The Digital Media & Journalism Equipment Room opened for student rental of equipment on Tuesday, Sept. 3. The equipment room, located in the basement of Coykendall Science Building in Media Suite 25, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The room hosts a multitude of production gear that it lends to students under the leadership of Equipment and Studio Manager Justin Westfall. 

Available for rental is a wide variety of professional grade tools, from Zoom H1 recording microphones and Canon T3I cameras, to Aperture 300d lights and Lilliput field monitors. Students enrolled in DMJ classes such as Digital Storytelling, Photojournalism, Directing & Performing for Media, and more, have access to borrow whatever is needed for their classes. To learn more about the available equipment, production fields and classes, visit the DMJ Equipment Room List on the website. 

While the gear is primarily for students doing production class projects, Westfall is also open to lending to students who want to use the equipment for other academic purposes. “If they get permission from their professor, the professors can contact me, and then we do occasionally give people permission, even if they’re not in a production class,” Westfall said. 

The sign-out process is easy: during office hours, students inquire about the tool they need from one of the room’s student workers or Westfall himself, swipe their ID card then go on their way. Once they have checked out equipment, the student can keep it for up to seven days. Once that time is up, they can come back to extend the seven day period, but after two weeks, all equipment must be returned. If more than two weeks pass, students risk being dealt fines or having a hold placed on their account. When checking equipment out, students are not limited to a certain number of equipment pieces, so long as they follow the policies and procedures. 

This is the first time the DMJ Department has dedicated a full-time professional staff member to the job of managing the equipment room and studio spaces. Being a year-round, full-time employee whose sole responsibility is the equipment room, TV studio, audio suites and podcasting lab, Westfall has been able to make visible changes. 

Since arriving in March 2025, he has reorganized the room, ordered over $80,000 of new equipment, and changed previously held procedures. “I did make some changes to how long students can keep equipment,” said Westfall. “Previously, it was just three days, and that’s actually still the default. But if people say, ‘Hey, I’d like to keep this for a week’ we allow them to keep it for up to a week. The big reason I did that is I found that most students were extending equipment [rentals] anyways.” 

Since Westfall’s arrival, students have noticed huge improvements in organization, especially ones working in the room. “He cleaned the room. He’s got, like, equipment to accommodate old equipment that wasn’t working,” said senior Digital Media Production student Theodore Sarancino. “He’s organized everything.”

Westfall has also dedicated time since arriving to upgrading the room’s equipment and resources. “I know that we’re using some what you could call industry standard equipment now, whereas before, we had some stuff that was growing obsolete,” said fourth-year film student Sebastian Disend. 

While the room is open to all production students, not all production students have equipment experience. But rather than deter students, this should in fact incentivize them. “If you have questions, come in here, ask the student workers, ask me, we’re always happy to help you out,” says Westfall. “Access to free equipment is the best perk that you have for being a student here.” 

Visit the DMJ Equipment Room website for more information on rental procedures, YouTube tutorials, and more.