Penn Publication Services to close

After over 30 years, Penn Publication Services — which provides graphic design, printing, and advertising for the University — will close at the end of June.

Business Services announced the closure last Friday due to technological changes in the “world of publications,” Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger said.

In an assessment conducted over two years, it became evident the services that the department once provided are “either not happening or are happening in a different fashion,” Business Services Vice President Marie Witt said. “It’s the way the industry in general has been trending.”

Publication Services director Aiasha Graham, who began working in the department 15 years ago, agreed.

Compared to her first days there, “people are communicating a lot differently today,” she noted. The work the department handles now is “less paper-intensive” and has a large “web-component.”

In addition, many departments are now easily able to do once-difficult publications tasks — such as creating graphic designs — themselves thanks to the increasing ease of computers, Lea-Kruger said.

After the department closes at the end of the fiscal year on June 31, design, print and advertisement services will be handled by external providers, Witt said.

Publication Services, after downsizing last year, will let go of seven full-time employees, as well as temporary and freelance employees this June, Graham said.

“Their positions have been discontinued,” Lea-Kruger said, adding that one of the affected full-time employees has already found another position at Penn.

Publication Services employees “took [the announcement] very well,” Graham said. “I think we had a sense that the way the industry was changing it was somewhat inevitable … it wasn’t a shock.”

“There will be even more advancements in [publications] in the next 15 years that we can’t predict,” Graham added.

After the department closes, its office space will be available for lease by another Penn department, Witt said. Unused materials will be advertised on Ben’s Attic — a website that allows Penn faculty and staff to exchange and purchase surplus University owned property, and files not needed by clients will be added to the University archives.

In a statement released last Thursday, Business Services commended the department for its contributions to the University, including leadership in sustainable design, and numerous awards including the Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design Award.

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