Heather Greer Klein, Samvera Community Manager, Library, Technologies, and Digital Strategies

Heather Greer Klein is the new Samvera community manager for LTDS. She will work remotely from Durham, NC with her role being paid for by the Samvera Community with Emory Libraries as her sponsor. Heather spent the past a year at LYRASIS, where she was the outreach and engagement coordinator and nearly three years at DuraSpace, where she was services coordinator. She also spent almost 6 years as member services coordinator at NC LIVE, the North Carolina digital library consortium.

Originally known as Hydra, Samvera is an open-source digital repository community. According to the Samvera mission statement, “Samvera™ is a vibrant and welcoming community of information and technology professionals who share challenges, build expertise, and create sustainable, best-in-class solutions, making the world’s digital collections accessible now and into the future. Samvera’s suite of repository software tools offers flexible and rich user interfaces tailored to distinct content types on top of a robust back end – giving adopters the best of both worlds.”

A native of Ohio who has lived in Durham for the past 10 years, Heather earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Northeastern University, her MLIS from Simmons College, and a graduate certificate in training and development from NC State.

When she’s not working, Heather enjoys pollinator gardening and permaculture. When not in a pandemic, she participates in board game groups and helps run a community group called Sunday Assembly Chapel Hill.

“I’m the inaugural community manager for the Samvera community and I am very grateful to work with Emory,” says Heather. “Emory Libraries are a valuable partner of the Samvera community.”

You can reach her at heather [dot] klein [at] emory [dot] edu.

 

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LITS recent headlines and upcoming events

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Recent LITS headlines:

Upcoming LITS events:

(go HERE for more information for each event)

  • November 17LEAF Coffee Hour: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm, Zoom link
  • November 19IT Briefing: 10:15 am – 12:00 pm, Zoom link
  • November 19JWJI Public Dialogues: “Election 2020: What Happened and Why,” 6:00 pm, Link
  • November 20Seminar with WHSCL: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Link
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ECS receives high marks for AWS training; now available on demand

Emory Cloud Services (ECS) recently finished their first series of internally-run 200-level AWS training and the feedback was tremendous. The virtual classes, which were offered for free to Emory staff, covered a wide range of intermediate topics in the area of cloud services.

In a survey conducted after the classes, ECS training earned a Net Promoter Score of 84, which is extremely high in the training industry. According to class attendee Kevin Chen (manager, middleware), “The 200 series are really great trainings. I’d like to express my gratitude again for all the effort the instructors put in.” Added attendee Diego Duran (storage engineer, enterprise storage), “I appreciate the effort put into developing and maturing these courses for the future.”

The training materials in the ECS course catalog have been organized into levels. These levels provide individuals with training options ranging in complexity from beginner (100 Level) to intermediate (200 Level) to advanced (300 Level). Individuals who work their way through each series will be prepared to deploy and operate infrastructure inside the Enterprise Cloud Services environment.

Most of the 100 Level classes are focused on AWS Basics. These classes are offered by an external provider, called QwikLabs. They are self-paced and can be taken whenever you have time. Most of these classes provide hands-on training in AWS without requiring you to have a test account. While many of the classes are free, some require credits. The Cloud Advisory Group manages a small bank of QwikLabs credits that can assigned out while supplies last. If you are interested in taking a class that requires credits, please request credits by filling out and submitting this form.

The 200 Level and 300 Level classes are tailored for Enterprise Cloud Services. The 200 Level classes provide basic Enterprise Cloud Services training on the Landing Zone, IAM permissions, and Operating processes. The 300 Level classes will provide information on how to deploy infrastructure into ECS using automation.

After a very successful run of the initial 200 Level ECS Training classes, the Cloud Advisory Group is happy to announce that those seven classes are now available on-demand. As with the in-person version of these classes, there is a mix of lecture and lab work. Students will begin by watching the class video, which will let the students know when to pause the video and perform the lab. We think this format is ideal because students can take as much time as they need for each lab. We have also converted all of the lab worksheets to show students the correct answers upon submission. We think this will also improve the learning experience because students will be able to check their work.

The table below contains links to each class page where there are links to the class video, lab instructions, lab worksheets, and other related class material. Students may pick-and-choose the classes they want to take, or they can take all seven. Our recommendation is to take all seven in the order presented in this table. This approach gives students the broadest understanding of the ECS Landing Zone.

Class Description Registration
ECS 201: Landing Zone Overview ​This class introduces you to the Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) Landing Zone. You will learn about the AWS Organizations, Service Control Policies, and the AWS accounts that make up the Landing Zone. Register
ECS 202: IAM Roles & Policies This class explains how IAM roles and policies are used in ECS to provide controlled access. In this class you will learn how the scheme of horizontal, vertical, and team based roles were developed. You will see the different policies associated with the roles and develop a deeper understanding of IAM and its specific use in ECS. Register
ECS 203: Traffic Flows, Security Groups, & Firewalls This class breaks down the networking and security controls within ECS. You will learn about Security Groups, Firewalls, Transit Gateways, Direct Connects, VPC Flow logs and a lot more. Register
ECS 204: Data Encryption, TKI Client, AWS CLI ​In this class you will learn about the various ways data is encrypted within ECS. You will see how encryption is enabled and used to provide segregation between teams. The knowledge gained from this class is instrumental for deploying infrastructure into ECS. Register
ECS 205: High-Availability & Data Protection This class will show you the multiple options application teams have for deploying infrastructure. You will start with a very simple non-redundant deployment and work your way to a highly-redundant deployment. You will also learn how data is backed up in ECS. Register
ECS 206: Logging & Monitoring This class describes how infrastructure within ECS is monitored and logged. In this class you will learn how CloudWatch is used to monitor infrastructure and logs are collected for EC2 instances, S3 access, load-balancer access, and VPC flow logs. Register
ECS 207: Cost Management This class will show you how to use AWS billing tools like Cost Explorer and Cost and Usage Reports to manage costs in ECS. This class will also explain the important role tags play with billing in ECS. Register
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Today is the last day for benefits open enrollment

