Summer 2007

Into Print aims to educate, inform, and entertain its readers, with a goal of fostering positive communication between its participating departments, their staffs, and their clients.

In this issue

News briefs

Hardin, Main Library copiers upgraded
2007-08 desk calendars available

TypeStrikes

General news

Together at last: Lost and Found goes home
Staff volunteer to work UI exhibit at state fair
Education, outreach, and training for customers

Central Mail Services

Delivery-point validation required for mail discounts
Mailing Smarter: A place for everything
Close enough for government work...
Central Mail celebrates 75 years at Iowa
In memoriam: Former employee dies in auto accident

General Stores

Be aware (or beware) the office supply competition

Parking and Transportation

Fiscal year 2008 parking rates
Assistant manager appointed for Parking Services
P&T adds student vehicle registration to online services
Construction, services, alternative transportation = productive year

Printing Department

Faculty: make UI Copy Centers your source for course packs
Order print quantity for entire mailing list
CopyHawk offers parcel shipping via UPS
Questions about a color digital printing order? We're here for you.
Files galore and no place to store?
Copy Centers reach out to new students, parents at Orientation

Surplus

Every day an adventure
Anderson, Hennager attend national Surplus conference at ISU
Character Counts: Meet Matt Neely

We like feedback

Send story ideas, address corrections, additions, e-mail
We are . . .
Directories
The University of Iowa Nondiscrimination Statement

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NEWS BRIEFS

Hardin, Main Library copiers upgraded

Copy Center Services has upgraded the self-service copiers at the Hardin and Main libraries with new, high-volume models. "We had been getting complaints," says Nan Seamans, associate director of the University Libraries. "We appreciate the responsiveness in replacing them. Our concern is that if people can't get good copies, they may tear pages out of the books and journals. Good copiers are important to us to maintain the integrity of the collection," she says.

2007-08 desk calendars available

The 2007-2008 University of Iowa events calendar is available from General Stores. The stock number is 40000; the cost is 95 cents. You may order the calendars online in SIGS, or fax a General Stores requisition for calendars to us at 384-3918. If you have questions contact General Stores at 384-3906.

The University Directory (herd book) is usually available in November. General Stores will e-mail ordering instructions as soon as they arrive. We will not take early orders for them. Contact gary-anderson@uiowa.edu to be notified via the listserv.

Please note: The events calendar is 8-1/2x11 inches, cream-colored, saddle-stitched, one month per page, and published by the Registrar's office. The Printing Department's 2008 calendar set will be available in October.

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TYPESTRIKES

from our typo treasure chest

end of the rear report

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GENERAL NEWS

Together at last: Lost and Found goes home

The University Lost and Found moved this summer from the IMU parking ramp Public Safety in the lower level at University Capitol Centre. It had been housed at the ramp and operated by Parking Services due to lack of space in Public Safety, which had administrative responsibility. The new Campus Mail addresses are: Public Safety, 808 UCC; and Lost and Found, 809 UCC. The U.S. Postal Service address is: 808 University Capitol Centre, Iowa City, IA, 52242-5500.

Staff volunteer to work UI exhibit at state fair

Business Services employees Gary Anderson, Chris Kula, Judy Williams, and Rhonda Weaver worked as volunteers on August 15 at the University's exhibit at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Staff from Business Services have worked at the Fair for several years. It is a great way to meet people from all over the state and let them know not only what is going on at the University of Iowa, but also the benefits we provide for everyone in the state. It is interesting to see high-school students picking up literature on different aspects of the University and their excitement when they talk about becoming students and Hawkeyes.   — Gary Anderson

Education, outreach, and training for customers

Central Mail

"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Central Mail Services" provides an open forum on mailing that will allow for a wide range of discussion; any and all mailing questions are encouraged. It is scheduled for September 12, 11 a.m. to noon. Register for the class through UI Learning and Development, www.uiowa.edu/~fusstfdv. Also, Central Mail makes presentations tailored to each department's mailing needs, to provide information and money-saving suggestions. Contact Chris Kula.

