Category — Computer Issues

Provide lights at cubicle computers located on the east first floor

Thanks for this comment, but we’re not sure exactly where you are talking about. Please email me directly at carysn@missouri.edu with more details.

The Wireless in the Library is spotty/and or incredibly slow, its not my computer because I don’t have this problem in the memorial union or student center. It’s especially bad during finals. Do something about this please!!

We apologize for the inconvenience – the wireless connection tends to be affected by the number of people who are trying to connect with the network in any given location.  The library is certainly more crowded during finals week, leading to a slower connection.  We will let the IT department know about the issue, but you may want to try switching to one of the library computers for a faster connection.

For a class, I was required to use a CDROM disc program on a Windows computer. When I asked how I could do that at Ellis Library, they said I could rent out a laptop, so I did. I asked about getting a charger, and he said it would last the two hours that I had the laptop rented. It did not. The computer battery shut down, and I lost the entire project I was working on because when it shut down it automatically logged me out. I had to start completely over on the project, losing more than an hours worth of work. I am a graduate student, and every hour of study time is precious. I am extremely frustrated that the library did not provide more assistance for my problem.

We do not have chargers to check out for use with the regular laptops. We make sure each computer is fully charged before we will check it out, and the batteries are supposed to last at least two hours. We are sorry that this happened.  They are heavily used and rechargeable batteries don’t last forever in spite of the great advertising. Thanks for letting us know there is a problem. But it would be helpful to know exactly which laptop you were using, so we can replace the battery. Please stop by the Circulation desk if you have a chance, so we can remedy this problem.

I adore the library. And I always have. Going there is like going home for me, and I feel very lucky to have such a monolithic research tool at my disposal in these decidedly midwestern climes. However, I have a had more than a few perturbing experiences while patronizing Ellis as of late, and before I decide to give up on the library altogether as a place where the rude and self-serving of campus go to practice their social networking skills and pursue their vicarious lives, I would like to make these grievances known to you.

First of all, if your security staff is going to so exuberantly enjoy their (very important) responsibilities as liaison between students, books, and beverages, etc., I propose that they be given a course in what constitutes rude conduct and what does not. As a barista of 10 years experience, and subsequently, someone with plenty of harrowing tales of interacting with the general public and “dirty masses”, I find it disturbing that if my cup is “inappropriate”, I should be barked at to throw it away or to walk around the other side of the building without so much as a flitter of eye contact or nod to my humanity. Now, let me make myself perfectly clear. I am NOT saying that your rules for cups are ridiculous. There’s been plenty of times where I’ve had to swear under my breath and pursue my document elsewhere because somebody’s grande skinny latte or 40 ounce bottle of Olde English was spilled all over the very page that I needed to read. However, when humbly requesting that somebody rid themselves of their potentially damaging refreshment before entering the library, I request a baseline of respect as well. Seriously. I wouldn’t think of speaking to a stranger in the manner that I was spoken to this morning. (How much of my tuition goes towards paying their wages, again? And
how in the world do such people get hired in the first place?)

And onwards towards my most ambivalent point of contention: Facebook in the library. Ok. I understand that online interaction is gradually replacing such outdated modes of communication such as CONVERSATION, PHONE CALLS, or, God, forbid, LETTER WRITING. However, I can’t tell you the number of times that I have had a paper to write, research to be done, emails to fire off, documents to print, and have been thwarted again and again from doing these things because of the droves of kids on Facebook playing Farmville. And, incidentally, your library staff has never been particularly helpful in making research the decided priority of Ellis’ computers. Instead, I have too often been told to wait for assistance, and after an hour or an hour and a half passes, I just give up. I’ve asked for people to move, go elsewhere, give me two seconds to print something, etc, and all I typically receive in turn are the vacant, glazed over stares of those living in a spurious, pixelated wonderland. I feel that it would be entirely appropriate for the library to block the use of Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter on its computers completely.The library is a house of learning and research, not one for banal social interaction. And to be honest, I am terribly angry, hurt, and spurned whenever I’m kept from my academic pursuits by such activities, and even more so when the librarians themselves refuse to enforce the 8.5X11 sign that reads, “Research is a Priority on This Computer”. I’m honestly considering pursuing this measure beyond just writing an email to the suggestion box. I feel that it is a real problem that needs to be addressed in an effective way, and I hope you will take this account very seriously.

This email was not meant to be particularly subversive, sardonic, or condescending. If you have found it as such, rest assured, it’s merely a product of my frustration with more than a dozen bad experienced this week. I appreciate your time and concern, and look forward to hearing back from you.

Thank you for your comments. They have been passed on to the appropriate department heads.

In regard to your first comment, our security staff have a difficult task because they are asked to enforce the rules, which is rarely a fun job. But we do expect them to do so in a respectful manner. The head of Security has received this e-mail. We continue to work on proper training of our security staff, most of whom are student workers, and so it is helpful to know that more training may be needed.

