Library Systems

“Long ago, ‘the wind beneath my wings’ became a cliche. But for me, the phrase applies to the three AIT/Library Systems managers who make success possible.” Howard Spivak, Director for Library Systems & Academic IT

Sophos: Sophos http://www.sophos.com is our anti-virus software. Sophos is new to us, and not our first choice. However, this year it was selected by ITS staff as the campus-wide application. The Library and the Café were confronted with a difficult choice. We could abandon our Dr. Solomon (a McAfee product) licence and go with the campus standard, or go it alone, at a cost of approximately $9,700. Needless to say, we elected the campus standard for reasons both technical and fiscal.

With Sophos, we could align our server with one in ITS and all PCs would be updated automatically.

The ITS server gets daily updates from Sophos, our servers get daily updates from it, and our PCs get daily updates from our server. Thus we are prepared for almost any virus, no matter how new.

While we think Dr. Solomon is the preferable product, we did not have some $10,000 to spare.

Fortres: Fortres http://fortres.com prevents unauthorized copying of software, file tampering, and undesired uses of the hard disk or other peripherals. Fortres in not loaded on staff PCs.

Clean Slate: Clean Slate http://www.fortres.com/products/cleanslate.htm is designed to protect public-access computers from malicious or inexperienced users. While it does not restrict users’ activities, Clean Slate scours drives clean--back to their original state–when a machine is rebooted. We plan to purchase a Clean Slate site license and use this product on all public and classroom machines.

While these packages give us a great sense of security, at the same time they create problems: the programs are not always compatible with each other. This means that the Systems staff put in many hours each time one of these programs issues an updated version. Sometimes correcting a problem may even take days to correct, as staff work with each vendor seeking configurations agreeable to all three packages

“The main event in the Library Café this year was the crash of the server supporting the LAN and all related services in this location. This was primarily the fault of me and my staff. Despite the fact that there are strict procedures for what to do to the server in case of emergencies when I am not on campus, we learned that accidents do happen. I have revisited these procedures and held additional training of all systems support staff.” Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director for Library Systems

During the past year we experienced a massive server failure in the Library Café, pointing to the need for a better backup system. At a time when the second full-time position in the Library Systems unit was vacant and Alex was out with the flu, his staff of part-time student workers used their own judgment and elected to attempt to bring up the server themselves, rather than troubling Alex. The result was disastrous. While the negative aspects of the crash were painful and immediately obvious, surprisingly there were some positive aspects too.

“There have been many problems with the LAN in Gershwin Hall, created by an old token ring hub located in the BCBC wiring closet. A great amount of time has been spent troubleshooting and fixing this problem. Recently I’ve tested all the ports on this hub and marked the bad ones. I hope we will survive with this old infrastructure until we move back to the renovated Library, without making a costly investment to new equipment which cannot be used there.” Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director for Library Systems

During 2001 the equipment that we brought with us from the old Library began to fail at an alarming rate. We were reluctant to replace this equipment–resources were scarce, and the new Library would bring with it new infrastructure and equipment. But as the date for the new Library opening moved farther and farther into the future, the situation became increasingly acute.

Finally we had no option but to order several replacement hubs and cards. After the new Library opens, we hope we can reuse them somewhere.

The still looming disaster is the temporary Music Library in Gershwin Hall. Here the token ring hub is failing, and we will not be using token in the new Library. Token ring hubs are costly, but we may have no choice: should the hub fail totally, Music would have no Internet access. We pray for deliverance.

"It is estimated the “half life of knowledge” for an IT professional is eighteen months. Not even medicine has as short of a half life. So the need for constant updating of both technical and professional skills is constant." Howard Spivak, Director for Library Systems & Academic IT "The technology revolution has created information bedlam, and consequently a dire need for professionally trained information specialists." Beverly Sheppard, Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services “It is hard to disagree with such statement. In the world of the computer revolution, professional training and development are crucial to adopting the latest technologies. Over a short period of time, your knowledge may become obsolete if you are not constantly updating and refreshing it.” Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director for Library Systems

Each year Library and Academic IT staff enjoy many professional development opportunities–this document is filled with references to the many conferences, training programs, expos, and so forth in which faculty and staff participated. Our membership in MetroSET www.metroset.org pays dividends many times over, as staff and faculty participate in its excellent local programs. Systems staff also invest a great deal of time in what they think of as “self education”–studying the latest books, technology magazines, and manuals.

Professional development is certainly no luxury for staff whose day-to-day responsibilities include building Web-enabled infrastructures, developing new patron-focused architectures and applications, supporting mobile access to technologies, and implementing security management. Rather, it is essential. In 2001 the Library Café developed quite a Mac presence, largely because of the needs of students and faculty in the departments of TV/Radio, Film, Theater, and Art. In the new Library we will have a number of public-access Macs, as well as a Mac classroom. For these reasons, staff were eager to enhance their related skills. These are some of the training opportunities of which staff availed themselves in 2001:

PC Expo (Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City)

MacWorld Conference & Expo (Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City)

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server: Active Directory (hands-on training by the Globix Corporation)

COMDEX 2001 (Las Vegas, Nevada) [Vice President Steve Little supported both Alex Rudshteyn (AIT) and David Best (ITS) for this major event]

Tradeline Inc. Conference for College, University, & Medical School Facilities: New Strategies and Innovations for Classrooms, Teaching Labs and Research Buildings (San Diego, CA) [Vice President Steve Little supported both Nicholas Irons (AIT) and Mark Gold (ITS) for this major event]

American Library Association conferences (San Francisco, CA; New Orleans, LA)