New staff orientation

Business Services staff participate in Learning and Development's monthly new faculty and staff orientation. Contact Linda Noble, Parking Services, or Jenean Arnold, other Business Services departments.

Tours

Groups are welcome to tour Printing, Mail, and General Stores at the Mossman Building. Contact Jenean Arnold.

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CENTRAL MAIL SERVICES

Delivery-point validation required for mail discounts

As of August 1, mail customers who presort and intend to claim discounted postage rates must have their address files cleansed using an approved process. The Postal Service began requiring customers to use its new software, Delivery Point Validation (DPV), to ensure the accuracy of address information on that date.

DPV enables mailers to identify potentially undeliverable addresses in their mailing lists. The current address-matching software products can only confirm whether an address falls within the low-to-high address range encoded for the named street. DPV, however, indicates whether the address actually exists.

Customers who use Central Mail's automated addressing will have their files cleansed prior to address application. The AccuZip software which Mail uses will apply DPV after addresses are cleansed. If you use mailing labels, have your address lists cleansed before printing them. We highly recommend you send them to Central Mail for this. When the Post Office provides address corrections, mailers must incorporate them before their next mailing.

Improving the quality of address information benefits both the mailer and the Postal Service: the mailer from reduced mailing costs and other expenses that sending mail to inaccurate addresses causes, and the Postal Service from reduced volumes of undeliverable-as-addressed mail, resulting in lower processing and handling costs.

Mailing Smarter: A place for everything

— Chris Kula

Close enough for government work...

...and mighty close it is. The postage remaining on a Central Mail meter recently was a minute one-thousandth of a cent. But it had to be applied to a mail piece, for accounting purposes. Staff used a new meter to add the remaining postage - 38.999 cents. Picky, picky, picky.

Central Mail celebrates 75 years at Iowa

Happy seventy-fifth birthday, Central Mail! The first listing for the SUI Mailing Department, as it was called then, appears in the Fall 1932 university directory (herd book), according to David McCartney, University archivist in the Libraries' Department of Special Collections.

Over the years the mailing service went through several different configurations and moved a few times. It landed at the Mossman building in 1996 and has since evolved into Central Mail Services, providing parcel, metering, and bulk mail assistance to the University of Northern Iowa as well as UI, and distributing intracampus and incoming Postal Service mail here on campus.

In memoriam: Former employee dies in auto accident

Judy Stromer, a former Central Mail employee, died May 26, 2007, from injuries she received in a car accident near Ladora, Iowa. She was a UI graduate, with a degree in anthropology. She enjoyed traveling, reading, and her pets. She was devoted to her family, which includes four daughters, their families, and her father. A "Character Counts" article featured her in the November/December 1998 issue of Into Print.

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GENERAL STORES

Be aware (or beware) the office supply competition

"My company can save you lots of money on office supplies. Everything is cheaper from us. We have the best service. We beat them all the time. Everyone on campus is ordering from us!"

I am sure your department has heard such comments from office supply vendors, some local, some national, some legitimate, some maybe not. They may contact you by telephone, email, or in person. So how should you respond?

First, thank you for turning them down. General Stores manages a University-wide contract which focuses on obtaining the best pricing and quality for office supplies. It is a multimillion dollar statewide contract that includes Iowa State University, the state of Iowa, and several cities and municipalities - and the list is growing.

The suppliers who are begging for your business most likely had a chance to bid on the contract and either did not do so or bid too high. Because they did not get the bid, they now want to come in the back door, without successfully going through the bid process.

The University of Iowa, through General Stores' contract management, has access to more than 30,000 items at OfficeMax. We spend considerable time making sure we have the best pricing, concentrating on the top 1,000 items. It is convenient for a vendor to compare items to our contract but substitute different manufacturers or stock numbers. If you find we have a higher price on an item, let me know. I can either find the OfficeMax stock number for an accurate comparison, or, in the unlikely event that our price is not competitive, I can seek a price adjustment from OfficeMax. Our contract does not set pricing by individual department or request, but is consistent throughout the University and the other institutions. It makes it unnecessary for departments to each have an office supply buyer.

