Saving Word files in pdf

download the “Cute PDF” printer software and use it without limit for free:

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

local shelter information

The Pinellas Hope Soft Shelter is scheduled to open Saturday, December 1, with plans to provide intake to 100 people on each of the first two days (Saturday and Sunday). As of this morning, Nov. 19, the street outreach teams in St. Pete, Pinellas Park, Lealman, and Clearwater will be giving 'referral slips ' to individuals the last week in November. Homeless individuals with these slips will go first to Catholic Charities for criminal checks, then on to the Pinellas Hope site. Catholic Charities does not plan to enroll people who just show up at the site, so please pass the word on to your staff members to tell homeless individuals that they should not go out to the site first. They want people to come to the site after 'referral' by the Street Outreach Teams, so that someone has talked to them before they show up; they also want people to use the buses, and not arrive by foot because of all the businesses in the area.

Journalism iMac availability

Fall 2007:

The FCT 107 lab and the Computer Center (where two other journalism department iMacs are available) are NOT open on Saturdays.

For your convenience, FCT 107 is available for you to use as follows:

Tuesdays and Thursdays - 9:30 am to 3:15 pm (Please leave the lab when the 3:30 class begins on those days.)

Fridays - 9:30 am to 5 pm

Sundays - 1pm to 6 pm

(Come to FCT 204 to request access if the room is not already unlocked.)

Additionally, there are two iMacs (exactly the same computers, with exactly the same programs as those in FCT 107) in the Computer Center (Bayboro Hall Room 225).

Those computers are available as follows:

Mondays through Thursdays - 8 am to 10 pm
Fridays - 8 am to 5 pm
(Those two computers are password protected so they can only be used by journalism students. Please contact Bridget for the password, if you don’t already know that it is the one we also use for the computers in FCT 107.)

Pinellas County Newspaper Index (WPA)

As many of you know, a lot of our Florida Studies students use the bound green volumes of the Pinellas County Newspaper Index created by the Works Progress Administration. Digital images in JPG or PDF format are now available for these volumes through the Florida Heritage Project of FCLA at http://palmm.fcla.edu

Now students can access this valuable resource from the comfort of their homes. The volumes are valuable, but the layout within them is sometimes confusing (how many people born after 1970 have ever used the word “Necrology”?) and not all of the sources cited are in existence (i.e., some early issues of the Clearwater Sun never survived long enough to get microfilmed). I have used these sources frequently for many years and am glad to provide assistance if student need help with them. Please feel free to refer them to me.

JIM


Search: k=pinellas county newspaperHit Count: 2Records: 1 to 2

1
Pinellas County newspaper index WPA official project 665-35-3-244
1941
Electronic Resource
2
Pinellas County newspaper index W.P.A. Project no. 2865, 1938-1939.
1939
Electronic Resource

Statistics and data sets

We have a business class where the students need to locate data sets. Marcy has created a nice web page on her nelson business page:

http://www.nelson.usf.edu/reference/subject_guides/business/statistics_data.html


Please refer students to this page if they need suggestions on where to locate statistics and data.

--------------------

Actually, I also just posted the updated course guide (for Business Statistics II) on the Business Reference portion of our web site at the following:

http://web.nelson.usf.edu/reference/documents/BusStatistics.html

And there is a related post on my blog

http://businessresearchstuff.blogspot.com

Text and Academic Authors textbooks

The Text and Academic Authors took the text books (that used to be housed in the library) when they left the campus. Unless they found storage space, the books may have been discarded. They are in the phone book: 727-563-0020.

Landscape prints from Microsoft Visio

A student tonight wanted to print 3 landscape pages in Microsoft Visio. She selected landscape on the printer preferences but at the printer (B/W) it just gave her an error message (“please wait”). We discovered in the error message details that it kept saying that the paper tray selection didn’t match the job request. So we had to manually change out the printer tray and then it worked.

We did a test of printing landscape in MS Word and it works with no problem. So it must just be a problem for certain software. I don’t think anything should be changed – just an FYI.

Alumni cards & circulation

From circ:
There seems to be some confusion about Alumni cards and I just want to clear it up. We have worked out an agreement with Kathy Giglio from the alumni association.

The preferred circumstance is if the patron has the current alumni ID. If the patron does not have a current alumni card, we require a letter from the association on official letterhead stating that the person is a member in good standing. We do not accept receipts or receipts from the online form.

