To obtain a key to a CS office, you need:

• authorization from Graduate Secretary
• RU ID card

Keys can be picked up or returned during the day by stopping by one of the following offices or contacting a listed person – be sure to bring your ID if you need assistance.

There is no charge for keys. We expect keys to be returned when they are no longer needed.

To obtain keycard access to CS research labs, you need the following:

• authorization from a member of the faculty or staff
• your RU ID card

Request to issue or update an individual card will usually be completed within one business day.

All CS registered students will be given access to the iLabs for one year, automatically renewed yearly. You will have access as long as you are registered for a CS class. If, for some reason, your card does not work, let us know and include your full name as it appears on your ID card and your NetID.

Requests for doors to be unlocked at specific times should be sent to CS Helpdesk. Be sure to include the times and doors in the request.

To electronically revise access privileges to an existing card, you must identify the card and have a faculty or staff member authorize the change. Swipe your card three times in succession on any door to determine it. When requesting, include the door number at which it was swiped and the date and time.

Who to contact

Unscheduled system failure affecting more than one keycard or more than one door should be reported by emailing keycards911@cs.rutgers.edu. Reports to this email will be handled as an emergency and responded to as quickly as possible. Please do not use this email to report problems with individual cards or keys.

If you are locked out of a room during normal business hours due to a lost or missing keycard or key, you may stop by one of the following offices or contact one of the following people. If you are locked out after hours, you must wait until the following business day to gain access.

Information to include in a report

The following information helps diagnose and correct problems. When reporting an issue, please include as many of the following: Before reporting a problem, please swipe at least three times with a five-second pause between swipes.

• The time and door where the problem occurred
• The status of the lights on the reader before swiping. In normal operations, the green light is on when the door is locked, and the red light is off. When a door has been scheduled to be unlocked, the green light should blink.
• The status of the lights after swiping. If the red light comes on, the system will read your card and determine whether access should be denied. When the system allows access, the green light will blink.

The following are some common failure modes.

• No lights on the reader before swiping
• Green light lit before swiping, green light blinks after swiping, and the door does not unlock.
• The door is always unlocked (the green light may or may not be lit).
• Lock continually makes load noise or makes load noise when unlocking

Keys to swipe-carded rooms are special security keys and cannot be issued to faculty, staff, or students.

In the event of an unscheduled system failure, staff can unlock doors and provide access to labs. If you need a door unlocked during such a failure, please call the operational staff at 848-445-2443.

It is strongly recommended that labs refrain from managing their keys, but this can be arranged with the permission of the Department Chair. For the lab to manage its keys, it must assume all lock and key costs and maintain records of what keys have been issued to whom.