As discussed in a recent circ meeting, I have changed all of the in-house equipment from a 4-hour loan that everyone ignored to a day-long, non-overnight loan. In other words, any equipment that used to be due back in 4 hours is now due back at closing. This includes headphones, laptops, and chargers. The hope is that this will cut down on a lot of useless email notifications. Hourly reserve loans are still hourly and strict. As always, if you notice anything weird with due dates or times, let me know as messing with the loan rules is always dicey.
Tag Archives: Loaner Equipment
Kindle Fires
We now (well, by the end of today) have 2 Kindle Fires for use. Both are available to faculty and staff and one is available to students. They will circulate for 14 days. Faculty and staff may renew once ; students may not renew. Students – please place returned Kindles on the red cart like any other piece of equipment. Staff – please follow the instructions found here.
No Check-Ins Needed for Most Circ Media Equipment – Reminder to Students
To all student circ staff members, this is a reminder to let you know that it is unnecessary to check in the following items:
digital cameras, all camcorders, projection screens, LCD projectors, VHS machines, tripods, microphones, iPods, iPads, digital voice recorders, all cables, external hard drives, music keyboards, computer speakers, security laptop locks, conference phones, memory card readers, ultra cams, power point remotes, GPS units.
Optional check-in items are calculators, mice, fac/staff laptops.
Definite check-in items are student laptops, power chargers (PC & Mac), help desk and projectionist keys, DVDs, VHS tapes, (and of course all books).
It is best for supervisors to check in equipment so that all components are included in each item. We can monitor our inventory best this way, and it is less work for you, so it is a win-win situation.
Thank you for your assistance in this regard. If you have any questions about media equipment issues, please feel free to email or talk to me about it.
Reminder to charge equipment
Just a reminder to everyone to please charge equipment after it is checked in so that we are not handing out camcorders with dead batteries. Thanks!
LCD projectors – now in two flavors!
In an effort to alleviate the stress at circ when a faculty member comes to get an LCD projector they booked two weeks ago and we have to tell them we don’t have it because a student has it three days overdue, (whew!) we have split our pool of LCD projectors into two pools. There are now 3 LCD’s at Davis and 1 at Armstrong which can only be borrowed by faculty and staff. Anybody can use the remaining 6, but our hope is that faculty and staff will use those set aside for them. If a faculty or staff member calls to book a projector, please book a fac/staff one for them. Loan periods for everyone are still one day. If you have any questions about this, please ask.
Faculty/Staff laptops MUST log in at the desk!
Please remind faculty and staff when they check out a laptop – to ensure that the computer is working properly and to avoid potential future dilemas – that they should log in with their Middlebury username and password on campus using an ethernet cord. At Davis, they can use the purple ethernet cord dangling in front of the supervisor circ computer. They must log in wired once in order for the wireless to work on campus.
Welcome back!
Hi all, and welcome back to circ. Just a few notes about new stuff that you should know.
* ILL and NExpress can now be requested by the patron to pickup at Armstrong. So just watch when you are checking in a cart of ILL or NExpress to make sure they go on the correct shelf.
* Overdue items can now be renewed without a supervisor override. So if someone comes to the desk with overdue items, please feel free to renew them (ask the patron, of course…) This also means that patrons can renew overdue items via MIDCAT, and we should encourage them to do so.
* The flip side of this is that Reserves, Equipment, and ILL will all go to billed status as soon as they are overdue. This will block borrowing or renewing. The bill will be cleared when they return the item, but we will not override this billed status. (NOTE: This does not apply to 4-hour laptops which will not go to billed status immediately.)
* Replacement charges have dropped slightly and we will no longer be accepting patron replacements of lost items.
* Most of our old paper forms are now online.
* We no longer provide Microsoft Office 03/04. We may, in the near future, have a few install discs for Office 07, but we should be encouraging people to download from Middfiles instead.
I think those are the major things. Have a great year!
Equipment Drop-Off Location for Repairs
The new location for dropping off equipment needing repairs can be left on the counter behind the Circ. Deks, next to Janine McDonald’s desk. Janine will be cataloging and monitoring all equipment, so this area will serve as the equipment center.
Equipment Etiquette
For those media-savvy borrowers who utilize our equipment through loans, we would appreciate that you double-check to be certain all items are inside each case upon returning to the desk, as noted on the tag attached to each bag (including guides/instructions). Also, if you can take a moment to spool the adapter wires into a somewhat orderly placement within each case, and bring it to the Circ Desk before the clock strikes 12:00 (midnight), it would be oh-so-wonderful. It saves time for us, and makes for good practice in considering others and their time. We really appreciate it!