Minutes of February 21, 2006 Meeting

Present:: A Butman, B. Golin, N. Gonzaga, P. Johnson, K. McGuire, R. Sandler and via teleconference S. Bartz, M. Belasco, K. Kuehl, J. Maxymuk, A. Ruggiero, C. Singh and D. Voorhees. M. Medeiros left early.

1. Systems Update

The installation of Thunderbird and Firefox on staff machines is essentially complete. If users experience problems on 3/1/06 please contact the Systems department.

There were some problems with the dissemination of information regarding the changing of email clients and upgrading of the Firefox browser. In the future, Anne B. will send notification of any system-wide software changes to RUL-Everyone. A draft will first be sent to PCWG for review.

To ensure a smooth transition of the Sirsi server from its current location on legacy network address space to the RUNet network Workflows clients are being configured to point to a server name rather than the ip address. LSM, Chemistry, Physics, Alcohol, SERC, Math TAS, ILS, Newark and Camden remain to be done. These units should have their changes done by mid March.

TimeTrak version 9.0 has been installed on all testers machines. It will be installed on supervisor machines by 2/27. Users will begin using the new client on 2/28. ClockTrak machines will be upgraded on the morning of 2/28 throughout all of RUL. At the request of the Budget office, the older version of Timetrak will be removed from users computers at a later date. Once the move to the new software is made, users will be locked out of the older version of the software.

ILS has purchased 13 new machines to replace existing micro machines throughout the RUL system. Systems is in contact with a vendor to procure scsi cards that fit the form factor of the new machines.

Ariel has been upgraded to version 4.1.1 in Alexander ILS, Imaging Services and Kilmer ILL. Unfortunately there are still issues existing between the Ariel software and the Ill Manager software. Both vendors have been contacted and agree that this is something that needs to be worked out within their respective pieces of software. Version 4.1.1 will continue to be run in the aforementioned sites so that RUL can work with the vendors on fixes however other sites will not be upgraded until the remaining issues are resolved.

2. Videoconferencing Testing

Over the past 2 months Anne, Nick, Chris, Matt, Andrew and Rich as well as others throughout the library system have been testing the teleconferencing equipment. Currently, RUL has 4 Tandberg, 5 Polycom and 1 Polycom PBX endpoints and there was some concern that one of the problems could be the use of equipment from varying manufacturers, a point which has still yet to be determined for certain. Bob Gerdes of OIT and Pete Mattaliano from Continuing Education and Outreach also participated and lent their expertise to the testing scenarios.

The testing was done in the hopes of resolving some of the issues that users have been confronted with such as poor audio, dropped connections, inabilities to connect to certain cites, and poor data transfer. The testing included connecting all endpoint through the RU MCU as well as the NJEdge MCU as well as connecting Polycom to Polycom, Tandberg to Tandberg end points and Polycom to Tandberg endpoints to see if a distinction in quality of connection could be made based on manufacturer.

As a result of these meetings, it was decided that Bookroom would be the definitive place for endpoint data, and problem reporting. Anne Butman will speak with Shaun Ellis as to how this can best be done.
Nick will post recommendations to RUL_Everyone regarding how viewing of text documents, web pages and PowerPoint screens can be improved.
Rich Sandler suggested upgrading all enpoints to 26" flat panel monitors as opposed to the current CRT devices. Doing this may increase clarity of picture.
Ann M. has agreed to upgrade software for all endpoints in the RUL system.
- Marritech and Click-to-Meet software packages are being evaluated as longer-term software solutions for data transfer issues.
- For the short term, the recommendations would be to use a lower screen resolution and at least an 18-point font and, when possible provide hard copies or a place for users to obtain hard copies of presentations for views to use to follow along.

3. RULink/Mail Meme

Darryl discussed how he has switched his mail server from RCI to RULink and is enjoying a larger default quota of storage space. It was decided that switching to RU Link mail would be left to the discretion of the user and not imposed by the group.

4. New/Old Business

Accounts on listserv will move to the new mailman server on 4/4. Information from OIT regarding whether addresses will change as a result of this move has been mixed. Hopefully more definitive information will be available by next months meeting.

ILS hopes to be purchasing new copiers for staff areas. These new copiers will be network capable. If you have a data port in the area where your copier is located please send that information to Dave Augusma (augusma@rci.rutgers.edu).

**Note, that data ports are listed on wall plates as ###D**

The libalex server has moved to its new, and hopefully final, location in the BB at Alexander. The wiring in BB is such that all outlets and lights reside on the same circuit. As such whenever the light in the main area is turned off the server loses power. Nick has worked with Bill Puglisi on how to best prevent this from happening. For the interim, it has been decided that the lights will not be turned off and the key used to turn the lights off has been removed and given to Bill P.

5. Future Meeting Dates

The next meeting is scheduled for March 21