| v.1 #3 |
September 1997
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The Information Commons features twenty-five new Pentium Pro 200 networked personal computers, a redefined reference and index area, three networked laser printers, three comfortable seating areas, study carrels and reading tables. The Help Desk is equipped with five phones and two PC's and one MacIntosh computer. The new PC's have CD-ROM and ZIPdrives and seventeen inch monitors. All PC's have the standardized Lehigh desktop with its full range of networked resources and applications. Two stations are designated for brief instruction where computing consultants, research librarians, and Help Desk staff can guide users. Fours stations are designated for the library catalog (ASA) and databases.
The current layout of the Information Commons is an interim one. It will be refined as IR staff observes how the new space is used and evaluates user acceptance of the Commons plan. Other issues, such as the need for computer furniture that is ergonomically appropriate and also suitable for collaborative work, will be addressed.
The first phase of the Information Commons was the work of an IR committee composed of Stacey Alderfer, Dean Batten, Gail Kriebel, Jean Johnson, Christy Roysdon, and Elia Schoomer. Sandra Ramos served as the Facilities Planning liaison.
Jean Johnson
On December 19th the old modem pools will be replaced with this one pool answering modem calls from 1200 to 56K. Currently, 46 new modems are in operation; after the cutover in December, 92 modems will be available. After the cutover, users will all be dialing the new number, 974-8300, embedded in the new software. No service will be available from the old numbers (974-4413, 974-6600, and 974-2880).
There are currently two competing 56K modem specifications: x2 and K56flex. Lehigh supports x2 and will support the final standard. IR recommends US Robotics Sportster x2 modems (internal, external, or Winmodem, depending on your computer system). In addition IR is exploring other methods of remote high speed connection, specifically via a Bell Atlantic ISDN pilot project and a cable modem pilot project with Service Electric Cable TV Inc. Experimentation is also underway with remote (off-campus) access to Novell services that allow users to access files maintained in local area network space.
Lehigh users now have electronic access to all journals published by Academic Press, including those titles to which Lehigh does not subscribe in print. The Academic Press offerings join a collection of Lehigh e-journals originating from the American Institute of Physics, American Physical Society, and Johns Hopkins University Press. The list of subscription electronic journals will soon be enriched with additional titles in mathematics and chemistry.
Through an agreement negotiated by the Pennsylvania Academic Library Connection Initiative (PALCI), an organization initiated by and currently centered at Lehigh, IR has also vastly increased access to databases offered through two major vendors, UMI and OCLC. The UMI Proquest database offers full text and full image access to thousands of business and general periodicals through ABI/Inform and Periodicals Abstracts respectively.
OCLC's FirstSearch database access has been expanded to include more than 20 new databases, ranging from music (RILM) to chemistry (Chemical Abstracts student edition, "CA Lite"). Scholars in the humanities can now access the entire set of Literature Online (LION) databases from Chadwyck-Healey. This fall IR also unveiled an expanded version of Engineering Index (Compendex).
Most recently, IR converted Index to Legal Periodicals and NTIS to the Web, as part of its continuing effort to make access to electronic resources easy and universal. All but a handful of regularly used databases are Web accessible as of this writing. The LUIR Databases menu and interface, introduced in test mode last spring, now incorporates all library databases available on the Web in one alphabetic sequence, regardless of producer. To find LUIR Databases and Electronic Journals from the Lehigh home page, select Information Resources and choose Virtual Library.
Christine Roysdon
Upgraded applications include Netscape, Acrobat Reader (view, navigate, print Adobe PDF files), SAS (statistical analysis), SPSS (statistical analysis), and STATGRAPHICS Plus (statistical analysis).
Microsoft Office has been upgraded to the Professional Edition 97 for Windows 95 with about 200 licenses available on public sites and at other LANs. The Professional Edition includes Word 97, Excel 97, PowerPoint 97, and Access 97. The Corel suite (WP 7, QuattroPro 7, and Presentations 7) remains available on all public sites.
