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.

How to use the photocopiers

• Copiers are on the south end of the 2nd floor of McHenry, inside half-wall area
• Color copying is available on 3rd and 4th floor machines for 25 cents per page
• Students pay 8 cents per page for black and white
• Guests pay 15 per page for black and white
• Everyone pays 25 cents per page for color

Student photocopying:

1. Students charging their account pay 8 cents per page for black and white (and 25 cents per page for color, only on 3rd and 4th floors)
2. Touch the screen on the copier (no need to use the kiosk)
3. Username = their CruzID (first part of email address)
4. Password = last 4 digits of their University ID (in the middle between the dashes)
5. Hit OK
6. Click on "charging student account"
7. Hit the "Copy" button to the left of the touchscreen
8. Now patron has access to the control panel
9. When finished, press the "Other Function" button on the left of the touchscreen, then "logout on the touchscreen
10. Important: if student does not logout, someone else can make copies charged to them

Faculty and staff photocopying (or see guest also):

1. Same steps as above but a FOAPAL must be entered to charge
2. Otherwise, use the Guests pass kiosk

Guests/visitors/community/any student not wishing to charge their account (though it will cost students 7 cents more per page this way):

1. Guests pay 15 cents per page for black and white (and 25 cents per page for color, only on 3rd and 4th floors)
2. Follow the instructions on the kiosk to obtain a passcode; only accepts bills, no coins, no charge cards
3. Once code is obtained, touch the copier screen
4. Hit the "Copy" button to the left of the touchscreen
5. Now patron has access to the control panel
6. When finished, press the "Other functions" button on the left of the touchscreen, then "logout on the touchscreen
7. Important: if patron does not logout, someone else can make copies charged to their code

Refilling paper in public copiers

The paper is refilled in all of the public copiers (2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors) by our IT staff and students, not the Campus Copier Program. Report copier service problems to the Campus Copier Program by calling 459-5799.

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.

Student survey publicity

You may notice small thin strips attached to our public stations on the 2nd floor at McH publicizing a student survey. The survey is sponsored by UCSC office of Institutional Research and is part of a statewide survey of students regarding class and lecture size. The survey closes on Feb 10th, at which time these strips will be removed.

The strips say: "Get heard. Take the class and lecture availability student survey @ www.uc-class.org. For a chance to win Nite Owl cookies"

Thanks,

Lucia

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

Tip for Slug Card dispenser and "newer" bills

This worked for a student with a $5 bill that had color and the large image: try putting the bill in the opposite direction from what the bill slot says. It did not work the regular way, but it did this way. I don't know if this works for larger bills but it might.

Handout at Ref Desk explaining printing

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.

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

New 2nd floor copiers: screen message

The new Ricoh copiers have been installed by Copier Services on the 2nd floor. They are no longer free and are back to the normal pricing (15¢ per page when paying with cash, 8¢ per page when using a Slug Copy Card).

The screen on the copier now displays a message (which we are trying to have changed to something more intuitive) that says:

"To use the following function(s), set Key Counter. Copier"

This means:
"The copier is ready to be used, put a Slug Copy Card in the tower to make a copy and have access to the control screen"

It also displays a tiny message at the bottom left of the screen that says:

"Cannot connect with DHCP server. (101) Contact the Administrator."

This means: "I don't have a server to connect with (and won't), so ignore this message."

We are trying to have these either removed or fixed, so stay tuned.

The 3rd floor old copier is currently out of order. The 4th floor old copier is working.

Printing update and clarification

From the public computers, there is no longer a second popup window (that tells the patron how much the print job will be). That changed with the new system, but some did not hear about the change. Macs didn't need the notify acknowledgment, but PCs did, to send the print job. It was a feature of the old
printing system, that we did not implement in the new version. So now all the patron needs to do is name the print job and then pick it up from one of the release stations. They will see the cost when they pick up the print job from the release station (Thanks to Frank Dang for this clarification).

Word documents on public computers

A patron came to the desk before the IT desk was staffed and said her Word 2007 document wouldn't open on PC #7. I called ITS and
Frank said that the PC's do have a concerter pac installed and should automatically open Word 2007 docs. If they don't, have the patron try another PC and report that one by submitting a ticket to ITS. And that's what I did and it worked fine on another PC. So in case this happens to you on a morning watch, that's what to do.

Students accessing their home directory in Info Commons

Periodically a student will ask for help accessing their home directory, which is UCSC server storage space provided to all students, faculty, and staff. Here's how to get to one's personal directory from the PC and MAc stations in the Info Commons:

From Macs:
-go to Fetch (from the dock or finder)
-in the Host Name text box, type: unix.ic.ucsc.edu
-in the User Name text box, type your email login (without @ucsc.edu)
-select SFTP from Connect using the drop-down menu
-type in your password in the Password text box
-select Connect

From PCs:
-go to the Secure Shell page
-select the Secure File Transfer Client icon
-select Quick Connect
-in the Host Name text box, type: unix.ic.ucsc.edu
-in the User Name text box, type your email login (without @ucsc.edu)
-at the prompt, type your password
-select OK