Coin-op for printers-Responses (WARNING...LONG!)
Floyd Ingram
fingram at mindspring.com
Tue Nov 17 22:09:10 EST 1998
Cross-posted.
These are the replies (without name & address of replier) to my request
about coin-op for printers:
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "We ran into this same problem in our Community
College Library. Our solution was to put all the network printers behind
the main Circulation Desk, and charge ten cents per copy. If people want to
print things, they have to pay at the desk. This means there is no coin
box. Of course if you have a policy of not charging for printouts, this
set-up would not work.
*******
FW: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers "Floyd,
We have a similar situation in our libraries - 10-15 pc's with Internet
access
connected to a single HP laser.
A couple of years ago, we spent a good deal of time investigating software
for
charging student accounts, coin op possibilities, etc. No luck at all. At
a
minimum, the possible solutions required our students to logon each time
they
used the workstations, which was out of the question at the time (and still
is)
because of the 3-5 minute wait to boot the machines.
Our circ manager thought up a very simple idea: sell manual punchcards to
the
students, just for laser printing in our two libraries. We pride ourselves
on
being very technologically advanced, etc., but this idea seemed to be worth
a
try. Each card has punches for 100 pages, with two denominations (15
""5's"" and
25 ""1's"" on each card), and we sell them for $5 each. Actually, we
usually
charge the $5 to a student's account.
This system works like a charm. No major coordination project with our
Computing folks, who have the same printing problem but choose to use an
honor
system for each printer (student signs name with how many pages are printed,
and
the totals are hand tallied each semester and charged against the students'
accounts!). Before we introduced the cards, we offered free printing. Once
the
cards were introduced, our printing volume dropped some 75%. The 5
cent/page
charge allows us to cover our costs for paper and toner and spoiled pages.
I'm sure this idea wouldn't work for even a moderately sized university, but
we
have 3600 students between our two campuses.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Floyd, there are several vendors that provide a
good solution for charging
users/patrons for printing. We have been doing it for the last 3 years,
through
our local copying vendor - Copico. The software we use is from a company
called
""ITC Systems"" (www.itcsystems.com) which works on both Novell and NT
environments. There is another (very good) company called ""uniprint""
which
offers a similar solution.
*******
Networked printer "Good morning!
We have located our networked printer behind the circulation desk. People
can print from Internet stations or from the word processing stations and
pick their work up at the desk. We charge 10 cents per page. Occasionally
we get multiple copies of something because people are expecting it to come
out at their workspace (despite signs and explanations to the contrary), but
usually it works well and we have very little problem monitoring it.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "I have worked with several libraries to use
Uniprint
(http://pharos.co.nz/) and it seems to be a good solution. However,
Uniprint needs to use a NT server and only debit cards are used to
charge for printing in those libraries.
*******
RE: Coin-op for printers "I can't vouch for it, but we are beginning to
investigate a system made
by XCP, Inc -- www.xcp.com --- for vending printing. What I would like
to do is to give students an allowance and charge after it is used up.
The XCP system is supposed to allow setting up accounts. Charging can be
done with debit cards or coin-op. One problem is maintaining another
patron file, unless that could be downloaded from our library system.
Have not goten that far in the investigation. This system is, I have
been told, installed in the library at the Houston Babtist College, but
again I have not actually looked at it.
*******
Re: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers "Hi Floyd. We don't allow printing yet
for just that reason. Instead users
download to disk for printing elsewhere. (makes us real popular with the
lab next door ;-) We're looking into solutions. An interesting one seems
to be UnipriNT http://www.pharos.com/
Please summarize for the list. I'm sure there are lots of us out there who
are intrested in what you find.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Floyd,
What we do at Emporia State University is the students bring their own
paper. Then the printing is free. If they do not have paper then it is
ten cents a page, mistakes and all. This charge is steep enough that the
students bring their own paper 99% of the time. We also have the printer
behind the main desk, and the person in charge collects the money or the
blank paper at the time of printing.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Hi,
We have the same problem here at Connecticut College. So far, we've
decided to route all printing from our 30 PC's to two large printers
located behind the circ. desk (although not run by circ. staff). We're
hoping that making people get up to retrieve their print outs will make
them think twice about printing. We're also considering charging people
for all non library related print outs (i.e. internet and email). If
people have to pay to make photocopies, why not charge them for some
printing? We'll probably only charge 5 cents a page. The paper we have
to keep buying is expensive but so are the toner cartridges for the
printers.
*******
Coin-op for printers "We had a problem with printing but our major expense
concern was the no. of
ink cartridges having to be replaced. We started charging 5 cents per page
and had the printers located behind the circulation desk. This cut down
tremendously on printing. Students picked up their copies and paid at the
desk.
