Library’s GoPrint system begins Oct. 18
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
Beginning this month, students and users of the MUSC Library’s student microcomputer labs will switch to a new pay-for-print system for all printing services.
Candace
Moorer, library tech assistant, demonstrates the touch screen at the print
queue station as part of the GoPrint Print Management System.
Users will be charged a rate of 7 cents per side for printing. The GoPrint system operates using a GoPrint debit card. To facilitate the change, MUSC students will receive a GoPrint card valued at $10 for free printing (about 140 copies).
The library’s decision to proceed to a pay-for-print system was not an easy one, according to MUSC Library director Tom Basler, Ph.D.
“Despite the circumstances, the library’s decision to move towards charged printing goes against the grain of our mission to support health care education and our service principles, in that it places an ‘intermediary’ in the process and creates a potential bottleneck to the ease of work,” Basler said.
For the last couple of years, MUSC Library and administration officials have shied away from imposing a charge for printing services through the library. With online technology impacting the availability of paper-based materials and the state’s continued decline of funding support for higher education, library administrators settled on a cost-effective measure that most of their counterparts already required.
Throughout this time, the library has tried to maintain a cooperative and realistic attitude about the printing dilemma. Basler and library admini-stration are working closely with Student Government Association (SGA) student leaders, faculty and university administrators toward effective solutions that would curb the need for unnecessary printing and improve communications between the groups. For instance, throughout the GoPrint system’s interim period last month, students were invited to make user recommendations and improvements prior to it going live.
MUSC students have been concerned about the change and its ultimate financial costs to them. Charges for paid printing added to yet another 15 to 20 percent tuition increase make students feel more financially burdened.
“Students, in general, are not resistant to change,” said Hunter White, a third-year medical student serving as SGA academic vice president. “We believe there could have been other ways to introduce and handle this particular issue.”
The library’s selection of the GoPrint Print Management System met many criteria, according to Basler. It offered flexibility, ease-of-use, and more advanced features of any self-service print management system in the market today. Most importantly, the system operates on a cross-platform, single- server system that can accommodate both PCs and Macs, computer systems found in the microcomputer labs, Basler said.
The GoPrint system is widely used in academic libraries and computer centers at more than 150 colleges and academic institutions across the country. GoPrint subscribers include medical-related institutions like the University of Colorado Health Science Center and the State University of New York at Stony Brook Health Science Center, plus larger, traditional campuses including the University of Chicago, University of Oklahoma and University of San Francisco.
The system works like this: As a user prepares to print from a network workstation, he or she clicks through a computer’s print set-up to send a job to a print queue station, which holds the job and awaits its release to the network printer. Print jobs are redeemed at the touchscreen PayStation where users confirm their print jobs to proceed and pay for their transaction by scanning their GoPrint debit card in the card reader.
With a picture ID, students can pick-up their GoPrint card from today through the end of the fall 2004 semester, Dec. 17. Only students starting in spring 2005 will receive cards after this distribution period. Cards can be purchased at the second- and fourth-floor service desks or at a self-serve GoPrint Revaluing Station, located on the Library’s fourth floor. The GoPrint debit cards can be purchased using cash, checks, charge (Visa/MasterCard) or departmental IITs.
FAQ's about the new pay-for-print system
How much does it cost?
Printing from all library computers is $.07 per side, beginning Oct.
18.
How
do I pay for my print job?
A GoPrint card needs to be purchased in order to print.
Where can I purchase a card?
Cards may be purchased from 3 locations:
- $1 value cards may be purchased from the revaluing stations on the library's 4th floor.
- $1 to $50 value may be purchased at the 4th-floor service desk. Cash, checks, charge (Visa/MasterCard $5 minimum) or departmental IITs ($20 minimum) will be accepted.
- $1 or $5 value at the library's 2nd-floor service desk.
How do I add value to the card?
- Value may be added by cash at the revaluing stations on the 4th floor, or at the 4th-floor service desk, using cash, check, charge (Visa/MasterCard $5 minimum) or departmental IITs ($20 minimum).
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