An initiative that ITS has been working on for quite a few years is what is known in our specialization as “a service catalog”. Its function is, not surprisingly, to provide you with a list of services that ITS provides and information describing those services.

We’re in beta mode right now but you can go to http://my.pomona.edu and log into the portal. Once you have done so, you’ll see a link to the ITS Service Catalog.

Clicking on that takes you to a page that will enable you to search for a specific service, such as email or equipment lending.

Once you have found the service, you will be taken to a page with a description of it and from which you can request the service or report a problem. Just as though you were emailing servicedesk@pomona.edu or calling 18061.

I invite you to use the site a bit and report back to me if you’d either like a demonstration, an explanation or just want to discuss it further. We don’t intend to change the way you contact us now but we’d like to provide you with another conduit as well as information regarding our services.

Though we’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing the wording or descriptions of all the services, I am fairly sure there are terms in there which are clear only to IT people. Any vocabulary that leaves you scratching your head, we want to eliminate.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Some of you have expressed curiosity about how much spurious email is actually getting blocked from hitting your inboxes so I asked one of our Systems Engineers, Steve Moss, about that. He sent me this chart:

That’s probably going to look a little tiny but basically, of the 797,601 message that came in last week (May 1 – May 6), 662,709 messages were interpreted as Spam and 8,747 messages had viruses.
Those who are nefarious will still get through to us but I’d say we’re still well defended!

As the semester draws to a close, our needs for technology seem to increase. With that in mind, I’d like to publish the ITS Loaner Equipment Policy in case you should need a laptop or a projector etc.

Loaner Equipment Policy

The ITS Loaner Pool is a collection of computing and other electronic equipment maintained for the use of the faculty and staff of Pomona College. Originally an academic resource, its intention was to support the academic mission of the college by giving faculty prime access to laptop computers, digital cameras, and projectors on a first-come, first serve basis and has now been expanded to provide staff of the college with college work-related needs access to the loaner pool as well.

The primary objective of the loaner pool is to support the academic mission of the college by providing for the temporary use of specialized equipment, thus academic needs shall take precedence when there are competing requests for the same piece of equipment. This equipment includes portable computing and projection equipment and portable cameras. The equipment pool may expand as new technologies become available that would be useful on a temporary basis.

Following are the guidelines for the creation and use of Pomona College ITS Equipment Loaner Pool.

• Equipment in the loaner pool will be reviewed periodically for its usefulness to the community. A life-cycle replacement scheme will be put in place to insure that only reliable equipment, compatible with current campus standards, is available for use.
• The borrower must provide a minimum of one dayper piece of borrowed equipmentprior to the time they need it in order to allow adequate time for ITS staff to check it and set it up for lending out.
• A budget number must be provided at the time of the request or at least prior to pickup of the item(s) to secure the equipment for loss, theft, or damage..
• Equipment shall only be released to Pomona College Faculty or Staff, not to students or members of the other Claremont Colleges. When checking out materials, the borrower agrees to assume financial responsibility for lost, stolen or damaged equipment.
• It is expected that all equipment will be returned in essentially the same condition it was in when it was borrowed. All cases, covers, cables and other paraphernalia should be returned intact. A document listing all of this equipment will be given to the lender at the time of checkout. This list will be used to verify that all items have been returned. The borrower will be responsible for any lost or damaged items, outside of normal wear and tear.
• Normally equipment, such as laptops, will be loaned for a period not to exceed one week for college-related business. Faculty may request an extension to accommodate travel to conferences or other extended absences from campus. Approval of an extension is subject to the advance availability of the item(s) borrowed.
• Equipment may not be rescheduled continuously. The borrower should return the equipment for a period at least equal to the original loan period. For example, a laptop may be borrowed for a week, returned for at least a week, and then will be eligible to be borrowed again by the same individual.
• Students may only use loaner pool equipment on projects sponsored by faculty or staff members. The faculty or staff member must assume responsibility for the equipment and must personally take possession of the equipment from ITS abiding by numbers 4 and 5 above. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
• At the end of each fiscal year, ITS will review Equipment Borrowing requests and make recommendations to departments regarding requesting budget during the E&A process for adequately provisioning department technological needs.

To request Loaner Equipment, please send an e-mail message to servicedesk@pomona.edu and include the following information

· Equipment requested (if you are requesting a laptop, make sure to specify Mac or PC)
· Period of Loan
· Account number to secure the equipment for loss, theft or damage
· Any special requirements (software, hardware)

If you are not familiar with the use of the equipment borrowed, please contact us in advance to schedule a quick tutorial when picking up your equipment.