toner needed in alumni room

An alumnus stopped by my office to say that the printer in the alumni room needs toner. I have put in a help desk request. The request was made about 5:50 p.m. so I don't know if it will be done today. Rita

Databases are Down

The database of databases has crashed. Systems is working on the problem. In the meantime, you will not be able to connect to any of our datases. We will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Databases can still be accessed from links to them on other pages in the web site, such as the subject guides.

Requesting books in CUNY libraries

I've added a new page to the wiki: Requests. This page details the new intra-CUNY borrowing service. I've updated references in other pages in the wiki for "recalls" and "holds" with "requests," as this is the prefered terminology for this service.

As you'll see, this new page is a bit lengthy. As always, feel free to edit it.

Library services to CUNY Online BA students

Joe and I have been working on a new page in the wiki: CUNY Online BA Students. This page details the library privileges that students in this new program have.

I have been slowly working on adding such information for each of the categories of users we have here. You can see a full list of different types of users on the User Categories page. Please help by adding any information you know to these pages. If you can add the raw content to the page, I can format it later.

I am trying to get each of the user category pages to have the same format:

• Introduction (defining the user, links to relevant web pages, etc.)
• Library Privileges (divided into two subsections, one detailing what that user has, the other listing what the user doesn't have).

Filming Today

For the filming today in the library we have temporarily removed the "No Cell Phones" signs.

Student Lockers on Campus

Starting Sept. 5th, students can rent lockers for the Fall 2006 semester through the Athletics & Recreation Center (ARC).

For campus location of lockers, see the wiki entry: http://newmanlibrary.pbwiki.com/Lockers

Library Credit Courses, Fall 06 semester

This is the Fall 2006, credit course schedule. The online schedule had a mistake in the room Lib1015 is being taught in room 130. All other courses are being taught in 135. This has been corrected but may appear differently on students' registration. Signs have been posted in 130 and 135.

ROOM 130
LIB 1015, Information Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, Prof. Pollard, Tuesday & Thursday, 11:10am-12:25pm

ROOM 135
Lib 1016, Information Research in Business, Prof. Ellis
Tuesday & Thursday, 6:00pm-7:15pm

Lib 3010, Economics of Information, Prof. Liu
Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30pm-3:45pm

LIB 3020, Principles of Information Retrieval, Prof. Shelfer
Monday & Wednesday, 6:00pm-7:15pm

LIB 3040, Information in Society, Prof. Bornstein
(COM 3040, PAF 3040)
Monday & Wednesday, 3:20pm-4:35pm

Temporary Computer Lab Closure

The computer lab on the 6th floor is temporarily closed. The reference desk is awaiting update from the BCTC help desk on this closure.

New way to use vendor card printer

With the arrival of new PCs this week across from the circulation desk (specifically, the PCs that require users to stand to use them) comes a new and simpler way to send jobs to the vendor card printer. On these new machines, there is no longer a desktop icon to "activate vendor printer." Here is how users can send print jobs:

1. User opens browser and logs in with a user name and password (same as before).
2. There is no more "activate vendor printer" icon to double-click after logging in (this is new).
   
3. When user is ready to print a selected document, they must go to the "File>Print" command (same as before).
4. In the Print dialog box that opens, user selects "vendor card printer" from the choice of two printers (same as before).
5. Upon clicking "Print" the job is sent to the vendor card printer. No window opens up prompting the user to name the print job and enter a user name (this is new).
6. User goes to the vendor card printer, inserts copy card, and is prompted to enter a user name. Users must now skip this request by hitting the "Enter" key on the keyboard (this is new, as previously the system required the user to type in a user name).
7. The user sees a list of all the print jobs sitting in the vendor card printer system (this is new, as previously the user only saw the jobs he/she sent).
8. User selects his/her job from the list, clicks the "Print" button on the screen, and the cost of the job is debited from the copy card (this is the same).
   

