WML Tech Updates

1 ) VUprint - (You honestly didn’t think that we could have a Tech Update without VUprint being in it, did you?) On Wednesday, August 17, Rachel attended the VUprint Open House in the GLB Electronic Classroom from 2-4 pm. Bill Hook presided and answered questions from the 30+ people in attendance. Most of what was said Rachel covered at the Staff Meeting earlier this week.

Here are some helpful reminders for when printing chaos seeps into the library during your shift on a service desk:

1) Tell the patron to print from his/her laptop.

2) Ask the patron to print in the lab upstairs (if he/she is an Owen student)

3) Authenticate patron’s print jobs with your own VUnet ID/password so they can print (but I don’t recommend doing this if they plan on camping out and printing tons of things, as each print job requires authentication)

4) Tell the patron to save the file to the desktop, open his/her email client, and email the file to him/herself. Also, pay attention to file types. You should be familiar with .html, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .mdb, .pdf, .gif, .jpg, etc. If it’s not something you recognize, ask the patron what application is needed to open that file. If it’s not an application that we have in the library, then there is a good chance that it can’t be opened in the library. PDF files are still not printing consistently. But no matter what option you give patrons, PLEASE have them contact the Card Office to determine why their VUnet ID won’t work properly. Also, don’t forget to periodically check the VUprint page. This site and the policies around VUprint are still being developed. Rachel appreciate s your patience in this. She knows it’s frustrating to not be able to provide clear cut answers to our patrons.

***ATTENTION WEEKEND WORKERS : Rachel also hopes to have a temporary printing solution for the weekend folks who might deal with Non-Vanderbilt people (or anyone else who might not have a VUnet ID/password). She’ll send out something later today regarding this.

2) Database Update - No new information, and URLs are still being configured.

• Thomson ONE Banker and Thomson ONE Analytics – Dale Poulter is still working on these.
• Adcritic.com – Jason Battles is still working on this one .
• FARS – George Anglin is still working on this one.

3) Tech Training Coordinators - This group did not meet this month.

4) GIS Task Force - On Thursday , August 1 8 , Rachel and Rahn met with the GIS Task Force to formalize its mission and plan for the next phase. Between now and December 2005, the Team will complete a Heard web page describing GIS on campus and in the libraries. For the web page, the team use data already gathered in addition to surveying or visiting other Vanderbilt departments / areas about GIS software, hardware, data sets, and / or services. The Team will also contact Celia Walker about presenting a Brown Bag lunch “Introduction to GIS” during Fall 2005. As a point of information, Rachel will step up to full Task Force involvement and Rahn will shift to Ad Hoc member status.

5) New WML Website - Rachel is making slow BUT STEADY progress on the new website.

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

1. Rachel attended MetaLib Task Force meetings on Fridays , January 21 and February 4. The group is reviewing the ExLibris demo site and the sites of at least some of the other MetaLib libraries so the group can discuss our experiences and better plan our trial. There is also a place on OAK (Blackboard) where the team can review and share information. They are also planning to do a usability test to see if MetaLib will meet the expectations of its users, including the library staff.
2. About 20 people attended the GIS webcast last week. The Task Force met again to discuss future directions, and are working on an update report to present to Paul Gherman.
3. Brent and Rachel would still be collaborating on logo development for the website and other resources if he had a computer. His hard drive died, and a new one has been reordered.
4. Mills came over this week and aided in the Public Workstation /Deep Freeze Implementation. Danny has been swamped and is helping as much as his time permits.
5. Mills is also working with Rachel and Laura on configuring Ariel correctly. Jim Toplin will also be involved with configuration, as well as training.
6. Will from Expert Laser has visited WML several times this week. All the printers seem to be working correctly once again. The new printer, an OkiData printer, is fast and has stunning colors. Any help on operating it, fixing jams, changing toner, printing transparencies, etc., please see Marie or Rachel.
7. As for the “old” color printer, it is now hooked up to one of the student workroom computers. It is no longer on the printer network. To print, make sure the file you want to print is somewhere on the network (your private or public folders), and when you sit down in front of the printer, just find the thing you want to print and select the HP 4500 color printer. Piece of cake.
8. On Friday, January 28, Rachel attended the University’s Web Spiders Group meeting. Jim Parker, THE webmaster for Vanderbilt University, lead the meeting and talked about ways to increase communication among all the technologists and web developers across campus.
9. As of today, all of the databases that we subscribe to are working correctly both on and off. Rachel is still in contact with Dale about finalizing some additional configurations.

