Equipment Loans

Equipment, including laptops, headphones, a variety of cables, a handful of gaming systems, and various other technology devices, can be checked out by UO faculty, staff, and students, for periods ranging from four hours to a few of days. Some items, such as headphones, can also be checked out by non-UO users. Overdue fines vary by object, where high-use, expensive items have a high overdue fine that accrues quickly, and smaller, lesser-used items have a lower fine or a fine that doesn't accrue for some period of time.

This page is not meant to constitute an exhaustive list of resources, but rather, to describe categories of items we hold and general policy regarding them. If there are materials you feel fit into these categories, we are happy to consider purchasing them, although as with any other library resource, we will need to balance requests against funds.

Laptops

The Price Science Commons has ten Dell PC laptops which are available to UO users only, for four hours at a time. Overdue fines accrue at a rate of $20 per hour or partial hour, and this fine commences in the first hour the laptop is overdue. Damage to or loss of the laptop will incur a charge equal to the cost of repair or replacement.

Occasionally users ask for extended loans because their own laptops or desktops are broken; we are not able to meet this request because we only have ten. However, a checkout that is performed less than four hours prior to the time the library closes will be due thirty minutes after opening the next morning.

The Knight Library Checkout and Information Desk has an additional small set of laptops for checkout under identical rules.

Details

All of our laptops are Dell PC laptops (no Macs). Software available on the laptops is very much like software available on the library's academic workstations, and you may not add or alter software yourself (even if you know how to subvert the protections on the machine, this is not allowed). The machines also use Deep Freeze to wipe out user data every time they reboot, so if you are working on documents you wish to save, you should be prepared to save to portable or cloud drives, not the laptop hard drive or desktop.

Laptops may be booked ahead of time through the catalog (look up laptops by title ("Laptops 2017"); sign in; request type booking; attempting to exceed the 4-hour loan by booking for longer will cause the booking to fail).

Renewals

Laptops don't renew online or by phone. If there are still laptops available and you would like to renew, this can be done by bringing the laptop and any accessories to the Price Science Commons desk to check in and back out. There is no guarantee we will not have a shortage and be unable to meet your request.

Accessories

We have power adapters, carrying cases, and mice available on request to accompany a laptop. These items accrue fines separately if they are kept significantly overdue.

Video Games and consoles

We have roughly 1000 games for several major gaming systems: Wii/WiiU; PS3/4/5; XBox360/One, and some handhelds. These check out to UO users only.

Games check out for six weeks for all UO employees and students.  They renew for an additional six weeks if there are no waiting requests.  Consoles and accessories, of which there are a limited number, check out until 3pm on the third day, and can be booked ahead of time through the catalog (look up by title; sign in; request type booking; attempts to make the booking for longer than the 3 days/3pm checkout period will fail -- feel free to ask us for help) for an upcoming event. You can check out up to two games, as well as a console and accessories if needed, at a time; if you are holding an event for which you would like to check out more than two games, please get in touch ahead of time and we will discuss your needs and see if we can meet them. Fines on video games are $2 per day overdue, and for consoles are $2 per hour.

Renewals

Consoles, like laptops, only renew in person, and only if there is not demand for them.  Please bring the entire kit including any cables, controllers, sensor devices, and other accessories, in case there is a request waiting and we are therefore not able to complete the renewal.

Games will renew for a second six weeks unless there is a request.  If you get an email letting you know the due date is approaching, this means it's been 12 weeks.  At that point you will need to bring back the game disk, the cloth or paper envelope it was in, and the plastic sleeve we shelve, which has the barcode on it.  If there is no request waiting, you may return and reborrow the game in the moment.

Accessories

Besides the consoles, we have HDMI cables, a handful of extra controllers and controller-charging cables, and a few game-specific accessories such as MarioKart "wheel" controllers or karaoke microphones.

Cables and electronic equipment

We have HDMI and VGA cables, scientific and graphing calculators, headphones, various Mac video adapters, a few Mac power adapters, and the like. Generally these check out for four hours or overnight (due first thing in the morning).

Tabletop games

A variety of tabletop games are being added to our collections during Fall 2023.   They will check out for three days at a time.

Other items

Rulers, power strips, small whiteboards, and various other small accessory items are available at the desk to check out or borrow to use on site. Suggestions for additional items that would be occasionally useful to a lot of people are welcome.