March 14, 2010: Trouble getting into a database (online comment box)

I have recently been unable to access the World Bank's World Development Indicators database. I have tried to use both the Off-Campus sign-in and the On-Campus sign-in and neither has worked. I have never had an issue accessing this database before. I did not attend Virginia Tech last semester, and I am wondering if this has anything to do with my inability to access the database. 

I would greatly appreciate any help I can receive in this matter.  Thank you.

I just did a search in the World Bank's World Development Indicators database and had no problem getting in and searching for information. Since you were not enrolled last semester, that may have affected your status with University. You might want to contact your department and verify that you are recognized as an enrolled student.
Once that is done, if you still have problems with accessing the database, you should contact Dave Beagle (beagle@vt.edu, 540-231-9231), our distance learner Librarian, to make sure there is no other reason why you should be blocked.

Buddy Litchfield
Va. Tech Libraries

March 15, 2010: Food option (library suggestion box)

1. Fruit bar (in) Commons area.

Thank you for your suggestion. As you may or may not know, we will be opening a cafe/study area on the first floor of Newman Library in the very near future. Various beverages and food items should be available from this location.  If fruit is not on the menu when it opens, you should make your suggestion directly to the cafe staff at that time.

Buddy Litchfield
Va. Tech Libraries

March 24, 2010: Double-sided printing (online comment box)

I utilise the public PCs in the library to print course handouts, HW etc.  I have noticed that there is no option in the PCs to do two-sided printing. This option would help to save a lot of paper if it were thedefault option for all print jobs - those who still want one-sided printing can always make the change before printing.

I agree with your desire to save paper (we recycle a lot of paper here in Newman). However, none of our printers have a duplexer, which would be required for double-sided printing. Instead they are equipped with high capacity paper trays to accommodate the high volume of printing that goes on here.

Instead, I recommend using the "print multiple pages to a sheet" option in the printer driver window. When printing something that you're not turning in for a grade, like a draft or an online article, you can choose to print two pages side-by-side on a single sheet.  Though you'll get smaller text, it's often very readable. And you have reduced your paper output in half!

Robert Sebek
Newman Library recycling coordinator

March 31, 2010: Screen savers too quick (library suggestion box)

One really annoying thing about the computers at the Library is that the screen saver goes on after one minute. Computer monitors these days (LCDs) are not protected by "screen savers". They were designed for CRT monitors. Now it is just annoying. Change it to 10 or 15 minutes.

We use the screen saver status to determine whether a computer is in use for our new Computer Availability pages. Computers with an active screen saver are marked as open and those without the screen saver are marked in use.

I'm sure a short timeout was chosen to enable more accurate display of computer use; one minute does seem an awfully short period and I can see that constantly having to jiggle the mouse or tap the keyboard would be annoying.

I'll ask our computer support staff to lengthen the timeout, though it will still be less than 10 minutes to keep the computer availability service usable.
--
Robert Sebek
Webmaster
University Libraries, Virginia Tech