InfoServices January 2002 Announcements

INFORMATION SERVICES
January 2002
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Announcements from the Bulletin, Today, Notification-L

01/31/2002, The Webxx Family
A cluster of services is available to you anytime, anywhere over the Web. These are "WebCal.macalester.edu," "WebFile.macalester.edu" and "WebMail.macalester.edu" (upper/lower case does not matter). These provide access to your CorporateTime calendar, files you have placed on the Academic or Admin servers and your Macalester e-mail account, respectively. Give them a try. Call the HelpDesk at x6525 with questions. [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, Internet Bandwidth: Current Progress, Future Planning
After ten months of prodding our vendors to honor their agreements, we begin the new semester having tripled our bandwidth to the Internet from 3 Megabits per second to 9 Mbps. This is progress, but only incremental progress: we must add more bandwidth (and have proposed doing so as part of current budget negotiations). Given the very high costs involved, we probably will not be able to add more bandwidth during the current fiscal year. If you notice that Internet connection speeds have slowed markedly, it is primarily due to on-campus users downloading large files in large amounts from off-campus sources. Some limits on daytime access from residence halls, coupled with "packet shaping" technology that restricts some forms of traffic (such as MP3s) but not others (such as http), have been deployed to most effectively balance the bandwidth we have. It takes only a couple of users downloading huge files to slow all traffic for all users, and we are therefore working on methods of pinpointing such users so that we can better control this mission-critical resource. An analysis of the problem may be found on the Web at http://www.macalester.edu/infoplan/bandwidth-progress.html [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, Intellectual property conference in April The symposium "Academic Integrity: Collaborating to teach respect for intellectual property," will be held at Macalester Friday, April 5. The symposium, jointly sponsored by Carleton and St. Olaf, will explore the impact of technology, the role of information literacy and the opportunities for collaboration as we strive to teach ethical use of information resources. The symposium is the first in a series of three planned annual sessions relating to information literacy issues. More information will be mailed to faculty in February. [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, Stork sighted over CIT offices Two CIT staff members - Franc Garcia and David Sisk - are looking forward to the birth of babies during the next few months. Both will be taking parental leave at some point. Since we have a small staff to begin with, these absences will increase the workload on our colleagues and may delay responses to your service calls and needs. We ask for your understanding and patience. [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, Vacation messages and forwarding services now available Thanks to some hard work by our networking staff, you have two new options for managing your e-mail more effectively. When you must be away from campus, you can choose to set a "vacation" message. All incoming mail will be received and held for you as usual, but your correspondents will get an automatic response with text you have created. If you will be away for some time and want to check your Macalester e-mail through another e-mail address, you can forward your mail from here to the address of your choice. (Of course, if you do this, the messages will not be retained by Macalester's mail system.) Forwarding is more useful in situations such as a faculty member on sabbatical or a student studying abroad. Both services require a Macalester username and password. Check them out on the Web at http://mail.macalester.edu/ [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, SFX is here! The library is introducing a new service this month called SFX. SFX allows us to link between different databases and enables us to connect users from citations in one database to a full text database. You will notice a new icon that appears when using Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, First Search databases, or any of the Gale (Infotrac) databases. A powerpoint presentation with an overview of this service is available from the library Web site . If you want to learn more, please contact Jean Beccone at x6398. [Bulletin]

01/31/2002, Welcome back from Information Services!
During the holidays and January recess, Information Services departments have been working hard to deal with existing challenges, as well as developing new services for the campus. As we begin the Spring semester, we want to give you a brief summary of major changes and new initiatives in our areas that may affect you. Please share this information with your colleagues, particularly those who may not subscribe to Notification-L. (Of course, anyone at Macalester may subscribe to this list on the Web at http://subscribe.macalester.edu).

* BANDWIDTH. After ten months of prodding our vendors to honor their agreements, we begin the new semester having tripled our bandwidth to the Internet from 3 Megabits per second to 9 Mbps. This is progress, but only incremental progress: we must add more bandwidth (and have proposed doing so as part of current budget negotiations). Given the very high costs involved, we probably will not be able to add more bandwidth during the current fiscal year. If you notice that Internet connection speeds have slowed markedly, it is primarily due to on-campus users downloading large files in large amounts from off-campus sources. Some limits on daytime access from residence halls, coupled with "packet shaping" technology that restricts some forms of traffic (such as MP3s) but not others (such as http), have been deployed to most effectively balance the bandwidth we have. It takes only a couple of users downloading huge files to slow all traffic for all users, and we are therefore working on methods of pinpointing such users so that we can better control this mission-critical resource. An analysis of the problem may be found on the Web at http://www.macalester.edu/infoplan/bandwidth-progress.html.

* VACATION MESSAGES AND E-MAIL FORWARDING. Thanks to some hard work by our Networking staff, you have two new options for managing your e-mail more effectively. When you must be away from campus, you can choose to set a 'vacation' message: all incoming mail will be received and held for you as usual, but your correspondents will get an automatic response with text you have created. For example, you may indicate when you will return, or to whom inquiries should be directed while you're gone. If you will be away for some time, and want to check your Macalester e-mail through another e-mail address, you can forward your mail from here to the address of your choice. (Of course, if you do this, the messages will not be retained by Macalester's mail system.) Forwarding is more useful in "extended absence" situations such as a faculty member on sabbatical or a student studying abroad. Both services require a Macalester username and password. Check them out on the Web at http://mail.macalester.edu/.

