[021] MTSU Library Opens Students' Eyes To Dynamic Digital Media

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

MTSU LIBRARY OPENS STUDENTS’ EYES TO DYNAMIC DIGITAL MEDIA
New Studio Fosters Creativity with Hardware, Software, Multimedia Production

(MURFREESBORO) – The new Digital Media Studio on the second floor of the James E. Walker Library will provide MTSU students with access to cutting-edge technology for perfecting their class projects starting in the fall 2010 semester.
With Technology Access Fees paid by the students themselves, the library purchased types of computer hardware and software specifically requested by the students. The library provided funds for task lights and rewiring.
The hardware will include eight Dell PCs with 22” monitors and 12 iMacs with 27” monitors. Some PCs and iMacs will be equipped with flatbed scanners. In addition, pen tablets, headphones and multi-format card readers will be available for checkout.
All PCs will have Power DVD, Roxio Easy Media Creator, and Microsoft Office 2007. All iMacs will have iLife and Microsoft Office 2008. Both versions of Office include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Publisher.
Some PCs and some iMacs will be equipped with Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Edition, including Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Contribute and Flash. Open source multimedia production software, including GimpShop, Inkspace, Jahshaka, Avidemux, Virtual Dub, Audacity and Open Laszio, also will be available.
“Now, more than ever, in the workforce, they have to create multimedia presentations way beyond PowerPoint,” says Emerging Technologies Librarian Heather Lambert. “But if you’re a history major, an education major, you might not necessarily get training on how to use that software.”
Lambert says a librarian and two assistants will be on duty at the desk at all times. While the number of student workers has yet to be determined, she says they will be trained specifically to help their fellow students become more familiar with the available technology. Lambert says the student workers need not be computer science or mass communication majors.
“We want students from other majors,” she says. “English students would be great because they can relate with other English majors and help share that knowledge. We don’t necessarily want 100 percent tech-heads involved.”
Each student will be able to print up to 50 copies per day on the studio’s black-and-white printer, but color printing will be limited to 20 copies per day and only for academic use as a cost-effectiveness measure. To get an item printed in color, a student will have to take a thumbdrive to the desk, where an assistant will generate the printout.

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Another new feature of the studio is a legal sheet-size laminator to make it easier for students to create eye-catching research posters at a cost of $1 per laminated sheet. A preparation table with a overhead light will be equipped with tape, scissors, hole punch, paper cutter, mounting glue, staplers, rulers, T-squares and a grid board.
The studio offers rolling dry erase boards, a collaborative work area, one-on-one sessions with tech coaches, online tutorials through the Lynda.com database and how-to manuals with step-by-step instructions.
Microtext viewing, the main purpose of the room prior to its transition to the digital age, will continue to be available in the center, says Microtext Librarian Ken Middleton.
“That’s always been a hard sell with students,” Middleton says. “Many students are intimidated by the machines.
However, two new smaller ScanPro devices will be added to make the format easier to use. The library’s microtext collection includes census data, newspapers, specialized collections from other libraries, political history and women’s history.
“We want everyone to be able to access this,” says Lambert. The whole goal of this area is that it’s accessible to everyone—not just graduate students, not just film students, not just computer science students. This is for everyone.”
Anyone with a valid MTSU ID—student, faculty, staffer or administrator—may use the Digital Media Studio. The fall 2010 hours will be 8 a.m.-12 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Saturday, and 1:30 p.m.-12 a.m. Sunday for technical and microtext help. For research help, the hours will be 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday. A librarian will be on call at other hours.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For a copy of the Digital Media Studio logo, contact Gina Logue in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.



With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.