Business services plans printing changes on campus

By Hayley Burgess
News Editor
Kayloni Wyatt
Managing Editor

Printing Changes
Photo by Kayloni Wyatt
The newest digital printer, located in the Print Room of the Auxiliary Services Building, will be available for students to use beginning in late spring.

Starting this spring semester, students, faculty and staff will have a new way of printing, copying and paying for other services with their Braves Card.

The biggest change for the campus will come in the form of new Multifunctioning Devices, also known as MFDs, being installed in the computer labs and faculty offices. The MFDs will allow students, faculty and staff to print, scan, photocopy, email and fax all from one machine.

Money will be taken off of the declining balance account, Braves Bucks, which can be added to the Braves Card throughout the year.

Students will pay for copying through the Braves Card. “We will provide a limited block of free printing … copying will be for a fee per copy as it is now,” said Director of Business Services Denise Carroll. Students will no longer have to provide their own paper, as it will be provided for them.

Printing on campus will continue to be free.

Business Services is in the process of getting the software needed to manage all the printers and copiers on campus.

Carroll is certain that upgrading to MFDs will be beneficial to the campus.

“It is cheaper to make the same number of copies on an MFD than desktop printers,” Carroll said. “When the University saves money, it helps students because it trickles down to tuition and fees.”

“In the long run, it will be more efficient,” Carroll said.

The process of getting the new software has been going on for a while. Carroll has been looking for software that would be able to manage the printers and copiers across campus.

“This is a staged process that has been going on for a while,” Carroll said.

The first priority is to get the printing started up first. They will start working with students printing this spring, then faculty and then the library this fall.

“You can expect some bumps, we don’t have a magic wand; we are dealing with hardware and software,” Carroll said.

There will be a Beta test for the new system on March 29-31 in the lab in the library to work out the bugs in the system. The software will be bought from VAR, who will be setting the system up.

The ultimate goal for the new MFDs is not student printing, but a more efficient way to deal with faculty and staff printing.

As of now, students can use their Braves Card to pay for postage stamps, FedEx and UPS delivery in the post office.

The University Printing Services, located in the Auxiliary Services Building, will also be open for student use. Students will be able to utilize the services in the print shop which include printing banners, posters, flyers and other items. This service should be running by the mid spring semester.

If students have any ideas of ways to make printing and copying better, please email Dennis Carroll at denise.carroll@ uncp.edu.