LTDS October 6th -12th 2019

Several in LTDS took much of the week off to rejuvenate.  The remainder of the team worked to keep several projects moving forward and respond to issues.

 

  • Alma/Primo
    • Completed Sewanee user load process.
    • Tested holding updates for select collections
    • Automated EDI processing with YBP
  • Desktop/Application support
    • Continued to install/upgrade  staff computers to Office 365
    • Worked with Dell support to replace a failed mother board
  • Digital Collections
    • Resolved MySQL issue that affected several digital collections and the public website for a brief period of time
    • refreshed the development DSpace instance and began testing new version
  • Web/Web applications
    • Public web typography changes
    • Corrected a newly discovered issue with ACT.
  • Other
    • Prepared for mailbox migration planned for the 15th.
    • Continued to learn the laravel  framework and started to plan for implementation
    • Participated in LTDS office hours

 

Outlook365 Spam Protection Update

On October 15, 2019, please be advised on the upcoming change to how spam will be handled:

“Microsoft Office 365 is updating the quarantine notifications and alerts messages that users will receive. Currently, users can release emails from quarantine directly from the notification email. After mid-October, users will no longer be able to release quarantined emails from the notification email itself; they will only be able to “Block Sender.” To review and release quarantined emails back into their mailbox, users will have to sign in to the Office 365 Security and Compliance Quarantine website.” (from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2019/10/10/microsoft-office-365-changes-to-notification-messages-regarding-quarantined-emails-in-vumailguard/)

 

macOS Catalina Released

Apple has released the latest version of the Mac operating system: macOS Catalina (10.15). Currently, there are no plans to push this upgrade out via AirWatch, so staff may choose to manually install if desired. However, a couple of things to keep in mind before you upgrade:

Catalina drops support for 32-Bit apps

We don’t recommend upgrading to macOS Catalina without first confirming that the apps you need are 64-Bit. 32-Bit apps will not work on Catalina.

How can I tell which apps are 32-Bit?

Here’s a quick and easy way to check:

  1. Click the Apple icon on the left side of your menu bar
  2. Select About This Mac
  3. Select System Report…
  4. Under Software (third drop-down), choose Applications
  5. Look under the field 64-Bit (Intel) to see which of your apps are 64-Bit vs 32-Bit; you can click on the field to sort 32-Bit apps first

What do I do if an app I need is 32-Bit?

First, check to see if your app is up-to-date; if not, install the updates. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, then you’ll have to stick with your current version of macOS until you can find a suitable alternative, or the app’s developer updates to 64-Bit.

Upgrading Parallels

Upgrading macOS before installing the latest version of Parallels may prevent your VMs from booting up. If you use Parallels and would like to upgrade macOS, please let LTDS know via INFORM so we can purchase a new Parallels license for you first.

 

 

With that said, it’s generally a good idea to wait for a major update (10.15.1) or two (10.15.2) before upgrading to a new macOS. This gives Apple time to identify and resolve many of the initial issues related to a new macOS release. If you have any questions or concerns about updating your Mac to Catalina, please let us know!

LTDS September 29nd – October 5th 2019

Over the past week, your LTDS staff have been putting in a lot of time towards out-facing services. For instance, our first LTDS Office Hours was hosted on Friday, with 5 attendees with a variety of questions. Thank you for all who came and participated. This will be a weekly pilot so come and join us this Friday at 10am! Other out-facing services include website work, a lot of Informs, and committee work. Internally, we continue load user records into Alma, and support staff with various desktop issues. LTDS Staff continue to increase their skills by participating in various trainings, webinars, courses, and preparing to assist and/or teach.

Web work:
* WordPress updates
* Islandora updates
* Clickable study room map
* New titles page interface improvements
* Public web typography refresh
* TVNews forgot password project

Staff supporting:
* LTDS Office Hours
* OCLC publishing project
* Library GitHub support/documentation
* Office 365 installation

Courses:
* Python
* Laravel
* Unix
* Library Juice Academy courses

Committees:
* LAC
* Alma Systems Committee
* Wayfinding Task Force
* eBUG
* Leganto Working Group

Other:
* Archivematica

Basic troubleshooting: Delete Outlook Profile

Sometimes, Outlook can be problematic and no matter what you try, you still get either annoying pop ups or you’re not receiving emails that you believe you should be. One basic way to troubleshoot this issue is to delete the profile your computer is using for Outlook. What this does is force Outlook to rebuild your profile, giving you a clean start, so it does not hurt anything to try this.

