EBook: What You Need to Know about Ole Miss

Getting an ID Card:

This handy piece of plastic serves as your library card, a meal card for on-campus dining and vending, and is required when you buy tickets for and attendsporting events on campus. The ID Center is in the basement of Johnson Commons (conveniently situated across the parking lot from Bondurant Hall). As soon as you are on the SIS computer as having been admitted to the university, you can bring a picture ID and have your card made.

The (Main) J. D. Williams Library:

From its marble facade and impressive Faulkner quotations, one might assume that the library at the University of Mississippi is, as it so often claims to be, a library worthy of a "major research institution." But behind the facade lie a number of inadequacies, inconsistencies, and pitfalls. The recent renovation, while attractive, failed to significantly increase the amount of shelf space. Although the library boasts a collection of nearly 800,000 of volumes and 7000 periodicals, careful examination of the stacks will find this number inflated by a collection of, say, twenty copies of certain obscure and outdated texts. And the vagaries of philanthropy have dictated that, while the library has received funds for acquisition, no such funding exists for increased staff or service. This has created a situation that many graduate students find particularly frustrating, in which the overworked staff of student employees are unable to keep up with the flow of books through the building. Many grad students complain that the books they need are either lost, misshelved, or simply unavailable for use. Also, recent budget cuts have resulted in the loss of many of the library's periodical subscriptions. Among other things, this means that the library does not subscribe to many of the newest, most interesting journals--such as, to give one example, Modernism/Modernity.

With all this said, the library has been making efforts to update and improve the quality of its holdings. The online catalogues, for example, allow patrons to suggest books for acquisition--and the suggestions are very often followed. The library now boats greater online services, especially in reference, and the staff in the Reference Room is very good at helping you use them.

Many of us have had cause to bless the Interlibrary Loan department, probably the most efficient and cooperative staff within the library system.

Graduate students are allowed to check books for 42 days. Books can only be renewed in person which is often, as you can imagine, a hassle. Late fees run to $.25 per day per book. You can recall books checked out by another patron. Graduate students can check out volumes of bound journals for one day, which can be helpful as the xerox machines in the library charge $.10 per page, $.03 above what is available downtown. The Dean's current policy is that current (unbound) issues of journals do not circulate, period.

UPDATE: As of right now, graduate students no longer have to schlep their books in by the armload in order to renew them. . . the on-line catalogue now offers an option, under the "view own record" function, that lets patrons renew their own books. Now, this will NOT let you renew if you have too much overdue, or if the items are already overdue, or if anything has a hold on it--but this shuold save everyone a lot of hassle. --DRC, 9/12/1998

Carrells are available for graduate students, particularly those past coursework. There is a waiting list for carrells. Should you feel you need one, you will need a letter from your committee chair attesting to your legitimacy (in fact, a simple signature from Ann or Dan will take car of this). There is a small key deposit. Applications are available at the Dean's office on the third floor. These carrells are far from plush and not for those who suffer from claustrophobia. The lights, as elsewhere in the library, are extremely bright fluorescents and some carrell dwellers find it helpful to bring in incandescent desk lamps. Some carrells include online connections.

Outside of the carrells, the library has little to recommend it as a study space. It is choked with undergraduates every night, many of whom utilize it as a singles bar rather than a study space. During the day, pleasant study areas are sometimes available on the second and third floors.

Getting Connected: Internet Service Information

The first, most important thing to know is that you already have an email account, and space for a web page, set aside for yourself.

Let's begin by talking about how to get that email account active. The computer haven is in Powers Hall, which is one of the last buildings on west side of campus. Go out the west door of the Library, pass the next building (Johnson Commons) a series of dorms, and at the end of the street you'll see a newer building. That's Powers. You can go there for actual human beings to help you. They will not give out information over the phone, however, that would allow someone access to another's account. Take your student ID there, and ask for your account information. Some combination of your last name and initials has already been given to you as a "user ID," or your name on the computer system. This will also be your email address, like mine: gbrown@olemiss.edu. You then go to a computer, such as the ones in the Writing Center in Bondurant (across from Bishop Hall, in the basement). Start sunset, and follow the instructions on the sheet you've been given; first, you'll type new, then you'll give your user ID and temporary password, etc.

Now, you have an email account, and 5MB of space for web pages. I will leave to another discussion how to check your mail or write pages (I use Netscape for both, myself). However, note that 5 megabytes is a lot of space--I have all the information for two separate levels of classes in my site, and the whole lot of it is less than one megabyte. You must follow the appropriate use policy of the University, though--no links to prurient material, and you can't sell anything there, for example. But, unless you live in the (mostly disappointing) dorms, you will only be able to check that email or make up pages on campus in one of the computer labs, such as Weir Hall, or the Writing Center in Bondurant. However, if you have your own computer and a modem for it, you'll likely want to connect to this account from home.

