Workaround for E-Reserves Document Printing

As we labor with our reference area workstations that are trudging beyond their useful lifespans, it may eleviate some frustration to know that jobs can be submitted to Uniprint via the Reference desk machine. Jobs that are submitted in this fashion make it to the Print Release Station just as any other job, and may be printed and paid for by patrons as if they were submitted by the patron. For detailed instructions, please visit me in the systems Office. You will need to create a login for the poynter_lib domain to use the feature, then follow instructions to add the printer as outlined in our Problems & Solutions Page.

Public Area Workstation Purchases Approved

FCLA has come through again with an allocation that will provide new Dell Optiplex GX150 desktops for the reference area on the first floor. These sleek units sport a black chassis, keyboard and mouse, and run at an amazing 1 Giga-hertz clock speed on a Pentium III processor. The operating system will be upgraded to Windows 2000 Professional, and will connect to an upgraded server named Emerson running Windows 2000. Although the look and feel of the machines will be the same as the older desktops, the speed will quadruple. These installations will be the first phase of the migration to Windows 2000 for the Public NT domain. We have recieved a single Dell unit to serve as a master for cloning, drop by and take a look for yourself- the flat panel displays are impressive! It is with great regret that we must also announce that this will be the last allocation of FCLA money, they have had cut backs and have discontinued support of the program.

Public Area Migration to Windows 2000 Server Planned

As mentioned above, the library will begin to slowly migrate to Windows 2000, the newer version of NT. As a first step, two servers will be brought up in a new All-W2K-Based domain called pub.nelson.usf.edu, and the public area workstations will be migrated there and extensively tested. After the new public area and labs are operational and all of the *kinks* are worked out, the staff side will begin the migration. Beverly Caggiano in Tampa's main library has taken similar steps, as well as other departmental units on the Tampa campus. Highlights of the new operating system are:

• More redundancy of information across servers through Active Directory.
• Disk space quotas to protect server space.
• Higher security through use of Kerberos encryption
• Ability to share files simultaneously through the web and NT shared folders, without having to learn server names!
• Users can install programs as needed on demand through MSI packages.
• Lack of support of our older NT Servers by Microsoft....

An older surplus server will be temporarily brought into service, named HARPER, and will provide a backup for NT domains as the new public domain and 2000 is brought into service. This replaces the server name LEE, which caused problems because the name was too common. The additional server, although an older model, should help us to back out of each step in the process to assure that there are no risks during the migration. Please note that the option of migrating your machine to Windows 2000 will still be optional, so you can take your time deciding. If you are interested in seeing the new OS in action, visit me in the Systems Office or see Jan or Eleanor in the Technical Services Office, who have already taken the bold step to W2k. The future is here! ;-)

Bibliographic Lab Use Policy Revisited

Our Bibliographic Lab's mission is primarily to support USF's library instruction, but it is also available for training for both University departments and Non-USF entities. In order to provide some small means of financial support for this lab and to offset maintenance costs, a fee schedule is now in effect for either USF to Non-USF group training sessions, as well as Non-USF based training. Please take a moment to look over our new policies by visiting The Bibliographic Lab Guidelines and Policies. Outlined there are the lab equipment, available software and hardware, and policies concerning the use of the lab. If you receive any requests to use the lab, the requesting party (whether a USF, USF Affiliate, or Non-USF group) should be made aware of what is available for use, so that they know we can support their training needs. Because the hardware is at the end of it's life span- disk space and processing power are limited, so be sure to direct inquiries to either the System's Coordinator (Berrie Watson) for hardware/software questions, or Tina Nevillefor Lab availability and fee table.

Poynter IntraNet & Systems Pages under construction

Our library now has it's own intranet site, to support special needs of the librarians and staff. Located at http://poynet.nelson.usf.edu, it is a web site for internal use only and as such will only be accessible from within the library. It will answer questions, give information and tips on computing and other departmental areas, and offer a place to store information that we all need to make our jobs easier. Please take some time to think of any information that your department would like to share with other departments within the library, but not with the outside world. As soon as the new intranet site is functional, the Systems Team will accept documents IN ELECTRONIC FORM ONLY for submission to the site.

The Systems Office pages are also under construction, and can be viewed at http://www.nelson.usf.edu/systems. Please take a look at the pages and let me know if you have any suggestions. The recently updated ADA compliant web page is also up for comments, so please let us know if the information there is complete- librarians and staff will use the pages as a guide to ADA resources within the library.