What?! You mean it is possible to curtail printing abuse? I don't believe it . . .
Many academic law libraries deal with the chronic problem of law students printing too many documents on the Lexis and Westlaw laser printers.
Why do the students print so much on the laser printers? We all know that a number of reasons factor in--the laser printers are fast, the copies are free, and the dual column format is easy to read. Some students unintentionally hit the "print all" comm and, and some print without ever realizing it at all.
Why would we even want to restrict the students from printing as much as they desire, or "need?" I mean, "the equipment, including paper and toner is free!" There are several responses to this question. Legal research teachers want their students to use the CALR systems efficiently and effectively which requires that the user scan the documents to determine relevance before incurring print costs. Other considerations factor in also, for example, if the paper jams the laser printers beep incessantly until someone does something to them (one time on the weekend an annoyed student simply unplugged it because he couldn't get it to stop beeping any other way). And let's be honest with ourselves, Murphy's law applies here: if it's going to run out of toner and paper, it's going to do it when the student reps are not around. Our student reps have been good about stocking paper and replacing toner but they are not always around. Since our laser printers are in the reference room, it is decidedly inconvenient to have to attend to the laser printers while in the middle of a reference transaction.
In an effort to foster efficient use of the CALR systems (and to keep complete chaos from reigning in the reference room), a policy limiting CALR printing was developed at the University of Utah Law Library more than five years ago. The full text of the policy, which is given to the students at their initial CALR training, is as follows:
Any printed materials that can be found in the Law Library may not be printed out from LEXIS or WESTLAW. Materials that are not owned or that are missing from the library can be printed out (within reason). Students who send something to the attached DeskJet printers must stay with their print job until it finishes printing. Print jobs sent to a laser printer should be picked up within a day. This policy applies to use of the laser printers, as well as the attached printers on dedicated terminals, and any other printers located at the College of Law or Law Library. If you are printing on your printer at home, these restrictions do not apply.
Although the policy restricts students from printing out any document that can be found in the books in the library, cite lists or parts of cases may be printed. We never worried about flagrant violations of our print policy until the laser printers arrived because the attached DeskJet printers did not lend themselves to abuse--the paper or toner cartridge nearly always ran out before any substantive print job did. It was more work for the students to print out long print jobs than it was for them to use the copy machines, and the print format in the books was easier to read than the print format of the DeskJet printers.
The first year that the CALR laser printers were installed, we decided not to allow all students access to them because of our concern about printing abuse (the nightmares we heard about when attending AALL were still on our minds) so we only allowed the staffs of the law review, journals and moot court to have access. This limited access did not overload the printers (we were not constantly replacing paper and toner) but there was a period of time when the moot court students were researching for their briefs that their motto was, "print everything I possibly can now, actually look at cases later to determine relevance." Of course, our print policy was in force during this period but when confronted, students claimed not to know about the print policy, or just thought that it did not apply to them.
Although restricting laser printer access to certain student groups worked fairly well, we still never felt comfortable limiting access because we felt that all the law students had legitimate reasons to use them. However, the thought of automatically connecting all 400 students to the laser printers was overwhelming. I searched for other alternatives and at the end of the 1993-94 school year, after brainstorming with colleagues and our Lexis and Westlaw representatives, I came up with an idea that we decided to try.
We decided to allow all students access to the CALR laser printers if they filled out an "Application for Access to Westlaw and Lexis Laser Printing." This application included our printing policy and by signing it the students agreed to adhere to this policy. When the students handed in the form, I would call the vendors to have the students' passwords routed to the laser printers. The form stated that if the printing policy was violated we reserved the right to revoke their laser printing privileges immediately and without notice. This provision allowed me to control abuse without spending a lot of time giving notices to the students that they were about to be disconnected from the printers.
When we effected the change, I suspended all the law review, journal and moot court students' privileges and let them know that they could be reinstated if they signed the laser printing application form. I thought some of them might be upset but I did it after school ended and no one complained. I placed notes in all of the other students' boxes telling them about this new policy.
The applications were made available at the reference desk and could be handed in there. I called in the first batch of printer connects on May 23, 1994 -- there were 18 students in the group. Since then the average number of connects per week has been 3-5 with the numbers being higher at the beginning of each semester and tapering off toward the end. There have been a few weeks, especially during the summer, when no students have handed in the applications, but that has been rare.
Initially, I told the students on the form that their passwords would be connected to the laser printers within 24-72 hours after the completed form was turned in, but having to call almost every day took more time than I wanted so I reworded the application to state that the passwords would be attached to the laser printers each Friday. Printer routing usually occurs immediately upon calling but if I call on Friday afternoons, it sometimes takes until Monday to complete.
Each Friday when I call, I call Service Express at Lexis, tell them I want to attach some of our students' IDs to the Lexis laser printer and they ask for the property tag number of the laser printer and then the IDs or names of the students. When I used to call Westlaw I would ask for the Law School Department and tell them what I wanted to do. They would ask for the printer ID number and the passwords of the students. But about 4-5 months ago, when I called West I was informed that only the Academic Reps could route passwords to laser printers so I talked with our Academic Rep and now he does it for me. In fact, it is a lot easier--I just send an E-mail message giving him the students' names and passwords. It takes a lot less time than calling. Occasionally, when I call either vendor I speak with someone who has not routed IDs before but usually they quickly connect the IDs and I am off the phone within 5-10 minutes.
At first I did not require the students to write their passwords on the application because the completed applications sit in a file folder at the public reference desk and we have several pro se patrons who might be tempted to take the passwords out of the folder to use them to find materials which definitively prove that "the tax laws really are illegal." Since it was time consuming looking up the passwords for Westlaw, I found a way to have the students write their password without anyone being able to use it: I had them write the first six digits of their password on the form since that is all Westlaw needs to identify whose password it is. I did not require the students to put their Lexis ID on the form since the IDs are easy to look up on the master Lexis ID list. Also, Lexis will accept the name of the student instead of their password.
How has this process worked? Well, I think it has been working quite well. There is not egregious abuse of our printing policy and any student who wants to use the laser printers can. Since students have to sign the application form, they no longer can use the excuse that they did not know what the print policy was. I have only had to disconnect one person (for flagrant violation). There have been times when I have taken a print job which violates the print policy and written a little note reminding the students what the policy is so they can read it when they pick up their print job. There are students who still violate the print policy by printing cases or journal articles that are available in the library but as long as they are not printing out hundreds of pages and pick up their print jobs, I have not disconnected them.
Besides the initial memo to the students over a year ago, I have not really advertised laser printer access but our student representatives are zealous in telling students about it. Also, the applications are located right where the students sign up for Lexis and Westlaw classes so they can see them there. I have sometimes wondered how this system would work for Lexis and Westlaw if a lot of law schools called them each Friday but it is hard to predict.
Is this the ONLY way to curtail abuse? We are only limited by our imaginations and I am sure many creative solutions are being used. An alternative way to curtail abuse might be to have Westlaw and Lexis drastically lower the allowable print lines per day. Another alternative (if you have the space) is to place the laser printers behind the circulation desk so that the students have to ask for their print jobs when they pick them up--Brigham Young University has done this and reports that it has helped. With some of the new commercial pricing policies, such as a small flat fee charge for each document printed, we no longer may be able to use the argument that it is more cost effective for students to print out a cite list and look at the cases in the books than print out the cases (but other arguments still remain). I do not know what the perfect answer is but this, so far, has been the answer for us.