Business centers are a printing success

In order to meet students' high printing demands, University Residence Halls & Apartments opened new business centers this semester in the Flint Village, Hadley Village and South Lake Village community buildings.

Offering high-speed Internet connections, computer workstations, printing, copying and scanning to any UB apartment resident, the centers are being dubbed a success by officials and students alike.

"We identified a need of printing that many students have," said Tom Tiberi, senior associate director and general manager for University Apartments. "Not many students print in their rooms because of the volume of prints they need to do. This also allows them to do more academic work where they live."

The estimated cost for this newly added convenience was about $30,000 per apartment complex, according to Tiberi.

"It's hard to pinpoint an actual running cost this early on, but with all the equipment the start-up cost came to about $30,000 per complex," Tiberi said. "But this cost includes construction, printers, furniture and computers for all three complexes."

Tiberi added that similar services would also be installed at Flickinger Court and Creekside Village.

Like the iPrint system in the libraries, apartment residents are allowed a certain number of printouts or copies per semester. This allowance is separate from students' iPrint printout allowance.

"Students can print from their apartments or right from the computers in the actual center. Each resident is allowed 300 free prints or copies per semester," Tiberi said. "After that they can use campus cash to pay the four cents per copy or per print to use the facilities. It's been received well and looking to keep the program running."

And unlike the libraries on-campus, the printers in the business centers don't print the documents until students swipe their UB card into the system.

"It doesn't matter how many times you press the print button because it won't print until you swipe your card over here in the business center, so that's why there's no wait," said senior Jennifer Hilburger, apartment resident and communication major.

Delisa Joseph, a senior communication and linguistics major, said the centers have made printing on-campus an easier task.

"It's not constantly printing like in the libraries. It prints when you want it to print so there's never a back up," Joseph said. "It's very convenient. It saves me money on my own paper and ink. Plus, it doesn't count against the number of prints you're allowed to do in the libraries."

Another feature of the business centers is that students can send print commands from their apartment computers, which can easily connect to the business center printers. And this feature makes the business center appealing to students like Hilburger.

"It's closer than walking to the libraries and there's not a line to wait for printouts like there always is in Capen," she said. "You can print right from your apartment and then come over and pick it up. I use it more than the library to print because you don't have to wait for it."

Naomi Pabon, a senior theatre major, said she uses the business centers on a regular basis.

"I really like the convenience of it and use it here in Hadley at least once a week," she said. "It's easier than having to walk to campus just to wait for your print outs."

And while using the printers might be easy for students, Tiberi sad the process of establishing the business centers was not such an easy task.

"Getting the computer connection was a challenge. It involved CIT as well as Campus Dining to allow students to use campus cash and the Residence Halls and University apartments. These three have never worked together quite like this before," Tiberi said.

One of the biggest challenges that faced this project was finding adequate space to put the business centers in the community buildings.

"We're looking to expand the services to add fax capabilities by fall of next year. But space really limits us especially in Flint since its right in main lobby and there's not a lot of space," Tiberi said.

"One of the draw backs of Flint is that we don't have an actual room for the business center," Joseph said. "It's just one computer in the corner of the lobby area. It'd be nice if there were more computers. Hours should be extended on the weekends too. Weekdays it closes at like 11 p.m. but on the weekends it closes at 5 p.m, here in Flint."

But despite a few minor setbacks the popularity of the business centers seems to be growing overall.

"Around 40 percent of the population of each apartment has been using the services pretty consistently," Tiberi said. "We did a paper survey to see how we could better serve students in each complex."

"This semester they improved the hours here in South Lake so it's open more often which makes it more convenient," Hilburger said. "Last semester it was open only at night but now it's open during the day too."