V900.02 Faculty Materials Center (FMC) Policy
1. Scope of Services:
The FMC provides the following services:
- Graphic Design. FMC staff will offer design and production services needed to produce such items as brochures, posters, fliers, magazines or other materials that require professional design skills or equipment.
- Digital Print Production. The FMC will offer digital printing capabilities for basic jobs ranging from single color to full-color. These services may be limited by such factors as the capabilities of existing equipment, the cost of new equipment,
or demand for offset production services. FMC staff may also work with 3rd party printers to complete individual projects when cost or capability considerations require.
- Photocopying. The FMC will negotiate lease agreements for photocopy equipment to be located both within the FMC facility and distributed around campus for use by authorized faculty, staff and student organizations. The FMC will be responsible
for re-supply of copier materials and maintenance of leased equipment either directly or by working with the leasing agent as necessary.
The FMC will be staffed and equipped to handle nearly all of the university's needs in these areas, and therefore should be the preferred source for such services by all faculty, staff, students, student organizations, and campus organizations. However,
customers with projects that exceed the capabilities of the FMC may direct these projects to third parties as necessary. Unless specifically agreed to, the FMC will take no role in managing these 3rd parties or the projects in which they are involved.
To keep the FMC focused on university business and student service, and to comply with current business practices outlined by the Vice President of Business Affairs, the FMC will comply with the following practices concerning print jobs that are not directly
related to university business:
- Jobs for non-employees, including 3rd party businesses or individuals, are not accepted.
- Jobs for employees that are not personal in nature (i.e. requested by an employee on behalf of a 3rd party) are not accepted. Examples include print jobs related to employee personal businesses or volunteer work performed for non-profit 3rd parties
such as churches or community groups.
Using a convenience exception, the FMC will still accept small personal copy/print jobs for employees as long as the job is limited in scope and infrequent in occurrence. Charges over $5 must be paid at the business office before the job will be released;
charges under $5 may be paid in cash at the FMC.
2. Operations and Levels of Service:
Customers initiate FMC work by completing a work order form that includes the current date, the customer name, the department of the customer, a description of the work to be done, and the customer's signature. Work orders that do not provide clear or
sufficient specification of the work will be returned to the customer and will not be scheduled.
All work is scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. The customer is responsible for ensuring that all work is requested in a timeframe that allows the FMC to complete its work within the levels of service defined below. The FMC coordinator may
elect to alter the order of work to accommodate urgent jobs or other special circumstances. Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Director of Marketing.
The turn-around for standard photocopying jobs will be one day.
For all other services (including graphic design, more involved print production services such as large quantities, binding, collating, folding or trimming), the FMC Coordinator will provide an estimated delivery time at the time the order is placed.
This estimated delivery time will reflect the requirements of the job being estimated and work currently scheduled in the FMC.
Upon request, the FMC Coordinator will also provide a cost estimate for the service.
If/when the FMC determines that the estimated delivery time or estimated cost for a project cannot be met, FMC staff will notify the customer and respond as appropriate.
3. Pricing, Billing and Accounting:
The FMC will operate on a break-even basis, and will set its prices only as high as necessary to cover its costs. Accumulation of surpluses will only be allowed as necessary to cover the costs of capital equipment.
The FMC will account for all FMC services by sending summaries of all charges (including all FMC services and charge-back for campus photocopiers) to the Business Office. The Business Office is responsible for settling charges by issuing a charge to the
individual departments and crediting the FMC operations account.
4. Compliance:
Requests for copying and printing will be in compliance with fair copyright guidelines.
All printed and electronic materials that represent the VCSU brand will comply with VCSU graphic standards as defined in the Graphic Standards Manual. The Director of Marketing is responsible for defining these standards, and the FMC staff has the authority
to enforce these standards on all work performed by the FMC or that uses FMC equipment.
Sponsor: Director of Marketing
Revised: Winter 1996
Revised: Winter 2004
Revised: December, 2010
Revised: September 2017