| v.2 no.3 | September 1998 |
Phase II of the Lehigh University Information Commons in the Fairchild-Martindale Library was completed during this past summer. Student study space was increased by almost 1400 square feet and reconfigured to accommodate study and research styles appropriate to the increasing number of team-based, cross-disciplinary class assignments. Currently large screen monitors allow students to work together on projects. This area will also support networked laptop computers in the future.
The new help and circulation desks and the new consulting offices allow Information Resources staff and student assistants to offer better services to the students and faculty studying and doing research in these areas. "The new Information Commons service area is more inviting and visible to students, and the new physical arrangement allows us to provide faster and more efficient service" observed Stacey Kimmel, Student/General Services Team Leader.
The renovation improved the aesthetics of the Commons as well. Users can now enjoy more natural light from the large, new window overlooking the Muriel & Philip Berman Sculpture Garden and from the previously hidden window wall. Installation of new carpeting throughout the main floor, previously planned, was coordinated with the renovation. Finally, a handsome, digitally printed banner incorporating the Linderman Library skylight adds color and focus to the area.
The new space was created by eliminating the reserve desk, moving microforms
to the second floor, and consolidating staff operations. Further improvements
in the new microforms area is planned for later this semester. Due to increased
use of electronic materials, the circulation of paper reserves has declined
sufficiently to allow these items to be serviced directly from the expanded
main circulation desk. Vice Provost for Information Resources Arnold Hirshon
notes that "Not only will this new area meet students' need to work together
on assignments, it will also enable us to dedicate other areas in the building
more intentionally to quiet, individual study ."
Paul Wallace joined IR on September 1st as Instructional Technology Consultant on the IR College of Education Team. Mr. Wallace holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Pepperdine University and a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary. He previously served as Academic Technology Analyst at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has held other positions as a computer help desk manager and a software engineer.
IR also welcomes other new staff filling vacancies in recent months including Steve Firtko, Information Management; Tina Henry, Client Services; Terri McGinley, and Helen Zuercher, Administrative Services.
E-mail client software, sometimes also known as POP/IMAP mail,
offers users increased functionality over the mail services provided by
the network server including many sophisticated windows-based message management
features. At Lehigh IMAP users can consult their e-mail using such clients
from multiple locations (home, public sites, offices, laboratories) while
still retaining their mail files centrally.
Task Force membership is composed of faculty representing the colleges,
IR staff with special expertise in this area, and representatives of administrative
departments. Members are: Scott Knauss, chair; Vince Munley, John Gatewood,
Ed Shapiro, Ron Hartranft, Stacey Alderfer, Kevin Weiner, Jesse Blackwood,
and Janice Stoudt. IR staff Mark Miller, Doris Oravec,
Dan Schwartz, and John Troiano serve as technical consultants to the Task
Force.
Some of the major planning assumptions that are part of the Task Force’s charge are:
• The recommended software should be both networked (rather than stand-alone)
and integrated
• Strong preference should be given to a single groupware package.
• Greatest attention should be paid to the major products in the marketplace.
• The focus will be on the e-mail and calendaring over other groupware
functions.
• The ease and cost of maintenance of the server software should be
considered, but client functionality should be the primary determinant
of the selection.
• The main installed user base at Lehigh (currently Netscape for calendaring
software) should be considered, but should not be the determining factor.
In addition to recommending specific preferred software, the Task Force has been asked to recommend the types and level of training and support that IR should provide. A recommendation is anticipated in the late fall.
“The new Microsoft academic licensing program will streamline our efforts to distribute and support these products” said IR Group Leader for Collection Development Christy Roysdon. “We can ensure that our clients have prompt access to upgrades of operating systems and new versions of popular programs and that our public sites are adequately furnished with software required by students for their course work.” Platforms supported include MAC and Windows NT as well as Windows 95. Products included in the agreement are:
• Microsoft Office/Office Professional (Word, Excel, MS Access, Powerpoint)
• FrontPage (web authoring tool)
• Visual Studio Professional Edition (Microsoft Visual products: Basic
Pro, C++ Pro, J++, Interdev, FoxPro)
• BackOffice Client Access License (CAL)
• Windows 32-bit oper. system Upgrade
Software distribution for possible work-at-home use is not yet finalized.
