Centralized printing is coming to UST. University of St. Thomas has identified centralized printing as a way to save thousands of dollars per year in ink, paper costs and printer maintenance.

As a way to reduce printing, UST is moving to eliminate personal printers and move to shared printers.

“There are lots of great reasons why people should reduce printing and move towards the ROI of paperless office,” David Garcia, User Services Manager, said. “Centralized printing will save the University approximately $45,000 per year at a minimum not to mention saving trees. We can run a report to see how many trees we save. Overall, it should be a lot greener, since we are reducing the waste on campus.”

Not every personal printer will be removed.

“There are some high-security areas that we will accommodate for and will not be removing printers,” Garcia said. “Printers will not be removed if they accommodate accessibility.”

Print From Anywhere

This measure frees up our staff and faculty to print anywhere.

“What we are doing is increasing the flexibility of printing options on campus for staff, faculty and students.” Garcia said. “Printing will be available over Wi-Fi from personal devices, which wasn’t available before.”

How Centralized Printing Works

UST has partnered with Stargel for this cost-saving project.

“With Stargel’s managed print services, your resupply costs will be paid for out of the contract between IT and Stargel, which includes toner and printer maintenance,” Garcia said. “Printer maintenance should be available by the next business day. The paper costs will be charged back based on departmental usage.”

The centralized printers will all have the ability to copy, scan and fax.

If you send a print job to one of the badge-release enabled printers, the job will only print if you badge into the device, otherwise it stays secure and cannot be accessed by other individuals.

Timeline to Implement the Program

Stargel technicians in cooperation with Information Technology will be stopping by your office to remove your personal inkjet printers and install new laser jet printers in a common area near you soon.

“IT will start with some of the staff-heavy buildings beginning the week of Feb. 3,” Garcia said. “Then it will be expanded to the rest of the campus the following week.”

Student Accessibility to Printers is improved

Students will also benefit from this program. Currently, students could only print in the Doherty Library or in the student government sponsored free print station in Crooker Center, which is only available at certain hours.

“Now students will be able to print to student-accessible printers throughout the entire campus,” Garcia said. “This will really improve the student experience on campus, while also offering the cost savings.”

The student print services will be ready after spring break.