The Library has about 1000 computers. We regularly replace the older and more problematic ones. Still, every year several dozen Library computers experience severe hardware failures like disk crashes resulting in data loss. Software defects, viruses, worms, hackers, theft, abuse, user errors, liquid spills, power surges, and other factors account for many additional data losses each year.

There's nothing unique about the Library in this regard. These things happen with frequency worldwide to individuals' home computers and in organizations of every type.

Many of these unfortunate events are unavoidable and unpredictable. Library Systems, CITES, and the campus as a whole, spend a significant amount of time and money to protect University equipment against as many of these events as possible, but no safeguards are absolutely certain.

Yet there is one single and relatively inexpensive thing you can do to minimize the costs of any such loss. You must regularly back up all your data files of importance. In most cases, the simplest way to do that is to store them on the Library file server.

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Necessity of Operating System & Application Updates

Until our culture and economy became so intertwined with and dependent upon data networking and particularly the internet, it was reasonable to use any old versions of software as long as it met the user's functional needs. Machines operated in isolation and had virtually no affect on anyone or anything else. With the ubiquity of network access we now treasure comes the necessity of protecting all systems against attack, and against them being used to attack others. therefore we must keep upgrading software,patching it, etc.

Microsoft has been eliminating support for older versions of their software (such as Windows 95, 98 & NT workstation). Many other software companies do the same: the "Unicode release" of Voyager will not be supported on anything older than Windows 2000. You might well ask why we still have a few hundred PCs running NT since it's no longer supported.

Until last fiscal year, our rate of replacement of PCs usually allowed us to stay ahead of that ongoing obsolescence problem. The Library Systems Office's equipment/operating budget pays for most Library computing equipment, software, maintenance, licensing, contract support services, etc. The majority of that is spent on the computers and the software you use every day.

But in FY03, the Systems budget had an unexpected 55% cut (approximately $195,000) to balance other areas of the Library budget. Starting FY04, the same LSO budget base has been reduced by $100,000 per year (a 28% *permanent* cut). Like many other units, we also now have less than half of the student wage budget we had last year.

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The factors listed above leave us no choice but to change some very expensive workstation support services. These changes will help us bring our time and operating costs back in line with our new allocations, and will provide a more consistent set of workstation services than in the past.

1. The Library can not afford to operate as it has with regard to software deployments. From now on, all Library workstations will need to have all major operating system updates installed at much greater frequency. This will mean reformatting the disk and installing current software on all machines multiple times per year. The actual frequency will vary depending on Microsoft releases and other factors.

2. Change #1 is completely impossible without another related change. Library Systems will no longer attempt to restore or migrate data on Library workstation disk drives (typically the C: drive) during (re)installations or operating system upgrades. This means that when a machine gets rebuilt or replaced, it will contain NO documents, bookmarks, spreadsheets, email address files, databases or other user originated content.

This applies in all situations warranting operating (re)installations including but not limited to: hardware failure, software failure, being hacked, user error, hardware replacement, and operating system upgrades.
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We realize that these new procedures will necessitate changes in behavior for some people. The primary goal here is to reduce the impact and frequency of future widespread problems, and replace that with planned, localized interruptions for only a handful of machines at a time. In addition, improvements to user practices will result in reduced losses of valuable information. Many of our peers adopted installation & migration procedures similar to these years ago.

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Summary of Responsibilities Relating to Workstation Data

Systems Office Responsibilities:
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* We will provide best practices documentation for the most common situations encountered here to help you meet your responsibilities for data ownership.
* To help with transition of behavior, we will provide two sessions demonstrating and describing best practices for common situations you encounter.
* We will discuss data storage needs and best practices with Library staff who request.
* We will continue to ensure that the data on our file servers is reliably and frequently backed up and we follow industry best practices for ensuring its safety.
* We will continue to provide and expand file server storage sufficient to support library operations as needed.
* We will provide a small number of CD-R drives to units (but not for every PC) as requested, when the creation of portable off-line data backups is necessary. (Some of the PCs recently provided to librarians have CD-R drives already.) If you have a one-time need to create a CD-R and don't have the equipment, we can burn the CD for you.

Your Responsibilities:
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* You must take responsibility for your own data. No one else can do that for you. If you create or modify files in the course of your work that are important to keep, you must make sure that data is being properly backed up.
* By making sure your valuable data is stored on the file server(s) we maintain, you can transfer the chores of data backup to us. (For most people and situations, the G: and H: drives mapped to the LibSys5 server we provide will meet this need.)
* You must determine what information is valuable and what is not and act accordingly. For some, this includes many old email messages, for others not. It's different for every person and every job.
* Regularly weed out files that have become obsolete. Though we'll keep expanding file server capacity, space is finite.
* If you have very large or rapidly growing storage requirements, speak to us ahead of time so we can accommodate you. In some cases, we may need to allocate you more storage in another location (besides G: or H:)
* If you have other needs, such as for semipermanent copies of data, or to send large quantities of data off-line, you will need to take an even more proactive role in your data maintenance.
* Floppy disks, Zip disks, and other consumer grade magnetic media are NOT RELIABLE enough to be sufficient backup methods for data of value.
* Once recorded, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R are excellent storage mechanisms with data integrity life expectancies much longer than those of magnetic media, and which should outlast the obsolescence of the playback.
* Perhaps most importantly, ask questions. If you have data that you're not sure how to back up, or need help verifying it, let us know.

John Weible
Head of Library Systems
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign