Overview * Lab hours * Email * Hints for the computer-phobic * Lab laws * Additional hints * Comic relief
Take a look at the new Guide to Student Computing (Warning--BIG pdf!). To receive the latest on SCILS computer lab hours, policies, etc, subscribe to the Library and Information Science Student Association listserv by using the link provided on the mailman webpage, which is https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/ Click on the SCILS_LISSA link and fill in the information. If you have problems or questions regarding the computer lab, send a message to help@scils.rutgers.edu. Be sure to take advantage of the Rutgers computing services: http://www.nbcs.rutgers.edu and http://rucs.rutgers.edu. Also take a look at https://www.eden.rutgers.edu/webtools/, where you can learn how to link e-mail accounts, create vacation messages, etc. You may wish to review http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~ruasis/help.htm and other online tutorials; see, for example, http://www.webjunction.org
If you consider yourself to be hopelessly computer-illiterate, there are two things we want you to know:
Yes, that sounds contradictory, but believe it for now.
If, on the other hand, you consider yourself to be a computer whiz, please be warned: you can create havoc for yourself and your colleagues if you try to change the way the computers in the lab are set up, or if you do not follow guidelines. Our computers are loaded to execute a number of programs commonly used in classes, and tampering with anything is bound to cause trouble. If you detect a problem, report it immediately to the lab assistants. If the problem involves a policy issue, contact Jon Oliver, Assistant Dean, Network and Information Technology. See the SCILS directory and e-mail listing for ways to make contact.
You should be enrolled in 610:550 during your first semester, because that course is designed to introduce you to the technology you will be using throughout the program. If you have not registered for 550, it is not too late to consider a drop-add. If you have had considerable computer experience, consider asking for an exemption from 610:550; consult the 610:550 course coordinator, Professor Zhang.
Usually the computers will be turned on, and all you have to do is hit the "Enter" key to get started. If you see a log-on box, don't pay any attention to the line asking for a password. Just hit enter again to bring up the icons for Telnet (which will take you to e-mail), Internet Explorer, and a few others. For Word, other Microsoft software, and software used in specific classes, double-click on "Start" at the bottom left corner of the screen, and then click on "Programs".
If you have never used a computer, there are some simple, painless ways to overcome the very understandable anxiety you may have as a novice computer user. Start by taking a basic course at your public library or community college; follow up by attending our technology workshop; and then spend some time in the lab with a lab assistant or a fellow student who can help you to reach a reasonable comfort level. You will be much more confident when you attend your first lab if you know something about those keys that are not on your typewriter, for example. If you have always used a Mac, you will also benefit from spending a little time in our lab getting acquainted with the SCILS PCs, which run Microsoft Windows.
Most importantly, ask questions when you don't understand something -- right away! Don't assume everyone else is with it. Misunderstandings cumulate and will hamper you more and more.
will be posted on the doors, and changes will be announced on listservs. Please be aware that classes and workshops can usurp "open" lab hours; it is best to check before you make a trip to school just for the purpose of using the lab (732-932-7500 x8999).
One way or another, you will soon be depending on electronic mail and the Internet for most of your work. You will need to use the Rutgers Libraries' catalog and indexes from your home. The system at Rutgers can get overloaded, so that means that you must be a considerate, efficient user -- i.e., get in and out as fast as you can, and don't hog lines or disc space. Be sure to delete your e-mail messages as you go. For instructions how to forward mail from your Eden account to another email account, go to: http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/tools.php.
Your account will expire on June 15th of the year you graduate; remove your files by that date.
Find each other, and form a mutual support group. Diagnose your specific problems, pool your questions, and seek help. Do not allow anxiety to interfere with your learning; do not let your selves feel excluded or intimidated by more experienced students. You may not learn to love the computer, nor master it to your satisfaction, but you do want to learn to exploit its power for information handling. Today, no student should earn an MLIS without good skills in online searching, word processing, spreadsheets, database construction, and telecommunication. Because an increasing number of students entering the MLIS program already have good computer skills, and because so much has to be packed into our short 36-credit program, and because our teaching resources are stretched so thinly, we cannot give the computer novices the remedial help that they require. We urge you to take it upon yourselves to find local adult education courses or workshops outside the MLIS program to get up to speed. With computer prices dropping, you might be able to afford your own. Rutgers has advice on buying a computer with a discount at http://findtech.rutgers.edu/tmplt.php?pg=home. Once you have discovered the ease of writing and editing papers and the luxury that the computer gives you of searching library and Internet resources without leaving home, you will wonder how you ever lived without one.
