Carleton has unveiled its new printing service, called “CU on the Go.” Students can use the machines to scan, print, and copy documents from any device, including cell phones.
There are 25 printers already set up on campus with more on the way, including one in Residence Commons and two in the University Centre. The printer for Residence Commons should be in place in early October, according to Jason Anderson, manager of Graphic Services.
The new printers will replace the former public printers on campus, according to the Graphic Services website—but students can still send print jobs through the computer labs.
Anderson said the printers are brand new machines that allow for multiple uses. The old fleet could only print.
“It’s a whole different system that we’re running,” he said.
This is the first phase of the new printing program, he added.
Anderson said Carleton upgraded the system because it was “fairly outdated.”
“I noticed it was a little on the old side, a little on the tired side,” he said.
The new system includes a dashboard where the Graphic Services office can check the status of the printers and update them if necessary. The machines can also email the dashboard if they are low on paper or toner.
“Now we actually know what’s going on . . . and we can get it operating as fast as possible,” he said.
About 1,200 people have used the wireless printing as of Sept. 30, according to Anderson.
While the service automatically defaults to using the Carleton email address for sending print jobs, Anderson said students can also use their personal email accounts, including Hotmail or Gmail.
Graphic Services held a contest where students and staff could choose the name for the new service, according to their website.
Anderson said Graphic Services will launch a web application where students can upload their documents directly on the Internet, in addition to sending them via email.
Anderson said there have been issues with the system initially.
“I won’t lie. There was a couple problems in the beginning,” he said, adding that many of the problems have since been fixed.
These issues were related to the costing of the print jobs and how students were being charged for the black and white and colour printing on their campus cards, Anderson said.
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