news

Current news:

• Upcoming Changes in Voice Mail and Campus Online DirectoryColleagues, Here’s a pre-announcement of changes you can expect to see later this summer to Bates voice mail and the online campus directory. The changes are occasioned by the need to replace the technology that runs our voice mail with a much more modern version. As we do this, a team of people from ILS, the Dean of Student’s Office, the Dean of Faculty’s office, Human Resources and Security and Campus Safety have made recommendations for changes that we think will greatly improve voice communication systems on campus. The new voice mail system will be released in the latter part of July. It includes:
  • Technology to allow faculty and staff members to receive and manage voice mail from computing devices as well as their phones.
  • A voice-activated telephone directory for access to employees’ office phone numbers.
  • Technology to allow the students who need to use campus phones as their primary phone to also have voice mail messages sent to their email.
  We will have orientation and training on the new system later in the summer, and to make the initial training easier, we are specifying the keypad commands on the new system (e.g. 3 or D for Delete) to be the same as our current voice mail system. Accompanying this change will be a change in the online directory, including putting the student directory behind a login so that it is accessible only to students, faculty and staff. This is just a pre-announcement so you know that this project is in the works. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact me, as we will be working out the details of these projects in the coming weeks
• Upcoming Wireless Network ChangesOver the next 6 weeks, Information and Library Services will be making the following changes to the Bates wireless network. On Wednesday, June 19th, the "BatesGuest" wireless network will be discontinued and replaced with a network called "Bates Visitor". This should only be used for guests of the College to quickly and easily connect to our wireless network. Also on Wednesday, June 19th, a new wireless network named "Bates" will be introduced. This will be the new wireless network that all Bates faculty, staff and students should use. Instructions on how to connect to "Bates" will be sent out on Wednesday, June 19th. If your computer, smart phone or tablet currently connects to "BatesGuest", the instructions will walk you through the process of connecting your device to "Bates". The "BatesSecure" wireless network will remain in existence until Wednesday, July 31 at which point it will be turned off. Please be sure to switch from "BatesSecure" to "Bates" before July 31st. If you need assistance with this process or have any questions, please contact Help Desk Services.
• Network Down Day, Saturday, June 15th, 6am - 6pmSaturday, June 15, 2013 is a Network Down Day from 6:00 am - 6:00 pm. Information and Library Services will be performing infrastructure maintenance.  During this time there will be no network services available including but not limited to… - E-Mail/Bates Gmail/Bates Google Calendar/Bates Google Apps (Mobile devices should still be able to access email from off campus.) - On-Campus Wired & Wireless Network Access - Network File Storage & Printing - Internet Browsing - Library Journals/Databases - Lyceum - Classroom Technology and Presentation Spaces - The Bates website - Banner/BDMS/Hyperion/Garnet Gateway - VPN If you have questions or experience any problems after maintenance is complete, please contact Help Desk Services at 207-786-8222.
• events.bates.edu Maintenance TomorrowEvents.bates.edu and R25 will be down on Thursday, February 21 from 8:00 am - 9:00 am for maintenance. Please make sure to be logged out of R25 during this time. If there are any problems with R25 or events.bates.edu after maintenance is complete, please contact Help Desk Services at (207) 786-8222.
• Outages in Pettigrew & Schaeffer
  Due to water damage, there are no network services in either Pettigrew Hall or Schaeffer Theatre.  While the full scope of the damage is not yet determined, we are working to restore services as soon as possible.
  For the time being, Pettigrew Hall is closed to allow for assessment and cleanup  The following locations and services are closed
  -121 Pettigrew (Digital Media Center computer lab)
  -the Digital Media Center editing suites
  -the Loaner Pool
  We'll have more information for you soon.
• Network Down Day, Saturday, February 23, 2013Greetings, Saturday, February 23, 2013 is a Network Down Day from 6:00 am - 6:00 pm, Information and Library Services will be performing infrastructure maintenance. During this time the following services may be affected: - E-Mail/Bates Gmail/Bates Google Calendar - On-Campus Wired & Wireless Network Access - Network File Storage & Printing - Internet Browsing - Library Journals/Databases - Lyceum - Classroom Technology and Presentation Spaces The following services will NOT be affected: - The Bates website - Banner/BDMS/Hyperion - VPN If you have questions or experience any problems after maintenance is complete, please contact Help Desk Services at 207-786-8222.
• New Print Server - PeruStudent Message
  Hey Folks, The printers in Ladd and some other computer labs have been moved from the Canton print queue to their new home on the Peru print queue. The list of printers is here, (http://www.bates.edu/ils/?p=6225). To print to the printers in these labs, you will have to connect your computer to the new print queue. Fortunately the steps are super simple. For both Macintosh and Windows computers, please refers to these instructions. http://www.bates.edu/ils/2012/how-do-i/printing/printing-to-peru-2/. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact or visit Help Desk Services.
  Faculty Message Hey Folks, Printers in some student computer labs have been moved to their new home on the Peru print queue. If you print to any of the printers listed here (http://www.bates.edu/ils/?p=6225) you will need to remove the old Canton printers and add the Peru printers to your print options.For Windows computers, please refers to these instructions. http://www.bates.edu/ils/2012/how-do-i/printing/printing-to-peru-2/. If you are a Macintosh user and wish to print to any of the listed printers, please contact or visit Help Desk Services.
• Lyceum Maintenance, Thursday, December 20, from 4pm - 4:15pmInformation and Library Services will be performing maintenance to lyceum.bates.edu on Thursday, December 20th from 4:00pm - 4:15pm. Please be sure to be logged out of lyceum during this time. If you have trouble with Lyceum after maintenance is complete, please contact Help Desk Services at (207) 786-8222.
• Changes to Printing for Winter Semester 2013Student Message
  In order to improve printing in areas like Ladd Library, starting January 1, public printers will be moving from the Canton server to their new home on Peru. Please stay tuned. More details to come via email and at http://www.bates.edu/ils/news-2/.

  Faculty Message
  In order to improve printing across campus, starting January 1, all student computer lab printers will be moving from the Canton server to their new home on Peru. This change does not affect department printers. Instructions on how to re-connect to these printers will be available soon. More details to come via email and at http://www.bates.edu/ils/news-2/.

• Belfast Reboot - Thursday, 12/13/12 10:00 pm - 10:30 pmInformation and Library services will be rebooting the Belfast server tonight from 10:00 pm - 10:30 pm. Please make sure to close all open Belfast documents before you leave. If you experience any problems after the reboot, please contact Help Desk Services at (207) 786-8222.