Charging for Printing

Print control software helps to reduce unnecessary printing and recover printing costs. When enabled, print-control prompts users to confirm or reject each of their print jobs before queuing it for printing. Print Control displays a dialog showing the number of pages and the cost of the print-job along with a customizable message with payment instructions (such as, "Pay at the front desk"; or "You will need a smart card with sufficient funds in order to release your print job"; or "This charge will be added to your library account").

Some software enables an invoice/receipt can optionally be included as the last page of the print job. Cost recovery can be achieved through the following means:

• Automated Billing: When integrated with your Integrated Library System (ILS) using NCIP, printing charges can be applied directly to the patrons account.
• Print Vending: DiscoverStations can be used in conjunction with virtually all print vending/release stations,
• Secured Printer: The printer may be located at staffed desk or counter where users must pay to retrieve their printouts
• Honor System: Users are told the amount they owe and whom to pay.

Products and Resources

• DiscoverStation's Integrated Print Control Features
• Ninja an open source print accounting/print release system. The source code for NINJA is available under GPL. Once you download it, the following might help in installation and

configuration. There is also a Mailing list.