THINK June 30, 2007
Posted by Rachel in Computers.add a comment
THINK
Originally uploaded by mstephens7.
I’ve seen this before, but I felt like sharing it with my colleagues this time. I think we have to be careful with word choice when we say what users can and can’t do in the library. Banning is a poor word choice. We should encourage them to turn their ringers to vibrate and answer their phones with consideration of their peers in the library. We know they are trying to get jobs, schedule meetings, and are important people just like you or me. So why not respect that?
Outside the box … June 29, 2007
Posted by Rachel in Computers.add a comment
Outside the box …
Originally uploaded by hblowers.
I’ve been remiss in writing on this blog for a while. Why? I was in Houston for a cousin’s wedding, and then I went to DC for the Annual ALA Conference. It was amazing this year. I’ll blog more about it later this weekend. But this pic that Helene Blowers uploaded to Flickr is just awesome. When Paul Gherman talks about the concept of a new library here at Vanderbilt, this is what I think of. We can’t continue to stay comfortable with the legacy issues and traditional ways of doing things in libraryland. I know we don’t want a new building to be just a warehouse for books. It really needs to be for the users, and in order for us to really understand our users, we have to step outside our comfort zone and think outside the box. We have to be familiar with where social software, web 2.0 technologies, and new methods of communication, such as the iPhone, are taking our users. We have to be aware and willing to take the leap into the unknown. It’s up to us, the library staff, to make the library more than just a box with services.
TTSC Meeting, June 12 June 12, 2007
Posted by Rachel in ExLibris, Primo, TTSC Meetings.1 comment so far
Today we met for our regular Technology & Training Support Coordinators meeting. Jody led the meeting as usual, and we talked about:
1) Two new people on the LITS team: Jodie Gambill and Jim Pleace
2) There are new computers in the Science Library, and mini keyboards in the Music Library
3) Primo development project. They are still working on several bugs (show-stoppers). Jody is happy with how well the ExLibris Primo team is working with him and his team. Julie Loder has been the “problem manager” for Vanderbilt through it all, and deserves special recognition. She joins in on the conference call every Monday.
4) Reports from the ELUNA conference (Ex Libris Users North America). It was in Spearfish, South Dakota. According to attendees, the conference was very enlightening. Vanderbilt presented 3 sessions on the Primo development project. All sessions were well-attended.
Janice Adlington reported on what she heard about Verde (ExLibris’ electronic resources management system) and Jody reported on what he learned abou Digitool (ExLibris’ digital asset management tool). This is comparable to ContentDM.
5) Jody mentioned that LITS plans to hold a Primo G.R. 1.0 celebration event on June 20 @ 2:30-4:00 pm (ish) at the Bishop Johnson Cultural Center. (It’s behind Rand, and on the side of the post office.) They will be celebrating all the work the staff has done to get the first general release out. Primo been openly released by ExLibris. There are over 40 Vandy Library staff members that have been involved directly with the project, and almost everyone in the library system has been involved indirectly. People from ExLibris, Gordon Gee, Paul Gherman, the Digital Library Steering Committee, key faculty, and all the library will be invited. Food and beverages will be served. :-)
6) Patch Tuesday. George Anglin is on vacation, so the patches will come out when he returns. This of course, doesn’t affect us in the Walker Library since we are on a different network.
7) End of fiscal year activities. If you’ve got money to spend, spend it.
8) VUcal (the campus calendaring system) will be terminated at the end of this year. The university is also committed to moving towards using exchange servers (for Outlook). Plus, Mulberry isn’t supported anymore (which is the email service everyone else on campus uses). But if they are serious about going forward with Outlook, then that will solve both the calendaring and email problem simultaneously.
9) Migrating Unicorn over to Oracle. This might happen later this calendar year, and there would be about 5 days of working on the backup server. If this happens, then there will be a chance to utilize Unicode. No one has been totally successful in doing this, but Stanford is trying to do this. LITS will have to work with SirsiDynix’s schedule for this.
10) John Ozborne – He’s the new contact for the ITS Delivery Manager with LITS. He’s replacing Michael Martin who’s moved on to be the Technology Manager of the Peabody Freshman Commons.
11) Chris Benda will be moving from the Peabody to Divinity Library soon. Also, Jason Battles’ last day is Friday, July 13th and will soon be at the University of Alabama.
Owen IT for June and July June 1, 2007
Posted by Rachel in Announcements.add a comment
Barry Dombro, the director of Owen IT, will be out of the office from June 11th through August 3rd, 2007. During this time, Jason Reusch will serve as the interim Director of the IT Department.
If you still need technical support, please continue to contact Rachel as normal, and she’ll get in contact with the appropriate Owen IT person as needed.
Thanks!
Interval Library video June 1, 2007
Posted by Rachel in Humor.add a comment
Michelle Boule shared this with me via Twitter. Thought you guys would find this entertaining, especially since we now have compact shelving/movable stacks here in our own library.
