The Tisch Library is looking to install Microsoft Office on all of its computers in the reference area this summer, according to Jo-Ann Michalak, the library's director.
Four of the public computers in the library's reference area currently feature Microsoft Office, the set of software applications that includes Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Office was installed on these computers for the current school year as a "pilot project," or trial run, Michalak said. Library staff worried that the software would cause technological problems that librarians were not prepared to handle, and they wondered how popular the programs would be, Michalak said.
"We weren't sure how much support they'd need or how much use" they would receive, she said. In case of technological difficulties, "we do not have user consultants in the library as they do in Eaton Lab."
But this year's test run proved successful, and it signaled a high demand for Microsoft Office on reference-area computers. "They've been totally busy the whole time [this school year], and they have not required a lot of support," Michalak said.
Plans for the installation of Microsoft Office will be discussed and are likely to be finalized during the library staff's annual planning retreat later this month, according to Michalak. "We have a planning retreat in April of each year to plan what we're going to do next year," she said. Adding Microsoft Office to all the computers is "not totally official, but it looks very positive."
Michalak informed the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate of the library's plans to install Microsoft Office in more computers during Sunday's Senate
meeting.
TCU Historian Alex Pryor said students would eagerly await this addition. "So many students have brought it to our attention that they wished Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office were on all the computers," said Pryor, a senior. "It's definitely a
great move."
