In-plants Meet in Washington, D.C.

University and government in-plants got together in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for the seventh annual Interquest Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum. The meeting was held on the eighth floor of the U.S. Government Printing Office, giving attendees a chance to tour GPO's operation.

Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks gave the keynote address, discussing the challenges faced by GPO, including tight budgets, increased congressional oversight, rapid technology changes, and the advance of social media. As a result, GPO has been reexamining its mission and trying to redefine itself as an information and communications provider.

"I think that we should be the Government Publishing Office," she remarked. She pointed to mobile apps, e-books and GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) as different ways that GPO gives the public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Gilles Biscos, president of Interquest gave an overview of the print industry using Interquest research results. He discussed the growth of four-color in transactional printing, and the move toward inkjet.

A panel of government and higher-ed printers offered some new ideas. Richard Beto, director of Document Solutions at The University of Texas at Austin, detailed some of his in-plant's offerings including QR codes, copyright clearance, Web-to-print and wide-format.

"I love wide-format," he said. "It's a wonderful profit generator for us."

Read the December issue of IPG for a full report on the Interquest Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum.