WML Tech Updates

1) Kilimanjaro – As we all know, Kilimanjaro hasn’t exactly been the perfect printer since being implemented in mid December. There have been mysterious paper jams, odd errors, and Tray 1 has been insistent on wanting to be used, despite the number of times we alter the settings. Danny has been vigilant on trying to resolve these seemingly perpetual problems. Fortunately, he noticed something funky with the port settings, and Cliff from VU ITS came out on February 14th to inspect. He adjusted and maximized the port speed to match the printer, and things should be working smoother. However, everyone is still baffled about why so many print jobs attempt to go to Tray 1. While Danny investigates and monitors this issue, please assist those patrons who don’t read the little sign about pressing the checkmark button when the screen indicates that Tray 1 is empty.

2) Public Workstations – If you have ever opened in the morning, or had to reboot the public workstations, you may have noticed that background was in Active Desktop Safe Mode, an annoyingly bright white screen. For some odd reason unknown to me (as well as Dennis Boswell and Danny Sulkin), this was occurring after every reboot. I have found a solution to the problem, and things seem to be working much smoother.

Unfortunately, there are still problems, though. Computer #8 won’t login to the Owen network, although it does get an internet connection. Computer #10 (the one upstairs) needs to be reimaged to match the computers downstairs. Reimaging it might also help with the login problems on that computer. Rachel has alerted Danny about this and hopefully it will get taken care of in a somewhat timely manner.

3) VUprint – If you saw that email that David forwarded about VUprint, you may have noticed that printing has gone down in every library except ours, where printing volume has risen significantly. This could be due to the new duplex printers, or the types of assignments students have. Although we have heard through the grapevine that printing has risen dramatically in the Eskind Biomedical Library, they aren’t using VUprint (yet) and therefore weren’t included in the report. In the chart below (thanks to Bill Hook), observe the change in printing volume in the various libraries.

VUprint Volume

4) VUprint Task Force Meeting – This meeting, on January 5th, was called by Bill Hook to provide an opportunity to reflect on how VUprint worked this semester as well as to talk about establishing a structure or process for making decisions about VUprint enhancements and policies. Bill emphasized that although the library is seen as the implementer of VUprint, the library shouldn’t be, or seen as, the only advocate for VUprint. Also, since it’s implementation, VUprint seems to be working rather smoothly in every location except for the Science & Engineering Computer Labs within the school.

5) VU Web Developer’s Forum – The Spiders group on campus is mostly a virtual network of people who deal with technology and web development on both the academic and medical campuses. They usually meet once a month at the Kennedy Center on Peabody’s campus and have a topic for discussion. This meeting, however, was a gathering of over 60 web developers and folks interested in technology, and it was held in the new Student Life Building. Many topics were discussed, including the search engine used on VU’s homepage, layout and links on the main page, new technologies being implemented throughout campus, and an intro to all the nifty things on VUCast, which is Vanderbilt’s new news site. There was great discussion on RSS and podcasting, and Tim Moses from Sitemason was also there to demo all the new, neat features in Sitemason. He even created a little podcast in front of everyone in about 3 minutes. The meeting concluded with a discussion on what topics people would be interested in seeing, sharing, or learning, for upcoming 2006 Spiders meetings. There were about 8 people from the library system present.

6) ATLAS.ti Software – You may have noticed the little signs sticking up on 2 of the public workstations. This software, bought by Professor Torsten Ringberg, is also installed in his office and on 2 computers in the Owen 2nd Floor Computer lab. What does it do? “ATLAS.ti is a powerful workbench for the qualitative analysis of large bodies of textual, graphical, audio and video data. It offers a variety of tools for accomplishing the tasks associated with any systematic approach to “soft” data – i.e., material which cannot be analyzed by formal, statistical approaches in meaningful ways.” (UPDATE:  We no longer have this software in the library system or in Owen as of January 2007.)

7) SDC Platinum – This database, which is client-side (meaning, it’s installed on the computer and isn’t loaded on a server somewhere else where it would be accessible via a network or the Internet), is now installed in the Owen 2nd Floor Computer Lab. It’s traditionally only been installed in the library, but PhD students wanted more access than what library hours could provide. A password is needed to gain access to the resource, so be sure the patron asks for help at the Reference Desk before using this resource.

8) Technology Support Coordinators Meetings – There has been several meetings since the last Friday Tech Update, but most of the discussions have revolved around the email and SMTP server problem across the campus or new computer deployment. VU ITS and LITS are working hard to improve email and spam handling. Our email here in Owen works fine (besides the occasional spam) because we are on a separate network and Owen IT uses different technologies and servers than what VU ITS and the Heard Library uses. However, at February’s TSC meeting, Jody reminded us that viruses and spam and malware are running amuck and getting harder to manage. He thought it might be good for LITS to host some sort of workshop how to safeguard one’s home computer with various security measures. This may take place in April or in May.

9) VUnet ID and Password – You may have seen the email from ITS or from Jody earlier this month about changing your password yet again. Yes, it’s the third time the database was hacked into in 6 months, but ITS is working hard on improving the security. They also have lots of “alarms” in place to alert ITS staff once the system has been hacked. Jody Combs estimates that it still may take a while for the security system to improve drastically. Also, if you do receive a message asking you to change your password, and you aren’t 100% convinced that it’s legit, feel free to call LITS to double-check. They really don’t mind, and appreciate that you are paying attention!

10) SFX Project Team – You may or may not have heard, but Rachel got appointed to the SFX Project Team with Dale Poulter, Ann Ercelawn, and Rick Stringer-Hye. Why should you care? Well, when you are using Acorn or a database, and the FindIt@VU button isn’t quite working as expected, or you discover journals that should be SFX-ized, you will be able to contact me and I can investigate it. But until I get a handle on using the complex and most unfamiliar administrative interface, please continue to submit the problems to LITS via NetFix

11) Cover Sheets on the Color Printer – I asked Danny to look into why some print jobs that are sent to the color printer have cover sheets, and others don’t. Usually the setting for a separator page affects all jobs on the printer. Danny did some digging and found a separator page setup and removed it for both the PostScript and PCL versions of the printer. This may or may not take care of the problem. If you still occasionally get a cover page, please let me know.

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