Routine system maintenance will occur tomorrow (Thursday) from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. For more information on LITS System Maintenance: http://www.brynmawr.edu/lits/system-maintenance-policy. Please contact the Help Desk with questions, help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440, or lits.brynmawr.edu.
Happy InfoSec Season! (Launching 10/1)
It is that time of year again — Halloween! As we head into spooky season, the Information Education Security Program (InfoSec for short!) is here to help you keep mischief and trick-or-treating out of your College accounts.
Starting October 1st, community members (excluding undergraduates) will be able to access our Information Security Education Program at https://learn.ue.org/Login2.aspx Please keep your eyes out for a launch day (10/1) email for the login information necessary to complete the program!
For additional information about the Information Security Education Program, please see https://www.brynmawr.edu/lits/projects-partnerships/information-security/information-security-education
Not sure if you need to complete the InfoSec Program? Complete the short quiz below to find out!
For any additional questions, please reach out to the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440
Apple Security Update Released; LITS will Push Update to all College Owned Apple Computers at 5pm TODAY (9/22)
Apple recently released a security update to iOS and OS systems. These updates address a zero-day vulnerability. It is crucial that all community members update all of their Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, computers, and Apple Watches as soon as possible.
Beginning at 5pm today (Friday, 9/22), LITS will push this critical update to all College-owned Apple computers.
The update will automatically download and install. The computer may shut down or restart without warning; please remember to save your work early and often. If you update your computer prior to 5pm, it will not restart again after we push the updates out.
Thank you for your patience; we are working to address this security concern as quickly as possible. If you’re not sure you’ve gotten the update or if you want help doing the update on your own, don’t hesitate to contact the Help Desk: 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu.
Campus Internet and Services Unavailable 9/17 3-6AM
Update 9/18: This work was completed successfully during the specified outage window. Thanks for your patience!
LITS staff will be rebooting the core network switch and applying updates on Sunday, September 17th from 3:00am – 6:00am. During the reboot there will be no network connectivity, including wireless.
All services hosted at Bryn Mawr College (including Moodle), as well as internet access from campus will be unavailable.
The telephone service is on a different network and will not be affected.
Thank you for your patience as we perform this urgent work.
Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu
WordPress Upgrade Tonight, September 15th, 5pm – 6pm
This evening (September 15th) LITS will be performing a necessary WordPress upgrade between 5pm and 6pm. During that time, community members may experience a brief service interruption.
Please contact the Help Desk at help@brynmawr.edu or 610.526.7440 with any questions or concerns or to report any lingering issues.
LITS Welcome Back Newsletter 2023
Top Resources for Students
- New and returning students: get started with FREE Microsoft Office for your personal computer. Learn how to access a variety of software from the library, your dorm, and off-campus – and get info about wireless, printing, Moodle, and more!
- The Assistive Technology App Database is now up and running on the Assistive Technology: Features and Resources page. Use the database to find resources on accessibility, productivity, note taking, time management, writing, and more.
- Check out LinkedIn Learning for online courses and quick tutorials in software, business, and creative skills.
LITS News Highlights
- Bryn Mawr’s Next-Gen Enterprise Strategic Planning and Institutional Readiness Project is well underway. The project team is making progress towards developing requirements and data strategy, and we’ve published Guiding Principles on the project website. Watch The Lantern newsletter for updates and opportunities to provide input. Send questions or suggestions to our project address, brynmawr@morantechnology.com, or directly to anyone on the project leadership team.
- Our upgrade to Moodle 4.2 is complete and the site is now online. See what’s new and get help from our EAST team!
- LITS has enabled Microsoft’s accessibility checker by default for College-licensed Microsoft 365 apps (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook), all of which are available to current community members online, on College computers (including public lab computers), and on personal devices.
Welcome New LITS Colleagues!
Janelle Rebel, Seymour Adelman Director of Special Collections
Cameron Bucher, Educational and Scholarly Technology Assistant
Upcoming Exhibition
Cecilia Paredes: Not ~ At Home opens October 25th in Bryn Mawr’s main gallery space, the 1912 Gallery (formerly the Rare Book Room).
See our full calendar of events
Study Break!
Cozy up with a book in the newly named Nook! Visit the Students Shape the Shelves book display and other additions to the library collection in the Nook, located to your left just inside the front entrance of Canaday.
Librarians are always available for academic consultations…but sometimes you need something fun. This page collects some favorites. We also have access to many major newspapers!
