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Contents:
Ensuring Access to Government Documents
Every year, the U.S. Government publishes thousands of documents through the Government Printing Office. The GPO not only acquires and prints documents from federal agencies; it disseminates them to the public through the GPO Bookstore and the Federal Depository Library Program.
The FDLP is a nationwide network of more than 1,250 libraries that collect some or all of the documents the GPO distributes every year. Langsdale Library is a selective depository; we collect 26 percent of the documents published. While the FDLP started out disseminating printed documents, the expansion of the Internet has resulted in more and more documents being published online.
All of the library’s documents are cataloged, and links to online resources are included in the catalog record. You can also find online documents through the Catalog of Government Publications, the official government portal, USA.gov, and commercial search engines like Google U.S. Government Search and Clusty, which runs on the same technology as the USA.gov search engine.
In fiscal year 2007, 71 percent of the 16,999 new titles GPO acquired from federal agencies were available online, and that percentage increases every year. The advantages of publishing documents online include increased public access, convenience (for the public and for agencies) and reduced printing costs. Disadvantages include lack of access for those without Internet access, lack of authentication (i.e., what constitutes the official version of an online government document) and ease with which a document can be revised or removed, which creates challenges for preservation.
The last two challenges are big concerns for the GPO and the depository library community. To address these concerns, the GPO has spent the last five years working on a project called the Future Digital System (FDSys), a content management system that will allow federal agencies to submit content for distribution, preservation, authentication and version control (i.e., tracking changes made to a document to ensure that users know the information is current) and to make that content available to users in the format desired.
FDsys is still in beta; version 1C was released in December 2007. Version 1C is the first public release, and features include:
- agency submission of content, including audio and video files
- search and retrieval of content and metadata
- integration with the Integrated Library System (GPO uses Aleph, the same system used by the University System of Maryland)
- version information for content
- ability to convert native digital files to PDF
- multi-platform viewing (Windows, Mac and Linux)
- creation of user profiles
Two more planned releases will add more functionality to the system; version 2 will be released in 2009, and there is no official date for version 3. Further information about future releases is available on the Release Schedule (http://www.gpo.gov/projects/fdsys_status.htm).
FDsys will mark the final stage of the GPO’s transition from a print-centric model to a content-centric model, which will ensure that the public will have permanent access to federal information in the 21st century and beyond.
Suggested Reading
Future Digital System Concept (fall 2004): http://www.gpo.gov/projects/pdfs/presentation101704.pdf
GPO Roadmap to the Future (June 2006): http://www.gpo.gov/projects/pdfs/GPORoadmapToFuture.pdf
Digital Content System Update – Spring 2007 Depository Conference: http://www.gpo.gov/projects/DLC%20Spring%2007%20-%20FDsys%20Update%20FINAL.ppt
includes screen shots from the new system.