Fondren’s ERC offers more services

Fondren’s ERC offers more services
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BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

Rice faculty,
staff and students who need to scan slides or oversized
documents can:

a. buy scanners
from an office-supply store and do the work themselves
b. send the job to a local business
c. use the free equipment at the Electronic Resources Center
(ERC) in Fondren Library

All three answers
are potentially valid options, but if budget and time constraints
rule out a and b, the right choice is unquestionably c.

Located in the
basement of Fondren, the ERC features a variety of hardware
and software that the Rice community can use to scan texts
and images, edit audio and video, design Web pages and perform
other tasks electronically. The center provides in one location
access to tools that are not publicly available elsewhere
on campus, such as a scanner that can handle images up to
11-by-17 inches, a slide and film scanner, CD and DVD burners,
an audio mixer and VHS/DV decks for digitizing video.

The equipment
is accompanied by instructions, but the center also has
staff members available to answer questions and lend assistance
to users.

“Our mission
is to develop, maintain and make available electronic resources
for education and research, and to increase the number of
people in the Rice community who are skilled at the creation
and use of electronic resources,” said Lisa Spiro,
director of the center.

The ERC evolved
from what was formerly known as the Electronic Text Center,
expanding support for just digital imaging and text processing
to the areas of digital audio, video and animation technology.
New computers, software and other equipment were purchased
with a gift from the Friends of Fondren for the ERC’s
two labs.

One lab contains
the equipment for scanning, graphics and Web design; the
other is geared toward audio and video editing and includes
digital cameras, camcorders and mini-disc recorders that
will be available for checkout in early November. One of
the lab’s multimedia workstations even has a turntable
so that albums not available on CD can be digitally recorded
and incorporated into the soundtrack of a video being produced
for classroom use.

Use of the equipment
is free, but the ERC charges for printing and paper (10
cents per page for black and white; 25 cents for color).

The large collection
of digital texts and images on CD-ROM that was available
at the Electronic Text Center is still featured through
the ERC, allowing users to gain access to rare manuscripts
and books that have been converted to digital formats or
to perform searches that uncover relevant resources in vast
databases.

The center is
open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. until at least
8 p.m.; Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 2 to
6 p.m.; and Sunday from 3 to 9 p.m.

Appointments
are recommended if assistance will be needed with more complex
projects, such as audio or video editing. To make an appointment,
call Spiro at (713) 348-2594 or e-mail a request to <erc-info@rice.edu>.

For more information
about the ERC, visit <www.rice.edu/fondren/etext>.