Since I have been in charge of the copy machines in Ingram Library, we
have had a number of different companies/machines (15+ years).  During
that time, we have used Xerox, Sharp, A. B. Dick and Ricoh machines.  Of
all those various kinds, I would choose Ricoh.  In fact, we like them so
well that we are now on our second "generation" of Ricoh's.

That is not to say others are not good...but service as well as product
makes us happy (and conversely if service is not up to par, we don't care
how good the equipment operates.) Presently we use 4 Ricoh 5433's using
vendacards only, one Ricoh 5433 using both coin and vendacard for public
use.  Our in-house copier is Xerox 5021 and everyone in the office will be
glad when the contract on it is up.  Copy quality is good, but some things
like the document feed make us very unhappy.  The Ricoh's were placed in
August 1995.  Since we have a five-year lease which covers all service and
consumable supplies (except for paper), we will have them for some time.
Because these are public copiers, the fact that the paper trays are not
locking could be a drawback.  We were apprehensive about this, but it
hasn't been a problem so far.

Incidentally, we have approximately 9000 students, plus staff and
community patrons.  Hope this helps with your decision.

Debbie Harrell
Ingram Library, State University of West Georgia
phone: 770-836-6498
fax: 770-836-6626

On Wed, 4 Sep 1996, Eileen Goodell wrote:

> We are looking for some advice on copiers that are
> compatable with use in libraries.  Our present copier
> is dying a long and lingering death.  Does anybody have
> suggestions of copiers that they like that work well in
> their library?  Please reply with model number,
> manufacturer and reliability.
> Thank-you in advance for replies.
>
> Eileen Goodell
> Rome Laboratory Technical Library
> [goodelle@rl.af.mil]
>
> "The words the happy say
> Are paltry melody
> But those the silent feel
> Are beautiful"
> Emily Dickinson
>