As a reminder, benefits annual open enrollment ends today, November 6. We’re very pleased to confirm that there are no changes in plan design, premiums, or deductibles for the HSA or POS plans for 2021, whereas Emory is pleased to introduce a new, third plan option, through Kaiser Permanente, for the 2021 plan year. Below are various links that you may find useful for this year’s enrollment process.

  • 2021 Benefits Guide: View guide
  • 2021 Medical Plan Rates: View rates
  • 2021 Medical Plan Comparison Chart – Compare deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, copays, coinsurance and other medical expenses for all three medical plans: See chart
  • ALEX® – Use  ALEX, our new online benefits counselor, to help lead you to the plans that work best for you: Go to ALEX
  • Annual Enrollment ChecklistView the checklist
  • Benefits Enrollment Section of Emory University HR Website: Access the website
  • PeopleSoft HR – Use self-service portal for enrollment: Access PeopleSoft HR (login credentials required)

Video Information

If you were unable to attend the virtual enrollment sessions, you can watch the following pre-recorded videos:

Finally, please feel free to contact our Benefits Specialist, Beverly Hill-Winfield, at beverly [dot] yvonne [dot] hill-winfield [at] emory [dot] edu or 404-727-0862, or you can contact LITS HR if you have questions.

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Second Lift Every Voice panel next week

photo of event posterOn November 10th at 1:00 pm, the Lift Every Voice Seminar Series is sponsoring a second public discussion panel entitled, “Legacies of Reconstruction.” According to the press release, “Legacies of Reconstruction” will explore the failures, successes, and issues arising out of Reconstruction, and discuss how these histories help us understand contemporary debates about citizenship and racial justice in the United States.

Attendees can register at http://emorylib.info/lift-nov for the online event.

The Lift Every Voice Seminar Series is part of the Lifting Every Voice Tribute Series in honor of Pellom McDaniels III, former curator of African American collections in the Rose Library. This event is open to the public.

For more information about Lifting Every Voice and other related events, please visit the Lifting Every Voice: the Pellom McDaniels III 2020-2021 Tribute Series.

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Perry Eidson one step closer to Hollywood

Perry Eidson (network engineer, field services auxiliary), who has attended several LITS Holiday Parties as our beloved Santa Claus, was recently cast for a Lifetime movie called “A Welcome Home Christmas,” where he portrayed jolly ol’ St. Nick. It wasn’t just a cameo appearance either, as Perry had six pages of script work.

“It’s a small part but it is important to the movie,” said Perry. “My character pretty much ties in the theme so it is not likely to end up on the cutting room floor.” The cast includes Jana Kramer (country singer, One Tree Hill), Brandon Quinn (Entourage), Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati), and Charlene Tilton (Dallas).

While Perry does a lot of independent Santa work, he also works for a Santa booking agency. When a casting director contacted the agency, they invited Perry to provide a video audition.

photo of Perry Eidson

Perry with Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid).

Quipped Perry, “They asked if I could lose the southern accent because they wanted a Santa from the North Pole, not the South Pole.” Perry practiced flattening his accent and got the job. Hilariously, after a long day of shooting, the director said, “I am starting to hear that southern accent, Santa.” Perry turned to the camera and, in his thickest southern drawl, read the next line as, “Ah know yew,” which brought a chorus of laughter on the set.

Perry was able to complete the shoot, held in Springfield, TN, in three days, with one day of shooting. The director had gotten a positive COVID test, so he directed remotely. Oddly enough, because of a high rate of false positives in the crew on the shoot, Perry ended up receiving three COVID tests in the three days.

The director loved Perry’s own Santa suit, so they used it on the show. Because the temperature during the August filming was 85 degrees, Perry went through five bottles of water. “The crew was great,” said Perry. “They treated me with even more love and respect than I normally get as Santa Claus.” The makeup department was constantly attending to his face and the hair stylist re-curled his hair many times while he sat on set.

The show airs this Saturday night at 8:00 pm on Lifetime. There will be multiple showings, including another showing next Wednesday night at 8:00 pm. You can see Perry in the movie trailer HERE.

If you would like to see more photos from Perry’s adventure, check out his Facebook page HERE.

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LITS recent headlines and upcoming events

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Recent LITS headlines:

Upcoming LITS events:

(go HERE for more information for each event)

  • November 10Lift Every Voice Seminar: “Legacies of Reconstruction,” 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Link
  • November 11InfoForum: 10:00 am – 11:00 am, Zoom link
  • November 12Kimberly Wallace-Sanders Lyceum Event: “Framing Shadows, Framing Silences,” 7:30 pm, Zoom link
  • November 17LEAF Coffee Hour: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm, Zoom link
  • November 19IT Briefing: 10:15 am – 12:00 pm, Zoom link
  • November 20Seminar with WHSCL: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm, Link TBD
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