© 2012 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
I am intrigued by the graphic of the watch presented as a spiral on the library home page. Can you tell me where I can get more information about the graphic and the designer?
I often use images from Flickr under a Creative Commons license for spotlights on the library homepage. (Creative Commons licensed images can be modified and reused with attribution.) I put the creator's username in the alt text for these images--just hover over the image in most browsers to see that info.
You can limit searches at Flickr to images under one of the Creative Commons licenses.In this case, the creator is Robbert van der Steeg
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Robert Sebek
Webmaster
University Libraries, Virginia Tech
Please buy Reservoir Dogs, Hurt Locker, and Dead man walking in DVD.
The Hurt Locker in on order. I will buy Dead Man Walking, but Reservoir Dogs was only a decent B movie who's interest has slacked off, and it's quality is a bit short for our Gaskins funds.
Paul Metz
Assistant to the Dean for Special Projects
(3rd floor) Fan is so loud! Turn it off.
I am very sorry that you are disturbed by the noisy fans in the Library. However our HVAC system is being replaced in the old part of the building, and it is imperative that we keep air moving in the Library to prevent mold and mildew from growing on the books. I know that this is a major inconvenience, but it can not be helped.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
(First floor) This area is sweet.
Thank you Dan, for your compliment. We are glad that you appreciate the quiet space on the first floor, the updates we've done for the new study area, and hope that our microform area is of use to you in your research.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
Get Air Conditioning
I am very sorry that you are inconvenienced by the lack of air conditioning in parts of the Library. As you may or may not know, we are in the process of replacing our main HVAC unit in the old part of the Library. While the AC in the new part of the Library is still functioning, it's ability to provide cool air to that side of the Library is somewhat degraded by the lack of cool air in the old part.
We have a tentative date of April 26 for the completion of the work in the old part of the building. Hopefully the outside temperatures will remain mild until the new HVAC unit is in place and operational.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
5th floor is great as a quiet floor, but the squeaky doors are really distracting. Can this be fixed? Thank you.
I just tried all of the doors on the 5th floor and the only one that squeaks is the one to the front stairwell. I will report it to our building maintenance person, and ask him to fix it.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
Stay open later at night.
We are open 102 hours a week with extended hours during exams. Many of our resources are available online 24/7. Given our finite budget we must balance expenditures for services, collections, and physical facilities. Our hours are comparable to many other research libraries our size. Additionally, the extended hours we stay open during exams seems to be adequate, given the number of students still in the Library at closing time.
Don Kenney
Associate Dean for the University Libraries
Extend your open hours. I got rude comments about Tech's focus on academics from a UVA student here for Grad school. He said "I think the amount of time the Library is open directly correlates with the university's focus on academics, and UVA's is open all night". It is a challenge, live up to it.
Thank you for your comments. I think it is somewhat unfair, though, to compare our Library to UVA's. To begin with the UVA Libraries have an operating budget that is almost twice what ours is. They also have twice the staff we have. They can afford to hire the extra staff to keep their Undergraduate Library open 24/7, We can not.
We are open 102 hours a week with extended hours during exams. Many of our resources are available online 24/7. Given our finite budget we must balance expenditures for services, collections, and physical facilities. Our hours are comparable to many other research libraries our size. Additionally, the extended hours we stay open during exams seems to be adequate, given the number of students still in the Library at closing time.
It is my understanding that next semester Torgersen Hall will stay open 24/7, to accommodate the needs of students needing a late night place to study. I hope this addresses your issues.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
The library computers have recently had Mozilla Firefox installed. I have used this browser on some of the library computers and have noticed that the browsing history gets deleted each time I close the browser window.
However, this did not happen with a public pc that I recently used. Opening the Firefox window again, displayed my gmail login id in the address bar history as well as the user id history. I had to then clear the history through the Tools menu. This feature may result in the disclosure of someone's more confidential information, like vt pid, or financial information.
All of the public machines should have Firefox and IE set to InPrivate browsing mode where it does not save any personal data locally on the computer. If this has been disabled somehow on one of the computers we will need to know specifically which one (if you remember the number or location of the computer you were using).
The public machines also have Deep Freeze on them which means after the computer is rebooted any personal data will have been erased, and all changes restored to their initial settings.
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Robert Sebek
Webmaster
University Libraries, Virginia Tech
There should be beverages available for purchase in the Library.
We hope to have the Study Cafe on the first floor up and running by Fall semester. Along with coffee and tea, we hope there will be a variety of drinks and food items available.
Buddy Litchfield
Va Tech Libraries
Is there a problem with signing on the proxy server for the library. I have attempted on seperate days to connect with two different browsers and cannot connect; what is going on.
Hello,
The proxy is working properly, but it will not work with some firewall settings. Do you know if the computer you are using has a firewall? Or do you know if your internet service provider has has a firewall? If you are attempting to connect from a school or military facility, then it is very likely you are behind a firewall.
Beth Lancaster
Library Systems
(Additional response from person leaving the comment): I would not be surprised if the firewall issue is not the problem; I work behind a firewall and never have experienced this issue at home. Thank you.
You should put your DVDs vertically on the shelves.
Thank you for your comment, this is the first time that we'd had this suggestion. Vertical placement is harder to read, according to most patrons. At least 3 or 4 times each week we get comments about the layout for the DVDs. Ray Gaskin, who donates most of the funds spent on DVD's, commented recently that he likes the current display. Based on the popularity of the current layout, we will keep them filed the way they are.
Brenda Pratt
Head of Circulation
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© 2012 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University