Tag Archives: service changes

Interlibrary Loan Service changes

Dear Library Patrons:
You may have noticed that turnaround times to complete ILL requests
have of late at times been slightly longer than in the past.  As a
result of workforce planning, we have reduced the number of staff
working in this department by .5 FTE. We will of course continue to
fill requests as quickly as we can, but do bear this in mind when
submitting requests with hard deadlines. Please note the following as
well:

* ILL requests submitted with incomplete or erroneous bibliographic
information may be returned to you as unfulfilled and/or in need of
additional information

* ILL staff may not be able to devote quite as much time as in the
past to filling requests for particularly rare or hard-to-acquire
items

You should continue to use our online form
(http://go.middlebury.edu/illiad) to submit ILL requests and as noted
above, provide as much and as accurate bibliographic information as
possible.  If you need to speak to a member of our dedicated ILL
staff, you can stop by the Davis Family Library circulation desk
during the following hours:

Monday – Thursday: 9am-5pm
Friday: 9am-3pm

We apologize for any inconvenience these changes may cause. If you have questions or comments about these changes, please feel free to contact:

Michael Roy, Dean of Libraries (mdroy@middlebury.edu)

Terry Simpkins, Director, Access and Discovery Services (tsimpkin@middlebury.edu)

Upcoming Projects in Davis Library: shifting collections and installing more shelves.

It was announced last fall that the Music Library will be moving from the Mahaney Center for the Arts into Davis Family Library as soon as the semester ends in May. (For more details see http://sites.middlebury.edu/acrosscampus/2010/11/08/music-library-to-davis ) There’s a lot of preparation already under way and continuing in the coming weeks, and some of it may be noticeable to those working and studying in Davis Family Library.

The print collections from the Music Library will be placed on the upper level adjacent to the Panther Reading Room, overlooking Old Chapel.  The CD collection will be placed behind the Circulation Desk.  In order to make room for these collections in Davis, we’re adding a section of compact shelving in the SE corner of the lower level and shifting collections within the library.

A moving company will be arriving on Monday, March 14th to shift collections in the stacks and empty the shelves where the new shelving units are being installed.  On Thursday, March 24th a library shelving company will arrive, dismantle the fixed shelving, and then proceed with the installation of the compact shelving on the lower level. Some of this work will be very noisy, but we have timed the worst of it to take place during Spring Break.  Once the shelving is installed, the moving company will return on Monday, April 24th and continue shifting the collections.  The moving crews are accustomed to working in libraries where people are studying and will do their best to minimize the disruption; however there may be times when activity and noise is distracting.  Unfortunately, because we must be moved out of the CFA by June 1st, working during the semester is unavoidable.   The crews will routinely be working during the day, Mon-Fri, although there are a few times they’ll be working during the day on the weekend.  You should be able to count on the library being quiet after 5pm, and we have avoided having the movers here at all during exams.  Generally speaking, only those nearby the collections being shifted will notice the activity, and there will still be plenty of quiet study space available in the library.  Remember that the Music Library in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, The Armstrong Library in McCardell Bicentennial Hall, and the Axinn Center all have quiet study areas too.

If you need a book in an area where the movers are actively working, place a request at the Circulation Desk in person or by emailing library_circulation@middlebury.edu and it will be retrieved and held for you to pick up at the desk.

Both Facilities Services and Library & Information Services regret any inconvenience these projects may cause those studying in the library, and we thank you in advance for your patience with us, and your tolerance of any potential disruption.

Below please see an overview of the schedule.

Thanks!

Joseph

Joseph Watson,Preservation & Processing Manger, LIS Facilities Coor.

Monday, March 14th: moving crew arrives -

  • Backshift bound Periodicals
  • Move PT2623-Z into vacated compact shelving for temporary storage
  • Shifts G & H books on the upper level to make room for GV class books from CFA
  • Shift Oversize Collection to make room for GV oversize
  • Shift Reference Collection to compact
  • Move VHS collection to vacated compact shelving east of Government Documents

Thursday, March 24th: shelving installer arrives –

  • Knock down vacated fixed shelving in SE corner of lower level, staging components in the Harman Periodicals Reading Area
  • Install new compact shelving section in the SE corner of the lower level.  This is expected to take about 25 days.

