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) The NEW Java Client version of Sirsi - There have been many concerns and questions about implementation, training, and wondering when all this is going to take place with our impending renovation here in WML. Earlier this week, Rachel talked with Julie Loder in LITS, and rest assured, everything will be okay. Take a deep breath. There is no need to panic. But please do read through the following information.

Installing the new client

LITS will be “installing” the new version of Sirsi through the Novell network for Heard Library networked libraries. As you know, this does not include us. LITS will be sending a disk with the prorgam on it to the Law, Management, and Eskind Libraries, and they can install it however way they choose. Since we have so few computers (at least compared to some of the other libraries), it would take longer to create new images, reimage every computer, and reinstall other additional software - than it would to simply install it on each person’s computer. I may enlist Danny to help with the process.

Also, I will not be uninstalling the current version of Sirsi that we are using. Everyone will have both the old version as well as the new version on his or her computer. There will be at least a several month period where you are encouraged to try using the new version for your everyday tasks, but you’ll still have to opportunity to use the old version if you can’t figure out how to do it in the new session.

When is it going to be installed?

I also talked with Julie about not entirely knowing where we physically will be this summer (since we may have to vacate our offices and set up shop elsewhere due to the renovation), and that getting the installation done in advance would be one less thing for us to worry about. So she will be sending me a disk within the week, and I’ll start installing it. My goal will be to have it installed on every computer by the end of April. You will be able to play with it as much as you like, but keep in mind that no one here in WML, including myself, have used it before. So if you have a questions about how to do something, please just be patient and wait to ask your questions at the training sessions in May, June, or July 2006.

Training on the new client

There have been a number of people throughout the library system who have been beta testing the new client for months now. More than likely, many of them will become the trainers on various parts of the new client. For example, if an individual only worked with the circulation-related part of the new Sirsi client, then that person might volunteer to become a trainer for just that part of the client. The same goes for those who deal with serials, collection development, cataloging, and other modules within Sirsi. So in short, there will be multiple training sessions, taught by multiple people throughout the library system, at multiple times throughout the summer.

Who is coordinating the training, and when is going to happen?

Currently, LITS is aware of the individuals who have been doing beta testing, so they might be able to come up with a list of possible trainers. But there are no set dates, times, or even confirmed trainers at this time. Julie said that as it gets closer to the summer (that is, when April is over), all this information will get communicated.

It is also unclear as to whether LITS, the Staff Development Committee, or a new project team will be coordinating the overall training. I trust that Celia Walker and Jody Combs and whomever else is involved in the procress will figure something out, and that whatever is decided will get communicated to us at the appropriate time. I am also confident that someone (or a group of people) are compiling documentation on how to do various tasks within the new Sirsi client.

Questions?

If you have questions, I would be more than happy to talk to you about what I know. I will also keep you updated (either through more Friday Tech Updates, email, or at staff meetings) as I learn more. Also, bookmark this page. It’s still under development, but they will be adding more to it as time goes by. Thank you for your patience throughout this process!

2) Kilimanjaro - Kilimanjaro is behaving more than usual. Rachel assumes the fix she made on the public workstations helped, and that the network port being fixed by VU ITS is the main reason for the improvement. Still, there are occasional weird things that happen with it, as Rachel is sure Circulation staff can attest to. But for the most part, it seems OK.

3) Printer Server being Maintenanced - Rachel talked with Owen IT about performing maintenance on the print server (or any server) when the library is open, even if it seems like a slow Friday afternoon elsewhere in the school. This incident happened last time without warning, and patrons as well as staff were caught unaware. She was told that next time, they will try to communicate more in advance when services will be down for maintenance. As you noticed recently, Jason Reusch announced several days in advance that they would be doing server maintenance Thursday night through Friday morning. Rachel is glad the communication lines are open.

4) SFX Project Team Report - On February 27th, Rachel and the rest of the SFX Project Team met with some members from Order Services (Mary Ellen Wilson, Chris Waldrop, and Roberta Winjum) who wanted a clearer idea of what the project team does, how much time is spent fixing things, and how often updates are run. The team will meet again soon to discuss:

* Status of the OpenURL generator
* Status of local holdings enhancement
* Additional databases to be SFX-ized (including a discussion about other WML databases that might work with SFX)

5) Primo Demonstration - On Thursday, March 30th, 2 representatives from Ex Libris came here to talk about the library possibility of being a beta test partner with them for their new end-user information discovery and delivery tool called Primo. Rachel went to the demo and was thoroughly impressed with the product despite it still being in early development. It was very reminiscent of Amazon’s interface and Google’s search engine and features. The system utilizes FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) which, in short, takes full full advantage of all the fields in the records, and therefore primo won’t require recataloging. All information also comes from local collections (catalog, journals, repositories, etc.).