Student use of the Microsoft software is provided for through the existing
licenses at public sites and students may also continue to purchase Microsoft
products through the Bookstore. IR is also making available a large number
of shared Corel Wordperfect Suite 8 licenses for public sites and departments
on the “home server.”
This past summer
the Technology Installation and Maintenance Team under the leadership of
Carol Lidie completed installation of all 65 Silicon Graphics (SGI)
workstations scheduled for the 11 campus workstation computing sites. At
the same time network connections and hubs were upgraded at EWFM Library,
Fritz, Whitaker, Iacocca and Mudd to support 100base-t communication. All
IBM RS6000 have now been removed both from the upgraded SGI sites and from
former workstation sites being converted to PC sites.
In addition to the new workstations, a 16-processor SGI Origin 2000 compute server has been installed to replace the former IBM CS cluster. IBM compute servers will remain available through June 1999 to facilitate migration to the SGI platform. Access to the compute servers (old and new) will be available as usual via telnet or X windows from PCs or Unix workstations. Many software upgrades for the new SGI workstations have been completed and a few are still in progress. The status of workstation software as well as many other details about the SGI machines on campus is available at: www.lehigh.edu/~insgi.
In addition to the standard "Introduction to Unix" seminar, the fall seminar schedule includes two new seminars "Getting started with the Silicon Graphics Desktop Environment," and "AIX to IRIX Transition Issues." Registration may be made at IRREG on the Network Server or at www.lehigh.edu/ir/irhelp/ir_seminars.html on the Web. For Web registration, click on IRREG and follow the directions to log into your Lehigh e-mail account. For more information about SGI workstations, contact Engineering College Computing Consultant Robin Deily at 84988 (e-mail rjd0) or Arts & Science College Computing Consultant Patrick Larkin at 85039 (e-mail pjl2).
The test is being sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academic Library Connection Initiative (PALCI) of which Lehigh is a founding member. During the test period the Lehigh community will be able to search the catalogs of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania State University (University Park Campus), University of Pittsburgh, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania.. Toward the end of the test period, the consortium will decide whether to purchase this system. Feedback from users is strongly encouraged to help in the decision process. Full implementation of the gateway would provide access to 38 public and private Pennsylvania academic libraries.
To access this function, click on the new button "PALCI Search & Borrow" that was added to ASA, the Lehigh online library catalog, over the summer. (This new button appears on the ASA screen printed on page 5 of this issue of the newsletter.)
To request materials from the other libraries, it is necessary to logon to the PALCI system using your Lehigh ID number (which is usually your Social Security number). Your searches are transmitted to a virtual catalog composed of all the participating libraries' databases. The search results are then displayed in a single result set. After browsing these combined search results, request books of interest by clicking on the request button. After verifying the request data, click the submit button. The request is sent directly to the owning library. If the first owning library cannot supply the book needed, it will automatically be sent on to another library.
In addition to an easy-to-use search and request interface, PALCI also includes staff interfaces that help improve the delivery time for items borrowed from other institutions. During this fall semester test, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to make full use of the system by requesting books they need since one important aspect of the test is to determine how well the product performs under conditions of heavy usage.
For additional information or to provide feedback, please contact College Team librarians, the Help Desk, Information Delivery Team Leader Gail Kriebel (83028, gpk0) or IR Group Leader Joe Lucia (84999, jpl3).
Usually it is
Lehigh University's students who travel abroad, not its windows. However,
this summer the Linderman Library skylight, installed when the original
building was opened in 1878, was removed and shipped to studios in central
France for restoration. Stained glass is strong in compression but weak
in tension. Once stained glass panels are placed into any design plane
other than the purely vertical, gravity begins to pull them apart.
The skylight will be reinstalled in October after a thorough cleaning, mending of broken glass, and the replacement of all the lead "cames" that hold the pieces of the large glass panels together. The firm restoring the skylight has done work on the stained glass at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris as well as on glass in the cathedrals at Chartres and Bourges. A covering above the skylight protects it from damage by the elements. Art and Architecture Chair Bruce Thomas notes that features like this stained glass skylight are typical of the high Victorian Gothic architecture popular at the time of Linderman's construction.
The current format was developed during a time when system limitations prevented longer e-mail addresses. Although there has been a logic behind the assignment of the 4character ID, they are difficult to remember and impossible to predict. This causes the need to consult the campus directory regularly to find out someone's e-mail address. There also will be occasions when the new e-mail address cannot be predicted, primarily when two faculty or staff have exactly the same name. However, the new alias will not only have the benefit of being predictable in most cases, but will help eliminate the frustration expressed by many of not knowing whether the last character is a zero or a letter O, a number 1 or the letter L, etc.
