LIS Suggestions

Printing & Network in Axinn Center

Terry Simpkins — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:22:45 +0000

I am very frustrated with the printing and internet systems in Axinn Center. The internet is such that, if more than 3 people are simultaneously using the internet in Abernethy Room, even simple internet pages take forever to load, and that irritating “Could not join [insert network name here]. A connection timeout occurred” message appears. This needs to be fixed. This is one of the newest academic building son campus, and it does not have adequate internet access?! That is absurd. Also, the Papercut system in Axinn needs to be completely rebooted. The Axinn 105 printer is never responsive, and students must always go to the Davis library or another location. This is very inconvenient and frustrating. The wireless infrastructure in Axinn is is desperate need of major upgrades.

Ethan Sivulich

PaperCut

Terry Simpkins — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:58:22 +0000

Papercut is horrendous. Clunky, slow, frustrating. Why can’t we choose a printer, how many copies and upload a document on the same page? Why does it take forever to submit? I know the size of the file makes a huge difference, but even reasonable ones often take a long time. So many students interact with this website. Investing time and money in a new, more streamlined, more reliable website would make a big difference to me and I don’t even print very often.

Anna Ready-Campbell

New acquisitions lists in MIDCAT

Terry Simpkins — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:14:25 +0000

I miss the old way that MIDCAT organized the ‘new acquisitions’ lists by the month. The new format, with the covers of the various library acquisitions, looks nice but it’s not very useful for browsing. I think it would be very handy to be able to sort the list by acquisition type — e.g, book, DVD, music CD, score, map, etc.

Mike Sheridan

Energy Pod

Terry Simpkins — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:15:14 +0000

I’ve seen people pioneering the fractional ownership of that thing. Remember: it’s not just a piece of furniture but an “experience”, a “ride” you can sell, like how you sell Disney rides.

The stuff costs about $8,000 all included, then you can sell it at $5 – 7 an hour (a zipcar sells at $8 – 16 an hour plus tax). You tell people: take a nap starting from $2.5, with exam discounts. Trust me, people are gonna do it, and you’re there to make a profit. If you don’t believe me, fine, I’ll ask my dad to buy one tomorrow and put it in his office and then buy a charge machine beside it, see what happens.

Heintz Sun

ERes link

Terry Simpkins — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:39:58 +0000

This is ridiculous. I can’t find E-Res. I’ve found it before, and I’m sure I’ll find it again in the next few minutes. But it’s silly that E-res is on on the list of quick links or main subtopics like ‘research’ and ‘borrowing’.

Mike Sheridan

No smoking

Carrie Macfarlane — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:16:30 +0000

College policy forbids smoking within doorways and entrances of buildings. And while the library has done a fine job of informing folks of this policy by signs posted at the front entrance, it does (and public safety does) a poor job at following through with violations to this policy. In addition, I find it rather ironic that next to the sign that says “do not smoke here” there is a cigarette butt disposal can.

Please remove these cans from the building entrance and enforce the policy.

[From John]

Gmail vs MS Exchange

Carrie Macfarlane — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:00:33 +0000

Enough anecdotes have suggested that many students prefer gmail over MS exchange.

It might be time for an online vote to hear the voice of all people and solve the question once and for all: whether we should do the switch.

Too often we just suffer in silence, frown upon the clumsy interface, mumble and complain a bit, and then move on grudgingly. The problem, however, remains there.

This time, we need a definite answer and a real change. Let people’s preference be heard and realized!

From Student

March Madness

Carrie Macfarlane — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:48:50 +0000

I think that a March Madness college basketball bracket tournament hosted by the middlebury website and open to the college community, maybe with prizes for the winners, would be a great way to bring the college together. lots of public sites like yahoo.com or espn.com already do this but a college oriented one would i think be a lot of fun.

From Nolan

Quiet in the library?

Carrie Macfarlane — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:02:55 +0000

Recently I have been coming to the upper level of the library to study and nearly every time have had to move because people feel it is okay to hold an extended conversation (loud, not in whispers). Today, some students were talking outside the printing station on the upper level and their conversation echoed down through the carrels in the quiet area. Is this okay, or is there some way to emphasize the need to be quiet in the library and take conversations to the lobby or outside? Thanks very much!

From Adam

GMAIL vs WEBMAIL & OUTLOOK

Carrie Macfarlane — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:58:25 +0000

I was reading the comments about gmail and there appears to be a lot of support for switching. But I wonder if that isn’t because the comments are from students who mainly use webmail, which I think is not as easy or powerful as windows outlook. Please be sure to gather staff and faculty preferences on this issue since so much of our work happens over email.

From Brenda