OCU is due for some new copiers, and the campus technology department is working on that mission.
Gerry Hunt, chief information officer, has been assigned to take charge on the new copier project.
“We are replacing our copier fleet across campus,” Hunt said. “It’s a project that will hopefully be happening in the next two months.”
Hunt said the current copiers on campus were purchased eight years ago. The printers were bought through RK Black, the on-campus print supplier. The university decided to repurchase from RK Black for the next fleet of copiers.
“Typically you have a five-year lease with the company,” he said. “Once we made it to the end of those five years, we decided the copiers were working fine, so we kept them around for a little longer.”
The printer-copiers are not as up-to-date as they could be, Hunt said.
“They’re very old. They’re well past their prime,” he said.
Hunt said the new fleet of copiers will be an improvement upon the older ones.
“Over an eight-year period, things are bound to change. They’re newer, they have some extra features that the others didn’t have,” he said. “They’re quieter, they’re faster, and they’re new.”
In addition to buying new copiers, Hunt said the school has also decided to decrease the number of printers they have, mainly due to minimal use in locations besides the library. The decision to narrow down the fleet from 158 to 96 copiers campus-wide was made over the summer.
Hunt said printers are going to be moved out to more public locations, so students don’t have to exclusively go to the library to print and copy documents.
“The Methodist Hall copier will be moved out into the hallway, and the Walker Hall copier, which is currently only being used by one person, will be moved to the lobby for more open use,” he said.
The only thing keeping the new copiers from being installed is a small technical issue, Hunt said.
“They’re trying to resolve a technical problem with swipes right now, but once that’s resolved we will be sending new ones out to replace the old fleet,” he said. “The printers have been purchased and are currently at RK Black.”
Katherine Abel, acting junior, said the printers can be a little unpredictable.
“I think they’re okay. The only frustrating thing is that, for some reason, the printer will switch and print on really long paper,” she said. “I’m excited for new ones because this one in the library seems like it’s always out of whack.”
Hunt said the new devices will help improve accessibility for students.
“Especially with mechanical electronics like a copier with moving parts, with wear and tear from use, the devices are going to have problems over time,” he said. “We’re excited to get these new devices rolled out.”
Read Jessica Vanek’s exclusive interview with the old printers here.
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