By Jacob Davis
Computer labs always seem to be in short supply, but especially during the last week of school. Luckily, the Office of Information Technology opened a new lab today in the Jesse Knight Building.
'The new lab has 40 computers, as well as scanning and printing capabilities,' said Relia Smith, manager of training, communications and open access computer labs for the Office of IT.
The lab was scheduled to be open at the beginning of the semester, but due to furniture delays the Office of IT wasn''t able to open the lab until this week.
The lab, located at JKB 1005, is on the first floor of the building in the South wing. It is open Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The lab will not be open on Saturday.
Smith said the new lab is an attended lab, meaning that there is someone available to help students answer questions about software, or help with printing and scanning.
In addition to helping students with things that go on in the lab, consultants are available by appointment to help students with other software problems.
'We have a program where our employees offer free one-on-one help to faculty and staff,' said Steven Jarvis, one of the assistant managers of open access technologies.
Lab consultants are available to help with any software program that is available in the labs, like Microsoft Office and Photoshop, but students can also request help with other software.
'We would try to find a lab consultant that can help with a specific program,' Jarvis said. 'If we can''t help them, we will try to direct them to someone who can.'
In addition to computer labs, Open Access Technologies also provides students the ability to check out laptop computers for three hour blocks during the day.
Students can go to the Open Access Technologies desk, located near the LRC in the library, and checkout the laptops for no cost.
'One thing that we are going to do that''s new is overnight laptop checkout,' said Ryan Lusvardi, manager of Open Access Technologies.
To get the laptops overnight, students have to pick them up at the library after 10 p.m.
'It''s still a three hour checkout,' Lusvardi said. 'But the hours that the library isn''t open don''t count.'
For more information about all of these services, students can visit http://labs.byu.edu