Computer lab lowdown

Campus computer labs can save students in a crunch. They're helpful for printing a last-minute paper or killing an hour surfing the net between classes. Labs are scattered around campus, catering to student needs.

Weber State University student labs coordinator Carey Anson has an office in Lampros Hall, adjacent to one of the most popular labs.

"It's a great facility to use and to work in," Anson said.

Services offered include laptop rental, scanning, print-only computer terminals and color printing. However, no two labs are the same. Hours and services differ, as does the number of machines available. Knowing differences about the labs will help students anticipate the best chance of finding an open computer, and where right type of computers are.

Labs are located at the Social and Behavioral Science Lab, the Goddard School of Business, Annex 12, the Dumke College of Health Professions, Lampros Hall, Building 4, University Village, the Science Learning Center and the Shepherd Union Building.

Two off-campus labs are at the Davis Information Commons and the Roy West Center Campus.

"All the labs are fairly busy during peak hours," Anson said. "Rush hours in the lab reflect when most students are on campus, which is generally around 10 a.m. to

12 p.m. The slowest times are around 2 p.m. which later picks up again with students taking evening classes."

The Lampros lab is the only one that offers color printing, at 15 cents per page. Black-and-white printing is three cents per page, and is offered at all labs. Students must carry their Wildcards to print, especially since that is the way to utilize the 150 free pages of printing they receive every year while attending WSU.

Labs also have a varying number of computers.

The Social and Behavioral Science Computer lab at the Ogden Campus is the largest with 81 computers - 77 PC's and 4 Macs. The Davis Computer lab has the second highest with 70 computers - 66 PC's and 4 Macs. The newly renovated Union Lab will have 63 iMacs running both the Mac operating system (OS) and Windows XP. iMacs don't have to have a computer tower linked to a monitor; the entire computer is fitted into the monitor itself. Lampros has 56 machines - 50 PC's and 6 macs.

A new lab will also be in the new Union building.

"The newly renovated Union Lab will be the place to be," Anson said.

The lab will have 63 iMacs which are 24 inches wide. The machines will also run both Windows and Mac OS's.

These numbers include computers in separated classrooms.

Also, computer labs should not be confused with testing centers. Testing centers within the labs often close sooner than the scheduled lab hours.

As a general rule, students should expect shortened hours on the weekends at all computer labs.

Most labs close on Sundays. All labs are closed on campus holidays as well. Some computer Labs will be open during spring break, but students should expect shortened hours.

Holidays scheduled for the 2008-2009 school year include Labor Day (Sept. 1) Fall Break (Oct. 17) Thanksgiving (Nov. 27, 28) Christmas (Dec. 25) New Years Day (Jan. 1) Martain Luther King Day (Jan. 19) and Presidents Day (Feb. 16).

The Open-Student computer labs are managed and run by Student Affairs Technology under the division of Student Affairs. All eleven Open-Student computer labs are open to all registered students of WSU.

Complete information on lab hours, testing center hours, holidays, locations and printing are available online at www.weber.edu/computerlabs.

Also available on this site are contact numbers and e-mails for questions and feedback on the labs.