March 28, 2008

Sneak Peek: The LTS Digest blog and RSS feed // Reminder: What to do when you change your password // Research skills assessment for graduating seniors // New additions to the Knovel reference book service // High performance computing day

THE LTS DIGEST BLOG AND RSS FEED
The LTS Digest is available as a blog and in the form of an RSS feed. You can check out the blog at http://ltsnewsdigest.blogspot.com/ and the RSS feed is available via the portal on the employee tab. Instructions for subscribing to the RSS feed will be available at a later date. Enjoy!

REMINDER: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD
Users sometimes encounter login problems immediately following a password change. Two common issues are a failure to login with the new password, or too many failed login attempts, which result in a locked account. You can easily avoid both issues by following these two steps: 1. If you use a laptop, change your password while it's connected to the Lehigh network. 2. For both laptops and desktops, be sure to reboot immediately after changing your password. To avoid other common login issues, such as failing to connect a laptop to the Lehigh wireless network, see: http://www.lehigh.edu/computing/docs/pswd/changepswd.htm If you have any questions, contact your departmental computing consultant or the Help Desk at 8-4357 (8HELP).

RESEARCH SKILLS ASSESSMENT FOR GRADUATING SENIORS Since 2004, the LTS Information Literacy working group has been conducting an assessment of incoming first year students the summer prior to their first classes. The online assessment looks at the skills our incoming students possess for functioning in an academic information environment. As the 2004 cohort prepares to graduate LTS is offering an additional assessment to this senior class. The assessment instrument is now open and seniors can access it by logging in to the Campus Portal (http://portal.lehigh.edu/) and clicking on the "LTS needs your help, Seniors!" link in the My Announcements channel. To encourage participation, students who complete this short inventory by April 11th will be entered into a drawing for one of five great prizes. We hope to learn about the skills our students have acquired and what their experiences have been in the past four years as they used our information resources and developed an understanding of the ever changing information environment.

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE KNOVEL REFERENCE BOOK SERVICE Knovel http://www.knovel.com/ is a web-based full-text service of science and engineering handbooks. Many of the data tables within the service are available as Excel spreadsheets, allowing users to add their own data and compare it against the whole. LTS has recently added the Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Collection, 268 items including such staples as Comprehensive Organic Synthesis, Industrial Solvents Handbook, Lange's, Polymer Handbook, and Perry's. Coming soon will be the long-awaited online version of the International Tables for Crystallography and the 11th edition of Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology. Users can search across the entire list of titles or restrict results to Lehigh's subscription. Numeric ranging for specific properties is one of the very useful search options; check the Search Tips for details. Coming soon in the newly remodeled interface will be the User Preferences options. Knovel can be accessed on Campus at http://www.knovel.com/, off campus, use http://ezproxy.lib.lehigh.edu/login?url=http://www.knovel.com

HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING DAY Registration is now open for the 3rd Annual HPC Day Friday, April 4, 2008. All events are at the Rauch Business Center (RBC). To register either go directly to the Survey Monkey Web site: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ntUrm1tmBY8WDOh2Qz5Xjw_3d_3d Or, get to the same link off the HPC Day 2008 Web site: http://www.lehigh.edu/computing/hpc/hpcday/2008/ Please contact Kelly Decker at 8-3990 if you have any questions.