Also, we do not add an additional barcode to an outdated USF ID. If the patron does not have the current Alumi card, we issue a temporary SAPL card.

IF they decided to purchase a USF Courtesy card because they want to use the gym or the pool, then they also need the letter from the alumni assoc OR the current alumni card before we can enter the ID number in ALEPH. In that situation it’s a toss between the USF Courtesy ID or the alum card for library use. BUT, if the courtesy ID is expired in ALEPH they need the alum card and/or the note on official letterhead.

Additional input from AV services:
If they pay for an ID and bring the original alum card, they do not need a letter to receive an ID from our office. The official alum card will have an expiration date and therefore a letter would be redundant. If they do pay online or pay at the alum office then yes they need a letter to receive a card from US.

Clearing the cache at a horseshoe computer

Question:
Is there a way to clear the cache on a horseshoe computer—or does it supposedly do it when it shuts down at night? A student inadvertently told the computer to remember her login and password for myspace—then we couldn’t get it out. She was uncomfortable with just leaving it. When I tried to clear the cache it wouldn’t allow it. Is there a way that we can relieve folks mind about this kind of thing?

Answer:
If you turn the computer off and then on again, a new profile is brought from the server, and all old ones are deleted. Since the cache is a part of the profile, it is deleted. Christina has gone from machine to machine to confirm that this is working properly as well.

Wireless troubleshooting

The advanced troubleshooting guide (found on our wireless page at http://www.nelson.usf.edu/systems/wireless.html ) has been amended to also cover the contingency of someone who has had a static IP address configured on their laptop. It used to be that very few people were running wireless in their homes, so this issue was rare. Now that there is widespread wireless use in the home, students may need to alter their default settings in order to use our wireless network, and then put the IP information back so that their laptop will work when they return home.

Step 4 in the guide outlines this process, so that if they cannot reach our wireless network and their IP address is static they can alter it temporarily to use our network.

Adobe reader email function

Question: Is it possible to change Adobe Reader (on the student computers) to automatically allow email?

Response: The Adobe email function requires that the person using the machine have it set up with their *personal* email information so that it can send the message. In a public environment, this is not possible. The machines are set up with a generic profile, with all of the settings locked down so that email cannot be personally configured. If it were otherwise, one person could then send email as another which would lead to chaos and lawsuits.

I fight with this concept continually, as large companies assume correctly that 95% of computers are set up properly for individual use- and they cater to this configuration. They rarely allow these confusing options to be disabled or removed for public use computing.

Running textbook CDROMs or other external software products

Question: A CD-ROM text/product for a Chemistry class (“Bridging to the Lab”) does not work on our PCs. (When you click on the .exe file, it comes up with an error message about the shortcut being moved). I tried but then explained to the 2 students that we don’t support outside software/applications/products, etc. and suggested the computing center. Is this correct? (The one student said that at her home it just opens automatically in flash).


Response: We have had problems with students trying to install software, and we do not allow it in an uncontrolled manner as running rogue EXE files can introduce viruses and cause multiple problems. Let them know that to install the software on our machines would likely be against their software license for their book. Even if it is flash based, likely it has to install support files onto our computers.

The campus computing labs have a relationship with and support the faculty so that software packages that are properly licensed and are properly licensed for installation on the machines. We do not have the staff for this type of effort, nor is it our role. We try to meet about 80% of what users need with general applications, with emphasis on library support applications.

Online submission of PDF files

Poynter computers open all PDF documents with Acrobat (the full version). In order to work with a form that needs to be submitted electronically, the backup computer at reference and the two end computers in the horsehoe have been set to open PDF from within the browser. Students who need to submit this form (FTIC First Time in College) can now do so. Please note that you may have a problem printing from PDF’s to the Ricoh machines. If you do please save them and then reopen then in Acrobat Reader.

Printing Word docs from Blackboard

Some Word documents can not be printed easily while viewing them within Blackboard. If you click on the file name from the list screen (not the open document), then you will have the option to SAVE to Temp D. From Temp D, you can open the file in Word, check the print preview and send the file to the printer.

Financial Aid form (FARSA)

The FAFSA form must be electronically submitted. Financial Aid is not allowed to accept paper copies. However, if a student leaves any field blank, the form can not be submitted. According to Erin, there are two fields in particular that appear to be problematic; the student has to enter a zero or an “NA” if the questions do not apply. They may not leave any field blank. She said that although the students are told this, there are always some who do not pay attention to this detail. Erin said that it is printed in red even but some still goof.

