Lots of new equipment

While most people are off campus getting a little free time before the new academic year begins, our technology folks are very hard at work installing new computer equipment and systems.

There are new computers at the kiosk in the the Library Atrium, and four new machines in the Reference Room.  Twenty new machines are being installed in the Multimedia Classroom on the third floor, plus a new podium computer.  All of these need individual attention in order to configure them to accept our Library systems.

For now, you will discover some limitations on the new machines.  They may not yet print properly on our document server in the Microforms Room.  Some of them don't yet deliver BibleWorks 9 (an error in the software itself that we are waiting for the vendor to solve).  They may not have the right desktop icons or settings.

Please be patient while we correct all of these issues.  We hope to have everything operating well by the time Orientation for new students begins.

Paula

New computers in the Reference Room

Our friends in the IT department are in the process of replacing several of the Library computers, starting in the Atrium and the Reference Room.  There will be new CPUs at most of the stations.

This process takes time ... once the new hardware is in place, we will need to load programs like BibleWorks, and the special printer drivers we use to send print commands to the document server.  So please have patience while these many details are worked out.

Paula

Changes to the catalog and tutorials

Major changes to our online public access catalog are taking place this summer.  We began working on this some time ago, but the changes are now becoming visible to users.  There will be new links, new graphics, new navigation and several important new features.  One major change will be the inclusion of records for the library collection of our Seminary campus in Charlotte.

As we continue to work on this, you may come across things that are only partly finished.  Remember how web pages used to have a corny little "Under Construction" sign when they were being rewritten?  We're not going to bother with that, but we want you to know that "road work" will be going on through the rest of the summer.  We plan to have it all in place by mid-August.

Several workshops & training events are planned for this fall, once the Seminary is back in session. 

Paula

Unplanned outage

Well, we've had another unplanned service interruption, on Sunday, July 15th.  This one had something to do with Dominion Power working on an electrical cable on or near campus.  John Wilson and Leland Deeds wisely took our systems offline while this work was being done.

Fortunately, they seem to have finished the repairs in good time, and we were able to open this morning with our catalog and website running.  Feel free to come in and use the Library, or to connect to our resources remotely if you are an authorized user.  Do let us know if you discover any abnormalities.

We apologize for yesterday's interruption!

Paula

Server reboot

Please be aware that our catalog server is reporting a hardware fault this morning.  We will need to take it offline and reboot, then see whether a service call is necessary.

There may be interruptions to our Morton Library catalog while this work is done.

Paula

UPDATE : Service call should take place this afternoon ... so there may be further interruptions today.

Welcome, summer Hebrew folks !!

And our summer language session is under way!  A hearty welcome to all students beginning their Hebrew class.  We're happy to have you on campus!

Please remember that the Library is a cool, quiet, comfortable place to work on your vocabulary & paradigms.  Feel free to come in and get your studying done here.

Paula

Heat wave

Yes, we're having a heat wave ... and some of us still have no electricity in our homes.

But it's nice and cool here in the Library!  Come on in and read, work on your computer, or just sit in an armchair and recover.

We'll be open normal summer hours today, close at 5:00 pm Tuesday, and we'll be closed on Wednesday for the July 4th holiday.

Paula