Attention: Do not sign out laptops during updates!!
(Direct requests to Front Desk Supervisor during updates)
We currently have eleven laptops that can be circulated that are located in the AV Room. Please note the following important differences among them:
Laptop 3 has ArcGIS 9.2 and DNR Garmin installed. It also has SPSS (statistical analysis program) permissions available for George Tremblay.
Laptop 4 no longer projects!
Laptop 8 is for Staff/Faculty only.
Laptops 9-11 are newer (i.e. run better, faster, etc) and have, among other things, a Firewire port. Their model is Dell Latitude E5500. They have different batteries than the other laptops. They don't have LED lights indicating the battery level, so you have to turn them on, and then check the battery level manually. Batteries for this model are charged on the Library Staff Laptop (NOT #8 above, but another Dell Latitude E5500) that is generally found on the battery cart. Regularly check to see if there are batteries next to it that need to be charged and charge them.
There is a checkout process -- it's important that we follow all of the steps to this process, because these machines were expensive.
The laptops must be checked out in three places: in BookIt, in Voyager, and with one of the laptop sign-out half-sheets.
*Before checking out a laptop or any other AV Equipment to a Patron, make sure that they have signed an AV Equpment Borrowing Agreement (which can be found in the folder where we keep the sign-out sheets). Once the Patron has signed the agreement, a note should be added to their Voyager account-see screen shot below.
- Check battery. If it's not fully charged, put a fresh battery in, boot it up. While it's booting:
- Sign it out in BookIt by taking the person's name and time they will have it out.
- Fill out the little laptop sign-out half-sheet, found in one of the blue folders. Really go through the check list (battery charger, ethernet cord, and mouse in the bag) and boot up the computer -- both on the way out, and in. When you are satisfied that the laptop has all of its parts and is good to go, the sheet must be signed by the Patron and the staff member must print their name legibly - remember to write the number of the laptop being checked out in the upper right hand corner.
- Charge it in Voyager using the barcode on the laptop.
- Check the due date that comes up when checking out a laptop. Sometimes it is not for 24 hours but comes up that the laptop is due the same day they check it out. In that case, change the due date to 24 hours from the date/time they check out the laptop or whenever the end of their reservation is. See Modify Due Dates.
- Charge the old battery in AV Room. You can check to make sure that a battery is fully charged by pressing a button on the face of the battery, and five LEDs should light up if it is fully charged. The less power in the battery, the fewer lights will turn on (see below). Cool, eh?
- Charge batteries for laptops #9-11 on the Staff Laptop (usually located on the battery charger cart).
- Same as above, except leave the battery in unless you need a fresh one to boot it up and check it in through Voyager.
- Also, no need to do anything with BookIt when checking back in unless the Patron returns the laptop early. In that case, modify the booking so that we know the laptop is available to be circulated again.
Fully charged and ready to rock!
A laptop can be in three modes when hooked up to a projector. Panic and aggression can arise without the following information: The "Fn" key controls these modes. Hold "Fn" down, then press "F8" (or whatever Function key has "CRT/LCD" or a picture of two little squares on it) down to switch between modes. Hold the keys down for a few seconds.
The three modes are:
- Laptop screen only, projector screen black.
- Laptop screen and projector screen mirror identical images
- Projector screen only, laptop screen black. #3 is good for displaying movies.
Which laptops are compatible with our AV power adaptor? Click here for Dell's instructions.
Note: We do not sign out power adaptors, just the full laptop set.
Caution: Using non-compatible power adaptor can lead to disasters!
Mini laptops use OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. In order to view OpenOffice word documents (.odt) in Microsoft Word (i.e. to print in the CRR), select "Save As" from the Open Office "File" menu. From the pull down menu, select the type "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc)" and save in this form.
Patrons may want to use library laptops to download and burn MiniDV videos. This is only possible with laptops #9-11 because they have firewire ports (which are needed to transfer video "realtime" as necessitated by the tape format.
To download video to library laptops:
- Rewind tape in camera.
- Use the firewire to connect the MiniDV to the computer's firewire port.
- Click "Capture video" on the window that pops up.
- Follow the Windows Movie Maker prompts.
- When the capture is done you'll have the option to burn the movie file to a CD-R or save to the computer (to transfer to a thumbdrive, e.g.).
- At this time we can't make a "real" DVD from video - if Patron's need this, refer them to the AV Studio.
Joseph Mlotha (Mcard Mlotha on FirstClass) is the administrator for the GIS software. Direct questions to him or Jon Atwood.
