Monthly Archives: May 2021

Customer Service Tip: Costco Jason’s response makes perfect sense

By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)

I watched the viral video of former child star, Ricky Schroeder confronting a Costco worker, Jason, about the store’s mask mandate.

My first thought was my daughter, Lauren. Lauren worked in the mall here in Tulsa when she was home from college during the early days of the Pandemic. Often, Lauren was the greeter for her store. Like Jason from Costco. Read more here.

University Libraries is hiring: Part time Evanisko Project Coordinator

Applications are being accepted for a part-time (20 hours/week) project coordinator to serve as liaison for a three-year collaborative partnership between Penn State University Libraries and the Department of Graphic Design.  Position description and apply here.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

  • act as the point person for the Graphic Design faculty and students providing and developing content related to fulfilling the goals of the project

  • coordinate or assist with the coordination of stakeholders in developing the selection criteria, monitoring progress, and other aspects of project management

  • coordinate virtual and in-person events for semester-end showcase of student work

  • facilitate on-site user studies

  • create and maintain a calendar of exhibits, displays, and related public events that make use of the facilities in the Collaborations Commons and adjacent areas

  • work closely with faculty and students to support scholarly displays in the Collaboration Commons

  • collaborate with faculty and students to assess multimedia needs for specific projects, to assist in creating and packaging digital media for digital displays

  • follow best practices for video, branding, copyright, and accessibility

  • ensure graphic solutions are optimized for integration, performance, usability and sustainability

  • research existing and emerging methods utilizing potential innovations in hardware and software

  • understand legal/accessibility/copyright considerations

  • create technical specifications for usage of digital displays

  • understand the signage management system and work closely with those managing the equipment hardware and Four Winds Software

 

Tech Tip: How to look and sound great in Zoom

By: Ryan Johnson

Zoom meeting meme: two dogs in clothes

Spring semester is over, and we are slowly transitioning to back to in-office work.  But that doesn’t mean Zoom and its use is going away anytime soon.

Have you been struggling to improve your video and audio in Zoom or Teams or just want to know the best options available?  Want to know how to choose the best lighting, video, and audio equipment to look and sound your best?

If so, please attend my new quick 1/2 hour session next week.

Please see the session details below:

Tuesday, May 25th at 10:00am -10:30am over Zoom

How to Look and Sound Great in Zoom:

    • How to Choose the Best Lighting, Background and Perspective for Zoom sessions.
    • What Hardware(Webcam/Mic) is best for Zoom.
    •  Test your Audio/Video and Internet Connection for Best Performance.

The session is on Zoom at https://psu.zoom.us/my/ultraining and will be recorded.

 

Customer Service Tip: What’s normal for us can be amazing to others

By Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

During my live presentations, there is a part of my speech where I talk about Moments of Magic. These are positive experiences we create for our customers, including our internal customers, also known as our fellow employees. (If you’ve been following my work, you already knew that.) In the speech, I’ll ask audience members to share an example of when they created that experience.

During a recent keynote presentation to an audience of managers of a major retail chain, an example was shared, and it was a good one. Read more here.

All Staff Conference Program Announcement

By: Angel Peterson

Libraries All Staff Conference graphic

The program is now available for the All-Staff Conference! Please visit our staff site to see what all we are offering.

All non-faculty (full-time, part-time staff, students and technical service) employees of the University Libraries are invited to attend. Registration is not required. Zoom links will be added to this site the week before the conference.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Tech Tip: Set your lifetime password by May 12

By: Ryan Johnson

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Penn State is rolling out significant changes to the University’s password policies in order to align with the latest industry best practices. As a result, all faculty, staff, and technical service employees are required to choose a new non-expiring Lifetime Password by May 12, 2021.

THE BENEFIT OF A LIFETIME PASSWORD

  • Your new Lifetime Password will never expire, so you’ll never be required to change it again unless someone else gains access to your user ID and password.
  • You can create a longer passphrase, sentence, or series of words that are meaningful to you alone. See Choosing Your Penn State Account Password.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO 

  1. To learn about Penn State’s new password requirement and find tips for choosing a secure and easy-to-remember password, visit security.psu.edu/passwords.
  2. Connect to VPN(if working at home).  Log in to accounts.psu.edu, click on “Security Settings” to set your Lifetime Password.
  3. Lock your PC or Mac.  On PC, you can lock your computer by clicking Windows Key + L or by clicking on the Windows Keyand selecting Lock.  On a Mac, simply click the apple icon and choose lock screen or use the shortcut key Control + Command + Q. 

Next, Unlock your computer with your new password.

  • If you are in the office and have a Library assigned laptop that is docked, please test your new password by undocking your machine and attempt to log in off the dock after completing the lock/unlock step.

