Public equipment & the holidays

1) For problems with public PCs and public printers:

a) Problems can be reported via phone to the Info Commons staff at 416-978-0429.
b) Requests can also be made via e-mail at icicle.support@utoronto.ca (with a cc to Jeff so he can track problems as well). Include in the email: time, date, machine #, problem details
c) If applicable put a pink out-of-order sign on the PC or printer (signs kept in lower reference drawer)



2) For network problems (e.g. staff or public PCs not connecting to Internet, etc)

• call ITS at 8-5555

3) Patrons with problems with their laptops or other devices

• advise them to follow the handouts on the Info Desk
• cables (From the Loans Services Desk) can be loaned to patrons who have wireless problems (take ID from patron)** Please remember to give the patron the handout notifying them of the cessation of the docking/network ports in January 2014
• if handouts and cables do not help with the problem, patron can be advised call the IC Help Desk (978-HELP).  
• Their holiday hours should be posted soon on their website: http://help.ic.utoronto.ca/

Docking ports

On January 1, 2014 docking ports on campus will be decommissioned by the University’s central Information and Technology Services (I+TS). By doing so, I+TS resources will be redirected towards providing better wireless services. There are approximately 600+ docking ports within the Gerstein Library.  Documentation has been prepared (both in print and on the web) which has two purposes:

1.     To inform patrons that this service (docking ports) is slated to be stopped in January 2014

2.     To gather feedback/questions/concerns from patrons about why they need to use a docking port and why the wireless network is not sufficient

The procedure  (from now until December) when a patron asks for a cable at the Loans Desk is to:

1.     Hand patron a cable (and take ID)

2.     Hand them a print handout (see attached) which informs them about the docking port termination.  A pile of these handouts are located by the cables.

3.     If a patron fills out this handout with comments and returns the handout (along with the cable), please put the completed handout in the pamphlet box located underneath the drawer.  Jeff will be checking this weekly to gather any comments/feedback.

This information will be gathered and sent to IT+S in addition to the library’s ITS staff

Other ways patrons are being informed:

-       News item on Gerstein web page

-       Featured item (bottom right corner) of Gerstein web page

-       Gerstein lobby flatscreen

Changes to copiers and change machine

The following is a message regarding changes in May 2013.
No more change machines in the main library system.
Gerstein had its 7 copiers reduced to 4.
Our Loan Desk no longer provides change for any reason.

JH

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We now have a total of 4 photocopiers in Gerstein.  Three are located on the corridor outside Resource Sharing and one is in Short Term Loan.  The copiers on 2 below and level 3 of the journal stacks have been removed.

Two can be used for scanning, one is in Short Term Loan and the other is the first in line in the corridor outside Resource Sharing.

One copier is coin operated.  It is in the middle of the group of three.

Please remember that we do not provide change for copying purposes.

Renata
June 5, 2013

USB issue will not be fixed, new info on rebooting scanner/copier

After a lot of correspondence over the past 8 months, Ricoh has replied that it will not fix this issue due to the machine being out of manufacture. I assume this means parts would have to be remade, and they are busy putting their efforts in to parts for new models, not older ones they no longer manufacture.

Our lease on these goes until 2016 or 2017.

Follow these steps to help with USB flash drives not being recognized: 

Always remove the users TCard and/or USB flash drive from the machine before proceeding.

STEP 1
-if a users device is not recognized then do a soft reboot (hold down "*" and "#" until the display turns off, let go and wait for it to start up on its own)

STEP 2
-if Step 1 fails then do a hard reboot (press the green power light on the top of the machine, the light should go out...then locate the orange power switch on the front panel of the machine and switch it to "sleep". Turn it on after a few seconds)

STEP 3
-if Step 2 fails then loan the user our USB

Any time our USB fails, follow Step 1, and if necessary Step 2 as well. It should work.
If it doesn't then put an out of order sign on the "scan" card unit. (the machine can still be used as a photocopier)

Public PC's - auto-deletion of user files

In the past, if a user left their personal documents on our public computers within the My Documents folder, those files would be saved there for a week. After that the network would automatically delete them.

This has now changed to 4 days. After that the network will automatically delete any files left in the My Documents folder.

This is not something users do a lot of. It is more of a "safety" feature in case someone forgets their files.

This only applies to the My Documents folder. Files left elsewhere are automatically deleted as soon as the user logs out of the desktop.

TCard Cleaning Wipes

Cleaning the chip on cards can eliminate errors.
We used to keep a small bottle of rubbing alcohol to wipe the chip clean, but we now have some packaged "wipes" that I got from Mike at the TCard Office.

I keep a supply of these in the Infodesk printer cabinet. (lower shelf on the left)

They are about 1" square in size.

They are to be used by staff at either of our public service desks, so please help yourself when needed. And let me know if you think we need more.

If there are no wipes available, the old trick of using some cotton fabric to clean the chip is also useful.