By Ed Avis
Our association’s long history has entered a new chapter: We are again officially called the International Reprographic Association. This replaces our immediately previous name, Association of Printing & Data Solutions Professionals, which we used from 2016 until now.
“There is deep history in the name ‘IRgA,’ and it’s great to have that connection to our history again,” says John Lipari, IRgA president and owner of Plan & Print Systems in Syracuse, NY. “I’ve talked to a lot of reprographers since we started the process of changing the name back, and everyone seems happy about it.”
IRgA logo
This has not been the first time our association changed its name. IRgA’s history began in 1927, when it was founded as the International Association of Blue Print and Allied Industries. The name changed to International Repro Graphic Blueprint Association in 1974, and converted to the International Reprographic Association in 1982.
The process for the switch back to IRgA began last year. We took an informal survey in October that showed strong intereset in reverting to IRgA, and upon advice from our attorneys, we held an official vote of members in February 2023. The members voted for the old name unanimously – every one of the 42 official ballots we received was in favor. Clearly, there was no question that members preferred the old name!
It took a couple of months for the paperwork to wend its way through the State of New York, where IRgA is incorporated. Notification that the name change was formally approved by state authorities was received last week.
“Our plan now is to really capitalize on the momentum of the name change to attract new members and former members,” Lipari says. “The association has some valuable benefits that it didn’t have when it was last called IRgA, so returning members should find membership totally worthwhile.”
Among the benefits that did not exist in 2016 are a Google Ad Words marketing campaign on behalf of members; libraries of sign templates and legal documents; a consumer discount program; a financial ratio study of the reprographics industry; a report on reprographics back-end software; and dozens of recorded webinars and other reports. In addition, the association now holds several in-person workshops on key reprographics-related topics.
A campaign to encourage former members and new prospective members to join our group as we enter this new chapter will launch in the next few months.
The new IRgA logo, which was designed by Board Member Carter Crisp, now graces the masthead of our website. Crisp designed three versions of the logo; please click here to see all three and vote on which you prefer. Member stickers with the new logo will be made and sent out shortly to all 2023 members. Other changes, such as the website’s URL and online forms, will be converted to the new name over the coming weeks.
Welcome to the new era of IRgA!