Campus room reservations to be online by next fall

The procedure for booking University events is moving to the web. Resource 25, an event scheduling software package, will soon enable student groups to book campus rooms via the Internet, as well as view campus events scheduled through next year.

The software also includes a comprehensive campus calendar. Students will be able to access the web viewer and see every event scheduled on campus for months.

"One of the things that the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience heard was how much the University needed a master calendar," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said. The task force, of which Reitman was a member, ultimately decided to utilize the software at Tufts.

In the past, student groups looking to reserve spaces on campus for events had to individually contact the appropriate departments to make their requests. Different departments used an array of various booking methods, including online reservation forms, phone calls, and e-mails.

"Resource 25 alleviates all of the confusion as to the different systems used by different people," Event and Space Planning Coordinator Audra Vernon said. "Eventually everyone will be using the same system."

Both Vernon and Reitman are optimistic about the time saving benefits of Resource 25. "You can see if the space is available before you submit your request," Vernon said. "That's a huge success for us because most times people submit their reservation requests and the space is not available and it goes back and forth for weeks. People can now see what's available and what's not, so that correspondence doesn't have to happen."

In addition to viewing available spaces, students will be able to find out room capacities, accessibility of audio and visual systems, and whether or not there is a need for added security.

"We've never had all of this information in one place," said Reitman. "It's a very logical use of technology."

Both Reitman and Vernon feel that there is a need for a more comprehensive campus calendar than that found at Tuftslife.com, which is currently the only online campus calendar available.

"Tuftslife.com is dependent upon people submitting an event listing," Reitman said. "It has nothing to do with the actual booking of the space, so it doesn't automatically include every event on campus. Resource 25 will submit these listings automatically so that as soon as the space is booked, it's listed on the calendar."

Students can currently use Resource 25 for its calendar function as well as to view bookings for particular rooms on campus. However, the room reservation function is still being implemented.

"As of now, requests must still be made the way they always were," Vernon said. "In the future, all requests will be made on the website, similar to the online reservation that some departments use now."

Vernon expects the entire website to be in full operation by early next fall.