Students, faculty, and staff may suggest new software titles to be considered for distribution by Software Distribution Services, for use in the campus computing labs, or for use in the Faculty Computing Program.

Request Guidelines

1. Requests must be submitted using the New Software Titles Request online form.

   Submissions must meet the following deadlines.

   Term	Deadline
   Spring	October 1
   Summer	February 1
   Fall	May 1

   Priority is given to two types of software title requests:

   • Those supporting academic and instructional purposes
   • Those providing vendor-supplied information (including trial versions)

   Student requests must include the name and contact information of a faculty sponsor who serves as a contact person and possible support resource for the package. Prior to the start of each academic term, faculty sponsorship is verified before any student requests are processed.

2. Review the list of software available in Campus Computing Labs and list of software available for distribution to students and to faculty, staff, and departments to verify that your software is not currently offered. If similar software is available, explain why your version is required in your request.

   The following criteria are used to evaluate requests:

   • For the site licensing program, evidence of widespread usage (or substantial growth in usage) of the software by the University community.
   • Availability of a publisher/vendor license program that is acceptable to the University.
   • The ability to acquire a license to distribute the software at a price reduction sufficient to ensure that the software can be distributed to University students, faculty, and staff at low cost.
   • The ability to acquire the rights from the publisher/vendor to distribute the software to students.
   • Funding availability.
   • Availability of other similar software.

   Additional criteria for software installation in Campus Computing Labs include:

   • Number of students who might use the software.
   • Software compatibility with Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX operating systems used in the computing labs. The software publisher/vendor must offer a platform-compatible version of the software.
   • Date during the academic year. Because CSSD must ensure that new software does not cause conflicts with existing software installed in Campus Computing Labs, no new software or software upgrades are installed on production systems during an academic term.

The number of licenses that CSSD maintains for a given software package is determined by factors, including:

• Peak period usage for academic and instructional purposes
• Cost.
• Software license availability.
  
  Note: Software licenses are maintained in a pool which is shared by computing labs and a program that provides academic courseware titles to faculty. CSSD cannot reserve licenses from a pool for use at a specific time, by a specific group, or for a specific purpose.

Software license usage and availability is monitored closely and additional licenses are acquired only if specific evidence of need exists.