Printing fees at library decrease paper usage

Joshua Malina

University Libraries’ implementation of a pay-per-page print fee over Fall Break has dramatically decreased the amount of print jobs at Olin Library. Meanwhile, the Arts & Sciences Computing Center and ResTech computing labs, which still remain free, have seen only modest increases.

The three high-speed printers on Level One of Olin Library represent about 50 percent of printer use throughout the entire system. The printers have seen a nearly 80 percent decline in print jobs since the plan was implemented on October 20, compared to figures of the same period last year.

The Arts & Sciences computing lab in Eads Hall, which requires only that students use the computers for a class in the College of Arts & Sciences, has seen only a $640 increase in printing costs compared to the same period last year.

“It’s a drop in the bucket,” said Marcia Mannen, manager of the lab. “We have definitely seen an increase, but it’s not something that’s hurting us – not yet, at least.”

For Residential Technology Services, which maintains 24-hour computing labs in many of the residential colleges and apartments on campus, the change has been virtually non-existent.

“We have not seen any impact. I was surprised as well,” said Jan Weller, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Network Technology Services, which heads ResTech.

For students, the effects of the pay-to-print policy have been similarly mild, with only a few headaches along the way.

In the Danforth computing lab, where sophomore Piyanka Ghosal goes to do homework, the printer is often broken or out of toner, she said. Yet as an engineering student with 500 pages of free printing per semester at the Center for Engineering and Computer Science, and a roommate with a personal printer, she has other alternatives.

At the Arts & Sciences Computing Lab in Eads Hall, where sophomore Scott Drattell works, getting homework done has become more difficult, especially during busy lunchtime hours. Drattell, however, said it will not keep him from working there in the future.

“The job is still very manageable,” said Drattell.

Judith Fox, associate dean of Washington University Libraries, doesn’t feel that the current pace of printing on campus is representative of students’ long-term habits. She expects printing to increase at the main libraries in the future, possibly rising to 30 percent of former capacity or beyond. She is certain, however, that the real effect of the initiative has yet to be seen.

“We’re not going to get a true picture until the spring semester,” said Fox, anticipating that as students receive their assignments for new classes, printing will increase. Fox stated that students’ heavy printing before the Oct. 20 deadline, a record 1.4 million print jobs for the month of September, accounts for a lot of the decrease that is unusual for this time of year.

In other universities that have enacted similar policies, a 40 to 50 percent decline in print jobs has become custom, far less than the nearly 80 percent decline that Olin Library has experienced since Fall Break.

Some students, like sophomore Aaron Schneider, haven’t printed at the library all year in anticipation of the fee, which was made known to students in an e-mail before school started. Schneider opted instead to buy his own, personal laser printer, which at $100 was more costly than what he was used to, but which was also more convenient.

“I used to print at the libraries all the time. But since they started charging, I haven’t printed anything there all year,” said Schneider.

The library system expects to use the saved revenue from printing costs on other expenses, including book collections.

Leave a Reply