Seasonal Hours: 18 December 2010 - 4 January 2011

Following the conclusion of exams on Friday, 17 December 2010, the libraries will be changing to their seasonal hours of operation.

Starting on Saturday, 18 December 2010 and running until 4 January 2011, the hours for the libraries will be as follows:

VERA BRACKEN LIBRARY

18-19 December 2010: Closed
20-22 December 2010: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
23 December 2010: 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
24 December 2010-3 January 2011: Closed
4 January 2011: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

BROOKS CAMPUS LIBRARY

18 December 2010-3 January 2011: Closed
4 January 2011: 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

With the seasonal break in operations, comes suspension of e-mail, instant messaging, telephone, and text/SMS information services; all services will resume on 4 January 2011. Any questions in the queues will be resolved then.

Both libraries will resume regular hours of operation on Wednesday, 5 January 2011—the first day of Winter Semester classes.

For more information on the libraries' hours, click here.

Summer Hours - Starting June 28th

Library Services will be moving to its summer hours on Monday, June 28th.

VERA BRACKEN LIBRARY (Medicine Hat Campus)

The Vera Bracken Library will operate with the following hours:

• Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
  
  
• Saturday-Sunday: Closed
  

BROOKS CAMPUS LIBRARY

The Brooks Campus Library will operate with the following hours:

• Monday and Thursday: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
  
  
• Closed all other days.
  
  
• The library will be closed for renovations from June 18th to July 5th; though assistance can be rendered from the Brooks Campus's registration desk.

OTHER SERVICES

The Library Online Agents instant messaging service will be suspended starting on Monday, June 28th. This service will relaunch on Monday, August 23rd.

Text messaging services will continue throughout the summer, but hours will be 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday—closed on the weekends.

For more about each library's hours of operation, click here.

Brooks Campus Library Closure

The Brooks Campus Library will be closed from June 18th to July 5th, 2010 for renovations. Though the physical space is unavailable, you can still get assistance from library staff by seeing the Registration Desk at the Brooks Campus.

We apologize for any inconveniences this might cause during this period.

For more information about either libraries' hours of operation, click here.

Library Closure - Saturday, June 19th

The Vera Bracken Library will be closed on Saturday, June 19th for maintenance to electrical systems. With the exception of this day, the library will continue to operate under the normal spring hours until June 25th – at which time both libraries (Vera Bracken and Brooks Campus) will operate according to the summer schedule.

For more information about the libraries' hours of operation, click here.

Library Online Services Disruption - 5 May 2010

On Wednesday, May 5, 2010, Library Services will experience a scheduled disruption of some online services from approximately 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. This disruption is a result of an incremental and planned upgrade to our library system in conjunction with our partners at the University of Lethbridge.

Our patrons will experience the follow disruptions to our online services during this time:

• Unable to use the library catalogue to search for book and audiovisual materials, and renew materials remotely.
  
  
• Unable to remotely log-on to databases to locate journal, magazine, or newspaper articles.

No other services will be disrupted during this time, so you will still be able to check materials in/out of the libraries, access databases from on campus, receive assistance from our online information services (Ask A Question, Online Agents (IM service), and text messaging (403-866-5872)), etc.

We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause.

Library Online Services Disruption - 12 January 2010

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, Library Services will experience a scheduled disruption of some online services from approximately 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. This disruption is a result of incremental and planned upgrades to our library system.

Our patrons will experience the follow disruptions to our online services during this time:

• Unable to use the library catalogue to search for book and audiovisual materials, and renew materials remotely.
  
  
• Unable to remotely log-on to databases to locate journal, magazine, or newspaper articles.

No other services will be disrupted during this time, so you will still be able to check materials in/out of the libraries, access databases from on campus, receive assistance from our online information services (Ask A Question, Online Agents (IM service), and text messaging (403-866-5872)), etc.

We apologize for the inconvenience this might cause.

Streaming Media Restrictions Lifted

As many on campus experienced for the last several months, there were restrictions to using certain streaming media services on campus—most notably, but not exclusively, Google Videos, YouTube, etc. These restrictions have now been lifted and streaming media has returned to Medicine Hat College.

Information Technology Services (ITS) would, however, ask that you try and use some prudence when accessing these types of resources. Bandwidth is still an extremely precious and costly resource. We would like to maximize availability and speed to all Internet services and streaming media can be taxing on our current, though vastly improved, resources. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

It should also be noted that despite the lifting of restrictions to streaming media, the college will still be employing Websense Web filtering services. This service is designed to maximize network integrity by filtering potentially malicious or offensive content from being accessed via the Web.

