​Large Format Printer Policy

As of 5/9/2019, the College and Information Technology have ended support for general use departmental large format printers. Existing general use departmental large format printers can continue to be used. However, they must be removed from service when they reach the end of their life and cannot be replaced.

Large format print jobs (e.g. posters or banners) should go to the college printer or Printing and Design for printing. Please the Poster Printing page for more information on submitting jobs to be printed on the College large format printer. Please see the Printing and Design website for more information on their offerings.

Large Format Printer Purchasing Restrictions
The purchase of large format printers within the College is restricted to the COLS Dean’s Office (including the College Support Team staff) as well as pre-approved departments with specific curricular needs (see “Curriculum Specific Needs” section).

Curriculum Specific Needs
Large format printers which will be used as part of academic curriculums in which graduates will be likely to manage and support large format printers as part of their future career are allowed. These printers must be approved by the College Support Team in consultation with the COLS Dean’s Office prior to purchase.

Limited support will be provided for allowed curriculum specific large format printers. The owning department is required to maintain a service contract on these printers.

Existing Printers
Departments which have a large format printer as of 5/9/2019 may continue to use them and purchase consumables (i.e. paper, ink, print heads). However, the College and IT will no longer provide funding or support for these printers and departments cannot purchase new large format printers. When existing large format printers encounter significant issues, they must be removed from service.

Departments with existing large format printers are urged to evaluate the costs of continuing to utilize their existing printers as they may be less cost effective than submitting print jobs to the college printer or Printing and Design.

Definitions
Large format printer (poster printer, wide format printer, plotter): any printer capable of printing on paper sizes larger than 11x17. These printers are typically fed by paper spools and typically used to create posters or banners.

Why was this policy enacted?
Several factors caused the College Support Team to conduct a full analysis of large format printing options and costs. The results of this analysis concluded that current department large format printers were, in most cases, not economically viable and that the campus does not have adequate technical staff to support the printer hardware.

Information Technology no longer has a dedicated printer hardware technician. Due to these staffing changes, we can no longer provide sufficient support levels for these printers. Additionally, all printers for which support will be discontinued under this policy are over 12 years of age and would require an increasing amount of support in the coming years.

A large amount of poster printed costs are not in the consumables, but in the cost of the printer, it’s maintenance, and it’s administration. By reducing the number of printers, these overhead costs will be reduced, decreasing the overall cost of each individual poster. Additionally, through central maintenance and administration of the large format printer, we can reduce waste by
  • increasing the percentage of posters which are printed correctly on the first try.
  • avoiding waste due to dried up or expired ink cartridges and gummed up print heads.
  • simplifying of the purchase of consumables and repairs.

Contact
Please see your department's College Support Team contact for more information on this policy.