v.3 no 2                                                                             April 1999

Table of Contents

The inauguration of Gregory C. Farrington, Lehigh's twelfth President, reminds us that these ceremonies link academic communities with their medieval traditions as learning communities. According to Inaugural Committee Chair Professor Ray Bell, the event is both historically and presently a way to bring people together from outside the institution to witness publicly the change in leadership at the host institution and its continued progress. Academic communities participate, through invited delegates from other institutions of higher education, by marching in the processions and by bringing official greetings. The processions in academic regalia, the ceremony itself, and its symbols add to the solemnity of the occasion. Representatives of the surrounding community and Lehigh's alumni are also invited to join in the public acknowledgment of change.

During the past fifty years, Lehigh presidents have usually been both installed and inaugurated. Installations, more internally-oriented ceremonies, have taken place in conjunction with Founder's Day in the fall. Although President Martin Whitaker's inauguration took place on the same day in a separate ceremony, the inaugurations of Presidents Deming Lewis and Peter Likins were set at a later time. Venues for these events have included Grace Hall, Packer Memorial Church, and Stabler.

Inaugurations are occasions for celebration as well. Peter Likins' inauguration was marked by an Inaugural Ball in Stabler Arena with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. The inauguration of Gregory C. Farrington, will be followed by an evening of music and dancing at three campus locations. Later in the month there will be a panel and dinner conversation on the "Nature of the University in the Information Age."

An exhibit in the Linderman Library lobby and the Bayer Galleria includes this picture and many others. They are drawn from records in Lehigh's Special Collections that document the inaugurations of Presidents Martin Whitaker, Deming Lewis, and Peter Likins in 1946, 1965, and 1983 respectively.

Special Collections serves as Lehigh's unofficial archives under the direction of Librarian Philip Metzger. Its fully cataloged archive of photographs is used regularly by researchers, engineering and architecture students, and University Relations. Recently it has been helpful in planning and executing historic preservation of buildings. Other archival collections held include: the papers of Leslie H. Whitten (`50), novelist and investigative reporter; the papers of Congressmen Walters, Rooney, and Ritter; the William Wiswesser papers; the papers of Lehigh professor Lawrence Henry Gipson, American colonial history scholar; and the Birkinbine Engineering records, papers of a Philadelphia engineering firm active ca. 1850-1940. There are at least twelve other collections that, taken as a whole, focus on industrial technology and regional history.

Invitation to Recognize Outstanding IR Staff
by Don Bolle

I am delighted to be back at Lehigh University doing three things I love: teaching, working on projects with colleagues, and involved in a central service function, Lehigh's information resources. This is a particularly stimulating time to be here as the university inaugurates a new president and formulates strategic plans for the next millennium. Serving as Interim Vice Provost for Information Resources has made me especially aware of the challenges that face us now in libraries, computing and telecommunications.

Access to information, on which we depend so much for learning, teaching and research will increasingly become electronic. Yet, during this transitional time we need to supply print as well as subscribe to new electronic resources. We will also need to acquire and preserve printed monographic literature and other formats in many fields for decades ahead. Some of our physical facilities, such as Linderman Library, are inadequate to these new demands.

Many of the challenges that face us in computing and telecommunications are familiar to all of you. On the voice side, the university will need to invest in a new telephone system soon to ensure continuing service since no amount of upgrading can maintain the present system installed in the early 1980s. On the data side, we seek to remain competitive by being a key player in the emerging high-speed network popularly known as Internet2.

There are many other challenges such as support for instructional technology, electronic classrooms, advanced computing and expanding use of all computing resources.

One of the constants is the excellent staff of Information Resources. They are under much pressure, like other segments of the university, to perform at their maximum capacity, to continually acquire new skills, and to manage scarce resources to meet the needs of users as fully as possible. I invite you to consider how specific individual or IR teams have assisted you or your colleagues in the last year in an exemplary way and to communicate that to me.

You are welcome to use the IR Staff Recognition form enclosed with this issue of IR Connections or to communicate via our web recognition form at www.lehigh.edu/ir/greatstaff.html. I look forward to hearing from you on this topic and also to increasing levels and modes of formal and informal communication about IR goals and services on a continuing basis.

IR People

IR welcomes two new staff members, Lori Marchand, Accounts Coordinator in Administrative Services, and Kristen O'Hara, Senior Instructional Technology Consultant in the College of Business and Economics. Lori worked most recently at Rodale Press in Emmaus. Kristen holds a BS in Computer Information Systems from the University of Dayton and is about to complete an MS in Educational Technology at Lehigh. Formerly Kristen was director of programming at On Location Multimedia, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio.

In January 1999 Bill Brichta, Team Leader for Communications & Computer Operations, and Lizanne Hurst, Telecommunications Senior Consultant in Client Services, co-presented a session on at the ACUTA (Association of College and University Telecommunications Professionals) Conference in New Orleans on "Pricing Voice and Data Services Effectively". Bill also serves on the ACUTA Higher Education Advisory Panel this year.

Sue Cady and Jean Farrington, Group Leaders for Administrative Services and Resource Development respectively, presented a session at the Academic Library Advancement and Development Network meeting in Kansas City, Missouri in early March.

At the December CAUSE98 Conference Client Services Group Leader Tim Foley presented a current issues round table with Olivia Williamson from Stanford University on "Doing More with Less: Using Non-Technical Staff to Provide Technical Support."

On March 24^th Gale Fritsche, Arts & Sciences Computing Consultant, presented a session on "Computing and the Internet" to the Reading (School District) Leadership Institute. The institute was formed to help parents become more active participants in their children's education.

IRDigest Debuts

IRDigest is a new electronic service offering computer, library, media, and telecommunications resources and updates. It's the best way for students, faculty and staff to keep up on changes in Information Resources.

