How to Manage Slow Print Jobs at Public Printers

For those working nights and weekends...or when Jeff is unavailable:

1. Call Jeff as he may be in late or on the same shift.

2. If i'm not here, ask the person how long they have been waiting.

3. Wait and watch to see how long it takes for one page to come out. (typically 30-60 seconds)

4. Ask the user how many pages were sent for that 'one' job. (typically 5-10, but if it is 20 or more it will take too long and you should stop everyone else from paying for print jobs and go to step "6")
Sometimes they've sent more than one job. It is safe to assume that the one coming out now is the only 'slow' one.

5. Now you can estimate how long it will take using what you learned from step "3" and "4".
If your estimate is under 10 minutes, let everyone that's lining up know. Reassure everyone that it will complete, but they have to wait.
If your estimate is over 10 minutes, stop all other users from printing by placing an out of order sign on the card reader. (this is temporary...do not do it for the whole shift or weekend)

6. Your solution for jobs taking more than 10 minutes (or any person who cannot wait) is to print the job for them from a staff computer. (this is done to hurry the process up and to so they don't lose what they already paid for)
- If you are doing this for the person who has the slow print job...then you want to first delete the slow print job from the printer so others can use it. Most of the time you can do this by turning the printer off...then on. If it doesn't work, call Eugene. On weekends or evenings you can call Mark Leighton if both printers are out of order.
WARNING: if you are successful in deleting the slow print job...you have also deleted any other print jobs that were paid for at that print station. You are responsible for reimbursing them all for the loss.
Reprinting the slow print job at a staff PC may have the same problem. With PDFs you can avoid this by going "Print/Advanced/Print as Image".
- If you are doing this for people who have paid for jobs stuck behind another users slow print job...then you just need to print it for them again at a staff PC. You may want to sit them down and have them bring up the job themselves so you can help others at your desk station in the meantime. You must send the print job for them when they are ready because you have to select the proper printer from the list. (remember...Loan desk stations now have connections to staff printers)

7. If you cannot delete the job, cannot locate Eugene...then the station must be put out of order and all users will need to be reimbursed for lost money using the grey form we've used for years. (the infodesk cabinet has a supply)
If it is just one printer that's not working, leave a message for myself and/or Eugene, put the station out of order and refer students to the other printing station. You will need to reimburse users for any print jobs paid for. Fill out the grey form or redo their jobs at your desk.
If it is both printers that are not working and it's the weekend, leave a message and number for Mark Leighton to call you back. Put the station out of order and refer users to Robarts. You will need to reimburse users for any print jobs paid for. Fill out the grey form or redo their jobs at your desk.

This is regarding changes to UofT's dialup service, CD sales of related software and information handouts.

UTL is no longer selling any CDs.
All have been removed from the Loan Services desk at Gerstein.
The dialup service still exists, but all related software that was on the CDs must now be obtained by users from the Internet.

We retain documentation on the following:

-Setting up Email and Dialin Internet Accounts
Out of date regarding dialin...see:
http://www.utoronto.ca/ic/utordist/general/utordial.html
...and for software see:
http://www.utoronto.ca/ic/utordist/pc/
http://www.utoronto.ca/ic/utordist/mac/
-Symantec Antivirus Installation
-Mac OS 8 - 9
-Windows 2000
-Windows XP

All other documentation has been removed.
The Information Commons no longer supports Windows 95, 98, or ME.
First time users cannot purchase tokens until they've registered for the UTORdial service.