The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is working with Pharos to deliver touchless printing for its students and campus community. The Pharos system has updated several of UNC's campus printing stations to support touch-free printing, and is one of the many measures the campus has taken to eliminate touch points during the pandemic.

According to the UNC IT Services website, the printing overhaul adds a QR code to each printer that users are able to scan and then complete their print job without touching anything but their own mobile device.

Prior to touchless printing, students could use the Pharos app to send their jobs to a printer but then had to manually enter their login information at the print station before printing documents. The new feature not only reduces surface contact, it also saves time by eliminating the manual login step.

All campus printing at UNC Chapel Hill happens through Pharos, who manages the university’s printing software.

Within the Pharos mobile print app, students can still send jobs to a print station. Once at the station, they can now use the Pharos app to scan the print station's QR code and confirm the job. The entire process is designed to enable users to print their documents without requiring physical interaction with the printer.

“Our hope is that this faster, touchless method of using the CCI printers will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and improve the overall user experience,” says Holt Mikeal, Technology Support Analyst at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Pharos began creating the framework for its touchless print system last summer, and UNC implemented it prior to the start of the Spring 2021 semester.

In total, touchless printing through Pharos is available at 26 print stations on the Chapel Hill campus. Due to decreased on-campus activities, only half of the 50 existing print stations were needed.