Thursday, September 04, 2008

How Many Reams

When did libraries become publishing houses? I am amazed at the amount of printing/photcopying that goes on this library. I'm sure I did it when I was doing my schooling, but certainly not this much, right? The other day someone put 15, you read that right, fifteen reems of paper into our various printing machines... that wasn't enough by the end of the day. We charge .04 cents a page, why? A statisitic: last year the library spent over $50,000 dollars on paper, toner, and printer upkeep. The students get angry that we charge for copying. We have no choice, we don't get a cut from the "technology fee" that the university charges the students. That goes towards computers and internet and all that good stuff.

I found myself, at times, gritting my teeth after the umpteenth "Hi, how do I print..." or "I told it (the computer) to print, but where do I get the printout?" Their eyes glaze when I ask "do you have money on your jagtag?" Jagtag being student id/library card/copy card all rolled into one. It doesn't, pardon the phrase, compute. Then I have to give them a quick tutorial on how to put money on said jagtag and then how to get said printer to do what it was designed to do.

Another great question is this: where's your fiction section. Its tough to explain to a freshman, sorry first year student, that fiction is not in a section like they know in say a Barnes & Noble. Their eyes glaze over, again.

Its funny, actually. So, I shall continue to shake my fist at the whole thing and laugh and just shake my head...

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