UB's Own Year 2000 Page

Last week's column focused on a variety of Web pages that take a scholarly look at the new millennium. But what about the Y2K computer problem, especially as it relates to this university's community? What are we doing on this campus? What should we be doing? The answers reside on the University at Buffalo Year 2000 Web site at http://wings.buffalo.edu/year2000/.

This recently revamped page has sections entitled Frequently Asked Questions, Issues & Solutions, and Planning & Activities. The Issues & Solutions region presents the nuts and bolts of assessing and remediating campus functions and systems impacted by Y2K on campus. It includes fix-it guidelines, Y2K software tools, Y2K vendor sites, embedded chips information, legal considerations and more.

The UB Year 2000 Issues and Solutions region makes it as easy as possible for all of us on campus to address Y2K as the clock ticks on. For example, the fix-it page includes ready-to-print blank and sample sheets for inventorying hardware, software and other Y2K-related items. The software tools page has information on Y2K compliance-testing software, including a comparison chart developed by the CIT/OSS Repair Department on campus. The vendor sites page includes Y2K-compliance statements from more than 30 major hardware and software vendors. The embedded chips page provides a link to the definitive IEE Millennium Problem in Embedded Systems site at http://www.iee.org.uk/2000risk/. The legal considerations page provides information on when to use the Readiness Disclosure Statement as specified by the Readiness Disclosure Act (Public Law 105-271) and other important legal resources.

The UB Year 2000 site also provides links to other college and university Y2K pages, including the EDUCAUSE Current Issues page with Y2K commentary and presentations at http://www.educause.edu/issues/y2k.html. And for those interested in buying Year 2000 countdown watches, T-shirts and bug spray, there is a link to the Year 2000 Information Center at http://www.year2000.com/y2k-main1.html.

Members of the university community who have a question regarding the UB Year 2000 site or the Y2K problem should send a message to y2k-questions@acsu.buffalo.edu. If you are interested in subscribing to the UB Year 2000 listserv, contact Carol Lazarus at lazarus@acsu.buffalo.edu.

-Gemma DeVinney and Don Hartman, University Libraries