At the first Brown Bag Book Review on Thursday, September 18th, Philosophy Professor Gordon Bearn will review the book, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines by Manuel De Landa. De Landa himself comes to campus on December 2nd as part of the special series, Uses and Abuses of the University.
A second book review relating to the Russian Civil War is scheduled for November 18th, eighty years after the Bolshevik Revolution signaled the beginning of that war. Professor James Largay will review a book on the subject, Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War by W. Bruce Lincoln, and contrast it with classics in the field.
The preservation seminar, "Doing it Right: Preserving Papers, Books, and Photographic Materials at Home" will cover the rationale and techniques of preservation. Metzger is team leader for Lehigh University's Special Collections, and was responsible for producing IR's disaster-preparedness plan.
The Book Review series is held at noon in the Bayer Family Room, Linderman Library, third floor west.
After considering various alternatives including outsourcing, the Group called for some fine tuning of the arrangements initially put in place in December 1996 and for the establishment of a well-understood process for future change. The recommendations are subject to further discussion and change before the final report is issued in December.
The 14 recommendations deal with university planning and resources; standards; service, sales and professional support; and continuous evaluation and improvement. The Group focused on the need for a plan to fund replacement of departmental computers, convenient maintenance services, university-wide standards, and flexibility to change quickly in a highly fluid and competitive environment.
The full text of the recommendations are being mailed to Department Chairs and Heads; posted on COMPFUTURE, the Group's network server conference; and mounted on the Group's home page at http://www.lehigh.edu/~inmic/cst. Plans are underway to schedule an open forum for individuals to ask questions and make comments. Comments can be posted at any time to COMPFUTURE or made directly to Group members.
The Group has also endorsed IR's selection of Dell Computers as an additional recommended vendor to the campus after testing models from the Optiplex and Dimension desktop lines and from the Latitude laptop line. Dell regularly ranks at the top in reviews of PC manufacturers. The Optiplex line is the preferred choice for departmental purchases but Dimensions will also be supported. A web-based guide (http://www.lehigh.edu/~inmic/purchase.html) covers the details of purchasing computers.
A significant
contribution to teaching and learning at Lehigh University is made by individuals
who fund the buildings that house the computing operations and the library
collections, as well as provide space for related information services.
Elizabeth Fairchild Martindale, who died on June 7th, was one such individual,
long associated with excellence at Lehigh.
Mrs. Martindale and her husband Harry, class of `28, provided the major leadership gift for the construction of the E. W. Fairchild-Martindale Library and Computing Center. The building is named after Mrs. Martindale's father, Edmund W. Fairchild, founder of Fairchild Publications. Dedicated in October 1984, the state-of-the-art facility opened fully wired to accommodate Lehigh's first digital voice/data network activated just one year later. The library collection was accessed by Lehigh's first generation automated online catalog (ASA) in place of a card catalog.
Mrs. Martindale is survived by her husband Harry. A portrait of Elizabeth and Harry Martindale hangs in the lobby of the Fairchild-Martindale Library.
In the mid-1980s
Curtis F. Bayer III, class of `35, and his family donated funds to the
University to restore and remodel Linderman Library's third floor west.
This space, that had originally housed the university art collection and
more recently offices for administrative computing, was transformed into
the handsome Bayer Galleria of Rare Books through the generosity of the
Bayer family. This large room now serves as a Special Collections reading
room and exhibit area. Across the hall the Bayer Family Room, also created
through the Bayer gift, is used for special events.
Curtis Bayer III died on May 20th and is survived by his wife, Rachel Throop Bayer. Many of his children and his 12 grandchildren are Lehigh University alumni. A plaque outside the Galleria identifies family members and their connections with Lehigh. Mr. Bayer and his wife returned to Lehigh often to enjoy football games and reunion activities. He was interested in the Special Collections program as it prospered and grew in the new space.