*******
RE: Coin-op for printers "Hello Floyd,
I can answer at least one of your questions. Canon makes a
printer/copier (GP200 digital printer) which we have connected to a
network of four computers. It works fine just as a printer, and
although it has coin-op capabilities, we have turned off the copier/coin
functions and just use it as a printer from the network (we don't charge
students for this). Our network is running Win NT. For more
specifications, I can give you our systems librarian's email address -
if you are interested.
*******
RE: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers "The vendor that supplies us with our
copy machines has also installed a
coin-op and debit card solution to our print server. I am willing to
bet that if you call your vendor that does the copy machines (or the
coin-op if it is a separate outfit) that they will steer you in the
right direction.
*******
Re: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers "
Floyd:
Here at Mills we have also had this problem. This year we are using a
company called IKON to provide printer and copy services. They provide
service, toner and paper for the three copy machines and paper and toner
for the one printer what will print from all the PC's and Mac in the
Library. There are also card readers on the microfilm readers if patrons
want to print out something. We provided a PC that is connected to the
reader and the printer. Students send their jobs to the printer, go the
print monitor, scan their card, select the job they want printed and pick
up the print out. This has cut down on the amount of waste in supplies
and has made patron more selective of what they want to print.
The down side has been that the labs are being used more and sees an
increase in the amount of wasted paper. We had encouraged them to join us
in this project, but they took a wait and see position. They are now very
interested in using the process as well.
We have it running on an NT, but it can run on a novell network as well.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "We've installed spooler software and a card reader
from XCP who also supply the
copy cards for our photocopiers. Details on request.
*******
RE: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers "We elected to try an interim ""low
tech"" solution before implementing a
network printing solution. Our public services coordinator purchased
some plastic coin boxes and placed them by every public printer. The
public has seriously reduced their printing and we have collected enough
money to pay for the boxes. Next year we will try a network solution
but for now, for us, this made a difference.
*******
fee-based printing solution. "Hi Floyd,
My Dean forward your question about coin-op printing on to me. I'm the
systems librarian here at MTSU and am in a pretty good position to relate
our experience. I had a colleague at another institution ask me about our
print solution just the other day, so I'm going to paste my response to her
into this message. She had several questions, so if this seems awfully
verbose, that's why. I was responding to several questions in one
narrative.
We currently have an Electronic Information Center with approximately 36
workstations. We're also about to move into our new library building (due
to open January 5th,) which will feature some 320 public workstations.
We use a solution from a company called GoPrint Technologies.
8100 Lomo Alto, Suite 201
Dallas TX 75225
800-657-6166
Attn: Steve Weldon
It is Novell Netware 3.12-based and consists of an external print-server
to which print jobs are routed, a touch-screen payment-station, a
coin/bill acceptor, and a debit-card reader... oh, and a printer, of
course.
The way it works is, a user at one of our public computers (we're a
Windows 95 environment) produces a print job. This can be either a web-
based print job from Infotrac, Lexis-Nexis, ERIC, or some other web-based
resource, or a CDROM based database ... many of which still have a DOS-
based user interface. The print job is captured by a specified print queue
which routes the job to the print server. The print server notifies the
payment station of the print job along with the ID of the workstation that
created the job, (we name our public workstations after well-known authors
here.)
The user selects the job by touching the workstation's name on the
payment station's touch-screen. The touch-screen notifies the user how
much the job costs. The user inserts coins or bills, or swipes their
debit card which communicates with the campus ""RaiderFund"" system to
debit the correct value from their account. This releases the print job to
the
networked printer. The printer squirts out the printed sheets and the user
goes away happy.
We bought an HP 5 SiMX printer with the optional 2,000-sheet feeder. This
reduces the staff hassle of having to replace paper to less than once a
day. We intend to incorporate a duplexer in the next printer so that it'll
print front and back. This will slow down the print output a little bit,
but it'll save paper. We currently charge $0.10 per page, but probably
will drop that to $0.05 when we add the duplexer. The system is flexible
enough to permit charging different amounts for different print queues.
So, if we incorporated a color printer for instance, we could have jobs
sent to the color printer queue and charge a different rate for those
prints. The print server can serve multiple payment stations, and payment
stations can service multiple printers, either different print queues, or
print service can be speeded up by having multiple printers attached to
the same print queue. If one job is being printed on one printer, the
other printer is available for the next job. It's highly flexible.
We paid in the neighborhood of $25,000 for the initial printserver
license, the printserver workstation, the touch-screen payment station
with software, the coin/bill acceptor, and the security kiosk it all lives
in. We bought the HP printer off of state contract. It was around
$4,000, I believe. The debit card reader we already had on hand, but I
think the cost for that was around $1,200. We are currently taking in
around $800 to $1,500 per week on the payment station in cash alone
depending on the time of year. I don't know what we're taking in on the
debit card side as that gets reported to the administrative office, not to
me. It'll take a while to recover the cost of the system, but we think
it's worth it. Students don't send 300- page jobs to the printer then
walk off, nor do they send multiple instances of the same job because they
didn't think the job started printing soon enough so they start pounding
on the keyboard. The print server intercepts those types of errors.
