"New" Printer!

If you hate waiting in line to print something, you're in luck! The library has brought back one of the printers that was going to be in storage during the renovation. You can find it on the upper floor, next to the elevator.

And remember, in addition to the printers on the upper level, there's also a printer on the lower level.

And the numbers are in...

I have been gathering information for a presentation and I thought I would share.

• 54% of student printing is done in the library (on 4 printers vs. 44 across campus!)
• Since the move to Pharos for print management, there has been a 30% reduction in the number of print jobs in the library
• 745,106 fewer pages (74% decrease) have been printed in the library compared to this same time last year.
• Campus wide there have been 103,566 pages sent to the print queue but not printed (i.e. canceled or timed out before being released) saving over $4,500!

How do you like the new system?  Do you use the "release at any printer across campus" feature?  Have you used all your $5.00 of free printing? Tell us what you think - we like your feedback!

Library Printing Tip: PowerPoint Slides with Dark Backgrounds

It's easier to take notes and use highlighters on printed PowerPoint slides that use dark text on light backgrounds. What do you do, though, when you're at the library and the PowerPoint you need to print has light text on a dark background?

Go to File > Print. Before you hit the "Print" button, change the Settings from "Color" to "Grayscale." You should see the colors on the Print Preview on the right flip from the original light text on a dark background to dark text on a light background.

Not only will the printed slides now be easier to mark up, they'll also have used less printer toner. If you'd like to be even more economical (yay, go you!), change the "Full page slides" setting to "3 slides" or more.

Top Ten Tuesday: Printing Tips

Ten Printing Tips to Save Paper and Toner:

1) Click Save, not Print! Many instructors will accept your work in digital form. Submit and share your work via email or media (cd, flash drive, sdram, etc. )

2) Use narrow margins on your assignments.  For example, the default on Microsoft Word is 1” on each side. You can change this to make margins as small as ½” on each side.

3) Use a font that uses less toner. A study at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay found that Century Gothic “uses 30% less ink than the most commonly used default font – Arial.”

4) When you create PowerPoints (or other visual aids), use a dark typeface on a light background, rather than the reverse.  This will use less toner if printed.

5) Use electronic handouts. Rather than print handouts for everyone in class, use Blackboard or Google Docs to distribute them electronically. You will save paper and ink toner, as well as give your classmates handouts they can update.

6) Print only what you need. If you don’t need all of a document, don’t print it all. If your professor posts class notes online, ask which notes should be printed and which ones can remain electronic.

7) Print selectively. If you want to print only part of a document or web page, highlight the part you’d like to print, and choose Selection.

8) Use duplex printing (both sides) Library printers automatically do this. Generally instructors will specify if they want assignments printed only on one side, and more and more are (hopefully!) going green too and accepting duplex printing.

9) Print PowerPoint class notes as handouts (2-9 slides per page) rather than slides (one slide per page). See these green printing tips for instructions on how to do this.

10) Be patient. After you click Print on campus lab computers, it can take up to 10 minutes for your job to be processed and received by the printer. Clicking Print again will NOT speed up your print job. It will slow the printer even more and waste paper.