Briggs Library has two proposals to submit as technology fee projects that will have direct and visible benefits for students. The first project will increase the number of microcomputers available to students in the Library to learn how to access internet based resources. The second would make free laser printing available to students.

1. Add 4 multi-media capable microcomputers with sound cards and headphones.

The Library needs to phase out its dumb terminals by the time MN Link System X begins. UMM is slated to be one of the first libraries to come up on System X, perhaps as early as summer of 1998. Since more and more resources are available through web interfaces, we had anticipated the need to increase the number of microcomputers from the current 9 to 17. The data wiring is already completed. We propose to add 4 microcomputers now to get closer to our goal of a total of 17. Each year in the future, we propose the technology fee pay for 4 new computers so that the oldest four are retired and the public access computers in the Library are never more than 4 years old.

Cost per multimedia capable computer & software: $2700
Cost of furniture: $250 per computer
Total cost for 4 computers: $11,800

2. Subsidize the cost of laser printing from the public terminals.

The Library has traditionally provided free dot matrix printing capability from the dumb terminals so that students could print out citations for books found in Summon. With the addition of First Search and Infotrac, electronic indexes with some full text capabilities, the amount of supplies used has increased. Now after our experience with a year of microcomputers with access to the WWW, we have seen the use of paper and ribbons continue to climb. Our current expenses for paper and cloth ribbons is $1200 annually.

The students have expressed an interest in higher quality printing. The current printers are slow and do not handle graphics found in WWW pages very well. It is only a matter of time until the full text of periodical articles will include graphics that require higher quality printing than our current printers provide. We will continue to maintain the dot matrix printers, but would like to provide the option of laser printing for students. Because of the higher cost of both the laser printer and toner cartridges, the Library cannot provide laser printing for public use without charging to recover costs. We could offer free laser printing if the Technology Fee provided the equipment and subsidized the cost of supplies and maintenance on an on-going basis.

Start up costs:
HP5N laser printer: $1800
6 toner cartridges: $ 900
paper (82,500 sheets) $ 503
maintenance contract $ 200

Total start up costs: $3403

Ongoing annual supply cost
6 toner cartridges $ 900
paper (82,500 sheets) $ 503
maintenance contract $ 200
Total annual cost $1603

c:\myfiles\instrtech\libfee
4/30/97kf