Click here to read more about this.

IM & Text Services - Seasonal Closures

The Library Online Agents instant messaging service and the text messaging service will be unavailable from December 24, 2009 until January 3, 2010. Both of these services will return to operation on January 4, 2010 for the Winter Semester.

We thank our patrons that have made these online services a success over the past semesters, and we look forward to serving you in the new year.

Online Services Disruption Tonight

There will be a disruption of the college's online services this evening. The disruption will start around 10:00 p.m. and will ideally end around midnight MST.

The services that will experience disruptions this evening include:

• all MHC Web sites
• access to the Internet from within MHC
• faculty, staff, and student MHC e-mail systems
• mymhc.ca (portal)
• Blackboard (learning management system)

The disruption is a result of upgrades that are being made to our Internet infrastructure. The upgrades should result in the lifting of the current restrictions on streaming media services such as YouTube, etc.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Services Disruption - Sunday, July 26, 2009

Due to an urgent need to replace components of the college's electrical system, all college computer systems will be offline from approximately 7:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

Most MHC computer related systems will not function during this time. This includes, but is not limited to:

• all Internet access
  
• all MHC websites
• all e-mail systems (for both college employee and student groups)
• all lab and office computer use (users will not be able to log on)
• the Blackboard LMS
• access to all MHC file servers
• all college enterprise software systems (CampusVue, Portal, HR, and Finance Systems)

Though the library Web site will not be accessible during this time period, the following services will still be available via these links:

• the catalogue for locating books and audiovisual material
  
• the Interlibrary Loans Service for procuring materials not carried in the libraries
  
• remote database access for staff and students

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

Registration - Winter 2009 Semester

Due to technical problems, online registration for the Winter 2009 Semester was suspended at noon on Friday, November 21^st. For students who were unable to complete the registration process, you can complete the process starting on November 24^th.

To complete the process, you can register using the following methods:

IN-PERSON AT THE REGISTRATION DESK:

• Monday-Wednesday: 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. (extended registration hours at the Medicine Hat Campus only)
• Thursday-Friday: 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

VIA TELEPHONE:

• Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
• LOCAL #: 403-504-3697
• TOLL FREE #: 1-866-282-8394

If you did complete the registration process, you can still access and confirm your selections at https://mymhc.ca.

Medicine Hat College thanks you for your patience as we work to repair the online registration system. You will be notified via your college e-mail accounts once the issues have be resolved.

Library Online Agents take Summer vacation...

The Library Online Agents instant messaging service will be taking a Summer vacation starting on June 30^th, 2008. We would like to thank all of our patrons that made this service a success over the past academic year.

We look forward to re-launching the service on September 3^rd, 2008. For more information about the service, click here.

Services Disruption, June 24th - Library System Upgrades

Medicine Hat College Library Services will experience a disruption of online services starting at approximately 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 24^th, 2008. Normal online operations should resume early in the afternoon. This disruption will include both the Brooks Campus Library and Vera Bracken Library.

Library system upgrades are taking place and the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) might not be accessible. This means that you will not be able to search for materials located in the libraries via the Web or log into your personal library account. Additionally, the ability to authenticate to online databases for home users will not be accessible - though databases can be accessed from either campus if you are on site.

All other services (Circulation Desk, computers, databases (on campus), Information Desk, and Internet access) will not be disrupted by the library system upgrades.

We apologize for the inconvenience. All online services should be back to normal operation early in the afternoon.

For more information, please see the libraries' Circulation or Information Desks, or phone: 403-529-3867 in Medicine Hat, 403-362-1690 in Brooks.

UPDATE (24 June 2008):
The upgrades to the library system were completed as scheduled with a minimum of trouble. Most services have returned to a normal state of functionality. Staff will be monitoring irregularities over the next several weeks to resolve any outstanding issues.

We hope there was little or no inconvenience to our patrons and thank them for their patience as we strive to deliver better service through advances in technology.

Printing Off-line - March 26th (9 p.m.-11 p.m.)

Information Technology Services will be performing routine maintenance on the print system from about 9:oo p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, March 26th. During this time, student and publicly accessible printers will off-line. This means that no printing can be done in the Vera Bracken Library or in the computer labs via the student print accounts and/or print cards.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause.

