By Victoria Rivera
The next time you need to print an assignment, you might want to come a little sooner than you need. Barry’s printer system has been changed this semester, and the once familiar process might be confusing even for long-time users.
Barry’s library has provided access to printers for students at only five cents– starting with ten free papers upon opening an account with print.barry.edu. Before, accounts would be directly linked to the student’s credit cards. However, as of February, library printers have introduced a new payment system in the form of Flex Bucs. Flex Bucs has been a form of currency on campus since the beginning, but before it mostly only applied to the Barry stores and any on-campus food stops.
They may be attained online through the "GET” mobile app or site. If a student has no access to either, one can also get funds on campus through an attendant in the Landon Student Union’s office or the self-service machine.
With the new system, printers no longer operate off of PrintMe. Instead, to use the printers:
1) Go to print.barry.edu through any Barry computer. You can also use any personal device, including phones
2) Go to “Barry Print.” It will lead to the “view my printers.”
3) After going to “view my printers,” sign into your Barry account using the green button.
4) Go to the web print menu, select “submit a job,” and upload files.
5) After doing so, the files will be seen as “in queue.” From here, you’re able to go to any printer station, log in, and print whatever was uploaded.
For further aid, one can visit eguides.barry.edu/NewPrinting, as well as Barry’s IT help desk in the back of the second floor of the library. This new system grants students unrestricted access to printers at any time, unlike the previous system, allowing for easy printing of files for all students across campus.
Leslhey Vergara, an IT worker on campus grounds, feels the change proves useful to students.
“The GET mobile app is pretty good in my opinion. One of the perks is that you can just put funds in there. You can [even] use it for the dining hall: it’s not going to waste,” she said.
Despite the attempts at being user-friendly, the sudden shift has caused chaos for students. With the exclusive use of Flex Bucs, you can no longer directly pay for the next pages. The printers do not accept credit cards of any kind at all. It’s an additional layer of intended convenience that can instead turn students away.
From a distance, a three-step process does not seem so intimidating. But, when a due date is tomorrow or even in a few hours, and it used to be only one or two steps, suddenly the switch is a lot more daunting.
What should be one website trip can instead be made into the hassle of getting an entirely new app solely for getting Flex Bucs. For some students, it can feel like spending money to get another form of money, all to print a few pages. Even when using Barry computers, each time one logs in requires the user to verify their identity: which further wastes time or adds to frustration.
The user interface design of the printers is a visual bombardment of options. If a student is under a time crunch, minor frustration can become a full-on panic.
“I have no idea of how to use the paper. This is complicated. All we had to do is use a barcode, ID, and print,” said Kenny Valmyr, a sophomore nursing student, who was frustrated while printing. “But with this one, it’s complicated.”
She spent over three minutes fiddling with the machine to print out an assignment. Under a time-crunch, she said she could not even easily find the exit button to back out.
Though the introduction of using Flex Bucs should have allowed for easier payment for all students, it remains a printing nightmare for the same people it's meant to help.