Do you think before you print?
Photo credit: Musselman Library
By Musselman Library Staff
Of all of the benefits Gettysburg College provides to its students, “free, unlimited printing” is probably one of the most widely utilized. While printing is not literally free, the cost of printing is included in tuition, so students do not have to worry about paying per page to support their individual academic habits. This freedom, however, has been noted by some to promote a culture of reckless printing.
Since students are not directly paying to print, they are often unaware of just how much they are printing—and just how much they are wasting. This issue is particularly prominent in the library. Each day the library staff recycles hundreds of sheets of paper that get left at the printers. This raises the question: if so much of what is printed goes to waste, do students really need to be printing so much?
The current printing climate at the college inspired Peer Research Mentor Naima Scott ’17 to take action.
“I think that we as students don’t get a chance to really think about how much we print,” said Scott.
Her first step was to create signage to put up near the printers in the library. These signs are used to track how much gets printed each week during the semester with the goal of not reaching the total number of pages printed last fall.
“It was my hope to create provocative images that brought attention to how much paper gets printed in the library along with tips on how to reduce this,” said Scott.
She hopes that raising student awareness will inspire more conscientious printing habits, minimizing a need for outside restrictions on printing. By instilling such habits, Gettysburg College students could enjoy the benefits of unlimited printing while minimizing the environmental impact. Take a moment and think before you print!
