KEY TERMS <APPENDIX I>
 
Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF): A file format developed by Adobe Systems for 
viewing with free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. It preserves a printed document's original 
appearance; achieves a high aesthetic quality through the use of text, graphics, photos, and 
color; and provides full-text search capabilities. It also is independent of computer platform 
and distribution media. For these reasons, it is one of the primary file formats on GPO Access.

Alias: Web address shortcuts, also known as "symbolic links", that can be used in place of the 
full pathname. On GPO Access, aliases to applications were created to provide short, memorable 
URLs. 

Application: A computer program that serves a specific purpose or task, such as accessing the 
text of congressional bills online. On GPO Access, a single application may be comprised of one 
or more databases and/or Web pages. For example, the Code of Federal Regulations is one 
application that relies upon 150 separate databases per year of volumes, while the list of 
CD-ROMs for sale is one application that contains approximately 200 Web pages.

ASCII Text: A file format that contains the raw data of a document without formatting, such as 
graphics or font formats (e.g., bold, italic, underline). It is one of the primary file formats 
on GPO Access. ASCII stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange."

CGI Script: Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard for running programs on a server from a 
Web page. A CGI script allows these programs to interact with a Web server in real time. On GPO 
Access, CGI scripts are most often used to retrieve information from a database and format it in 
HTML. For example, when a user submits a query to the Sales Product Catalog, a CGI script 
retrieves the relevant sales records from the database and displays them on a search-results Web 
page. Because a CGI script retrieves information in real time, it may return different results at 
different times depending on the update schedule of the database; some databases, such as the 
Sales Product Catalog, are updated nightly.

Database: A collection of data that is organized for easy searches, retrievals, and management of 
its content. On GPO Access, one or more databases may constitute a single application. For 
example, 150 separate databases comprise each full year of the Code of Federal Regulations 
application.

Dissemination: The act of making Government information products available to Federal depository 
libraries and/or the public, through either tangible distribution of those products or provision 
of access to them via an electronic Government information service.

Dublin Core: The Dublin Core is an initiative that is attempting to adopt a common set of 
elements for resource description. Composed of 15 different elements (i.e. Name, Author, 
Contributor, Scope, etc.), the Dublin Core is intended to be imbedded within the HTML Meta Data 
of Web pages, and has ambitions of becoming a standard form of Meta Data for Web pages. 

Encryption: A method of encoding data so that it is unreadable to everyone except the recipient. 
This technology is used on the Internet principally to ensure private, secure transactions for 
customers who submit personal information, such as credit-card numbers, to product and service 
providers. On GPO Access, encryption is used when customers order information products through 
sales applications, such as the Sales Product Catalog.

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP): A nationwide, geographically dispersed system that 
consists of libraries acting in partnership with the U.S. Government for the purpose of providing 
free, local access to Federal Government information for the public. Depository libraries 
maintain tangible Government information products for use by the public, offer professional 
assistance in locating and using Government information, and provide local capability for the 
public to access electronic Government information services, such as GPO Access. This program was 
established under the provisions of 44 U.S.C. Chapter 19 and is administered by the 
Superintendent of Documents. 

Government Information Locator Service (GILS): A decentralized collection of Federal agency-based 
information locators that assist users in finding and obtaining publicly available Government 
information resources in tangible and electronic media. Through its GILS application, GPO is 
attempting to provide a single point of access to all Federal GILS databases. 

Government Information Product: A publication or other work of the U.S. Government that is 
conveyed in a tangible medium, such as a book or CD-ROM, or disseminated through an electronic 
information service established and maintained by a Government agency or its authorized agent, 
such as GPO Access. 

Host: To provide the infrastructure for housing a Web site or other electronic resource on a 
server. For the Web sites hosted by GPO Access, GPO provides the hardware, software, and 
communication lines required by its servers, but the information content is controlled by the 
originating agency. 

HTML: A file format that consists of ASCII text with tags that signal how an Internet browser 
should display the contents, which may include formatted text, graphics, and hypertext links. 
While the majority of Web pages on GPO Access are coded in HTML, the file format is increasingly 
being used for documents on the service as well. HTML stands for "Hypertext Markup Language." 

Interface: The means by which people interact with something, such as a Web site. On GPO Access, 
the word "interface" refers generally to a Web page's aesthetic and functional elements, such as 
text, graphics, layout, links, and search and retrieval options. 

Metadata: Simply put, metadata is "structured data about data." The Dublin Core Metadata 
Initiative defines metadata as "descriptive information about an object or resource whether it be 
physical or electronic." 

PDF: See "Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF)."

Permanent Public Access: The maintenance of continual, no-fee, public access to all tangible and 
intangible Government information products within the scope of the Federal Depository Library 
Program. 

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI): A combination of software, encryption technologies, and services 
that allows organizations to protect the integrity of electronic communications and transactions.

Retrieval: On GPO Access, a download of either a document from a database or a file outside of a 
database that contains Government information content. 

Screen Capture: A short video clip of a computer screen that records both sound and action. On 
the GPO Access interactive training CD-ROM, these videos demonstrate how to use the Web site by 
showing the user every mouse click, scroll, and text input to make from search to retrieval. 

Section 508: An amendment to the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that requires Federal 
departments and agencies that develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information 
technology to ensure that Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have 
access to and use of information and data, comparable to that of the employees and members of the 
public without disabilities unless it is an undue burden to do so. 

Server: A computer dedicated to controlling network traffic and resources. GPO Access servers 
process Web and database information requests and store information for permanent public access. 

SWAIS: A system that allows users to search ASCII text files through an Internet telnet session 
or a direct modem dial-up session. SWAIS stands for "simple wide-area information system." 

WAIS: A distributed information service that allows simple natural-language input, indexed 
searching for fast document retrieval, and the influence of initial searches on future searches 
through a "relevance feedback" mechanism. Most of the Government information products on GPO 
Access are maintained in WAIS databases. WAIS stands for "wide-area information server" and is 
also the name of the company that developed this software. 

XML (Extensible Markup Language): A subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) 
designed to be a standard format for exchanging structured documents and data on the Web.