Beginning in December, Chris Norris will be offering a series of Google Analytics workshops for LIS staff. These workshops will cover the basics of how Google Analytics works and how this data can be used to better understand (and help improve) the online services that we provide to the community. The first workshop will be held on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 in Davis Family Library 105 from 1:30p to 2:30p. If you are interested in attending, please email Chris at cnorris@middlebury.edu.
For many years, the Bread Loaf School of English has been using a mail/conferencing system called FirstClass. FirstClass was one of the first ‘bulletin boards’ to develop a graphic user interface and the BLSE has used this technology for mail, course conferences, support of the Bread Loaf Teachers Network and general discussion conferences. Until last May, the server running the FirstClass server software was located on campus and supported by the Enterprise and Network Solutions group.
Last May, LIS decided to outsource the administration and support of this server to WhatIf Networks, a company based in Westbrook, ME that has years of experience supporting FirstClass servers. The cut over of services took place just before the beginning of the 2010 BLSE summer sessions. At the conclusion of the summer classes, we began planning to upgrade the server to a newer version of the software, from version 8.0 to version 9.1. One of the driving factors in this decision was the increasing number of requests of the BreadNet community to access their mail and conferences from smart phones (particularly iPhones) and iPads. Our upgrade now makes this possible and we have a number of happy smart phone users.
However, to prepare for the upgrade, it was necessary to reconfigure the roughly 1000 user desktops so that the upgraded client view was clean and uncluttered. Caroline Eisner, the director of Breadnet; Margaret ‘Mugs’ Johnson of WhatIf Networks and Shel Sax worked over the weekend reconfiguring the user desktops in preparation for the upgrade. The upgrade was effected late Saturday afternoon, November 20th and the new software installed without incident
After the upgrade, a typical FirstClass client desktop looks like this:
Annual Food Shelf Drive
November 15-23
Donation Box Located in Staff Room
Middlebury College owns nearly 3,000 computers. But what happens to them when their days are done?
http://middmag.com/2010/10/behind-the-scenes-%E2%80%9Cgraveyard-shift%E2%80%9D/
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
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!
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.
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.
LIS Staff Middlebury Community MiddPoints
