Disseminating and Preserving Digital Public Information 

Products Created by the U.S. Federal Government: 

A Case Study Report

Prepared by the 

Federal Research Division, Library of Congress

under an Interagency Agreement with the

Library Services and Content Management Directorate,

U.S. Government Publishing Office

August 2018 

Researchers: Marieke Lewis Brock

 Katarina David

 Patrick M. Miller

Project Manager: Ramón J. Miró

Federal Research Division

Library of Congress

Washington, DC 205404840

Tel: 2027073900

Fax: 2027073920

Email: frds@loc.gov

Homepage: http://loc.gov/rr/frd/

 70 Years of Service to the Federal Government 

1948 – 2018
i

PREFACE

As the agency charged with “Keeping America Informed,” the U.S. Government Publishing 

Office (GPO) seeks to gain a better understanding of how Federal organizations disseminate, 

catalog, and preserve their digital public information products.1 To advance this goal, GPO 

entered into an interagency agreement with the Federal Research Division (FRD) within the 

Library of Congress to conduct a study on these agencies’ dissemination and preservation 

policies. 

The information for this study was gathered primarily through structured interviews with senior 

managers in agency communications roles. Respondents were asked about a range of topics, 

including how born-digital information products are published, released, and distributed; 

the content types, formats, and dissemination channels used; agency practices for preserving 

digital information products; external partnerships and public access to federally funded 

research publications; and awareness of GPO’s statutory information programs. The findings 

presented within this report provide insights to Federal publishing strategies in light of the 

central role played by websites, social media, and other internet-based dissemination channels.

FRD provides customized research and analytical services on domestic and international topics 

to agencies of the U.S. Government, the government of the District of Columbia, and authorized 

federal contractors on a cost-recovery basis. The division has a well-established reputation for 

utilizing a full range of primary materials, data, scholarly works, and other resources to provide 

impartial and comprehensive analysis to its partners.

 

1 U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), “Mission, Vision, and Goals,” accessed April 11, 2018, https://www.gpo.

gov/who-we-are/our-agency/mission-vision-and-goals.
ii

Table of Contents

PREFACE............................................................................................................................................................................... i

INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................................1

Public Information Programs of the Superintendent of Documents .......................................... 2

Background of the Study ............................................................................................................ 4

METHODOLOGY FOR CASE STUDIES......................................................................................................................5

Preliminary Landscape Study ...................................................................................................... 5

Interview Discussion Guide ......................................................................................................... 5

Agency Selection and Recruitment............................................................................................. 6

Interviews and Transcription ....................................................................................................... 9

FINDINGS ...........................................................................................................................................................................9

1. Dissemination of Public Information Products........................................................................ 9

Responsibility for Dissemination.....................................................................................................................9

Dissemination Guidance.................................................................................................................................. 10

Dissemination and Continuity of Operations.......................................................................................... 11

Dissemination of Contractor- and Grantee-Produced Content....................................................... 12

2. Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels of Public Information Products....... 13

Agency-Specific Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels...................................... 14

Role of Agency-Specific Websites ............................................................................................................... 17

Role of Agency-Specific Social Media Accounts.................................................................................... 18

3. Preservation of Public Information Products ........................................................................ 21

Responsibility for Preservation ..................................................................................................................... 22

Preservation Guidance ..................................................................................................................................... 23

Archiving Website Content ............................................................................................................................ 24

Preservation of Older Tangible Information Products ......................................................................... 26

4. External Partnerships Focused on Disseminating and Preserving Public Information 

Products................................................................................................................................. 27

Agency-Approved Digital Repositories for Public Information Products..................................... 28

5. Awareness of GPO’s Statutory Information Programs .......................................................... 29

CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................................................................................. 34

1. Dissemination of Public Information Products...................................................................... 34

2. Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels of Public Information Products....... 34

3. Preservation of Public Information Products ........................................................................ 34

4. External Partnerships Focused on Disseminating and Preserving Public Information 

Products................................................................................................................................. 35

5. Awareness of GPO’s Statutory Information Programs .......................................................... 35
iii

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 36

Assessment of Study Methodology .......................................................................................... 38

APPENDIX I. FRD Preliminary Landscape Study of Federal Digital Publishing ..................................... 40

APPENDIX II. FRD/GPO Interview Discussion Guide....................................................................................... 53

