Library PC Use Fell 55%. Why Is the Copier Lease Still Sized for 2019?

The number nobody in copier sales is quoting

Every year, the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) runs the Public Libraries Survey, a census of roughly 9,000 public library systems.^[1][3] One of the things it counts is "uses of public Internet computers per year."^[2] We added up the public-use files for FY2018 through FY2024. Here's what came out:

• Public-computer sessions: 224.0 million in FY2019, 100.6 million in FY2024. Down 55%.^[1]
• Library visits: 1.24 billion in FY2019, 868 million in FY2024. Down 30%.^[1]
• Public computers: 299,445 in FY2019, 258,960 in FY2024. Down 13.5%.^[1]

Sessions fell in all 50 states and DC. The smallest drop was DC at 27%. The biggest were Alaska and New Mexico, both around 66%. California, our home state, was down 65%.^[1]

Yes, the pandemic did the big damage, and yes, visits are recovering. The IMLS's own May 2026 brief calls it "steady recovery."^[3] Public-computer sessions have recovered much more slowly. They rose from 83.2 million in FY2022 to 100.6 million in FY2024, which is still under half of FY2019.^[1]

Sessions aren't pages (we know)

Fair objection: plenty of patrons now print from their own phones and laptops over library Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi sessions held up better, at 418 million in FY2024 versus 485 million in FY2019, a 14% drop.^[1] So we're not claiming walk-up printing fell exactly 55%. The survey doesn't count pages at all.

What we are saying is that the crowd standing near the copier got a lot smaller. If your machine and page allowance were picked for the 2019 crowd, it's worth checking whether you're paying for capacity nobody uses.

Why a library can't sign the normal lease

A non-appropriation clause isn't a cancel button. You still owe this year, and you give the machine back.

Printree, on public-library copier leases

A commercial copier lease is non-cancelable. That isn't our spin on other people's paperwork. Our own FAQ says a copier lease "is a non-cancellable finance agreement."^[4]

A public library is a different kind of customer. A municipal-finance attorney, writing for equipment lessors, explained that most state laws treat "any obligation to pay money in a future fiscal period" as debt. The usual fix is a non-appropriation clause, which "removes the legal obligation to make payments in a future fiscal period."^[5] An equipment-leasing trade association's magazine says "virtually all" municipal leases carry one.^[6] Both were written about municipal lease-purchase deals, but the rule reaches plain copier leases too, as Louisiana shows.

Some states spell this out for copiers specifically. Louisiana's Legislative Auditor says a public entity's copier lease "must contain a non-appropriation clause and must not contain any anti-substitution clauses" to skip state Bond Commission approval. And if the lease lets the entity buy the copier, it can turn into a purchase that falls under the state's Public Bid Law.^[7] New Hampshire's statute says equipment leases with non-appropriation clauses "shall not be treated as debt."^[9] California has its own version, an "abatement clause," where payments are tied to the equipment being available for use.^[5]

The clauses that sneak back in

Here's where we get cranky. The same explainer says its authors often see municipal leases that look like "commercial lease purchase agreements, with the mere addition of nonappropriation clauses."^[5] Bolting one good clause onto a commercial form leaves the bad ones in place. Read for these:

• Anti-substitution (or non-substitution). This bars you from replacing the machine for a while after you non-appropriate. Louisiana's auditor says the lease can't contain one, and the explainer notes a 2000 Florida Supreme Court ruling that one in a county computer lease violated the state constitution.^[5][8][15]
• Acceleration or penalty. This makes the rest of the term due all at once. In a municipal lease, acceleration is limited to the current fiscal period.^[5][8]
• Auto-renewal. Check how the lease renews. In some states, a non-appropriation lease runs one fiscal year at a time, and state law "may also require that the lease renewal be affirmatively approved" by the governing body.^[5] That rule is about those year-to-year renewals, not an evergreen clause at the end of the term. Still, if your board has to vote on each year, a clause that renews on silence deserves a hard look from your attorney.
• Indemnification. Municipalities generally can't indemnify other parties, so any such language should apply only "to the extent permitted by law."^[5]

Non-appropriation is not an escape hatch

Don't overcorrect, either. A non-appropriation clause isn't "cancel whenever you want." The trade association piece says each fiscal year's obligation is still "absolute, unconditional and non-cancelable, except following non-appropriation." It also says there can be no compulsion to appropriate, and cancel-for-convenience clauses don't belong in these leases.^[6] You owe the current year, and you give the machine back. Plan the term like you mean it.

Does pay-for-print even cover the payment?

Libraries charge real money for prints. Here are four published fee schedules:

• Blair, Nebraska: $0.05 per black-and-white page, $0.15 color.^[10]
• Henderson County, North Carolina (mobile printing): $0.10 black-and-white, $0.20 color.^[11]
• San Diego: $0.15 black-and-white, $0.30 color.^[12]
• Thousand Oaks, California: $0.15 black-and-white, $0.50 color.^[13]

Now our math. A Printree full-size lease is $209–$349 a month and includes 5,000 black-and-white and 500 color pages, with extra black-and-white pages at $0.01.^[14] Paper isn't included.^[4] Here's how many paid black-and-white pages it takes each month just to cover the payment:

Put that next to the survey. At $0.15 a page, a $349 month needs 2,327 paid pages. The median library system logged about 164 public-computer sessions a month in FY2024. That's roughly 14 paid pages per session to break even, up from about 6 at FY2019's median of 385.^[1] At a nickel a page, forget it.

That doesn't mean the copier is a mistake. Staff use it, the community needs it, and printing is a public service, not a profit center. It means the "it pays for itself" pitch deserves a calculator, not a nod.

What to do before your next renewal

1. Size to your meter, not 2019. Pull 12 months of meter reads, split black-and-white and color. Run them through our copier lease calculator before anyone quotes you.

2. Count every term in fiscal years. On Printree's pricing, a 60-month lease is $2,508–$4,188 per fiscal year, or $12,540–$20,940 over the term. Pick a term that ends where your budget year ends.

3. Put the right clause in writing. Ask for non-appropriation (or abatement in California) language that fits your state. Cross out anti-substitution and acceleration, and have your own attorney sign off.^[5] Ask us whether a Printree lease can carry your state's language for your library. We won't promise it here without seeing your state's rules.

4. Kill the escalator. A payment that rises every year doesn't fit a budget set once a year. Printree has dropped escalators: "the payment approved in year one is the payment in year five."^[4] Here's how a copier lease escalation clause compounds if yours has one.

5. Calendar the renewal notice. If a renewal needs board approval, put it on the board agenda months ahead, not the week the notice window closes.

6. Revisit your print fee with real math. Use the break-even chart above. Then decide, on purpose, how much of the copier the public should pay for.

More on how we handle public-sector buyers is on our copier leasing for government offices page.