Also, if a job isn't paid for within a specified time, it is automatically
deleted from the queue so old unwanted jobs don't just sit there and
accumulate.
When we move into the new building, we will be expanding the system to 10
public payment stations. That will be 4 on the ground floor at the
Electronic Information Center, and 2 each on each of the three upper
floors at the Scholar Workstation areas. The printstations on the upper
floors will have debit card readers only. We don't want cashboxes left
lying about in unstaffed areas. We will have a bill-acceptor machine in
the copy center on the ground floor, which will allow students to add
value to their ID-debit cards, or to allow the public to purchase a ""guest
card"" which is a debit card, like the student ID, but is anonymous, and is
only good for use as a debit card... it can't be used as an ID. We're
getting that equipment from Diebold, the folks we got our ID card system
from.
We have a quotation from GoPrint to supply us with the upgrade for
approximately $53,000. As you can see, there are some economies of
scale. It's not cheap, but it sure is reliable. GoPrint is coming out with
a
WindowsNT version of their print solution this fall, and we will be
migrating
to that. The cost for the migration was also built into the quotation.
The system is very user friendly. We have put out no training materials.
The students just walk up to the touch-screen and follow the instructions.
Hope this is of some value, and that I haven't put you to sleep with all the
details. Let me know if I can be of any further help.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Dear Floyd,
We just installed a system called UnipriNT. It works well but
requires an NT server and someone knowledgable to set it up. We got the
system from our local IKON dealer. It uses copy cards, not coins. So far
we are just getting used to it. The company is from New Zealand but has
an office in Texas. I also saw this system at a Computers in Libraries
conference in Washington, D.C. last March.
I believe there are other systems out there but this one seemed to fit our
needs.
*******
Re: Coin-op Printing
It sounds like we have a similar setup here. We've got a pair of
Netware 4.11 servers housing about 50 cdrom databases which we make
available to about 20 public workstations. The workstations are split
into two islands, with each printing to an HP LaserJet 8000N through
Netware queues.
What we've done for cost recovery is establish a policy where the
first 5 pages per day are free, and every page thereafter is a nickel.
The honor system has worked pretty well so far (had it in place for
about a month and a half). After it's all said and done, we're
averaging about 1.1 - 1.2 cents per page per week. I think the
students really value that 5 pages free buffer, as the vast majority
I've talked to feel like the University nickel 'n dimes them to death.
Something else we're looking at doing is ""2-up"" printing (two pages
printed side by side on one sheet of paper). Because the HP8000 is a
postscript printer, we can use the postscript driver in both Win95 and
WinNT to do this. 4-up would be nice, but I think it shrinks the
pages down to much to squeeze 4 onto a sheet. We might also look at
duplexers for the printers, but that'll be a bit farther down the
road.
If the mandate comes down from above that we *have* to have strict
per-page cost recovery, the only realistic way I can see doing it is
by having all print jobs go to our Linux server and get creative with
some scripts. The only stuff I've seen out there for Netware and NT
costs an arm and a leg, and the capabilities of the software is
typically limited in any case.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Hi Floyd,
Don't know about any coin-ops but there is some software coming out from
various
companies (sorry, can't give you the names at the moment, but I'll try to
find
some information) that allows copy card machines to be hooked up. We'll
probably be doing that in the future, once I'm convinced it really does work
on
networked printers hooked up to several computers.
If you already use copycards with your copier(s) you might want to check
with
your vendor and see if they're working on something for computer printers.
*******
RE: Coin-op for printers "We found we had to start charging ten cents per
page. This deterred the
casual or kiddie user. Before we charged, we were bleeding to the tune of
$400.00 per month -- which killed our office supply budget line.
Now that we charge, our problems have been greatly reduced. If the
resource is free, people will tend to waste it.
If you know of any coin-op system, we would be interested in hearing about
this. Right now, we have patrons filling out receipts and presenting them
to the Circulation desk. Somewhat time-consuming. Coin-op systems would
be much better -- especially a smart coin-op system.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "
University of South Florida library (where we are based) has Uniprint from
Danka. We have 8 printers (6 in reference and 1 each in serials and
govdocs) serving 6-20 pc's each (depending on geography/usage). Each
printer has a card reader which accepts university ID or a generic card.
The same cards work in photocopiers, microform printers and soda and snack
machines around campus. Copies cost 4c, compared to 7-15c for various
other copiers and printers.
