Author Archives: Doreen Bernier

Microsoft Office 365 brings together Next Generation cloud versions of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online with the familiar Office desktop suite.

EVENT TITLE 
A First Look at Microsoft Office 355

DATE
February 10, 2011

TIME
11:00am -12:00pm EST

WHERE
LIB 105

Launching in the coming months, Office 365 delivers the power of cloud productivity to businesses and organizations of all sizes, helping to save time, money and free up valued resources. Join us live on either Thursday, February 10th for an exciting webcast featuring Todd Sweetser of Microsoft Online Services and Dave Wallen of CGS who will overview the current capabilities of Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity solutions and highlight the most important features and capabilities of the new Office 365.  Webcast participants from qualifying organizations will be eligible for a free Cloud Assessment Engagement from CGS’s Microsoft Cloud Solutions team.

LIS PAYS FOR WINTER GETAWAYS?!

You did hear correctly. LIS is picking up the tab for winter getaways – when your destination is a day-long computer workshop at KnowledgeWave in South Burlington, Vermont. Although not as exotic as basking on a Caribbean beach, you can immerse yourself in a distraction-free learning environment — without the worry of your bathing suit readiness. Need a longer “break”? — enjoy a 30% discount on multi-day sessions. Here are just a few upcoming classes to pique your interest – see go/kwavesched for the complete list of offerings:

Excel 2007 – Level 1: Feb 3, Mar 3, Apr 6

New Features of Office 2007/2010: Feb 2, Mar 1, Apr 4

Photoshop CS5 – Level 1: Mar 31-Apr 1

Illustrator – Level 1: Apr 14-15

InDesign – Level 1: Mar 31

Updating your Technology Skills from Win XP to Win 7: Mar 23-25

Please e-mail helpdesk@middlebury.edu to request your getaway or to learn more.

Student Printing Allotments to Roll-Over

Students…

I am writing with good news concerning your print quota.  Based on student feedback, we have decided that you will be able to roll over your print allowance from term to term until you graduate (or depart) from Middlebury.

This means that the amount you have in your account as of the end of May will be added to your fall quota.  A first year student who ends the spring term with $5 in her account will have $30 upon her arrival on campus for the fall semester.  A fourth-year student with $1 in his account will start the fall with $51.  For those attending Language Schools, you will see the roll-over appear in your summer allotment.

We hope this change to our policy will help make the new printing policy less expensive for you, as it will allow you to cover the costs of printing for a print-heavy year with savings you might enjoy in a year when you have less printing.

Best wishes,

Michael Roy
Dean of Library and Information Services

Trivial Pursuit Fundraiser!

The Answer is H.O.P.E.

Monday, April 26, 7:00 pm

Two Brothers Lounge & Stage

$40 per team (4 people per team max.)

10% of all food and beverage sales go to HOPE!

1 Prize for the winner of each of two rounds, and a grand prize!

Door prizes include items from: Vermont Soap Organics, HOPE RetroWorks, Beau Ties and more!

Sign-up in advance by calling Bob Buckeye, HOPE board chair at 388-4227, or at the door

This Pursuit is NOT Trivial!  Thank you for your support!

EDUCAUSE Live! Web Seminar

Spotlight on Cloud Computing Series—Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing

Speakers: John L. King, Professor of Information, School of Information and Vice Provost for Academic Information, University of Michigan
Date: March 18, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m.

Location:  Axinn 229

More information on this free, hour-long EDUCAUSE Live! Web Seminar can be found on the event web site, Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing.

Announcement of change in LIS Screening Policy

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing to let you know of a change in LIS support for film and video screenings that will go into effect for the Spring 2010 semester. Due to staffing and budget reductions in LIS, we are no longer able to provide projectionist assistance for screening videos in DVD, VHS and Laserdisc formats.

Nothing will change for regularly scheduled screenings in Dana, Twilight Aud., and AXN 232. LIS will continue to hire student projectionists to support screenings in these rooms, and you should continue to send your screening schedules to LibReserves, and the Helpdesk as early as possible before the start of the semester to schedule screenings and place DVDs on reserve. This also means that any 16mm and 35mm screenings will run through LIS. The new LIS website, when it launches, will provide an on line request form which will streamline your process for making these requests.