Acrobat forms

If students encounter a problem and suspect that it could be necessary to open the form in a browser, you can change the default preferences for the way PDF's are displayed by opening Acrobat reader, going to Edit and Preferences. Under the Internet section there is a checkbox for "display in browser" that you can check and then any pdf will then open within the browser. If it becomes a popular solution then we may want to indicate a machine that is set this way, since this alteration stays set and even survives a reboot of the machine. Note that using File & Print from the program menu doesn't work properly when pdfs open within the browser- an issue that was discovered by Kaya and Marcy during the copier training.

Clearing temporary internet files in the reference horseshoe

Just had a student that was quite upset because the “delete history” section of the Internet browser on the horseshoe computers was grayed out and wouldn’t allow her access. She had just been doing her online banking and was concerned that someone could get into her information. Other than the fact that people have to be aware that these are publicly accessible computers, do you have a better answer for her and is there a way to delete the history on a horseshoe computer?

Response:
You should restart the computer in front of her, and when it logs back in show her that there is no history or cache. We make sure that the entire profile is deleted upon restart, so there should be no way for the information to persist. Still, it is the best practice to encourage students not to conduct financial business on the computers, since they are public.

Running CDs or DVDs on horsehoe computers

Problem:

A student has a text book companion disk (DVD) that she said runs from the disk without loading files to the computer. However, it doesn’t work that way on our computers. You get the software restrictions message. I viewed some of the files on the disk and noticed that many have .exe extensions. She was able to run it in the computer lab.

Berrie's response:
Unfortunately we don’t allow students to run software from our computers, even if it is from an external drive. The reason is that malware, viruses, as well as Instant Messenger clients, etc can be run from that location. We have had a rash of these types of threats lately, so the risk is very real. If the prof can get a site license for the software we might be able to add it to our next cloning operation, but it is better run from the Computing labs.

Give me a call if you want me to go over the differences between us and CCS labs, as to why they are able to run exe programs there.

Tampa Bay demographics

Dear Colleagues:

I rarely pass around copies of our special collections finding aids because they often target “my usual suspects” (history, Am studies, and Fla studies). However, I have a collection that may be of broader interest to students in business administration or business management. In the old library, we used to maintain a vertical file of market surveys and research conducted by the St. Petersburg Times. These reports were kept in large red binders and were very clunky but useful.

We have kept some of the most important marketing research materials from these surveys as a distinct (and compact) collection in my area. Here’s a brief description:

The various reports and profiles residing in this collection offer an excellent account of commercial, demographic, media-related, and transportation trends in the Tampa Bay region. Some data sets examined individual municipalities or counties, while other sets included information about Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) of Florida.

Materials in this collection include summaries of surveys, charts, and statistical information about residents and visitors to the Suncoast. Items reside in folders arranged into seven broad subject series: Business/Retail, Demographics, Economics/Finance, Media, Real Estate, Transportation, and Travel. The bulk of the collection covers the period from 1978 through 1997, though a few items include quantitative information from earlier years (from 1960 forward).

So, the next time a student needs to develop datasets for topics such as Pari-mutuel wagering trends, household growth in Florida, or television channels usually watched in western Pasco County in the late 1980s that may not be found in other sources (Florida Statistical Abstract, census), please send them my way!

JIM

Update on student faxing

As of June 20, 2007, The Campus Activities Center discontinued their faxing service for students.

Locating raw data sets

We have had a few questions about obtaining raw data sets for analysis. If you go to databases by title/subject and enter Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research or ICPSR, you can access a database that "supplies data files for use with statistical software, such as SAS or SPSS"

Flash Drives

Flash drives are available for check out at Circ.

They are in the drawer with the key to the drop box, coded and ready for checkout. Ask a circ staff person if you do not know where that is.

They are set for 7 day loans. If lost, the patron will be billed $30. Since they are Reserve materials, the overdue fine will be .25 per hour.

USF patrons only.

Direct your questions to Virginia.

Marine Science High School Interns

From Virginia:

I had a grad asst stop by Circ yesterday checking on the procedure for a high school intern to get library privileges which they would need for their summer work. Apparently the “Director” of the intern program told her that it was standard and all set (my words, not hers)?

