Library power outages and losing documents

Just a reminder that students (and all patrons) should be encouraged to save their documents often and in the ways recommended below. Even a brief power outage can results in lost documents. Recommendations and warnings from IT are listed below.

Safest ways to save:

• Flash drive/memory stick
• Google Docs (does auto-save frequently)
• CD
• Email it to yourself

Unsafe:

• Saving to desktop only (can be lost in an outage)
• Documents folder only

Netflix "watch instantly" issue using Firefox on Macs

From Fish Phipps, IT:

For those who may not be aware, 'watch instantly' on Netflix does not work well in Firefox on the iMacs. This is an issue that can generate a lot of patron complaints so here's the 411:

Short version: If Netflix doesn't work on the Macs you have two options: Reboot and/or use Safari.

Long version: Netflix uses MS Silverlight for it's DRM and it seems that when parental controls are enabled on the macs (we use parental controls to control patron access to applications) that Silverlight and Firefox do not play well together. What usually happens is that when we are creating a new master image for all the machines we make sure that all the plugins are working but there are almost always issues with Firefox and Silverlight that, sooner or later, requires a reboot. Add the fact that after some random number of days/weeks later watching Netflix becomes totally broken in Firefox. This is due to changes made by either Netflix or MS on the server end as nothing has been changed on the machines. I am running some updates on a master image right now for the media center and it looks like I can't get Netflix to work at all in the latest version of Ffirefox. Point people to Safari if they wish to watch Netflix.

IT Help Desk schedule 9/27-10/8

The interim IT Help Desk schedule (while they are hiring) is posted at the desk in the same spot as the Ref Desk printed schedule. You'll find the schedules in an organizer on top of the righthand file cabinet (as well as the library phone list, campus phone book, last printed general catalog, etc.).

The coverage until October 8th at McHenry is as follows:

Monday 12pm-4pm, 7pm-midnight
Tuesday 3pm-midnight
Wednesday 12pm-midnight
Thursday 3pm-10pm
Friday 4pm-8pm

So the times we are on the desk and they are not are:

Monday 4-5pm
Tuesday 1-3pm
Thursday 1-3pm
Friday 1-4pm

Call 9-2486 for questions during those times. Sometimes the S&E student can help too.

Cruznet issues

If you have a patron who cannot connect to Cruznet wireless (no page will load, they cannot get an IP address) and/or they are getting logged off repeatedly please put in a ticket.

-Include the person's name and their MAC address. Here is a website on how to find the mac address of common operating systems, http://www.wikihow.com/Find-the-MAC-Address-of-Your-Computer, and Apple iOS devices http://osxdaily.com/2010/08/05/find-iphone-mac-address/.
-The CNS help desk can also put in the ticket and has information on how to get the MAC address.

Thanks,
Frank Dang

CruzID manager web pg down tonight

The cruzID manager website (http://cruzid.ucsc.edu) will be unavailable from 10pm-midnight tonight.

Printing authentication will still work for patrons. Students will not be able to configure or change their CruzID Gold passwords. This is an urgent change from the IDM team.

-Frank Dang

Updated policy regarding double-sided copying

There is no duplex copy support on the Copier services copiers here in the library, automated or manual. This will be fixed when the campus goes to a new copier and payment system, which there is currently a RFP in progress. Duplex will be available again when the new system goes in.

When using the bypass as a manual duplexer more jams will happen. Copier services had to turn off the automated duplex functionality on these copiers due to a compatibility issue between the payment systems and the copiers. Regarding the duplex issue some of the reasons duplex was turned off was because of the impact of support of having jams frequently, the payment issues, reliability and stability.

Elizabeth Cowell is the library contact to work through service issues with Campus Copier and Print services.
Omar will educate the Library ITS students on copier duplexing.

-Frank Dang

IT Help Desk updated schedule

Staffing hours for the McHenry IT Help Desk through 12/10/10:

9/25/10-10/8/10:
Mon: 12pm-midnight
Tues: 2pm-4pm, 9pm-midnight
Wed: 12pm-midnight
Thurs: 2pm-4pm, 9pm-midnight
Fri: 12pm-8pm
Sat: 12pm-7pm
Sun: 12pm-midnight

10/9/10-12/10/10:
Mon-Thurs: 12pm-midnight
Fri: 12pm-8pm
Sat: 12pm-7pm
Sun: 12pm-midnight

The first schedule through 10/8/10 allows for the new students to be trained. The second schedule reflects full staffing.

