Library survey
The RPI research libraries, along with over 300 other libraries, have posted a survey online to gauge the effectiveness of their various services. The survey is available at http://survey1.libqual.org/index.cfm?ID=517614. They are asking that students and faculty fill out the survey by no later than April 10.
The survey was designed with research that links a person’s rating of service they have received to their personal expectations concerning the level of service they hoped for and the level which they consider to be “just adequate.”
Stolen car hoax
A woman who reported her car stolen with her infant child inside will face misdemeanor charges after admitting that she called the police when she couldn’t remember where she parked it.
Scotia resident Malinda Kelly called her aunt and uncle after 6 pm Saturday and told them her car had broken down on the highway. When they left to help, she broke into their home by breaking a window with a snow shovel and stole some money, then called her uncle to tell them the car was working again and she did not need help anymore. The plan hit a snag, however, when she couldn’t remember where she had parked the car.
Kelly’s claim, though drawing doubt from police, prompted a massive search for the car and missing infant. The vehicle was found by two pedestrians two hours later, idling with the infant inside. Kelly’s purse had, however, been stolen from the car in her absence. Police expect her to be charged with falsely reporting an incident.
UAlbany cracks down
The University at Albany has begun a concerted effort to stop file piracy on its campus, which has led to the suspension of Internet privileges for more than 180 students since the start of the spring semester. The information on who was illegally trading files came from music and record companies, that claim they’ve lost millions of dollars in revenue due to file-sharing services such as Kazaa and Limewire. In February alone, Universal Studios sent UAlbany a list of 60 students that their investigations had revealed were pirating movies.
The punishments ranged from 30-day connection suspensions to a simple meeting with the network administrator about copyright law and a $25 fine. Two years ago, UAlbany estimated that 60 percent of its bandwidth was being used up by file-sharing, but haS done little since then to limit it.
