Parker Library

Parker Library

By Emily Temple (Whetstone Staff Writer)

Lauren Mears recently found herself struggling with assignments in her Business Communications and Public Speaking classes, but the problem she faced was not with the course material.

Instead, Mears, a junior, said she feels held back by the equipment she is using.

“It’s a hassle,” she said.  “Only certain computers print, and sometimes you can’t log in at all.”

The library technology, including online search engines such as EBSCOhost, Wesley’s e-mail system, and equipment such as the computers and printers located in the first floor of the library, have been giving many students difficulty over the past few weeks.

“Computers are already limited,” Mears said.  “If you get a computer you can’t log onto, or can’t print from, you’re stuck.”

Lynn Lofthouse, associate professor of speech communications, said her students have been having difficulty conducting research without EBSCOhost.

“I give a fairly extended period in which to do research for speeches,” she said.  “But I know students leave it for the last minute, and I can see where they might have been caught up without this resource.”

Wesley IT said it was correcting the issues in the library.

“There are two problems in the library which contribute to many of the issues at hand,” said Bo Vieweg, Wesley IT’s Chief Information Officer.  “One is architectural and one is more of an aging equipment issue.”

The system used in the library is called virtualization technology, he said.  It allows all computing requests, from logins to printing, to go through a single channel.  The channel is too small to handle the size of the library’s computing workload.

“This can results in login difficulties, delays in processing or delays in printing,” Vieweg aid.  “IT is analyzing the environment to ensure it is properly sized for the workload required.”

Other issues frustrate students as well.

Senior Cydnie Flowers had to get an extension on her Philosophy project because she couldn’t access Wesley’s Ebrary from home.

“We’re supposed to be able to access Ebrary off campus as long as we log through the site,” she said.  “But when I tried to do my projects online over the break, the Wesley electronic resource sites kept crashing my computer.”

Coming so near the end of the semester, Wesley’s technology problems have affected not only classes in session but the scheduling of classes for next semester.

“I had several advisees come in saying that they couldn’t register for classes,” Lofthouse said.  “Some had waited until midnight.  They were very on top of things.”

Eventually, Lofthouse sent some of her advisees directly to the registrar’s office to sign up for their new classes on paper rather than online.

In spite of the problems, Flowers says the library is an invaluable resource.

“In theory, and for the most part in practice, the resources work fine,” she said.  “But some of the bugs do need to be worked out, and hopefully that can happen for the next semester.”