TML News and Notes: Equipment

VCU Libraries now offers bicycles for patrons to borrow for 24 hours. The bike loan program is a joint project of VCU RamBikes and VCU Goes Green.

The project is designed to make getting across campus easier and faster for students who have occasional need of two-wheel transportation.

The bicycles are Sun Atlas coasters with foot breaks and without gears.

There are four bikes available at James Branch Cabell Library and another four bikes available at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences.

• Bikes must be returned to the location where they were borrowed.
• Bikes are loaned for 24 hours; patrons can renew them for an additional 24 hours using My Library Record or by calling the service desk at either library (Cabell Library 828-1111; Tompkins-McCaw Library 828-0636).
  
• Overdue fines of $25 per day or portion of a day are assessed on bikes not returned by the date and time due.
• Helmets are loaned with the bikes, and are available in small/medium and large/extra large; both are adjustable.
  
• The seat height is also adjustable, and an Allen wrench (also known as a hex key) is available for patrons to use.
• Bikes are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
  
• Patrons are required to sign a waiver of liability statement before they can check out the key to the lock securing a particular bike to the rack in front of the library building.

The 1st floor of TML is usually filled with students collaborating and using computers. It is a popular place for group discussions over lunch. But there are more study areas and more computers throughout the Library.

Up on the 2nd floor of TML you'll find some tables for quiet study, plus there are 8 computers, and in the front corner of the building, next to the Library Instruction Classroom, there is a Quiet Study Room (Rm 2-001).

From the 2nd floor you can also get to our Group Study Rooms - rooms with whiteboards, internet access, and some with DVD/VCRs, anatomical models, or plasma monitors for presentation practice. Check our web site for room details.

In the Basement there are another 10 computers as well as some study carrels and the Multimedia Collaboration Room (turn left when you leave the stairs or elevator and you'll see the sign - Rm B-037). There are self-service multimedia computers as well as group study seating. See our web site for multimedia software details. A soda machine is also in the Library Basement.

Find out more about our Group Study Rooms and Multimedia Collaboration Room, or take a look at a Library map at the TML web site.

Additional study space and computers are available in Hunton Student Center.

The VCU Libraries and Technology Services invite the entire MCV Campus to attend the 2009 VCU Technology Fair. This event brings the latest in technology developments for the classroom, research, and mobile computing to VCU. Thinking about purchasing an iPhone, a BlackBerry Curve, or new laptop? Want to learn how others are using emerging technologies to streamline their research, workflow, patient interactions, and educational experience? Then plan to attend the VCU Technology Fair. This event is free and open to the public.

Participating exhibitors include Lenovo, Apple, Blackboard, Microsoft, Echo, Daly Computers, Dell, Cisco, and Microsoft and many more.
• Over 10 items to be raffled including iPod shuffles, Godiva chocolates, and other goodies.
• Complimentary lunch will be provided!

Presentations
Lenovo Technology Roadmap and New Product Offerings for 2009 - Learn about Lenovo's new products and see how they can help in both professional and personal work. Distance Education Room (2-010)

Using Apple Technologies in the 21st Century Learning Environment - Review data from the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow-Today results and learn how Apple technologies are being used to support 21st century learning environments including programs for the iPhone in the medical field. Library Instruction Classroom (2-012)

Can't attend on April 2, then plan to attend the Technology Fair on the Monroe Park Campus on April 1 at the University Student Commons.

For more information, call 828-0017 or visit us online at http://www.library.vcu.edu/events/tdays/

Most of our current journal subscriptions are delivered electronically, making quick work of downloading a PDF for later reference. But there's still a massive amount of information stored away in the heavy bound issues filling the Journal Stacks, with no electronic copy available. Previously, to make a quick PDF of an article, you'd have to pay 10 cents a page to photocopy it, and then scan in all the pages with some hostile piece of software.

No more.

The HP Digital Sender, a new arrival at Tompkins-McCaw Library, allows anyone with a VCU eID to quickly make digital copies of any print material to send via e-mail. The machine, located by the copiers and printers on the first floor, can produce color and grayscale images up to 300dpi in resolution in JPEG, TIFF, and PDF formats. When you've scanned all you wanted -- a job that's pretty quick on this zippy box -- just hit "Send" and you'll find your files waiting in your e-mail. Easy!

This new tool will save you time, energy, money, and make all your articles from print far easier to find and share than a manila folder full of scattered photocopies. It's available now, and free to use.

Have you tried the new Digital Sender? What do you think? Let us know in the comments.