INFORMATION
SERVICES
September 2001
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to Information Services
Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L
9/28/2001Calendar is available to you Our new shared, online calendar is available to you and the "how to" page is a handy way of getting started. Go to www.macalester.edu/cit/docs/howto/corporatetime/ .
9/28/2001MyInfo enhancements
Macalester’s MyInfo portal has been updated to include several new features.
If you haven’t yet created your MyInfo account, visit
Here is what’s new in MyInfo:
•A new tab appeared in MyInfo a few weeks back-the "MyCalendar" tab. We think this feature will be of particular interest to students but also useful for staff and faculty. MyCalendar lets you customize a calendar of the campus events that are of interest to you-sports, theater, lectures, music, and others.
•The Today from the Dean of Students Office is now available online on your MyNews page. You can even select which of the "Today" categories you want included.
•This one will make many of our users happy! We’ve added the ability for each user to customize the layout of each of their pages-that is, the order in which the different categories or "channels" appear on the page. So, for example, if you’re not interested so much in the "Web Site of the Week" on the MyWeb page, you can move it to the bottom and move your personal links to the top. To check out this feature, log in to your MyInfo account and click on the "Customize" tab. From there, select the "Page Layout/Channels" link under General Settings.
•And on the MyLibrary page, we’ve added the ability to do a CLICnet keyword search from within MyInfo. We’ve included the ability to add links under "Library Catalogs" to the online public catalogs for the University of Minnesota libraries, MnLINK, the Library of Congress and most of the local public library systems.
If you have comments or suggestions about MyInfo, please use the Comments form within the MyInfo system or send e-mail to myinfo@macalester.edu.
9/28/2001URL improvement plan The Web Management Team has approved a plan to eliminate abbreviated and truncated Web site names for departments and offices, and to discontinue the use of the tilde (~) character in Web site addresses for departments, offices and groups. Implementation of the plan is in progress. Abbreviated/truncated site names are a holdover from a time when we were limited to eight characters in a site name. Site names are no longer subject to this eight character limit. Web sites with abbreviated names such as philosop, intrnshp, and admissns would be easier for Web visitors to locate if the names were spelled out. The URL Improvement Plan will replace abbreviated/truncated site names with names that are more descriptive and complete. Personal Web sites for faculty, staff and students will still use the ~username convention. New site names will be selected in consultation with departments. There will be an extended timeline for implementation of the plan to allow departments to update internal web site links and make changes to print publications, business cards, etc. Assistance from the Web Coordinator will be available for all aspects of the transition. To find out more information and see example URLs, refer to the Web Information and Services Web site at www.macalester.edu/web/uip or contact Sara Suelflow at Suelflow@macalester.edu or x6307.
9/28/2001HelpLine problem As we reported on Friday, Sept. 21, through Notification-L, HelpLine is the Help Desk’s central database system that keeps track of problems reported, details of what has gone wrong, contact information, etc. Late on Thursday, Sept. 20, the HelpLine server suffered a hard-drive failure. Replacement hardware has been installed and we are now working to restore the data that had been recorded in HelpLine. It appears that some data may not be restorable from our backups. This means that some HelpLine tickets—particularly problems reported before 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20—may be lost. If you wish to check on the status of a problem you had reported to the Help Desk, please call x6525 and we will see if that problem has been recovered. If it has not, we will ask you for information so that it can be re-recorded and assigned to the correct person for resolution. We regret the inconvenience and frustration this situation may cause you (as well as ourselves).
9/28/2001Need a number? The most up-to-date directory of extensions and e-mail addresses of staff, faculty and students is on our on-line directory. Go to the Macalester homepage and click on Directory. Check it out! If you find any discrepancies, call Human Resources at x6280. If you can’t find a department or person, call the campus switchboard at x6000.
9/28/2001Calling all honors students The Library is offering special research method sessions for honors students. Students should be directed to sign up at the Reference Desk, x6618. Two times are available: 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, or 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6. The sessions will cover services available to honors students, including the ability to place interlibrary loan requests directly via the FirstSearch database system. Students will also be able to sign up for individual consultations on their research topics with library staff. Please encourage honors students in your department to sign up for one of these sessions. Please direct questions to Dave Collins at collins@macalester.edu.
9/21/2001What are they doing?Please have a look at the annual goals and work plan for the Information Services departments at <www.macalester.edu/infoplan>. Your advice on these and other projects would be appreciated.
