RADD currently sits in an open section of the SLIS Laboratory Library. This has obvious advantages for student use and experimentation, but it also raises the spectre of damage and theft.
In fact, RADD has had materials stolen. In fall 2014 someone stole a Canon PowerShot A2400 digital camera from RADD’s bookscanner, and in fall 2015 someone walked away with the microcassette player donated by Dr. Ethelene Whitmire, which had not yet been secured. Aside from posting pictures of Latin curse tablets—tempting, but not friendly—what could we do to protect our investment in RADD?
Larger pieces of equipment are much easier to secure. Kensington and other security-product firms sell widgets that hold security cables that can be glued onto machines. The cables can then be secured to tables or possibly to a desktop computer. Kensington also has lockable cable holders, to evade theft of USB and power cables.
The videocamera RADD uses to capture video from Mini-DV tapes presented a special challenge: no available surface to attach a security widget. The solution we chose was using electrical tape to bind together the hook-and-loop band intended to go around a filmer’s hand, and then passing a security cable through the band.
Smaller materials—cameras, microcassette recorders, Raspberry Pis—are harder to secure, partly because cable widgets are too big to attach to them, partly because they do not have much surface to attach security widgets to. The solution we are exploring is hook-and-loop strips. Currently RADD’s Raspberry Pi (part of its bookscanner) and microcassette recorder are attached to furniture this way. This is “security by nuisance” rather than a real security lock; a determined thief could still make away with the equipment. Our hope is that the noise and nuisance of prying the hook-and-loop strip apart is sufficient theft deterrence for now.