As far as I know, nothing was set up and I told the grad student that. I told her that I was willing to allow the interns check-out privileges IF

1) the college of Marine Science provided letters stating that they would assume responsibility for the materials that the interns borrowed AND

2) the interns paid the $10 fee next door and had ID cards made up in AV

These interns will have limited SNON borrowing privileges and may need the community computers for research.

Also, for anyone entering them into ALEPH, Charlotte and I thought to enter them as SNON, not SAPL so they do not have video privileges. If we receive complaints that they need to borrow some of Jerry’s very excellent educational tapes or DVDs, we can revisit the classification.

Lander reserve password

Just had a student come in asking why he couldn't open up a reserve item for Dr. Lander's class--this page is coming from Dr. Lander's own web page not on the regular e-reserve page. When the student tries to enter the password he was given, the horseshoe computers won't let him get to the password box. Berrie looked at it and said that the computer lab folks made special arrangement with Dr. Lander to make this work in the computer center but it is not something that we are able to do on the library computers. They will have to use the computer center for this one. If it is closed, refer them to the student government contacts listed in another post below.

Student Government contact

There is a photocopy of Christian Buckler’s card (current president of student government) in our reference rolodex under “S” for student government. There is an email address, phone number and web site on the card. Contact information is also available below.

Please ask students to contact Chris with any concerns they have about computer center hours, safe team hours, or other issues related to student government.

voice: 727-873-4147
fax: 727-873-4190

chrisbuckler@gmail.com
www.stpt.usf.edu/studentlife

USFSP Safe Team

There is no Safe Team operating during the summer.

If students want an escort to their vehicles, call the campus police dispatcher (3-4140).

If students want to send feedback about Safe Team availability or any other Student Government issues, the web site for SG officers follows: http://www.stpt.usf.edu/sg/OfficerDirectory.htm

Students may also call 873-4147 and leave a message.

Computer Center Hours

Hours of Operation (Summer 2007)

Monday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday - closed

Student Help Desk at 873-4551
(call to leave message)

Fax machine that students can use

I just called over to the CAC and they said that students can use their fax machine but there is a charge: 50 cents per page for local faxes and one doller per page for long distance. If they want long distance though they have to come in when someone is available that has a long distance card (and no one was avaialble when I called at 8:30 pm)

Plagiarism software

Question:

Does anyone know where the link to the plagiarism software/ info is located on the usf / usf st pete site?

Answer:

There isn’t one. Faculty members who want to use Turnitin have to go through VITAL (I think—or the Center for 21st Century Teaching Excellence) to sign up. They have to plan ahead to use the service since a notification that it may be used must be included on their syllabus.

Evening Independent

We often get asked whether we have microform copies of the Evening Independent newspaper and it isn't easy to be sure that you have checked all angles on the OPAC. When asked about this, Jim responded: "We do not own the St. Petersburg Evening Independent, an afternoon paper that ceased publication in 1986. The St. Petersburg Public Library's main branch (9th and 37th St.) does have the Independent. " The cost of purchasing the microfilm is prohibitive.

Journalism class: country information

From Jim:
I just worked with a group of students in a journalism class who have an assignment to ask the reference librarian to find print and electronic information about different countries. Of course, I referred them to databases, showed how to use the library catalog with the country as subject, and, most helpfully, introduced them to info at the U.S. State Department (www.state.gov), such as the “Background Notes” area that we all know so well.

MSN Email Attachments

Two different students have tried to open and Excel or Word attachment from their MSN email and it won’t allow them to open it OR save it to the temp drive. Berrie found that the only way to get the attachment to work was to email it to a non-MSN email account. When the message was forwarded to a USF email or to a Yahoo email, the attachments opened up just fine. 4/4/2007

Wireless printing

Question:

There apparently is wireless access to a color printer in the computer lab, and another in the college of business. For folks using Photoshop, they could theoretically print to one of these two color printers, correct? If folks ask us about color printing, should we tell them bout the wireless access?

Berrie's reply:

Yes, theoretically (it has not been tested), and only for wireless users who bring their own laptops, not through our Macs or PCs in the horseshoe. I would suggest that you tell users to visit those facilities, since they will have to go there anyway to release the print jobs.

Saving documents

Saving files to email:

If a student does not have a portable storage device such as a disk, CD or memory stick, they may use their email to save a document. Instruct the student to open their email program, compose a message to themselves and attach the file or files they wish to save. Saved in their email, they may retrieve the files any time they wish.