8. TFDL Quick Look-Up Computer Workstations
You head to one of the open terminals near the entrance on the first floor. You notice that you have to stand to use them, but that’s ok – you don’t mind standing.
You log on and start getting to work on your response assignment. It is a bit loud and there’s a lot of people coming and going, so you’re finding it a bit hard to concentrate, but you are getting some work done.
After about 15 minutes someone taps you on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, ” they say. “Are you working on an assignment here?”
“Uh…yeah,” you reply.
“These are meant to be Quick Look-Up Computers. That means you’re just supposed to use them for quick things like looking up books, or making a booking, or printing, not working on assignments,” they tell you. “This is a very busy library, so it’s important to make sure that everyone who needs it has access.”
“Oh, I didn’t know! Is there somewhere else I should go?” you ask.
“Well…depends on what you’re working on! There are computer terminals on floors 1, 2, and 3 – some have dual monitors, and we even have some Macintosh computers if you prefer that on the 3rd floor. All our computers have basic software on them like Adobe, Microsoft Office, and others. You can read more about that on the Library’s FAQ page on software on computer terminals [opens link in new tab].
There are also computer terminals that give access to Bloomberg. Lab NEXT [opens link in new tab] computers also have software for data analysis, GIS, and other specialized software for digital projects. You can read more about that on our FAQ about statistical, GIS, and mapping software at the library [opens link in new tab].”
