Tuesday 15 January 2013

Spring Term 2013 Opening Hours

The ground floor of the Fountains Learning Centre is open 24/7.  For the opening times of floors 1 and 2 please see the Information Learning Services website.

2013 ILS Clinics now available

We now have a range of dates for our ever popular ILS Clinics available until March. Come along and get advice (and chocolate) on referencing, finding information for your assignments, uploading assessments in Moodle, and more.  There is no need to book just look out for our clinic signs in Fountains and ask one of our friendly staff for help:

Academic Study Clinics
Date
Time
Tues 15th January
11.00
Wed 23rd January
13.00
Thurs 31st January
15.30
Fri 8th February
10.00
Mon 11th February
11.30
Tues 19th February
14.00
Wed 27th February
16.00
Thurs 7th March
9.30
Fri 15th March
11.00
Mon 18th March
14.30
IT Trainer Clinics
Date
Time
Friday 18th January
11:00
Tuesday 29th January
13:45
Monday 11th February
10:00
Thursday 28th February
12:45
Monday 11th March
11:00

Monday 14 January 2013

Meet Rob, one of our EIS Specialist

This week, Rob one of our IT guys will be tweeting to you from out Twitter.  Read on to find out a bit more about Rob and look for his tweets marked with  ^RH


From Rob:

I've been working at York St John since June 2011, initially as the "Digital Archive, Web and System Support Librarian", with responsibility for supporting the Library's digital content. However, last July I was seconded onto the IT side to support Moodle, and will shortly be moving over officially into a role as "EIS Specialist - Open Source".

For those who are not aware, "EIS" stands for "Electronic Information Systems". Our small team develops custom applications, supports systems like eVision and Moodle, and does database and server administration.

I have been working in IT and on the IT side of libraries for the last five years. I started out in Leeds City Council's Libraries and Information Service, working there for two years before moving on to spend some time working for Talis Information in Birmingham (a company which provided library management systems). Before this, I spend about sixteen years working in health and social care, but that's another story.

I am an enthusiast of free and open source software (it's not just a job), and have recently become interested in the opportunities offered by online education platforms like coursera.org and p2pu.org. Ask me anything, and I'll do my best to answer.

Friday 4 January 2013

Meet Deputy Director Steve, one of our newest team members

For the week beginning the 7 January, Deputy Director Steve will be taking on Twitter.  Below is a little more about him.  Look out for his tweets identified with a ^SP!

______________________________________________________________


I am  the Deputy Director of ILS, with specific responsibility for IT – in other words, ask me about computers, don’t ask me about books!

I came from the University of Southampton where I started about 13 years ago as a techy geek working on Unix systems.  Over the years, I diversified in technology, and then was promoted into management.  It was around this time I started wearing shirts, and later suits, instead of t-shirts and jeans.  For the last few years, I was Head of Research Support in Southampton University’s IT department and came to York St John in November, bringing with me a lot of IT experience and qualifications in a small range of management acronyms.

The library side of things is new to me and I’m slowly starting to get used to Library and information management jargon.  So maybe you can ask me about books.  I didn’t foresee my career spreading into this area as well, but it’s all interesting and challenging.  I’m also finding it quite fun to work in a smaller, friendly organisation which has a strong student focus.

I think Fountains and ILS are doing great, and I’m looking forward to helping to maintain and improve on what we’ve done so far.  Feel free to say hi to me or ask any questions to @YSJ_ILS while I’m in control of it this week.