Ohio Wesleyan’s ‘Print Green Initiative’ Well-Received by Users
Ohio Wesleyan University President Rock Jones participates in the ‘Print Green Initiative,’ giving up his individual printer to Adam Mayer, technical support specialist. (Photo by Taylor Rivkin ’14)
In the six months that the voluntary “Print Green Initiative” has been promoted at Ohio Wesleyan University, 22 new multifunction devices have replaced an estimated 50 individual devices in various departments and offices.
In addition to printing, users can scan, copy, and transmit faxes with these machines, says Brian Rellinger, chief information officer. Some of the newer printer/copiers that were removed have been relocated for use in Public Safety, the Fine Arts Department, the Athletic Department, and WCSA offices.
“We are continuing to promote the Print Green Initiative throughout campus,” Rellinger says. “We want your old printers. Inkjet printer cartridges are expensive, so these older, individual printers are expensive to operate. We are glad to come and pick these up for reuse or recycling.”
OWU’s President’s Task Force on Sustainability supports this voluntary program, which Sean Kinghorn, OWU’s new energy conservation and sustainability coordinator, says is “a perfect example of a campus sustainability project that can positively impact the environment while reducing operational expenses. The multifunction devices use less paper, less ink, and less energy.”
The Mowry Alumni Center has three multifunction devices, which are used to scan donation checks into a file share, where the image of the check attaches to the donor record.
“I have been happy with the multifunction units that were installed in Mowry,” says Jeremy Ball, director of development services. “They are efficient and reliable. We have been able to set them up with a number of one-touch functions to make scanning documents much easier. It is really nice to be able to scan and email a document directly, and I really like that I can send a fax without leaving my computer.”
OWU’s Purchasing Coordinator Liz Foos says she has been using a multifunction device since late last semester. “During the training, it seemed a little overwhelming, but when we returned from break, we found it to be fairly user-friendly,” she says.
“One huge benefit is that it saves a lot of desk space by eliminating all three of the department’s individual printers and the fax machine. More importantly, the department does not have to store multiple types of inks and toners—saving time and money. With the scanner, we actually save a lot of paper—copying and printing of documents.”
High volume, complex project printing still should be handled by OWU’s duplicating department, says supervisor Jill Kerins.
Rellinger says he hopes to make multifunction devices available for use by students in Beeghly Library by fall 2012.