Check this out! New toy on the Reference FF browser

Hey Librarians,
You may have noticed the leaf icon next to the URL address bar in the Firefox Browser.
The leaf button is Sage, which is a lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator extension for Mozilla Firefox. Click on it and a sidebar opens up, with a list of blogs and other sites that are rss-equipped. I have stocked the list with blogs mostly from library land. Feel free to add more feeds.
Enjoy!,
-Eugene

Monitor Morte

One of the reference computer monitors won't turn on (for me, at least). Third row back, first computer (closest to printers). It seems to be plugged in and the hard drive is on.

Help?!

Shana

Don Miller Request

Retired UofR professor, Don Miller, called to request that we find an email address for Alexandra Kleeberg. What I found is: alexandra.kleeberg@gmx.de. His phone line has been busy; I will keep trying, but should he call back in the meantime...

Shana

Jones Computer Center Summer Hours

The lab is located in the southern-most trailer (closest to Hedco and Gregory Halls) between the Library and Lewis Hall. Open Monday-Thursday 8:00am-10:00pm, Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, and closed Saturday & Sunday.

Music Education Materials

Hello all,

Students from Kathy Hickey’s May Term class will be coming in asking for the music education kits. These kits are the ones shelved behind the circulation desk on the bottom shelf in boxes and crates. They are boxed by grade level so the students should be able to tell you the grade they want. They can check out one box or crate at a time and should use the materials in the library. They can take the items to the music room and spread things out on the table. Thanks in advance for your assistance in helping the students find and use these materials.

Thanks,

Verletta

Wilson Trials

I bookmarked the Wilson page on the reference computer for our free trials of Art Museum Image Gallery, Biography Reference Bank, and Book Review Digest Retrospective. Check'em out.

JSTOR cookies...

Unfortunately not edible. A student had trouble getting in to JSTOR this afternoon, as did I when I made the same attempt. The message for why this happened said something about cookies not being properly enabled, or some such matter, the exact wording of which eludes me at present. Suffice it to say, students may have trouble getting in to JSTOR through our website. However, it can be accessed through the JSTOR website, and it can also be accessed by closing the window and then clicking on "JSTOR" in the databases list again, which for whatever reason seems to clear things up. Verletta believes something in our firewall may have changed and is planning to politely investigate said change with IT. In the meantime, it seems to be fairly easily gotten around.

Course Reserves- URSB & Chemistry

Denise asked that I post the following information about two potentially tricky course reserves.

MGMT 304 – Managerial Assessment and Development
http://library.uor.edu/search/r?SEARCH=mgmt
This School of Business class will be taught on a continuous basis (if enough students are enrolled). It’s currently listed under SPEE & Others, but will be taught by various instructors. All Reserve materials are shelved under SPEE.

CHEM 132 – General Chemistry
http://library.uor.edu/search/r?SEARCH=chem
Spring 2008: There are multiple instructors for this course. There are 5 copies of a text for the final (study guide) on the shelf under WACKS.

Crafton Hills Students & Electronic Databases

I had two Crafton Hills students working at the reference computers this afternoon who wanted me to log them into the electronic databases. I informed them that the databases are only for our students and faculty (contractual agreements, etc.). They told me that someone working last night logged them in. I apologized several times, explained our agreement with Crafton Hills (to my knowledge), and did not give them access.

I am happy to work with them at the reference desk in those databases that allow walk-in usage. But we need to ask faculty, staff, and student workers at the library to be consistent in our electronic database policies.

Printer Jams

Today the back printer is jamming continually. I have removed the jam about four times but once it begins printing again, it gets stuck. I have left a voice message for Linda and placed the out of order sign on it for the time being.

Invalid Logins for MBA Students

We are experiencing a recurrance of a problem we had at the beginning of last semester in which new students cannot log into the databases using their UoR IDs and passwords, even though they are able to successfully use these IDs and passwords for e-mail, etc.

How it behaves: The student types in his ID and password on the left-hand side of the proxy server login screen, but the password keeps jumping into the barcode field on the right-hand side of the screen. He then gets a big red message on top of the screen telling him his data is invalid.

The cause: The student's UoR ID (firstname_lastname) is for some reason missing from the patron record.

The solution: Add the student's ID (firstname_lastname) to the E-MAIL ADDRESS field of the patron record from the UPDATE PATRON RECORD screen. The code for the field to be added is "z."

Double-Sided Printing on ARM Ref 1

The Jones folks came and fixed the ARM Ref 1 printer this morning so that it will print double-sided. They said that it wasn't working because the little blue switch inside the paper tray was not set on standard. Apparently if this switch is moved when loading paper, it screws everything up. They got it to work fine so keep an eye on it! Hopefully the solution really was that simple.

More Printer Woes

Now when I try to change the computers in the back two rows to print to the front printer, nothing will print at all. We just receive the error message "Document failed to print". The first two computers in the third row and the first computer in the last row have all experienced this problem. I have called and left a message for Linda asking her to look into this...

Shoot 'em Up Printer

The back printer in reference was making a delightful machine gun sounding noise this morning while printing. Donald came to have a look and said that one of the gears on the printer was broken and someone from HP will need to come and fix it. So, we are down to a single printer in the reference area for the time being...

NetAdvantage

The first time the student logs in, the NetAdvantage page asks for a login and password. If you just close the window and choose NetAdvantage again from the databases list, it works fine the second time.

Update on Printing

Bill reports that ArmRef2 (the back printer) is now working and routes the way a reasonable person would expect: ArmRef2 for single-sided, ArmRef2-DoubleSided for double-sided. ArmRef1 (the front printer) works the same way for single-sided but still has that manual feed problem for double-sided. Now, however, we can advise students to route to ArmRef2-DoubleSided instead of messing with the Finishing Tab, etc.

So, some improvement. Meanwhile, they know what is causing the manual feed problem; it's just a question of getting someone up here to reset it.

BRIDE OF Duplex Printing

The current state of the congeries is as follows:

First two rows of reference: Regular printing normal. To print double-sided, you must do the dance described in "SON OF Duplex Printing" below: choose Armref-1, choose Properties, go to the Finishing Tab, and specify double-sided. Choosing Armref-1 Double-Sided will jam the printer, after which the only solution is to turn it off to clear the print queue. (All jobs awaiting print must then be resubmitted.)

Last two rows of reference: Printer out of order. Routing to Armref-1 WILL NOT WORK. You must do here exactly what you should NOT do in the first two rows: Choose Armref-1 Double-Sided, which prints double-sided copies without incident. If you don't want double-sided, you're out of luck.

Whew.

Vietnam: It Still Isn't Over

Jim Sandos' Vietnam class is looking for maps of wartime administrative divisions and military regions, and Bill reports that our usual reference source is MIA. He recommends the following site:

http://www.rjsmith.com/viet-mr-map.html

The Return of Historical Statistics and BUS 126

Hi All,

I am sure that everyone is thrilled that BUS 126 and the need for historical statistics has returned. Actually there is now a link to online historical statistics through the Census Bureau. Hooray! Here it is:

http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html

I still like to use the print volumes, but for those students who want/need the online version, I hope this will help.

Susan

Addendum: This particular iteration of the assignment requires them to use WEB SITES ONLY, so none of the previous print sources will work. So far we have had some luck going into Google Advanced Search and limiting the domain to .gov sites.

AK