PRINTERS AND PRINTING GUIDANCE

Printing by staff, faculty, and students at Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) represents a significant operational expenditure each year. Fiscal year 2006 printing costs are estimated in excess of $100,000. This document sets forth guidance for the procurement of printers and print volume control.

 Purchasing Printers

 The initial outlay for purchase of a printer may be low for an inkjet printer but the lifetime operating costs are high because of the costs of ink cartridges. Manufacturers keep the price of the inkjet printer low with the expectation of high returns on the sale of refill cartridges. If you were to buy the ink for your inkjet printer by the gallon the cost would be about $8000 per gallon.

Type of Printer	Purchase price	Years of life	Total 6 year cost
Inkjet	$200	3	$400
Laserjet	$400	6	$400

 Laser printers are more expensive to purchase, but the life expectancy of the laser printer is about twice that of the inkjet printer. This is determined by the duty cycle rating of the printer. As a result, the typical office user can expect that the higher initial outlay for the laser printer is actually the same as for the less expensive inkjet printer because the laser printer will last twice as long. By far most printing at CCCC is black and white text. Therefore, printer purchases at CCCC will by default be made in favor of a black and white laser printer. There will be some offices that need color or multi-function capabilities (i.e. fax, copy, print). IT will assist those offices to determine the optimum solution for their needs. For example, in some cases, it may be appropriate to purchase an inkjet printer. In others, there may be enough demand in one area to justify a shared network color laser printer to meet the needs of several offices. Printers will be ordered by IT using the following guidelines:

Student Use Printers

The IT Department purchases printers and supplies for student use printers (e.g. labs and library general purpose use areas).

Office Use Printers.

Departments purchase printers and supplies for their use. In most cases, the department will ask IT to order the printer in order to facilitate delivery and setup, but the budget code will be the department?s. Supplies are purchased by the department.

Users	Printer	Volume Duty	Life Cycle	Est. Cost
Personal Office	HP1320	10,000 pp month	6 years	$300.00
Shared Office Printer	HP1320N	10,000 pp month	6 years	$400.00
Small Group	HP2420N	75,000 pp month	6 years	$750.00
Moderate Group	HP4250N	200,000 pp month	6 years	$1250.00
High Volume	HP9050N	300,000 pp month	6 years	$3400.00
Color Workgroup	HP4650dn	85,000 pp month	6 years	$2300.00
Color High Volume	HP9500hdn	200,000 pp month	6 years	$7900.00
All in One	HP4215	2,500 pp month	3 years	$200.00
Inkjet	HP K550	2,500 pp month	3 years	$200.00

PRINT VOLUME CONTROL

 Cape Cod Community College must promulgate policies regarding printing, educate the user base, and implement technical means to prevent excessive and unnecessary printing, and control costs. Students, faculty, and staff have legitimate needs for printing, but before sending a job to a printer the user should ask three very simple questions:

1. Is this is a copy job or a print job?

 If you are printing multiple copies of a document it is a copy job. If you are printing a single copy of a document it is a print job. It may be more convenient to print to a printer than to go to the copy center, but the cost is much higher. If you require 100 copies of a flyer or 20 copies of a 10 page document for your students it is a copy job, not a print job. Go to the Copy Center near the cafeteria to have copies made.

This printer should not be used for copying! If you require multiple copies of a document please use the Copy Center.

2. Do I really need to send this print job to a color printer?

Printing to a color laser printer is more expensive than printing to a black and white printer. Only send a job to a color printer when it is absolutely necessary and you are printing a final copy, not a draft. Students require color printing for some graphics and other classes, but they should print drafts in black and white, and final copies in color for submission of a project.

3. Is a larger, more efficient printer preferred for this job?

 Larger printers print much more efficiently. If you have a large network printer or copier nearby your office set it as your default printer. Print to the smaller non-network printer on your desk only for specific purposes.

IT will place a placard on all network printers under its control to remind users to use the Copy Center for copying. All departments are encouraged to do the same.

IT has installed Print Manager Plus to track printing to all network printers on campus. Statistics are gathered each semester and a report produced for review of printing patterns and costs.

