The Student Digital Life (SDL) team presented at this week’s InfoForum regarding a host of new services and student spaces now available for the new academic year. Their work was also featured this week in a Library press release that you can read here.
The InfoForum was led by Tara McCurley and featured brief presentations from each member of the team. Highlights of those presentations were:
EaglePrint (presented by Robert Kruse) – Instead of various printing services spread all over campus, there is now one centralized service called EaglePrint. Students can print from anywhere to anywhere. This consolidation allows for easier upgrades and maintenance of the service.
Computing Center at Cox Hall expansion (presented by Tara McCurley) – The Computing Center has undergone a major expansion this summer. A new space providing more surfaces for people to use their laptops was created in what used to be staff offices.
Digital Room Calendar Displays and Door Counters (presented by Derek Butler) – These new displays have eliminated printed schedules, solved the issue of room conflicts (now offering real time updates), and provide a visual indication of availability. The displays utilize off-the-shelf technology that interfaces with a single instance of a calendaring system. The door counters, which replace the old infrared beam counters, were installed in an attempt to streamline this process. Using a camera designed for retail traffic analysis, the system is now capable of more sophisticated reporting of student traffic.
TechLab (presented by Robin Horton) – TechLab has been moved into the space vacated by Student Technology Support (which was moved to Level 1 of Woodruff Library). One of the big draws has been 3D printers, which can be used by everyone from engineers and anthropologists to the School of Medicine to create inexpensive three-dimensional mockups. The lab is also planning to expand its services as part of Emory’s library maker space concept of creating three-dimensional items through computing, visual devices, and arts and craft materials.
MediaLab (presented by Haynes Chewning) – Now located on the fourth floor of Woodruff, the lab offers 19 machines for students to access more professional software such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Blender (3D animation), and SketchUp. The lab also has retina 5K iMacs, Wacom drawing tablets, Canon scanners, a color printer. This student-dedicated space also serves as a learning space, where a specially trained student staff already knows how to use the software and can offer assistance.
Learning Commons (presented by Alex Kyrychenko) – The former Learning Commons Technical Support staff has become a part of the Library Service Desk (LSD) to provide more consistent support for the Learning Commons. This change fosters collaboration and better management of student resources and eliminates duplication of services and handoffs. Level One of the Learning Commons has added glass wall boards and mobile white boards, which are extremely popular for collaboration and individual study. They also consolidated their printing hub.
Student Technology Support (presented by Michael Buchmann) – STS is moving to the Woodruff Library this week. STS provides tech support for active students, including a lot more hardware diagnoses. They will also be helping students get all of their devices on Office365. STS does not do phone support, however. New STS hours are 9-5 and in addition to completing the move the team has been preparing for Back to School.
Back-to-School (presented by Dawn Francis-Chewning) – BTS is a full team effort for SDL, with 1300+ new students and 200+ transfers moving in starting this weekend. The team will work all weekend to assist students. The team is also giving out mouse pads and smart device USB connectors bearing the new SDS branding.
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