APPENDIX III. Case Study Invitation Letter......................................................................................................... 57

APPENDIX IV. GPO Email Follow-Up..................................................................................................................... 59

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................................... 60

Table of Figures

Figure 1. Tangible-Only vs. Tangible and Web-Based Dissemination of Public Information 

Products..............................................................................................................................................................................2

Figure 2. Common Content Types of Public Information Products.......................................................... 14

Figure 3. Datasets of Public Information Products by Agency ................................................................... 41

Table of Tables

Table 1. Occupational Titles of Interview Respondents....................................................................................7

Table 2. Number of Employees and Size Category by Agency......................................................................8

Table 3. Responses to Question: “Which Office(s) Within Your Agency is (are) Responsible 

for the Dissemination of Public Information Products?”..................................................................................9

Table 4. Responses to Question: “Where/How is (are) Your Agency’s Information 

Dissemination Policies Documented?” ................................................................................................................ 10

Table 5. Responses to Question: “Are These Policies Communicated as Part of Employee 

Training for Staff Involved in Communications/Publishing Roles?”......................................................... 11

Table 6. Responses to the Question: “Is Information Dissemination Included in Your Agency’s 

Continuity of Operations Plan?”............................................................................................................................. 11

Table 7. Responses to the Question: “Does Your Agency Disseminate Contractor- or 

Grantee-Produced Content?”.................................................................................................................................. 12

Table 8. Responses to the Question: “What are the Main Types of Public Information 

Products that Your Agency Publishes?”............................................................................................................... 15

Table 9. Types of Public Information Products by Agency........................................................................... 16

Table 10. Types of Digital Dissemination Channels by Agency.................................................................. 17

Table 11. Responses to Question: “What Percentage of Your Agency’s Public Information 

Products Would You Say are Disseminated via Agency Websites?”........................................................ 18

Table 12. Responses to Question: “How Does Your Agency Use Social Media as an 

Information Dissemination Method?”.................................................................................................................. 20

Table 13. Checklist of Social Media Accounts by Agency............................................................................. 21
iv

Table 14. Responses to Question: “Which Organization(s) Within Your Agency is (are) 

Responsible for the Preservation of Public Information Products?”......................................................... 22

Table 15. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Follow FADGI Guidance for Creating 

and Preserving Digital Content?”........................................................................................................................... 23

Table 16. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Archive Digital Content Once It is No 

Longer Posted on Current Sections of Agency Websites?”......................................................................... 24

Table 17. Online Web Archives by Agency......................................................................................................... 25

Table 18. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Have Plans to Make Its Older Historical 

Content Available through Digitization?”........................................................................................................... 26

Table 19. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Have a Partnership with an External 

Organization/Service to Broaden Access to Your Information Products?”............................................ 27

Table 20. Agency Selected Criteria for Digital Repositories ........................................................................ 28

Table 21. Responses to Question: “Would You Say Staff at Your Agency are Aware of the 

Statutory Mandates that Guide GPO’s Public Information Programs?”.................................................. 29

Table 22. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Provide Guidance or Regulations 

on How to Comply with the FDLP Provisions?”................................................................................................ 30

Table 23. Responses to Question: “Are Communications/Publishing Staff at Your Agency 

Familiar with How GPO Can Assist Them in Making Content More Accessible to the Public 

through FDsys/govinfo?” .......................................................................................................................................... 30

Table 24. Responses to Question: “Would Your Communications/Publishing Staff Be Interested 

in Learning More about govinfo?” ........................................................................................................................ 31

Table 25. Responses to Question: “Does Your Communications/Publishing Office, Library, or 

Other Component Have a Schedule for Notifying GPO of New Agency Content?”.......................... 31

Table 26. Responses to Question: “Do Web/Publishing Content Managers at Your Agency 

Use GPO’s Document Discovery Webpage or Email Address to Notify GPO of New Web 

Content?”......................................................................................................................................................................... 32

Table 27. Responses to Question: “Would Having Additional Methods of Providing 

Notification to GPO Be Helpful? Any Suggestions?”...................................................................................... 32

Table 28. Responses to Question: “What Other Steps Would You Advise GPO Take to Make 

It Easier for Agencies to Notify GPO of New/Older Content That Has Been Digitized and 

