Though Ball State University students are now limited on how many pages they can print at Bracken Library, most said they won't notice.
At the beginning of the semester, a mass e-mail was sent informing students of the new 1,000-page printing limit that will start to be enforced this school year. Once a student surpasses their free printing amount in the library, each additional page will cost five cents. Students will be charged on their Bursar accounts at the end of each semester.
University Libraries Dean Arthur Hafner said it was a necessary change.
"There was some abuse, particularly last year," Hafner said. "Last year, 10 students printed over 100,000 pages together and one of them printed over 54,000 pages alone."
In the past, students were able to print as many pages as they wanted in the library. Although students were encouraged to print no more than 30 pages a day, Bracken did not have an official policy. Now, students are limited to an average of about 10 printed pages per day.
Most students said they aren't too worried about the change.
Sophomore Dani Huber said the limit isn't a problem for her because she doesn't use Bracken's printers very often.
"I live off campus, and I have my own printer," Huber said.
Freshman Rachel Ricker, however, said there shouldn't be a printing limit.
"It probably won't affect me, but I have a lot of friends who it might," Ricker said.
Hafner said the 1,000-page limit won't affect most students. This past Fall Semester, about 74 percent of students used Bracken's printing services and printed off about 220 pages each, he said.
"Looking at the statistics, I'm very optimistic that very few people will exceed 1,000," he said. "If it does affect too many students, then we'll reevaluate."
But the limit will help prevent abuse of Bracken's services, he said.
"We've had people who printed more than 3,000 pages," Hafner said. "When I saw some of the reports, I wanted to send those students a bill. We didn't have a limit though, so we can't be outraged if people print more than that."
The library isn't focused on making money by limiting and then charging students, he said, but saving a little bit of money on printing costs ensures that all students have the same opportunities to use the services Bracken has to offer.
"This is a continuance of a fantastic service," Hafner said. "Most places don't give free services and we're doing everything we can think of that will help students."
Students who want to keep track of their printer usage can log on to Bracken's Web site and enter their BSU usernames and passwords to check how many pages they've printed off so far during this academic year.
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