The school library printer uses about ten toner cartridges per year and three rings of paper per day, which is about 1500 sheets of paper daily. Furthermore, librarian Anna Lapid estimates that about 100 pages every other day becomes wasted paper. What happens when the only printer in the Aragon library breaks?
On Sept. 2, the HP4240N Printer in the library stopped working for one week. According to Lapid, “[The] wrong paper left residues on the rocker of the printer, causing the printer to jam.” During this down time, she estimates about 100 students were affected.
Students expressed frustration with the unexpected printer malfunction since it has become a key tool of the learning workflow.
AP Biology is notorious for its extensive study guides, often upwards of five pages in length. AP Biology sophomore Oliver Cheng says, “The printer is extremely important to my week-to-week life because I need to print out study guides, labs and other important materials required for class.”
However, AP Biology students are not the only ones who need to use the library printer.
Senior Elisa Han says, “I was [ticked] because I couldn’t print anything out. I needed to print my English essay out because my printer wasn’t working, but the library’s printer wasn’t working either and the computer lab was locked.”
Occasionally, students do not get the opportunity to print at home, and they count on using the printer at school for their needs.
Sophomore Ryan Vara explains the importance of using the printer during brunch and lunch. “Sometimes I forget to finish assignments, so having the comfort of a printer during free periods gives me reassurance that I will be able to complete my work,” he says.
While many students expressed the significance of the printer in their daily lives, some students did not even realize the printer was out of service.
Because senior Susan Rodriguez has her own printer, she didn’t even realize the one at the library was broken. “I have a printer at home so it doesn’t matter,” she said.
English teachers discuss their printing policies
Though the printer breaking exacerbated English teacher Jim Daniel’s issues with his students printing things last minute, Sandy Skale was unaffected because she allowed students to use her personal classroom printer.
“Being able to print here is taking away the responsibility of printing at home. It’s annoying, and a big waste of paper and time,” says Daniel. “They can’t do it in college. What are they going to do, walk into their professor’s office and ask to use the printer? It’s just silly. They need to get over it.”
However, Skale has adopted a completely different policy.
“What helps me is that I also have a printer in my room, so I do let them print things out here. But if [you] have a printer on your own, it’s just because you choose to, and you pay for it yourself because the technology budget doesn’t cover that,” says Skale.
Other students had to find alternative ways to print their work. Lapid suggested that going green and submitting work electronically was an appropriate workaround.
Daniel gives his own opinions on online submission. “Obviously it is a good idea using turnitin.com to stop plagiarism, and if a student loses a hardcopy, there is a copy online, which allows the teacher to grade.”
