Publications & Printing

Under Goal #2 (Provide equipment necessary to efficiently meet the University's printing needs), the assessment process requires that the department identify and acquire upgrades necessary to meet production demands. For F07 these included a sign and banner-making plotter with accompanying computer and software. The service remains much in demand and more than 100 foam core signs were produced in the first month of offering this new service. Also added to meet demand was a coil binding device that expands the bindery options offered.

Overview: Most equipment is fairly new and in excellent shape, the one exception being the oldest offset press which is showing signs of wear. The newest press, a small Ryobi two-color press purchased in F03, continues to be used extensively for smaller 4-color jobs, taking some of the load from the older press. Both the Ryobi and the older, large-format, two-color perfecting offset press have been paid for in full. All equipment except digital quick-copy is owned by the university. Digital equipment is leased due to fast-changing technology. All supporting equipment, the electronic paper cutter, hole punch, shrink wrap machine, folders, imagesetter and plate processor, were purchased new within the past 10 years and are well maintained.

Student Assistants, usually four per semester, continue to provide essential help to meet increased production.

Financially, the department continues to be in a strong position. Overall, printing is produced in-house at less than one-fourth the cost that would be incurred commercially, making the operation highly cost effective as well as convenient to university faculty, staff, and students. As new services are added to meet needs, volume remains strong despite the campus’s increasing use of the Internet.

Needs: The folder, on last year&rs quo;s needs list, was successfully replaced in ’07. The large format, offset press is now the oldest piece of equipment and is showing the most wear. Replacement should be seriously considered in the near future.

The department’s first state-level Top Gold Award was received this year, for most innovative use of paper, in an unusual waterfall-designed centennial-year publication. Eleven additional state-level awards included eight Best of Category (first place) awards, and three Award of Excellence (second place). The recognition was from the Printing Industry Association of Georgia.

Best in Category awards were won for several theatre and athletics publications, two university calendars, and the centennial publication that also won the Gold Award. Statewide Awards of Excellence were for the Georgia Highlands College literary magazine, a Georgia Recreation and Parks brochure, and an athletic program’s winter sports publication.

The PIAG Print Excellence Awards competition is the Georgia printing industry’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious graphic arts awards program. Winning entries were selected from more than 1,000 entries submitted by dozens of print and graphic arts companies throughout the state. Notice has been received that several national awards from PIAG’s parent trade organization are pending.

We continued our role as an Aomnisourcing@ agency, handling contracts to outsource the few remaining projects that require off-campus printing. All jobs sent outside for printing were designed and typeset in-house and sent to printers on disk, or uploaded electronically to ftp sites. Our pre-press work saves many thousands of dollars each year. Large volume publications set up here and sent outside for printing included the undergraduate Catalog, Development and Alumni's Perspective and Developments magazines, and the Admissions and Advanced Academy Viewbooks. Our next press upgrade may eliminate the need to send even these few publications off campus for commercial printing.

Production demands continue to be met with the same eight staff positions allocated to the department since the 1980s. By comparison, the same staff that produced 5.1 million impressions in 1994 produced 7.3 million this year. It is significant that the earlier jobs were largely one and two-color work, while the current workload is largely the far more complex four-color process work. Technology, better equipment, and a high level of staff training and expertise make the tremendously increased workload manageable while maintaining the same size staff.