Monday, April 24th: moving company returns and continues collection shifts –

  • Move Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese collections to new compact shelving
  • Shift Vermont Collection
  • Shift lower level monographs
  • Shift main level monographs

(Scheduled to complete this portion of work Tuesday, May 3rd)

On Wednesday, May 18th: moving company returns to complete the collections shifts and move Music Library –

  • Adjust shelving on main level to accept N class books and move N class books from upper level to main level
  • Adjust the shelving on the upper level to accept music print collections
  • Move Music Library from Mahaney to Davis.

MiddFiles file storage server upgrade

January 31 – MiddFiles file storage server upgrade is complete.  Please see http://go.middlebury.edu/dfs for frequently asked questions, which include minor changes to accessing files.

January 20, 2011 – MiddFiles file storage servers are being upgraded the weekend of January 28th, 2011. Files will be accessible in read-only mode from 8pm EST on Friday the 28th through sometime on Sunday, January 30th. Watch here (or http://go.middlebury.edu/techalerts) for updates. For frequently asked questions, please see http://go.middlebury.edu/dfs.

Middlebury Google Apps Changes

Over the next few weeks, Google will be making some changes to the Google Apps infrastructure that may affect you.

If you have used your Middlebury email address to sign up for “consumer” Google services, you will have to change the email address associated with those services to a non-Middlebury address. “Consumer” Google services are common web-based applications from Google such as: Alerts, Blogger, Books, Docs, iGoogle, Maps, Picasa Web Albums, Reader, Sites, Translate, and many others.

If you have an existing Middlebury Google Apps account, it will be automatically transitioned to the new Google Apps infrastructure. While your access to Middlebury Google Apps services won’t be affected by this change, the first time you log into Middlebury Google Apps after your account has transitioned, you will have to accept a new terms of service agreement.

If you have any questions, please contact gadmin@middlebury.edu for more information.

Chris Norris
LIS Administration

VoIP comes to the Snow Bowl

Telephone Services recently installed a new voice over IP telephone system at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl.  It is an Aastra MX-One Lite telephony server which integrates fully to the main campus Aastra (Ericsson) phone system.  Next time you need to call the Bowl just dial SNOW (7669).

Our local contractor, Business Telephone Systems, working with our telephone system vendor, Black Box Network Services, installed the new server and phones in late September.  We are using the existing campus fiber network that was connected to the Bowl in the spring of 2009.  Howie McCausland and I tested the voice quality over the fiber with the vendor this past August.  Our network passed the test with flying colors.

The Snow Bowl now has a combination of IP phones in the offices and analog lines elsewhere.   The two major requirements for the new system were that it had enough analog trunk lines to accommodate the telephones at the lift load and unload stations and that the system not need dedicated bandwidth on the fiber.  A POE switch was installed to keep the IP phones going during a power outage, and in the event of a network outage the phones will failover to one of the four telephone company analog trunks remaining.

Fall Thesis Carrels

Seniors who are currently enrolled in 500, 600, or 700 level thesis/project work are eligible for a thesis carrel. If you register for one of these classes AFTER Tuesday, September 7th, please stop by the Davis Family Library circulation desk to make sure you have been updated in our library system.
NEW AND IMPROVED! You may sign up ONLINE for your thesis carrel starting at 7 am on Monday, September 13th. Instructions can be found here. We have tested this new procedure and expect it to work. If for some reason it does not, we will communicate an alternate plan later that same day. For a carrel at either the Music or Armstrong Library, please go directly to that circulation desk on Monday the 13th to reserve.
Additional information can be found on the Thesis Guide website (go/thesis).

New replacement charges for lost items

LIS is making changes to our default replacement charges for lost library materials. We calculated the average cost of both books and DVDs over the past three years. To that average, we have added $20 for processing and labeling. The new replacement fees are as follows:

Books and music scores: $70 (previously $100)
DVD and other media: $45 (previously $40)
Browsing books remain unchanged at $30
ILL and NExpress items will remain unchanged at $100
Equipment costs will vary, depending on the item

Along with this change, we will no longer be accepting replacements provided by the patron. This practice has proven to be time consuming for staff, and does not always guarantee an exact replacement of the lost item. Please comment below or email questions to library_circulation@middlebury.edu.