Note: If you have a Mac, you make get FileVault and Keychain pop-ups that may require your new password to be entered. 

  1. For additional steps you may need to take, as well as resources for any issues you may encounter visit, After You Change Your Penn State Password.

  WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T CHANGE MY PASSWORD BY MAY 12?   

If you haven’t changed your password by May 12, you will receive an error message and be required to change it before you can log in to WebAccess.

GET HELP

To learn more about choosing, changing, and protecting your Lifetime Password, visit security.psu.edu/passwords.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact the Libraries Helpdesk.

Announcing the “Diversity Week and LFO Colloquium 2021: Building on DEIA, Together” Program

By: Jackie Dillon-Fast

Co-Sponsored by University Libraries Diversity Committee and Library Faculty Organization
[https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/diversity-week-lfo-colloquium-2021]

On May 17-21, please plan to join colleagues for the 2021 virtual Diversity Week & the Library Faculty Organization (LFO) Colloquium — two great events combined into one!. You can choose from a wide variety of interesting and interactive programs spaced throughout the week highlighting some of the proactive ways Libraries employees are and can connect and contribute to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Acessibility in the Libraries.

This — our 4th University Libraries Diversity “Day” — builds on past Diversity Day themes to showcase varied ways the University Libraries has moved from conversation to awareness to action and toward building and sustaining a climate and citizenry that values and celebrates diversity in all of its forms.

There are more than a dozen ways for you to engage during Diversity Week. Here are two:

On Monday May 17, as the 2021 Diversity Week keynote speaker, Jay Dolmage will focus on the ways disability has been situated in higher education, both before and during Covid-19, and help us look at our own ableist biases, apologies and defenses in an effort to build tools for a much more accessible post-Covid future.

On Wednesday, May 19th, as the 2021 LFO Colloquium keynote speaker, Nikhat Jehan Ghouse will lead an interactive exploration of how to more proactively integrate diversity and inclusion in recruiting, retention, and organizational culture within the Libraries.

For further information on these and the other 14 Diversity Week sessions, check out the Diversity Week/LFO Colloquium Program at https://staff.libraries.psu.edu/diversity-week-lfo-colloquium-2021. Then join us in learning, sharing, celebrating, and connecting during the 2021 Diversity Week May 17-21! Let’s keep “Building on DEIA, Together!”

Diversity Week is open to all Libraries employees and no registration is required. All sessions will be offered virtually through the Zoom platform. We have created one Zoom Room in which all of the sessions will occur across all five days of Diversity Week: [Zoom link will be shared closer to date]. You may choose to attend any or all of the sessions, according to your schedule. At the presenters’ discretions, some sessions will be recorded and the recordings made available following Diversity Week.

Please send any questions to Jackie Dillon-Fast (jud18@psu.edu) or Linda Klimczyk (lgk1@psu.edu).

The Pennsylvania State University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have
questions about the online access provided, please contact Dawn Amsberry (dua4@psu.edu) in advance of your participation.

Tech Tip: Adobe Sign Pro functionality no longer available May 14

By: Ryan Johnson

Adobe recently made us aware that the Adobe Sign Individual (also known as Adobe Sign Pro) functionality will be removed from Adobe Acrobat DC (stand-alone app and Acrobat DC in Creative Cloud) effective May 14, 2021.

As a result, Fill & Sign – Request signatures option will no longer be available in Acrobat DC after May 14, 2021. The option to Sign yourself will still be available and is unaffected by this change.

Adobe screenshot for tech tip

What functionality is exactly going away?

There are important nuances to be aware of. Acrobat DC includes multiple tools to allow you to work with e-signatures.

If users have the latest version, they will see Adobe Sign and Fill & Sign – and Fill & Sign has two options: Fill and sign (You) and Request signatures (Others). The options for Adobe Sign & Request signatures (Others) are powered by Adobe Sign and are the functionality that will be sunset beginning on May 14.

To be clear: Fill & Sign > Fill and sign (You) will not be impacted and will remain available to Acrobat DC users. That means users will still be able to sign and time stamp documents and save those documents. They will not, however, be able to send them on for additional signatures or execute signature workflows within Adobe Acrobat DC software.

 

More information about this change and how to use request signatures can be found on the Adobe website.

Penn State has contracted with Adobe Sign for an enterprise eSignature product and has established an eSignature service team that works with users requiring an eSignature solution.

Please direct any questions to the eSignature Service team at esignature@psu.edu.

Customer Service Tip: There is no excuse to not respond to a customer

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible. When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond. That is unless you don’t care if they ever do business with you again.

One of our subscribers to The Shepard Letter, Andy Saks, owner of Spark Presentations and professional corporate presenter, sent in a story worth sharing. Here’s a short version of what happened. Read more here.