To receive IRDigest you must subscribe to it following the directions at the end of this message. It is distributed as a listserv.

The "issues" will come to your email. Entries are brief, timely and practical. There are usually links to more information about the topic as well. At the end of each issue there is an opportunity for users to provide feedback and to suggest topics to cover in future issues.

The first issue covers these topics:

-Network Changes for Fall
-IMAP at Lehigh University
-Scanning Material
-Voice Mail "Envelope" Information
-English Short Title Catalog
-Job Hunting Resources
-Site Changes for Fall

TO SUBSCRIBE TO IRDigest:

Send email to:
listproc@lehigh.edu
Type in the body of the message:
subscribe irdigest <your name>.

Call the IR Help Desk (84357) if you have any difficulty in subscribing.

The first issue can be viewed at:http://www.lehigh.edu/lists/archives/irdigest.

Growth in Use of Internet at Lehigh

Lehigh University use of the Internet and other telecommunications-based computing services has increased dramatically over several years, in some areas doubling within as little as 18 months. This chart illustrates the large increase in gigabytes through the Internet gateway from February 1997 through February 1999, a period of only two years. Statistics are also kept for traffic inside the campus network that show very similar trends.

Modem use is another area that has been experiencing dramatic change. During the week of March 7^th, the Lehigh University modem bank was expanded by 46 modems to bring the total number of modems to 138. In general there was far less contention for connections from off-campus but at least once during the following week (after Spring break) all of the modems were in use. In December 1997, less than eighteen months ago, the modem bank was expanded by 100%, increasing the number of modems from 46 to 92.

Expansion of modem capacity requires both the purchase, installation and maintenance of new modems and the expansion of lines leased from Bell Atlantic to support the increased traffic.

Network Changes for Fall
by Blair Berhardt

Beginning in the Fall semester, Information Resources will be making a number of changes to provide enhanced capabilities and enhanced security of network and computing resources. These changes include:

• Logins Required for Computers on IR Networks - each student will need to open a LAN account in order to use IR public site computers or access the LAN through the WIRED residential networking project. The LAN account name (and password) will be the same as the AFS account for each student. Faculty and staff will be able to use their existing LAN accounts to log into IR public site microcomputers.

• Synchronization of Passwords - LAN and AFS passwords will be synchronized. It will no longer be necessary to either manually synchronize passwords or to remember different passwords for LAN access and access to e-mail, the Network Server, or the compute servers. Student accounts will be synchronized upon creation of each student's LAN account. A Web interface is being created to allow faculty and staff to synchronize these passwords and to allow everyone to change these passwords once synchronized.

• Remote Access to E-mail - roaming profiles will be implemented to allow public site access to e-mail through Netscape Messenger. Address books, mail preferences, and mail messages will be stored remotely to allow access to e-mail through Netscape's graphical user interface from any IR public site microcomputer.

Remote access to e-mail is just the beginning. In addition to enhanced network and computing security, these changes provide a base upon which new services can be provided. Watch for future announcements.

Funds Donated for Lehigh Archive of Early Chemical Notation System

The Chemical Notation Association recently gave Lehigh University $8100 to promote wider understanding of the Wiswesser Line Notation (WLN) System. William Wiswesser, Lehigh '36, created the system to meet the needs of chemists trying to represent the structure of a molecule in the days before computer modeling, using only the characters on a typewriter keyboard. The system, widely used by chemists for a quarter-century or more, is now superseded, but has excited interest among scholars of the history of chemical information systems.

Last fall Wiswesser's daughter gave Lehigh University's Special Collections her father's papers; this gift from the Chemical Notation Association will allow them to be processed expeditiously and made available for study. As chemistry professor Ned Heindel commented: "Bill Wiswesser launched the field of automated chemical information retrieval. Through his successful promotion of WLN, he was soon recognized as the national leader in chemical structure-based information retrieval and analysis." The gift came as the result of the Notation Association liquidating its assets.

More Reader/Printers

Information Resources is adding two additional microform reader printers in Fairchild Martindale Library. One is already installed and the second is on order. The entire microform collection is also being reorganized and refiled so that all microfilm sets are in one alphabetical sequence. Total capacity is four reader printers, one microfilm reader, and one microfiche reader. All machines are less than two years old.

Friends Give Reading Lounge, Celebrate Restored Skylight on April 15^th

The Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries are sponsoring a buffet-reception on Thursday, April 15th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The event will celebrate the completed restoration of the stained glass skylight in Linderman Library and the opening of an adjacent new Reading Lounge made possible by the Friends. The skylight was reinstalled during semester break after being shipped to France for cleaning, repair, and restructuring by the French firm of De Pirey International.

The Reading Lounge occupies the former library card catalog site. Indeed part of the card catalog, refinished and reconfigured as display shelving for books and magazines, anchors the Lounge. New comfortable seating and good lighting welcome Lehigh students, faculty and staff as they peruse the leisure reading collection housed in this area. The winged Greek god Hermes presides over the space, one of several classical statues that formerly ringed the top floor of the rotunda a century ago.

There will also be an opportunity to view three special exhibits. The first is a slide show documenting the installation of the skylight. Pictures were taken by university visual arts coordinator John Kish. Another exhibit will demonstrate some of the innovative humanities-related electronic resources now available to Lehigh students. Web-based resources JSTOR (IR Connections, February 1999) and Literature Online are particularly notable. Finally, there will be an exhibit, Pomp & Circumstance: Lehigh Presidential Inaugurations, mounted by Special Collections in the lobby and in the Bayer Galleria of Linderman Library.

Lehigh President Gregory C. Farrington and his wife Jean Farrington, Honorary Friends Chair, will make brief remarks for the occasion. For further information or to purchase tickets for the event, please call Information Resources at 610-758-3025.