LabMaps Kiosks Help Students Find Open Computers at Flinders University Library

Online, August 11, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Flinders University has created and installed LabMaps kiosks as a solution for students to find open computers in the library. LabMaps software creates a map of university computer labs indicating which computers are available and which are in use - allowing students to quickly and efficiently find an open computer when they visit the university's library.

While the software has been used by other universities to display these maps via screens at the entrances of buildings housing computer labs, Flinders University created custom kiosks with Find-a-Computer touchscreens where students can navigate to a map any floor of the library to find available computers in every lab.

John Banbury, a lab manager at the Flinders University library, installed the kiosks after discovering a fellow university's own implementation of LabMaps. Prior to installing the kiosks, students were complaining that the school didn't have enough computers and that the lack of computer availability needed to be solved by purchasing more machines. In reality, Flinders had more than enough computers, they simply weren't being used:

"We were a victim of our own building layouts. Locations visible from the library were being heavily used, while just around the corner and out of sight, other labs were virtually empty. Even putting up signs didn't help," said Banbury.

Banbury created a custom web interface of LabMaps for the kiosks that takes the software's data and overlays it onto the library's floor plans. The kiosks provide real-time lab occupancy information and student complaints have diminished as a result.

"Visiting staff from other universities have been impressed with our touchscreen kiosks, and we're working on embedding similar information into relevant web pages and possibly creating a mobile interface," said Banbury.

More information on LabMaps can be found at http://www.computerlabsolutions.com/labmaps/labmaps.cfm.