Microsoft Office 2007, Adobe CS3 and Other Updates to the Ball State University Libraries’ Public Access Computers

One of the University Libraries’ primary objectives is to provide our students and faculty with excellent technology to support their pursuit of academic success. In keeping with this goal, the University Libraries are home to over 350 public access computers (PACs), which we endeavor to keep updated with a wide variety of software applications used by students of all academic programs.

During the Summer Interim, several enhancements were made on more than 120 PACs on Bracken Library’s first floor. Among the most significant changes was the addition of Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium.

Included in Microsoft Office are the newest versions of Access, Excel, Grove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. To minimize compatibility issues and other customer concerns, Office 2003 applications are still available on all PACs.

Included in Adobe CS 3 are the newest versions of Acrobat Professional, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. As always, Ball State faculty and students are invited to recommend other software applications for addition to the University Libraries’ PAC repertoire.

Personnel in the Libraries’ Library Information Technology Services (LITS) unit have worked with several academic departments to offer many software applications. These include ADAM, ArcInfo Desktop/Workstation, AutoCAD, Mathematica, MiniTab, MultiFrame, Music Ace, Revit Building, SAP GUI, SPSS, among others. Thousands of students benefit daily from having on-demand access to these applications in University Libraries.

For a complete list of software and hardware available on equipment at the University Libraries, see “Customer Technology” of the LITS website, www.bsu.edu/library/lits.

For more information, contact Bradley D. Faust, Ball State University Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Library Information Technology Services, BFaust@bsu.edu,(765) 285-8032.

The University Libraries Conduct a Benefit-Cost Analysis to Examine the Issue of Not Turning off Public Computer Workstations at the End of the Day

The Ball State University Libraries recently conducted an economic evaluation as a metric to determine costs associated with turning off over 350 public workstations (computers and monitors) when the library closes at the end of its service day. Since the Libraries are open 120.5 hours per week, the workstations would be off less than 47.5 hours each week. At the beginning of the service day, personnel would have to turn them on so that the units would be available when students and faculty arrive to use them.

The idea behind a benefit cost analysis is to reduce all inputs and outcomes to a common impact unit, usually money. One then determines if the total money associated with the benefits is greater or less than the total money associated with the economic costs. Sometimes, a ratio between the benefits and costs is determined. A ratio greater than 1 suggests that the project or activity makes financial sense whereas an activity or project with a ratio of less than 1 does not. If several projects or activities are being considered, those with the highest ratios greater than 1 are superior to those with lower ratios or ratios less than 1. Of course, the critical part of a benefit cost analysis is that the analysis includes all benefits and all costs and that these be properly quantified. Intangibles need to be considered, too.

These are some of our reasons, or benefits, for leaving public computers and monitors on when the University Libraries are closed and a relatively short time. When the Libraries are closed for several days, such as over Thanksgiving or Christmas, the units are turned off.

· Availability of the computers when the facility is closed to permit the deployment of critical system updates, including the installation of new virus definitions
· Avoidance of the initial start-up power-spike, which is harmful to a computer’s internal components, exceeding costs for the wear associated with longer operation
· Maximum availability of technology services during the hours the University Libraries are scheduled open to benefit students and faculty
· Reducing wear and tear on the micro power switches, internal components, and peripherals caused by switching computers and monitors on and off
· Utilization of personnel time to perform other services rather than assigning people to circulate among the libraries’ floors to power-down and also to start-up the public access computers

In conducting our benefit cost analysis, we followed these steps:

· Defined the problem we wanted to study, keeping its focus narrow to allow us to identify only the monetary costs and benefits.
· Identified the benefit and cost components for analysis, including indirect and intangible costs
· Associated a financial dollar amount to all of the components of the benefits and costs
· Determined if the economic monetary cost of the benefits was greater or less than those associated with the costs
· Identified impacts of qualitative issues associated with the analysis, including who benefits and who does not

There are many good reasons for a librarian manager to apply benefit cost analysis as a metric. A major one is to estimate costs before implementing a program or service or to review it after implementation. A benefit cost analysis also allows a librarian to compare several proposed programs or services at the same time in terms of money to determine the one that provides the most financial value. Although activities are more difficult to reverse once implemented, analyzing costs helps a librarian identify what parts of the activity are more expensive and sheds light on the intervention level necessary to reduce costs to improve financial performance.

Another reason is that cost benefit analysis allows a librarian to examine all cost, often revealing hidden, elusive, or unexpected costs. I like to apply benefit cost analyses because it helps to focus attention on prioritized outcomes and it informs me about data that is necessary to examine as part of an ongoing analysis. Lastly, and importantly, I find that a benefit cost analysis is persuasive when presented to senior administrators.

For more information, contact Arthur W. Hafner Ph.D., M.B.A., Ball State University’s Dean of University Libraries, AHafner@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5277.