Royal Holloway, University of London tlc@bedford

What technology is being used and how is it being used?

e-beam devices are attached to the white-boards - used with the associated pen-holders, these track a person's movements as they write on the white-board and transmit this to an attached PC.

The IT service installed thin clients in this space instead of PCs which are used elsewhere on campus. This is a trial to see how well centrally managed computers could perform in student IT suites. These operate to all intents and purposes like the normal setup found in the other PC labs on campus.

We lend out laptops, e-book readers, flip video cameras, voice recorders, document cameras and capture devices.

Inside the entrance there is an interactive projection on the floor which was intended as a 'wow factor' to illustrate to the users as they enter the space that they are coming into a space that isn't simply a traditional library. Most often this is set to a display of brightly coloured fish that react to the user walking across the 'pond' and dart away. In response to requests, we have also used this feature to exhibit the winning photos from the Photography Society and to promote some College events.

How does the technology add value?

The laptops in particular are very heavily used and allow students to work around a computer on any of the types of seating in the library. The thin client computers are very heavily used both for prolonged work and for students to 'hop on' to check their Facebook accounts! There is clear observational evidence that students are multitasking or doing everything at once, predominantly working but switching from time to time to other aspects of the student experience.