The fall semester at Keene State College began with the promise of more convenient printing options for students.
Laura Seraichick, chief information officer at KSC, was enthusiastic about the new printers that were recently installed on campus with the intention of making printing easier for all students.
“It was initially students who raised the concern,” Seraichick said, noting that the idea was proposed at the Student Assembly last year.
Seraichick continued, “They didn’t like the lines or the hours.”
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Holly Falzo, a lecturer for communication and philosophy at KSC, said she looks forward to the effects the new printing options will have on her students.
“It’s frustrating when you’re trying to collect things, or if you’re trying to use them in class and students don’t have them,” Falzo stated in regard to the issue of students not having assignments in on time.
Falzo expressed her complications with the library having the only printing stations available during this past summer semester.
“This summer, we had a number of students who went to the library and both printers there were jammed,” Falzo said, “Students just couldn’t get their stuff printed.”
Now, only a month into the new semester with three new stations, Falzo said she has already seen a positive change.
“I haven’t seen as many problems with printing as of this fall. I think the majority of the problems we’re seeing now come from students waiting until the last minute, then having to stand in line when they try to print,” Falzo said.
Falzo is willing to take into account the fact that some things are not in the students’ control.
“If they come to class and the printer’s not working, I will take assignments via email,” Falzo admitted, “Sometimes the students can’t help it, but I also know sometimes they wait until the last minute.” However, some professors are not as understanding as Falzo.
Jordan Shepherd, who recently transferred to spend his junior year at KSC, explained that his professors were much more strict than Falzo.
“Everything has to be printed, on time, or it’s an automatic zero,” Shepherd reported, “They don’t accept emailed assignments.”
Shepherd uses both the printers in the library and his own personal printer in his dorm.
“The printers on campus are easily accessible and cheaper. Using my own is more expensive, but I don’t have to leave my room to print,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd was unaware that new printers were installed on campus, but mentioned that they sound convenient and he looks forward to using them in the future.
Another student, Jillian Bower, who is a senior at KSC, has always used her own printer.
According to Bower, it was the library’s hours that she was initially concerned about when it came to using the printers.
“It’s nice not having to worry about making it to the library before an 8 a.m. [class]. If it’s two in the morning and I need to print something out, I can print it.”
Printer troubles and expenses, however, are things to add to the list of cons when it comes to maintaining her own.
“It costs about fifty-bucks yearly to restock the paper and ink,” Bower stated, “And I dropped it once, so it doesn’t always work correctly.”
Bower continued, “I usually just hit it a couple times and it’ll start printing again.” In the few times she’s made the trip to use the library’s printers, Bower has never had problems.
“The new system this year is kind of interesting. I guess that makes it more efficient,” Bower admitted.
“I like the campus printers,” Dylan Myles said, a first-year student at KSC.
“They’re really convenient to use, they’re really easy to work with and it saves me the expense of having buy a printer and all the materials necessary to use it,” Myles stated.
Myles has not had any issues with the campus printers, but admits that most of his assignments are required to be digitally submitted.
“I do have a friend, though, that I’ve had to walk to the library [with] late at night,” Myles recalled, “The library doesn’t open until 8 a.m., so she didn’t have time to get things printed in the morning. Hopefully, she’ll be able to utilize the new printers. I hear they open at 7 a.m.”
According to Seraichick, the five printers in the library open at 8 a.m. Three new printers in the Rhodes Hall lobby, the Putnam Science Center lobby and the Technology Design and Safety [TDS] Center lobby all open at 7 a.m. The printers are checked and maintained daily.
“The student-techs go out and check the printers daily, making sure that there are no jams and that the paper trays are full,” Seraichick explained.
“Anywhere a student can pull up their web browser, whether it be in their residence hall, out on the quad, even off campus, they can choose which building to send their prints to, then go pick them up,” Seraichick explained of the new system in place.
Seraichick was able to share some of the statistics on the new printers.
“Since the start of this semester, 186,846 pages have been printed using 120,888 pieces of paper,” she shared, “Only one-and-a-half trees have been consumed by the campus so far.” With the student traffic at the library being so high, Seraichick was excited with the new system in place. “The old system just didn’t meet student needs,” Seraichick said.
Jill Giambruno can be contacted at jgiambruno@keene-equinox.com
