Information Technology Services (ITS) will be opening a new computer help center at the Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) on March 9. The center will be a more central hub for ITS’ operations and joins ITS’ two other Customer Assistance, Resource and Education (CARE) Centers, located on Bellflower Road and in the Sears Building.

“We wanted a central location to focus on just in time support,” said Dave Uhrin, the enterprise support lead for ITS. With the new center, students can sit down with a technician to see if their problem can be fixed on site. They can also send a device to a repair facility if necessary.

“Say that you’re having an error issue in your operating system or your software malfunctions,” said Uhrin. “You can sit down with someone and work through those issues without leaving your machine behind.”

Tyler Hoffman, ITS associate for marketing and communications, says that the service will also be helpful for mobile devices, especially for setting up CWRU email accounts.

“It’s an opportunity to be more forward facing with our support, have direct contact with our user base and help with issues,” said Uhrin.

The new center will be located on the ground floor of KSL. In addition to technicians, there will also be information available about ITS’ other services, including Case Wireless, anti-virus protection and other resources that are available to students, such as the software center and Lynda.com.

“We envision the space being a place where the rest of our division can bring information forward to the campus community about our different services,” said Uhrin.

“This also fits with KSL’s mission to make the library a hub for a variety of campus services,” added Hoffman.

In the future, ITS may also add a self-help terminal, which would allow students quicker resolution to simple problems, like password issues, that they usually have to resolve over the phone.

ITS currently processes around 4,000 tickets per month, 90 percent of which are resolved on the first call with their 24/7 service desk. Seventy-five percent of their customers are students. Faculty and staff, who have desk site support, will continue to have this option, although they will also be able to utilize the new KSL facility.

Although students will still be able to receive help and drop off devices at the Sears 356 and Bellflower locations, devices must be picked up at KSL.

The center will open at the beginning of spring break to allow for a slow transition into the space.

“This was always really the spirit of what we wanted to do,” said Uhrin. “We’ve tried over the last several years to continue to mature the services we provide. We’ve made small incremental changes… Now we’re at the point where it’s some large changes that will most benefit the campus.”