# U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual/GPO's Online Initiatives

Printing continues to serve an important purpose in the Federal Government. Congressional documents, official reports, pamphlets, books, regulations and statutes, passports, tax and census forms, statistical data, and more—in printed form these documents represent a major avenue of communication and information transaction between the Government and the public. In the 21st century, the Government Printing Office (GPO) is committed to providing printed information products for Congress, Federal agencies, and the courts as efficiently, creatively, and cost-effectively as the most modern technology will allow.
With the advent of the electronic information age, GPO has also assumed the responsibility for providing public access to the online versions of most of the official documents it prints, as well as—to the greatest extent possible—the online versions of Government publications that are not printed but are otherwise made available on other Federal Web sites. GPO recognizes that a Federal author today often begins the content creation process at a personal computer, and frequently publishes the final document on the Web, without creating a print version that will make its way to a user's hands or a library's shelves. Many Government publications are now born digital and published to the Web, with few if any copies printed for traditional public access via bookstores or libraries.
To accommodate this transition in Federal publishing strategies while preserving the core responsibility for ensuring public access to Government publications, in 1993 Congress enacted Public Law 103-40, the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act, which required GPO to establish online access to key Government publications and provide a system of storage to ensure permanent public access to the information they contain. Since then, the number of publications featured by the resulting Web site, GPO Access, at www.gpoaccess.gov, has grown exponentially, as has its use by the public. A decade later the National Archives and Records Administration formally recognized GPO as an affiliated archive for the digital content on the GPO Access site.
To meet continued public demand for online access to Government publications, provide for an increased range of search and retrieval options, and ​ensure the preservation of official Government information content in the 21st century, in 2004 GPO embarked on the construction of a more comprehensive online capability, called GPO's Federal Digital System, or FDsys. Scheduled to become available for public use in late 2008, the new system will serve as GPO's digital platform for the production, storage, and dissemination of official Government publications for the years to come.
Opened to the public in 1994, the GPO Access Web site was GPO's entrance into the digital age. GPO Access provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided is the official published version, and information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction unless specifically noted. This free service is funded through annual appropriations provided to GPO's Federal Depository Library Program.
Under the GPO Access legislation, the Superintendent of Documents, under the direction of the Public Printer, is required to: (1) Maintain an electronic directory of Federal electronic information; (2) provide a system of online access to the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, and other appropriate publications as determined by the Superintendent of Documents; (3) operate an electronic storage facility for Federal electronic information; and (4) maintain the Federal Bulletin Board, which was then already in existence.
GPO Access services are designed to meet the needs of a variety of users. GPO Access consists of content and links, including official, full-text information from the three branches of the Federal Government. Databases are updated based on their print equivalent and generally date back to 1994.
Users can find information on the Federal Depository Library Program, which provides no-fee public access to publications disseminated by GPO, regardless of format. GPO Access enables users to locate a depository library in their area.
​Users may also locate and order publications available for sale through GPO's Publication and Information Sales Program. Orders may be placed online securely through the U.S. Government Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.
Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government provides learning tools for K-12 students, parents, and educators. The site provides age-specific explanations about how the Federal Government works, explains the use of the primary source materials available on GPO Access, and explains GPO's role in the Federal Government.
Users needing assistance with GPO Access or other dissemination services may direct inquiries to the GPO Contact Center specialists available by email (contactcenter@gpo.gov), telephone (1-866-512-1800), or fax (202-512-2104).
The increasing use of electronic documents poses a special challenge in verifying authenticity, because digital technology makes such documents easy to alter or copy in unauthorized or illegitimate ways.
To help meet this challenge, GPO has implemented digital signatures on certain electronic documents in GPO Access that not only establish GPO as the trusted information disseminator, but also provide the assurance that an electronic document has not been altered since GPO disseminated it.
In early 2008, GPO authenticated the first-ever online Federal budget by digital signature. The visible digital signatures on online PDF documents serve the same purpose as handwritten signatures or traditional wax seals on printed documents. The digital signature verifies document integrity and authenticity for online Federal documents, disseminated by GPO, at no cost to the customer.
A critical part of GPO's mission of Keeping America Informed is ensuring permanent access to published Government documents. GPO is developing a ​comprehensive digital content system capable of managing all known Federal Government documents within the scope of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program and other information dissemination programs. GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) is an integrated content management system which incorporates state-of-the-art technology for document authentication and digital preservation. FDsys supports GPO's transformation from a print-based environment to a content-based environment, in which digital content is created, submitted, preserved, authenticated, managed, and delivered upon request. The design of FDsys is based on the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) (ISO 14721:2003), which describes a generalized structure for storing, preserving, and providing access to digital content over time.
FDsys will automate content life-cycle processes and make it easier to deliver digital content in formats suited to customers' needs. FDsys will allow Federal content creators to submit content for preservation, authentication, and delivery to users. Content entered into the system will be cataloged according to GPO and library standards, and will be available on the World Wide Web for searching and viewing, downloading and printing, as document masters for conventional and on-demand printing, or by other dissemination methods. Content may include text and associated graphics, video, audio, and other forms that emerge.
FDsys capabilities will be deployed in a series of releases. An internal proof-of-concept release of FDsys was completed in September 2007 to support the last stage of testing. FDsys is scheduled to become available to agencies and the public in early 2009, beginning a process of incremental releases. Each release will add functionality to the previous one. The first public release will provide FDsys core capabilities, including such foundational elements as system infrastructure and security, and a digital repository that conforms to the OAIS reference model and enables the management of content and metadata. This release will replace the familiar Wide Area Information Server (WAIS)-based GPO Access, in use since 1994, with enhanced search and retrieval functionality.
For a comprehensive discussion of system capabilities by release, see the FDsys documentation at http://www.gpo.gov/projects/fdsys_documents.htm.
The rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and related matters, as stated in this Manual, will serve well when preparing documents for electronic dissemination. Most of the documents currently available via GPO Access are derived from databases used in the printing of Government publications. However, as electronic dissemination of Government information continues to grow, the rules as stated in this Manual will continue to be the GPO's standard for all document preparation, electronic or otherwise.