The main library hours page now lists these hours, as well as the staffing at S & E: http://library.ucsc.edu/hours

IT Help Desk hours for Fall

The Fall Quarter hours for the IT Help Desk in the InfoCommons is:

Monday-Thursday: noon-3pm and 5pm-8pm
Friday: noon-5pm
Saturday: CLOSED
Sunday: noon-3pm and 5pm-8pm

So folks working the 10am-noon Ref Desk shift may get more printing and computing questions.
Some incoming freshmen have their CruzID Gold passwords already, and some do not. So it's always good to ask if they do, as they often just buy a card when they didn't know they could charge printing to their accounts.

New IT Desk hours for McHenry

Omar let us know that they have a new student assistant who will be trained and on the desk, starting Thursday, August 12th. There is a new schedule also, for Summer Session II: Monday-Thursday, 12:45pm-7:45pm. So today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday), there will be no public service coverage.

Call 9-2486 if you need IT Help beyond what we know how to do, or put in a ticket .

Forms on internal site

Some forms on internal.library.ucsc.edu may continue to produce errors on submission. Most staff forms have been migrated to Drupal or elsewhere. The software request form, for example, has been superseded by itrequest (help@ucsc.edu). If you do receive an error when trying to use a form on internal.library, please send a ticket to help@ucsc.edu. We will help you find a newer version of the form or meet your need in another way.

Bryn Kanar
UCSC Library
Web Developer

CNS desk schedule 6/14-18

CNS students will be manning the desks from 9-5 at S&E and 12-8pm at McH from 6/14-6/28. I will have the remainder of the summer schedule published in the next few days.

Thanks,

Omar

Student email: CruzMail to SlugMail

I just had a student ask me if I knew anything about the fact that he couldn't log into CruzMail. Here is the story from the ITS site:

"On April 28, 2010 from 2PM to 6PM, all student email accounts currently using CruzMail, will be automatically switched to SlugMail.

On that day between the hours of 2PM and 6PM, students will no longer be able to login to CruzMail to check and send email. Instead, they will login to SlugMail. Their UCSC email address remains the same."

SlugMail login page:
http://its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/slugmail/

Here is the full news article:

http://its.ucsc.edu/news_and_events/view_news.php?id=523

IT support over Spring Break

Omar let Lucia know that CNS will be providing on-call service only. The students working this week are addressing maintenance issues, but will be checking machines and monitoring paper supplies. We need to call the CNS number, 459-2486, if there are problems.

OCA certificate/"untrusted site" problem

If you are getting calls about "untrusted site" errors from people trying to access OCA, we are working on a permanent solution. In the meantime, people at the reference desk should tell patrons they two choices:

- you can click through and add the exception (there is no security risk)

or

- the patron can download the new root CA http://certs.ipsca.com/Support/hierarchy-ipsca.asp

--
David Meyer
CNS, McHenry Library

CNS desk staffing

CNS will be running a temporary schedule from Jan 5-Jan 10. Students will be staffing both libraries according to the attached pdf file (check your email; copy will be at the desk also) to assist the switch over to the new printing system. Students are undergoing training to assist patrons in setting up their new "CruzID gold" account passwords to accommodate the new printing system and the option of student account billing. There will be no dual coverage support on Tuesday and Thursday from 1-4pm. Please 9-2486 if you need assistance at anytime. Thank you,

Omar Mojaddedi

Antidote to the A4 printing error problem

Frank Gravier gets a gold star for discovering the antidote to the A4 tray error printing problem. When you encounter that error and there is no staff at the IT Help Desk, press 7 (for plain letter) and then enter (next to the number 4 and a left arrow), and the job will print out. It may not stop the A4 error from occurring but at least it doesn't hold up everyone else's print job.

Error code on Info Commons printer

If the IT Desk is not yet open and the printer says "Load MBF A4 Plain" it means that the print job has a setting asking for the bypass "A4" tray. The only way around this problem is to delete that print job, because it will not let any others through. It effectively stops printing for everyone networked to that printer. You can call 9-2486 if no one is staffing the IT help desk and they can delete the print job.