Use of this new alias is strictly optional. Users may continue to address and receive mail using 4character IDs. All of the new aliases will be created automatically by the computer in most cases. In cases where multiple individuals have the same first and last name, IR will contact users and provide a means for them to request a specific alias, based upon the naming conventions noted above, for those who are commonly known by a name other than their given name. (However, changes will not be available just for a shortened form of the name or a nickname so the new e-mail addresses do remain predictable, formal and professional, and do not result in a significant amount of processing.)
Information Resources will make an announcement and provide additional information when the aliases are available. These aliases are simple and convenient to use, but as noted earlier, users will continue to have the option of which format of name to distribute to correspondents. The 4character ID will continue to work, and if anyone happens to send a message using the new alias, it will arrive in the same e-mail folder as messages sent to the 4 character ID.
Some of the library collection is housed at this facility to relieve overcrowding in the Fairchild-Martindale and Linderman Libraries. Off-site shelving has been used for storage of library books at Lehigh University for several decades in various locations--the current state-of-the-art climate controlled Building J facility was created in 1994 to replace the facility at the Ben Franklin Center.
Information Delivery Team Leader Gail Kriebel notes that the high compact shelving, which replaced standard shelving in the same area, can hold more than twice the number of books formerly shelved in that area. The shelf ranges are installed on tracks and can be moved with hand-operated cranks, thus allowing for the elimination of most aisle space. Many academic libraries around the nation have installed this type of shelving, both in remote locations and in their main public bookstacks. Library materials are retrieved from the Library Materials Center within one business day of user request.
This fall the Lehigh community has access to new and upgraded software through Information Resources local area networks. These include public and classroom computing sites, and university and departmental offices connected to the "home" server.
The new applications include: Adobe Acrobat (software for creating and distributing documents on the WWW, intranets, CDs), Essential Lahey Fortran 90 (a Fortran 90 programming environment), and Command Antivirus. The Command Antivirus software was obtained under an enterprise license agreement and includes a take-home use option. SAP2000 (an integrated finite element analysis package) and Geo-Slope (geotechnical software) are both available at Fritz Lab 605 only. FinancialCAD (a financial planning and analysis package) is available at Rauch Business Center. Stella (which performs process modeling and simulation) is available at the William Hall 210 site.
Upgraded applications include: Borland C++ Builder (visual rapid application C++ development tool), Maple V (mathematical computations), Minitab and SPSS (statistical packages), and Visual dBASE (database application development system). AutoCAD LT (a computer-aided design package) has been upgraded to the 97 version and is available at all IR public and classroom computing sites. Spartan (molecular modeling software) was obtained for the Chemistry Department and is available in the Mudd Building 464 site. For a complete list of all new software, consult the Network Server topic NEWSOFT.
The Lehigh community is encouraged to try this new resource and submit items for inclusion via an online form. Also visit the new Help Desk Services page at www.lehigh.edu/~inhelp/help.
The Bitting family
of Redwood, California, recently made a gift to the Lehigh University History
Department to support the study of regional history. Richard Bitting's
(class of `74) ancestral roots in this region of Pennsylvania initially
stimulated his interest in the subject. His wife JoAnn surprised him with
this donation to Lehigh University as a Christmas gift.
A significant portion of the gift will be devoted to library acquisitions to provide immediate support for study of regional history at Lehigh. In-print and out-of-print secondary materials primarily from the century before the Civil War are being acquired under the supervision of Special Collections Librarian and history bibliographer Philip Metzger. The first volume acquired is M.S. Henry's History of the Lehigh Valley, published in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1860 by Bixler & Corwin. It has been cited frequently by subsequent histories, and its 26 folding plates provide a fascinating glimpse of local scenes in mid-19th century.
Dr. Metzger, a private printer by avocation, also designed and printed a Bitting Family bookplate to be inserted into each volume purchased. In the picture above President Farrington poses with Mr. and Mrs. Bitting holding a framed copy of the bookplate.
As a further benefit of this gift, the History Department will produce a guide to resources in local and regional history in area libraries and historical societies, and will sponsor a two-day symposium of original scholarly papers. The symposium is tentatively scheduled for late 1999 or early 2000.