Services & Policies - Fall 2000

Weinberg Library Introduces the Uniprint System for Laser Printing

At the beginning of the Fall 2000 semester, the Weinberg Library will introduce the Uniprint System, a hardware/software system designed to control laser printing abuse, waste and rising costs for the students. In using the system, all currently enrolled students will have a free 300 page allocation valued at $21.00 each academic year (200 pages at the beginning of the Fall semester and an additional 100 pages at the beginning of the Spring semester) to pay for any laser printing.
 
When a student's free pages are depleted, laser printing will cost seven cents per page and will be deducted from the student's Royal Card account.
 
Why this new system?To eliminate waste and conserve paper. Approximately 40% (200,000 sheets of paper in 1998/99) of laser prints are not picked up. It could be because the user found something better, changed his/her mind or some other reason. The Uniprint System gives the user a second chance to evaluate whether or not he/she wants the printout.
 
Where will the system be located?
Print pay stations will be located in the Pro Deo Room Lab on the Weinberg Library's 1st Floor and in the Electronic Indexes area on the 2nd Floor.
 
What will the system cost users?
Financially: Each academic year, 300 of a student's laser prints will be free. Students will receive an allocation of 200 pages at the beginning of the Fall semester and an additional 100 pages at the beginning of the Spring semester. During the pilot phase, September 2000, students will have up to an additional 300 copies. After use of the free copies, the cost of all printing or photocopying will be 7 cents a page. This represents a decrease in current photocopying charges from 10 cents to 7 cents.Time: You will need to swipe your Royal Card to authorize a print.
 
What will users gain?
Financially: You will save 3 cents on every photo/microcopy. This savings will help balance out the seven cents laser print.
 
Ecologically: Conservation of paper.
Investment: Money saved on supplies can go to upgrading equipment and/or acquiring more databases. Pease note that a second laser printer, a new HP Laser 8000, was added to the Pro Deo Room Lab.
 
How can a user avoid paying for copies?
There is no cost during the 300 page pilot phase (September 2000) or until you use the 300 page allocation (200 pages fall semester, beginning in October 2000 and an additional 100 pages in the spring semester).
 
You can select just the pages you need, e-mail your results to your own e-mail account, print from your own printer, save them to a disk or print from a dot-matrix machine.
 
Are other colleges and universities doing this too?
Yes. As more journals and resources are available electronically, many colleges and universities have established a balance between adding full-text and paying for laser printing. The Weinberg Library has chosen a break-even model for laser printing that still gives students free copies and provides a cost savings for photo/microcopying.
Charles E. Kratz
Pride, Passion, Promise: Experience Our Jesuit Tradition