Computer Accomplishments at Wells: Summer, 1996

During the summer, under the direction of Superintendent Tom Gunderson, Buildings and Grounds dug trenches and laid conduit to network the south end of the campus. After the trenching was completed, Frontier Communications pulled cables from Main to Macmillan, Pettibone, Cleveland, and Zabriskie. Cables have also been installed throughout Cleveland and in specific rooms in Main and Zabriskie. Pulling cable into every room in Macmillan is now underway. In addition to this large project carried out by Buildings and Grounds and Frontier Communications, Wells faculty and members of Wells Computer Services also:

• Prepared for the deployment of the Macintosh computers from the Pleasant Rowland gift: completed installation of operating systems and application software; purchased and installed additional memory; and purchased monitors, CD-ROM drives, external hard drives, printers, and computer tables and chairs.
• Completed the distribution of 30 Macintosh Classic computers to faculty.
• Created three new Internet/email/word processing clusters in Main Building using 24 Macintosh computers. Assembled new furniture, set up computers, and built two AppleTalk networks with Ethernet gateways. The clusters increase the number of Internet/email computers available to students at the start of Fall, 1996 from 7 (in the Library) to 31.
• Upgraded the Macintosh computer lab in Macmillan from 3 to 11 computers.
• Upgraded the Zabriskie Macintosh computer lab from 1 to 10 higher-end computers, most with CD-ROM drives, replacing several outdated IBM PCs and Macintoshes.
• Consolidated two IBM computer labs into a new, much larger lab/classroom with 16 computers. The renovation of the room included adding new computer furniture, LCD panel projection capability, and a blackboard meeting faculty teaching requirements.
• Distributed seven Macintosh computers for an enhanced Physics lab in Zabriskie.
• Created a new computer cluster in Cleveland with two Macintoshes.
• Provided the Division of the Arts three Macintosh computers with color printing capability located in the Macmillan stage area, Morgan, and Campbell.
• Purchased and deployed laser printers for all three computer labs in Macmillan, one lab in Zabriskie, and two labs in Main. Laser printing was previously available in only one location.
• Completed the installation of a graphics workstation in Macmillan with a scanner, Adobe Photoshop, optical character recognition software, and a color printer.
• Upgraded the memory of the seven Internet/email computers in the Library.
• Purchased and began configuring a backup server capable of replacing either our email/DNS server (Henry) or our Web server (WWW) if either were to fail. When not in use as a replacement server the computer functions as a LINUX or NT workstation.
• Worked with the Dean and Vice President/Treasurer in planning the number and location of new voice and data lines in Macmillan, Zabriskie, Cleveland, and Main for the current campus networking project.
• Set up user accounts on WELLS.EDU for all incoming students and additional faculty and staff, bringing the total number of active accounts of students, faculty, staff, offices, and organizations to 475. Created new email discussion lists for 11 courses and committees, bringing the number currently in use to 17.
• Provided email training on the Macintoshes to some 60 incoming students during Orientation (third year of Orientation email training). Created help sheets for email and other topics.
• Repaired, maintained, and enhanced existing services (e.g. installed new CD-ROM drives, scanner, modems, and printers in offices throughout the campus; replaced motherboards and drives; reformatted hard drives).
• Installed (through Frontier Communications) a voice mail system for Wells. Currently operating on the system are the President’s office and Computer Services; policies are being drafted for implementation for staff and faculty.
• Upgraded the AS/400 software for the Financial Aid, Registration, and Advising offices.

During the summer the Library:

• Upgraded the FirstSearch computer from a 386 and the Cataloging and Interlibrary Loan computers from 486s to Pentiums running Windows 95; upgraded the software running on the FirstSearch, Cataloging and Interlibrary Loan machines from Passport for DOS to Passport for Windows.
• Upgraded two ProQuest workstations with a second CD-ROM magazine changer each, and upgraded both workstations with a new version of ProQuest searchware. More closely diagnosed mechanical/technical problems with ProQuest II.
• Upgraded three printers in librarians’ offices from black and white ink jets or dot matrix to color ink jets, and upgraded one ink jet printer in Reference/Interlibrary Loan to a laser printer. Also added a printer to print spine labels, resulting in a system that will generate spine labels from OCLC’s computer system rather than on a manual typewriter.
• Sent staff members to training sessions: one to an OCLC training session on on-line Union Listing, four to an SCRLC conference on the Z39.50 standard, and four to SUNY/OCLC’s regional meeting, with sessions on the use of our new Passport for Windows software. Also sent a representative to the ongoing Cayuga County Telecommunications Consortium, which is actively working to network Cayuga County.

File: klwd\kcoll\computer\96\memos\accom96a.doc; Printed: September 24, 1996

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