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The General Access Computer Lab managers were busy once again this
summer during the 'slow season' making the labs better and brighter in
anticipation of the fall semester and a new entering class. This summer
the majority of the work was done in cleaning, stabilizing systems and
making sure everything was up and running in peak condition but some of
the labs also undertook large-scale remodeling projects, extensive
renewal of staffing, management changes, and hardware and software
upgrades.
It should also be noted that the lab managers completed and had
printed a significantly updated General Access Lab brochure featuring a
color-coded, easy-to-read map of the GAL system
and extensive listings
of their hours (including new later closing times for many labs). These
new brochures along with updated literature about computing security,
research and statistical support services, and general student computing
services were distributed to over 7,000 new students and their parents
this summer and are available to the entire UNT community at all the check-in desks of the computer labs and in our many campus libraries.
The Academic Computing
Services Adaptive Lab updated all of its
Windows machine 'images' with the latest copies of all the statistical
software available for general use on campus. Additionally all stations
in this lab have the new JAWS 7.0 screen reading software and MAGic 9.5
screen magnification software. The Tiger Braille Embosser has been sent
to Washington for repairs and servicing and the lab is expecting the
arrival of a CCTV magnification unit in a few weeks.
The College of Arts and
Sciences is undertaking a massive remodeling
of the GAB 330 lab which will open again in a few weeks and will house
many more computers than previously. This remodeling project will be
featured in a future issue of Benchmarks Online. Over the next two
months all of the CAS GALs will be getting upgraded computer hardware.
The College of Business
Administration installed all new color
printers and the School of Library and Information Science has hired as
an assistant lab manager, Dr. Josi Reyna. The
College of Public
Affairs and Community Service lab is now open 24/5 (these hours were featured in last month's
Benchmarks Online
here.) and has also added more email/web-surfing kiosks in the
hallways outside of the lab area. The
School of Music,
School of Visual
Arts, System Center Dallas,
Willis 24-hour, and
College of Engineering
report that they spent the summer improving their existing facilities
and services. It should also be noted that both the Willis Library
proper and the other two campus libraries (in the ISB and at the
Research Park) now have public machines with several popular software
applications for use in their areas (also featured in the
above-mentioned article).
Finally, the College of Education lab added 4 additional work
stations to increase the number of their stations to 87 stations in
addition to the four hall stations. They are continuing with the
practice (adopted by several other labs) of not retaining student ID's
and are experimenting with the requirement that students log into the
work station. Two electronic signs were added to remind the student to
log out of the station. The other labs are monitoring the results of
this experiment to see if it helps to enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of our lab service overall.
The General Access Computer Lab managers hope that these summer
efforts will continue to make our the computer lab user experience a
pleasant and productive one. Have a great year!
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