Made Accessible?”....................................................................................................................................................... 33

Table 29. Responses to Question: “Are Communications/Publishing Staff at Your Agency 

Familiar with the Federal Publishing Council?”................................................................................................. 33

Table 30. Federal Access Plans for Public Information Products ............................................................... 48

Table 31. Digital Repositories for Federally Funded Research Publications by Agency....................51
1

INTRODUCTION

The statutory authority for the public information programs managed by the U.S. Government 

Publishing Office (GPO) obligates the Superintendent of Documents (SOD) to provide no-fee 

permanent public access to and comprehensive indexing of tangible and digital information 

products created by U.S. Government agencies, and to maintain an online system of access for 

digital content.2 Federal agencies’ shift from tangible to digital products has drastically impacted 

these programs. 

The U.S. Government produces tens of thousands of unique information products each year 

to meet the informational needs of the American people. As Federal agencies have transitioned 

to mostly digital information dissemination, websites have become the primary channels for 

publishing U.S. Government information. In addition to websites, agencies use other digital 

information channels, such as RSS feeds and social media, to share public information.

In the digital era, direct-to-web publishing expands opportunities for smaller units within 

agencies to become content originators, disseminating information to the public directly. 

Off-the-shelf commercial web content management systems allow agency program offices 

to develop and disseminate digital information products with minimal support from other 

agency components or from GPO, the traditional Federal publication distribution service. 

Headquarters communications/public affairs offices, meanwhile, continue to provide strategic 

guidance, editorial and information quality assurance support, and agency-wide content.

Understanding how Federal agencies have adapted and applied their information policies and 

strategies, as well as their public information products and practices, is critical to the SOD’s 

mission to:

 Ensure all in-scope content is acquired for the Federal Depository Library Program 

(FDLP), the Cataloging & Indexing Program, and GPO’s System of Online Access.

 Develop strategies to improve and transform its operations and services to facilitate 

increased discovery and access to Government information in the digital age.

 Foster productive, collaborative relationships with agencies.

While GPO has been proactive in identifying and acquiring agency content within scope of the 

SOD’s programs, the identification and acquisition of content are substantially more complex 

undertakings in the digital age as compared to the ink-on-paper era. Before the onset of Federal 

web publishing, agencies’ procurement of printing services through the GPO ensured that a 

large proportion of Federal publications would be reported to SOD and made available to the 

FDLP and Cataloging and Indexing (C&I). The onset of direct-to-web publishing, together with 

the diminishing share of publications in print, weakened the link between Federal publishing 

and the deposit of documents for FDLP distribution, as is shown in Figure 1. 

 

2 These public information programs include the Federal Depository Library Program, the Cataloging and Indexing 

Program, and GPO’s System of Online Access; their statutory authority can be found in 44 U.S.C. §§ 1710–11, 1901–16, 

and 4101–4 (2016). GPO’s International Exchange and By-Law Distribution services are also part of the Superintendent 

of Documents’ (SOD’s) purview but they were not included in, nor will they be affected by, this study.
2

Figure 1. Tangible-Only vs. Tangible and Web-Based Dissemination of Public 

Information Products

Tangible-Only Dissemination Tangible and Web-Based Dissemination

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)/

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)

Agency 

Websites

Agency Websites/

CGP/FDLP/

FDsys/govinfo

Agency 

Websites

Public Domain Public Domain

GPO’s mission of “Keeping America Informed” and the FDLP's mission to provide readily 

discoverable and free public access to Federal Government information, now and for future 

generations, guide these organizations’ efforts to strategically and thoughtfully create and use 

tools of the digital age to enhance that mandate.

Public Information Programs of the Superintendent of Documents

The Founding Fathers thought it essential that the citizenry be informed about its government 

and its workings so as to allow for effective participation in the democratic process. They also 

viewed information dissemination as pivotal to the success of a new nation. Established by 

Congress, the FDLP traces its roots to 1813 and continues to serve the public by ensuring 

no-fee localized access to Federal Government information.3

The Printing Act of 1895 centralized printing for all three branches of Government within GPO; 

provided authorization for distribution to designated libraries; transferred the responsibilities of 

the SOD to GPO from the U.S Department of the Interior; and established a program of 

cataloging and indexing Federal Government publications.4

 

3 Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), “A Brief History of the FDLP,” last updated January 26 2018, https://www.

fdlp.gov/about-fdlp/mission-history/a-brief-history-of-the-fdlp.