9/21/2001More calendaring demosThere will be a demonstration of our new online calendar, CorporateTime, at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the Weyerhaeuser Board Room. We think you will find it useful to attend. See <www.macalester.edu/cit/docs/howto/corporatetime/> to get started on your own. There will also be training classes for CorporateTime during Fall Break. Watch for future announcements.
9/21/2001Computer purchases: institutional or personal? If you wish to purchase computer hardware or software with college funds—e.g. departmental budgets or grant funds—those items will be owned by the college. Contact David Sisk in CIT at x6745 to discuss and initiate such purchases. If you wish to purchase computer hardware with personal funds, these items will become your own property: contact Bonnie Alexander in CIT at x6527. CIT no longer sells software for personal use. This service has been taken over by the Highlander store in the lower level of the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center. The store can be reached at x6688.
9/21/2001Aufwiedersehen, dialup server Macalester’s dialup server was disconnected July 1. At that time, PPP accounts ceased to function. If you have not already done so, PPP users are encouraged to open an account with an Internet service provider (ISP) of your choice for home-based Internet access. If you wish, we will be happy to send you a AT&T Global Services CD-ROM. This service offers a world-wide network of dial-up phone numbers, reliable service and a small discount for Macalester users. Full information on the 2-year timeline of the decision on dial-up service may be found on CIT’s web site at www.macalester.edu/cit/announce/051601dialup.html.
9/21/2001JSTOR faculty
workshop Project
JSTOR's next workshop, "Creating Partnerships,Creating Scholarship: Strengthening
Research, Teaching and Learning with Effective Use of Electronic Resources"
will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday, Oct.19, at Radisson Hotel and
Conference Center, Plymouth, Minn. This year’s workshop includes several sessions
on evaluating assignments and developing learning outcomes. In addition, there
will be poster sessions on the 12 regional grant-funded Faculty/Librarian Instructional
Partnerships. This workshop is sponsored by Project JSTOR with funding provided
by the Bush Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. If you are interested
in a copy of the conference brochure, you will find a pdf formatted copy available
at <www.mnprivatecolleges.com/projectjstor/2001Brochure.pdf>.
The college has two travel grants available to cover registration costs for
interested faculty. Registration must be completed by Oct. 5. If interested
in attending, please contact Terri Fishel, at x6343 or Jean Beccone, x6398.
9/21/2001Placing Holds Using New CLICnet CLIC is experiencing some
intermittent technical difficulties with placing holds on materials in the new
system. If you see that copies are available and you place a hold, material
should be available within 48 hours. You can check your patron record for the
status of your request. You may select "Go to Your patron record" from the main
search screen, or go directly to clicnet.clic.edu/patroninfo.html. You need
all the digits of your barcorde and your name. Items will be listed by "number
checked out" and "holds." The material will be listed under "holds" and when
available for pickup, it will state "ready for pickup" with your pickup location.
Please be sure to contact the library if you do not receive a notice within
five working days. If you are having problems, please contact the reference
desk at x6618 or the circulation desk at x6610 or use our electronic request
for assistance form at <www.macalester.edu/library/askus/>.
9/21/2001Remote access to library online services Remote access is for Macalester staff, faculty and students who are located off campus and wish to access the subscriptions services provided through the library. For off-campus users, you must have an internet service provider in order to connect to the campus Web site. We provide two links on the main library page at <www.macalester.edu/library> that will directly connect you. See our Web page on remote access <www.macalester.edu/library/remote.html> for more information. We have just completed loading the information for our current list of patrons. If you have problems accessing library services via remote access, please contact the Library Computer Lab help desk at x6538 during library hours or send Ron Joslin an e-mail at <joslin@macalester.edu>.
9/21/2001Best sellers and current topicsYou will find a copy of Lani Guinier’s recent publication, Lifting Every Voice, in the Best Seller Collection location in the Harmon Room. Our collection of best sellers and current topics is growing, but the library would like to further expand our collection to include international and multicultural best sellers. If you have a title you would like to suggest for consideration for purchase, please use our feedback form located at <www.macalester.edu/library/forms/feedback.html> to submit a title.
9/21/2001Sponsoring an author or booktalk?The library would like to hear from you if you are sponsoring a book talk or author on campus. With enough prior notice we can obtain a copy or copies of the author’s publication(s) to have available in the library for interested students, faculty and staff. Please contact Deb Kerkvliet at <kerkvliet@macalester.edu> if you want to share information about your event.
9/21/2001Impact on library deliveriesThe events of last week have had an impact on delivery of book shipments and periodicals to the library. Please be advised that "rush orders" and daily newspapers as well as weekly magazines may arrive later than normal.
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