Service Disruption

Tech Tip Tuesday: Google Meet Tiled View vs. Grid View extension

By May 26th 2020

Due to recent changes in Google Meet’s tiled view, some users who use the Google Meet Grid View extension in Chrome have reported that there are visual glitches in the layout when they attend a Google Meet session. Most commonly, the display in the Meet session will show the participants stacked vertically instead of tiled.

Disabling Grid View, or uninstalling the extension, will correct the visual glitches.

You can then choose Tiled view in Meet by clicking on the menu icon (the three dots in the lower righthand corner):

Choose Change layout, and then choose Tiled:

This will then show a view similar to the one that was provided by the Grid View extension.

Users who did not have the Google Meet Grid View extension installed already should not have to make any changes.

As always, feel free to contact the InfoDesk if you have any questions.

RefWorks Outage

By May 8th 2020

RefWorks, the reference management service provided to the campus community by LITS, will be out of service temporarily this weekend while its data center is being moved to a new server by ProQuest.

Downtime will start on Saturday, May 9, at 10pm Eastern Time, and will last up to 12 hours. 

If you still experience issues with RefWorks after 10am on Sunday, May 10, please notify the InfoDesk at infodesk@allegheny.edu, or call us at 814-332-3768, or open a Web Help Desk ticket.

Scheduled, Brief Internet Outage Wed. May 6th

By May 6th 2020

Due to necessary scheduled maintenance, a brief internet outage for Allegheny’s campus network will occur at approximately 7:00pm on Wednesday, May 6th. During this brief outage, internet connectivity will be unavailable, and should be restored very shortly after.

Weekend System Maintenance

By May 1st 2020

ITS will be conducting major system updates over the weekend of May 2-3, 2020. These include important updates to Windows 10 and to Ellucian Colleague.

Users may notice some slowness and possible disconnection over the weekend, especially when using Colleague. Users connected to the campus network may experience unexpected shutdown and reboot of their computers over the weekend as their computers apply the Windows 10 update. A small number of users may not experience this unexpected shutdown and reboot until the morning of Monday, May 4.

In order to minimize the effect on your experience as a user, you can take the following steps:

  • Avoid using Ellucian Colleague between 8 a.m. and noon on Saturday, May 2
  • Restart your computer at some point over the weekend

If you still experience these issues after rebooting your computer on Monday, May 4, please contact the InfoDesk or open a Web Help Desk ticket.

Web of Science Citation Counts Restored

By April 2nd 2020

Web of Science citation counts have been missing from off-campus AggreGator search results for the past two weeks. The problem can be fixed simply by logging in.  After conducting an initial search in AggreGator, look for a message in the upper right corner of the screen (small white font in a dark grey banner) beginning with the words “Off Campus?” Follow the instructions to log in with your Allegheny Username and Password.  After logging in, the Web of Science citation count will appear in the search results.

Screen shot of banner reading "Off Campus? Log in with your Allegheny Username & Password to access full text."

VPN Issues – Armstrong Cable

By March 23rd 2020

For individuals connecting to college resources via VPN, LITS has determined that intermittent errors or failures on login are happening for customers of Armstrong Cable.  Armstrong has been notified of the situation.  The issue is also happening to other VPNs.  Please continue to attempt to connect until successful.

LITS is reviewing alternatives for access to Ellucian Colleague, should the issues persist or degrade further.

E-ZBorrow Interlibrary Loan Service Suspended

By March 19th 2020

At this time, all E–ZBorrow services are suspended at Allegheny College.  Please contact the InfoDesk with any questions.

Statement from PALCI Member Support:

“After careful consideration, and after discussing the situation with the PALCI Board and with members of our Deans and Directors community, the PALCI Board voted to temporarily suspend all E–ZBorrow borrowing and lending services.

…
We appreciate everyone working together to sustain and support the service as long as we did during this uncertain time. We will continue to monitor the situation as it progresses, and when it is safe and practical to reactive the service, we will be in communication with libraries about turning them back on for borrowing and lending in a way that mindful of the extra work that may be taking place as libraries transition back to offering full services again.”

RefWorks Upgrade

By March 19th 2020

The RefWorks service is scheduled for an upgrade for greater security and scalability. During the upgrade process, the following services will be unavailable:

  • (new) RefWorks
  • RefWorks Citation Manager
  • Write-n-Cite
  • RefWorks for Google Docs

These services will be unavailable starting Saturday March 21, 2020 at 4:00 AM Eastern Time, and for up to 4 hours.

If you experience issues with RefWorks after this time, please open a Web Help Desk ticket or contact the InfoDesk.

Website Connection Issues – Resolved

By March 4th 2020

Last week, LITS discovered an external issue which prevented devices on Allegheny’s network from accessing some secure websites. In some instances, upon trying to connect to some websites, an error message appeared and prevented access.

The issue should now be resolved. If you continue to experience issues connecting to secure sites, please contact the InfoDesk at x3768 or infodesk@allegheny.edu

HathiTrust Login Change

By February 10th 2020

On Thursday, February 13th, LITS is scheduled to update the method for signing into HathiTrust. Upon signing in, you will be prompted to use your Allegheny Google account to authenticate. Access to HathiTrust should not be affected.

If you experience difficulties logging into HathiTrust after February 13th, please contact the InfoDesk at 814-332-3768, or open a Web Help Desk ticket.