When people hear that the Studio at the UTC Library checks out audio/visual equipment worth up to $6,000 to students, they are shocked! They can’t believe we “give” students such expensive equipment. However, use of quality audio and video equipment is paramount to student success on our campus and others due to the rise of High Impact Practices and multimedia assignments. These assignments are common across the disciplines at our university, from Nursing to English to Anthropology, but most departments do not provide the equipment needed to complete the assignments. Our circulating collection, worth over $100,000, provides access to high-end equipment for students regardless of major or financial status, and our team of both full-time staff and faculty, as well as part-time student staff, fill in the instructional gaps to ensure that students are trained effectively to use the equipment.
Since the Studio opened in 2015, we have used iterative design to develop tools and resources to help our staff and students understand and use advanced equipment for a variety of creative projects. Using custom check out sheets for each equipment kit during circulation allows us to both review the equipment and potential fines/fees with patrons, as well as train new staff on the circulation process. In this presentation, we will discuss how we design (and redesign) check out sheets to minimize lost or broken equipment and related financial costs, as well as provide instruction on using equipment for both patrons and staff.
