ITS monitors printing with new software
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: News
Information Technology Services has fully launched its new print-monitoring software campus-wide, which tabulates individual students' black-and-white printing activity. While ITS has recorded and billed color printing balances for four years, it is the first time it has gauged black-and-white copies.
"This new printing software is good because it allows us to track how many copies are printed so we can gather reports for the [printers'] usage," said Tina Waggener, ITS academic services specialist.
The typical student who prints from campus computers will not notice any changes. As before, ITS will not bill students for black-and-white copies.
Manager of User Services Jeff Yost said ITS installed the new software on select computers and printers in mid-December. It is now functioning on all campus printers. The new program, called Print Manager, costs around $400 and gauges printer output.
"Since all printers are on the network, that allows us to see what's printing and where you're printing to," Yost said.
The software is not an invasive measure, he said, and will only be used for keeping record of campus printing. Yost said it may be used to track the occasional student who prints extraordinary amounts of copies.
"We try not to restrict our students for a few bad apples," he said. "Our student body tends to be respectful and trustworthy."
ITS will keep tabs on students who print an unusually high volume of copies, which are generally used for fliers or wall-mosaic purposes. He said ITS set a high limit to avoid inconveniencing students who print acceptable amounts of copies.
"It's astronomical," said Yost, referring to the copy limit. "It's several thousands of pages because we don't want to fill the printers with reams and reams of paper."
Until now, ITS could only approximate campus printing volume by analyzing campus paper consumption. Waggener orders paper for the four campus computer labs located in Lane Hall, the Weigand Lab, the Eaton Lab in the Dow Science Center and the Sage Center for the Arts graphics lab. She said since July, she has ordered 41 boxes of paper for Wiegand, 34 for Lane and two for Eaton.
The Mossey Library printers consume approximately 32,000 sheets of paper monthly, said Public Service Librarian Mark Maier. Library staff requested a limit on its computers to avoid flier, wall mosaic and other non-academic printing abuse. ITS manages library computers, but library staff requested additional limits.
Yost said students may have encountered some glitches that prevented them from printing normal amounts of copies but they have since been corrected. Currently, only library printers have a lower limit. Print Manager will refuse requests of 10 or more copies of a single document to prevent most cases of over-printing, Maier said. However, students printing standard reading materials, documents and other print requests will not notice a difference, he said.
"We've largely tried to prevent the library from becoming a print shop where people are printing off hundreds of fliers for various things," Maier said.
"This new printing software is good because it allows us to track how many copies are printed so we can gather reports for the [printers'] usage," said Tina Waggener, ITS academic services specialist.
The typical student who prints from campus computers will not notice any changes. As before, ITS will not bill students for black-and-white copies.
Manager of User Services Jeff Yost said ITS installed the new software on select computers and printers in mid-December. It is now functioning on all campus printers. The new program, called Print Manager, costs around $400 and gauges printer output.
"Since all printers are on the network, that allows us to see what's printing and where you're printing to," Yost said.
The software is not an invasive measure, he said, and will only be used for keeping record of campus printing. Yost said it may be used to track the occasional student who prints extraordinary amounts of copies.
"We try not to restrict our students for a few bad apples," he said. "Our student body tends to be respectful and trustworthy."
ITS will keep tabs on students who print an unusually high volume of copies, which are generally used for fliers or wall-mosaic purposes. He said ITS set a high limit to avoid inconveniencing students who print acceptable amounts of copies.
"It's astronomical," said Yost, referring to the copy limit. "It's several thousands of pages because we don't want to fill the printers with reams and reams of paper."
Until now, ITS could only approximate campus printing volume by analyzing campus paper consumption. Waggener orders paper for the four campus computer labs located in Lane Hall, the Weigand Lab, the Eaton Lab in the Dow Science Center and the Sage Center for the Arts graphics lab. She said since July, she has ordered 41 boxes of paper for Wiegand, 34 for Lane and two for Eaton.
The Mossey Library printers consume approximately 32,000 sheets of paper monthly, said Public Service Librarian Mark Maier. Library staff requested a limit on its computers to avoid flier, wall mosaic and other non-academic printing abuse. ITS manages library computers, but library staff requested additional limits.
Yost said students may have encountered some glitches that prevented them from printing normal amounts of copies but they have since been corrected. Currently, only library printers have a lower limit. Print Manager will refuse requests of 10 or more copies of a single document to prevent most cases of over-printing, Maier said. However, students printing standard reading materials, documents and other print requests will not notice a difference, he said.
"We've largely tried to prevent the library from becoming a print shop where people are printing off hundreds of fliers for various things," Maier said.
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