paper -
9 Manage All The Computer Labs on Campus?! What Did I Do To Deserve This?
Kathy
DuBose, University of Akron
Intended Audience
This paper is intended for the group that provides
support for computer labs on campus. It will discuss how our group, with no
additional staff, went from supporting 6 computer labs to supporting for over
20 computer labs. This paper will also discuss how the Information Services
department has fostered a relationship of mutual respect with departments
relating to their computing needs.
During the spring of 1997 our group was given the
responsibility of coordinating and providing proactive support for all campus
computer labs. Our group provides the general computing support to all faculty
staff and students and as such, we were only responsible for what we'll call
general purpose labs…i.e. computer labs that were funded and maintained by
Information Services and open to any member of the University. All other labs,
which we'll call departmental labs, were funded by the department and usually
available only to students of that department. We only provided support for
departmental labs when contacted by the department. Some departments had
computer support personnel who supported all computing for the department, but
usually the task of coordinating the departmental computer lab fell to some
poor Administrative Assistant support staff person or faculty member who made
the mistake of knowing something about computers ("Alpha Geek").
The primary factor that led to this decision was that
there was no centralized place for departments to go for help when installing,
upgrading or maintaining computer labs. The department would have to contact
the computer store for prices (hardware/software); the networking group; the
server group; the PC Install group (install software / hardware); and the
physical facilities group if room renovations (doors, electrical outlets, etc.)
were required. Furthermore, there was no proactive mechanism for keeping
departments informed of information related to computer labs on campus or for
keeping Information Services aware of what departments were doing in their
labs.
Since 1997 our group has become the primary support and liaison for all computer labs. We handle everything from providing general information to installing new computers labs. We coordinate the groups needed to install or upgrade a lab so that a department need only contact us and we take care of everything else. We hold meetings of departmental lab managers to inform them of hardware, software, networking and other issues that concern computer labs.