Drexel Boots Up Vending Machine For Laptops
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Drexel University has become one of the first colleges in the country, and the first in this area, to use a high-tech vending machine to hand out loaner laptops.
Drexel turned on this kiosk in the library cafe shortly before winter break, says Danuta Nitecki, Dean of Libraries. The idea for it bubbled up from students who wanted more laptop loaner access into late night hours. Need met technology and a pilot project was born.
"So, right now we offer it with 12, 15-inch Macbooks. We are going to see how that works. We had to flesh out some of the kinks in getting started and then we'll see if we extend this or not."
The loaner is free for five hours but borrowers need their Dragoncard ID, a password and to okay terms of use.
Boby Abraham does it a lot. "It is much easier just because I'm usually a commuter so I usually am here all day to do work. Being here for five hours is commonplace."
Nitecki says a medical campus iPad kiosk is in the 'what-if' phase.
