Change of any kind requires critical thinking and weighing pros and cons before making a choice one way or another. As reported in Thursday’s Kernel, UK’s Office of the Registrar believes paperless course schedule books and class bulletins are the right direction for the university to take. The change will begin for the spring 2009 semester.

In addition to saving a huge amount of paper and being environmentally friendly, the change represents fiscal responsibility, saving $80,000 a year for the university’s already tight budget, according to the Thursday article. Such reasoning is commendable and shows that those in power are making a conscious first step to providing students with a green campus that is forward-thinking and looking to make positive steps in the right direction. The university as a whole is better off for this decision; however, this is just the first of many needed steps to make sustainability a real goal on campus.

Bruce Manley, associate registrar, said the schedule book was referred to as the “Book of Lies” in his office, and most students would agree that the schedule book too frequently has inaccuracies that cause students more trouble than they need when completing the already difficult task of scheduling classes. The ability to update the schedule, and within 30 to 45 minutes have it available to students is also a nice perk because it provides students with a real-time representation of the class schedule.

The Office of the Registrar will offer PDF versions of the schedule for students to print out, which gives students the option of the old way of doing things. This change looks good on the surface. But considering that at all locations on campus, printing is 12 cents per page, the cost of printing the whole schedule book becomes relatively expensive, and it is a hassle to print that much from a PDF file. Furthermore, after the PDF is printed, it is immediately out of date, which somewhat defeats the purpose of the live updates.

Incoming and undecided students who may want to review the course offerings will have the same option to be able to turn to a hard copy for this information since they are new and may not be familiar with where to find the information. For the most part, courses offered do not change, and once a student gets the course bulletin, it remains useful for the entire time they are at UK, save for new courses that receive advertising when created.

Some students do not always have access to the Internet, and the schedule book is a way to plan and schedule in a low-tech way. Often it is easier to map out things on paper and be able to return to something palpable to ensure that all options undergo thorough examination.

The pros may outweigh the cons, but there still is more consideration to be done in regards to the schedule books and course bulletins. Perhaps limited availability of paper course schedules and bulletins would be a solution. That way those who want them could find them without absorbing the cost to print, and those who do not could just use the Internet. It is nice to have the technology to make the conversion from paper to paperless, but it’s also nice to have the option to do things the old-fashioned way sometimes.