Students are assigned a quota of 150 pages per semester. Last semester, with no controls, nearly 95% of students printed less than 150 pages. Students who exceed the 150 pages must go to the Business Office to pay a $10 fee for an additional 150 pages for the current semester. The Business Office will provide the student a receipt and the student will bring that receipt to the HelpDesk where an additional 150 copies will be added to the student's quota.

IT will set the default for all network printers to economy or fast draft mode. Users will have to initiate settings changes if they require higher than 300dpi printing.

All staff with a non-network printer in their office must set their printer to default to economy mode or fast draft mode. Assistance can be provided by the Help Desk if needed.

Printers with duplex (two sided) capability (normally larger printers and networked copiers) will be set to default to two sided printing by IT.

This printer should not be used for copying! If you require multiple copies of a document please use the Copy Center. 28 Users are encouraged to take other measures to reduce printing costs. For example, if printing a large document the printing preferences can be changed to print two pages on each side of the paper for a total of four pages on one sheet. It this technique is used in conjunction with the others above the savings could be 65% per job.

HOW TO PRINT

From almost any open window, printing a hard copy is virtually the same. Once you have the email message, Word document, or any other file open, follow these steps to print a hard copy to one of the many shared printers on campus.

 Click the Print icon on the toolbar , select File > Print, or hold down the key and press the key. This will produce the Print dialog box, where you can select the number of pages and the number of copies to be printed.

To print all pages, select the default radio button All:. To print the page your cursor is on select Current page:. To select only the pages you wish to print select Pages:, then type the page numbers. The notation can be 1, 4, 10 or 6-8, 11, to include only the pages you wish printed.

If you want to print more than one copy at a time, click the up or down arrows to the right of Number of copies: until the correct numbers are visible in the text box. You can also highlight the number currently in the box and type the new number. Below this box is the word Collate. If you have multiple copies and wish them printed in numeric page order as apposed to all copies of page one, then all copies of page two, click to put a check mark in the collage box.

Once you have made these choices, click the OK button in the lower right corner of the Print dialogue box. This will produce a printed copy in the printer to which your computer is connected.

HOW TO TROUBLE-SHOOT PRINTING PROBLEMS

 If you have trouble printing a document, follow these directions: Call up the Print dialog box by choosing File??Print. Make sure there is a printer selected and that the number of pages and number of copies are what you want. You can also click on the word Help in the Menu Bar or press the key for help troubleshooting printer problems.

Physically go to the printer location and check to see that it is turned on, is getting power, and has paper. If these things are fine on the printer go back to your computer. Click the Start button , to bring up the Start Menu. (below left) Click Settings??Printers to bring up the Printers dialogue box.

 Double-click your printer. Usually this will be the default printer and will be designated by a checkmark.

 Look at the printer box to see if there are items listed. Is the name of your document in the list? Are other jobs in front of yours? If there are other jobs, are they in the process of printing or has printing stopped or paused? If, after checking all of these things, you cannot resolve the problem, contact the Help Desk by phone at extension 4004 or by email at helpdesk@capecod.edu.

HOW TO USE A DIFFERENT PRINTER

If your computer has been set up with the option of using more than one printer, you may choose which printer to use. To do this, call up the Print dialog box by Choosing Print? from the File menu or pressing . To the right of Name: is a text box that should hold the name of your default printer. To select another printer, do the following: Click the down-pointing arrow to the right of the named printer to drop down the printer name menu. Click to select another printer in the menu. Once selected you can make your choices as to number of pages and number of copies. Click the OK button to send your document to the newly selected printer. If the printer you need to use is not listed, call the Help Desk at extension 4004.

HOW TO HELP STUDENTS WITH PRINTING

Printing in the open labs and classrooms is exactly the same as printing from your office if you print to a network printer. Our academic machines have the choice of the black and white laser printers and the color printer. We ask that that both printers be used for necessary academic assignments and not for personal use. If you assign work that needs the color printer, have the student proof read on screen first, print to the black and white laser second to insure the look is correct, and then print final copies to the color laser. If you have an assignment that requires multiple copies, ask the student to print one original and take their items to the copy center for duplication. Always remind students to review their work on the screen, run spell check, and view Print Preview before printing. This will cut down on unwanted copies and save paper and toner. To help students print a document, follow the instructions How to print and How to use a different printer.