Gone are the days when bleary-eyed, late-night computer lab assistants waited at a desk to help out other exhausted students.
This semester, the computer labs will not be constantly monitored by lab assistants. A group of computer assistants will answer questions over the phone through a direct line installed in each lab.
These groups, called hubs, will provide 24-hour assistance from a smaller, but more technically skilled staff of students and full-time employees.
“We are changing the way we staff a lot of them, in a way we believe would increase services to students,” said David Gift, vice provost of libraries, computing and technology.
But along with the program, off-campus students will be restricted from using the residence hall computer labs after the hall closes. The change might complicate the schedules of some students who rely on the residence hall computer labs for local access.
“It’s a bad idea not allowing students to use dorm computer labs all the time,” said political science senior Margarita Valdez, who lives off campus. “It will be much more difficult to finish projects. Not everybody can afford to have a home computer.”
Lewis Greenberg, director of the Computer Center, said strangers could be milling about buildings if 24-hour access continues.
“If they need to use a computer lab, they can go to the Union,” he said.
Greenberg said hub positions will still be available for students, despite concerns of fewer jobs. Higher wages will be paid to fewer workers.
Long-range plans for the program call for six hubs on campus. The Union, Holmes Hall and the Computer Center opened hubs this semester. The rest of the hubs are expected to come online next year.
The new computer labs in the University Village apartments and Spartan Village apartments will be connected to the Brody Complex and Wilson Hall hubs.
Case Hall already has lost its computer lab assistants. Building manager Tim Knight said the program could be helpful, since there were times the lab assistants just didn’t show up.
But when something breaks down, there won’t be anybody around to fix it right away, which could lead to problems, he said.
“I don’t want to sound like a negative Nelly, but I’m watching with a critical eye,” Knight said.
But some students said the change wouldn’t affect them.
“I don’t think we really need the student monitors,” said Phil Tomlin, a supply chain management junior. “I’ve only asked them a couple of questions and I find that a lot of times they don’t know that much more than I do myself.”
Staff writer Elissa Englund contributed to this report.
