Monthly Archives: June 2022

Tech Tip: Use BeyondTrust to install programs without admin rights

By: Ryan Johnson

BeyondTrust logo for tech tip

BeyondTrust is a program used by the University Libraries to allow PC and Mac users to install applications without admin rights on University Libraries machines.

On University Library Mac’s, BeyondTrust (Privilege Management) should be automatically installed and ready to use. On University Libraries PC’s, BeyondTrust is not installed by default but users can install the application by following the instructions below.

Note: If you don’t see BeyondTrust in BigFix, the application may already be installed.  

BeyondTrust is not an application you will see appear in your Start Menu (PC) or Applications folder(Mac) after installation.  It will only appear when attempting to install a file. Please follow the instructions below to use the application.

Users who choose to not install BigFix for software installations, can submit a helpdesk ticket for application installations if needed.

Tech Tip: Look up what’s in a photo with your iPhone or iPad

By: Ryan Johnson

Did you know your iPhone can identify plants, dog breed and more?

Visual Look Up recognizes items from your images like art or landmarks so you can quickly get more information.

iPhone screenshot for tech tip (dog picture)

Follow the instructions below to use Visual Look Up

  • Select a photo. In apps like Notes, Mail, or Messages, touch and hold an image to select it.
  • Tap the Info The Detected Item Info button.
  • Tap the icon that appears in the photo or below the photo. For example, you might see a paw print icon for pets and animals, or a leaf icon for plants and flowers.
  • Tap to learn more after Visual Look Up provides results from Siri Knowledge and the web.

If the Info button doesn’t have a star The Detected Item Info button, Visual Look Up isn’t available yet for that photo.

To use Visual Look Up on your iPhone, you need iOS 15 or later. On iPadOS 15.1 or later, Visual Look Up is available for iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or later, iPad Pro 11-inch (all models), iPad Air (3rd generation) or later, iPad (8th generation) or later, or iPad mini (5th generation) or later.

Customer Service Tip: Another lesson on how to handle angry customers—Don’t smell the milk

By: Shep Hyken [Submitted by Carmen Gass]

At a recent conference, I enjoyed an interview with a business owner who shared some of his customer service philosophies. His name is Jake, and he is a very smart guy. He taught several
lessons that day, but the one that stood out was how he handles angry customers. Specifically, it was a lesson he called Don’t Smell the Milk.

Early in Jake’s career, he worked at a grocery store. His manager taught him how to respond to a disgruntled customer. The example he used had to do with a customer who wanted to return a spoiled carton of milk. Read more here.

PA Forward Information Literacy

By: Lauren Reiter

Throughout the year, the Informed Consumer committee has coordinated programs for students, staff, and faculty aligned with PA Forward’s five literacies: basic, information,
civic/social, health, and financial.

In the final post of this series, we will discuss information literacy, which is perhaps the PA Forward literacy most familiar to academic library employees. PA Forward “envision[s] a
Pennsylvania where citizens know how to use online resources and current technology to improve their education, to enhance their job skills, and to fully participate in a digital society.”

To help students develop the skills needed to evaluate information found online, Emily Reed, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Penn State Harrisburg, presented “Don’t Let Fake News Fool You” as part of the Informed Consumer series in February. In the presentation, Emily guided students through how to identify fake news, distinguish misinformation and disinformation, and manages biases. Attendance included students from three Penn State campuses, as well as many library employees.

If you are interested in PA Forward literacies or the Informed Consumer series and want to talk more, please reach out to Informed Consumer committee chair Lauren Reiter at  lmr29@psu.edu.

Tech Tip: Add documents to a Microsoft Team’s channel tabs

By: Ryan Johnson

Need to quickly access an Excel file or Word document in a Teams Channel? It is easy to add a file as a documents tab in a channel. This is so much easier than trying to find a file. If there is an Excel file you access daily or frequently in Teams, make it a Tab. Note: Before making the document tab, the file must exist in the channel.

To make a File a tab in Teams, follow the instructions below:

  1. Click on Files tab
  2. Find the file you want to make a tab
  3. Click the three dots for Show Actions
  4. Click Make this a Tab

"make a tab" screenshot for Microsoft Teams

To Rename or Remove the Tab

  1. Click the dropdown next to the right of the Tab name.
  2. Select either Rename or Remove

dropdown box for Microsoft Teams, screenshot

Customer Service Tip: A lesson from Michelangelo – details matter

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

I don’t know if it’s true, but it doesn’t matter. This is a great story with a great lesson.

Michelangelo was standing on his scaffold as he worked on painting a tiny leaf on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A colleague looked up from far below and shouted, “Why are you so concerned about painting that little leaf? Nobody from this distance will ever know.”

Michelangelo responded, “I will know!”

The point is that the smallest details matter. Even if they don’t matter to the customer, they should still matter to you. It’s a sense of pride, dedication, and discipline that you care enough not to cut corners, take shortcuts or gloss over details.
Read more here.

PA Forward Health Literacy

By: Lauren Reiter

Throughout the year, the Informed Consumer committee has coordinated programs for students, staff, and faculty aligned with PA Forward’s five literacies: basic, information, civic/social, health, and financial.

According to PA Forward, Health literacy means “having the ability to make informed decisions in relation to an individual’s physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health.”

This year the Informed Consumer series featured the CAPS program “Mental Health and You.” This session was designed as a safe space to both provide information and answers to attendees. Participants learned about the stress and burnout students can face as a semester comes to an end, or a deadline of a major project approaches. The talk discussed both visible and invisible signs of stress and burnout, providing a variety of recommendations for coping with either as a complement to the initial discussion. Participants learned about the various services our university specifically has to offer, such as Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). The second half of the session was designed as a question-and-answer space, where
the speaker fielded questions from attendees. Questions ranged from what external clinics or resources the institution partners with to asking about the specifics of what takes place if a student is in crisis. The latter half of the session could have easily stretched well beyond the scheduled time as the information was well articulated, kind, and empowering. -Kat Phillps

Customer Service Tip: Keep your promises

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

How many times has a customer service rep broken their promise to you?
* Failed to call you back.
* Failed to send you something.
* Failed to fix a problem.

It’s frustrating. A broken promise makes you question why you’re doing business with that company.

You can earn your customers’ trust by doing what you say you will do.
* Respond to customers when you say you’ll respond.
* Send what you promise to send.
* Fix problems you promise to fix.

It’s not as easy as it seems. People have a way of convincing themselves it’s okay to break promises.
* I was busy.
* I forgot.
* Someone else dropped the ball.

Imaging hearing those excuses as a customer. None of them are okay. You can stand out by being dependable, solid, and trustworthy.

Tech Tip: How to determine folder sizes in Outlook on the web

By: Ryan Johnson

How to Determine Folder Sizes in Outlook on the Web

Penn State Outlook Accounts have 100GB of storage per mailbox

To see how much mailbox storage you’re using in each folder, follow the instructions below:

  1. At the top of the page, select Settings (Gear Icon) > View all Outlook settings.
  2. Select General > Storage.

screenshot - Outlook storage

From the Settings > Storage page you should see a breakdown of how much space each folder in your mailbox is taking along with the option to permanently delete all items (or those older than 3, 6, or 12 months) in these folders to free up space if desired.

screenshot from Outlook - storage