The Ned R. McWherter Library has begun providing technological resources and private recording areas for students and professors to use.
The Sandbox, composed of three recording studios and one large multi-purpose room, is the library’s newest addition. These areas grant students the opportunity to use three-dimensional printers, record music, use a green screen and other backdrops, practice presentations, play video games and more.
Shelia Gaines, the head of circulation at the library, said students have come to the library in the past searching for spaces to create content or borrow expensive equipment the library could not provide. The Sandbox was created this fall to meet those students’ needs.
“We try to listen to the students when they start asking for certain things,” Gaines said. “‘Is there somewhere we can practice our PowerPoint presentation?’ ‘Do you have a voice recorder?’ If there’s a way that we can do it in the scope of our resources and our abilities, we want to always do that.”
Located on the first floor of the library is The Sandbox’s largest room, which includes 3D printers, computers with the Adobe Creative Suite and a lounging area for students to read comic books and play video game systems like Xbox and Wii U. The room will also add a sewing machine and video game creating software.
“It’s kind of a gradual process,” Casey Parkman, the reserved room manager and head of The Sandbox, said. “We’re adding a new piece of technology every week or every two weeks and doing some workshops with it so people know how to use it properly.”
The photography room is on the second floor. This studio features a variety of backdrops to choose from, including a green screen. Students who would like to use a camera may check one out from the library. Though Parkman said the room is not finished and is currently set up for demonstration, students are still allowed to reserve the room and use it as is.
On the third floor, students can record songs, podcasts and more in the audio room. They are granted access to an audio mixing table as well as Pro Tools, an audio editing computer program. There is also a vinyl player students can use to play records and save the songs as MP3 files.
Students can rehearse their class presentations in the presentation practice room on the fourth floor. The space features a white board, a computer, headphones and a projector screen. Parkman said students can check out a projector if they want to practice a PowerPoint.
“I never got to really do this kind of stuff when I was in college or when I was in high school,” Parkman said. “A lot of this stuff is so expensive to use, not to mention software is expensive to be able to even work with the stuff that you make. To me, having somewhere that you can come for free and be able to learn how to use this stuff and figure out things about yourself that you never knew, we’re wanting to give that to students and let them be able to have a place to do that.”
Students who would like to reserve a room from The Sandbox can do so by going to libcal.memphis.edu and signing up for an available space.
The Sandbox, located in the Ned R. McWherter Library, has services like three-dimensional printing and video games. Students can use this for free.
Wade Kimball, a freshman recording technology major, plays video games with JJ Brown, a freshman sports management major. Students can utilize this service for free at the Sandbox in the Ned R. McWherter Library.
The Sandbox, located in the Ned R. McWherter Library, provides students of the University of Memphis with services like three-dimensional printing. Students can use these services for free.
