New technology has come to the Library! Students will now be able to use their phones and computers to connect to a monitor that will display anything they need for their studies.
According to Debra Oswald, the Library director, the televisions will help students study even better because they won’t have to share their information over a small laptop.
“The group study rooms are very popular and the only thing they had in them was a whiteboard and I would see students huddled together around a little laptop screen and we just thought it would be a better way for students to collaborate,” she said.
No matter the device, anyone can connect to television and multiple users can connect at one time.
“So a student would just come in here with their laptop or their phone, open up a browser, type in the IP address and it’ll take them to a page that says connect,” Darin Preston, the Multimedia Director, said.
Oswald said that the new technology gives students an even better way to study together.
“You know sometimes you need a whiteboard, but sometimes you’re working on a phone or a laptop and this just gives students a better way to work together,” she said.
The Multimedia department said that they chose this technology because of its ease of access and almost any device can connect to the television.
“It’s called a BYOD, Bring Your Own Device platform,” Gary Leppla, the Multimedia something something, said.
According to Oswald, the ease of access has been apparent as students are using the technology even without instructions.
“We have instructions for them that they can ask for at the front desk… but even without the instructions, students have been connecting and using it already,” she said.
Preston said that connecting to the televisions is easy to use and that students have not had a problem with figuring it out thus far.
“It’s very flexible, it’s very easy and like I said, the students, they can figure it out like that,” he said.
According to the Multimedia department, students can use this technology to fit their needs for studying because the televisions are very flexible in usage.
The television screens can be managed however students need and for whichever purpose they would like.
The new monitors cannot connect with Windows phones and Linux devices, but Oswald advised students who have those phones to check out a laptop from the service desk.
Oswald stated that she thinks more technology like this will come to Sinclair and the Library in the future.
According to Oswald, students who have used the new technology have been excited about it and it’s easy use.
Students can get a study room at the Library service desk for two hours and they must present a Tartan card when they get a room. If students need the room for longer than two hours and there is no waiting list, then they can renew their time for another two hours.
Laina Yost
Managing Editor