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.

I had hoped that one of my first entries could be about something fun and interesting, innovative and inherently geeky, but noooooo. It’s about VUprint, the campus-wide pay-for-print service. But alas, here is the conclusion to what seemed like the ongoing saga of Whitney_color (the Okidata color printer) and its almost seemingly destined partner, VUprint.

After much talking with Flo about all the advantages and disadvantages of putting the color printer on the VUprint system, we have decided to stick with having users pay for their color print jobs the old-fashioned way: monetary transactions with library staff at the Service Desk. If we did choose theVUprint route with the color printer, that would mean forcing users, including Owen students, faculty, and staff, to pay for their color print jobs through VUprint (swiping a card at the Print Release Station) instead of just a simple cash transaction. It would have also meant that everyone would have had to follow directions on how to add the printer since their print jobs would have been routed through theCSprint server instead of the Owen print server. I know how most library staff feel about having to swipe a card for VUprint with just the public workstations, soswiping a card for every single color print job would probably make then want to grab pitchforks and head toward my office.

Enough! What is going to happen? Well, on Sunday when I work, I will swap Blanc and Whitney_Color so people won’t be able to grab their color print jobs and run out the door without paying. Students, faculty, and staff will continue to pay for color print jobs in the same manner as before with good old fashioned cash (or credit card).

However, there is one change that should be noted. The color printer was added as an option at the public workstations in the library. Anyone, Owen and non-Owen people alike, will get charged $.50/page for anything sent to the color printer. (Black and white printing will remain the same at the public workstations, where members of the Owen community will not get charged and everyone else will.)

So even though VUprintis a good thing overall, and does prevent the masses from invading the library to abuse the free printing, it’s not the best solution at this time. We’ll reexamine this issue again when OGSM wants to discuss charging the students for all print jobs.

1. Go to Start in your taskbar, and click on Run.
2. Type \\global in the field provided.
3. A window will open with a list of all the networked printers in OGSM. From the list of printers, find the printer you are interested in, and double-click on it. It will be automatically added to your list of printers.

Many international students here in Owen have laptops from their native countries. Often the settings for printing are different. What we call the standard size paper at 8.5 x 11 inches isn’t always the standard in other countries.So i f you see a strange error at the printer that looks something like “Letter ISO A4,” that means that the printer will refuse to print anything else until the appropriate size paper (size A4) is inserted by the user, or until you tell the printer to go ahead and print anyway. So what should you do?

If the error message says “Letter ISO A4″ and the red light is blinking at you:

1. Hit the Offline/Online button.
2. It should ask you if you want to print on plain letter instead.
3. Hit the Select * button (to say yes).
4. The stuff should now just start printing. Whatever was sent to print on A4 size paper will come out just fine on USA standard size paper.

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!

1. VUprint - Never a week goes by without an update about VUprint. But Rachel feels confident that written policies and procedures will be coming soon from the OUL on Library Use Cards, who can print, and much more.
   David, Rachel, and Brent are still figuring out the administrative VUprint/copy cards issue. Once it’s figured out, rest assured that you will be informed! WML will be also receiving a print release station next week. It will be near Kilimanjaro on the circulation desk so that library staff can more easily help confused patrons. Also, Rachel anticipates 1 of 2 possible events for the future.
   1. There may be another open house type session for training on VUprint and all the policies and procedures that accompany it.
      The Tech Support Coordinators may be responsible for the training of VUprint. In this case, Rachel would be the VUprint trainer for WML, and would hope Brent would collaborate in this.
   • LITS has been working hard with the people who make the CSprint software, and all of the known problems have been fixed. The libraries are probably going to be turning on pay-for-printing prior to the labs, as they aren’t all ready yet. Why not wait till everyone is ready? The library feels most pressed to start charging very soon for printing. According to Bill Hook, the libraries recorded 250,000 pages printed in just the first 2 weeks of Sept, a 25% increase over last year’s September activity. Holy printing, Batman!
2. New Network Port - Someone from VU ITS will also be arriving early this week to install another port by Kilimanjaro. LITS arranged this, and Rachel also assumes that someone will then also activate the port for use.
3. Possible New Printers - David, Danny, Barry, and Rachel met last week to discuss the replacement of Kilimanjaro and Matterhorn. Something formal is being written and will be presented to the Dean, so keep your fingers crossed!
4. Database Update - We have a trial to a new database: Business Monitor Online (BMO) Also, the current subscription to the Forrester database has been extended till Friday, October 14, until more discussion takes places about it’s cancellation or renewal.
5. Upstairs Computer - This computer is ready! That’s right. You didn’t misread. The upstairs computer is ready for public use. The CPU is locked in the cabinet. So if you turn off the computer, you will need the key to turn it back on. Rachel has a key, and Elaine put the second key with the opening keys. It is set to go into sleep mode after 2 hours, so there really isn’t a reason to turn it off each day.
6. Digital Suggestion Box - If you haven’t done so already, please register yourself and have a look at the new Digital Suggestion Box. Feel free to post things, but remember that this is online and available to the entire world to see, so don’t say anything you wouldn’t mind outsiders reading. See Rachel is you need any help.
7. Google - Did you know that you can now personalize your Google homepage? That’s right! You can add all kinds of information to your Google page, besides the Google search bar. You can add local weather, stock info, news, your favorite links, and even RSS feeds! It’s a piece of cake! When you go to Google, you’ll see on the top right-hand corner, “Personalized Home”. Try it out! The personalizing of search engines is something that I have been anticipating for a while now.
   Amazon is the master at this, and even some libraries have portals that are more personalized. Google is now on the bandwagon, and soon you’ll see other search engines emulating Google.
8. New WML Website - Rachel is making slow BUT STEADY progress on the new website and the Staffweb. She is meeting with David this week to discuss its progress.

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. The training session, Giving Presentations & Using Microsoft PowerPoint Effectively, Part 2, is this week. For those who missed it, Rachel put handouts in your mailboxes. Also, check out the little site she put together for the workshop. At the bottom of the page are links to the PowerPoint presentation (Part 1), pdfs of the handouts, and an online survey. If you went (Amia and Leslie), please remember to fill it out. Part 2 will be also linked here, and additional websites for more advanced features of PowerPoint will be added before the Thursday session (10-11 am in Owen Room 204). Peabody librarians have been invited as well.
2. Check out this page in progress and give feedback to either Deb and or Rachel.
3. As soon as Rachel gets a breather (and some sleep), she’ll get back to working on getting DeepFreeze working on the public workstations later this week.
4. Kilimanjaro is still acting funky on occasion. Danny has had to reboot the printer server on several occasions in the past month, and we don’t exactly know what is wrong. Follow the suggestions on the technology flowchart, and if all else fails (and Rachel is not around), feel free to contact Danny, but be sure to let Rachel know (via email or in person) that you did. Be sure to look at the back of the flowchart for directions on what to do on weeknights and weekends.
5. Rachel went to a conference this past weekend in St. Louis. It was the LITA (Library & Information Technology Association) National Forum. There were lots of great sessions, and wonderful speakers. She drove up there with Dale Poulter, and both Suellen and Rick Stringer-Hye were there. Not only did she get to network with other librarian geeks, she got to know some of her colleagues better. It was a wonderful experience, and she is full of ideas for the WML website and Staffweb as well as ideas for collaborations with the other libraries. Very cool stuff.

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