Many Wilfrid Laurier University students know the jolt of panic when a laptop crashes before a project is due, or the annoyance of a dead cell phone battery in the middle of the day.
But with a new service offered by the Union Desk, also known as the U-Desk, these frustrations may soon be a thing of the past. Beginning next week the U-Desk will be offering a technology rental service or a “resource sharing program.”
The service will be aimed at offering students “an immediate solution” when they face a technological emergency.
Currently, only students in the school of business and economics are able to rent technology resources on campus through PRISM, and must pay a fee each term.
This new technology service will lend support to Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union’s committees and clubs, as well as be available to all students, regardless of which faculty they are from.
Kyle Walker, member services manager for WLUSU, explained the service is for, “whatever purpose it has for students.”
The U-Desk technology services is “just here to help and make sure that they [students] have the support that they need,” Walker added.
Students will be able to use the program free of cost, the U-Desk only taking photocopies of the student’s One Card and a second piece of ID in return for renting out different technologies including laptops and iPads.
The technology was made available through funding left over from the building of the U-Desk, which ran under budget.
With the U-Desk’s popularity so far, it will be no surprise if this new service is immensely popular as well. The U-Desk has served over 3,500 cash-based transactions alone.
“We get a lot of ‘where do I go for this?’ or ‘I’m lost, I need help’, opting out of the health and dental plan, so a lot of traffic in the first month, we’re really happy,” Walker said.
Technologies available will include: three 11-inch Apple MacBook Airs; three HP Laptops, two 16 GB WiFi Apple iPad 2s, one Canon Rebel T3i and one Epson PowerLite 720p Projector.
As well, they will provide carrying cases and presentation cables for all items; a tripod, memory card, and card reader for the camcorder; and chargers for popular phones.
