TABLE OF CONTENTS

Wireless Pilot in Libraries & Academic Sites

The most common application for wireless technology is in laptop computers.With wireless networking, clients can work alone or in groups in informalsituations un-constrained by the availability of network jacks. The wirelessinfrastructure provides the features and benefits of traditional networkconnections such as high speed access to the Internet.

Over the summer wireless LAN connections were installed and are workingin the following areas: Fairchild Martindale Library and Computing Center(Media Center, floors 3 and 4, and the courtyard), Linderman Library (Readingroom, some stack areas) and Rauch Business Center lobby and other areas.Laptops with wireless LAN adapters are currently available for sign outfrom the Media Center in Fairchild Library. Plans are in place to add additionalwireless laptops in Linderman Library for sign out and to expand wirelessaccess locations to Maginnes Hall and Packer Lab. IR is also running apilot study to determine the current uses of this technology before morewide scale distribution. A number of students and faculty involved in thepilot will be providing feedback on their usage of wireless laptops duringthe fall semester.

Grant Award ProvidesBridge to Digital Library

The Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania have awarded Lehigh UniversityInformation Resources a $70,000 grant to digitize an important collectionof extensively illustrated rare materials on 19th century bridge buildingand engineering. The items to be digitized represent the unique holdingsof Lehigh's Special Collections in the history of bridge building in iron,steel, and concrete. These materials include such gems as a photographicalbum — one of two recorded copies — depicting the construction of thePecos River Viaduct by the Southern Pacific Railroad in Texas in the 1890s.In addition to photographic rarities, the digitized collection will includeengineering textbooks and manuals from the 19th century that, because oftheir very ordinariness at the time of publication, are often difficultto find.

This project has particular relevance to Science, Technology, and Society(STS) and History of Technology courses offered at Lehigh. During the springsemester, students enrolled in an STS course will be involved in readingselections from the digitized materials, doing background research, andadding related references to the project Web site. Professor StephenCutcliffe comments that for students, "It's easier to visualize thehistory of technology with illustrative material at hand _ you have tobe able see artifacts, and having this material available online will makeit far easier for students to accomplish this."

Once complete, the digitized collection will be indexed, linked to theLehigh library catalog, and contextualized via a Web site that explainsthe importance of each item. For instance, full text from contemporarynews accounts and engineering journals and magazines will be added to thesite. This Web site will be unrivalled for the perspective it provideson 19th century bridges and bridge engineering. It will be of great interestto anyone involved in bridge preservation or restoration and to anyonestudying the history of 19th century technology or material culture anywherein the world. Many of these bridges are today facing the prospect of restorationor demolition.

The grant funds are made available through the federal Library Servicesand Technology Act (LSTA) appropriations administered at the federallevel by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and at the statelevel by the Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania, the state libraryagency.

Greetings and Goals

Sincecoming to Lehigh University as Vice Provost for Information Resources thispast July, I've had the opportunity to meet and chat with many students,parents, faculty, staff, and alumni. I'm looking forward to meeting manymore individuals as the year progresses. Please introduce yourself to meat the celebration on September 25^th at Fairchild MartindaleLibrary or on the sidewalk as we pass. Hearing from you about what's goingon at the university and how we in IR can support instruction, studentaccess, research, and campus outreach is central to our mission.

As this newsletter illustrates, there are many exciting projects inprocess. For instance, I'm very pleased that IR has been able to launchLehigh's first wireless networking project. We are planning to add laptopswith wireless cards at Linderman Library (as well as at Fairchild MartindaleLibrary) to augment use and then to expand wireless connectivity to additionalsites on campus after analysis of the pilot project. Currently we are alsostudying ways to upgrade and enhance other aspects of our networking infrastructureso that we can meet the demand for bandwidth for important projects, includinggrowth in the use of instructional technology for both on-site and distanceeducation. Next semester we anticipate showcasing advanced networking applicationsat Lehigh University and elsewhere with an "Internet2 Day".

