University Printing Services sent to the shredder

On March 27, MSU announced via a post to its website that they have selected Color World to be the new preferred printing vendor for the university. This came after MSU announced that the on-campus University Printing Services would be closing on April 5. 

At the moment, there is still specialty printing equipment on the bottom floor of Culbertson Hall and in the Renne library, but MSU no longer employs anyone to operate them. The specialty printing room tucked away on the bottom floor of Culbertson Hall is now locked shut. A sign advertising the new hours of the printing service has been discarded on a windowsill, replaced by a poster on the door announcing that it would accept its final print requests until 5 p.m. on March 27 and permanently close its doors on April 5. Both of these days have since passed, leaving MSU without its own printing service.

Students looking to do small personal print jobs have been encouraged to seek alternative campus printing at the Renne Library, at University Information Technology (UIT) and student computer labs located in numerous halls around campus. 

According to the MSU Library website, every MSU student is allocated a $7.50 printing allowance per semester on their CatCard. Standard printing rates on campus are three cents for a single-sided black and white (b/w) sheet, five cents for a two-sided b/w sheet, and 50 cents for each side of color printing when paid for with a CatCard. 

Those looking for specialty print jobs like business cards and envelopes can still place their orders using the university printing service portal on the MSU website. For more specific orders like posters or project materials, students are directed to email uprint@montana.edu or contact Color World directly for a quote. 

The service will look the same on the consumer end, and the same portal will be used to submit orders. But the email reaching back will no longer be from an MSU email, it will be from an @colorworldmt.com email address instead. 

Color World, formerly known as AlphaGraphics, is a Bozeman-based printing service owned and operated by Mike and Jeff Burgard. Originally a local weekly newspaper founded in 1967, Color World has changed substantially over the years. Color World has shifted its focus and identity until it eventually became a printing solutions company, and even more recently adopted the name Color World, according to their website.

Cars sporting the Color World logo, a blue “W” inside a black “C” can be seen driving through campus to make deliveries.