Archive: Doug Anderson | Library

Doug Anderson

Scheduled Maintenance – Phone System

By Doug Anderson January 25th 2022

On Thursday, January 27th from 3:00 a.m to 4:30 a.m Windstream will conduct scheduled maintenance on the main campus phone system. No outage is expected, but there is a possibility that the phone system may be down intermittently throughout the 90-minute maintenance window.

If there is an outage, incoming calls will not be received and outgoing calls will not complete a connection. In case of emergency, Public Safety can be reached during the phone outage at 814-332-2314 instead of their usual number.

Please note that you must use a non-Allegheny College phone, such as a cell phone, to reach this number during any outage. Campus phones will not be able to complete any outgoing calls during the outage.

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Searching AggreGator

By Doug Anderson January 25th 2022

Are you familiar with AggreGator? Green silhouette Illustration of an alligator

As the name suggests, AggreGator searches through the aggregated library content available to Allegheny College from a single search box. Books, ebooks, journal articles, digital collections, video, newspaper articles, and more from almost all of the library’s databases can be found through AggreGator.

If you’re already familiar, you will be interested to know that the AggreGator search interface has recently been updated with new enhancements.

For both experienced and new users, LITS librarians have created a new AggreGator guide where you can learn the ins and outs.

Also, check out our playlist of videos on searching AggreGator!

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Scheduled Maintenance: Multiple Systems

By Doug Anderson January 20th 2022

Starting at 6 p.m. Friday, January 21, 2022, LITS will conduct scheduled maintenance on several campus systems. Users may experience brief disruptions during the maintenance, including access to printing, WebAdvisor, and Self Service.

Users who continue to experience disruptions in these or any other LITS services after Friday are encouraged to open a Web Help Desk ticket or contact the InfoDesk.

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Improved Search in Google Chat

By Doug Anderson January 18th 2022

From the Google Workspace Updates blog:

You can now search Google Chat content faster by quickly editing down your search results using interactive filters on mobile. These filters help you find artifacts like files and links more easily.

You can try searching for a keyword that you remember from a message or use a filter to look at all the files within a specific chat. Additionally, we have also refreshed our visual interface to provide a more balanced view of search results and results will now also include the content of the messages, making it even easier to find the exact content you’re looking for.

Screenshot showing different "chips" in the Google Chat search interface

Filter using different search chips in Chat

Screenshot of various steps in the search results when searching for "Dogfood" in Google chat

Filters will be visible below chat search bar

Screenshot showing different filters applied to search results in Google Chat

Use the ‘Said in’ filter to narrow down to the conversations that matter.

Learn more about Google Chat.

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Pin Apps to the Taskbar or Dock

By Doug Anderson January 11th 2022

If there are apps you use often, you can make sure they’re easily available with a single click.

Microsoft offers step-by-step instructions for pinning apps in Windows 10, and Apple has made it equally easy to add apps to the Dock in macOS. Even Chromebooks give you an easy way to add apps to the ChromeOS shelf.

You can use this for major apps, like a web browser, Google Meet, or word processing software, or even for convenient, quick apps like a notepad app or a calculator. This can save you time digging through menus and folders to get to the apps you use most.

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Returning after Break

By Doug Anderson January 4th 2022

Before the break, you may have taken steps to establish your “out of the office” status. Here are some pointers for double-checking that you haven’t overlooked anything on your return.

If you set up a vacation responder in your email, double-check the dates to make sure Gmail isn’t still telling people you’re out of the office.
Check on how you’re managing voicemail so that you can field calls appropriately.
If you use a personal device to check email, you may have turned off notifications for your work accounts. Here’s how to turn them back on for Android devices and Chromebooks, iPhone and iPad, Mac, and Windows.
Make sure that your “Out of Office” events and work hours in Google Calendar reflect your return to a regular work schedule.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Not-So-Typical Tech Tips

By Doug Anderson December 28th 2021

The University of Michigan offers some not-so-typical holiday tech tips for your entertainment:

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Tech Tip Tuesday: Google Chat Spaces

By Doug Anderson December 21st 2021

You may have noticed that what Google Chat used to call “Rooms” is now called “Spaces”. So far, the change has been subtle. For instance, in your Gmail window in a browser you might find something like this in the sidebar:

Screenshot of a portion of the Google Chat sidebar showing "Chat" and "Spaces" sections

You’ll see something very similar if you go to a separate Chat window as well. In the mobile app, it will look something like this:

Screenshot of the bottom of a Google Chat mobile app window, showing icons for "Chat" and "Spaces"

However, it’s more than a name change. Over time, Google will add more features to Spaces. Spaces will also seamlessly integrate with Calendar, Drive, Tasks and other Google Workspace services to allow for better collaboration and communication.

Learn more about Google Spaces.

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ALERT: Phishing

By Doug Anderson December 16th 2021

Reports of phishing attempts were brought to the attention of LITS by several in the Allegheny community. The message claimed to be coming from a member of LITS, asking for cell phone numbers.

This is a good reminder to be cautious when receiving unexpected emails.

If you get a message you think is phishing/spam:

Do not click on links in the email or reply to the email.
Reach out to the sender by other means (for example, via chat or phone, or in person) to confirm whether they did legitimately send the message.
Report it as spam/phishing in Gmail.

Please do not hesitate to contact the InfoDesk at infodesk@allegheny.edu to report phishing attempts or obtain more information.

LITS always encourages safe account practices and would encourage you to visit the LITS website to change your password if you ever feel that your account credentials have been compromised. In addition, 2-step verification provides an added layer of protection against this possibility.

Tip Tuesday – Vacation Preparation

By Doug Anderson December 14th 2021

When you will be away from the office for an extended period of time, there are several steps you can take to help ease the process.

For instance, you can set up a vacation responder in your email, to let people know that you’re unavailable and what their options are.
There are various steps you can take for managing voicemail while you’re out.
If you use a personal device to check email, you can turn off notifications for your work accounts. Here’s how to do that on Android devices and Chromebooks, iPhone and iPad, Mac, and Windows.
Add “Out of Office” events and set your work hours in Google Calendar to automatically decline calendar invites during your absence.

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