Software & Equipment
In the spring 2001 we were delighted to receive year-end funds ($45,000) for software to upgrade the Library Café, the multimedia classrooms, and the Faculty Training and Development Laboratory. Some amount of this sum provided packages needed by the Art Department and installed in its lab. It is fortunate that we are New Media Center http://www.newmediacenters.org/ members: NMC's educational pricing structure saved the College thousands upon thousands of dollars on this software order.
We were very glad that our software request was funded, but major differences among student computing facilities and multimedia classrooms on our campus still exist. While it is not essential that all the software and hardware in the student labs mirror each other (the Library Café does not provide access to programming software), from a service perspective it is highly desirable that the major student facilities offer the same versions of commonly-held software packages, as well as equipment that is similar in power. When any facility plans to upgrade a package or to purchase new software or equipment, the other should be consulted, ensuring students and faculty maximum flexibility and efficiency-and purchasing discounts for the College.
