Facility Policies and Procedures

GRADUATE STUDENTS:

1) All graduate students with no undergraduate photo experience MUST arrange to complete a Photography Workshop with one of the Photo Faculty or with the Photo Lab Manager before being allowed access to lab facilities, shooting studio, or any area equipment within the cage. This workshop will make sure that you understand how to function and operate all the equipment in the photo lab as well as ascertain that you understand the basics of photography. If knowledge is determined by the faculty to be inadequate then you may be required to take or sit in on a Beginning Photography course at USF.

2) All graduate students wishing to utilize any photo facilities and/or any area equipment within the cage must attend a MANDATORY meeting explaining cage policies before he or she is allowed access to lab facilities, or any area equipment within the cage.

3) Any graduate student wishing to utilize any photo facilities and/or any area equipment within the cage must be checked out on its usage by a photo area representative before being allowed access to that equipment or lab facility.

4) Any graduate student wishing to have access to the shooting studio may do so after having received proper instruction and approval by the photo faculty. Upon receipt of Photo Faculty approval, all equipment within the shooting studio, with the exception of the strobes, is available for all non-photo grad students. NO EQUIPMENT MAY BE REMOVED FROM THE SHOOTING STUDIO SPACE.

5) In most cases only graduate students whose primary declared medium of concentration is photography will be given a shared private lab. All other graduate students must sign up on reservation sheets on the private lab doors in order to reserve specific lab time blocks. You may sign up for up to 2 four hour blocks a week. If no one else is signed up at the end of your block you may extend your work time.

6) Every attempt will be made to accommodate eligible graduate students who need to reserve a private lab for 48 consecutive hours for work on a specific project. Requests for this must be made at least 2 weeks in advance.

7) Photo Graduate students will receive a Photo Lab Key that they may keep for the duration of their stay at USF. Graduate students (who are not photo area concentrates) may check out a Photo Lab front door key (for 24-hour access) through the cage. These keys are subject to the same return policies as private lab keys and are due back to the cage by noon the day after they have been checked out. Front door keys checked out on Thursdays may be kept over the weekend. Accommodations may be made for non-photo grads demonstrating continued facility usage and need to maintain a front door key for an extended period of time, although not to exceed beyond the end of any given semester.

8) Graduate students (non-photo majors) who wish to have a front door key for the length of a semester may apply to be photo lab monitors. Monitor duties include sitting in the lab for three to four hours a week plus other assigned tasks. Graduate students wishing to serve as lab monitors must first meet the requirements for that position, including attending the MANDATORY monitor meeting and demonstrating appropriate photo competency.

9) Graduate students checking out front door keys MAY NOT allow any other graduate or undergraduate students who do not already have front door keys access to the facilities during times when the facilities are CLOSED.

10) Graduate students who meet the above requirements must follow all the area policies or they will lose all privileges for the equivalent of one full semester following any infraction.

FACULTY:

1) Any faculty outside of the photo area wishing to schedule a class for the following semester in the photo facilities must first clear this with all Photo Area Faculty and the School Director.

2) No faculty (both outside and within the photo area) may allow students into any of the photo facilities during times when the facilities are designated as CLOSED. When the lab is closed, the lab is closed! No Exceptions! Only faculty, staff, photo grad students, and lab monitors may access the facilities after hours.

3) Any faculty outside of the photo area wishing to do directed studies with students working with photography and needing access to photo facilities and equipment may do so only if:

a) The students have passed all normal photo area requirements for access to the lab.

b) The students are not working on learning new technical skills (i.e. learning either new processes -- like color or non-silver -- or how to use new equipment -- like the Kreonite or copy camera).

4) Any faculty outside of the photo area wishing to utilize the photo facilities (including, but not limited to, the labs and shooting studio) for a class demonstration must first demonstrate competency, or request instruction, on lab/equipment protocol and usage. Requests for use of space or equipment must be submitted at least two weeks in advance. The photo area will attempt to accommodate all reasonable requests, but they are subject to class scheduling within the photo area. A minimal lab fee from any outside areas wishing to utilize any of the facilities or equipment will be expected to be transferred into the photo area for compensation for used supplies.

5) Any faculty wishing to utilize photo area equipment for their own personal use must first demonstrate sufficient proficiency in the use of that equipment.

6) Non-Photo area faculty are NOT to check out any photo area equipment for use with their classes or any of their students without prior approval from the area coordinator.

7) Any faculty wishing to utilize the shooting studio for either themselves or with a class must demonstrate competency or request training before being given access to the studio.

8) Any faculty who bring a class into the shooting studio shall be responsible for any damage incurred by their class (beyond normal wear and tear) from their area budgets.

9) Any faculty who brings a class into the shooting studio MUST remain present at all times while students are utilizing the studio and its equipment.

UNDERGRADUATES:

1) All undergraduate students with no prior photo experience MUST take Beginning Photography before being allowed access to any lab facilities or area equipment within the cage.

2) All transfer students

(or undergraduate students) with prior photo experience MUST take at least one photo course before being allowed access to any lab facilities or area equipment within the cage.

3) All undergraduate students utilizing the facility and area equipment within the cage must attend a MANDATORY meeting explaining cage policies before they are allowed access to lab facilities, shooting studio, or any area equipment within the cage. (This includes photo classes, directed studies and special topics classes.)

4) Any undergraduate student taking a directed study with a non-photo faculty member must have approval from the photo area coordinator before he/she can have access to lab facilities, shooting studio, or any area equipment within the cage.

5) Any undergraduate student not enrolled in either a photography class or studio theme class who wishes to utilize the area facilities, shooting studio, or any area equipment within the cage must follow the following procedures:

a) Must have completed at least two courses in photography at USF and be currently enrolled as a student at USF.

b) Must submit a written proposal describing the student’s plans and needs for use of the facilities.

c) Must have the proposal approved by the photo faculty.

Successful completion of the above procedures will entitle the student to access the photo area facilities and equipment for one semester. Requests for access to the photography facilities in subsequent semesters will require repetition of the above procedures on a per semester basis.

6) All students utilizing the facility MUST have a valid USF School of Art and Art History Photo Lab ID card in order to access the lab facilities and equipment. New cards are issued each semester.

7) Any student in poor standing with the Media Cage for disregarding any Cage or Area Policies will have all of his/her area privileges, including, but not limited to, darkroom access, equipment usage and any Cage services, permanently revoked.