The system is not perfect -- there are fairly steady problems with
printing, but quite a lot are due to the idiosyncracies of all the
different cd's and databases people are printing from i.e. students don't
print what they mean to, and, because they're paying for it, they
complain.
We keep a couple extra card readers so we can swap out immediately if
there are mechanical problems with them (usually jammed with inappropriate
cards). The printers themselves are a bit finicky -- don't like the paper
drawer filled to the very top, but less prone to jams than, say, the
photocopiers.
Program problems with the system are not unusual, but they are predictable
and we've got 'scripts' for fixing them. The saving grace as far as all
of these is that Uniprint makes it fairly easy to shift jobs that are
queued up behind a problem to one of the other print stations. So, while
I think most of us are fairly satisfied, I'd think twice about having just
one printer.
*******
RE:Coin-op for printers "Hi Floyd
Y'know, funny you should mention this problem! We just added a networked
HP printer to our public access PCs. Day one: a holiday, limited hours, no
advertisement of the new printer, we used one ream of paper in under 4
hours. We now average 2-3 reams every day and a half or so. We have not
publicized the printer yet, and it hasn't been up for a week!
Anyway, we looked at the Lynx printing system. While not a coin-op, there
are several options including a system to force users to claim their jobs,
errors and all. Also, take a look at
http://www.tamu.edu/cis/systems/lss/documentation/non-restricted/workstation
_goals/printer_compare.html
They have compared a few systems and posted the results.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "At San Diego State Univ. we use the ITC card
system for networked pc's and
printers--6 pc's per printer. It took quite a bit of work on our part to
solve various technical problems, but it does work. Users can use the same
card for microform printers and reader printers as well.
*******
Printer situation "Hi, Floyd,
We're facing a similar situation and I recently asked the listservs
about charging for printouts to cut down on waste and provide revenue
for replacing toner cartridges, etc. Here's what I found:
Out of about 20 replies, almost all charged for printing, most 10 cents
per
page, some 5 cents. One was 8 cents, one or two 15 cents, one 3 cents.
Ten used a controlled system either with coin boxes attached to
printers, or
by having a networked printer behind a service desk (circ or reference)
where money was collected before the student got the printouts. Few
complaints about this system.
Six reported using an ""honor"" system with the printers out in the
""public""
area, either asking people to pay at a desk on their way out or by
having
them drop money into a box by the printer. 3 were happy with this
system, 3
not. Two of the 3 unhappy people switched to a controlled system and
found
they got 2-3 times the revenue.
Four or so reported using a mix of honor and controlled print charges.
Few
complaints here.
Special situations included charging less for citations than for full
text
(to encourage downloading articles to diskette or emailing them),
charging
more for multiple printouts of the same pages (to encourge use of the
copiers instead), free printing at dot matrix printers attached to
online
catalog terminals only.
*******
Coin-op for printers
Hi Floyd,
This is an issue that we are currently discussing at our library as
well. Our tech service people suggested a software package. They
have
a website at:
http://www.metrics.com/Products/PRS/
No decision has been made though and I would be interested in hearing
what kind of solutions other libraries have. If possible, if you could
send some of the replies you get along to me, or a wrap-up on the
listserv that would be great.
*******
printing -Reply
Floyd,
We are a small, rural community college. Our 8 (soon to add 6 more)
public access PCs are all networked to one laser printer behind the
circulation desk through a LAN in the LRC. Printing is 10 cents a copy,
pick it up when you leave (signs on terminals and announced in tours).
As our students must also sign-in with a photo i.d. at the circulation
desk to use a P.C., they have to stop by when finished and we just
glance at the printer and ask if they printed something. Before this
setup, when dot matrix printers were connected to every 2 terminals,
we
had a lot of waste and discarded printing in trashcans even though they
were supposed to pay at the desk. Now unclaimed printouts are few
and
far between. Our HP Laser Jet 5N printer is very reliable and quiet,
too.
When I was a student at Texas Woman's University, there was also a
central printer for all the database terminals. Somehow, they had it
set up so that a coversheet with the terminal number printed first, a
way to keep printouts separate. They did not charge.
*******
Printing -Reply
Hi-
You may want to contact Ann Thornton at the New York Public Library
Science, Industry and Business Library (athornton at nypl.org-I think).
Last I recall they had a room with multiple PCs and 1 printer for public
prining from the web and databases. They used a vend card rather than
cash. Hope this helps.
Gale Stevenson
*******
Coin-op printers -Reply
Dear Mr. Ingram -
Saw your recent posting on Collib-l and wished to offer a quick
response. I
belive that the University of Pittsburgh's Hillman Library (the main
undergraduate library) has a coin-op printing system for its
users, a system that seemed to work well when I saw it in use (which
was in
the summer time).
