[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Open Source Time and Print Management

[Deanna Frazee]

We gave up on coin boxes and just tell the patrons what they owe us as
they pick up the print jobs.  It's really been easier, and we aren't
finding that we lose all that much money this way.  

In my dream system, a cover page would print out identifying that the
following pages are from terminal X and have a timestamp.

Deanna Frazee
Killeen City Library System
(254) 501-8995
(254) 501-7704 (fax)
dfrazee at ci.killeen.tx.us
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org
[mailto:open-ils-
> general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Sharon Foster
> Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 11:12 AM
> To: Evergreen Discussion Group
> Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Open Source Time and Print Management
> 
> I would be thrilled if a print management system simply notified a
> staff workstation that "station A just printed 12 color pages." I've
> dealt with coin boxes and they are a bigger headache than some patrons
> I've met.
> 
> Sharon M. Foster, JD, MLS
> Technology Librarian
> http://firstgentrekkie.blogspot.com/
> "Have you tried switching it off and on again?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 11:43 AM, David Fiander <david at fiander.info>
wrote:
> > Time management is tricky. There are probably ways of doing it, but
it
> > will be complicated.
> >
> > If you are thinking about migrating your public internet PCs away
from
> > Windows to Linux, then printing will require some development, but
not
> > as much as time management.
> >
> > Because the Linux printer subsystem is built from the ground up to
> > support networked printer servers, the PCs can all be configured to
> > submit their printer jobs to a central server very easily. It would
> > only take a little bit of programming to enable associating print
jobs
> > with individual library users. The internet terminals would probably
> > not need to know anything about ILS accounts or anything like that.
If
> > the system was built properly, it would probably even be possible to
> > enable users to print to the public printers from their own laptops
on
> > the wireless network.
> >
> > The challenging part would be charging. The printer release station
> > would require some custom software to either handle a printer debit
> > card system (which is common in academic settings) or adding a
charge
> > to the patrons record in the ILS, and then releasing the job to the
> > printer.
> >