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

1. Rachel attended MetaLib Task Force meetings on Friday, January 7 and January 21. What is MetaLib? “The MetaLib library portal from Ex Libris enables users to access their institution’s e-collections, obtain relevant services, and work in a personalized environment.” It primarily brings together all resources in one interface through federated searching (sort of like meta-searching).
2. The GIS Task Force will be attending a ARL and ESRI Geographic Information System (GIS) live broadcast on Libraries and Digital Mapping in the 21st Century. It’s on Thursday, January 27, from 2-3:30 pm in the Electronic classroom in Central Library. It is open to all librarians who think knowing a little bit more about GIS might be helpful in future reference interactions. Rachel and Rahn will be attending, as they are current members on this Task Force. However, Rahn will be continuing on with the team and Rachel will be an ad hoc member.
3. Brent and Rachel are still colloborating on logo development for the website and other resources.
4. Rachel attended a Pay-for-Print meeting on December 15, and it seems like it has been decided that Diebold is the system of choice. The committee, headed by Bill Hook (Divinity Library), is in communication with the VU card office, the people who maintain the copiers, ITS, the student government, and of course, the deans of the various schools, in order to come to some agreement on price. Rachel will keep you informed as she hears more. For those that are out of the loop, Pay-for-Print should be implemented by the start of Fall Semester 2005.
5. Public Workstation #4 is back in Rachel’s office. Danny did his magic on it, and now it’s in Rachel’s hands again. The public workstations will be ready to go (with Deep Freeze on them to ensure security and a constant setup across workstations) SOON.
6. Laura and Rachel are still getting Ariel set up correctly. Some initial tests were successful, while others failed miserable. Finding the time to fidget with it is their biggest impairment to a successful setup.
7. The Technology Training Coordinators and the Technology Support Coordinators didn’t meet in December due to the holidays, but we should be meeting again regularly soon (January). The direction that these groups go in also depends on some of the outcomes from the Heard Library’s strategic plan.
8. On Wednesday, January 19, Rachel attended the first Journal Club meeting, organized and administrated by Sharon Weiner (Director of Peabody Library). They talked about Google Scholar and Google Print, and its implications and affects on libraries and the academic world. If you are still interested in participating, email Sharon an just let her know you’d like to join the group. It’s not too late, and you are guaranteed an engaging and thought-provoking conversation.
9. Also on January 19, Amia attended a demonstration on RefWorks, an online bibliographic citation software system (similar to the client side versions of EndNote and ProCite). The Library was considering if there was enough interest in getting a site license for RefWorks, and to see which of the databases we currently subscribe to are compatible with RefWorks. Apparently, RefWorks doesn’t work with the Ebsco databases, and more than likely, it wouldn’t work with most of the other Business databases we subscribe to as they are quite “unique.” In short, it doesn’t look like a good investment, especially for the Walker Management Library.
10. Amia, Rachel, and Flo (as well as about 6 other Vanderbilt Librarians) attended the 2005 ALA Midwinter Conference in Boston, MA. Top Technology Trends, Business Database Updates, Sirsi Updates, and any other information worth reporting will be in a separate newsletter after Rachel and Amia consult one another next week.
11. New databases that have been purchased over the past 2 months are now up and running! Please check out the following databases (located in the dropdown menu), and let Rachel know ASAP if something doesn’t look right or is not working properly (other than her comments). Once all URLs are working correctly, I’ll add them below to their respective categories as well. Here is a status of new and current databases:
    • Accounting & Tax (From Proquest) - Currently, this is working great. However, it isn’t just searching just the Accounting and Tax database, but all other Proquest databases simultaneously. Dale has been contacted to correct this.
    • MarketReseach.com - Works and looks great!
    • Thomson One Analytics - Works, but there is a slight problem. Currently, students will have to ask a librarian for username and password. Again, I have asked Dale to set this up similar to Factiva, where we only have 5 seats, but all the username/password stuff takes place in the background.
    • Datamonitor - Works great! Rachel loves this database.
    • CareerSearch - Seems to work fine, but Rachel thinks some things are sort of fishy, so she has asked Dale to check them out.
    • Livedgar - It isn’t working on our site, but is on the Law site, so in the meantime, direct users through there. Dale and the the Livedgar rep have been notified.

