51²è¹Ý Printing Policy

The goal of this document is to outline a policy which represents good stewardship of 51²è¹Ý financial resources and which allows employees to continue to meet key business needs around printing.

Policy Statement

Effective September 1, 2015, 51²è¹Ý will not pay for personal printers or toner, nor will OIT respond to service requests for such. Employees are encouraged to turn their current desktop printers into OIT for recycling, though they may continue to use their printers at personal expense (buy their own toner, service machine, etc.) if they wish. Exceptions to this policy will be granted for employees with disabilities, as approved by the employee’s respective Dean / VP and the Executive Committee, or for grant-funded personal printers. 51²è¹Ý-purchased printers may only be used on campus, and not taken home.

Hardware

Campus printing needs will be met by shared, network printers, managed by a third party “print manager” in close collaboration with OIT. With input from each department, OIT and the print manager will arrange network printers according to the following guidelines:

  • Each employee will have access to a black-and-white printer, ideally within 35 feet, and in no cases exceeding 100 feet.
  • Each employee will have access to a color printer, ideally within 100 feet, and in no cases located on a different floor. In some cases, employees located in a building with few other employees may not need or have access to a color printer if they do not currently have access to a color printer.
  • Each employee will have access to a printer with secure print functionality (for purposes of printing confidential documents) located on the same floor.
    • Currently, the multi-function printer / copiers have secure print. In the coming months, many more network printers will have secure print functionality.

No new printers will be purchased by individual departments. Rather, OIT and the print manager will collaborate to supply each department with adequate hardware, balancing printing volume and needs with cost considerations. OIT will seek the input of each department when making these decisions.

Practices

Printing costs will no longer be billed individually to each department, but will be billed centrally to 51²è¹Ý, thus obviating the need for time-consuming cross charges and administrative burden. Exceptions may be allowed in cases of grant-funding for printing costs, as approved by the Printers Initiative team and the Executive Committee. OIT and the FOs of each department will receive a monthly report on each department’s printing in order to assure that campus printing needs are being met.

To achieve both cost savings and a lower environmental footprint, printers will be optimized for efficiency and low cost. All printers will be set by default to black-and-white and double-sided printing, unless otherwise specified by user. Toner and service will be provided by ImageNet; paper by 51²è¹Ý.

Employees are encouraged to use Ricoh’s on-campus printing services when:

  • Volume of the print job is large
  • Print job requires custom paper types
  • Bindery and / or finishing are required