GovInfo Reaches Record Number of Hits

Since 1994 the Government Publishing Office or GPO (formerly the Government Printing Office) has been providing trustworthy government information online for free to anyone.  The GPO is a government agency falling under the legislative branch of government and by law provides free access to government documents produced by all three branches of government.  Until the onset of electronic access, the only way to accomplish this was through the Federal Depository Library Program whereby documents are sent to designated government libraries across the country.  Now, in conjunction with the FDLP, government information is widely available online through the site GovInfo.gov.

Last year a record number of 1.15 billion retrievals were accessed through GovInfo.  This is an increase of 32% over 2022 and an increase of 215% over 2018! The most popular source of information in 2023 was the Federal Register (the Federal Register is a daily compilation of documents produced by the Executive branch including changes to federal regulations, notices from federal agencies, executive orders and other presidential documents).

The GPO’s electronic dissemination of information began in 1994 with the creation of GPOAccess.  In 2009 the next generation system, the Federal Digital System (FDsys), was introduced.  In 2016, the current site GovInfo was launched.  But the GPO is not only assigned the duty of spreading government information; it is also given the responsibility to preserve government documents for future posterity, including those documents born digital.  In 2019 GovInfo was the first US digital depository, and the second in the world, to be certified as having the “highest global standard of excellence possible” in providing access and preservation to these important materials. 

Scheduled Maintenance for GPO Websites

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) is performing scheduled network maintenance on Saturday, November 16, 2019, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (EST). During this time the following websites may experience intermittent service disruptions:

• FDLP.gov
• govinfo.gov
• U.S. Government Bookstore
• Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government
• GPO.gov

Thank you for your cooperation, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

GPO and Law Library of Congress will Digitize Nation's Most Treasured Publications

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), in collaboration with the Law Library of Congress, has started a large multi-year effort to digitize and make accessible volumes of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set back to the first volume, which was published in 1817.
The United States Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, is a compilation of all numbered House and Senate reports and documents, including executive reports and treaty documents, issued for each session of Congress. As a chronicle of events of the U.S. Congress over the years, the Serial Set is one of the Nation’s most treasured publications.
Some interesting information the public can expect to find in the Serial Set includes:

• Maps and reports of explorations of the West
• Reports of explorations and surveys for the Pacific Railroad
• Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789–1897 (Includes Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln)
• Annual Report of the Boys Scouts of America, dating back to 1924

“GPO is honored to partner with the Law Library of Congress on this massive effort toward digitizing the entire Serial Set,” said GPO Acting Deputy Director John Crawford. “Through this digitization, members of the public will be able to digitally access comprehensive and detailed information on a wide range of subjects useful for genealogical and biographical research. Of course print versions of these historic publications are available in Federal Depository Libraries across the country.”
“The U.S. Congressional Serial Set documents the history of the United States of America. We are very pleased to partner with GPO in order to make these key historical government publications searchable and freely available to the public,” said Deputy Librarian for Library Collections and Services and Law Librarian of Congress Jane Sánchez. “The Library's collection is so vast and impressive, but it is not enough to collect and preserve. To be successful, collections must be used, and this collaboration signifies our resolve to do that.”
The Law Library of Congress will digitize the Serial Set. GPO will securely store the files in its certified preservation repository where the documents cannot be edited or tampered with in any way. GPO will upload volumes of the official Serial Set in phases for free public access on govinfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published Government information. The entire effort is expected to take at least a decade to complete.