Patron Taps Their ID and Nothing Happens

The printer will need to be powered down and turned back on. The middle printer is especially susceptible to this issue. Ask the patron to use a different printer as this process will take several minutes. The ID tap should work after the restart. If it does not, but an Out of Order sign on the printer and email Amber. 

Patron says the Computer Won't Let Them Print

Make sure the patron has hit the "Enable Editing" button that may appear above an document that they have downloaded. Until they enable editing, no print options will show.

The Printer Status Shows an Error and a Number of Documents Waiting

This error can be ignored. As long as there is a green checkmark over the printer, the print jobs will release. The error and print queue represents pending jobs not yet released and should reset overnight. 

The Patron says that there are no print jobs showing when they swipe their ID

Make sure that the patron has logged in as themselves on the computer especially if they are using a stand-up terminal. Sometimes patrons hop on a terminal that is already logged in and the jobs will be assigned to that patron instead.

Ask the patron to send the print job again just to be sure. 

Patron does not have their ID with them

They can use the keyboard icon on the touch screen to manually enter their username and password. 

A community patron or alumni wishes to print

Staff can provide these patrons with the generic login for the computers. When it is time for them to print, library staff can manually enter this information on the touch screen and release the print jobs for that account. These patrons are limited to 20 pages of printing per day. 

A request has been made for library staff access to the papercut system like we had for the previous pharos system that would allow us to release jobs from the Circulation Desk or the Reference Desk. That request is still pending (as of 8/2024). 

There is some kind of catastrophic failure or server issue impacting all of the printers

Call Technology Support to report the problem. Place out of order signs on the printers, these are available at the Circulation Desk. If this happens after hours, email technology support and cc Amber, put up the signs and refer patrons to print in the 24/7 lab. Below are directions that can be given to patrons to access that space.