The Observer, September 15, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 3
New printing program increases convience and reduces wait time
Students used to waiting in long lines for printouts at Wade will now have more time to do constructive things like checking e-mail and beating that next level on a favorite video game.
This is because the Wade and Fribley printers have been taken offline and replaced with a new printing program called Print2Here. This new program features six printers placed across campus, many of which are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Implemented and run by Student Affairs IT Operations, the program is intended not only to making printing less of a hassle, but to reduce downtime, improve reliability, and decrease waste.
"Over the past couple of years, I hadn't been completely satisfied with the printing program as it was set up, and really pushed to make some major changes," said Joel Kraft, Director of IT Operations for Student Affairs.
The old Wade and Fribley system was found to be very unreliable and inconvenient. "We had some issues with the implementation of the client software in Windows, which caused the server to go down for a couple of weeks last spring," said Kraft.
"The old system was also quite wasteful. Our abandoned printout rate was pretty high, and there was a lot of staff time devoted to sorting it all out. Despite that, the hours of availability for printing were actually not that great."
Beginning in spring 2006, Student Affairs began looking into developing the Print2Here program in response to these issues . After speaking with several vendors, the department settled on an implementation designed by Xerox.
In the new configuration, each printer is self-contained, so a crash or failure of one printer has no effect on any of the others. Access to documents is provided by swiping one's student ID at the printer station, and selecting the document to print.
The print quota for the Print2Here program has been capped at 500 pages per semester per student.
"We found that 500 pages per semester would satisfy the vast majority of the students that used the program. Many of those that went over did so because they printed large jobs with a lot of copies," Kraft said.
If the quota is exceeded, the student's CaseCash account will be billed for $0.05 per page afterward until the quota is reset at the beginning of the next semester.
The six printers are located at Wade, House 3 in the Village, Thwing, Sears, Fribley, and Carlton Commons. Gaining access to the printers is relatively easy.
"To release your job, you simply swipe your card, and find your job in the print queue. Jobs will stay in the queue for two hours," Myles Nickolich said.
A potential issue with the printers is that they do not have constant supervision to ensure that they are operating correctly.
"There are definitely some tradeoffs, though. None of the printers have someone around 24/7 to fix jams," said Kraft.
During business hours, the printer detects any problems that occur and automatically sends out a maintenance request. "We hope that the printers are still available most of the time, even if there is an occasional overnight jam."
Student reactions to the new program are generally positive,"I'm happy they're free," said junior Alex Vance. "As long as I don't have to pay out of pocket."
However, some students have not noticed an improvement from the new printing system. "It hasn't really changed my life at all," said junior Jeff Lowry. "Printers in dorms would be a nice step up."
To set up the Print2Here printers, students should visit the program's website at http://studentaffairs.case.edu/programs/print2here/.
