Controled Printing

[Nathan Schwartz]

We installed the a print system and it works fairly well. There are some
problems
that always crop up, but it does work 95% of the time. The system requires
NT and a dedicated win 3.1 print station. All computers that print to the
system can be win 3.1 or 95. Each machine must log into the NT server and
then send it's print jobs to the NT server. The software then move the jobs
to the win 3.1 print station. Then people just insert the card and click to
print their print job. All the computers are numbered and they just need to
pick the appropriate job based on the job number. Old jobs are automatically
deleted.

We did notice a dramatic decrease in printing. Before the system was
installed we gave people free printing and asked for voluntary payment. We
were using more than 15 reams of paper per week. Now we are under one ream
per week. We charge $1 per card with five "prints" already on it. People may
buy more "prints" for $1 = 10. Some people need extra help, but most people
don't mind paying for something if they really want it. Plus we offer free
printing from one dot-matrix printer if you want to sit and hand feed it.
Many patrons have thanked us for the system because now they do not have to
wait for the kids to print 15 copies of whatever and then 15 more just
because it's free. The most troublesome part was the setup and install. I
did it to save the library money, though I wonder if it was worth the time.
The benefit is that I know the system inside and out. I've written a two
page trouble sheet, help guide for staff so that I'm not called every time
it doesn't work correctly. It's not perfect, but best part is that now our
patrons have access to a laser printer for all printing needs from any
windows program on one of these computers.

There are five things to buy: Window NT, OCS Print software, card reader,
and card re-valuer /dispenser. I looked into several systems but it came
down to two choices. USA Technologies http://www.usatech.com/ and XCP
http://www.xcp.com/ The system lets you set up your photocopiers to use the
same card if you want. You could also have a library barcode printed on the
card to make it do everything you library needs or does. The cost per card
gets higher and you need an additional card readers for each photocopier. We
opted for the fewest options, though we might expand in the future. If you
want to go the extra mile, you can put a card reader in a double 5.25 drive
bay and have each machine vend it's own print jobs and computer time if that
is what you want. The cost is much higher this way, so we chose to have a
dedicated print vending machine. You could even let patrons use credit cards
with USA Tech.


TTFN
Nathan Schwartz
Automation Systems Manager
Anderson Public Library
http://www.acsc.net/apl

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