TCC Electronic Servcies

I knew that when I walked into the library at TCC on March 21, 2008 that I was not going to get all of my questions answered that day. My interview was with a librarian and I had arranged prior to the interview that any questions that could not be answered on that day would be answered by the electronic services librarian. Through a series of Emails I have my answers to the questions to the extent that the information would be disclosed or revealed. Please remember that some the information is conrolled by an IT department and IT can be known for not being very cooperative.

The URL for the TCC library is: http://www.tcc.edu/lrc/.

TCC uses Novell software for the college networking infrastructure and the college is part of NetworkVirginia (http://www.networkvirginia.net/). All of the network and Internet configuring is handled at the college level by the Office of Information Systems (OIS is the IT part of the college) or at the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The college has high speed broadband Internet access.

All of the specifications for the server, computers, and workstations are handled at the college level as part of the college technology plan, not at the library level. The IT department determines the specifications, equipment, and replacement cycle. The library staff does basic trouble shooting on the computers, but all maintenance and repair is handled by the college IT staff. Each TCC campus has several IT staff who are responsible for all workstations at that campus. All of the planning and budgeting in the library for technology is part of the college technology plan managed by the Office of Information Services.

Online databases are supported through the LRC's materials budget. That includes the TCC share of VCCS wide resources as well as resources that are subscribed to for TCC alone. The actual activities of web updating are handled in part by the college and in part by the individual unit. The library does not have a budget position designated for the web but it is part of one librarian's job description to be the website manager for the LRC and many librarians also do web activities.

TCC, and the entire VCCS uses the Ex-Libris Aleph 500 as it's automation system. TCC went live with the Aleph 500 version 16 in June of 2005. The last VCCS college to go live with the same system was in January of 2005. TCC does not use the entire Aleph 500 system. The college currently uses only the "Big -3" - OPAC, circulation and reserves. The system will upgrade to version 18 in May of 2009. Once the college feels that is stable with version 18, it will begin implementing additional modules including acquisitions and serials, and ILL.

So there we have it. This is all of the "technical" information that I was able to gather. For this project I interviewed a librarian, conversed with another librarian via Email, made numerous visits to the college library, and spent hours sifting through the library website.

Denise