There is another tab could could work with MetaLib, the metasearch engine that searches multiple databases. We currently do not have a metasearch tool such as this, and from the trail we had last year with MetaLib, there would have to be a lot of improvement with that particular product before the VU libraries would purchase it, I believe.

Other cool features of Primo include: Reviews of books can be imported in from Amazon, and users could have the option to write their own review, as well as rate items. Users can search on similar resources, subject, other languages, editions. Tagging, as in the kind used in del.icio.us or Flickr, can also be used within Primo. There is the “People who viewed this item also viewed X, Y, and Z” feature.

Primo also utilizes faceted browsing where you can narrow your search by clicking on other related and extracted information to narrow your search. Examples are narrow your search by subject (a variety of subjects are listed), author, type of item (books, journals, audio, etc), language, publication date, etc. Basically, faceted browsing allows users to choose predefined options rather than guess. It gives the user the opportunity to refine their search and they won’t be able to hit a dead end.

Primo ranks its search results based on a relevancy ranking. This relevancy ranking algorith can be fine-tuned. You can assign more weight to some resources to make them more relevant, or appear higher in the result list. You can also analyze user statistics and make adjustments accordingly. It will also work within a Course Management System such as Blackboard

There are many, many more features, and I could say a lot more, but overall, I personally think it would be foolish for us not to partner with Ex Libris in beta testing. This seems to be the type of product our users want.

Here is a breif mention of Primo in Library Journal.

6) Public Workstations & Upstairs Computer - Rachel talked with Danny and he’ll be reimaging the public workstations, including the one upstairs, within the next week or so.

7) Update on the NEW WML Website - Rachel has made great strides on the website, and it’s at a point where some usability testing can be done again before many of the deeper pages are created. Sometime within the next few weeks, she will be showing the website to WML staff for feedback, and doing some usability testing with a few Owen students. She’s also been working on capturing every single page of the site on paper, and seeing what is done, and what yet needs to be done, and by whom. It will serve as a task list and hopefully help people know exactly what needs to be done yet. Many of the pages need much discussion on the content before deeper pages can be made. David is helping her organize this so it will be clearer as to what is done, what isn’t, and hopefully won’t be so overwhelming to people.

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

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 - Bill Hook has added to the VUprint website more detailed information on how alumni are to get cards, get a username and password (which is their registered email address and assigned PIN), and how to put money on their card. He also reassured me that he would talk to Randy Crafton and the staff at the Card Office regarding consistency and providing accuracy in the information they are telling their patrons.

The information that Bill only recently learned was that the PIN users receive when they go to the card office is their password for VUprint. That PIN DOES NOT work as the password for the web interface. There is an overnight delay is in their EMAIL address being added to the web login. After registering their email with the card office, they must then ALSO register on the web site, but can not do so earlier than the day after going to the card office. So it is all the more important that users be instructed to add money to their account when they go to the card office initially. Clear as mud, right?

I have included the link below to step-by-step directions that Bill complied for Alumni. We may want to print out this page and give it to alumni when they come into the library who haven’t encountered VUprint since its implementation. http://vuprint.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/Main/Alums

Also, see the page for LUC users: http://vuprint.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/Main/Access

2. Blackboard - Blackboard and WebCT recently announced their agreement to merge. The combined companies have over 3,700 academic clients. “Under terms of the agreement, Blackboard will acquire WebCT in a cash transaction for $180 million, which values the offer at approximately $154 million, net of WebCT’s August 31, 2005 cash balance of $26 million. The ultimate value of the offer will vary depending on WebCT’s cash balance at closing. The transaction will combine two pioneering academic e-Learning organizations into a single company with the client base, resources and expertise to uniquely meet the rapidly evolving needs of educators around the world.”

http://investor.blackboard.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=177018&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=767025&highlight=

In addition, Blackboard has launched a new portion of its Web site, http://www.blackboard.com/webct, where anyone can track the latest news and information about the merger.

3. Numbers - Rachel recently numbered the public workstations, the one upstairs, and the 3 student workstations. This will not only make it easier to report which computer is malfunctioning if there are problems, but it also makes it easier for Rachel to manage the frozen computers.

4. Database Update - The Information Services team recently tested new databases, but due to an already maxed out electronic resources budget, it seems that no new resources will be considered the rest of this fiscal year. Upgrades might still be considered, however.