4 An Act Providing for the Public Printing and Binding and the Distribution of Public Documents, 53rd Cong., 3rd sess., 

Chap. 23, 28 Stat. 593, 601‒24 (1895).

GPO

Agency Program Offices

Agency

HQs

GPO

Agency

HQs

Agency Program Offices
3

The need for a catalog from which direct access to every publication from the executive, 

legislative, and judicial branches of Government could be provided was discussed as early as 

1845. It was advocated that a catalog would greatly facilitate inquiry into the proceedings of 

the Government and its numerous agents.5 GPO is mandated, through statute dating back to 

the 1895 act, to publish such a comprehensive catalog. A monthly printed catalog was published 

through December 2004, at which time it was replaced by a web-based catalog, the Catalog of 

U.S. Government Publications (CGP).6

GPO’s role as the provider of printed U.S. Government information products historically has 

been leveraged to collect, catalog, distribute, and preserve Federal Government information. 

With an increasing share of Federal publications and other information products being released 

exclusively online, GPO has diversified its operations to capture digital information from agency 

websites. However, the rapid growth of this information, combined with the sprawling nature of 

Federal Government websites, make GPO’s information-capture goals increasingly challenging 

and difficult to achieve at the desired level of comprehensiveness.

Under Title 44 of the U.S. Code, Sections 1710–11 and 1901–3, and Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, “Managing Federal Information as a Strategic Resource,” Federal 

agencies should make all of their publications, in all produced formats, available to the SOD for 

distribution to Federal depository libraries, and for cataloging and inclusion in the CGP.7

Despite these statutory mandates and Federal information policies, fugitive documents—Federal 

public information products within scope of the FDLP that have not been identified, cataloged, 

or disseminated to Federal depository libraries—abound.8It is impossible to know how many 

fugitive documents exist, but over the years they have been estimated to represent as much as 

50 percent of the universe of Federal printing. Some observers, however, believe this estimate is 

conservative.9

The problem of fugitive documents affects both print and digital publishing. In the case of print 

publications, the most common sources of fugitive documents are agencies that do 

not procure GPO’s printing services. Digital fugitives, on the other hand, result from the 

tremendous volume of digital content being produced, the diversity of formats being used to

 

5 Ben; Perley Poore, Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States, September 5, 1774-

March 4, 1881 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1885), III.

6 GPO, SOD, “Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP),” accessed May 22, 2018, https://catalog.gpo.gov/.

7 White House, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), “Circular No. A-130: Managing Federal Information as 

a Strategic Resource,” 14–15, accessed May 22, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/

circulars/A130/a130revised.pdf.

8 These publications include tangible or digital products such as ink-on-paper printouts, microforms, websites, 

CD-ROMs, and DVDs. Authors’ Note: This definition is updated from the one listed in the glossary of GPO’s “Federal 

Digital System (FDsys) Requirements Document (RD), Public Release Version 3.2” (December 4, 2007, 125, https://

www.govinfo.gov/media/FDsys_RD_v3.2.pdf).

9 Gil Baldwin, “Fugitive Documents—On the Loose or On the Run” (Presentation, American Association of Law 

Libraries Conference, Seattle, WA, July 15, 2003), Administrative Notes 24, no. 10 (August 15, 2003): 4‒8, https://

www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/historical-publications/administrative-notes/2003-adnotes/904-administrative-notesvol-24-no-10.
4

create information products, the inconsistency of website designs across the Government, and 

Federal agencies’ failure to notify the SOD of newly released information products.

10

Given the numerous challenges to comprehensively cataloging Federal information products, 

GPO’s public information program staff have developed improved processes and workflows 

that allow for proactive identification and acquisition of fugitive documents. This activity takes 

place in tandem with outreach efforts to educate Federal communications and publishing staff

about agencies’ statutory obligations to facilitate content acquisition for FDLP dissemination,

and cataloging and indexing.

Background of the Study

GPO entered into an interagency agreement with the Federal Research Division (FRD) of the 

Library of Congress to conduct research on the Federal digital publishing landscape and to 

develop and pilot a methodology for identifying Government publishing workflows and 

participants as a first step in evaluating the scope, volume, and diversity of digital content

within Federal agencies.

