Updates to the University Libraries’ Public Computer Improve Desktop Computing

Personnel in the University Libraries’ Information Technology Services unit regularly update the configuration of all public workstations to provide students and faculty who use this equipment with the best and most recent versions of software and online resources available. During the recent Spring Break 2007, several small adjustments, when taken together, improved system performance in general.

Enhancements included important patches or updates to the following programs:
Adobe DreamWeaver 8 Adobe Reader 8
Adobe Reader 8 Pro Apple iTunes
Apple QuickTime Firefox browser
Google Earth Java Runtime Environmental
Microsoft Office 2003 Microsoft Windows XP
SPSS 14

In addition, Libraries’ desktop support personnel installed an updated University Libraries’ toolbar program for both Internet Explorer 7 and the Firefox browser, and the Internet Explorer 7 browser configuration was adjusted to address several issues that students had reported when using the University’s Blackboard Learning System.

In the Science-Health Sciences Library, A.D.A.M, the human anatomy program was added. Also added were two applications that are popularly used by students in the School of Nursing: Mosby’s Nursing Skills application and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Clinical Simulations program.

For more information, contact Bradley D. Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu, (765) 285-8032.

This newsletter article first appeared in The Library Insider 5(4): 12; April 2007.