The Observer, September 9, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2
KSL's Freedman Center opens today
What was formerly the ESS center and the Help Desk in Kelvin Smith Library is now replaced by the Freedman Center. The area, located on the first floor, provides students and faculty with multimedia technology, including scanners, digital audio and video-editing tools, and language workstations.
According to Karen Oye, head of Customer Services for Kelvin Smith Library, in order to access the new equipment, all users need to do is show up at the library and bring their Case ID. The center is open during all staffed KSL hours.
There are two scanners in the front of the room that serve two different purposes. "One scanner is more basic, scanning items and saving the file as an Adobe PDF file. The other scanner is for larger items and allows for the scanning of transparencies," Aaron Shaffer, manager of multimedia services in the Freedman Center, said.
In addition, there is a third scanner in a separate room. "The scanner can be used for extra large images as well as delicate items. It has already been used on large blueprints and a fragile old book," Oye said.
The digital editing tools are positioned just behind the scanners in the main room. There are three Dell computers and an Apple that are hooked up to many different types of equipment, from record players to foreign DVD players. Students and faculty can bring in just about any form of media and record it onto the computer and then edit it.
According to Oye, the software on the computers is made for the consumer user. The resources provided by the Freedman Center will allow students to gain experience in software that will be useful to them later in life. "The technology will help create lifelong learning skills," Oye said.
In addition to the digital-editing tools, the Freedman Center also has two digital photo cameras and two digital video cameras. Also available are large USB memory
