WML Tech Updates

I have lots of good news to share. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the Daylight Saving Time problems we are experiencing in Outlook. Sorry to disappoint.

Public Workstations

Computers #1-8 have been reimaged! I have:

• installed the correct versions of Adobe Reader and the appropriate eBook reader which work with the Vault and WetFeet databases
• installed Internet Explorer 7, with all the same bookmarks
• installed Firefox 2.0, and the Firefox Search plugin for Acorn that LITS created
• updated SpySweeper
• added printers - they all now have Kilimanjaro (default), Matterhorn, Blanc, and Whitney_Color listed. Also, K2 and Rainier are listed (they are in the Owen print center in the lobby).
• replaced #8’s mouse. The left click part was broken (but not the scroll bar or the right click part).
• fixed #7’s CD-ROM drive

For those who want just a bit more information:

The reimagining for the most part seemed to be successful. We didn’t use Sysprep, and therefore had to rename each computer and rejoin it to the domain. Also, I noticed today that the CS Print Client mysteriously disappeared from the Startup menu, so for 2 days no one was able to print from the public workstations unless they knew to open the CS Print Client from the list of programs from the Start menu. I plan on fixing this on each individual computer tomorrow morning.

Computer #9 was having issues with the old webpage displaying when opening a browser. It has been fixed. Also, some pdf freeware was installed for an alumnus wanting to turn search results from ABI/Inform into pdf format.

VUprint

Please note that public workstations #1-9 are going through the VUprint service, including the color printer. (Bloomberg isn’t yet.) Black and white printing for current Owen students, faculty, and staff is still free, and color printing is still $.50/page. If Owen students are using the public workstations and are printing to the color printer, they will have to use the VUprint system which means that

1. When they select PRINT on the VUprint menu, they need money on their card and will get charged $.50/page; OR
2. When they select PRINT LATER on the VUprint menu, they need to see someone at the Service Desk to swipe a copy card and pay for their print job (cash, check, credit card, etc.)

Office 2007

I had a conversation with Danny about Office 2007. I decided not to upgrade the public workstations or the staff computers to Office 2007 at this time. My gut feeling was that we just shouldn’t upgrade yet.

Outlook Problems

Besides the funky calendaring problems that the change in DST is causing, our WML Circ, Reference, Conference Room, Instruction, and Blogging calendars mysteriously got deleted. Owen IT Detective Heather Mitchell is investigating and more than likely will be trying to restore them from backup tapes from early last week. All the departmental calendars are missing, not just those used in WML. I will keep you informed as soon as I hear something.

Today was my monthly Technology Support Coordinators (TSC) meeting. This group has a representative from each of the libraries, departments, units, etc. within the Heard Library System. Also, most of LITS is represented. Jody Combs leads the team.

Agenda and minutes:

1) Acorn will be reindexed over the Thanksgiving break. This is not an upgrade, which takes a long time, but rather just a reindex. Jason Battles will be doing this as Dale Poulter is on vacation, relaxing on a very big ship on an ocean somewhere. The reindex will start the night before Thanksgiving, at 10 pm Wednesday night and is anticipated to finish Friday morning around 5 am. So unless there are a lot of heavy library users on Thanksgiving, service shouldn’t be interrupted.

2) LITS plans on making several hardware replacements within the Heard library system within the coming months. They plan on removing all Dell GX 240 computers within the system. (I need to talk to Flo about this, as we have a few GX 240s left in our library, including the one I am using for Deep Freeze and for working with the SFX Admininstrative Interface!) Anyway, LITS is ordering 50 workstations, 3 servers, and 20 laptops. The laptops will go on a large cart with a projector and can be used as a portable classroom. They aren’t sure yet where this will be stored. And more than likely, we won’t be using this since our students all have laptops. But I think it’s great that the other libraries will have this. As for connectivity, it will not have a portable AP (wireless access point), but LITS hopes to work with ITS on the security issues so that it can have wireless. You may be asking yourself, aren’t all the libraries wireless? Well, not all spots within the libraries are wireless, so having a wireless access point with the portable classroom would guarantee access.

3) Ironically, every time the TSC meets, it also happens to be Patch Tuesday, which is the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft releases security patches. There were some new security patches that came out today for the new Internet Explorer that came out a few weeks ago. If you use Internet Explorer, it doesn’t hurt to occasionally run Windows Update from the Tools Menu bar. Ask Rachel or Danny if you have questions about this.

4) There are finally plans underway for replacement of the HVAC system for the GLB server room. The HVAC is over 20 years old and on the roof of the GLB, and replacement will take place over the next 8 weeks or so. Two 6-ton units (with one being the backup) will replace the old unit. The transfer should be transparent to services and normal operations.

5) The Technology Support Coordinators website is being updated by a small group of people: Daisy Whitten, Angel Craddock, and Rachel Vacek. Rachel, as a member of the Staff Development Committee (SDC), has been working with other SDC members to update the Staff Development & Training Resources page on the Heard Library Staffweb. The Tech Support Coordinators are a vital part of this as they aid new and current employees with technology training and support. Jody Combs is working closely with the small team to provide accurate information. I’ll let you know when it’s updated.

6) Jody talked briefly about the ExLibris Primo meetings he and 20 other library staff members had last week on November 8th and 9th. The two days included a workshop and training on the “back office” tools that will be used to configure Primo. It also included overviews of Primo’s architecture, the availability and delivery options for resources located through Primo. On Friday November 10th, they met with Christina Meyer, a representative from the University of Minnesota, one of the other partners working with Vanderbilt on Primo, to talk about the usability studies they have been doing.

Things seem to be moving along. Did you know that there are almost 30 staff within the Heard Library system working on Primo?

When will we have a little bit more to look at with Primo? There will be preliminary beta testing early next year, and I am sure there will be plenty of announcements. Exciting times!

More information about the Primo development project is available to library staff members by logging into OAK and opening the OTH Primo Project course.

The two most popular browsers have new versions available for download! I have already been using both, and man are they getting slicker! For those who traditionally only use IE, just a warning before you download. The interface has changed dramatically, so be forewarned that things are changing! I’ll be downloading these to the public workstations soon, too.

Mozilla Firefox 2 came out on October 24th. It didn’t change drastically, and you may not even notice the changes unless you are a die-hard Firefox user. Its new features are:

• improved tabbed browsing
• search suggestions
• spelling suggestions
• options to subscribe to a feed as a Live Bookmark, using a Web service such as Bloglines, My Yahoo!, or Google Reader, or the client side reader of your choice
• increased phishing protection and security
• even more customizations
• even more add-ons

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 came out about 2 weeks ago. If you currently use Firefox, you’ll notice that IE has leveled the playing field by adding the features that Firefox, Safari, or Opera have had for quite some time now. But IE still holds about 85% of the browser market share, so now we can just wait to see what Firefox will do to keep ahead in the Browser wars. Anyway, IE’s new features include:

• a redesigned, more streamlined interface
• more security
• tabbed browsing
  • tabs can be organized into groups and viewed in thumbnail form using the Quick Tabs feature
• web search multiple search engines (not simultaneous - that would be a metasearch) right from the toolbar
• when printing website, you’ll be offered a “shrink to fit” feature
• an antiphishing filter warns users who are about to visit spoofed web sites
• easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds
• and two things I like:
  • it will finally handle the alpha channels correctly for transparent PNG images
  • improved support for cascading style sheets (CSS)