*******
Printing Costs -Reply
We went to 10 cents a page for our computer printing (same as
coin-op
copier cost). We use the honor system, so don't know how much we
may be
losing. We just had too many types of networks and
stand-alone computers of all vintages to try to go with coin-op. When
our
toner costs hit $300 a month, we instituted the charge. There was a little
complaining at first, but most patrons understand the need.
Anyway it did cut down on frivolous printing and we are saving a lot of
paper.
Those without the funds can still use the old-fashioned paper and
pencil
option to copy the material. We even loan them the pencil and some
scrap
paper.
*******
network printer -Reply
Floyd Ingram:
We just installed the ""GoPrint"" solution to our printing debacle. We were
going through several reams of paper in two days and had to do
something.
We now use a vendor card system similar to swiping of a credit card to
gather the monies. What an improvement! We have only had the system
for
two weeks and we are still on the inital ream of paper!!!
The network guys did not like dealing with the installation of the two
concurrent systems, but as a user it really fits my bill!
*******
Re: coin op printing -Reply
Mr. Ingram:
We are using print controller software and a T-card machine from XCP to
run our HP5si on a WindowsNT network. We have only just started and
are
having some problems so this is not a ""how we did it good""
recommendation, just information.
The print controller software is not at all intuitive, we have had to
put *explicit* instructions on each terminal connected to the printer.
The printing process has far too many steps without many on-screen
cues
to help the user. The step-by-step instructions we've posted deal with
most of this problem, but not all. With this software, I've had to give
each OPAC terminal an individual network login name and password so
that
all the print jobs would not be dumped into a common file. If the jobs
were identified clearly this would not be a problem but they are
identified by the URL of the page being printed and only the first 25 or
so characters are visible on-screen. Since most of our printing is done
from common sites like UMI/Proquest or FirstSearch, 25 characters is not
enough to distinguish one job from another. This also requires that the
user be aware of which numbered OPAC she used so that she may
request
the appropriate print file.
On the vend-a-card side we are having problems with the software
misjudging the number of pages in a job. When a print job is sent from
an OPAC the PC software tells the number of pages sent, when the
same
job gets to the printer controller PC the XCP software shows a greater
number of pages sent. The vend-a-card machine deducts the greater
number of ""clicks"" from the T-card but the print out is equal to the
lesser number of pages. A two page print out will be charged as if it
were five pages. Since this problem just came to my attention this week
I don't yet have any solutions to tell you about. At this point I'm not
even sure if it's a problem with the software or with the sites we're
printing from.
I don't know whether we will be able to make this software work or if
we
will have to look for another way of handling printing. I have heard
that Queen's College in Charlotte has a system that is working well; if
I cannot make the XCP system work I am planning to visit them and take a
look at what they are using. You might want to contact them yourself.
*******
printing -Reply
Floyd,
We at Seton Hill have 8 pc's printing to an hp5si. The printer is located
in a staff area. a banner precedes each printjob with the location on it.
Students pay $.05/page.
They must remember their station and ask for the print job at the circ
desk. The first semester we at least covered the cost of the toner
cartridge. We do not charge faculty or staff for prints. Also, only 4 of
the pc's are public stations.
We have old dot-matrix printers at 3 of the four stations where students
can print for free. I believe this has cut down on the amount of laser
printed documents. Since they have to pay to get a good copy, they do
think before they press the print button. Hope this helps!
*******
coin-op -Reply
We privatized our copy services several years ago. It was one of the
smartest decisions we've made. We went with Copy Duplicating
Products which has since been acquired by IKON Office Solutions. We
went for a total vend situation. Copy machines, film/fiche reader
printers, computer printers, copy cards, bill changers, etc. the
whole 9 yards. Our vend contract includes service, paper, toner,
money for the changers and all supplies. We are now looking at the
UniPrint system they have to address our network printing problems.
Western Michigan Univ. in Kalamazoo, Mi. just installed it this fall
but Wayne State Univ. in Detroit has had it for some time and seem
WELL pleased with it.
Network printing solutions are something we all are looking for.
Paper and toner and ribbon costs were killing us.
We are in the midst of a building project where when we have the new
Library (FLITE = Ferris Library for Information, Technology and
Education) we will have over 300 computers in our Information Commons
area to start with and plan on eventually expanding that. We hope to
go with the UniPrint system for the new building.
I can't wait to get out of the printing/copying business altogether.
*******
Re: [WEB4LIB] Coin-op for printers -Reply
Hi Floyd,
Do you charge for printing at all right now? We had a lot of problem
with people wasting paper when we offered printouts for free. The
day we put a sign on the printers that all printouts were 10 cents
each, the printing dropped dramatically. They pay ""on their honor""
but we don't hear the printers going quite as often as when printouts
were free.
