58 · SPEC Kit 302
services for students within library units. Catalyst, which also manages the general access computing labs,
manages 260 ‘Access Plus’ PCs, all located within library units. Funding for equipment has come from the
Student Technology Fee but the Libraries has contributed to Catalyst staffing costs. 3) University Publication
Services, which has long managed library photocopying services, began managing networked and fee-based
public printing services several years ago. There are public printers in all Libraries units. 4) The Health Sciences
Library, which is part of the Libraries system, maintains its own public workstation and printing operations.
This arrangement has been successful but with so many people involved it can get complicated. Effective
and timely communication has been critical and things have derailed when it’s been absent. Several working
groups have been established over the years to try to facilitate open communication and coordinate activities.
While the Libraries doesn’t loan laptops, staff also can issue temporary university NetIds to visitors with their
own laptops. These provide campus access to Web, e-mail, and licensed databases.”
“The campus IT service runs two computer labs, one in each library, that provide Internet access and a greater
range of software applications with debit printing. Both the library and the IT labs charge the same price for
printing. Campus IT maintains the wireless network in the building library purchases the wireless access port
equipment.”
“The University Library is composed of 20 libraries, many operating with independent public computing funds
and support. This survey response was focused on the response of one of two or three of the larger library
public computing service areas, and includes the system’s largest library. We did this to not only ensure a
better alignment between reported support staff numbers and the supported equipment listed, but also to
prevent diluting or averaging the other support-related questions as would be necessary the more units we
tried to include. Please note that there is a large amount of variability in the degree of public services and IT
integration throughout the library system.”
“There is a student computing services (SCS) unit on campus which runs a number of computer labs aimed
specifically at providing services to students. They do have a computer lab in the main library which provides
88 computers specifically for student use, but I have not included these computers in any of my counts,
nor their staff, processes of support, or mode of operation in my answers. However, they do represent a
significant means of access and service for our students. It is mainly the activities of this unit (SCS) that
creates a technical environment that doesn’t require library computers to be as dynamic in relation to the
installation of software. We are also increasing mutual involvement with SCS on other projects like an
information commons where we have joint responsibility for the services. So the computers provided and
the management of them is becoming intertwined.”
“These response are in reference to the PCs maintained by library staff. There is another group of 70 PCs in the
library maintained jointly with the central IT group.”
“Until late summer 2005, the Libraries IT staff was responsible for managing all library public computers. At
that point, the reporting line for the six desktop and network support positions was changed from the Libraries
to the Office of Information Technology (OIT). However, the position responsibilities remained the same and
the physical location of those staff members did not change. As Assistant Director of Information Technology
and Technical Services, I closely coordinate with one of the six positions (the coordinator) and his manager at
OIT. We have weekly conference calls to discuss issues and priorities, expenditure approvals, etc. The Libraries
retained the budget for the positions and for computing equipment, services, etc. We transfer funds to OIT on
a monthly basis to cover their expenses on behalf of the Libraries.”
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