After years of allowing students to print in the library for free, the district has chosen to no longer provide the ink or paper for the printers. As a result, Librarian Nikki Stroud has decided to no longer support the printing services because the upkeep costs would have to come out of the library budget that is used for purchasing reading materials.

The district should provide the upkeep costs for the printers, without using the library budget to do so. Students need them in the classroom and they aren’t easily accessible to many students.

Students will have to print something for at least one project throughout the year—whether it be a resume for a business class, pictures of different types of biomes in biology or an informative flyer on a foreign country in world geography, a free-to-use and readily available printer is needed for students to complete these projects.

Without these services, students are forced to print outside of school, which is not a viable option for many students who would have to pay to print at a Walmart or Staples. This especially applies to the underserved students in our district who cannot afford to spend their personal money on frivolous things such as a printed image, which leads to many of them being forced to take lower grades on their work simply because of the lack of available options.

Additionally, since families often have little need for a personal printer, many skip on purchasing one for their household because of their high initial price and even higher upkeep costs with ink, paper and maintenance which can require anywhere from $100 to $500 just to print for a year.

These costs are the same reason why the library can’t afford to continue the printing services for students, and even if Stroud chose to offer them it would result in fewer new books being bought to replace the older ones, which directly inhibits a student’s access to literary works that would otherwise be available to them.

Because of the abundant need for cost-free printers, as well as the lack of library budget to cover said printers, I sincerely urge the district to take responsibility for reinstating free printing services for the entire student population.