University, Government In-plants Meet in D.C.

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"There is a drum beat in Congress to cut printing," declared U.S. Public Printer Bill Boarman on Wednesday, speaking to a crowd of about 80 government and higher-ed printers, consultants and vendors. His task, he stressed, as leader of the Government Printing Office, is not to preserve printing at all costs, but to make sure reductions are done in a way that doesn't hurt the legislative process.

Boarman was addressing the sixth annual INTERQUEST Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum in Washington, D.C. He was one of 12 speakers from university and government in-plants to share their stories at the one-day event, sponsored in part by IPG. Also on the docket were:

• Leslie Rutledge, director of Brown University Graphic Services (see IPG's November cover story), who emphasized that her in-plant's reorganization was successful largely because she focused on getting employees to buy into the changes, take ownership of jobs and welcome cross-training.
• Jane Bloodworth, former manager of the World Bank’s Printing, Graphics and Map Design Unit, who detailed the steps she took to relocate her in-plant from downtown Washington into a new facility outside of the city. She noted the importance of Skype in helping staff communicate between the different locations.
• Former Public Printer Bob Tapella related some of his challenges as he strived to move documents into a digital format. "Look at the communication needs of the customer as opposed to just the printing needs," he urged—in other words, how are clients using these documents, and what is truly the best format for them to receive this information in?
• Stephanie Hemling, Copy Center supervisor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, noted that her student-staffed in-plant, in addition to handling digital and wide-format printing and laminating, is in charge of the digital signage on campus. She said that displaying promotions and student-made videos on these screens for customers has led to more print business.

During breaks between presentations, attendees visited the tabletop displays of vendors like Kodak, MGI, HP, Xerox, and Canon. One panel featured speakers from Kodak, HP and Xerox discussing their strategies for the government and higher-ed markets.

In his keynote, Boarman stressed that GPO is not just the government's "printer" any more.

"Today, we're the government's digital information platform," he said, adding that GPO just launched its first mobile application, which allows users to search for members of Congress by name, state, chamber or party.

"I'm really proud of this app," he said, "and it was done by GPO employees in its entirety."

Though he noted that GPO is looking into some of the new inkjet production presses being offered by Kodak and HP, he acknowledged calls from people as high up as President Obama himself to cut expenses by reducing printing; the President has specifically questioned the need to continue printing the Federal Register, a situation GPO has responded to by surveying those who receive it to find out if they want to keep getting a printed copy; about a third opted out.

Boarman remarked that members of Congress have a problem with two of the three words in GPO's name: Government and Printing.

"I think they're O.K. with Office," he joked.

Read more about the sixth annual INTERQUEST Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum in the January issue of IPG.