E.S. Bird Library will become the latest building on campus to broadcast news and upcoming events through digital signs when the installation process is completed in the fall.

The signs will look like large flat-screen televisions and have a small window for CNN and other video news, as well as a ticker along the bottom with Syracuse University news, said Pamela McLaughlin, director of communications and external relations at Bird. The university may also use the system for emergency alerts, she said.

The signs will be a convenient way of informing patrons about what is happening in the library, McLaughlin said. The signs will include announcements for events and library hours, she said.

One digital sign has already been installed next to the circulation desk, she said, and another sign will be installed in the cafe during the summer. McLaughlin said both signs should be up and running in the fall.

Training was held last week on the Four Winds Interactive software, the program that runs the signs. SU licensed the software program, and the library acquired the digital signs as part of an agreement with Samsung, McLaughlin said.

The signs will be similar to those already in place in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the School of Information Studies, McLaughlin said.

The number of digital signs on campus has slowly been growing in the past six years, said Roger Merrill, director of information technology services in the iSchool. Merrill has worked with SU to implement the digital signs.

Between SU and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, there are approximately 50 digital signs around campus, Merrill said. He said he expects the number of signs to continue to grow as departments realize the benefits of the signs and budget for installations.

In terms of the library, the signs will take communication to the next level with ‘interactive’ information, such a directory map, he said. The signs offer more than traditional marketing material, Merrill said. He also said he anticipates the signs will eventually have services that can display room schedules and resource requests.

A process that would allow student groups to submit electronic announcements on the digital signs, instead of on taped-up fliers, is now being discussed, Merrill said.

‘One goal in the iSchool is to eliminate the static paper fliers with current and dynamic information,’ he said. ‘A digital sign network provides an immediate and flexible messaging system.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on April 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani