All of the student open access PCs on Levels 3 and 4 of the Library have been replaced over the summer with brand new machines. This should help address some of the issues raised in the IS Satisfaction Survey re the frequent breakdowns in library PCs.
Another frequently made point in the Satisfaction Survey was that many students were in the habit of informally ‘booking’ a PC space in the Library by leaving their belongings lying on PC desks and disappearing for long periods then returning to the PC. Given the extreme popularity of the Library and the limitations on PC numbers, we have introduced an inactivity timeout on the open access PCs on all floors of the Library. These systems will now display a warning message after 25 minutes of inactivity then start a countdown. After a total of 30 mins of inactivity, they will log off the user, releasing the PC for somebody else to login.
WARNING – if you logon to a PC then leave it unattended, you may lose any unsaved work when the inactivity timeout kicks in.
Students are allowed to move aside unattended belongings next to logged off PCs and make use of the PC themselves. Do not relocate anyone else’s possessions, just push them to the side of the desk so they can be retrieved.
Finally! I have been suggesting this for three years now. It is terrible the amount of people who log on then go for lunch or to a class! They put a scarf there and think it is their computer for the day.
Well done, now you just need clocks like i also suggested!
Very happy about this new feature.
This was definitely needed and I welcome the new timeout system. If you want to spend all day on a pc, go to one of the many computer labs, they’re rarely as busy as the library.