First, you need to go to your Control Panel.

Then go to “User Accounts”

Then go to “Mail”

In the window that pops up, click on “Show Profiles”

In the next window that pops up, you should see one profile, which is your default profile. Click the “Remove” button.

Once completed, click OK. For best results, reboot your computer and then start up Outlook again. This only takes a few minutes to complete but is one anyone can try as a method to troubleshoot Outlook issues.

LTDS September 22nd – 28th 2019

LTDS personnel have been diligently working on various projects from across various areas. To name a few:

    • Desktop:
      • Office 365 installation
      • Laptop/Desktop deployments
    • Alma/Primo VE:
      • Testing Fisk user loads
      • Cleaning up user records
      • Circulation/Reserve Desk
    • Digital Collections:
      • TVNews – Accessibility issues
      • TVNews – Forgotten password project
      • Fine arts exhibits
    • Web/Web applications:
      • Clickable room maps
    • Committees:
      • LITA
      • ELUNA Developers Day
      • Exhibits System Task Force
    • Training:
      • Bootstrap 4
      • XSLT/XQuery

LTDS September 15th – 21st 2019

LTDS continued to work on several projects and prepare for the upcoming Office 365 mailbox migrations and the switch to the Office 365 suite by staff.

 

  • Alma/Primo
    • Analytics lab
    • Inventory tool for circulation
    • Moving 856 40 to 956
  • Desktop/Application support
    • Training new student
    • Deploying new desktops
    • Updating Macs in classroom
  • Digital Collections
    • ArchivesSpace interface and plugin work
    • VURJ reboot discussions
    • Fine Arts Gallery Exhibition
  • Web/Web applications
    • Clickable room maps
    • staff purchase request form
    • TVNews
    • Preparing for campus typography web changes
  • Other
    • wordpress and Islandora/Drupal updates

 

LTDS September 8th – 14th 2019

The team continued to work on various projects,  resolve issues and plan for the upcoming 365 migration.

  • Alma/Primo
    • Fisk user load
    • API work for a couple of projects
  • Desktop/Application support
    • Move ILL equipment to new temporary locations
    • New large order for replacing computers
  • Digital Collections
    • Migrating TVnews classic sight to force https using a l.v.e url
    • Review of old exhibit website
  • Web/Web applications
    • Work on clickable maps
    • Revised several web pages including by the numbers
  • Other
    • Library committee work
    • Association committee work

 

 

 

Blocking unwanted calls

3 Comments on Blocking unwanted calls

Most of us already have in place a method to block spam emails. And with our cell phones, we can easily block calls. But what about Skype for Business? Is there a way to block unwanted calls there? I am here to tell you that yes, there is way to do this, but it does require a little effort. First and foremost, you have to know what number you are wanting to block. Then, we have to create a Contact within Outlook (which is integrated with Skype for Business).

Open up Outlook, go to “New Items” and select “Contact”:

Enter a recognizable name, something like “Blocked Contacts”. Enter a bogeous email address (something like blocked@bad.com). And then under Phone numbers, enter the phone number you want to block. Be sure to include the +1 (for US) and the area code.

Now, go to Skype for Business and search for the contact you created:

Right-click on the contact, go to “Change Privacy Relationship” and select “Blocked contacts”:

You will then get a message, stating that once this user is blocked, they will not be able to contact you in any way – including phone calls (which is what we want). Just click “OK” and voila!, you are now blocking that unwanted caller. Now please note, you can add more numbers to this contact you created, but only up to 7 numbers. After that, you would need to create another Contact and do the same process as above. Hopefully you will not need to use this a lot, but for those annoying fax calls or telemarketers, it might come in handy.

(Thanks goes to Sele Training who provided a YouTube video explaining this, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CN44dZ6Syc)

LTDS August 18th – August 24th 2019

LTDS continued to work on various project and resolve INFORMS.

 

  • Alma/Primo
    • Large influx of new student works and the need to Alma accounts
    • Reviewing requests and work order priorities in Alma
  • Desktop/Application support
    • Deploying new desktops
    • Continued renaming project
  • Digital Collections
    • Posted new library maps for the Central and Divinity libraries to Fourwinds (wayfinding)
  • Web/Web applications
    • Deployed Survicate (pop-up survey tool) for the public web
    • New homepage for DiSC
  • Other
    • committee and online course work
    • Hiring/re-hiring student workers
    • Gargoyle scanning project