dwaldron February 20th, 2009
The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has conducted a review of print operations and print infrastructure on campus. The goal of this review was to develop strategies to enhance print services for the campus community, to realize efficiencies within OIT in terms of delivering and supporting these services, to reduce the environmental impact of print operations in line with the College’s recently adopted Commitment to Environmental Stewardship, and to reduce associated costs. As a result of this review, OIT has adopted four strategies. These are:
- to encourage the shift of print traffic away from LaserJets and similar single-purpose devices toward more cost effective multifunction devices
- to deploy devices that are energy efficient, and that support duplex printing and other features that reduce paper usage
- to reduce the number of LaserJets and similar devices on-campus
- to deploy the Pharos print management system across the entire campus
OIT intends to implement these strategies on a building-by-building basis. Mary Schantz, Director of User Services, will work with the Building and Administrative Coordinators in each building to analyze needs and to identify solutions and configurations that satisfy those needs within the context of our newly adopted strategies.
The College currently has a lease agreement with MT Business Technologies to provide 52 multifunction devices (printer/copiers) to campus. In conjunction with the most recent renewal of this contract, the College ensured that all these devices are Energy Star compliant, support duplex printing and offer scan-to-email functionality. MT also provides support and maintenance for 110 HP LaserJet printers owned by the College. Our fleet of LaserJets is aging, does not provide environmentally friendly functions like duplex printing, and does not provide other convenient services like scan-to-email. In addition, the per-printed-page cost associated with LaserJets exceeds that of multifunction devices. These facts, and the desire to avoid the significant costs associated with replacing aging LaserJets, provide the rationale for encouraging a shift toward multifunction devices and reducing the number of LaserJets through consolidation and the elimination of redundancy.
Currently, the College does not have a standard print management tool. Four different print systems are in use—Novell, IP, Appletalk and Pharos. The lack of a standard complicates print support. OIT believes that, of the four systems currently in use, Pharos offers the feature set most consistent with our goal of providing quality print service in ways that permit us to reduce the impact on the environment and lower costs. Pharos provides tools that make it possible to create user-friendly installation packages, remotely manage print queues and monitor the level of activity and associated resource usage.
OIT is keenly aware that our academic mission is dependent upon a quality, reliable print service. The outlined strategies are designed to permit us to provide such service in ways that are more consistent with environmental and financial realities.
dwaldron September 22nd, 2008
The College recently concluded a new three year copier service agreement with MT Business Technologies. Under the terms of the agreement, nearly half of the copiers on campus will be replaced by new machines. The new devices have the same features and provide the same services as those being replaced. In addition, the new devices offer color scan-to-email functionality and provide faster throughput. Duplex printing is available on each of the new devices. All are Energy Star compliant.
The public devices in the Wired Scot, Taylor 205, Andrews Library and Timken Science Library have already been replaced. The devices in the Ebert Art Center and Wishart Hall and the device on the 2nd floor of Morgan Hall have also been replaced. Some of the machines replaced had already produced two million document impressions.
The devices on the second floor and basement level of Kauke, and the Andrews Library staff device will be replaced on Thursday, September 25th. The remaining schedule is tentatively as follows:
- October 2: Mateer Hall, Scheide Music Center
- October 9: Gault Admissions Center, First Floor of Morgan Hall
- October 16: Gault Alumni Center, Severance Chemistry
- October 23: Scovel Hall
The vendor will remove the old machines and install the new devices. A representative of User Services will supervise the installation and be on hand to answer questions and provide assistance. The replacement should take no more than two hours. The vendor will offer training on the new devices. John Shatzer of User Services will schedule this service.
All installations will be planned in cooperation with the administrative coordinators in each building.
The help desk will be available to answer any of your questions regarding the new devices. The help desk can be reached at 330-287-3000 x1111.
dwaldron March 21st, 2008
Members of the User Services staff will be on campus Saturday, March 22nd, and Sunday, March 23rd, between noon and 7 p.m. to provide technology support for students, faculty and staff involved in IS preparation. Staff members will perform hourly printer checks, cover help desk phones and be available for students in need of last minute technology support.
