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change in reservation rules for i400, ibd5, u500 spectrometers

Change in reservation rules for i400, ibd5, u500 spectrometers
Aside from m400, which is controlled by the robot and has therefore its own access rules, we have currently 3 spectrometers that are capable of direct C13 acquisition (e.g. APT): i400, ibd5 and u500. Up to now the booking rules did not prevent a user from reserving two, possibly even three, of these spectrometers for the same overnight times. Double-booking (occasionally even triple-booking) created a lot of mixed feelings for years but, every time when the rules were reviewed by the NMR Committee, it was always decided that it is better to have two spectrometers used by the same user rather than have one remain idle overnight.

The never ending flow of complaints about this subject resulted in yet another review of the situation by the NMR Committee and this time it resulted in the following new restrictions for overnight reservations effective 2008-11-21.

Overnight time is defined as any time slot between 20:00 and 08:00 on ibd5 and u500 and any time slot between 21:00 and 07:00 on i400. It does not have to be the entire overnight period. The new rule applies during the week as well as on weekends and holidays, i.e. 7 days a week.

Example: Student A wants to reserve the u500 and ibd5 for Wednesday night. On Tuesday at 16:00 (s)he books u500. The reservation will not allow booking of the ibd5 (or i400) at this time. 24 hours later, at 16:00 on Wednesday, the ibd5 overnight time for that Wednesday remains available, i.e. nobody else booked it. Now student A can take that spectrometer as well and run in fact two samples on two different instruments simultaneously.

In essence, double-reservations are still possible but only after all users had a chance to book for  24 hours after the initial overnight time slot(s) were taken. It is everybody's hope that this is the magic solution for a long, sticky problem.