Usually applied to a printer queue. Items to be printed are sent to the printer server's hard drive and stored in a queue. They are printed in turn when the printer is ready.

Spooling is needed because of the difference in speeds between peripherals and processors (printers are very slow compared to processors).

Spooling...

• allows more than one computer to use the same printer.
• allows the user to carry on working while waiting for a print job to finish
• is fair. Documents are printed in the order they are received...
• ...or may be done using a system of priorities.