5. Public Workstations - They have been re-reimaged and seem to be very happy. However, on the occasional reboot, the background is white and on the desktop is a message wanting to know if you want to restore your active desktop. Click on the button that says “Restore Active Desktop” and all will be back to normal. Rachel is looking into why this occasionally happens.

6. Digital Suggestion Box - Just a reminder that it exists and that it if for casual discussion of library topics (and the occasional silliness that inevitably occurs). But do remember that what is said there is seen by the world!

7. GIS Brown Bag - Rachel and 2 other members of the GIS Task Force will be doing a Brown Bag session on GIS later next month. This information will be advertised again in the November Staff newsletter (in it’s new form). But you are the first to hear about it!

Brown Bag: GIS, Vanderbilt, and You
Have you ever heard of GIS? Want to know why it’s increasingly being included in the curriculum and how it aids in research? Then come to this session on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) on Wednesday, November 16, 2005, from 12-1 pm in the GLB Room 612A. Three members of the GIS Task Force (Rick Stringer-Hye, Rachel Vacek, and Brian Christens, Director of Vanderbilt’s Census Information Center) will introduce the fundamental principles of GIS, cover how GIS services are being utilized in peer libraries, and highlight resources already available at Vanderbilt, such as data repositories, GIS labs, and the various GIS services that are currently being provided.

8. Acorn Upgrade - This is just a reminder that LITS plans to upgrade Acorn from U2003.1.4.5 to GL3.0.1.1 beginning October 24th at 12:01 am and finishing by October 24th at approximately 6:00 am. This upgrade will also require rebuilding some indexes and a client update. We will not be upgrading to the new Workflows java client (http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/WFJava/newfeatures2.htm) at this time, although this upgrade will enable us to begin using the new Workflows java client for testing in our production environment.

Rachel has a copy of the Workflows updates on CD-Rom in her office in case the upgrade doesn’t go a smoothly as planned. Webcat will be unavailable to the public between 12:00 am and 6:00am on that Monday morning. Should anyone attempt access during these times, a maintenance notification with contact email address will be presented. Reports should finish by 9:00am on Monday morning.

9. Heard Library Staff Newsletter Format - You should have heard by now that the Heard Library Staff Newsletter is changing format starting November 1st. It will no longer be just a plain, boring, HTML page, but will be more robust and give Celia Walker more features than she ever imagined. There will be daily digests, more links, committee meeting agendas and summaries, pictures, as well as an RSS feed. Below are 3 feeds that you can already subscribe to. If you have questions, just ask Rachel!

Heard Library Staff Newsletter feed: http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/newspub/jKwZYA/rss
LITS feed: http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/newspub/hYPrPi/rss
Vanderbilt University Daily Register feed: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/rss

10. New WML Website - Rachel is making slow progress on the new website and the Staffweb.

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) VUprint - To help non-Vanderbilt users, BIS clients, and other patrons print, and to help everyone especially when the CS Print Server goes down, Rachel has come up with a temporary solution to the chaos! A simplified explanation: Over the past few weeks , the 8 public workstations have been pointing to 2 printers: Kilimanjaro and WMLPUBLICPRINTER. They aren’t connected to the printers in the normal way you would add a printer on your own workstation. Instead, they are being routed through the CS Print Server in Baker before they come to the Owen print server. So when the CS Print Server is down, no one can print at all.
**Rachel’s solution: Rachel added a second WMLPUBLICPRINTER to all the public workstations. This one doesn’t go through the CS Print Server at all, so you won’t even be asked to authenticate. The default is still set to the WMLPUBLICPRINTER on the CS Print Server (which looks like: WMLPUBLICPRINTER on 129.59.1.91), but if someone really needs to print and has no VUnet ID/password, then instruct the patron to select the WMLPUBLICPRINTER on global. On a side note, the VUprint team doesn’t expect to start charging for printing anytime before September 30.

2) Database Update - All of the databases (at the moment) are currently working. Is the world going to end?

3) Birthdays - Not only is Rahn’s Birthday this week, so is Google’s. Google turns 7 on Wednesday, September 7. It seems hard to imagine life without it .

4) Student Computers - Rachel has finished setting up the student computer outside Rahn’s Office. She will inspect the other 2 in the student work area and make sure they are updated, log-in-able, and have all the appropriate programs on them.

5) Upstairs Computer - This computer is sooooo close to being ready. All we need now is have someone turn the connection on so we can get connected to the network and Internet. DOH! Once connected, Rachel will be able to finish a few more configurations and then it will be ready. Hold on just a bit longer, Brent. I know you are eager!

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

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

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!