* INVENTORY AND PROCUREMENT CHANGES. Our inventory database reveals that the College owns approximately 1,357 desktop computers - slightly more than two computers per employee. The inventory has grown much faster than the number of professional staff available to assist users and service the machines (now approximately 4 persons). This does not include computers owned by students, approximately 80% of whom bring computers to campus (and expect support for them). If we are to provide adequate support for desktop computers, unlimited growth in the number of such computers cannot continue. In cooperation with the Information Services Advisory Committee and in consultation with the Provost, CIT has drafted some guidelines on desktop computer procurement. Most noticeably, the unrestricted use of remaining funds for end-of-year computer purchasing must end. Detailed information is available on the Information Services Planning pages: see http://www.macalester.edu/infoplan/procurement.html.

* PC OPERATING SYSTEM CHANGES. It has been clear for some months that because Microsoft has long since discontinued Windows 98, we must move to a newer PC operating system. But which would be better for Macalester - Windows 2000 or Windows XP? Conflicting information from vendors, mixed reviews from technology sources and skyrocketing costs delayed the decision, but we have determined to go with Windows XP. This OS will be tested in CIT and will start coming out to campus installed on newly-purchased PCs. There are NO plans at this time to retrofit existing PCs with the hardware necessary to upgrade to XP, so if you are currently using Windows 98 (or even 95) on a College-owned PC, don't look for any immediate changes or disruptions.

* SFX IS HERE! The library is now offering a new service, called SFX, that provides enhancements for our online databases. SFX enables us to connect users locating citations in one database to the fulltext content in another database. This service is currently limited to four databases: Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, FirstSearch databases, and the Gale (Infotrac) databases. For more information about using this service, see the library web pages at http://www.macalester.edu/library/. If you want to learn more, please contact Jean Beccone at x.6398 or beccone@macalester.edu. [Notification-L]

01/24/2002, Vacation messages and forwarding services now available
Thanks to some hard work by our networking staff, you have two new options for managing your e-mail more effectively. When you must be away from campus, you can choose to set a 'vacation' message. All incoming mail will be received and held for you as usual, but your correspondents will get an automatic response with text you have created.

If you will be away for some time, and want to check your Macalester e-mail through another e-mail address, you can forward your mail from here to the address of your choice. (Of course, if you do this, the messages will not be retained by Macalester's mail system.) Forwarding is more useful in extended absence situations such as a faculty member on sabbatical or a student studying abroad. Both services require a Macalester username and password. Check them out on the Web at http://mail.macalester.edu/. [Bulletin]

01/24/2002, SFX is here!
The library is introducing a new service this month called SFX. SFX allows us to link between different databases and enables us to connect users from citations in one database to a full text database. You will notice a new icon that appears when using Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, First Search databases, or any of the Gale (Infotrac) databases. A powerpoint presentation with an overview of this service is available from the library Web site (http://www.macalester.edu/library/). If you want to learn more, please contact Jean Beccone at x.6398 or beccone@macalester.edu. [Bulletin]

01/10/2002, Information Services Retreat, Wednesday January 16
All Information Services departments--CIT, Library, Media Services and the Humanities Resource Center--will be closed on Wednesday 1/16 while our staff gather off-campus for a strategic planning retreat. The campus switchboard at x.6000 will remain open, as will the Help Desk in Humanities 310, x.6525 (both staffed with student workers). E-mail, Internet, CARS and network services should not be affected during this day-long retreat. [Notification-L]

01/11/2002, Word vs. WordPerfect
After discussion in various venues over the past four years, we will terminate support for WordPerfect in favor of Word beginning the 2002-03 academic year. See http://www.macalester.edu/cit/announce/122601removal.html for details. Factors include: need to consolidate support resources, market share and compatibility with other applications and Macintosh support. CIT facilitates a user group for those making the transition, publishes documentation found at http://www.macalester.edu/cit/docs. Please contact Bonnie Alexander for details on these services. [Bulletin]

01/11/2002, Wednesday January 16
On that date, the Library and Media Services will be closed and C.I.T. will have minimal services in order that our staff can attend a planning retreat. Thanks in advance for your understanding. [Bulletin]

01/11/2002, Library CLOSED
Wednesday, January 16th, the library will be closed all day for an Information Services staff retreat. The library will also be closed on Monday, January 21st for Martin Luther King Day. [Bulletin]

01/11/2002, SFX is coming!
SFX is a new product that will allow us to seamlessly connect users from one database to another. What this means for you is that a search in Web of Science, and selected other databases, will provide a link to fulltext resources that appear in Project Muse or JSTOR. There are additional features to this new service, and if you want to know more, we will have a sneak preview for faculty and staff during the January 23rd Faculty/Staff Seminar. Register today for your sneak preview at http://www.macalester.edu/cit/services/classes/seminars.html. [Bulletin]

01/11/2002, Book Reading and Discussion by Mary Wingerd
Please mark your calendars now for January 30th at 4:00 p.m. Mary Wingerd, Visiting Professor of History, will read from and discuss her new book, Claiming the City. The reading will take place in the library, in the Harmon Reading Room. Refreshments will also be served. Please join us for an interesting and lively discussion of St. Paul history! [Bulletin]

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