WML Tech Updates

At the Technology & Training Support Coordinators meeting today, we talked about many things. I was a few minutes late, so I missed the first part of meeting, but still heard some updates on the first item on the agenda.

1) As you know (hopefully), users can now use their VUnet ID and password for authentication into Acorn to renew books, set up Acorn notes, etc.. There has been some confusion among users in that some are using their VUnet ID and instead of using their VUnet password, they are still using their Acorn Pin as their password. This, of course, doesn’t work. There are also users that don’t have a VUnet ID. They can still use their Social Security Number and Acorn Pin to log in. But soon (a few weeks?) users that don’t have a VUnet ID can use the same login information that they use when they sign in to use VUprint.

This means that for a while, there will be 3 different ways users can log into Acorn (all options are not necessarily available to each individual user). I just thought that I should point this out. They are 1) VUnet ID/password, 2) SSN/Acorn PIN, and 3) VUprint login/password.

Also, the good news is that plans for the development for a more universal unique ID will be starting this fall. More info on this to come later.

2) Jim Webb is replacing Flo Wilson as the TTSC representative for the Office of the University Librarian.

3) Patch Cluster 5. It’s the highly descriptive name for Sirsi’s new enhancements. The upgrade starts Wednesday evening at midnight, and folks will be required to update Thursday morning. While you are more than likely sleeping, the system will be down anywhere between 15 -60 minutes (as Dale Poulter predicts). An email has already been sent about this.

4) Judy Carter was happy to announce that LITS’s workstation deployment project is almost done. (And then the fun starts all over again at the beginning of the next fiscal year!) LITS is also working on a life-cycle management and replacement policy for circulating laptops.

5) It’s patch Tuesday. Upgrades to your computers are out! Please remember to run your Windows updates on your home computers -for your own sanity.

6) Daylight Saving Time. Yes, it’s that topic again. LITS did all their patching, and Acorn and most things on the Heard Network seem fine. People’s PDA’s are probably still struggling with the time change thing, and Exchange servers, and the clients that connect to them (for Microsoft Outlook) are still unhappy (as we here in WML know quite well!) For tips on dealing with this murky stuff, please see my previous post.

7) Exodus, the internal IM client that LITS has been beta testing for what seems like forever now, was just upgraded. I haven’t played with it yet to see exactly what the new additions are, but from a quick glance, it doesn’t look like much. In WML, Laura and Rachel are the only ones using it. There are several other folks within the library system using it, too. If you are interested in trying it out, just let Rachel know! She can send you all the info you need to get it set up, and can stop by for a quick demo if needed.

8) Jody talked briefly about the 2 new Primo Project Teams currently being formed. He only has about 8 volunteers out of the entire library system, and they need more. If you are at all interested or know of someone who might be interested (and haven’t already volunteered or are already on a Primo development team), please contact Jody Combs as soon as possible. They want to get these teams started next week.

Beginning Monday, February 12th, 2007, users can enter their VUnetID and password to login to ACORN to manage their accounts, renew items, submit requests, etc.

When the new authentication process is put in place on Monday, selecting “Account Login” from ACORN will display an updated login page. Users with VUnetIDs, simply enter their ID and password information. Those without VUnetIDs can continue using their current ACORN login and password to access their account. You can preview the login page at https://acorn.library.vanderbilt.edu/cgi-bin/ldap/login.pl . Please note that this page is just a preview and not fully functional yet.

LITS will send out new URLs for updating web pages that have direct links for renewing items, viewing checked-out items, or other ACORN account tasks.

Questions? Contact Jason Battles

The Technology & Training Coordinators met once again today. Jody had a full agenda.

1) We talked about end-user authentication in ACORN. As you probably are well aware, there are some concerns with the way authentication is currently done, requiring folks to use their SSN. This is going to be changing soon! Users will be able to login into ACORN by using their VUnet ID and password. This is a huge improvement that LITS has been working on for quite some time. They will be announcing when the change actually takes place.

However, Jody estimates that it could be anywhere between 18 months to 5 years before a campus-wide unique ID is developed that isn’t based on Social Security Numbers. See, VUnet IDs are actually recycled, so they really aren’t unique to each person. For example, let’s say that Laura Norris leaves Vanderbilt, and in a year, a different person with the name Laura Norris starts work at Vanderbilt. She could get the same ID our Laura had, thus making things quite confusing when you start to see that not everything gets “flushed out.”

