Looking for public printing solutions...

[James Klock]

We're contemplating a set of new solutions to our public printing
situation, and would like some input, and some pointers, if anybody knows
of any...

We'd like to consider large-scale shared printing, but have a few
reservations (principally we want to prevent users from inadvertantly
printing scores of pages, while keeping the printing system as easy to use
as possible.)  One of the things that occurs to me as within the realm of
the feasible would be a server-side bit of software that intercepts print
jobs on their way to the networked printer and cuts them off at a
designated number of pages.  Does anyone know of this sort of tool?  

To help with crowd control, we're also looking to staple jobs together (not
difficult, just requires a serious enough printer) and print a banner page,
or better still, print banner information (workstation and time) as a
watermark on the first (and possibly subsequent) page(s).  Has anyone run
across a way of doing the latter (watermarking information sent from the
print server)?

We're also open to any suggestions or anecdotes that other libraries
(especially mid-sized public libraries) have regarding the issue of shared
printing.  What has worked, what hasn't, what are the pitfalls that you
have discovered.

Thanks for your help!

James