The Brown & White

Library and Technology Services is considering adoption of a quota system to prevent students from printing too many pages at public site computers.

The printing committee consists of four LTS staff members who will travel to Moravian College next week to speak with faculty about software that allows schools to monitor and control the amount of paper printed by students.

The printing committee was formed a year ago when a Help Desk attendant at Fairchild-Martindale Library noticed large stacks of discarded printouts and brought it to the attention of Sharon Wiles-Young, Director of Library Access Services.

Jason Slipp, LTS Instructional Technology Consultant, who also serves on the committee, said he is optimistic about the opportunities afforded by a quota system.

"Last I've talked to Moravian, they had a few complaints, but most students had stayed well under quota," Slipp said.

Jessica Rosen, '10, said she is worried about the constraint that a printing quota would impose on students.

"My major requires me to write 30-page papers," she said. "What happens when I can't print anymore?"

The committee has shown interest in a printer managing program called PaperCut after running an experimental program called GreenPrint, which is designed to discard unwanted images and pages before a document is sent to the printer. Before printing with GreenPrint, the user is presented with an interface that allows them to select what will be printed.

To test GreenPrint, LTS installed the software on 15 computers in the Computing Center during the spring 2008 semester. The program was also installed in LTS offices.

Although student feedback was largely positive, the committee isn't ready yet to accept GreenPrint as the answer to all of Lehigh's printing problems.

Students' greatest worries with the program were its difficulties with large PDF files and slower printing times, Slipp said. Another problem with the program was it only produced a 6 percent overall reduction in paper printed per month, much less then the 20 percent reduction GreenPrint had promised, Slipp said.

Rosen said taking a few moments to go through GreenPrint before printing wouldn't bother her as long as it worked efficiently.

A major issue with older versions of the program was its incompatibility with Macs, Slipp said, but the new version, set to release this fall, will address this.

Despite current drawbacks, Slipp said he is far from ready to dismiss the possibility of using GreenPrint in the future.

"Part of the problem was that from an administrative standpoint, we didn't do a great job of promoting it," Slipp said.

The committee plans to present its findings on GreenPrint and PaperCut to the LTS board at the end of the fall. When it does, Slipp said he will recommend GreenPrint as a good tool, but one that may not be ready for such widespread use.

Slipp hopes he will be able to recommend PaperCut for large-scale implementation based on his findings at Moravian.

"I'm excited about next week. We're going to reach a decision about what needs to be done soon," Slipp said. "I'm confident that something substantial will happen by the end of this academic year."

Lehigh spent $83,000 on paper and ink cartridges in fiscal year 2006-2007, according to LTS. With a growing student population and higher ink prices, that number may be set to increase dramatically in coming years.

The objectives of the Printing Committee aren't only monetary. Committee members are more concerned with the environmental impact of wasteful printing.