Students study on Sept. 29 at the Central Library. Mavericks can access the library to study alone or with friends.
The Central Library has upgraded camera technology throughout the building to increase security and occupancy data.
The update is part of a project to replace aging equipment and strengthen building operations, according to a UTA Libraries Facebook post.
Library operations director Kevin Schuck said the update followed a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design assessment from the UTA Police in October. Part of the reason for the change was to improve occupancy tracking, Schuck said.
The previous system only showed the occupancy of the entire building as opposed to each floor or area of interest, he said.
The new system will allow the library to know where students are going and what resources are being used, Schuck said.
The cameras work like Ring cameras, where you can create zones or threshold lines to keep track of the number of people in specific areas, he said.
A security camera operates on the second floor of the Central Library on Sept. 29. Students can reserve a study room on the second floor for three to six people.
Some potential zone examples include the entrance of the library, the elevators and the doors leading out of the building, he said.
Once students reach a zone or cross a threshold, they are counted as part of the location’s occupancy, and once they leave the zone or get on an elevator, it removes them from the occupancy count until they reach another zone and are added to that count, Schuck said.
The cameras can get an image of people’s faces and read big letters on clothing but cannot read anything on a screen or text on books, he said.
“Our utmost consideration is privacy,” Schuck said. “They’re not going to be any place that you shouldn’t have them, right? So they’re going to be in the public areas.”
He said the camera footage is not constantly monitored by library staff.
Students wanting to study in the library can check the occupancy meter online.
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