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List:       publib
Subject:    [PUBLIB:10059] Re: debit cards to pay for computer printouts (fwd)
From:       plib2 () sunsite ! berkeley ! EDU (PUBLIB)
Date:       1998-03-31 23:12:04
Message-ID: Pine.SOL.3.91.980331201201.15484C-100000 () sunsite ! Berkeley ! EDU
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Sender: "James B. Casey" <jimcasey@lib.oak-lawn.il.us>
Subject: Re: debit cards to pay for computer printouts

The honor system has worked here in Oak Lawn.  We bought metal, locked
boxes at about $20 each and cut a slit on the top for coins/bills.  These
boxes
are placed near the printers. A financial assistant collects the money one
or two
times per week and counts up the proceeds.  We charge $.05 per copy for
computer printer and $.25 each for microform reader printer copies.

We have one "honor box" for both of our reader printers.  The cost to put
card
debit or coin ops on each reader printer would have been $1,100.  That is
$2,200
in copies (8,800 copies) which you would have to make at $.25 each before
breaking even.

Coin ops and debit card devices are EXPENSIVE gadgets which can
break down and effectively shut down your computer printer and/or reader
printer, malfunction and cause complaints at service desks (and wasting of
valuable staff time), and also require costly service visits.  I suspect
that such
devices NEVER pay for themselves and thus render cost recovery impossible.

The honor system is usually rejected out of the belief that most patrons are

dishonest.  Some patrons are dishonest.  Some patrons won't pay.  Others
will
pay more than they need to.  Some patrons will even put in anonymous
donations.  In the long run, buying expensive and troublesome devices to
make
sure that patrons pay "up front" for copies will destroy any chance you
might
have to achieve what library administrators are looking for -- genuine cost
recovery.

James B. Casey -- My own views as a public library administrator.

L Kahn wrote:

>   At my library we were hoping to lease printers to attach to computers
> that the public uses throughout our main library building.  We actually
> have printers now, but we wanted to have patrons pay for copies with
> debit cards that we would make available at central locations.  Right
> now, payment is on the honor system, and, with all respect to our
> public, the system hasn't been--well--honored.  Some of the problem may
> have to do with people on one floor having to go into another room to
> make their payments (the alternative being that they pay at an already
> overwhelmed reference desk in that area).
>   Our administration welcomed bids for this job, but only one company
> sent a bid, and now we have learned that this outfit has not been able
> to comply with agreements with another library in our state.  It looks
> also as though it isn't profitable for any firm to install one printer
> per computer, even though we imagined that such an arrangement would
> prove easiest for all, especially for library users.  Neither does
> attaching debit devices to our printers seem an option.
>   I have looked at the publib archives, and my assistant director will
> be calling a couple of libraries that may be asking patrons to use debit
> cards to pay for computer printouts, but I wonder if anyone has further
> information and advice for us:  experiences, vendors, recommendations,
> warnings.  It seems that quite a lot of academic libraries do not charge
> for printing, but I don't think free copying is viable for our
> insitution.
>   If you have any insight into our problem or can refer me to anyone
> with ideas for us at the Newark (NJ) Public Library, please contact this
> list, if that's okay, or write directly to me,
> Leslie Kahn, <kahnl@hotmail.com>.  Thank you.




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