Much-anticipated Windows 10 Upgrade

Over the summer, Library IT will begin to update the staff computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10, throughout Yale University Library (YUL).  A major goal of this upgrade is to remain consistent with Yale’s ITS effort to migrate computers to Windows 10 campus-wide. Windows 10 is currently the latest production version supported by Microsoft; support for Windows 7 will end in January 2020. This upgrade will only affect staff computers; an upgrade to service computers and specialized equipment will occur at a later date in Phase 2.

Continue Reading Much-anticipated Windows 10 Upgrade

Passwords Inadvertently Convert Zoom Accounts

There have been a few YUL staff members who have had their Yale Library Zoom Account converted into a Yale University Zoom account inadvertently. Library IT has discovered the source of the conversion — using your NetId password in the Yale Library Zoom Login. You should have a Zoom account password that differs from your Yale NetId. It is easy to enter your NetId password into the Zoom login out of habit.

To confirm your Yale Library Zoom account hasn’t been converted to a Yale University Zoom account, log in to yalelibrary.zoom.us.   After logging in, select “Profile” from the menu on the left, check your Account No. If the number is not Account No. 195330 then your account has been converted, see Figure 1.  If you are unable to successfully log into yalelibrary.zoom.us, you either do not have an account or your account has been converted into a Yale University Zoom account.

Figure1: Zoom Account Profile screen to ensure you are affiliated with the Yale University Library.

There are two issues that occur when an account is converted to a Yale University Zoom account.

  • Users lose access to previous recordings and scheduled meetings.
  • Meeting invitation links users have sent out prior to being converted will no longer be valid. The scheduled meetings links have the account type in its URL. For example, a link from a Yale University Library Zoom account will have the following path: https://yalelibrary.zoom.us/j/191745741.

Whereas an invitation link from the Yale Zoom account will have this path:  https://yale.zoom.us/j/457231612.

 

How do I prevent this?

  • Ensure that your NetId and Yale Library Zoom account passwords are different.
  • Pay close attention to the password you use to log into your Yale Library Zoom yalelibrary.zoom.us account to prevent accidentally using your NetId password.
  • Always be sure to use yalelibrary.zoom.us when logging in on the web.

 

How do I get help?

If you have any questions or have discovered your account has been converted send an email to library.helpdesk@yale.edu. You can also open a ticket at the Library IT website.

Demo of an Ask Yale ChatBot

The Library IT Summer Interns,  Annissa Carter, Bryana Kilpatrick, and Jhoselyn Jara, created a Library Help Desk ChatBot demo. Adding a ChatBot to the Yale University Library would allow students to have  24/7 access to answers to questions they may have when the library is closed and no staff is available to help. The Interns took two of the most popular Ask Yale Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and added two additional questions they felt would be something a new student would need to know.

The questions they used in the ChatBot demo were:

  • I just graduated do I still have access to the library?
  • How can I reserve a locker in Bass Library?
  • What time does the library close/open?
  • What is the Yale Library website?

A ChatBot is a computer program designed to simulate a text-based conversation and have become increasingly popular in providing customer service over the internet or smart phones. Using the software platform provided by PlayBot, a company specializing in the creation and distribution of chatbots, it took the Interns three weeks to complete the Library Help Desk ChatBot demo.

Out of the box, a ChatBot is very limited in its responses, the person scripting the Bot needs to anticipate the different words the user may type in to ask questions. Those language nuances need to be taken into account for the user to receive an accurate response. In the example of the Library Help Desk Chatbot, Bryanna Kilpatrick, used scripting to determine the different forms of a greeting. She scripted the various forms of “hello” including “hey” and “hi” as possible options. Programming is essential, the ChatBot is only as responsive as the scripting is planned for, if you type outside of the prescribed phrases the ChatBot doesn’t know what you mean.

Example of ChatBot coding in AIML

The ChatBot tool uses AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) which is an XML-compliant Lagrangian (Extensible Markup Language). XML is a markup language much like HTML that is designed to store and transport in a self-descriptive manner so it is human readable as well as machine readable. The demo was very successful and there may be a ChatBot coming to Ask Yale some time in the not so distant future.

Zoom Cues YUL

After the completion of YUL’s thorough desktop video conferencing pilot project this past spring, Zoom was the clear choice. As a result,  YUL’ s Zoom license went live on June 19th and pilot participants were automatically transferred over to the new YUL license.