In regard to your second post, awhile back we posted on every computer that research users had priority over recreational users. When we noticed students waiting around for computers, we made a public request to everyone that any recreational users needed to yield their computer to those waiting. The problem was we never knew if those waiting to use the computers intended to do research or wanted recreational usage, and we could not determine what, exactly, is recreational usage. For example, some professors are asking students to use Facebook for instructional purposes. These are very subjective decisions, and we found these judgment calls too difficult to determine. All of those signs have since been removed.

One thing we did achieve, however, is to limit the computer usage to our guest users to only two hours per day — and we often encourage them to come at our less congested times.

Another option to consider, is to check out one of our twenty or so laptops located at the Circulation/Reserve Desk. Students may check these out for two hours, and they often do so when the floor computers are full.

We wish we had enough computers for all our users. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources or space in the library for this, so we try to spread out the computer usage to non-peak times and encourage students to use our laptops.

Again, we appreciate your feedback and hope that this answers some of your concerns.

I think that the library computers need Adobe Creative Suite Software. The only computers in the Journalism School are in the Design lab and 206 Neff. These labs are constantly filled each day with classes so there is nowhere for students to go to work on homework or projects that require this software during the day. For those of us who live off campus, it is quite a pain to come back late in the evening to find a computer that uses this software.

Thank you for your comment. The Journalism Library does have Creative Suite 4 on 20 laptops and 4 iMacs. This is in response to student requests that we received through our spring survey. You may have been using one of the computers around the stairwell, which do not have CS4.

You can also use the Adobe Creative Suite at all the campus lab computing sites operated by DoIT, including the student-only computers in Ellis Library.

On one of the WinMacs in the 1st floor computer area, when I go to save a file from my Gmail account, I don’t have the option to “Save As,” just to “Save.” I hit “Save,” but then when I go to My Documents, the file does not show up. There was no error message telling me to do anything, but I could not find the file. Where do files like this go? Can something be done to these machines to make files save better, or at least provide a message of some kind when a save does not work, what we should do? The person at the Reference Desk basically had no solution except to save to Bengalspace or a flash drive – but as I said, there is no “Save As” option provided.

Thanks for sending in this comment. We checked the gmail problem with a student login. When an attachment link is clicked within gmail, there are 2 options, the “save” option, which functions as you outlined, or “open with,” a suggested program that opens the file then allows “save as” to My Docs. The attachment link can also be right clicked, which also brings up the “save link as” option. We are sorry the librarian or staff person you spoke to wasn’t able to solve this problem for you, but now the staff are aware of how to save from Gmail.

As a senior student, I have seen Mizzou grow considerably over the years. Unfortunately, between the hours of 10am-3pm or so, I see this growth putting a strain on the certain library resources, such as the computer work stations on the first floor. Perhaps this growth warrants a restriction to using the computers for “academic purposes only” during these times, and students who “need” to check Facebook or Myspace should be restricted to personal laptops or computers in Memorial Union/Brady Commons.

I appreciate the set up of the research work stations, where I can spread out my books and papers and have the privacy partition to keep me from getting distracted, but these are only useful if they aren’t occupied by recreational users.

Thank you for your consideration.

You are absolutely correct in that the computer usage in Ellis Library is at maximum capacity between the hours of 10:00am to 3:00pm every day. In fact, just a month or so ago, we added about 15 additional computers to the Information Commons area, and we found that these, too, immediately filled up during this peak time.

If you are a senior, you may remember that about three years ago, we did just what you are suggesting below. We posted on every computer that research users had priority over recreational users, and when we noticed students waiting around for computers, we made a public request to everyone that any recreational users needed to yield their computer to those waiting. The problem was we never knew if those waiting to use the computers intended to do research or wanted recreational usage, and we could not determine what, exactly, is recreational usage. For example, some professors are asking to students to use Facebook for instructional purposes. These are very subjective decisions, and we found these judgment calls too difficult to determine.

One thing we did achieve, however, is to limit the computer usage to our guest users to only two hours per day — and we often encourage them to come at our less congested times.

Another option to consider, is to check out one of our twenty or so laptops located at the Circulation/Reserve Desk. Students may check these out for two hours, and they often do so when the floor computers are full.

We wish we had enough computers for all our users. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources or space in the library for this, so we try to spread out the computer usage to non-peak times and encourage students to use our laptops.

Thanks for your comments. Let us know if you have additional concerns.

It is absolutly ridiculous that a month and a half into a semester, a “world class” university does not have spell check on their library computers. This should have been – and could have been – fixed within 24 hours of the University becoming aware of the problem. Not only is it a waste of money for the university to pay for and not use spell check programs (espcially foreign language packs), but it also decreases library utilization and student productivity. Please correct this problem asap. Thank you.

We are very sorry about the inconvenience, and we plan to roll out a new image for the computers, which will include spell check, on Monday.

Many of the computers in Ellis do not have spell check or review capabilities for Microsoft Word. Please consider installing that update so that it is easier for students to revise and proofread their documents. Thank you!

Thank you for your comment. The spell check/review capabilities were accidentally left off the new image for our new computers. Library Technology Services is working to get a new image on the computers that will include these functions. You should see this improvement shortly.