Library Notes
A newsletter for patrons of the Galter Health Sciences Library

Fall 2005
New Series #38

Inside this Issue:

Director's Report: Responding to LibQUAL+ Survey Comments

Meet the Staff

The Health SmartLibrary: Better than Ever

Collections: Current and Future Directions

Linking from Databases to Full-text Articles

Computing @ the Library

Library Services: Document Delivery, Hours, and More

Study Space: Meeting the Needs of Groups and Individuals

This Issue

Previous Issues

Credits

Galter Library Web Site

Contact Us

Computing @ the Library

Michelle Frisque, MLS, Head, Information Systems, mfrisque@northwestern.edu

Any library worth its salt has to have great computing resources and the Galter Library is no exception! We strive to keep our computers as up to date and as useful as possible for the FSM community. Some of the LibQUAL+ survey comments concerned computing in the library, including positive comments about our computing upgrades over the last few months. This article summarizes the full range of computing services available.

Public Computers

There are over 60 public computer workstations (55+ PCs and 5 Macs) available for use by all NU faculty, students and staff as well as Galter Library affiliates. The majority of the computers are available on the first floor in the Reference Room and the Learning Resources Center. Additional computers are available on the second floor in the following locations: East Reading Room, West Reading Room, and Conference Room 2-282. All computers, except for the 4 catalog kiosk stations, have the following software:

  • Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access)
  • Web Browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer and Netscape
  • EndNote
  • Educational Software

All of the PCs also include:

  • USB ports for use of flash drives
  • CD burners
  • DVD read drives

All of the Macs include:

  • USB ports for use of flash drives
  • DVD-RW drives
  • iMovie
  • iDVD
  • iPhoto

A word of warning: files saved on the public computers will be deleted after each login and whenever the computer is idle for 30 minutes. Make sure to save your files to a flash drive, burn it to a CD or send the file to yourself via email to avoid data loss. Once the file has been deleted from the desktop it is gone for good. Library staff cannot retrieve the file once it is lost.

The public computers no longer have floppy drives. Floppy drives, zip drives, headphones and flash drives are all available for check-out at the Circulation Desk.

Scanners and More …

One of the survey comments suggested that "the library should have scanning facilities in addition to photocopying". The library has had publicly-available scanners for a number of years now and we have recently added more functionality with a new software suite. Scanners and the Adobe Creative Suite are available on 4 of the PCs and 2 of the Macs in the Learning Resources Center. The Adobe Creative Suite includes:

  • Adobe GoLive, a web editor
  • Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, a graphics program
  • InDesign, print publication layout and design software
  • Acrobat Professional - makes PDFs

Catalog Kiosk Stations

We have 4 computers in the library you can use to look items up in the catalog. These computers are located in the following areas: lower level, first level journal stacks, mezzanine, and outside Dollie's Corner on the second level.

Wireless Access and NetworkPorts

If you bring your laptop or WiFi-enabled handheld device to the Galter Library you can access the Internet via a network or wireless connection. Wireless access is available throughout most of the library. To connect to the wireless network, you will need:

If you need assistance in setting up your VPN client you can contact the NUIT Support Center by phone at 847-491-HELP (4357) or email consultant@northwestern.edu.

Network ports for wired connections are also available throughout the library in the following locations:

  • Open carrels in Reference Room, Learning Resources Center , East Reading Room, West Reading Room
  • Conference rooms
  • Study Bars located in the journal stacks area on the first level and the mezzanine.

You will need a network cable to connect your laptop to the network port. If you don’t have one you can check one out at the Circulation Desk. While most users will not need to configure their laptops, if you are having problems connecting to the Internet from a network connection you may need to activate DHCP to automatically detect our network settings. For help with a wired connection, see: http://www.it.northwestern.edu/oncampus/wired/index.html

As always, if you any questions or comments about using our computing resources, don't hesitate to contact us at (312) 503-8109 or ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu.