Printing on the NAU Main and Extended campus sites is easy and quite cost-effective. The Student
Computing and Networking Team purchased and implemented the PaperCut product in
Spring 2011 to replace a printing system that was not meeting the expanding
needs of campus. PaperCut was selected for
its ease of use, expandability, and reliability. Each new version of PaperCut
brings new ways to meet the ever-changing technological landscape. Major features of PaperCut include:
- Central Billing
- Administrative Web Interface
- User Web Interface
- Departmental Prepays
- Release Stations
- Mac Printing
- iPad Printing
Users can print from their personal laptops, iPads, print
kiosks, and from campus and departmental labs. Departments can set up prepay
printing amounts. Users are billed monthly directly into their LOUIE accounts.
Using PaperCut in departmental and ITS labs helps support
NAU’s sustainability goals and mission. Departments can levy charges and create
revenue as well as control and monitor printing. PaperCut allows for
establishing print quotas for individuals as well as departments. Print
release stations are relatively inexpensive to implement and individuals can be
assigned various levels of administration to monitor and adjust queues as well
as to process refunds. For example, ITS labs and some departments have implemented
release stations to eliminate waste and to provide a secure environment for
users to get their print jobs. Print
jobs are held in the queue for a maximum of two hours and a user logs into a
release station that can be used at a number of different locations on campus
to retrieve just their print jobs. They
can optionally release or decide to delete them. Coming in spring 2013, users will be able to
release their print jobs from their smart phones, tablets, and other mobile
devices.
The annual number of pages handled by this system exceeds
two million and is capable of handling substantial growth. If your department is interested in
implementing printing options, please contact Heather.Bell@nau.edu or Tobias.Kreidl@nau.edu.