Providing quality library services and collections remains an importantpriority. We are quite gratified that our planned first foray into digitizingunique Lehigh collections has been recognized with a Library Servicesand Technology Act grant. It will allow staff to gain experience whilecontributing to the body of research materials at Lehigh and elsewherethrough the Web. Meanwhile we remain sufficiently aggressive in the acquisitionof print that our shelves are simply too crowded for orderly use so weare exploring ways to keep books conveniently available, probably throughthe addition of a section of compact shelving at Fairchild Martindale Library.

These are just a few of our immediate goals. Upgrading student computingsites and the campus telecommunications infrastructure, improvements inHelp Desk functionality, and networking security are also on the very busyagenda. I believe that these are exciting times for higher education andthat state-of-the-art technology and library resources can enrich and enhanceinstruction, research, and student life here at Lehigh.

1999 User Survey Results

Most areas showed satisfaction levels that generally ranged from 85%to 90%. Some of the areas in this category were: Help Services, Communication(about services), Computing Services, Administrative Systems, and OfficeComputing Support. Some of these had ranked lower in earlier surveys.

Areas that had been higher in earlier surveys (85% to 90%) such as LibraryCollections, Electronic Information, and Facilities remained at similarhigh levels. Some areas that were low are now being addressed by IR andthe university in general, notably the availability of technology-enabledclassrooms. Students expressed dissatisfaction with the number of computersavailable at public sites.

Information Resources will continue to work on making further improvementsin services and, working with the Provost's Advisory Council on InformationServices, establishing additional metrics against which to measure servicelevels. One area of current investigation is the use of new software nowcommercially available to generate statistics and to allow staff (and usersin some cases) to track the progress of problem resolution.

LEWIS Milestones

Looking ahead, the most exciting development is the planned launch oftwo Web-based interfaces for students and faculty later this semester.After meeting with their advisors, students should be able to use the Webto determine what sections or courses are still open, view their degreerequirements, and then select their desired courses. Several faculty willsoon be testing a Web for Faculty interface that will enable them to maintainclass rosters online and give them access to information about each ofthe students in their classes. Later on, they will have the option to maintainonline grade books.

Staff in Information Resources have been active partners with the EnterpriseSystems Implementation staff these past few months and will continue toplay a role as the implementation process continues. For more information,see http://www.lehigh.edu/lewis.

Direct InterlibraryLoan via PALCI & "New FirstSearch"

This fall students and faculty can initiate their own interlibrary loan(ILL) requests through two user friendly systems. Books can be requesteddirectly from 20 Pennsylvania academic libraries through the PennsylvaniaAcademic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI). Books and journal articlescan now be requested directly from the 35 databases in the "New FirstSearch," a new version of the system that Lehigh has used for many years. Thesenew services save time because the need for library staff to search forand verify bibliographic and location information for items is eliminated.

Lehigh was a key player in the development of the PALCI system. In additionto founding the PALCI organization and hosting its computing hardware forthe early years of operation, Lehigh recently participated in an eighteen-monthtest of simultaneous searching of library catalogs and of the user initiatedinterlibrary loan of books described above. While the test project includedonly five libraries, there are now twenty libraries participating, includingLafayette, Penn State, Temple, University of Pittsburgh, Bryn Mawr, andCarnegie Mellon. Together these libraries hold approximately 17 millionvolumes. Another time-saving feature of using the PALCI system is thatmember libraries also belong to the Interlibrary Delivery Service (IDS)of Pennsylvania that speeds delivery of library materials through UPS.

The "New FirstSearch" software makes it possible to request an ILL directlyfrom the article citation screen. "New FirstSearch" is located on the LibraryServices Database page at http://www.lehigh.edu/~inref/databases/index.html. "New FirstSearch" is already very popular with members of the facultywho have discovered it. Professor C. Robert Phillips of the HistoryDepartment notes that "FirstSearch was very useful in its earlier incarnation,but the new version is stellar. Improved interface, including the easyswitching between catalogues, and an email direct to Lehigh's ILL — it'smy first www stop each writing day."

