When the Duplication Unit first opened at Hodges Library, there was sometimes a line out the door of patrons and staff waiting to use the machines.
“There were rails that wound from the entrance door to the wall, and people would line up, like you do at the movies,” Jim Everett, Duplication Supervisor, said. “And then it wasn’t just photocopies, we duplicated audio cassettes for Special Collections and the Music Library. We were very busy. But changes in technology have changed the nature of our work,” Everett, who has worked in Duplication for 18 years, continued.
At the end of the day on Friday, May 6, Duplication will close its doors to the public permanently. While the Libraries will still provide photocopy machines in Reference, Reserve, Periodicals, and on each stack floor, high-end features such as collating and stapling will no longer be offered.
Anyone who needs help with a copy machine, to buy a copy card, or to use a transfer voucher to make copies should go to the Circulation desk for assistance.
With the increase of electronic resources and e-reserves, more library patrons are printing, rather than copying, the materials they need. As fewer patrons make fewer copies, it is no longer cost-effective for the Libraries to maintain Duplication in its current form. Staff who currently work in Duplication will be reassigned to other areas of the library that have increased demand, such as digital production.