The transition toward the web-based dissemination of Federal public information products and 

the diversification of the content originator role within agencies pose challenges to GPO’s ability 

to capture Government information.11 As the agency charged with ensuring timely and equitable 

public access to such information, in accordance with its statutory obligations, GPO and the SOD 

seek to gain a better understanding of how Federal agencies disseminate and preserve their 

digital publications.

As a result of this study:

 The SOD will have a better understanding of the information dissemination policies, 

strategies, and practices of Federal agencies. 

 A baseline information and discussion guide will support the development of a 

proactive agency liaison program.

 Federal agencies will be more aware of and contribute their content to the SOD’s 

public information programs. 

 Outcomes will inform the planning and implementation of action items found in 

GPO’s National Plan for Access to U.S Government Information.

12

 

10 A 2017 blog post by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) observes that while it is able to count the 

number of top-level Federal domains, “as far as we can tell, no Federal agency has a complete government-wide list 

of subdomains, and most individual agencies of any significant size do not have a complete central inventory of their 

own subdomains” (Eric Mill, “Tracking the U.S. Government's Progress on Moving to HTTPS,” 18F, January 4, 2017, 

https://18f.gsa.gov/2017/01/04/tracking-the-us-governments-progress-on-moving-https/).

11 A 2017 report by GPO’s Office of Inspector General notes that “the transition to digital information raises a number 

of issues resulting in more diverse responsibilities for GPO” (Additional Information Needed for Ensuring Availability 

of Government Information Through the Federal Depository Library Program, Audit Report 18–01, October 12, 2017, 

1, https://www.gpo.gov/docs/default-source/inspector-general/audits/2018/18-01.pdf).

12 GPO, SOD, National Plan for Access to U.S. Government Information: A Framework for a User-Centric Service 

Approach to Permanent Public Access (Washington, DC: GPO, February 2016), https://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/

about-the-fdlp/gpo-projects/national-plan-for-access-to-u-s-government-information/2700-national-plan-for-ac

cess-to-u-s-government-information-a-framework-for-a-user-centric-service-approach-to-permanent-public-access.
5

METHODOLOGY FOR CASE STUDIES

To gain greater knowledge about how Federal agencies currently disseminate and preserve 

their public information products, structured interviews were conducted with senior managers 

in areas typically involved in web publishing and agency communications roles. The interagency 

agreement stipulated that the FRD research study would obtain information about:

– Top-level stakeholders in agency publishing.

– Agency communication principles and strategies for sharing information with the 

public.

– Top-level workflows for publishing agency content.

– Strategies and operational goals governing web publishing initiatives.

– Preservation policies for publications, especially born-digital materials.

– Agency awareness of GPO’s Title 44 requirements; OMB’s Circular No. A-130, 

“Managing Information as a Strategic Resource”; and other governing compliance 

requirements.

It was agreed that using the case study approach on Federal agencies of varying sizes would 

provide a good baseline for this information.

Preliminary Landscape Study

As a first step toward developing an interview discussion guide and identifying candidate 

agencies, FRD conducted a brief landscape study of Federal digital publishing (see Appendix I). 

The research team reviewed statistics on web-based publishing across the U.S. Government, 

which were provided through Federal web metrics services and periodic domain surveys.13

Next, FRD consulted key publishing statutes and directives to develop an understanding of 

the mandates that govern Federal information dissemination and open government policies. 

The research team also obtained examples of internal agency guidance on how to comply 

with GPO’s Title 44 requirements and other statutory and non-statutory guidance on the 

dissemination of public information. Finally, FRD reviewed several web archives to document 

examples of agency-led digital preservation efforts.

Interview Discussion Guide

Following the completion of the landscape scan, FRD and GPO jointly developed an interview 

discussion guide (see Appendix II). The topics of interest were developed based on the initial 

findings of the landscape scan, as well as in discussions with GPO project managers. Staff from 

GPO’s Library Services and Content Management Business Unit also provided question topics. 

The interview questions covered five areas: 

– Agency information dissemination activities and policies,

 

13 In particular, the researchers reviewed metrics from analytics.usa.gov, a Federal web analytics site managed and 

hosted by GSA’s Technology Transformation Service; the Internet Systems Consortium’s January 2017 domain survey; 

and the End of Term Web Archive to assess the scope and extent of the agencies’ web publishing activity.
6

– Information product formats and dissemination channels,

– Product preservation activities and policies,

– Use of external information repositories and dissemination partnerships, and

– Awareness of GPO’s statutory public information programs.