Library IT plans to roll out the necessary equipment, headsets and webcams, for staff members using Zoom, in a phased approach. Working with Supervisors, Library IT plans to identify the first wave of staff members to receive the service and required equipment. These staff members have a demonstrated need for Zoom for their daily business activities. Those staff members not receiving equipment in this first phase will receive it at later date this coming fall.

Zoom Equipment
Possible headset choices available to staff

Library IT’s Support Technician, Reon Keller,  held  “Show and Tell” events for staff to become familiar with the three options available for headsets.  Library IT is also working to identify whether your workstation is already equipped with a camera as well as staff with a preexisting Zoom account. Though the Zoom application and plugins can be installed by user, LIT will work with ITS to schedule a push of the Zoom application to all YUL staff workstations. This will ensure all YUL workstation are configured to readily launch Zoom for all YUL staff.

The Zoom Rollout is expected to be completed by mid-fall, with some services available sooner for staff who already have equipment in place. If you have any questions about Zoom and its implementation please feel free to reach out to Beatrice Richardson at Beatrice.Richardson@Yale.edu or Cindy Greenspun at Cindy.Greenspun@Yale.edu.

Upcoming Staff Departure

It is with humble gratitude and some measure of sadness that Shareq Rashid, Sr. Administrative Assistant at LIT, has announced his resignation from his current position effective Thursday, June 8th, 2017. He will thereafter be transferring to a Senior Executive Assistant position at the Yale Law School’s Office of Development under the tutelage of Mary Matheron, the Associate Dean for Development.

Shareq wishes to thank every single staff member he’s had the privilege of working with over the last two years, for welcoming him into the LIT family and allowing him the autonomy to mold this position into a highly enjoyable professional experience.  As he prepares for his departure, he has committed to extensively documenting each and every process he oversees, in order to  ensure that his successor will be able to hit the ground running.

Shareq hopes to stop by and say goodbye to everybody in the department in person prior to his last day. This visit may or may not coincide with a nudge to provide pending receipts. He also insists that he had nothing to do with the drafting of this blog post.

 

Recent Staff Departures

The Digital Library & Programming (DL&P) team in Library IT is in the process of addressing the departure of three of its valued members. With the recent departures of Mike Friscia, Osman Din, and Eric James, we will have the following interim reporting structure in DL&P.

On an interim basis, Dale Hendrickson has taken over Mike Friscia’s role managing DL&P, with Kalee Sprague and Lakeisha Robinson serving as interim team leads. Kalee and Lakeisha will be responsible for two teams within the unit to handle day-to-day activities. Kalee’s team will be comprised of Anju Meenattoor and the Programmer III position we are currently in the process of filling. Lakeisha’s team will be comprised of Tracy MacMath and a potential term position. These two teams are designed to be interdependent and will cross allocate workloads.

Despite these vacancies, Library IT staff are making every effort to remain on track with our critical goals while keeping an eye on the future. We thank the YUL community for its understanding as we navigate this period of transition.

Desktop Video Conferencing

Last year, a pilot project was conducted to evaluate desktop video conferencing solutions for YUL.  The pilot has been completed and based on the selection criteria and the experiences of pilot participants, Zoom Video Conferencing is the clear choice.  For those of you who participated in the pilot project, thank you.  Thanks also to Beatrice Richardson for leading the pilot and Library IT staff for providing support.

A project to implement Zoom for desktop video conferencing on YUL staff computers has been initiated. Library IT will soon acquire licenses and configure Zoom Video Conferencing services.  In the coming months equipment will be provided as needed (camera & headsets) for staff computers.  The project is expected to be completed by mid-fall, with some services available sooner for staff who already have equipment in place.

While the Zoom license may also be used in some conference rooms and streaming scenarios, there are other Library IT initiatives underway to identify solutions for lecture-capture and connected conference rooms.  Equipment for conference rooms and lecture halls will be outside the scope of this project focused on the deployment Zoom for desktop video conferencing.

From the entire Library IT team, we wholeheartedly thank everyone who participated in the pilot.  A summary report from the pilot is here: https://collaborate.library.yale.edu/librarian/Shared%20Documents/Library%20IT/2017_05_26_VCFinalReport.pdf

If you have any further questions about the pilot, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Beatrice or Dale.

