Category Archives: Technology

App-ly Yourself! Digital Apps for Exploring Durham Tech Libraries

Posted on by
Apps to explore durham tech libraries

While students and staff can explore the library’s website and its many resources on their smartphones and tablets, dedicated standalone apps for these devices can still offer a great deal of flexibility. Users may already be familiar with Libby, which grants Durham Tech users access to the wonderful Dogwood Digital Library collection, which offers popular fiction and non-fiction books. This post highlights a few other apps that provide unique ways of accessing academic materials while on the go.

Continue Reading →

Taking Home Tech Tools: Chromebooks, Webcams, and Other Tech for Success

Posted on by

Are you, a friend, or one of your students trying to complete school assignments on a smart phone, tablet, old/slow/wonky computer, or shared computer?

  • kira, a brindle dog with perky ears, rests her paw on a laptop
    Kira needs to complete her assignments, but Courtney needs their shared laptop for work.
  • charlie, a tuxedo cat, rests on a laptop
    Scheduling computer time makes Charlie tired, so he fell asleep on the laptop he shares with Meredith.

Does your computer mostly work, but you need a better webcam or microphone to participate in online class discussions?

Do you need a Chromebook to bring home so you can complete your assignments when it’s convenient? 

Let the Library help!

Continue Reading →

New tech equipment for students, faculty, and staff to borrow!

Posted on by
  • Microphone Headset
  • Portable Webcam
  • Digital Camera

Do you need equipment to better participate in your online class meetings, record a class lecture, or narrate a PowerPoint presentation?  We now have webcams and microphone headsets available for checkout.  Are you an AFA student who needs high-quality digital images of your artworks?  We now have a Canon PowerShot digital camera for your photography needs.  

You can make an appointment to schedule an equipment pickup at the library by emailing library@durhamtech.edu or calling 919-536-7211.  
A Technology Borrower’s Agreement Form is also required upon checkout.

This loaner equipment program was supported by grant funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (IMLS grant number LS-246155-OLS-20).  We were grateful to use the funds to purchase equipment for our college community.

Please continue to let us know how we can help support you this academic year.  

Introducing PaperCut: A New Printing System for Students

Posted on by
PaperCut logo

PaperCut has launched at the Main Campus Library this week. PaperCut is a print management system used to seamlessly monitor and control printing and copying. With PaperCut students are able to print and copy documents.

PaperCut will be implemented in other computer labs and at other campuses at a later date.   

How does it work?

 Each Durham Tech student is issued a PaperCut account which is used to print and copy documents across all campuses. When a user prints or copies anywhere on campus, the total cost of the print job is deducted from their account balance. The costs for printing and copying across all Durham Tech campuses is as follows:

·         Black-and-white printing costs 10 cents per page ($0.10)

·         Color printing costs 25 cents per page ($0.25).

An initial $10 non-refundable print credit is applied to each student’s PaperCut account at the start of each term for which they are enrolled. Students may continue using Durham Tech print services until their PaperCut account balance reaches $0. Once a student’s PaperCut account balance reaches $0 they will not be able to print or copy documents until additional print credit is added to their account at the Library circulation desk. A user can check their print credit balance by accessing their PaperCut account online at papercut.durhamtech.edu/user

PaperCut: Frequently Asked Questions

Which Students Have Accounts?
Any student currently enrolled in a course that has started for the an active term should have a PaperCut Account. Users who do not have a PaperCut account may still print by creating a guest account at papercut.durhamtech.edu by clicking the “Guests click here to Register!” link on the login page.
How Do Students Access Accounts?
Visit  papercut.durhamtech.edu. Here students are able to login and see their print history, reset their Identity PIN (for quick access to copier/printers), and view any pending print jobs.
What’s A Student’s Username and Password?
Students are able to login to their PaperCut account, the identity Pop-up, and Copiers using their Durham Tech Username and Password.
Username: The Username is the student’s last name followed by first initial and the last 4 digits of your Student ID number
How Do Students Print?
Print your document from your application (e.g. File > Print) You will need to remember the printer you selected to release your document. DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR PRINT SETTINGS (Color, Black & White, 2-Sided etc.) Once the print job is submitted the Identity Pop-up is displayed. Enter your Durham Tech/WebAdvisorUsername and Password, then Click OK. Once the print job is authenticated you will see an additional pop-up informing you that your document is waiting to be released. NOTE: Your document will be waiting to be release at the printer/copier selected in step 1.
How do Students Copy?
Locate a printer/copier.  Press the keyboard icon and enter your Durham Tech Username and Password
Select Access Device, then select Copy. Once you are ready select start to begin copying documents.

Ada Lovelace Day Celebrates Women in Science

Posted on by

The second Tuesday of October is Ada Lovelace Day and celebrates women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with the hope of inspiring future generations of young women to study and work in STEM fields.

Image of Ada Lovelace

Image from http://www.rejectedprincesses.com

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer who created the first program for Charles Babbage‘s analytical engine. She is known as the first computer programmer and has a computer programming language from the Department of Defense named after her. (From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography)

Read more about Ada Lovelace and ways to support women in STEM fields here:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2015/oct/13/why-ada-lovelace-day-matters?CMP=share_btn_fb

You can also explore these books in the library’s collection which feature Ada Lovelace and other important women in science, mathematics, and history:

Lab Girl cover

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Rejected Princess book cover

Rejected princesses : tales of history’s boldest heroines, hellions, and heretics by Jason Porath

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures

Headstrong: 52 Women who Changed Science – and the World by Rachel Swaby

Headstrong: 52 Women who Changed Science – and the World by Rachel Swaby

New Computer Books available

Posted on by

Want to brush up on your HTML skills, create an app, program with JAVA or SAS, repair a PC, or learn PHP 7?  Check out some of our new computer books selected by Tom Murphy, Assistant Dean, Information Technologies Programs. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Also explore, ebrary’s Computer and IT books e-book collection online.  There are more than 3,000 titles! Click on the Computers & IT collection to browse books or search for topics or titles individually.

ebrary ebook collection