New printing quota system in works
The University of Indianapolis has begun plans to establish a new printing quota system.
According to representatives of Client Services at the Krannert Memorial Library, during recent semesters, students have voiced frustrations with how long it takes to retrieve what they printed.
After receiving many complaints, Indianapolis Student Government and Client Services have combined to come up with a resolution to the problem.
Director of Client Services Michelle Duman said that although the plan is only in the works at the moment, she feels that the new quota is something her department has to do.
“The reason that we’re seriously looking at this for implementation,is due to the fact that we’ve had the print management system in place for about 18 months now. And while it initially made some dent in the waste that we were seeing in those lab’s bases, that has not persisted,” Duman said. “That’s really why we’re looking at implementing a quota using that print management system, so that there are some real consequences to abusing the privilege of printing.”
Duman believes that although the system would be a new process, it would be a reasonable one as well.
“So what would happen is that every student would be given a set number of sheets of paper per year. We haven’t finalized a number yet,” Duman said. “Then what would happen is that when you go to the print release station, you swipe the card, and it will deduct an amount of money equivalent to one sheet of paper. Once you exhaust that funding, then what will happen is we will roll over to crimson cash.”
Duman said that the idea would be an annual allotment, and that each year it would reset. Duman also said that this new system would be very similar to ones other schools use as well, and she believes that it would be the best option for the university heading forward.
Technical Support Manager Patrinah Bennett agrees the system would be the best option for the university. She said the first priority is finding how the students and faculty feel before making a decision.
“That’s kind of the purpose of the proposal, and hopefully having ISG and working alongside them and then also getting feedback from the students on campus, and what their thoughts and ideas are and what’s going to work best for them,” Bennett said. “Then also working with the faculty because again, I’m sure that if faculty are asking their students to print out certain things for their classes, and how is that going to be affected if there is a quota put into place.”
Duman agrees that students and faculty are the first priority and that is why they are working hard to help and assist them in the decision-making process.
“We’re just trying to make it an environment where it is fair to everybody. And we feel like right now the fact that anybody can print anything as much as they want, that there are some people who take advantage of that, and it’s to the detriment of their fellow students,” Duman said. “I think that is really one of the things that we would like to do–make people more conscious, and make a more fair environment for everybody.”
Duman said that the new quota system is still currently a plan in development, and that nothing yet had been established. Duman says hopefully the news will be made official sometime before the end of this semester.
“We’re hoping to have all of that wrapped up before the end of the semester, so that we can get that information out to folks before everybody leaves, so that in the fall it won’t be some surprise,” Duman said. “We want to make sure that people come back knowing what to expect.”
