Over the next several weeks, there will be two major (and related) changes to public printing and copying in the Stanford Libraries driven by changes that the office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (VPTL) is implementing to create a more streamlined, efficient, and robust printing and copying service.

Ending the Use of Cash as a Way to Pay For Printing and Copying

Beginning August 17th, SUL will no longer accept cash as a payment method for printing and copying. The cash-to-card machines will all be turned off on the 17th and will be removed shortly thereafter. In order to accommodate a transition to the new credit card payment model, printing and copying will be made free from August 17th to September 7th 2015.

Over the next few weeks, VPTL will be unveiling an online site that allows users to add funds to the same cards that are currently distributed by the cash-to-card machines. The site: http://printingcredit.stanford.edu will be the only way to add funds to these cards. Until this site is in production, it currently points to the general printing (http://printing.stanford.edu) site.

This will be a big service improvement for our patrons by making it more convenient for them to add funds from anywhere and at anytime. We also expect that this will reduce SUL staff overhead caused by managing these fragile cash-to-card machines.

New Printing Service

VPTL is working with a vendor to roll out a brand new printing service in VPTL and SUL areas. These new all-in-one print/copy/scan devices will provide a significant enhancement to both functionality and service. One of the many benefits is that users can send documents to be printed from anywhere on campus and pick up the output at any of these new devices. (E.g., a student may be sitting in her dorm room when she hits "print" and then she can decide to pick up her paper at any of the new printers in Green Library without having to have chosen a particular print destination ahead of time.)

Over the next week or two, the vendor will be generating a recommendation for the number of all-in-one devices that should be deployed in each area of SUL. These recommendations are based on recent usage patterns as well as the capability and functionality of the new devices. We will vet the recommendations within SUL well in advance of the rollout. As we learn more about the likely timing for this new service release, we'll keep you up-to-date, including when the vendor will provide training on basic use and support of these new devices.

SUL Tech Support is working with VPTL and Gabrielle Karampelas on messaging that will go out to SUL patrons about these changes.

In the meantime, if you have questions about these changes, please direct them to SUL Tech Support.