The University's network, for all the complaining you will hear, is actually quite good. There's some nice people over there, namely Kathy Gates and Jimmy Ball, who can help you with everything from email configuration to setting up and managing electronic discussion groups for your composition classes. One thing the University doesn't do very well, at this time, is provide the service to dial up from home. Busy signals and brief connections are the usual fare. They're working to improve this, but in the mean time, most folks pay an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for Internet access.

You will want an ISP if you're going to get on line from off campus. Unless you have cash to burn, I cannot recommend America On-Line. First, there's no local access number, so your modem will have to make a long-distance call at a per-minute charge. AOL has many features, but I find Netscape (free for students) or Microsoft's Internet Explorer (I don't use it because I don't like to have a mini-monopoly in my computer-it's still free though) do just fine, coupled with a "flat rate" ISP account.

The major options are Teclink (Now Meta3), EBIcom, and Watervalley.net. You can also get Internet service from the local phone company, Bell South. The fees run from $12 to $20 per month, in my experience.

The Computer Center Helpdesk will have the most current information on what's available, including contact numbers. You can call them at 915-5222. What follows is simply personal experience from myself and others.

For Bell South service, call 1-800-4DOTNET, or check out their web site at http://bellsouth.com/blsc (you can do this at the Writing Center). Their service is flat rate, a few pennies shy of $20 per month. They also have a cheaper rate, for 10 hours per month. I prefer not to count time on line, but you might want to go that route. There's a charge for time over the allotted 10 hours. I haven't used them, but from what I hear, they're typical.

For Watervalley.net, call 1-601-473-4225. I use them currently, and they're fairly good, and they have the fastest connection I've found. Yes, you'll have to contact them and get tech support long-distance; they say they're changing this over to a 1-800 number soon. They have a local access number for Oxford. They're also upgrading to the fastest currently available modems and lines. They're one of the cheapest, at $12 per month for students, for flat rate, unlimited usage. This comes with 250KB of web page space, with 1MB/$1/month additional if you want it--where you could sell something. They'll even come to your house for free once to help you set up. They're the only folks that offer this service, much less free, that I know. Additional email "mailboxes" are available at a small monthly charge.

For EBIcom.net, call 1-888-324-7800. Many people prefer them. I found them to be very unreliable; occasionally tech support was good, but more often the person on the phone would more or less forget he was talking to someone. I'd spend long periods of silence waiting for him to have me change settings back and forth on my computer to no effect. They cost $16 a month, but in my estimation, they're not worth $1. In the words of a friend who's used them, "[I got] lots of busy signals . . . which we can get for free off the campus system."

For Teclink.net, call 1-888-286-3823. Lots of folks revile them. They have been rather sketchy, but in my personal experience, they're better than EBI. A slower connection, but more "stable," meaning you're less likely to get disconnected suddenly for no reason. At the $20 mark, they're the most expensive service other than Bell South. I'd try the phone company first.

Once you get an ISP, you can easily get to your Ole Miss account. I use my ISP only to get to the school's system, which is where I keep my email. With the paid-for Internet access service comes an email mailbox, but I don't use it. Using the school's system prevents me from having to change my address with all my correspondents every time I try a new provider. Sure, there's more restrictions using the Ole Miss system, but email is like a postcard rather than a letter anyway. Don't plot to overthrow the government on any email system.

There's lots of programs available to help you get to your account. Telnet, a program already available on almost all machines, can connect you to the University's computer--sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu. (To open Telnet in Windows95, for example, click START, RUN, and then type telnet and click OK.) There's also a program called FTP Explorer for Windows95 that is free and easy to use to upload those web pages. You can get it at http://www.ftpx.com.

Using Telnet, either at home or at school, you can use a very basic email program called PINE. After you've logged on to sunset, simply type "pine," without quotes of course, in the Telnet window, and you'll see what it's like. The advantage is that PINE keeps your email on the sunset supercomputer, making it available anywhere you are. The computer you use simply acts as a terminal. The downside is that it is a Unix program-for example, you can't use the mouse in composition. Its clunky, like DOS, and it doesn't have some of the more fancy options. Not much to look at either.

As I said earlier, I use Netscape. A very fine program with full composition abilities (web pages and email). It is very much like any good wordprocessor. The downside is that it "resides" on my computer--meaning the program and all my mail is tied to one place, and if I were to use PINE elsewhere, I would probably lose mail. Someone more savvy could perhaps work around this, but usually using two different mail programs will confuse both you and your computer.

All of this information is subject to change. It may have changed as I wrote this. That is the world of computers. But don't let that discourage you; we're all novices repeatedly. Waiting for the whole industry to stabilize or even-out is an unwise choice, because it won't, ever. You cannot wait for the ultimate computer system, or the best ISP. So, do what you can. You will find the best system for yourself, and you don't have to constantly upgrade if you don't want. But do get your feet wet. Don't be afraid to switch providers or experiment. I am writing this in March of 1998; if you're reading this a few months from now, call the Helpdesk at 915-5222 for the latest information. It will be worth it.