ITS would eventually like to go to a CAS, which stands for Central Authentication Service. CAS was first developed by Yale University. According to Wikipedia, a CAS “is a single sign-on protocol designed to allow untrusted web applications to authenticate users against a trusted central server. It also refers to a server package by the same name that provides the service.” Wouldn’t that be cool to only have to sign in ONCE?

2) If you ever experience problems using WorkFlows, remember that you can Netfix the problem! If you aren’t sure what this means, please ask someone!

3) Judy and George reported on their progress on workstation and server replacements throughout the VU library system. They are over half way done. (Since LITS still has an open position, it is taking them longer than usual for the deployment of all the computers.) They are replacing the old Dell GX 240s with GX 620s. Yes, we actually still have some GX 240 computers around here and there.

On a side but similar note, Flo has been talking with Jody about reassessment money to see if we can get some replacement computers for those here in the library that are unbearably slow (like the left-hand circ computer, or the stand-up station at the reference desk). Go Flo!

4) LITS now has a portable classroom. It’s a huge cart that will hold 20 laptops. Users will be relying on the wireless of wherever the “classroom” is used. It would be ideal for the cart to have it’s own wireless signal, but that’s not going to happen for a while. Plus, LITS is still working on the policies for use of the cart and logistics on where it is going to be kept when not in use. More than likely, it will be somewhere in the General Library Building (possibly in the Central Library or in the Divinity Library).

5) It’s Patch Tuesday. Actually, Jody didn’t plan this originally, but every TTSC meeting occurs on a Patch Tuesday. There are 21 critical updates and 6 non-critical updates. There is also a thing called a Zero-day exploit in Microsoft Word. As of today, there is no patch yet, so be careful opening word documents, even from your colleagues, especially if you aren’t expecting something. A patch should be out soon (hopefully).

Jody also wanted to remind everyone that if they have home computers, it is important to run Windows Updates there too.

6) The TTSC website is being updated by Rachel Vacek, Daisy Whitten, and Angel Craddock. They will be sending Jody some questions about the focus of the group since its merge with the Training Coordinators in early 2006.

If you have any questions about anything from this TTSC meeting, please get in contact with me and I would be more than happy to discuss your questions. Thanks.

Support for the WorkFlows C-Client will end this Friday, December 1st, as approved by the Library Directors Council. This will allow the Acorn group to better resolve problems since they will then only be working with one client. In preparation of the removal of the WorkFlows C-client, the Acorn group installed Patch Cluster 3 on production Tuesday evening, November 28th. This required a short period of down time Tuesday evening and everyone will be prompted to upgrade the WorkFlows Java client on Wednesday morning, November 29th.

If you have any questions about this, please contact Dale Poulter.

Acorn will be reindexed beginning Wednesday, November 22nd at 9:00pm. The indexing will be finished by Friday, November 24th at 10:00pm and we will be back on the production server by 11:00pm.

Webcat will be unavailable to the public between 9:00pm Wednesday
(11/22) through 3:00am Thursday morning (11/23) and 10:00pm-11:00pm on Friday (11/24). Should anyone attempt to access Webcat during these times a maintenance notification with a contact email address will be presented.

This reindexing will NOT require an upgrade to the Workflows client and will NOT upgrade the Unicorn software.

From 3:00am Thursday morning through 10:00pm Friday morning the following activities CAN be done:

* Circulation (check-in, check-out, reports, etc.)
* Cataloging (creating records, editing records, importing records through Smartport but not Passport, CatME, or Connexion–no bibloads will run)
* Authorities (deleting, and editing)
* Acquisitions (editing and creating records manually –no scripts will run.

Records from Gobi, BNA, and OCLC will not be loaded during this period. We will obtain these records once we are back on Acorn production.

We thank you for your cooperation as we work to improve Acorn services.

Jason J. Battles
Systems Librarian
Library Information Technology Services
Vanderbilt University

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.

A couple of the problems with the java client for ACORN are in the process of being resolved, and a couple of others are expected to be corrected by the end of November. The new date for the expiration of the Workflows ‘C’ client will be the end of November.

Also, if you remember, a few weeks back I asked if anyone in WML still used the old version of Workflows. I got responses from most people, and only one person rarely used the old version, and that was becasue she hadn’t figured out how to replicate a particular process in the new Workflows Java client. I believe that’s been resolved.

Happy Workflowing!

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!