backup access to Blackboard

If students can't get into my.usf.edu, try sending them to learn.usf.edu

Bedbugs

http://bedbugregistry.com/

Portfolios using Google Docs

Question: A student was trying to upload a Word document with clip art to her Google portfolio. The text would display but not the clipart.

Solution: If they are using Google Docs as the portfolio, the problem is probably with the upload. When you get to the choose file screen there is a
Checkbox that asks if you want to convert the format to Google Docs from Word, Excel, or whatever. The default is ‘yes.’ You save disk space
By checking it, but you loose graphics. If they uncheck the box before uploading it should work.

faculty salaries

USF System operating budget: http://usfweb2.usf.edu/bpa/opbudgets.htm (but web version my not include faculty salaries)

Florida Government salaries (including USF) searchable by name (relatively current but date of update not listed: http://www2.tbo.com/news/databay/fact-finder/

Full USF operating budget available on CDROM in special collections.

Uploading files with graphics in Google portfolios

Some students are using Google Docs as the portfolio. There may be problem when uploading files with graphics. When you get to the choose file screen, there is a checkbox that asks if you want to convert the format to Google Docs from Word,Excel, or whatever. The default is ‘yes.’ You save disk space by checking it, but you loose graphics.

If the student unchecks the box before uploading, it should work.

More on saving MS Word files

If there is a problem saving Word files in the Info Commons (may see message about "Normal Template"), try this work-around:

1) Copy the content from MS Word to Notepad, or send in an email for safekeeping.
2) Close MS Word, and reopen it with the Shift key down. This opens Word with all macros DISABLED.

Finding online videos in the USF OPAC

To locate online videos in the USF book catalog, go to the Advanced Search screen and select "video (all formats)" from the format pull-down menu. Type in a keyword and, when you get to the search results, narrow the results by selecting "online resource" in the left side format menu. If you need a demo, ask Tina or Jerry. There is a growing collection of these resources that faculty and students may find useful.

Oil Spill info

1. USPSP SEAS (Student Environmental Awareness Society) is organizing beach cleanups and other activities for USFSP students
For more information (and contact info) http://www.stpt.usf.edu/coas/espg/seas/index.htm

2. We have heard that Florida Fish and Wildlife – is providing Haz Mat training for the oil Spill Response today. They also have a webpage for oil spill volunteer opportunities -- http://www.volunteerflorida.org/


USF Marine Science http://www.marine.usf.edu/

Locating course reserves

In the USF catalog (http://usf.catalog.fcla.edu/sf.jsp ), if you choose the ‘Course Reserves’ option from the brown tabs, rather than the ‘Course Reserves’ on the upper left under the brown tabs, you’ll get different options for searching Reserves (http://reserves.catalog.fcla.edu/sf.jsp ).

There is a line of Browse options with drop down menus for Instructors, Course Titles, and Course Numbers. The old reserve searching (http://sf.aleph.fcla.edu/F/?func=file&file_name=basic-u-sfu30&local_base=u-sfu30 ) required entry of some type. So, if students don’t remember the instructor’s or the course’s name, the browsing may help trigger a useful memory.

laptops in group study rooms

Instructions for connecting in the group study rooms -- It is also available on the web by navigating to the Systems area, Computing Resources, Student Use Computing, and reading the section on the Group study rooms (link below)

http://www.nelson.usf.edu/systems/studentareas.html

SPSS printing output

I was baffled by the occasional difficulty that some students would have in getting prints of their SPSS outputs when they would copy paste sections of the output into Word. I have learned that if you copy / paste SPSS output charts into Excel, they print out beautifully.

saving Word documents

In the past week, I have had two students, working on Word documents, who encountered saving problems. When they go to Save As, nothing happens, no menu to select location or name the file. Copy/pasting the content to a new Word doc did not help. There is something going on with the program and once it does this, it will not allow anything to be saved. (In both cases, the student opened a file that they sent themselves via email but we don’t know if that is part of the problem. You should be able to open a file from email and then save as to the temp storage space in any case.)

