Kia ora koutou

If you’ve had problems opening Chrome browser from your UC computer today or had it open in incognito mode only – IT have just rolled out a fix.  To access Chrome again properly close your session if you have one open and re-launch it and it should open in normal mode again.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

Sorry, I know this is likely a bit late for you all – I was going to write up some instructions/pointers around LibCal’s Zoom integration functionality for subject librarians (since consultations all online at the moment) but have decided it is a bit tricky to do as everyone has slightly different set ups and the Zoom integration functionality works under a pretty exact set of conditions.

So if you would like some guidance/information/demo on the Zoom options for LibCal appointments please ask (email or IM are best best ways to contact me this week).

N.B: If you’re doing your own reading, the documentation on Springshare’s help site is a little out of date on some things.

Ngā mihi,

Romy

Kia ora koutou

It’s been brought to my attention that some academics are trying to log in to some our our electronic resources through Open Athens.  I’m not sure if this is related to any publicity around us purchasing  Open Athens very recently or just normal WFH user behaviour but thought I should clarify where we are at (or rather not at) with our Open Athens implementation.

We have purchased but haven’t yet properly started implementing it ( Ebsco are still in the process of assigning an implementation manager for us).  When we do go live it will initially just be for Elsevier products (SciVal, Science Direct and Scopus) and possibly Thomson Reuters (Westlaw).

If you do get reports of people being unable to sign in via “Open Athens” (or the Access through My Academic Institution options for any resource other than Lexis Advance), please point them to use links to databases/journals via the library database pages (or any ezproxied link) instead.  As I am quite curious about where people are trying this – if you get anyone that has screenshots of the login please send them through to me.

Ngā mihi,

Romy

Kia ora koutou

During Alert Level 3 we are offering postal delivery of requested items we are able to retrieve to UC staff and students.   There won’t be any retrieval from storage locations.  We will only be able to process items that are “in library” in locations we can access, (including items on hold shelves from prior to L4 lockdown).  Requests on items out to other borrowers will be pending until items are able to be returned again.

Pre-existing requests up to 1 September:
Emails have been sent to all requestors this morning to ask if they would like items posted to them as they become available.  Replies will come to the library email account and will be processed by ELS staff.  In order to post items we have to receive a postal address from the borrower (these will be added to Horizon borrower accounts as Address Correction Blocks by ELS staff).  If borrowers don’t want items posted their requests will remain in the system until campus pick up is available again.

Requests from 1 September
Currently all UC borrowers are able to place requests for 1day, 3 day, borrowable items and journals with pick up location restricted to s (COVID Postal Service).  Automated emails will be sent to new requestors twice daily asking for confirmation of postal address.  Pull list items will be retrieved by AL3 staff but will not be posted to borrowers until we have confirmation of their postal address (as above for pre-existing requests).  The emails ask borrowers to keep an eye on their library accounts to track progress of their requests (when items show as out on their account they have been put in the post).

Non-UC borrowers including external subscribers and ULANZ are currently unable to place requests – requesting for them will be reinstated when they are able to come on campus again (alert level 1).

If you have any questions or suggestions on improving messaging on library catalogue, website etc. please contact Library Digital Services.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

Ex Libris have some scheduled maintenance coming up on Sunday August 22 from 5-5:30pm.

There may be brief outages for some full text links from Multisearch, full text at UC links in Google Scholar and other “search for full text” type links during this time.   The online journals search  will also be affected.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

As part of the security patching for Microsoft Print Nightmare vulnerability IT put through a change on Tuesday last week that has disabled some shared printer functionality.  It was not supposed to affect existing connections to shared local printers (we have set ups for the Zebra label printers for spine labels and SATO printers used for mail labels) but seems to have broken things.

If you need to print to a Zebra label printer or a SATO printer you will need to do so from the computer the printer is physically attached to until IT can provide a solution.  We have logged an assyst request on behalf of library staff.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

IT released some security updates for Windows 10 last Friday.  These are due to forcibly  install and restart PC’s at 6pm this evening.  If you are working through past 6pm you may want to save your work just before 6.   Front desk PC’s at central/PJH have been updated so will be ok.

Ngā mihi

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

Sirsi Dynix provided us with an update that seems to have fixed the issues we were having with RFID equipment today.  Everything seems to be running ok (with the exception of the self loan station at EPS which is having some kind of meltdown that appears unrelated – ticket has been logged for vendor support about this one).  If you notice any problems/errors please let us know.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

Unfortunately we’re not having any luck getting the RFID services back up and running – hoping Sirsi Dynix will be able to help us fix this but it may take some time.  Self loan stations, smart bin and sort assists are all effected and are still offline.  If you haven’t already can you place some “out of order” signage on the self loan stations so borrowers don’t try to start a transaction?

However, circ assist (e.g. on the front desk and workroom PC’s that have pads attached) can be used to CKO/CKI items (will sensitize/desensitize the tags without relying on the service that is currently down).

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)

Kia ora koutou

The Horizon upgrade to 756 is mostly complete so you should be able to use Horizon 756 on your computers (if installed overnight – if you don’t have it, install from software center).  We are working on some problems with the connection between Horizon and the RFID equipment – currently all self loan stations and sort assists etc. are offline so borrowers will need to CKO items from information desks (via Horizon barcode).

Will post an update once RFID is back up and running

Ngā mihi,

Romy (on behalf of Library Digital Services)