In an earlier post I made reference to one of the ways the Library demonstrates our commitment to sustainability; namely our tendency to run old computer hardware into the ground before we finally discard it. We have to be a bit selective here of course, but for one-trick ponies like the checkout machines at the circulation desks we've seen no reason to upgrade for ... well, it turns out it was about a decade now. We bought a whack of Dell Optiplex SX280s back in 2004, and now in 2014 what remains of them (see photo) are on their way out the door. We might have kept them running a bit longer, but as Microsoft has finally seen fit to end-of-life Windows XP their time has come. No way we're going to try running Windows 7 on these things. And let's face it, they owe us nothing at this point.
And of course I should also mention that UVic has a commitment to disposing of old gear responsibly and sustainably, and policies that govern how we do it.