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

1. Rachel attended a Microsoft Access workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 here in Nashville. She learned a heck of a lot, and has already started implementing some of the skills she learned at the workshop.
2. By the next Staff Meeting, Rachel will have condensed the list of possible slogans to about 5, and will gather input as to what folks like about the ones that they voted for. She hopes that you enjoyed the little poll. Again, the slogan won’t be set in stone (yet), as Brent and Rachel are still in the development stages.
3. The GIS Task Force (which includes both Rachel and Rahn) will be meeting next week, Tuesday, December 14, 10-11 am in the Peabody Library.
4. From November 29-December 3, LITS interviewed candidates for the 2 vacant LITS positions. On Friday, Dec. 3, Rachel went out to eat with one of the candidates.
5. Next week, Rahn and Rachel will meet with Deb to discuss NetContent, the service that WML is currently using for Alumni. R & R currently have access to their new product called Scoop, and are in the process of evaluating it, and looking at it’s potential and possible use with BIS as well.
6. Public Workstation #4 is STILL in Danny’s Office. Danny reassured Rachel that he’ll get to it soon, and that the library should have happy public workstations before the next mod starts..
7. Laura and Rachel have successfully (they think) set up Ariel, and are in the process of testing by sending emails with either pdf or tiff attachments in-house and to testers outside the Owen network. Woo Hoo!
8. Rachel has set up Dr. Appointments with many people’s computers to do upgrades and maintenance. If she hasn’t scheduled one with your computer yet, she will.