LIS will not support “impromptu screenings” with less than 1 week’s notice. We will need at least a week’s lead time to support any screenings that have not been scheduled at the beginning of the semester.

For all screenings in rooms besides Dana, Twilight, and AXN 232, it will now be faculty’s responsibility to run the screening or arrange for a student screener. You should still place your DVD titles on reserve via the LibRes email box – include the date/time of each DVD title to be screened so that LIS can “book” the title for your screening, effectively blocking others from checking them out prior to your screening. You should contact Stewart Lane (wlane@middlebury.edu) if you need to be trained on the projection equipment in a given room.

Faculty who cannot attend their screening should plan to hire a student in the class to serve as projectionist.  This will be run through the department, as with other student workers. LIS Staff members will not be available to run screenings, except for exceptional circumstances. If you will have a designated student screener, you can email Stewart Lane (wlane@middlebury.edu) if you would like them to be trained. You should also email the name(s) of your designated student screeners to Circulation Services library_circulation@middlebury.edu, so that the student screeners can be granted the appropriate loaning privileges.

While we understand that this is an inconvenience for faculty, the reality is that at our present staffing levels Media Services simply cannot dedicate the time to scheduling and training students at the level they have been. LIS is committed to hiring and training student assistants to staff the Helpdesk during the day and in the evenings so that in the case of difficulties with equipment, there is always someone available to come to the screening location to assist.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this issue, and if you have any suggestions for how we can improve this process.

Sincerely,

— mike

Michael Roy

Dean of Library and Information Services

User Services Goal – Establish SLAs with User Services/LIS

Goal:  Establish and publish Service Level Agreements (SLA) with every service point within User Services. The scope of this effort may extend beyond User Services in specific cases.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) do not currently exist in an official capacity within User Services between our service points.  In addition this particular goal spans beyond User Services and spills over into an overall LIS scope.  Establishing SLAs between Workgroups will promote understanding, create efficiencies, and improve cross-teaming with Workgroups and within LIS.

Deliverable:  

  • Establish agreements between identified Workgroups.
  • Two party negotiations toward agreement(s)
  • Rules established
  •  Each party will self-regulate their commitments
  •  Map-out key deliverables:

 Service provided:

  1. Establish conditions and rules
  2. Establish escalation paths
  3. Establish responsibilities of both parties
  4. Cost versus service trade-offs
  5. How will service effectiveness be tracked/measured?
  6. How will problems be resolved?
  7. How will parties review and adjust SLAs

Implementation

  • Open-up communication channels
  • Conflict prevention between groups and service points
  • Living document(s) to be reviewed periodically and adjusted as needed
  • Objective tool to determine service effectiveness
  • Establish the framework to be used: May 15, 2010
  • Identify parties to participate in this effort: June 15, 2010.
  •  Outreach to our partners to be completed by: August 15, 2010
  •  SLA drafts reviewed and accepted by participating groups: September 15, 2010
  •  SLAs published and communicated to organization:  October 15, 2010

 Outcome:  

  • Open-up communication channels
  • Conflict prevention between groups and service points
  • Living document(s) to be reviewed periodically and adjusted as needed
  • Objective tool to determine service effectiveness

Delivery:   

  • Establish the framework to be used: May 15, 2010
  • Identify parties to participate in this effort: June 15, 2010.
  • Outreach to our partners to be completed by: August 15, 2010
  • SLA drafts reviewed and accepted by participating groups: September 15, 2010
  • SLAs published and communicated to organization: October 15, 2010

Resources:  

  • Each group must be identified and engaged  to participate in this effort
  • Sponsorship from Area Directors and Dean should be present before effort begins
  • Assigned representation from each group identified
  • SLA process owner established (PM)

Viability:   

  • Goal is achievable
  • Organization must establish proper agreements between groups to create needed efficiencies and promote better cooperation.
  • Goal consists of working across groups and departments; within sub groups in User Services first.
  • Establishing SLA between two parties is time consuming; effort will take time.
  • Barriers are centered around buy-in and clear direction/sponsorship from leadership.