In order to save what they had done, I highlighted and pasted the contents into Word Pad. I was then able to save (as) the file. So far, Word Pad has done a good job of maintaining some formatting and embedded graphs as well.

When it happened a second time (different students, different PC), Berrie was available. We saved the work as a Word Pad file as a safety precaution. Then Berrie closed down the Word program completely. When asked if he wanted to save the material on the CLIP BOARD, he selected YES. After Word was completely shut down, he opened a new Word session and new document. He tried to save as, this time successfully. He then was able to paste the content saved on the clipboard into the new document and saved the file again successfully.

Primary documents

Links to primary document sites for history:
http://www.nelson.usf.edu/reference/subject_guides/AS/history/encyclopedias.html

ACL software

ACL software is available on all students computers, under programs.

Finding SWOT analyses

I recently received a notice that Gale’s Business & Company Resource database has added “hundreds of SWOT analyses” to their resource. As far as I can tell, this is a feature that will be included in our subscription. To see an example, search for Microsoft and look at the blue “download S.W.O.T.” button. SWOT analyses are often requested by business students.

Student evaluations of instructors

There are sometimes questions about accessing course evaluations for instructors since the paper copies are no longer printed and there has been a gap since about 2005. If students ask about access to course evaluations, feel free to pass along these links:

http://usfweb3.usf.edu/fair/Custom/usf/EvaluationMart/EvaluationSearch.aspx

https://usfweb2.usf.edu/fair/annualreport/student_eval_report.asp

I do not think that one must be logged on to FAIR to gain access.

As an FYI, distance ed courses may have a lower percentage of returns than traditional face-to-face classes because distant ed students do their reviews online rather than on scanned paper forms.

Kids Count data set

Statistical information on educational, social, economic and physical status of children and young adults from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Can be broken down by state or county.

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/

PDF forms for financial aid

Berrie investigated a financial form that students thought had to be submited online. The form in question was to be printed and sent, but was misleading in that it requested a typed added sheet. Financial aid has a computer that they allow students to use. The FA staff gave some helpful advice - if you scroll to the bottom of the form you will see a “submit” button if it needs to be submitted online. All others should be printed.

The second computer at Reference is able to submit the online forms without incident, the other computers in the Info Commons are not set to process the form. This is due to the fact that the library's priority is to facilitate library database printing over the Financial Aid forms, which require different settings.

This information is also availabel at the Poynter Technical support site @ http://www.usfspdl.org/support/

Reset NetID password

If you need to reset your password, please visit https://netid.usf.edu and click Reset Your USF NetID Password

https://netid.usf.edu/una/

chemistry journals

There is a free web-based resource from Chemical Abstracts that provides information about journals in all fields of chemistry. You can search by title, ISSN, CODEN, and journal abbreviations, which is particularly useful.

URL: http://cassi.cas.org

Newspaper archives

In addition to the St. Pete Times, Evening Independent, Ocala Star-Banner, Gainesville Sun, FSU Flambeau, and other Florida newspapers I've mentioned in earlier emails, I have noticed three new digitized sources that might be helpful for researchers in Florida history or genealogy.

1. The Daytona Beach Morning Journal has coverage from 1937 forward.
2. The Sarasota Herald (later Herald-Tribune) has coverage from the mid-1920s, including the boom-era years.
3. The Afro-American (published in Baltimore and Washington, DC, national edition) has coverage for much of the 20th century. The national edition of this paper, similar to the Pittsburgh Courier and other black newspapers, often included vignettes from Florida communities.

You can access these online by going to the Google news archives search portal at:
http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search?ned=us&hl=en

GRE Reviews

Location on campus of GRE review sessions:

GRE Math Review: 02/20/10 04/03/10 Davis Hall DAV 228 01:00pm 04:00pm

GRE Verbal Review: 02/20/10 04/03/10 Davis Hall DAV 228 09:00am 12:00pm