New Staff Announcements

Over the last two months, Library IT has had the distinct pleasure of welcoming two new staff members.

In April, Cvetan Terziyski joined us as an IT Support Technician on the Workstation & Technology Services Team in Library IT. Cvetan is originally from Sofia, Bulgaria and has attended the University of Sofia St. Kliment Ohridski, where he earned a Masters’ degree in Computer Science/Information Security.  During his studies, he worked for WEBCOM Consult Ltd., where he provided network administration and desktop support for the Bulgarian subsidiaries of large multinational companies, including but not limited to McDonalds, TEVA Pharmaceuticals, and Starbucks. He also worked extensively with many local firms.  Cvetan moved to the United States in 2016 and was hired as a contractor with Library IT thereafter. He had been working for W&TS for six months as a contractor before being brought on full-time.

On June 5th, Patrick Stone will start at Library in the capacity of a Workflow Analyst/Programmer. In this position, Patrick will work with the Access Services and Technical Services departments to evaluate needs, identify process improvements, and implement technical solutions to improve efficiencies and drive organizational change. Patrick most recently worked at UBS AG in Stamford as a Software Developer/Engineer for the Infrastructure Software Group.  He had significant responsibilities related to application design, engineering, project management, and full life cycle development of server provisioning tools for UBS.  Prior to that he worked for both UBS and Citigroup providing support and development for their global Citrix implementations. Patrick holds a BA in Computer Science from SUNY Oswego, and a MS in Technology Management from Mercer University in Atlanta.

Cvetan and Patrick can be reached at cvetan.terziyski@yale.edu and patrick.stone@yale.edu respectively. We thank all the staff members within and beyond Library IT who contributed to the search process for these positions. Welcome to the Team!

Video Conferencing pilot at Yale University Library

Women using headset and webcam
Women using headset and webcam – via LogiTech blog (http://blog.logitech.com/)
Library IT seeks to provide a desktop video conferencing solution to help support those who are in distant and disparate locations and need to meet and collaborate. This is a unique opportunity for Library staff to help shape and inform Library IT’s selection and configuration of what will be Library’s video conferencing service.
Library IT will conduct preliminary evaluations of 4 video conferencing utilities:
  • Zoom
  • BlueJeans
  • Adobe Connect
  • Skype for Business
We are seeking volunteers who will provide feedback to inform our final decision. Volunteers will answer survey questions that will measure ease of use, reliability, integration into the YUL computing culture, and network feasibility for each solution.
Volunteers will receive a web cam, a headset and training for each of the video conferencing utilities. We are ready to invite 100 volunteers to help conduct the evaluations.  Volunteers will be asked to commit the following:
  • Volunteers must commit to conducting or participating in 3 to 4 video conferencing events per week.
  • Volunteers must commit to completing a brief survey after each video conferencing event.
How long will the pilot be conducted? 
The pilot will last 4 months, one month evaluation for each video conferencing utility.

Can all members of existing or new groups and/or committees participate? 
Yes, priority will be given to staff whose groups and/or committees would like to participate.  We strongly encourage groups such as these to participate in this pilot!
To volunteer, please fill out the Video Conferencing Volunteer Form.
We thank you in advance for your time and participation in this valuable pilot phase of video conferencing at YUL!

LIT and partners Tech Talk | Wednesday September 21st 2016

On Wednesday September 21st, from 3pm-4pm in Bass L01, join Library IT and partners in our monthly discussion of tech-related projects around the Library and beyond.

Our tentative agenda includes:

  • Hathi Trust (Robert Klingenberger)
  • YUL and Accessibility (Kalee Sprague and Tracy MacMath)
  • Service Now (Beatrice Richardson)
  • Avalon for Music Library (Cindy Greenspun, George Ouellette and Jonathan Manton)

For those who cannot join us in person, the session will be streamed via Adobe Connect:

http://greet.yale.edu/littechtalk/ [sign in as a guest]

Slides and recordings of the Tech Talk sessions will be archived in https://yale.box.com/LITTechTalkArchives.

Please remember: any Library staff is welcome to present at the Tech Talks! Please send topic suggestions to Jenn  Nolte or anyone else in Library IT.

See you there!