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Printing JSTOR Articles -- Kristen Garlock Stephen D. Clark 06 Feb 2001 13:21 UTC

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Printing JSTOR Articles
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 19:06:55 -0500
From: Kristen Garlock <lynae@umich.edu>

Dear SERIALST Participants:

As you might imagine, we were sorry to see the recent postings on
SERIALST
expressing concern about difficulties associated with printing articles
from JSTOR. Making printing as easy as possible for the broad spectrum
of
JSTOR participating libraries and researchers is a goal we have worked
hard
on since JSTOR's first days, but there are aspects of printing a JSTOR
article that remain a challenge for some participants with certain
hardware
and software configurations.

For participants who are having difficulties, please allow us to
emphasize,
first, that we would love for you to contact us. We want to make every
aspect of using JSTOR as convenient and easy as possible for you and
your
patrons so we welcome your questions and the opportunity to resolve any
problems that may exist. JSTOR User Services staff may be reached by
email
<jstor-info@umich.edu> or by phone at 888-388-2574 (toll free). If you
prefer, please feel free to contact me directly at <lynae@umich.edu>.

As most of you know, JSTOR is an archival project, and the articles
within
the database are presented as page images. While this approach allows us
to
create a faithful replication of the printed volume, relying on page
images
makes JSTOR printing different, and therefore more challenging, than
printing plain text. For example, hitting your browser's print button,
which of course is the natural inclination of every user, will only
print
the very low resolution image of the page that is displayed on the
screen;
it will not allow printing of the entire article. To print entire
articles
at higher resolutions requires special software and unfortunately there
is
presently no way for us to get around that completely. But we have
provided
a variety of printing options, and the purpose of this message is to
provide a summary and review of those options (see below) for those of
you
who are interested. We apologize for the length of this posting but hope
that some among you might find it helpful.

Best regards,

Kristen Garlock
JSTOR User Services Coordinator

__________________________________________________________

JPRINT or PDF?

Both applications:
- Print JSTOR articles in their entirety.
- Print both high resolution (600 dpi) and low resolution (150 dpi)
articles.
- Are available for multiple platforms.

JPRINT

Advantages:
- Faster in most cases.
- Uses less RAM than Acrobat Reader, and so is less likely to slow down
other applications on the user's workstation.

Disadvantages:
- Does not currently work through a firewall.
- Requires downloading of a helper application that is specific to
JSTOR.

PDF

Advantages:
- Adobe Acrobat Reader is commonly available and familiar to users.
- Works through a firewall.

Disadvantages:
- Requires more time to process the PDF files.
- Must wait for entire article to download before printing can begin.

PRINTING OVERVIEW

JPRINT

In order to allow the printing of articles in their entirety, we
developed
a helper application called JPRINT. JPRINT is designed to work
specifically
with JSTOR articles. JPRINT is a helper application that must be
downloaded
to individual workstations. Once it is installed, it is not necessary to
reinstall the application unless the workstation software is reloaded.
However, JPRINT can be installed on multiple workstations that are
regularly reloaded by adding the application to the installation
template.

After the application has been installed and printing preferences have
been
set to use JPRINT, the application works almost transparently. When the
user selects any JSTOR "PRINT" command and selects "OK" to Print, JPRINT
is
automatically triggered and the user is presented with the regular
printer
dialog box. At this time, the user may print the entire article or
select
specific pages to print.

JPRINT prints more quickly than PDF files because it begins sending
pages
to the printer as soon as they are received from our server. It does not
need to wait until the entire article is downloaded before sending the
first pages to the printer.

JPRINT may be downloaded from <http://www.jstor.org/print/>.
Installation
instructions are also available from this page. Printable instructions
for
Windows machines are available at
<http://www.jstor.org/support/#handouts>.

PDF

The PDF printing option was introduced after JPRINT, in response to
requests from participating libraries, to provide a printing option that
works with a more familiar and ubiquitous printing application (Adobe's
Acrobat Reader). Like JPRINT, the PDF option allows users to print
articles
in their entirety. If Acrobat Reader is already configured to work with
the
web browser on a workstation, it is not necessary to install any
additional
software.

When printing PDF versions of JSTOR articles, it is necessary to wait
until
the entire article is downloaded to the workstation. It is at this point
where users run into the types of problems described by SERIALST
participants. Printing PDF versions of JSTOR articles can take a long
time
to print. Because the articles are page images, it both takes a long
time
for the article to get to the user and it takes a long time for Acrobat
Reader to get the article to the printer. Both the downloading and
printing
of JSTOR PDF files are directly impacted by the size of the article.
Longer
articles will take longer to print. However, extreme delays in printing
JSTOR articles could indicate a problem that we may be able to help you
resolve.

"HIGH QUALITY" vs. "ECONOMY"

For both JPRINT and the PDF option, if you have a fast network
connection,
we recommend the use of the "High Quality" option. For slow network and
dial up connections using 56K or less modems, we recommend the "Economy"
option. In general, this means that on campus users and those with cable
modems or DSL lines should select "High Quality," and off-campus users
with
dial up connections should select "Economy." The "Economy" option will
not
print appreciably faster for those with high-speed connections, but the
download time will be shorter for dial up users.