The Norlin Commons Laptop Program will discontinue its laptop checkout service at the end of the spring semester to allocate funds towards other technology services.

The discontinuance was officially announced Monday through a campus-wide E-Memo. According to the E-Memo, the decision was made through an evaluation performed by the University Libraries and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to end the laptop checkout service in order to redistribute resources to more useful programs in the Norlin Commons.

Deborah Fink, Norlin’s planning and promotions librarian, said the laptops currently in use at the checkout service are due for replacements, which would cost $350,000.

“Currently, $1.1 million from student fees go to the labs budget, which paid for the Norlin Commons Laptop Checkout Program,” Fink said. “Almost one-third of the campus-wide [labs] budget was going towards laptop checkouts in the commons, so it just seemed disproportionate.”

The Norlin Commons Laptop Program will end with the end of this school year. (CU Independent/Robert R. Denton)

The OIT’s evaluation found that approximately 2,800 people have been using the laptop checkout service since January 2011. The funds for the technology services in Norlin Commons, which are derived from student fees, could be allocated to serve a larger number of students.

“What became evident was that this was an extremely expensive program that was serving a very small percentage of students, and it seemed like a better use of the funds to be able to serve more students in more ways,” Fink said. “It turned out that even though there was a lot of laptop use, it was a small number of students who were using them on a regular basis.”

According to the OIT’s website, the laptops still in working condition will be sold to a state-approved third-party company and the profits will go back into student fee accounts. Non-functioning laptops will be sent to a recycling firm to responsibly dispose or recycle the hardware.

Upon the elimination of the laptop checkout service, the OIT hopes to reallocate the funds and resources to implement a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure by the fall 2013 semester. Fink said that this development will allow students to access computer programs, otherwise only available through on-campus computer labs, on their own devices.

“Students will have access to software that’s usually only accessible from specific labs,” Fink said. “Programs that maybe you can’t afford to install on your own computer, or that weren’t available from all computers on campus, will now be available to anyone by logging into it.”

Greg Stauffer, public relations and communications manager for the OIT, said that the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure will allow students to access programs through a variety of devices both on and off campus.

“The beauty of the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is that you could use it from a tablet, a laptop and your smartphone,” Stauffer said. “What we’re able to do is allow you access to a much larger suite of applications and programs that you would never be able to run on your own computer.”

Stauffer, who is working alongside Fink and the OIT for these new developments, said that student surveys show a demand for changes to the heavily utilized Norlin Commons space.

“We want to make some improvements in the area where people use technology, such as better seating and better table space,” Stauffer said. “There’s also a hope to provide more multimedia equipment for checkout as well as subject matter experts on hand to help people more effectively use the technology [in Norlin Commons].”

Changes for the commons in fall 2012 also include the availability of multimedia technology for checkout and the employment of student experts to help with software questions regarding programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and iMovie.

“It was really hard to take away a service, but I think in the long-term, bringing in this new service is the right thing and I think it’s going to make students very happy,” Stauffer said.

Holly Calhoun, a senior linguistics and neuroscience major, said she has utilized the service often so that she wouldn’t have to carry a laptop on campus.

“I use [the service] a bunch, but I could bring my laptop,” Calhoun said. “It’s just convenience.”

Eric Grimes, a senior finance major, said that although he has checked out a laptop at Norlin only occasionally, he thinks that the service is vital for some students.

“For one of my friends, who’s here on scholarship, there was a point when he didn’t have a laptop, so Norlin was the go-to for him,” Grimes said. “So I’m sure there’s a lot of students who will be missing out big-time by them taking [the checkout service] away.

For more information on the changes to occur in Norlin Commons, visit the Office of Information Technology’s website at http://oit.colorado.edu/laptop-checkout/norlin-faq.

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