Printing costs

[Anne Kaay]

Hi All,

Many thanks to all who replied re: my question on printing (posted 11/02).  So far, I've received 10 responses so that gives me some idea of what others are doing.  If you haven't responded but would like to add your comments/experiences, please do so!

Overall, the responses were very useful and informative.  I should add that, currently, we are in a trial period with Pharos Uniprint; however, currently Pharos is only operational within the Library and currently, students are able to print for free in our Campus Computer Center.  Of course, the result of this is that students are doing all their printing over in the Computer Center.  

Here are the questions again with a summary of the responses I've received:

1. Is there anyfree printing in your libraries (e.g. citations from the catalog or from online databases)?

>From the responses, 5 libraries were not charging for printing and 5 libraries were charging. Of the 5 that were not charging for printing, 1 was in a test phase with Uniprint and plan on charging in the future.

There was some variability with respect to the kinds of fee for printing within some systems.  Some libraries could offer free printing for citations from the Library catalog but they would charge for printing from the Web or from documents not part of the campus catalog.  In some cases, those machines were restricted to the library catalog so it was not possible to browse the web and print Web-based documents.  In other cases, the software used to calculate printing fees was flexible enough to permit the library to have free printing for catalog citations (even with a web-based catalog) and to charge for printing documents that were not part of the campus OPAC (this system was GoPrint and thanks to Andrew White at the Health Science Center Library at SUNY @ Stony Brook for his reply).

3 libraries are looking at some printing cost recovery system (e.g. either Pharos Uniprint or GoPrint).

This was the 2nd question: 

2. To your knowledge, does your campus computer center charge for printing?
 
3 libraries indicated that their campus computer center charged for printing; 5 libraries responded that there was a charge for printing; however, students were also allowed a certain number of free prints/semester.  In some cases, these charges were covered by a technology fee which provided a limited number of free prints for students.  

The third question was:
3.  Are any printing charges for students associated with a kind of "technology fee" so students receive a certain amount of "free printing"?

5 libraries indicated that there was a technology fee at their schools and that some of the costs associated with these fees allowed students a certain amount of free prints.

Once again, thanks to all who responded.  It really helps to know what others are doing and I thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

Anne

Anne Kaay
Catalog & Systems Librarian/Coordinator - Women's Information Exchange
Trinity College
Phone: (202)884-9354
Email:  kaaya at trinitydc.edu