The student help desk in Andrews Library will be open Saturday, March 22nd between noon and 8p.m. and Sunday, March 23rd between noon and 1 a.m. for phone and walk-in support. The help desk can be reached by calling 330-287-3000 extension 4357 from off campus, or extension 4357 from on campus.
dwaldron January 20th, 2008
In an effort to better inform members of the campus community about the various information technology resources available to them, the Office of Information Technology has launched an effort to enhance the documentation of these resources and to improve its organization and accessibility. New documentation is being created in the College wiki and links to it can be found under the “Computing Resources” tab of the IT website. Currently, the wiki contains information about audio and video production resources, copying and printing services, classroom technology, IT help desks and networking services (including wireless). The documentation initiative will continue throughout the Spring 2008 semester and into the summer, and many new documents will be created. The initiative is being guided by User Services Intern Catherine Grandgeorge.
dwaldron August 20th, 2007
Routine hardware and software maintenance is typically carried out between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Tuesday mornings. On Tuesday, August 21, IT will upgrade the operating systems of our print servers during this window. These upgrades are intended to improve the stability of print services. Printing and copying services may be briefly disrupted during the upgrades. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Questions should be directed to the employee help desk at 330 287-3000 x1111.
dwaldron March 13th, 2007
Over the last few weeks IT has been attempting to isolate the source of the slow printing to several of our public and departmental printers. We have recently moved the public printers behind a firewall to protect the printers from network traffic not intended for them. These steps have made a significant change in the speed at which those devices operate. User Services will be contacting individual departments to discuss the steps necessary to continue to move the devices to a protected network.
Vince DiScipio
Director Networks, Telecommunications and Systems
dwaldron November 21st, 2006
A new poster printer (an HP DesignJet 800PS) is available in Taylor 205 for faculty, staff and student use. Printing takes place via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited $4.80 per linear foot. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same charge against the appropriate account. Instructions are available on the IT documentation site. Questions about the poster printer should be directed to the help desk at 330 287-3000 x4357 (HELP).
dwaldron October 20th, 2006
The computer lab in Taylor 205 has been enhanced in a number of significant ways. This summer, the lab’s 16 general purpose computers were replaced with new Dell OptiPlexes running Windows XP. The computer furniture was also replaced to provide much more spacious and comfortable work areas.
A new poster printer is also available in Taylor 205. Printing takes place via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited $4.80 per linear foot. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same charge against the appropriate account.
Taylor 205 also now provides audio and video production facilities. The lab contains four new iMacs with the following software:
- iMovie for digital video editing. Each workstation is enabled (with DA converters) to import video from a variety of sources, including Mini-DV, DVD, VHS and DV codec.
- iPhoto for importing photos from digital cameras for storage and use in video and slide projects
- Garage Band for creation of digital music, sound effects, podcasts and multi-layered audio projects
- Audacity for voice recording and multi-layered audio projects
- Photoshop CS for photo editing
In the very near future the lab will add two PC’s to support video editing with Windows Movie Maker. These workstations will also be equipped to import video from various sources, including Mini-DV, DVD, VHS and DV codec.
A sound booth has been added to the lab to support audio production. It contains a MacIntosh G4 tower equipped with Audacity and a condenser microphone. The booth is equipped to digitize audio from cassette and other analog sources.
The office of Media Technology Manager Anthony Liccardi is now located within the Taylor 205 lab so that he can manage the multimedia production resources and provide related assistance. Instructional Technology Intern Joe Benfield is also based in Taylor 205.
dwaldron October 13th, 2006
In response to the recommendation of the Digital Media Output Workgroup, IT has deployed a number of color printers for student, staff and faculty use. These devices are available at the following locations:
- Kauke 125
- Mateer 105
- Morgan 211
- PEC 203
- Scovel 117
- Severance 106
- Taylor 205
- Timken Science Library 116
- The Wired Scot
All printing to the color printers is via the Pharos system. Student print accounts will be debited 15 cents for each page directed to any of the color printers. For faculty and staff, Pharos will record the same per page charge against the account that is selected.
To use the new color printers you must download and install the appropriate printer driver. Visit http://www.wooster.edu/technology/documentation for instructions. If you need assistance, please call the help desk at 4357.
dwaldron October 13th, 2006
IT has taken a number of steps to resolve the printing problems that have plagued the Wired Scot. In order to eliminate the centralized print queuing system that has been the source of much of the difficulty, we replaced the terminals with computers. Also, we have asked our student help desk workers to begin each shift by visiting The Wired Scot and correcting any problems that they find. This means we visit The Wired Scot eight times on a typical day. If you do encounter printing problems please call us at extension 2312.