Spotlight on Security
- Faculty and staff:
- Back up files automatically with CrashPlan (formerly Code42)! See Ask Athena for how to get started.
- The College has a new antivirus solution, CrowdStrike Falcon, which automatically detects and prevents malicious behavior while reducing false positives. You can confirm that it’s already installed on your College computer by searching for the app.
- The College’s Information Security Education Program will launch in October!
- Please note that your College-provided antivirus subscription to Sophos Home expired at the end of July. New options are available now.
- If you believe you’ve given your information to a phisher, immediately change your password and contact the Help Desk: help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440.
- Learn how to identify email scams: Malware and spam: Phishing emails
Reminders
- The Special Collections Reading Room has new fall hours:
Mon-Fri: open 12pm – 4pm
and by appointment (SpecColl@brynmawr.edu)
Sat-Sun: closed
- Keep up with @BrynMawrLITS happenings on Instagram, and check the LITS Blog for news and System Status – so you know what’s up (or down), and when.
- We’re here to help – don’t hesitate to contact us at help@brynmawr.edu (610-526-7440) or library@brynmawr.edu. Visit us in the libraries or online at lits.brynmawr.edu.
New Version of MacOS (Sonoma) Coming this Fall
This fall, the newest Apple operating system macOS Sonoma (version 14.0) will be released. Though we don’t know the exact release date, we’re busily testing a beta version of the macOS so that we can identify any quirks or peculiarities before it becomes publicly available.
Whenever Apple releases a new version of macOS, they also deprecate one of their older versions. This time, macOS Big Sur is the one that is scheduled to fall out of support. Once Apple stops supporting this version, they also stop releasing security updates for it and it becomes critical to update to a newer version as soon as possible.
You can easily use the steps on the Apple website to to find which version of Mac OS you’re using.
If you find that you’re running Big Sur (or something earlier!), you can find instructions from Apple support on performing an update on MacOS. Please make sure that all of your files are backed up before you start the update – though the process is usually straightforward, it’s always best to have a backup in case something goes wrong. This is particularly important if you are updating from a significantly older version of macOS (version 10.15 or older).
If you’d like assistance with checking the version of your OS or with updating or with backing up your files, please contact the Help Desk at 610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu.
Reminder: Routine System Maintenance Thursday 6pm – midnight
Routine system maintenance will occur tomorrow (Thursday) from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. For more information on LITS System Maintenance: http://www.brynmawr.edu/lits/system-maintenance-policy. Please contact the Help Desk with questions, help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440, or lits.brynmawr.edu.
RESOLVED: No Network access in GSSWSR, some wireless problems in Park
Update, 11:45am: Full internet access has been restored in both GSSWSR and Park. Thank you for your patience while we got everything sorted out. Please report any lingering issues to the Help Desk.
Due to equipment issues, the wired and wireless networks at GSSWSR are currently unavailable.
Community members in Park may also experience some problems using the wireless network.
Thank you for your patience while we work to get everything back up and running.
Please reach out to the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
Zoom Activity in Moodle Error Message
In order to fix an issue preventing some instructors from scheduling Zoom meetings through the Moodle Zoom activity, LITS was forced to recreate the Zoom-Moodle connection at around 10:30 am on September 5.
If you see an error message (OpenID Connect Initiation URI is invalid) when accessing a Zoom activity created before this date and time, please delete the activity and create a Zoom (new) activity to your course in its place.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience this causes.
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7636).
RESOLVED: Network in New Dorm Unavailable, TODAY 11:30am
Update, 1:15pm: Wired and wireless internet access in New Dorm has been restored. Please report any lingering issues to the Help Desk.
Due to equipment issues, the wired and wireless networks in New Dorm will be unavailable starting at 11:30am today while we perform some necessary maintenance. We will work to keep the downtime as brief as possible and thank you for your patience while we work to get everything back up and running.
Please reach out to the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.
RESOLVED: BIONIC Intermittently Unavailable
Updated 9/3 11:40am: issues are fully resolved.
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Updated 9/3 11:20am: access to BIONIC is restored. LITS is still working on resolving underlying issues. Please repot any access issues to the Help Desk.
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Some BiCo community members have reported that they are unable to log in to BIONIC. LITS is investigating the issue and will work to resolve it as quickly as possible. We will share more information here as we learn more.
Contact the Help Desk with questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.