraries, the amount of paper used this past school year is equivalent to about 260 trees. Jody said we’ll save about 60 trees a year, and joked about planting 60 trees and putting little plaques on them.
   • Dale announced that the upgrade to Sirsi’s Unicorn (the new Java client version) will take place in either October or November.
6. Brown Bag – On Wednesday, August 10, Rachel and Rahn attended the Brown Bag session on LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe). It was very informative and the potential for the project to grow is enormous.
7. New WML Website – Rachel is making slow BUT STEADY progress on the new website. She thanks everyone that has contributed content and provided feedback thus far.

Have a good weekend, everyone! Thanks for your attention and time!