An Equipment Overview

The College of Communication’s Instructional Media Center has a wide range of Audio-Visual equipment available. From digital camcorders, cameras, and audio recorders to rolling TV/VCR carts and projectors of every sort, we try to have everything you need for your teaching or research.

We also have – microphones, tripods, portable DVD players, portable VCRs, CD players, projection screens, easels, podiums, mike stands, stopwatches, telephone recording adaptors, portable public address systems, portable telephone conferencing setups (speakerphones), and other stuff (if you need something not listed here be sure and ask us - you never know, we may have just what you need!)

The best way to find out more about what the IMC has available for you is to check our WEBCHECKOUT website. There you will be able to see equipment availability in real time as well as see photos of the equipment and information about accessories and software which come with it.

[RTF students note - The RTF department has an extensive collection of equipment in CMB available for you to use for production purposes. While you are still free to check out any of our equipment (especially for classroom uses), please try and get what you need for your productions from RTF checkout first. If what you need is not available from RTF, we would be happy to help you in any way we can. Please give us a call if you have any questions.]

[Note - If you know you will need an extension cord, it will need to be checked out separately.]

You Need to Be in the System

The IMC does all its equipment checkouts using a computer-based checkout system called WEBCHECKOUT. As a result, for someone to check out some of our equipment, the computer requires that they be listed among those who are eligible to do so.

Every semester, a new list of current Communication faculty, staff, and graduate students is entered in to the system and the previous semester's names are deleted. This list is only entered once a semester, so anyone who needs to be added later is added by IMC staff.

If you find you are not in the IMC's checkout system, WEBCHECKOUT requires all of this information for you to be entered:

1. Your full name
2. The department you are in
3. Your UT EID
4. Your email address
5. Your current status: Faculty, Staff, Graduate Student, or Undergraduate Student registered for classes in the current semester

This information must come from your departmental office in one of these forms:

1. A letter on departmental letterhead signed by a permanent departmental staff member.
2. A printout of official student records signed by a permanent department staff member.
3. An email to IMC@communication.utexas.edu from a permanent department staff member.

When the computer has all this information, it will help insure equipment is returned on time and in working order. Once you are in WEBCHECKOUT, reserving and checking out items is easier than ever.

Getting Your A/V Equipment

Please try to schedule all your equipment as far in advance as is possible.
All we will need to know is:

1. your name
2. the piece of equipment you need
3. the day you need it, and
4. the time you need it

We will use this information to reserve the equipment for you in WEBCHECKOUT. So, if by looking at your syllabus you can tell all the days you will need certain equipment during the semester, please let us schedule it for you NOW so you can be assured all the equipment you require.

We also know that there are times during a semester when you won’t know in advance that you are going to need a piece of equipment. Don’t worry, most days we should still be able to come up with all the equipment you need at a moment’s notice.

Just come by, tell us what you want, and we will quickly make a record of the request and get you what you need. To be on the safe side, always try to schedule your equipment in advance. Also, be sure and return your equipment on time, in working order, and with all the parts and accessories it came with (see section on "Policies").

[Note - When picking up equipment, Faculty, Staff, and Students will be required to show a valid UT ID. ]

Renewing Checkouts

Extending reservations is possible, but it must be done IN PERSON, and CAN NOT be done over the phone or in WEBCHECKOUT. Bring back the equipment you have checked out by the original return time, and we can see at that point whether it is possible to check it out to you again.

We want to help you. We always want to get you the equipment you need, but because we know equipment availability can be a problem, we ask you try and be fair as you can to all the other faculty and students. PLEASE be considerate when asking for any exceptions and please bring the equipment back on time Thanks!

Schedule Carefully

The IMC schedules hundreds of equipment checkouts each week. We try to be as flexible as possible concerning the checkout procedures. So, if a situation comes up which requires us to bend our "rules", PLEASE let us know.

The principle that has always guided us in the past is to try to always have the equipment available that people want to use, when they want to use it.

What we really want to avoid is a situation where someone checks out something for an extended period of many hours or even days, but instead of it being used during all or most of that time, the equipment instead sits in someone’s office or apartment just waiting to be used.

PLEASE, ONLY RESERVE EQUIPMENT FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME YOU ACTUALLY INTEND ON USING IT. This will allow equipment to be available for the maximum number of different people to use during each day.

Losing IMC Privileges

It is our responsibility, here in the IMC, to have the equipment available for people at the time they reserved it and that it be working. As a result, we have penalties in place to help make sure that is the case.

For Lateness - If an item is returned late, the person who had it checked out is given an explanation of the checkout procedures. In addition, that person is advised that while they can continue to checkout equipment, THE NEXT TIME that they return something late, broken, or incomplete they will lose their checkout privileges for the rest of the semester. If the 2nd infraction takes place during the last 4 weeks of the semester, they lose their privileges for the rest of that semester and the following semester.

If circumstances beyond your control arise which will keep you from returning something on time you must notify the IMC as soon as possible. We understand sometimes things like that happen and we want to help you, but you must notify the IMC as soon as possible. When you notify us, we can try and extend your reservation or try to change other people’s reservations if a conflict exists.

Lost or broken – Some of the equipment is quite expensive and we consider damage to it a serious matter. If an item is lost or broken, the patron’s checkout privileges are immediately suspended until the patron finds, replaces, or has the equipment repaired.

For faculty and staff members, your department will be asked to pay for the repair. If an item is unrepairable then your department will be asked to replace it.

For undergraduate students, a financial and registration bar will be placed on you if compensation has not been made BEFORE the start of the next semester.

Undergraduate Use

Our computer system requires that anyone, whether its a single student or a whole class, have some contact information entered about them. If you teach an undergraduate class and it will involve heavy equipment use all during the semester, please give us that information on all of your students.

This same process applies to undergraduate media duplication requests of videotapes, DVDs, audiotapes, and CDs.

As the teacher, you in essence are taking responsibility for the equipment, just as if it were in your own possession. Please make it clear to all undergraduates that both you and they are responsible for the equipment’s safe and PROMPT return to the media center. The equipment must be returned on time, in working order, and with all the parts and accessories it came with.

If you do not think you can depend on your students to return things on time and in working order, please think again as to whether they should check out anything at all. Some of the equipment is quite expensive and we consider damage to it a serious matter.