Reporting Problems

In the past several weeks, there have been a handful of unplanned outages.  IT response time wasn’t as fast as it could have been, partially because of the way the outages were reported.

Any problems, real or perceived, with Library IT services can be reported by contacting the IT Help Desk via email (help@library.illinois.edu) or phone (217 244-4688).  When choosing a method of contact, consider the urgency of the problem.  Email is only checked during regular business hours, but the phone line will be answered – by a human – 24×7 every day of the year except Christmas Day.  The people answering the phone are specially trained to identify widespread and critical problems, and will call IT staff in the middle of the night if necessary.

Library IT maintains a comprehensive set of documentation on all services, including commitment levels for everything that is available to the public.  The service commitments include defined times when the service should be available.  Standard Availability means that the service is supported during normal business hours.  Extended Availability means the service is supported whenever any Library is open.  High Availability means the service is expected to be available 24x7x365.

The list of services continues to grow and change as the Library evolves.  Likewise, the level of support required for each service can change with time.  When evaluating the service catalog, it is important to remember that it is a living document; it may not accurately reflect the exact need for each service today, but through productive discussion, it can be shaped to provide the highest level of support possible for Library patrons overall.

Here is a list of services that are currently defined as extended or high availability.  But if you’re working on an evening or weekend and find an IT problem, remember that it’s OK to call the Help Desk even if the issue doesn’t appear on this list.  The person answering the phone is specially trained to determine if the problem you’re reporting might be symptomatic of a bigger problem, and to contact the appropriate people as fast as possible to get things resolved.

  • Easy Search
  • Electronic Reserves
  • EZProxy
  • Library Gateway and website
  • Handle (link resolver for electronic resources)
  • Journal and Article Locator
  • Online Journals and Databases (SFX/Discover)
  • Voyager, including the classic client, VuFind, and I-Share
  • CMS (website content management system, which contains many departmental library websites)
  • Groupfiles (G Drive)
  • Home (H Drive)
  • OTRS (ticketing system)
  • Library hardware and software infrastructure
  • Library networking
  • IPMonitor (which scans servers/services to make sure they’re running)
  • Public Printing
  • Streaming Media
  • Ask a Librarian (IM Collaborator)
  • Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad and Ariel)

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