Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Student Scanners in the Library

Almost since the first day I started here at UNF, I have heard students ask our librarians about scanners. Two years later I finally pulled the trigger and bought a couple. On the second floor, next to the Reference Commons, we have a fairly standard 8.5"X11" flatbead HP scanner connected to an iMac. It is on the network and automatically maps to the H drive when students log in with their n-number. It already seems to be getting heavy use and Sarah has spoken with me about training so expect to see some meeting invites soon.

On the third floor, I've added a large format Epson scanner which will scan ledger size (11"X17") documents. It too is connected to an iMac on the network and resides in Paul's fish bowl in front of the big microform scanners. Hopefully this will be a benefit to the students and Faculty alike.

While both scanners connect to the network and map the student drive, they do not automatically map any other drive. There is a simple, though not intuitive, method of mapping other drives. If you wish to save files to the network simply follow these instructions:

First, click on the desktop, then  click on the menu item "Go" and select "Connect to Server". A box will appear will where you need to type  smb://oak/library$/ to get to the library drive or smb://oak/Users/N-number/ if you want to get to your private network drive. In the case of that last one, type your actual N-number. This will create an icon on your desktop for the respective drive. Give it a try.