Posts tagged: Technology Issues

New Printers in Reference

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By , July 24, 2008 3:28 pm

The two nasty old printers in the Reference Department that we used to fight and unjam and clean and unjam and fight with more have finally been replaced!

(Insert loud hosanna here!)

The two new printers in Reference are not only new but are industrial-strength and made to handle heavy traffic. They are the same brand as the old ones but are the heavy-duty versions of what we used to have. Since they can handle the duplexing, the default setting for these has been set back to duplex. Instructions on how to print single sided are on the tables in the Reference computer lab.

Nothing else has really changed. They use the same print queue (IL_120_K) and print at least as fast as the old ones. The toner container is larger, which means we don’t have to change it as often. Paper will probably just be kept in the brown cabinet like usual. Since these printers sit on the floor, we’ve removed the table that used to keep a few reams underneath it. Minor operational details may change as we start using the printers more.

When you’re in the area, stop by and see our new arrivals!

Emailing Links to BUFiles

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By , July 21, 2008 12:00 pm

If you want to email a link to a file or a folder on BUFiles, there’s an easy way to do this. Go to the Menu Bar and click on Insert — Hyperlink and then browse to the file or folder you want to link to. You shouldn’t have to select any text to insert the link, but if you have any problems inserting the hyperlink, try highlighting some text first.

Explanation:

Links are tricky things and most links in emails cannot have a space in them. Since Windows 95 we’ve been able to use “long file names” which are useful for organizing and labeling, but which can cause difficulties with links. You can usually substitute a “%20” for the space, since that’s the ASCII code for a blank space, but for some reason Outlook doesn’t want to recognize that. That’s why it doesn’t work to copy and paste the URL from My Computer. When you browse to the file or folder and insert the hyperlink directly, though, Outlook takes care of any formatting and syntax and just makes a link to the object.

New Newspapers

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By , July 1, 2008 2:19 pm

As you may have heard already, we have two new “databases” available as of the first of July.

PressDisplay

PressDisplay.com is the most convenient and complete way to read all
your favorite newspapers and magazines on one site. With Library
PressDisplay users gain access to full-color, full-page publications
from within the library, from home and around the world on the day they
are published. Provides instant access to 650 newspapers from 76 countries in 38 languages!

Wall Street Journal

Available from 1984 to the present. This covers a gap we’ve had between archival coverage in EBSCO databases and the current issue (created by the “moving wall”). This link is for the Eastern edition.

Both of these are listed on the full alphabetical list and the Business and Journalism Subject lists (both webpages and LibGuides). If you would like either of these added to your subject list(s), please let me know.

Scott

LibGuides Link Check – June 2008

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By , June 30, 2008 12:14 pm

Today I ran my semi-irregular link check of all our LibGuides. The result is a report which is basically a list of web pages and all the links on each page that don’t work for whatever reason. Please take some time to check your pages and see if any of your links are dead. Because of how LibGuides is organized, you will need to find your pages based on the “PID” (page ID) for each guide. To make a quick list of your PIDs, just open each of your Guides in turn and write down the PID that shows up in the URL for each one. Every tab within your Guide will have that same PID.

The report is in alphanumerical order, so you should be able to scroll down to each of your PIDs and check for dead links. If your PID is not listed, there are currently no broken links in that Guide.

Notes

  • Links to IM programs that exist on your profile will show up as 404 File Not Found, but you may ignore them.
  • Links that are 503 temporarily overloaded may also be ignored–what you’re interested in is links that are broken.
  • “Forbidden request” links are probably okay as well.
  • You may find an occasional image listed in your link report. If your images are displaying fine, you may ignore these.
  • The page listed with just a PID and no SID is the main page of your Guide. The SIDs refer to the different tabs on your Guide.
  • You may also choose to go through your LibGuide pages and manually check each link, if you find that easier. 🙂

The report is in html format and can be found on BUFiles under the Web & Multimedia folder.

Thanks.
Scott

Public Logons for Laptops

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By , June 13, 2008 3:15 pm

I am pleased to have found out that Information Resources is working on a Guest Wireless system that will allow anyone who comes on campus to get online wirelessly and without any hassle.

Until that system is purchased and implemented, we now have a login to provide people who come to the library from off campus and want to use their own laptops instead of one of our lab computers. People like this may be parents of students or people visiting the campus for other reasons, such as waiting for their children who are rehearsing with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir or that kind of thing.

Login: DawgLib
Pswd: butler08!

Eventually, there will be a system in place for us to change this password whenever we need, which may be weekly or biweekly or maybe after every time we give it out to someone. For now, we will stick with this one password. This information will be kept at the Reference Desk as well as on this blog.

More is needed before people can login, though. To connect to wireless, they’ll have to go through the same process that students do: http://www.butler.edu/ir/cmsExternalDocuments/xp_wireless.pdf and then go to http://NetReg.butler.edu and register. This last site scans their computer and registers their computer’s ID number on our system, which is what allows their computer to “talk” on the Butler network. Once they’ve done these things, they’ll be able to use the login and password we give them and get online.

Scott

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