For information contact Gail Kriebelat 83028, the Help Desk, or Client Services Librarians. An IR Seminar on"New FirstSearch" is scheduled for October 25th. Register from the linkat http://www.lehigh.edu/library/library.html.

Three New Team Leaders Appointed

Gale Fritsche (left) has been appointed Team Leader for Scientificand Desktop Computing Services reporting to Tim Foley, IR Director forClient Services. Gale formerly served as a computing consultant on theIR Arts & Sciences College Team and as an instructional technologyconsultant on the College of Education Team. In this position Gale willprovide functional coordination of the activities of the Client Servicescomputing consultants.

Kristen O'Hara (right) has been appointed Leader of the IR Collegeof Business and Economics Team. Kristen has served as Instructional TechnologyConsultant on that Team previously and brings experience from the corporateworld as well. She replaces Bob Kendi who has become Director of the PhilipRauch Center for Business Communications.

We also welcome several new staff members to IR since late winter. Theyare: Gwyneth Allman, Software Specialist; Grace Chiang, InstructionalTechnology Consultant; Helen Lakatos, Senior Computing Consultant;GailSheek, Senior Accounting Assistant; and Matthew Wolf, InformationDelivery Assistant.

Important Email and TelnetSecurity Deadline!

Information Resources is also in the process of converting all IR computingresources to require secure connections for both terminal access (i.e.,telnet) and file transfers (i.e., ftp). In response to an SGI SecurityAdvisory, telnet access to all Information Resources SGI workstations hasalready been disabled. Access to these systems, including the Compute Servercs0, can be obtained using various programs utilizing SSH (Secure Shell).Two of these which are readily available are Tera Term with SSH (availablethrough WinInstall) and Putty.

Questions pertaining to these issues can be directed to any InformationResources computing consultant, to the IR Help Desk at extension 8-HELP,or to security@lehigh.edu. Informationand security tools are also available at the Security and Information PolicyWeb page at: http://www.lehigh.edu/security.

International Affairs,Ethic & Gender NewsWatch among New Databases

Scholars and students working in the areas of social relations, sociology,education, women's studies, urban studies and political science will findboth Ethnic NewsWatch and GenderWatch of benefit to theirresearch. Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW) focuses on ethnic, minority andnative presses. Its collection, which dates back to 1985, makes the full-textof such newspapers, magazines and journals available in over 550,000 articles.ENW is searchable in both English and Spanish. Finally, GenderWatchis directed at the publication output of periodicals which focus on womenand women's issues. Its full text content is drawn from regional publications,scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, reports, even booklets and newsletters.

The Libraries have also added some Web versions of print favorites including:

• The Avery Index of Architectural Periodicals (Scholarlyjournals in architecture)

• McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (AkaAccessScience, especially useful for undergraduates)

• The Oxford English Dictionary (A new edition, amusingas well as edifying)

• Victorian Database (Online version of the AnnualBibliography of Victorian Studies. Not fancy, but keyword searchableand cumulated)

All Web databases mentioned in this article are accessible from theLibrary Services Databases page at http://www.lehigh.edu/~inref/databases/index.html.

IRSummer Projects Ready for Students

• Students enjoying the new Fairchild Martindale Library entry loungewith display cabinets and the "gateless" security system.

• Rauch Business Center 51 technology classroom with close-up of instructorstation during "open use" period. (Several other high technology classroomsare still being completed.)

 

• Shelves in Fairchild Martindale Library before and after shiftingand transfer of books to allow more shelf space for new materials.

• Students using the 33 new Gateway Pentium III 600MHz computers inthe recarpeted and freshly painted Fairchild Martindale Computing Center.