Tisch, Ginn, Eaton to charge for printing

Students who use computers in Tisch and Ginn Libraries and Eaton computer lab to print papers and online materials will be charged ten cents per page as soon as January.

The end of free printing is "inevitable," Tisch Director Jo-Ann Michalak said. Difficulties in finding suitable software to make the switch from free to fee-based printing, however, have delayed the decision of when the change will be implemented.

A decision was expected earlier in the semester, Michalak said, but "we had to eliminate a couple [of software venders] that didn't work with Tufts." If the change is to be implemented in January, the decision must be made by Dec. 1, she said.

Although the library system is "perfectly happy to support things we can afford," Michalak said, it cannot continue to support increases in the amount of paper students use. Tisch Library alone used 25 tons of paper last year, the Library reported, an amount equal to 425 trees and the weight of six elephants. Supplying the paper costs the university $60,000 each year, and the cost is rising.

Each day, two reams, or 1000 sheets of paper, are never even picked up after being printed, Michalak said. "All of us are interested in providing students services for what they pay, but also in encouraging responsibility."

The money saved would be directed "to services that we feel are more valuable than chopping down trees," Michalak said. One option would be to put the money towards finishing the planned Level G of Tisch, which currently houses infrequently requested books and periodicals.

The Ginn Library began charging for printouts two years ago but eliminated the fee after Fletcher students began printing at Tisch instead. "Students aren't stupid," Michalak said. "If only one library charges, they will go to another." The upcoming change, however, will be campus-wide.

The Boston and Grafton campus libraries already charge printing fees.

Although the details of the payment system have not been finalized, students will likely have to save what they wish to print, which will be sent to a separate print server.

As expected, many students are displeased by the prospect of having to pay to print documents. "Why doesn't the Tufts administration use the insane amount of money people pay to go here and use that to cover the cost?" sophomore Emily Rufo wondered.

Sophomore Brent Patterson said that implementation of the change could hurt the University as well as its students. "Charging for printing at the library would really reflect on the University as a whole in my eyes," he said.

But printing charges at universities are more common than not, Michalak said. Tufts' "peer institutions have either started charging or are seriously looking into it." And instead of asking if there is a printing charge, as in the past, prospective students now ask what the charge is, Michalak said.

The trend towards charging for printing stems from the dramatic increase in the number of electronic journals now available, Michalak said. When students primarily used books in their research, universities were forced to charge for photocopies.

Tisch administrators are looking to other universities' systems, such as Dartmouth's "print monitoring system," for inspiration and ideas on what not to do. The Dartmouth system requires that students go to another location to pick up items they print.

Michalak thinks that the Dartmouth system "could be a pain" and, in theory, might dissuade students from printing documents that are needed but not essential. Tufts' planned fee-based printing system would provide Tisch, Ginn, and Eaton with a print server so students would not have to go far to pick up their documents.

The University's libraries may also allow students to download documents to disk so they can be printed on home computers, something that is not currently permitted.