There will be a demo of the new text scanning program on July 7 at 1:00 in the lab. If you can't make it, please let me know and we can arrange another session.
E-mail me at David Fulton or phone me at extension 138.

CNET offers a number of free online courses. Currently you can sign up for Digital Photography Made Simple, Digital Music Made Easy, Digital Video Basics, Setting Up a Home Office and more. The Digital Photography class ran for 6 weeks. Each week a new lesson was posted with a lecture, assignments and a link to discuss the material with the instructor. You have to register but it's free.

A patron had a question about opening e-mail attachments on the PCs.

Almost any kind of attachment can be opened using the computers in the lab. An attachment can be opened with the program that was used to create it. But it would be too expensive to install Word, Excel, Word Perfect and many other programs on all the PCs. Yahoo will view attached Word documents. Click on the "View Attachment" link. Trying to download the file will not work. Hotmail does not have the View feature.

PDF files can be opened by clicking on the attachment. Pictures attached to e-mail messages appear in the body of the message automatically.

The PUBLIB listserv has posted a list of things that make your library look stupid. This includes things related to circ staff and reference librarians. I had a few "Uh, oh," moments while reading it.

There is a new Quick Start Guide for burning CDs on Macs 4 and 5. It gives a basic instructions for burning. If patrons need more information, please give them the Toast User's Guide and Getting Started books which are in the hanging bags in the page's workroom.

A few days ago a patron tried to play a video clip on one of the new PCs. The RealPlayer program had a problem with the clip and popped up an error message. But the message was hidden behind the browser window. Once the window was minimized, we could see the message and deal with the problem.

If something does not seem to be working, try minimizing the window.

How to print multiple copies from the public PCs

To print more than one copy, you must go to the File menu and select Print.
The print dialog box will appear with a place to type in the number of copies.

If you click the Print icon in the browser toolbar it will only print one copy.
You could keep clicking the button but this would result in many print jobs instead of one.

The vending unit at the printer will not give change unless you print something. It used to, but it doesn't anymore. There is a sign on the top stating this.

If a patron puts a dollar in the vending unit, give them change from the cashbox at the computer lab signup desk. Next, log in to a PC and print one page. The printer will give you $.90 change. Put the change in the cash box and notify Cheryl Cornell.

Printing a Selection from a Web Page

To print only a portion of the text on a page, click and drag over the text.

After it is highlighted, go to the File menu and select Print. Do not click the Print icon on the toolbar!

When the print dialog box appears, under Page Range, click on the button labeled Selection.

Click Print.

Don't choose the Chooser

Printers cannot be setup using the Chooser anymore. Both the color and black-and-white printers are available on all computers in the lab. Select a printer by clicking the application's Print icon or by going to the File menu and selecting Print. When the print dialog box appears, use the "printer" drop down menu at the top to select the printer you want.

The library's network was restructured recently. Now each computer and printer has a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a series of numbers like: 149.96.2.21. This helps with security and maintenance, but the Chooser doesn't work the way it used to.

If a patron has more multiple jobs on the print release station, they can print them all at the same time.

Here's how:
Scroll to the first job. Click once to highlight it.
Hold down the shift key.
Scroll to the bottom of the list.
Keep holding the shift key and click on the last job in the list.
All the jobs will be highlighted.
Click the print icon and the total cost of the jobs will appear.

Labman Tip:
After a patron logs out and the computer reboots, some of the PCs will display a message reading "Windows cannot find the roaming profile........" Just click OK or wait for a few seconds and the message will go away.

Alphabetize Your Favorites

When you make a new Favorite in Internet Explorer, it is saved at the end of your list. You can arrange that list alphabetically to make them easier to find. Click on the word Favorites in the menu list at the top (not the Favorites button on the menu bar). Right-click any Favorite, then click "Sort by name." This will first alphabetize your folders, then it will do the individual Favorites. This only works on Windows, not the Mac.