Interlibrary Loan Services Disruption

Library Services will be upgrading its interlibrary library loan (ILL) system on Thursday, March 13th between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. There is a potential disruption of ILL services during this time, but the upgrade will enhance the rate at which our staff can expedite your requests for materials.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this might cause.

UPDATE: The upgrade was successful and we look forward to serving you with our enhanced system.

Early Closure - August 31st

On Friday, August 31st, power will be cut to the B-wing and the Vera Bracken Library will consequently be closing at 3:00 p.m.

There will be a minor disruption to online services, but they should be available by 5:00 p.m.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Medicine Hat College is Still Here

Yes, the college is still here, despite being invisible to the Internet for several hours yesterday.

There was a power outage in our vicinity and Computer Services decided to shutdown servers due to a lack of adequate ventilation in their department and no guarantee from the city that power could be maintained. Additionally, our blog was also unavailable because of a planned servicing period by Blogger.com.

Click here for the article from the Medicine Hat News about the power outage.

Click here for the official press release from the City of Medicine Hat.

Services Disruption, August 16th - Computer Updates

On Thursday, August 16th, the Vera Bracken Library computers will be updated, and some services will not be available on this day.

STUDENTS: Printing will not be available on this day. You will be required to use you own unique user name/password set to login on and after this day, and you will have to logout at the end of each session to protect your privacy. Your future print privileges and network drive storage space is dependent on this unique user name/password combination.

VISITORS/COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Printing will not be available on this day. The means to access a computer after this day, has yet to be determined.

Upgrades will begin in the library classroom at 9 a.m., and move to drop-in and reference computer areas afterwards.

No other library service will be affected. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Wireless Network Down

The wireless network in the Medicine Hat Campus's Café and Vera Bracken Library is down indefinitely. Computer Services is working to isolate this hardware relate issue. Please stay posted for updates.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Services Disruption *UPDATED*

UPDATE #4 - 19 July 2007

Our online services have returned to normal operation. All online functions are now available - this includes the online catalogue, interlibrary loan, and database access from home.

Many Web-based services will still be unavailable or have intermittent access over the upcoming weekend. You can expect the services disruption to begin as early as 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 20th.

We anticipate that all services to be available Monday, July 23rd.

UPDATE #3 - 18 July 2007

We are now in the 5th day of having most of our online services being off-line, and still no known end in sight.

To compound this, a clerical error led to us being notified that the previous weekend was scheduled for a campus-wide power outage. This was not the case. The annual power outage will occur this weekend - 20-22 July 2007.

You can expect all electronic services to be inaccessible over the course of the upcoming weekend. In addition to Library Services being unavailable, other college services that are expected to be disrupted include: BlackBerry, Blackboard, the college website, e-mail, ListServ, and Campus Connect services.

All services are anticipated to return to normal on Monday, July 23rd.

Again, we are sorry for any inconveniences and thank you for you patience and understanding.

UPDATE #2 - 17 July 2007

Unfortunately many of our online services continue to be down. University of Lethbridge technicians continue to work on resolving the issues. They hope that all services will be operational sometime in the next day or two. At present, no formal time for resumption of normal operations has been given.

UPDATE #1 - 16 July 2007

Due to unforeseen hardware and software issues many of our online services (interlibrary loan (ILL), online catalogue, home access to databases, etc.) have remained off-line. Our partners at the University of Lethbridge continue to work on solutions to resolving these issues. All parties hope for a final resolution by Tuesday, July 17th - though no specific time has been set.

Access to online databases is still available, but only on campus. Related services, such as Find It and ILL, remain off-line - even on campus.

No other college service is affected. Blackboard, Campus Connect, Student Webmail, etc. are all available as normal.

We appreciate your patience in this matter.

ORIGINAL POST

During the weekend of July 14th and 15th, Library Services will experience a disruption of online services. This will affect all aspects of online services - including access to the databases, interlibrary loan services, and online catalogue. Some services could be down as early as 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 13th. Services could be up sooner than the 15th, but expect to encounter intermittent disruptions throughout the weekend.

Other college services that are expected to be disrupted include: BlackBerry, Blackboard, college website, e-mail, ListServ, Campus Connect services.

The disruption of services is the result of the college's annual maintenance and upgrading of electrical services.

We apologize for the inconvenience that this might cause for some patrons.