We have a network laser printer in our Periodicals Dept. (with 5
workstations connected) and will be putting in a 2nd one in our
Reference Dept. (with 13 workstations connected). People just come
to the desk, ask for the printouts from their workstation and pay
the staff member. So far it's working out fine for us. Special
software and coin-op systems were way too expensive for us to
consider.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Hi,
To quote the t-shirt - ""Been there, done that, didn't like it.""
We have about 3000 undergrads and another 500-700 grad students. Up until
last January we had 6 GALILEO pcs in the Reference dept of the library and
1 laser printer.
There were constant problems with the printer. It was slow and jobs would
back up until students were waiting for 2 hours or more for their
printouts. This was partly because students would print the same thing
multiple times and we had no way to clear those jobs from the print que.
Also, for awhile it seemed like every second student was printing a picture
from the net and pictures were taking just forever to print. We were
charging .10 per page to print, but it was on the honor system and students
would often print stuff and just walk off and leave it if it took too long
to get the print.
Over last Winter break we moved the pcs and reconfigured the lan. Now the
one laser printer is keeping up just fine and everyone is much happier. We
also have a print server from which we can monitor the jobs and delete the
multiples. It's a big help. At the same time, we stopped charging. At
.10 per print, it simply wasn't worth the time and hassel to deal with the
money.
Now we are seeing much less paper waste and everyone seems much happier
with the arrangement. Of course, I tell them that we are not charging for
prints and when the budget is gone we will stop printing and everyone will
have to download to a disk and go to one of the word processing labs.
Since we have begun telling the students that, the paper waste has dropped
off considerably, but I can't say if there is a real connection between the
two events. Also, as we are not charging them, I feel comfortable in
running orphan copies back through the printer. Even with that, we are
going through a bit more than a box of paper per week. That goes up around
mid-term and toward finals week when everyone is going crazy.
I am always looking for ways to use debit cards to pay for printing, but so
far have found nothing that seems workable for our situation. I really do
not want to get back to handling money, but I would like some way to recoup
the expense of the printing.
Another solution would be to charge everyone a computing fee when they
enroll - say $50.00 per semester and then divide the money among the labs
on campus. So far, I haven't been able to generate much interest in that
among the administration.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "We made a change this fall that I feared would
have a negative backlash for
the library, but so far has not. When we automated our catalog in 1989 we
provided free printing so that students could create a printout before
heading to the stacks to find books. Most printouts were a page or two.
We went through a few cloth ribbons and a couple of boxes of sprocket feed
paper a year. By last year we had a multitude of electronic indexes, full
text articles, and the WWW accessible from 12 public computer stations.
We would regularly find printouts 20 to 40 pages long abandoned at the
printers. Reference staff were constantly restocking paper in the 4
printers. We went through 30 boxes of paper and over 80 ribbons last year.
The students vote each year on how their technology fee money is spent.
Last spring they voted to give the library money to add four computers a
year so our 16 will never be more than four years old. I didn't want hurt
that good will but I was also concerned at the trend in the cost of free
printing.
This year we installed a laser printer behind the circulation desk and
charge a dime a page for printing from 14 public computer stations. There
are signs on the computers warning that the printing is not free. We have
left two computers with dot matrix printers attached and those two are
still free. I got mailing labels with the names of all returning students
and sent a letter to each one thanking them for the perpetual funding of
public library computers, noting that fee money has never funded our
printing operation and explaining how the free printing cost had gotten out
of hand, but that there would still be two machines with free printing as
long as the printers lasted.
Now in the fourth week of the new quarter, I have not heard a single
protest. Of course the students prefer the free printing, but the amount
of supplies used is greatly reduced. I did not expect the laser printer to
be self sustaining. It was purchased from the photocopy account which
usually has a surplus, and I consider it subsidized. It is an imperfect
solution to a complicated public relations problem.
*******
printing system "Hi,
In August, 1998 we implemented a printing system using UnipriNT software.
Previously we had dot-matrix printers, one per two work stations. Like
you, we found that alot of paper was wasted, and the print quality was
poor. We reference librarians were constantly un-jamming the printers and
changing ribbons.
Now, the situation is much better. We have over one hundred databases
accessible from thirty-five or so workstations (some on our Windows NT
network) in the reference area, and virtually all of them print from our
UniprNT workstations. Each Print Station consists of a PC connected to a
large HP Laser printer. A card reader (no coins possible) reads the card.
The system's screen tells how much the job will cost and the balance on
the individual's card. If the price is agreeable, the user gives the
command to print. If that command is not given in two hours, the job is
deleted. That time could be lengthened. The cards we use are the same
cards used for photocopying; copies are $.07 per page. Users can add to
their cards on photocopy machines.