Our OfficeMax contract has saved UI departments over $700,000 in the past thirty months. General Stores offers online MFK ordering through MIGS and Pcard ordering directly from OfficeMax. We just completed our best year ever at General Stores. Our OfficeMax issuances are up 10 percent (19% at UIHC) over last year. This tells us our campus customers think our pricing, quality, and service are the best.

So, what to tell the vendors? Let them know we already have an office supply contract that is managed by General Stores, and, since General Stores provides this service, you do not have to spend time as an office supply buyer. Tell them they can bid on this contract when it comes up for renewal. If they have questions about the process, tell them to contact Anne Sopher at University of Iowa Purchasing, 319-335-5078. You can also ask to be removed from their email and telephone contact lists.

Then tell them thank you and go back to doing your job - because you an count on us to do ours.   — Gary Anderson

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PARKING & TRANSPORTATION

Fiscal year 2008 parking rates

Public rates effective July 1, 2007

• Cashiered facilities: $.85/hour, $14 maximum

Permit rates effective August 1, 2007

• Ramp reserved: $75/month
• Surface reserved: $44/month
• Hancher/Arena lots: $28/month
• Commuter lots: $19/month
• Motorcycle: $75/year
• Surface night: $22/month
• Night and weekends: $8/month
• Ramp night: $44/month

Assistant manager appointed for Parking Services

Linda Hochstedler has joined Parking and Transportation as the new assistant manager for Parking Services. Her office's responsibilities include issuing faculty, staff, and student bus passes and parking permits; issuing temporary permits; making parking lot assignments and maintaining waiting lists; and processing payment for parking tickets. She started working in her new position in April.

Previously Hochstedler worked for the Tippie College of Business School of Mangement, as marketing director in its Cedar Rapids Center. The college conducts an MBA program for business professionals there. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

P&T adds student vehicle registration to online services

Parking and Transportation has launched an online application which allows students to register their vehicles through ISIS. Students may also use this application to register their bicycles and apply for semester bus passes.

The application, created by the Information Management team in Finance and Operations, is intended to make it easier for students to have access to Parking Services. Now, students can complete their registration at home instead of coming into the Parking office. P&T will also benefit from the application because it reduces the amount of data entry required of staff and streamlines processes. It became available to students in early July.

Previously, the majority of vehicle registrations had to be completed in person. Only preregistration for residence hall storage permits and renewal permits for the Hancher, Finkbine Commuter, and Hawkeye Commuter lots were done by mail. This amounted to approximately 900 permits. With the online program, almost all of the 6,000 student step into the Parking office. For more details, go to www.uiowa.edu/~parking/announcements.html.   — Michelle Ribble

Construction, services, alternative transportation = productive year

Construction projects, new services, and increased participation in alternative modes of transportation were among the previous year's highlights that Parking and Transportation presented in its annual report to the Board of Regents in March. Besides providing nearly 15,400 parking spaces for visitors, faculty, staff, and students (an increase of 745 parking spaces since February 2006), the University has... — Michelle Ribble

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PRINTING DEPARTMENT

Faculty: make UI Copy Centers your source for course packs

Copy Center Services is uniquely positioned to produce the most convenient, most economical, and best quality course packs (custom educational materials that supplement or replace textbooks) for you and your students. UI faculty members who publish course packshave this on-campus resource literally at their fingertips.

Convenient for you. . .

The Copy Centers encourage network file transmission: you can place orders and send files right from your computer, through the web to our server. We print the materials on a high-speed digital printer and electronically archive them to ensure fast turnaround for reprints. We can burn CDs to supplement the printed material, and we'll even make updates and corrections to archived files on request.

Course packs containing no copyrighted information and fewer than 500 pages can often be finished in a week. For course packs that do contain copyrighted work, we will obtain the proper permissions for you, but we need your materials four to six weeks before you expect the course pack to be finished.*

And for your students

Copy Center staff will come directly to your building early in the semester and sell course packs to students after class if you wish. Students may pay cash or charge the packets using their student ID. The University Book Store at IMU stocks course packs, too. We print reorders on demand from archived files, providing the exact quantity needed, typically within 24 to 48 hours and sometimes less.

