Library users to pay for printing

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 14, 2003

Beginning Jan. 5, staff at the Sno-Isle Regional Library District’s 20 branch libraries will charge customers 10 cents per page for printing from library computers.

The change is at the public’s urging, library spokeswoman Mary Kelly said.

"We heard this over and over in those meetings last summer that we should charge for printing because of the cost of the paper and toner and the wear on the machines," she said.

The change was recommended as a way to manage library costs.

Staff conducted meetings across Snohomish and Island counties to educate the public on its election bid to lift its levy lid. The measure failed in February, and district officials decided to do a better job of explaining the library’s budget and costs prior to the November election.

Voters approved the measure the second time around.

The charge for printing is expected to generate about $50,000 a year, Kelly said. All of the libraries are being equipped with change machines and pay copy machines, and will be set up based on library card numbers. The first 10 pages printed are free.

Patrons can set up an account and put as much money in it as they want, Kelly said. The system is set up so that it will not print more than 10 pages unless there is money in the account. The user will get a prompt that says how many pages it’s going to print.

"We anticipate taking this action will offset the costs of toner and paper, as well as effectively manage the growing demand for printing," said Cheryl Telford, assistant director for Community Libraries and Technology.

Some printing is exempt from a charge.

Printing from the library catalog or databases to which the library subscribes will be free. Subscribed databases will be clearly marked on the library’s Web site, Kelly said.

"Many of those are things we used to provide in print," she said. "We don’t purchase the same amount of print materials that we used to, but we wanted to provide the same services. We’re already paying a certain amount of money for these databases and we’d like to encourage people to use them."

For example, a reader might want an article in an old magazine that the library no longer purchases. Those articles can still be printed, even though the magazine isn’t on the library’s shelves.

Sno-Isle serves more than 550,000 residents in the two counties. For more information call 360-651-7000 or 800-342-1936, or visit the Web site at www.sno-isle.org.

Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.