>From this reference librarian's perspective, the system is working well,
though I hear it works not as well with DOS databases as Windows.
Occasionally we've been short on cards when the card vending machines were
out of order. Now Circulation keeps cards. In the worst scenario, from
the Ref.Desk we can send jobs to the printer. By the way, we're using the
system in our library computer lab, also.
Our small committee made a trip to Illnois State U. where they seemed
pleased with the system.
UniprNT is software developed by Pharos Systems in New Zealand
(www.pharos.co.nz). Their products section will lead you to
www.uniprint.co.nz/. I believe our local set-up is through Itek Co.
If you need information from our technical people here, I can put you in
contact.
By the by, I'll be visiting Hilton Head after Christmas. Are there any
""must see"" places nearby?
*******
printing system -Reply
Hi,
In August, 1998 we implemented a printing system using UnipriNT
software.
Previously we had dot-matrix printers, one per two work stations. Like
you, we found that alot of paper was wasted, and the print quality was
poor. We reference librarians were constantly un-jamming the printers
and
changing ribbons.
Now, the situation is much better. We have over one hundred databases
accessible from thirty-five or so workstations (some on our Windows NT
network) in the reference area, and virtually all of them print from our
UniprNT workstations. Each Print Station consists of a PC connected to
a
large HP Laser printer. A card reader (no coins possible) reads the
card.
The system's screen tells how much the job will cost and the balance on
the individual's card. If the price is agreeable, the user gives the
command to print. If that command is not given in two hours, the job is
deleted. That time could be lengthened. The cards we use are the same
cards used for photocopying; copies are $.07 per page. Users can add
to
their cards on photocopy machines.
>From this reference librarian's perspective, the system is working well,
though I hear it works not as well with DOS databases as Windows.
Occasionally we've been short on cards when the card vending
machines were
out of order. Now Circulation keeps cards. In the worst scenario, from
the Ref.Desk we can send jobs to the printer. By the way, we're using
the
system in our library computer lab, also.
Our small committee made a trip to Illnois State U. where they seemed
pleased with the system.
UniprNT is software developed by Pharos Systems in New Zealand
(www.pharos.co.nz). Their products section will lead you to
www.uniprint.co.nz/. I believe our local set-up is through Itek Co.
If you need information from our technical people here, I can put you in
contact.
*******
Printing
Dear Floyd,
I'm responding to your LIBREF message about printing problems. Here
at Canisius College, in Buffalo, New York, we have a similar problem.
We
have just acquired an add-on device for our laser printer to make it print
on both sides of the paper, and we have set the printing to draft mode to
save on toner. We also eliminated an initial banner page for each print
job. Those steps have helped, but we are also wondering what to do
next.
Please let us know what other responses you get. Payment systems
seem
very complex and expensive. We'd like to hear about some good ones.
*******
Coin-op for printers -Reply
Hi. I saw your post the other day, but this is the first chance I've had to
send you my .02 cents worth.
We've had a similar problem in the past and may have again in the near
future.
With us it was our Image Workstations (fulltext thru UMI) when we first
got
them. People were copying EVERYTHING and often turning around
and not using it. About 5 years ago we went with COPICARD. Students
can
purchase cards that have been already set for $5.00. Each time a copy
is made
(image, photocopy or microfilm copy) .05 cents is deducted.
Now you can set the Copicard boxes to deduct whatever you want to
charge/copy.
The same goes for how much you want the preset cards to be set for.
You CAN
buy a machine that allows a card to be set for different
amounts, but we decided to go ahead with the preset cards.
At 5 cents a copy we're not recovering our costs, but we are recovering
some
and we've lowered wastage. Copicard is not cheap, but it's been
reliable and
the students seem to tolerate it. Also, we found that it's
saved a lot of staff time that was being taken up by having to get change
for
people who wanted to make copies. Over the years we've added two
photocopiers
and one microfilm reader/printer to Copicard. We're looking
to replace one or both of our microfiche reader/printers and Copicard will
be
attached. The only ""negative"" is that we sometime have a problem with a
community patron who doesn't want to purchase a Copicard for just a
few
copies. We have some ""staff"" cards that we use to get them their
copies and
then they pay us.
Our future problem is that we're going to be getting a network laser
printer
for our computer lab and I'm not sure that it'll have a Copicard box
attached
to it. What we really need (but can't afford at the moment)
is a system that keeps track of print jobs by workstation and then allows
the
user to print all his/her jobs at the same time (and so pay for them with a
Copicard). Oh well, maybe in next year's budget.