Economical

UPACS are affordably priced because our aim is to serve the University, not make a profit. We charge five cents per black-and-white copy, while the alternatives - your students either download and print the files themselves or buy the packets from a commercial copy shop - can cost as much as fifteen cents per copy. We also provide your instructors' desk copies free of charge.

Quality product

Each page in a course pack is produced as a first-generation print from a digital file on a high-resolution printer. We will scan and clean up images on request. You may choose from a wide range of paper colors and weights, order color copies for photos and illustration, and select your preferred finishing: GBC, tape, or color plastic coil binding; stapling; or shrink wrapping.

Easy to order

Order forms are available from the UPACS office. You may complete one by phone if you wish, but first get a requisition or an m-number from your department's accounting division. For more information contact Ken Knopik, 335-3410, upacs-printing@uiowa.edu.

*About copyright: Many course packs contain some combination of original manuscripts, book excerpts, published journal articles, photographs, and illustrations. Copyright law protects these original works of authorship, published and unpublished. The copyright owner must grant permission to use the work, and it is valid for one-time use only. The fair use doctrine permits limited portions of works to be used, but course packs usually do not qualify as fair use. Obtaining the permissions can take several weeks in some instances.

Order print quantity for entire mailing list

Sometimes when we print a newsletter, letter, card, or other material to be mailed, we have to do another print run immediately because the quantity ordered falls short of the number of names on the mailing list. Guess what? If the order is printed on an offset press, it costs far more to print it in two runs than in one run, and it takes extra time. Some people avoid the extra cost by deleting names from their mailing list when this happens. This, too, takes extra time, and it reduces the publication's reach due to a smaller audience.

Save time, money, and headaches with this simple solution: Make sure you order enough printed pieces. Count the number of entries on your mailing list and add a fewmore if you expect additional requests. Then fill out your order. That's it. Contact your Printing Department customer service representative or Helen Wilson at Central Mail with questions.

CopyHawk offers parcel shipping via UPS

Students, staff, faculty, and campus visitors are now able to ship packages via UPS at the IMU CopyHawk. Cash, checks, credit cards, and student and staff IDs are accepted. Any individual may use the service.

"We can provide packaging. We weigh, fill out the shipping label, and ship it out. We have a 3 p.m. cutoff time for same-day shipment," says CopyHawk employee Kathy Gregory. "A lot of folks from the summer writing program have stopped in to have us ship things home for them, like books they've purchased, so they don't have to carry them around or take them on the plane."

Departmental shipments must still be made directly through Central Mail, using the online shipping forms at www.uiowa.edu/~fuscmail.

Questions about a color digital printing order? We're here for you.

When will my job be finished? What will it cost? How do I make a pdf file? We are used to questions in the Printing Department's digital imaging area, and we like working directly with our customers. Any time you have questions about an order, email us at: printing-dig@uiowa.edu. If you need to call, the numbers are 384-3724 and 384-3755.

Files galore and no place to store?

The University of Iowa Printing Department offers archival scanning services. Let us convert your paper records into accessible electronic files. Contact Sandie Herwig.

Copy Centers reach out to new students, parents at Orientation

In order to increase student awareness of the Copy Centers, customer service representative Marge Kline participated in this year's Information Fairs during summer Orientation for new students. Her exhibit focused on what's available at CopyHawk, particularly self service, a customer work area, postage sales, and UPS shipping.

"I spoke with a mix of students and parents," she says. "A lot of parents were looking for information while their students were in sessions." All new students must attend Orientation, which is conducted by the Office of Admissions. They register for fall semester, meet their academic advisors, and learn about academic requirements and campus resources. Parents receive similar information in separate sessions. The nine, half-day fairs take place at the Iowa Memorial Union.

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SURPLUS

Every day an adventure

It's been an active summer for Surplus. A warehouse-style scissor lift, antique surveying equipment, old metal glass-front cabinets, dorm loft components, stainless steel kitchen equipment, a hairdresser's chair, vehicles, microscopes, and crash carts were hot items that sold quickly. University departments, small business owners, area schools, nonprofit organizations, and individuals are among the clientele who shop at Surplus.