LAB LAW number 1: no food or drink in the lab, please!!
LAB LAW number 2: Use of online databases (e.g., DIALOG, Lexis-Nexis) are for classroom instruction only. Anyone found to be utilizing these services for any other purpose will be subject to disciplinary action under the University code of student conduct. Jon Oliver advises that "The appropriate usage of the SCILS facilities includes information access, research and retrieval for the purpose of fulfilling course requirements, research projects and class assignments. It does not include 'chain mail,' consulting for profit...," etc. For the Rutgers Computing Services statement, see Acceptable Use Policy.
LAB LAW number 3: Thou shalt not steal software! Please read Using Software. If there is software you would like to have installed on your own computer, check with Rutgers Computing Services. Because of licensing, you may be able to obtain some things at very low cost.
In addition to using a tutorial as suggested above, keep the following reminders handy.
A computer KEYBOARD for the most part looks exactly like your typewriter
keyboard. There are only a few unfamiliar keys that you will need to
use
right away. The arrow keys allow you to move the cursor -- the blinking
little line that shows you where you are on the screen. The "Enter" key
is
like a carriage return (usually designated
For now, don't worry about the numeric pad on the far right of the keyboard. The "Function" keys to the left and above the traditional part of the keyboard are somewhat like the Control and Alternate keys in that they allow specific directions to be executed, again depending on the software program that you are using.
The PCs that you will be using in Room 119 have been configured with the most commonly used software, and give access to the Internet and to some major remote data bases. Over the course of your time at SCILS, you will be introduced to most of these resources.
FINALLY: You will find glossaries in the "Sources" section and there will be handouts in class to help you get started with terms that might be new to you. Create your own "crib sheet" to help you to remember what's what, and what you need to decipher. Above all, take every opportunity to play around with any machine you can find, using whatever software program that is available, and any manual or documentation you can get your hands on. As bizarre and as frustrating as this may be for a while, eventually you will discover patterns and gain a "feel" for how things work. We used to teach students programming, not in order to make them proficient programmers, but just to enable them to talk the language of the people who did write the software for library automation and information retrieval. These days, the "off-the-shelf" software is so diverse and flexible that it usually is no longer necessary for librarians to get involved in customized software design. On the other hand, there are few libraries left that do not depend on computers for the organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of information to some extent. The pace of adoption of computer technology for all kinds of information management is accelerating constantly. Therefore it is vital that you learn not only the few specific software applications to which you will be introduced during your brief time here, but that you also develop a broad view of the potential of electronic information handling, a comfortable relationship with the computer as a tool, and a grasp of the generic software types and how they operate.
Befuddled PC Users Flood Help Lines, And No Question Seems To Be Too Basic
AUSTIN, Texas - The exasperated help-line caller said she couldn't get her new Dell computer to turn on. Jay Ablinger, a Dell Computer Corp. technician, made sure the computer was plugged in and then asked the woman what happened when she pushed the power button. "I've pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens," the woman replied. "Foot pedal?" the technician asked. "Yes," the woman said, "this little white foot pedal with the on switch." The "foot pedal," it turned out, was the computer's mouse, a hand- operated device that helps to control the computer's operations.
Seemingly simple computer features baffle some users. So many people have called to ask where the "any" key is when "Press Any Key" flashes on the screen that Compaq is considering changing the command to "Press Return Key."
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A poll conducted among INFOCUS magazine readers had established "waka" as the proper pronunciation for the angle-bracket characters <>, though some readers held out resolutely for "norkies." The following poem appeared recently in INFOCUS magazine. The original authors were Fred Bremmer and Steve Kroese of Calvin College & Seminary of Grand Rapids, MI. The text of the poem follows:
<> !*''#
^"`$$-
!*=@$_
%*<> ~#4
&[]../
|{,,SYSTEM HALTED
The poem can only be appreciated by reading it aloud, to wit:
Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash,
Caret quote back-tick dollar dollar dash,
Bang splat equal at dollar under-score,
Percent splat waka waka tilde number four,
Ampersand bracket bracket dot dot slash,
Vertical-bar curly-bracket comma comma CRASH.