Meet
the...
IT Services Group
|
From
left: Janet Cropper (group manager), Robert Drinkall,
Gregor Thomson, Duncan Cooper, Keith Lye |
Since
almost every aspect of library life in the 21st century
has an IT component, the IT Services Group is involved in
all areas of Library Services' operations.
A
major responsibility is Aleph, the Library's management
system, of which the web catalogue, eUCLid, is the public
face. Aleph is used on a daily basis by just about every
member of library staff and has recently been upgraded (see
the article Looking at eUCLid).
A major challenge over the next year will be to extend Aleph
to those recently-merged library sites which
currently
have their own, independent, systems and it is hoped that
this will be achieved by the end of 2002. SSEES is the most
recent addition to the UCL family of libraries: dovetailing
their adoption of Aleph with this summer's upgrade has presented
a number of problems which have been overcome by the hard
work and goodwill of all concerned. Keith Lye is
the Group member with primary responsibility for Aleph.
Another
recent development has been making available the ELIB suite
of databases in Windows NT (they were previously only available
in Windows 3.1). Duncan Cooper specified, designed
and implemented the new service and is a good example of
the co-operation that takes place between Library Services
and UCL's Information Systems department. Although formally
a member of library staff, Duncan works on a day-to-day
basis in the Operating Systems Group of IS. Serving two
masters, he manages successfully to keep both happy.
One
of Rob Drinkall's main responsibilities is the Library's
web presence. He maintains the Library Services website
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library)
and has been deeply involved in designing the new eUCLid
catalogue, giving a UCL look-and-feel to the basic Aleph
product.
Gregor
Thomson, our newest recruit, is about to take on a new
role providing support to users in the major new PC cluster
on the ground floor of the Science Library (DMS Watson Building).
Gregor's experience
in training library staff in IT-related areas will be invaluable
in his new job. He will also continue to be responsible
for the electronic exam papers service.
When
time allows, members of the Group also provide IT support
for the many projects being undertaken within Library Services.
A good example is MASC25, an initiative to provide a comprehensive
electronic resource guide to special collections in the
M25 area (see Newsletter,
issue 5, February 2001)
Content
by Janet
Cropper