Harmon Computer Commons
The Commons consists of four classrooms, an open lab, and an informational area. It continues to progress as a powerful technology resource for the Central campus. Through the generosity of Provost Carter's office, 50 aging workstations were replaced, and with funds from the library 14 additional workstations were acquired, enabling the fourth classroom to be available for instruction in a hands-on environment. Waiting lists are regularly used to handle peak activity times and during mid-terms and finals. Workstations continue to be moved within the library to allow users to practice particular applications.
Management of the Harmon Computer Commons is based on an hourly head count, classroom reservations, prints generated, and laptop computer rentals. Annually the facilities are used on the average of almost 450 client-hours a day, and peak usage often exceeds 1000 client-hours a day. Peak traffic periods are Sunday through Thursday afternoons and evenings, when as many as 127 clients simultaneously are using the workstations.
The chart (below) indicates the average hourly traffic by day. The upper line shows the highest average use per hour. The bottom line gives the minimum average use per hour, and the middle line is an average of the hourly traffic. Thus the average hourly traffic on Mondays is 32 students, and approximately 530 students are served during the 16.5 hours the Commons is open.
Saturday the average is about 10 students per hour, which is about 100 students during the 10 hours of being open. In summary, four classrooms were used by 508 classes of which over 40 were for English Writing Assessment. Over 350,000 pages were printed by clients, almost 300 transparencies were produced by staff, and the laptop computers were checked out over 250 times. Due to the quality of the facilities and services, several commendations were received, and the Commons has been asked to accommodate assessment testing for several classes in CIS as well as providing lab environments for instructors of web-based courses.
Classes
Summer 1999			67
Fall 1999			254
Spring 2000			187
The following hardware is available in HCC
		Mac	Pc	Total
Open Lab		36	43	79
Classroom	1220		15*	15
	1224		12*	12
	1240	10*		10
	1244		20*	20
Total		46	90	137
* CPU used for teaching podium.