The Surplus website, www.uiowa.edu/~fusmm/surplus.html, is updated weekly, sometimes more often, with photos of current stock. The good stuff goes quickly and there's always more coming in, so there are no guarantees on what you'll find when you get there! The warehouse, at 1225 South Gilbert, is open to departments by appointment and to the general public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Beginning September 6, 2007, computer sales to the public will take place on Thursdays only, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Anderson, Hennager attend national Surplus conference at ISU

Gary Anderson and Joseph Hennager attended the University Surplus Property Association's national conference in Ames, Iowa, in April. Topics included environmental issues, safety, student labor, online marketing, data destruction methods and documentation, and identify theft. The conference was a good mix of classes, break-out sessions, and networking. The forty-nine participants represented twenty-nine colleges and universities in twenty states.   — Gary Anderson

Character Counts: Meet Matt Neely

As the main computer guy at Surplus, Matt Neely manages the repair, cleaning, reselling, and disposal of cast-off computers from all over campus. In doing so, he works right along with his staff.

"I've fixed thousands of computers. Maybe tens of thousands. The computers we get are often broken or have missing parts. We have to determine if they have value," he says. "We check to see that departments have wiped them. As a last line of defense, we put them through our wiping process. The most important thing I do here is make sure no data leaves campus. We - my staff and I - developed a system to both wipe and track the hard drives. I try to pick a good staff that will be up to the challenge. Sometimes we get pretty hectic around here, so I want people who are technically capable and motivated. We're lucky to have them."

"I like working with students and with my coworkers. I like the atmosphere. You're never bored here. Ever. There's always something interesting or exciting to do," he says.

In the 1990s Matt worked as a student employee in Physics and Astronomy. He processed images of incoming satellite data and assisted in a "clean room" where satellite instruments were constructed. Later, he worked at the department's Astronomical Observatory, a facility south of Iowa City which housed a 24-inch diameter telescope. A 24-foot rotating dome opened for viewing the sky, while a hydraulic lift moved the floor up and down around the telescope. Matt lived there and looked after the building, grounds, and instruments; performed data analysis; and conducted sky tours.

"I really enjoyed doing the sky tours for kids. It's a rush to see a kid look at the moon for the first time with a big telescope. It's almost like you're standing right on it," he says. "I loved living in the country, too. It was nice that I didn't have to haul a giant telescope around!" Skywatchers who live in town, he explains, must disassemble and carefully pack the telescope, haul it to a vehicle, load it, drive to a dark site, unload, unpack, and reassemble it. When it's time to go home, they repeat the process. It takes commitment.

The observatory was demolished last year, and the University donated the telescope to the Cedar Amateur Astonomers club, to which Matt has belonged since age twelve. "We're planning to build a structure for it at Palisades Dows Botanic Preserve in Linn County," he says. "The telescope will be back!"

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WE LIKE FEEDBACK!

Story ideas

Are there topics we haven't covered that you would like to see in our newsletter? Do you have questions you would like us to address? Send an e-mail to the editor or a memo to Into Print, 129 MBSB.

Address corrections and additions

If you wish to be added to the Into Print mailing list, fill out and send our form. Use only University of Iowa campus addresses and @uiowa.edu e-mail suffixes.

E-mail us

Send questions and comments about departmental topics to:
Bionic Bus
Cambus information
Central Mail
Commuter Programs
Fleet Services
General Stores
Parking Facilities Operations
Parking Services
Copy Center #2, 100 Mossman Building
Copy Center #3, C102 Pappajohn Business Building
Copy Center #10, 180 Boyd Law Building
UPACS and Copyright Service

We are . . .

Business Services: Equipment Rental, General Stores, Laundry, Parking & Transportation, Printing and Mailing Services, and Surplus, serving The University of Iowa community. The print version of Into Print is distributed free and on request to UI faculty, staff, and students.

Contributors to this issue

Gary Anderson/Business Services, Stores, Surplus; Chris Kula/Central Mail, Copy Centers; Michelle Ribble/Parking and Transportation.

Editor and web administrator: Jenean Arnold, phone 319-384-3723, 129 Mossman Building.

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