*******
RE: Coin-op for printers "Until this fall we had always provided ""free""
printing from our public
terminals, with old, reliable Thinkjet printers attached to each Wyse
terminal. But with the gradual replacement of our old terminals with PCs,
and a corresponding migration to a Web catalog and Internet access
(including a subscription to 1,100 full text electronic journals) we
anticipated greatly increased demand for printing. We knew the old dot
matrix printers wouldn't do the job, we couldn't afford to purchase all new
printers, and even if we could we probably couldn't afford to supply them
with ink and paper.
The solution we adopted this fall was to invest in a network printing
""solution"" called Uniprint, offered by IKON Office Solutions. We visited
a
nearby university library which had implemented the system and we liked what
we saw. Essentially, the system is composed of one or more (depending on
your size) high speed, good quality printers, a PC print station with each
printer, a server to control the system, and debit card readers attached to
each printer. When students wish to copy a document from a public terminal,
they hit the print key and the printing job is sent to the printer. There,
students insert a debit card (which they purchase in the library), the
system displays how much money the job will cost (and the balance on their
cards), and students are free to OK the printing or not. Unused print jobs
erase themselves after a couple of hours. The system also permits ""no
cost""
options for users, emailing of jobs to a personal account and downloading to
floppy disk.
The system allows some customization. We decided to provide the first page
of any print job free of charge, to allow for printing catalog refs, and to
charge five cents per copy for each subsequent page (we charge ten cents per
copy on the paper copiers). We hope the system will pay for itself (license
fee plus paper and ink), and we will know better after the first year. So
far, very few complaints.
*******
Re: Coin-op for printers "Floyd, we started with a 10-station PC lab & now
have 35. The least
expensive solution for us at the beginning was to purchase a switch box
(approx. $50) and a vendacard unit similar to that used on our copy
machines (approx. $700); we then connected up to 8 PC's to the system &
students were very pleased. The revenue that we made paid for the 2 pieces
in no time. Once we expanded to 35 machines we added 2 more lasers & the
same capability and that worked well for another 2 years until our college
could come up with a network printing solution. We have that solution now,
so students have options of sending their print jobs to a system printer in
another location of the college, or continuing to use their vendacards &
send their printing to our printers. Since this has been installed our
revenue has decreased drastically because the system printing is free for
the first 160 copies & of course printing in the library is not. Students,
however like having both options, and with less pressure on our lasers,
they will probably last a bit longer.
We use HP lasers in the lab and our system printers are Lexmark. Our
vendacard system is ICS (Interface Control Systems, St. Louis Missouri).
*******
print cost -Reply
Mr.Ingram
I am the network guy at The University of Tennessee at Martin.I have
spent
quite a bit of time and effort on print charging.I dont know all of the
answers,probably dont know the best answer but here is what we
have done.
For quite some time we used a product called pcounter.It is an NLM that
runs on the novell server and uses Novell's accounting feature to deduct
X
numner of credits for each page printed.It worked fine.The problems
were as
follows:Each person has to have an individual login and has to have
credit
on his account before he can print.So the problem was, Who takes the
Money
and gives the credit?
So we gave each person x number of credit when we made their
account for
free.When they used that up they had to come and grovel to the
Computer
Center Director and ask for more credit.If they had a legitimate reason for
using up their print credit they would be given more if not they could buy
some more pages.Technically this was a good solution but the logistics
were
a pain.
You can find an evaluation of Pcounter on the
web.WWW.andtechnologies.com.
At present we are using Print Queue Manager from I.T.C systems.It
captures
the print jobs in one queue then a release stations releases them to the
active queue.After sending the print job the person goes to a dedicated
computer ""the print release station""selects the print job from a
screen.Then they are asked to put their card into the card reader.When
they
put the card into the reader the software deducts the price of the print
job and prints the job.
The software had been trouble free and I have found their tech support
to
be helpful.It is pretty pricey though, I believe it will cost about 1000.00
per printer and you will have to have a dedicated PC and will have to buy
a
card reader.which brings me to the problems that we have had.We used
a card
reader from Technology Products in PA.The card readers have given us
a lot
of trouble and the people at Technology Products have given us more.I
do
not suggest buying anything from Thchnology Products.We bought their
readers because we already had their system in the Library for
Copiers,already had money machines in place to put credit on the cards
and
so forth.If we ahd it to do over again I expect we would go with and all
ITC systems system,meaning that we would get card readers as well as
the
software from ITC.
If this sounds interesting you can call Cam Richardson at ITC systems
407-332-8303.Cam has always been very helpful.Or the Canada office
at
416-754-0208
***********************************************************************
MSC 25
Floyd Ingram
Director of Library Services
Benedict College
Columbia, South Carolina 29204-1086
Voice: (803) 253-5182 or 5181; Fax: (803) 540-2528
E-mail: < mailto:ingramf at benedict.edu> OR <mailto:fingram at mindspring.com>
***********************************************************************
More information about the Web4lib
mailing list