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

1. Rachel has been invited to participate in the MetaLib Task Force. What is MetaLib? “The MetaLib library portal from Ex Libris enables users to access their institution’s e-collections, obtain relevant services, and work in a personalized environment.” The group includes:
   • Janice Adlington (Central)
   • Chris Benda (Peabody)
   • Marshall Breeding (OUL)
   • Ann Ercelawn (Technical Services)
   • Dale Poulter (LITS)
   • Rick Stringer-Hye (Science and Engineering)
   • Suellen Stringer-Hye (LITS)
   • Pauline Todd (Biomedical)
   • Rachel Vacek (Management)
2. The GIS Task Force met last week. It was an interesting meeting and both Rachel and Rahn learned about the knowledge and experiences the team has with GIS and GIS technologies. Paul Gherman will receive periodic updates from the team as they determine the need for GIS training, exposure, marketing, and an overall evaluation of the value GIS can bring to the various services (like BIS) and to the Vanderbilt community as a whole. The group will meet every 2-3 weeks. The group includes:
   • Susan Erickson (Central)
   • Leigh Gostowski (Peabody)
   • Rahn Huber (Management)
   • Rick Stringer-Hye (Science)
   • Rachel Vacek (Management)
   • Amy Stewart-Mailhiot (Central)
3. Rachel and Brent are working on developing several possible logos for the Walker Website , as well as some possible slogans (based on talking with people and from the ideas hanging in the workroom). What do you envision in a logo? Books? Technology? Abstract? Modern? Fun? Professional? Business-related? Earthy? (had to put that one in!) Sharp- looking? Symbolic? Traditional? What about a slogan? Be thinking about it, and as you go shopping or open mail or watch TV over the Thanksgiving break, try to pay attention to the logos and branding you see. Rachel and Brent will share the examples they have developed at the next staff meeting, or shortly thereafter. Brent will draw it, and Rachel will try to duplicate it digitally. Keep in mind, Rachel is not a graphic artist. She just tries her darnedest.
4. Rachel, Rahn and Leslie attended an enlightening presentation on Tuesday, November 16 at the Frist. The Southern Appalachian Chapter of SLA presented “Libraries in the Age of Amazoogle,” by Alane Wilson, Senior Library Market Consultant at OCLC. It was an enlightening presentation on OCLC’s 2003 Environmental Scan on different landscapes in today’s culture: social, economic, technical, research/learning, and the library landscape.Trends seem to be that people want self-service, comprehensive information, immediate gratification, to compete, collaborate, and create. They want “collaborative meritocracy.” Library OPACs are terrible at this, and the economic landscape is grim. The new era is that technology is ever present and people are always connected – we are moving from a computer era to an access era. Learning environments are more about the people and place, not just about the technology or the quantity of books. They want communities, even a “third place” to go to. (Third place refers to not home, not work, but that third place where people go to feel comfortable and escape from the other place.There is a trend to move away from the traditional, and Alane encouraged people to develop non-traditional positions within libraries. She also encouraged us to read “The Battle for Mindshare: A battle beyond access and retrieval”, by John J. Regazzi, Managing Director of Market Development at Elsevier. One quote from the presentation that Rachel really liked:

   “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” — William Gibson

5. Public Workstation #4 is in Danny’s Office. It’s not broken. He’s just getting the image that Rachel created so he can re-ghost all the public workstations.
6. Laura and Rachel are still getting Ariel set up correctly.

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

1. News from the Technology Support Coordinators Meeting on Tuesday, November 9:
   • Acorn will be re-indexed starting on, the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 26) and it should be done by Monday morning. If you get reports, you should still get them on time.
   • The Central Library now has Microsoft Office 2003 (the whole suite as opposed to just the readers) on most of its public workstations. The Science Library has opted to do this as well, and the process of re-imaging all their public workstations is almost done.
   • The Vanderbilt Library System is helping to producing 2 electronic journals. One is in conjunction with the New Center for the Americas here on campus. The journal is called, AmeriQuests (not to be confused with AmeriQuest (without an “s”) that deals with mortgages). This site as well as the actual Center for the Americas and its website are debuting today.
   • The other electronic journal that the library is helping out with is the VURJ, which is the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal. It is still in progress.
   • Jody Combs also reported that there are still worms and viruses popping up more often, and that “what’s between our ears is still the best defense.” What is the difference between a worm, virus, Trojan horse, and a hoax? What isn’t a virus? Learn more here.
2. On Monday and Wednesday of this week, Rachel was invited to meet with Paul Mwanzilo, a librarian from Egerton University in Kenya. They met to discuss website design and how it relates to libraries and the future direction of the web.
3. The new scanner that’s in Laura’s workspace is installed and fully functional. Next week, Rachel and Laura will begin looking at how it interacts with Ariel, and run some tests.
4. Danny has had a crazy week with computers going down in the classrooms, and with Stephan being gone. He hopes to tackle some of the Library’s tech things next week.
5. Next Monday, Rachel and Rahn are meeting with Paul Gherman and several other librarians to discuss the opportunities that GIS can bring to the libraries. What is GIS, you ask? It stands for Geographic Information Systems, and refers to an information analysis system / database that works with spatial and geographic data. See What is GIS? for more information.
6. Rachel and Laura saw some wonderful displays of technology in digital video, choreography, and pyrotechnics at the Metallica concert on Thursday night. They report that it was an awesome experience.

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