2-year collaborative project between IT and Libraries
Ongoing budget cutbacks:University policy changed regarding cell phones – no longer possible to purchase cell phone plans for departmentsOur Tech initiatives budget has been shrinking – we need to look at lower cost devicesOur IT department couldn’t support multiple devices – we needed to settle on one
iPod Touch is inexpensive - $200We are testing with faculty staff and student employees – focusing on the student employees who are really comfortable with iPods
1. We initially thought skype would be perfect for this scenario – but skype alone only notifies you that someone is calling if you have the skype app open. We needed something that notifies rovers when someone needs them – even if they are working with a patron.2. Enter – Fring. Integrates AIM and skype and notifies you if you have a call or chat.3. Not perfect – but it works!Skype minutes
Spotty wireless especially in stairwells and stacks – we can identify area where signal should be boostedNeed to make a quick call down to the reference desk – via skype,skype minutes, chat when there is timeLots more testing to do – need to have this in place longer for all staff to be comfortable, continue to test multiple scenarios.Lots of testing and troubleshooting to be done, but we’re on the right track!
Partnership between PSUL and Sony to explore and investigate the applications of e-book readers in an academic setting
Talk about proposal to Sony/Amazon – Spring of 2008. Sony Responded and was excited at the opportunity to gain feedback from students, library, and facultySony donated 100 model PRS-505 Sony Readers to the University Libraries so that we could carry out a pilot project
To date, the readers have been tried in 8 class sections by 162 undergraduates and 18 graduate studentsContent pre-loaded – facilitated by the university libraries; students can also load non-proprietary content if they optimize it with CallibreEnglish Classes made presentations to Sony Electronics Inc. rep, faculty from the university libraries and english dept.Surveys & Video interviews