In case of the PCs where users may sit down (the ones at the carrels), the process of printing is slightly different:

• for PCs that don't require the user to login to the web browser (the 8 machines behind the reference desk, the ones to the left of the spiral staircase, and 3 or 4 to the right of the staircase), steps 3-8 above still hold true
• for PCs that do require the user to login to the web browser (the machines at the reference desk and a few of the ones to the right of the staircase by the men's room), the process is mostly the old one. There is still a desktop icon to activate the vendor printer. This icon must be selected after the user logs in to the web. Once the user clicks "Print" to send the job to the vendor card printer, he/she will be asked to name the job and type in a user name. After sending the job, the user can follow steps 6-8.

As the staff from Systems install new PCs in the sit-down locations, the steps to print on those machines will likely become the same as the steps for the stand-up locations. It is probably a good idea to get a copy card and try the system out for yourself to see how it works; that may clarify what I was trying to convey in this long post.

Graphing calculators for fall 2006

The library has 350 calculators that Baruch undergrad students may borrow for the entire fall semester. The library will distribute 50 calculators at a time on a first-come, first-served basis as follows:

• August 30: 10:30 am and 7:00 pm
• August 31: 10:30 am and 7:00 pm
• September 1: 10:30 am and 3:30 pm
• after Sept. 1, any remaining calculators will be distributed on Sept. 5 starting at 9:30 am

Before getting in line on the 3rd floor to borrow a calculator, students must first go to the circulation window on the main floor of the library and show a copy of their eSIMS schedule of classes or a bursar's receipt.

Computer-written financial news articles

A post on the Techdirt blog noted a recent Financial Times story that detailed plans by Thomson Financial to automate the process of churning out short news articles about company earnings reports.

Internet Explorer 7 will have built-in feed reader

The forthcoming IE7 browser will have a feed reader for RSS built right in. As you can see from this screenshot from Microsoft's page about IE7, you can view posts to feeds you've subscribed to from a drop-down box in the browser toolbar. The box allows you to toggle between your favorites (bookmarks), your RSS feeds, and your browser history.

Found here on davidrothman.net (David Rothman is a medical librarian in Syracuse, NY, with a newish and informative blog).

Pew Hispanic Center issues report re impact of immigrants at the state level on employment of native-born workers

Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center that examines data during the boom years of the 1990s and the downturn and recovery since 2000. No consistent pattern emerges to show that native-born workers suffered or benefited from increased numbers of foreign-born workers. The study was released Tuesday.

Problem with accessing CCH Accounting Research Manager from home and on campus

Tonight a professor e-mailed me wondering if there is a problem with accessing CCH Accounting Research Manager from home as he was denied access. I also was unable to access the database from here on campus. I have sent an e-mail to Saad and Mike about the problem.

I'll be gone Thursday so I hope it is resolved. I'll be checking my e-mail.

Rita

WorldCat on the web...for free!

The free version of WorldCat (at WorldCat.org) is now up and running. OCLC has the background info here; Lorcan Dempsey, VP and Chief Strategist at OCLC, has additional details on this post on his blog.

Internet Connectivity - Fiber Outage at CUNY

Internet connectivity from Baruch and other campuses is sporadic. It may be heat related. See excerpts from emails below:
Dark Fiber ring is a fiber optic network by which some campuses connect to the Internet. If it is not working campuses may experience a diminished ability or inability to connect. (Curtis Kendrik).
As CIS and NYSERnet engineers continue to work to restore connectivity to the Dark Fiber ring, reports indicate that at least some connectivity, via Fiber or ATM has been restored to all but two of the fiber campuses, Baruch and BMCC. Work continues to restore full service.
(James Haggard, CUNY IT Steering Committee)

Remote access issues with Thomson Research

From home last night, I noticed a problem with Thomson Research. After logging in via EZ Proxy and getting a search screen in Thomson Research, I found that running any sort of a search was unsuccessful and generated an error message on the Thomson Research screen. Another bit of weirdness is that the default screen that I saw after logging in was not the sample company info for Thomson Corp, but instead a search screen. On campus access, though, seems to be fine for this database.

I've e-mailed Mike to let him know about this problem.

Marquis's Who's Who database

Inconsistent access to Who's Who. Problem reported to Mike.

David