Alex W - Final Entry

I have mixed feelings as I get ready to return my iPad. Part of me feels a bit of relief (probably because I have been watching it like a hawk/treating it like a flour sack baby ever since I got it since it doesn't actually belong to me!) and part of me feels a loss.  Part of me also feels like I'll have little trouble surviving without it.

Of all my available technology, I feel I'm most tied to my laptop. The iPad had a serious advantage though in terms of portability, which I will sincerely miss.  Additionally, having the ability to more easily carry an iPad and several books/binders as opposed to carrying a laptop and those same books and binders helped me out more than once--whether it was to quickly check email before and after classes, or on the several occasions when I've brought the wrong play to my Shakespeare lit class--I just pull up the full text online and scroll to the passages we discuss. That has been Fantastic!

It's also been great for catching up on the few shows I watch with any regularity--though I will say the video quality was often quite choppy/pixellated (not to mention that I couldn't seem to find a way to watch Glee).

I will not particularly miss typing on the iPad, or the fact that I couldn't print directly from it.

In terms of research (you know, all that stuff that the Library Committee advisors actually asked us to look at) it did come in handy a couple of times. On those days when I had too much to carry (Tuesdays and Thursdays are the worst for some reason), I only had the iPad with me and wanted to spend some time at the library. I also wanted to sort of sequester myself on B1 and didn't want to have to log into a computer to look up some books to check out for my research paper.  So off I went to the library website on the iPad, searched, wrote down a few key call numbers, slipped the iPad in my bag and off I went to the stacks, coming back with WAY more books than I could carry.  Success!

Perhaps it's because I'm not particularly wedded to technology, or perhaps it's because this semester's been particularly busy (especially with off-campus activities), but I have a feeling of "it was nice to have as a resource, but I'm not going to be lost without it." I suppose that's a good feeling to have, seeing as I do have to return it.  I think that they'd be great for the library to have a few on hand, but I'm not sure that students would be using them for purely academic/research purposes.  In fact, I'm almost certain that would not be the primary draw--I've gotten so many people talking to me about it, interested I think because it is definitely still one of those new, shiny, ambiguous things that people want to know about but haven't necessarily tested/seen/tried out.  I guess that's why we SLACers do what we do!

Thank you so much, Trevor and Olivia, for this opportunity!  The iPad has certainly been a great help and great fun to try out!