The APDSP Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to pursue changing APDSP’s name back to its former name, International Reprographic Association. The group based its decision largely on the near-unanimous results from a survey about the name change, in which 49 out of 53 respondents said we should return to IRgA. (Click here for more details from the survey.)
The Board also voted unanimously to return to the exact name – International Reprographic Association – instead of Independent Reprographic Association or any other name. The Board debated this point, because the “international” participation in the association is greatly outweighed by domestic participation. But again, the group looked to the survey for guidance: 65 percent of the respondents said we should return to “international,” while 31 percent preferred “independent.”
APDSP President John Lipari, co-owner of Plan & Print Systems in Syracuse, NY, suggested after the vote that we should increase our efforts to include reprographics firms from other countries, and otherwise undertake to become more “international.” Lipari joined several other APDSP members in a visit to the German reprographics association event in 2018, and suggested that another group could visit Germany in 2023.
Changing the name back to IRgA requires an amendment to the association’s articles of incorporation. In order to amend the articles, a vote of the membership has to take place. Managing Director Ed Avis is consulting with attorneys to decide the best way to do this; it will probably happen in early 2023.
More than a Name Change?
The Board also discussed the idea of making other changes to the association along with the name change. Ideas range from big picture, such as the international focus mentioned above, to the more ground level, including updating the logo and other identification materials.
But we want to hear from members! Please share any thoughts you have about what YOU think the association should be – either big picture or ground level – in the future by using the Comments below. Or if you’d like to share ideas privately, email Ed Avis at ed.avis@apdsp.org.