New print/photocopy system in the Medical Library

Procedures for printing and photocopying in the Medical Library have been brought into line with those operating in other Queen’s libraries.  This provides an improved service to users of the library in a number of ways, some of which are highlighted below.

A clearer system of paying for printing

Under the new system you have your own print/photocopy card.  You can add funds to it whenever required using a ‘Card dispenser/Cash upload’ machine in the library.  Cards are purchased from the same machine for £2 and they contain 75p worth of print credit to start you off.

Previously you needed to estimate how much print credit you were likely to need and pay for it at the Borrower Services desk.  Complications could arise if you purchased too few or too many credits.

Not enough credit?
Under the old system if you didn’t have enough credit your document(s) would have failed to print.  You would have had to return to the Borrower Services desk, purchase additional credits, log back on to the PC to re-locate your document(s) and resend them to the printer. Under the new system you just need to add more funds to your print/photocopy card and return to the p-station beside the printer to release your document(s) to the printer.  Documents remain in the print queue for 3 hours and can be released at any time during that period.

Too much credit?
If you paid for more printing than you actually needed then, if you were a registered member of the library, the credits remained on your account for future use.  However, if you were a guest, you lost any credits that you did not use on the day. Under the new system all unused credits remain on the card for future use.  Outstanding credits on member accounts under the old system can be transferred onto the new card on request.

Collecting document(s) intact from the printer and maintaining confidentiality

Under the old system document(s) were sent to the printer immediately and were printed out in the order in which they appeared in the print queue.  This meant that if you didn’t go to the printer immediately after sending your document(s) to print you could find your document(s) got mixed up with other peoples.  Even if you did go to the printer immediately there might be an issue with people waiting for print-outs being able to read each other’s documents.

Now documents are not printed until released at the p-station beside the printer.  You insert your card into the p-station and follow the onscreen instructions to release your document(s).  No-one else can release a document to the printer while you are using the p-station so other people’s documents cannot get mixed up with or be seen by anyone else.  Since documents are deleted from the print queue if they are not lreased to the printer after 3 hours, there is no danger that potentially confidential documents will suddenly emerge to be read by others.

Paying for photocopying

Under the old system the method of paying for photocopying was completely different from the print payment system.  Photocopy cards were purchased from a machine beside the copiers and, when you had photocopied material up to the card’s value, you needed to purchase additional card(s). Now, in the same way that you pay for printing, you just need to upload enough money to your personal print/photocopy card and insert your card into the card reader attached to one of the photocopiers.

Colour printing for everyone

Previously colour printing was only available for Queen’s students from the Student Computing Centre in the library.  Under the new system anyone can use the colour printer, simply by selecting the ‘RVH-Colour’ print queue when sending document(s) to print.  Bear in mind that a colour printout costs 20p whereas a black & white printout costs just 5p.

Documents sent for printing can only be released to a printer via a p-station and there is only one p-station in the Medical Library (located beside the black & white printer in the public internet area).  So, for colour printing, although you will still release document(s) in the public internet area, you will have to move to the Student Computing Centre to collect them.