The start of a new year also marks the start of new printing procedures on campus.

Until this semester, students were only allowed to print every 20 minutes, with the supervision of a computer lab attendant. Under the new printing procedure, called PrintSmart, students will be able to print at any time, for a fee.

While faculty members involved in the project are still working out details, such as how to implement the process in classrooms used for instruction, Library dean and Student Computer Printing Work Group sub-committee chair Patricia Larsen said the process has gone smoothly.

“Gary McFarland (UCCS lab manager) said the students in the computer labs like it,” Larsen said. “They don?t have to wait to get their print-outs.”

In order to print, a student must have a OneCard or a Courtesy OneCard, said Information Technology Consultant Scott McGown, who is also a member of the committee.

“When the student selects the print option on the computer, a window will pop up and prompt the student to create a password for the print job,” McGown explained. “The student will go to the print station, select the print job and enter the password.”

Because the project is currently in a trial phase through the end of February, all students are temporarily allowed to print 30 free pages per day. Starting March 1, each full-time student?s OneCard will be credited for 100 free prints per semester, Larsen said. Part-time students will be allowed 50 free prints per semester.

“After the free pages have been depleted, the student may print additional pages at a cost of 5 cents per page,” Larsen said in a memo to the campus community.

If students need to put more money on their OneCards, they may do so in the library, in Lassen Hall and at the OneCard Center in the Brighton Hall Annex.

The printing fee was approved by both the Student Fee Committee and President Donald Gerth in April, and the sub-committee has been working on the project since then.

The sub-committee set out to cut down on printing costs while also making printers more available to students, McGown said. Paper and toner cost the university approximately $100,000 each year, and printing nearly doubled from 1998 to 1999.

“In 1998, we printed 1.3 million pages in the computer labs,” McGown said.This number, which does not include the printers in the Library, then jumped to 2.5 million pages in 1999.

Pharos, the software that will run the PrintSmart program, cost $35,000 and the OneCard server cost an additional $2,500. Larsen said that, while it is unclear how much money this program will actually make, it will at least recover the costs for the PrintSmart system.

“We anticipate that, over the years that we use the program, we will be able to retain the initial costs,” Larsen said.

However, the sub-committee primarily hopes to cut down on the amount of printing done on campus. Students may still email articles and information to themselves and then print from home, Larsen said.

“We encourage people to bookmark Web sites and email articles to themselves, rather than print them out,” she said. “We?re asking students to stop and think about what they?re doing.”

To help answer questions and concerns regarding the PrintSmart program, the sub-committee also created a Web site that includes a feedback forum. The site can be found at http://www.csus.edu/printsmart.