News Library News Online
Vol. 21, No.4/Summer 1999

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Technology Tips

By Laura Mann

The year is winding down and soon we’ll find out whether or not all this Y2K panic is justified. In the meantime, Microsoft has unveiled its new consumer year 2000 website, at http://www.microsoft.com/y2k/. The website is designed to help Microsoft customers review and analyze their hardware and software for Y2K problems and take appropriate action if necessary. While the website is intended to help customers with their home computers, the company reasons that "the consumer year 2000 Web site also can be used by businesses to communicate the scope of the year 2000 challenge to PC users within their organizations."

And just when you thought you’d had it up to here with all this Y2K stuff, up pops another problem: LEAP YEAR. According to a survey done by Computerworld magazine, 17% of 105 information technology managers admitted not knowing that the year 2000 is a leap year. Once many computers make it safely past December 31, 1999, some will not be programmed to recognize February 29, 2000. Some of the confusion arises as a result of the Gregorian calendar’s leap year rules. According to Computerworld, in addition to the every-four-years rule, "There are two other factors: Years divisible by 100 aren’t leap years, except that years divisible by 400 are. So 1900 wasn’t a leap year, 2000 will be and 2100 won’t be." While many companies have already addressed the leap year issue, one expert estimates that 10% to 12% of applications that are Y2K compliant will not factor the extra day in. The full story can be found at http://www.computerworld.com .

For an interesting and amusing peek into the world of network managers and the problems they confront, try reading Concord Communications Inc.’s "Network Rage Survey" at http://www.concord.com. The survey, aimed at gauging the level of frustration of computer users, exposed a seamy world of computer-abuse and acts of violence towards hardware. The survey reports that 83% of respondents reported violent behavior by users with computer problems. Likened to road rage, network rage sometimes results in, "shattered monitors, smashed keyboards, kicked-in hard drives and flying computer mice." And you thought you had problems!

From the "strength in numbers" department, there are two new "Users Groups" to report. Mark Mulik, Systems Editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has started up a specialized Internet mailing list for users of the Merlin archive system and other products from T/One, Inc. Mulik reports that the list has, "really taken off. We have thirty-seven customer sites signed on and one hundred subscribers (as of June)." This is currently a private list for Merlin users only. Kate Bird, Librarian for Pacific Press in Vancouver, reports that, "The list just started and is a great resource for Merlin users." Bird says that her company’s photo editors have just recently signed on and find the list very useful. Interested Merlin users may e-mail Mulik at mmulik@timesdispatch.com for information on subscribing to the list.

Carol Campbell, Information Center Manager at The Daily Oklahoman is involved in the formation of an AP photo archive users group called APPUG, with a tentative first meeting in Orlando in October. Campbell says that AP is providing a meeting place and officers for the group will be elected at that first meeting. Anyone interested in joining APPUG can e-mail her at carolc@oklahoman.net .

Lots happening on the west coast of Florida! Mary K. Means, News Librarian at the Bradenton Herald, reports that the Herald’s newsroom is getting a new front-end system from DTI. "It’s Mac-based, and we’ll all have nifty blueberry-colored iMacs on our desks. We’ll all be completely paginated, and along with the new system comes new technology for the library." All Herald reporters and editors will have desktop access to the Internet, as well as to the SAVE system by MediaStream, which functions as the in-house electronic library. Means and her assistant, Laurie Menard will become heavily involved in training on these systems. According to Means, "We’ve upgraded our photo archiving system and now use Presslink Explorer and AppleSearch. We’ll also help with training on this system, and with Labrador when we get that in the future." Eventually, a computer-assisted reporting station, a big Mac with CD-ROM capability, will be installed in the library. The librarians will also become more involved in CAR training. The Herald’s library staff consists of two-- Means and Menard. They have their work cut out for them, but Means greets the changes with enthusiasm, "Exciting times lie ahead for our library," she explains. "But we are gratified to see our library/reference desk evolve with the new technology and to secure our role as gatekeepers to the world of information that’s available today." The Bradenton Herald, located south of Tampa, is a daily paper with a circulation of 50,000.

Hearty congratulations to Barbara P. Semonche, Library Director, UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communications in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on the opening of The Park Library! Semonche reports that, "Three years of designing a state-of –the-art journalism and mass communications library has born fruit!" The Park Library will serve as a teaching facility, archiving center, and an information and research institution serving faculty, students, and alumni of the journalism school. For a glimpse at the plans for The Park Library, you can link to http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/parklibrary.html .

 

Laura Mann is a researcher at Newsday. Her new email is lmann@newsday.com.

 


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