After installing a printer in the Student Union, members of the Student Association (SA) and Academic Computing are looking to install printers in other areas on campus.
Earlier this semester, the student senate set a goal that each residence hall on campus have printers installed in their computer labs. This initiative was spearheaded by Sen. Ramelle Liverpool.
“We should have printers in our [residence halls] especially when [there’s already] a computer lab in there,” Liverpool said.
Assistant Director of Academic Computing Lura Speth said she will be purchasing printers for this initiative within the next couple of months and she plans to start installing them over the summer break.
These actions are the result of the student senate and the responses Academic Computing received from a survey given in spring 2010 regarding this issue, Speth said.
Speth, who has worked on the initiative for nearly two years, said Academic Computing sent out a survey to students and the majority that responded said they would like to see printers installed in residence halls on campus.
“As far as I know, the printers will be located in the RA office and students will be able to print during RA hours,” Speth said.
Although Liverpool is pushing for 24-hour printing, she said these installations would be convenient for students because they wouldn’t have to leave their residence halls. She said since not all students have access to printing in their halls, they have to walk over to the Sojourner Truth Library (STL) or Hasbrouck before midnight.
Although there are printers installed in Shango, they are not accessible to all students, Liverpool said.
Members of SA feel these installations are necessary because students might have limited access to the printers in the STL due to the ongoing library renovations which, according to
newpaltz.edu, is scheduled to be completed in ‘winter 2013.’
“Because we’re losing a floor of the library, it’s going to make the library smaller,” Liverpool said. “[The installation of printers in each hall] will make it a little better for us.”
Liverpool said funding issues might halt or slow down the process of installation and although this initiative falls under the Residence Life budget, they aren’t sure if they have enough money to install printers in each hall.
Director of Residence Life Corinna Caracci said the senate’s goal is plausible but will cost a lot of money to buy and maintain the printers if they’re in each residence hall.
Liverpool said this initiative can be properly handled with a trial run, which consists of a printer installation with regulated hours and possibly a lab proctor to see how students respond.
“There are still a lot of question marks,” Carraci said.