I keep getting an error message that the "spools are full". How do I access the spools and how do I empty them?

The only system I can think that applies to that message would concern printing. I suggest a print job may have become stuck in your Mac due to a printer that is no longer available to it. That can occur for a number of reasons.

Read the following document to determine if it is applicable.

Troubleshooting printer issues in OS X

If all else fails. reset the printing system according to the following. It will delete any pending print jobs that may be stuck waiting for the printer to reappear. You will need to add your printers again:

Mac OS X: How to reset the printing system

When does the message appear and what does it say, exactly?

You may be able to determine the reason for this error by examining your Mac's logs with Console. To do that find the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder and looks like this

You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.

Open Console.

If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu.

Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem. To do that choose Clear Display from Console's toolbar. Leave Console running while you choose Print from iPhoto again. Examine any new entries logged in Console. If there are any, copy and paste them in a reply.

Simply obscure the information before you post the text. x it out or enclose it in brackets such as [edited], just indicate that there was something deleted.