This is Tim Bostelle, Head of IT for the UW Tacoma Library, and I’d like to take a second to talk about equipment funded by the UW Tacoma Student Technology Fee Committee, the STFC.
The STFC is a student-run organization which meets every year to decide how to use your Student Technology Fee to fund equipment for students on campus. In the library that means things like:
- 75 desktop computers
- 30 laptops
- The wireless network
- The projector in SNO 138
- And, the large-screen collaborative workstations in all of the group study rooms
This year, continuing that partnership the STFC funded a number of exciting new pieces of equipment.
Book scanner
The KIC scanner is located in the Tioga Library Building (the one near the Swiss) and with it’s overhead scanning system and intuitive user interface it make scanning sections of books a breeze. Pop a textbook under the hood face up and press scan. It’s that easy. This scanner compliments the Textbook Checkout program nicely I think.
Color printer
The STFC committee also funded a new color printer. The best part about this new piece of equipment is that students can send print jobs from home or their laptop and then pick them up at the library when they get to school. To do that, you just log on to print.uw.edu with your NetID and upload print jobs to your personal queue.
When you get to the library, you give the print station your NetID, swipe your student ID card (to pay for the jobs) and then release your job. As an added bonus, the new system adds a layer of privacy to printing in the library – because you have to put in your netID to see and release the jobs there’s almost no chance of someone else picking up your prints.
The purchase of that color printer also allowed us to move some other equipment around and now we have a printer in the Tioga Library Building for the first time. To print there, you use the same method.
Graphing calculators
Another really cool addition funded by STFC were the addition of 60 ti-83 graphing calculators.
30 of those calculators are available for you to check out for 4-weeks and 30 to check out until the end of the day. Perfect if you need a graphing calculator to take a test.
Questions?
For any other questions or suggestions about Student Technology Fee equipment, the STFC, and library technology please post them below or send them directly to me via email: tbostell@uw.edu