In the world of education, professors and students rely heavily on technology. The Morgan Library at Colorado State University ensures that its students have the resources necessary to be successful.
Computer Labs
In the general computer lab there are 210 desktops. Sixteen of the desktops have scanning stations and offer Adobe Creative Cloud software. There are four additional classrooms in the library stocked with class sets of computers.
Amy Hoseth, the coordinator for onsite services at the Morgan Library, said she believes that students are using these resources.
“Just from what I see, the lab computers are very popular and they get a lot of use,” Hoseth said. “Especially we’ll see spikes of use at midterms and towards the end of the semester.”
Students can access these labs or check out equipment every day of the week during the library hours of operation.
Computer Check-out
At The Loan and Reserve Desk students can also check out Mac laptops, PC laptops, Chromebooks and iPads.
“All you have to do is go to the loan and reserve desk and have your student ID with you, and tell them what you want to check out,” Hoseth said. “As long as it’s available, we’ll hook you up.”
This fall CSU purchased 10 new iMacs for students who prefer to use Apple products.
Video Production
The library also houses two Microtext Scan Stations, two MacPro editing stations and two video production rooms equipped with a Panasonic Pro Camcorder.
“As long as you’re a student, you can come in, there’s always something available in the library,” said Abby Galvin, sophomore art major at CSU. “You shouldn’t leave things until the last minute in case there is a problem [with internet connection], because it happens sometimes.”
Printing
The library not only offers a wide selection of computers, but several different forms of printing as well.
To print black and white costs three cents, and 12 cents for color printing. There is plotting for poster printing, and starting last year 3-D printing is also offered.
“We use Paper Cut,” Hoseth said. “You can transfer money from your RamCash account onto your Paper Cut account. There’s an icon on all of the desktops on the machines in the library on how to print in the library that walks you through the steps.”
Technical Support
For students needing technical support, The Computer Diagnostic Center offers free hands-on assistance. Or, for more severe problems, The Computer Repair Center fixes machines on a fee-based system.
“If someone came in with virus issues they would go to the computer diagnostic, they would check it into the computer repair center based on whatever the computer need is,” said Keith Gallegos, manager of Technical Support Services.
The Central I.T. Technical Support Helpdesk supports academic computer network service, such as RAMweb or CSU e-mail.
“One thing that students might not know about is that we have a lot of different peripheral devices like chargers for iPhones or different types of cables,” Hoseth said. “We’re always looking for new technology that we can circulate and get into the hands of students.”
Collegian Reporter Veronica Baas can be reached at news@collegian.com and on Twitter @vcbaas.
