With the implementation of the online reserve system in October 1996, accessing photocopied reserve articles from dorm rooms and campus clusters became a more convenient method for students to finish reading assignments and, in some cases, eliminated costly course packs.
But in many cases, student frustration has overshadowed the intended convenience of the system.
From problems with the Adobe Acrobat Reader-a program that must be installed in a student's PC or Mac in order to access the reserves-to the quality of the scanned articles, to the slowness of downloading and printing the reserves, students are finding that access to the online reserve system is not simply a click of the mouse away.
"I honestly don't know how to [use the reserve system], Trinity sophomore Megan Cronin said. "It's too confusing."
Although several students agree that the system is complex, representatives of Perkins Library and the Office of Information Technology said they believe otherwise.
"The system is pretty simple to use," said Ashley Jackson, head of circulation and reserves at Perkins Library.
Officials said they are addressing the problems inherent in the system. "There were some difficulties of students not being clear about how to figure out the browser with Acrobat reader, but we tried to get information out about that," said Jim Coble, director of Library Information Services.
The Adobe Acrobat Reader, which allows students to access electronic reserves from their dorm rooms, is a smaller issue with regard to the problems of online reserves but a problem nonetheless.
"I have the Acrobat reader on my computer, and I can't seem to get it to work," said Trinity sophomore Jason Parks, whose Public Policy course uses E-reserves. "I don't understand what the problem is."
Parks, therefore, opts to photocopy the articles in the library rather than go to the clusters to access the reserves for printing because, he said, "it takes forever to wait online."
For those who do not own a computer equipped with the system, printing in Perkins Library, Lilly Library or other computer clusters around the University can become painstakingly slow.
The problem that arises in the clusters is that the printers, often printing out several pages of an article at a time, become backlogged by other pending print jobs. The delay in printing, Jackson explained, is "a function of too much demand." "The computer clusters have a lot of people who are trying to print at the same time," Jackson said.
Some professors said they recognize the inconvenience of online reserves. "[Students] complained... that the system was very slow and that it took an hour to print off an article," said Elizabeth Kiss, professor of political science, who currently uses online reserves. "I think all of us... are having to adjust to the new world of electronic information sources."
The library system in conjunction with OIT is determined to alleviate some of the stresses students feel when using the reserve system. "The library system and OIT have been working closely on this," Coble said.
Meeting at least twice a month, both groups are brainstorming solutions. OIT has already added three additional printers to the Perkins cluster, installed print manager software and provided memory upgrades on printers in Perkins and Lilly, according to Coble.
Pat Driver, director of computing operations at OIT, said she hopes OIT will make more printers available in other quads as early as December. Other goals include "changing the E-reserves scanning procedures to produce more efficient document files and getting printers of a higher speed solely for E-reserves," according to an official statement of the organizations' objectives available on the World Wide Web.
Trinity junior Ben Kennedy, Duke Student Government vice president for academic affairs, is working in conjunction with OIT to ensure that more printers will be available in every quad at the University.
OIT provided two additional printers to the clusters in Wannamaker in the past year, which Kennedy cited as "the main envy of many [students] on West."
DSG and OIT are working toward gaining an understanding what students want.
"Unless you are a Mac user in GA or an IBM user in Brown, [for example], it is too much of a pain to go out late at night to print," said Trinity senior Matt Kotler, co-director for Undergraduate computing. "Printers are in short supply here."
The slowness of the reserve printers, therefore, makes the cluster printing issue doubly complex, Coble said, adding that "[OIT and the library system] are chipping away at the problem."
Despite the problems that inevitably accompany new technology, professors and students said they will continue to use the system.
"I have been pleased with the online reserve... I use this system, and will continue to use this system, as it allows me to put aside the readings for my students without forcing them to buy course packs," said Darryl Stickel, a graduate student who teaches a management science course. "This ends up being cheaper for folks."
Students expressed optimism for future improvements as the OIT, the library system and members of DSG continue to pursue solutions.
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