“I do not use school printers. They jam too often and it takes time. So, I go to print shops,” Lee Bo-mi (Sociology, 1) said.
Self-printing stations are in locations where many students go such as Centennial Library, the Ewha-POSCO Building and the Ewha Campus Complex (ECC). In each computer lab, a teaching assistant checks to see if anyone misuses computers and printers and fixes small problems with them. When serious technical problems are found with printers, teaching assistants call the service center.
Despite the school’s effort to provide self-printing services, printers are frequently out of order.
The Ewha-POSCO Building’s computer lab has six printers, but it is hard for students to see them operating properly.
“At least one or two printers were broken down every time I came here,” Ham Cho-Rom (Public Administration, 4) said. “In addition to that, students do not normally use E-card to print, so there are practically only five printers available. So many students wait to print but, most of the time, nearly half of the printers do not work. It is very frustrating.” One printer in the Ewha-POSCO Building can only be paid by E-card.
The situation is much the same with the computer lab in Ewha Centennial Library.
“I went to Centennial Library to print at night, assuming the printers are not busy at that time,” said a sophomore who wishes to remain anonymous. “To my surprise, I tried all the printers, but only one printer worked. Two were jammed, and the rest could not read the printing card, open a PDF file and even stopped working.”
There are two printers in the ECC computer lab, but none of them can open files stored in Webhard or accept payment by T-Money even though they were designed to do so.
According to Kang Sung-Il, a manager of Cannon POD Center in ECC, the printers in ECC computer lab are in the process of system upgrading, which is why the Webhard transferring and T-money payment are not in service since the beginning of this semester.
Frequent printer jamming around campus is mostly due to students’ overuse.
“Each printer has its limit, but many times, students use it continuously without giving it a rest,” a teaching assistant at Centennial Library, who wanted to remain anonymous said.
She said that the printers at Centennial Library undergo inspection every day, provided by the printer rental company. Since the printers arranged in Centennial Library and Ewha-POSCO Building are rented from the same company, the printers in Ewha-POSCO Building also get checked every day.
“Printers can get jammed easily when used for hours without taking a break. Students recognize jamming as a technical failure with the printer itself. We cannot always be there to fix common errors like jamming,” a staff of the printer rental company said. He also claimed that printing cards which are sensitive to magnets can be another reason behind continuous malfunctions. “If needed, we can exchange the damaged cards to new ones.”
Moon Bo-ra
boramoon@ewhain.net