Agency Selection and Recruitment

In March 2017, LSCM staff developed a preliminary list of 27 agencies to be approached for 

interviews. All three branches of government were represented; agencies with varying levels of 

technological advancement, agencies of varying sizes, and agencies with regional offices were 

also included. Per the project plan, “big data” and defense agencies were excluded. To compile 

this list, the following sources were consulted:

 “Digital Case Studies Candidate List,” which was based upon domain popularity 

data and supplied by FRD.

 “GPO’s Cataloged Digital Content for FY [fiscal year] 2016,” a spreadsheet 

summarizing the number of publications cataloged by department and agency.

 “Participating Agencies and Agency Subcomponents,” a list of Federal agencies—

grouped as being very large, large, medium, small, and very small—that participated 

in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) 2017 “Federal Employee 

Viewpoint Survey”; this information was then used to determine the size of the 

agencies not included as survey participants.

Once these agencies were identified, FRD consulted online Government directories and agency 

leadership pages to find suitable candidates for interviews. FRD named up to three senior-level 

officials for each candidate agency, focusing on three defined areas typically involved in web

publishing: communications/public affairs, IT/web services, and printing officer/publishing 

official (i.e., GPO liaison) for print publications.

First contact with interview candidates was established through email. The email, sent by FRD, 

included an introductory message explaining the purposes of the study, the reasons why the 

individual was selected for participation, and FRD’s role as the data gathering and analysis 

organization working on behalf of GPO. The email contained an attached invitation letter signed 

by the Acting Superintendent of Documents and the Federal Research Division Chief (see 

Appendix III).

FRD’s efforts to recruit interviewees met with little initial success. Few candidates responded 

to the research team’s invitation email. Possible reasons for the low response rate include the 

timing, as the invitations were sent during a transition between presidential administrations and 

turnover of senior agency personnel. For example, a substantial number of the communications 

managers listed in agency directories appeared to no longer be in their positions by the spring 

of 2017. Other factors potentially reducing participation may have included recipients’ hesitancy 

to open the attached letter from GPO because of information security concerns; targeting of the 

wrong agency personnel (i.e., individuals who did not believe they could address the topics 
7

covered in the discussion guide); and reluctance among recipients to discuss internal 

organizational matters during a presidential transition.

In light of the low number of responses to the initial wave of invitations, the research team took 

two additional steps to encourage participation. First, the Acting Superintendent of Documents 

sent a follow-up invitation to interview candidates confirming FRD’s role as administrator of the

study and underscoring the importance to GPO’s mission of obtaining agencies’ input on their 

publication practices (see Appendix IV). Second, FRD attached the discussion guide to its email 

and invited recipients to share it with colleagues who might want to contribute. The purpose of 

sharing the guide was to allay potential concerns about the content of the interviews, to make it 

possible for respondents to collect information and develop responses to the questions ahead 

of the interviews, and to facilitate input from multiple respondents. These steps appeared to 

improve response rates modestly as additional interview candidates were contacted.

Between May and October 2017, FRD invited more than 100 communications managers to 

participate in interviews. Twelve interviews were completed during that time with senior leaders

(see Table 1) in 11 agencies from the executive branch and one from the legislative branch. Ten

interviews, lasting approximately 45 minutes, were conducted by telephone; one was conducted 

in person; and one respondent opted to provide their answers in writing.

Table 1. Occupational Titles of Interview Respondents

Title Section/Division/Office

Chief Office of Communications

Director Division of Print and Electronic Publishing, Office of Communications

Director Division of Communication Services, 

Office of the Associate Director of Communication

Director Division of Design Services

Director External Affairs

Deputy Director Office of Communications and Publishing

Assistant Director Communications

Assistant Administrator Communications

Manager Editing Section

Manager Office of Public Communications, Office of Public Affairs

Program Manager Educational and Outreach Programs

Program Manager Web Technology

All but one of the Federal organizations represented during the interviews are subcomponents 

of a larger agency.14 However, the respondents frequently referred to their parent agency’s 

policies on information dissemination and preservation in their responses to the interview 

questions. The agencies and subcomponents represented were:

 

14 The exception is the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors, which is an independent agency.
8

AHRQ Agency for Health Research and Quality, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S Dept. of Health and Human Services

CMS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

EIA Energy Information Administration, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ESA Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce

FHWA Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Dept. of Transportation

FRB Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System 

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NPS National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior

USCO U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress

USGS U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Dept. of the Interior

VHA Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs

The subcomponents—hereafter referred to as agencies—vary dramatically in size. The smallest 

has approximately 30 staff members, while the largest has nearly 300,000. Using data from the 

Partnership for Public Service’s 2017 “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rankings, 

along with several agency websites, the research team calculated their respective sizes based on 

the categories provided by OPM’s 2017 “Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey” (see Table 2).15 A 

comparison of agency digital publishing practices by agency size was originally intended as part 

of this study, but the small sample size of responses prevented this type of analysis.

Table 2. Number of Employees and Size Category by Agency

Agency No. of Employees (as of 2016)* OPM Size Category†

AHRQ 253 Small

CDC 9,137 Medium

CMS 6,066 Medium

EIA ~370‡ Small

ESA ~30§ Very Small

FHWA 2,671 Medium

FRB 2,972** Medium

GSFC 3,141 Medium

NPS 12,596 Large

USCO ~400†† Small

USGS 6,546 Medium

VHA 295,838 Very Large

* Unless otherwise indicated, these numbers come from the information provided in the 2017 “Best Places to Work 

in the Federal Government” rankings (“Participating Agencies and Agency Subcomponents,” accessed April 11, 

2018, http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/all_agencies).

† OPM, 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, 1.

‡ EIA, “Mission and Overview,” accessed April 11, 2018, https://www.eia.gov/about/mission_overview.php.

§ ESA, “ESA Offices,” accessed April 11, 2018, http://www.esa.doc.gov/content/esa-offices.

** FRB, “Structure of the Federal Reserve System,” last updated April 5, 2018, 

https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/organization-charts-accessible.htm#bog.

†† USCO, “Overview of the Copyright Office,” accessed April 11, 2018, https://www.copyright.gov/about/.

 

15 The agency size categories are: very large (>75,000 employees); large (10,000–4,999 employees); medium 

(1,000–9,999 employees); small (100–999 employees), and very small (<100 employees).
9

Interviews and Transcription

Respondents were provided with the discussion guide in advance of the interviews and were 

told that the discussion would adhere closely to the guide’s contents. At least two FRD team 

members participated in each interview, with one serving as the primary interviewer and the 

other serving as the primary note-taker.

After each interview, the FRD researchers transcribed their notes for review by the rest of the 

team. At the conclusion of the interviews, a spreadsheet containing these notes, organized by 

question topic and agency, was created. FRD shared this spreadsheet with the SOD and used 

it as the “raw data” in developing this report. In some instances, supplemental information was 

pulled from the agencies’ websites.

FINDINGS

1. Dissemination of Public Information Products

The first set of interview questions focused on the agencies’ dissemination policies and 

practices. Specifically, GPO was interested in learning which agency components are responsible 

for sharing information with the public, what publishing guidance they provide their staff, how 

they prioritize information dissemination during a Continuity of Operations (COOP) situation, 

and how contractor- and grantee-produced content is cleared for release and disseminated.

Responsibility for Dissemination 

When asked, “Which office(s) within your agency is (are) responsible for the dissemination of 

public information products?,” respondents volunteered information about how their agencies 

create content, as well as how they produce, obtain approval or clearance to distribute, and 

disseminate information products.

At eight of the agencies interviewed, respondents stated that the headquarters office of 

communications/public affairs shares responsibility for disseminating public information with 

other components (see Table 3). In these cases, responsibility is assigned depending on the type 

of content and the method of dissemination.

Table 3. Responses to Question: “Which Office(s) Within Your Agency is 

(are) Responsible for the Dissemination of Public Information Products?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Office of Communications.

CDC Office of the Associate Director for Communication, 12 CDC centers, and the 

Division of Public Health Information Dissemination.

CMS Office of Communications, Office of Minority Health, and Center for Medicare. 

EIA Office of Communications.

ESA Office of the Chief Economist.

FHWA Office of Public Affairs and individual program offices.
10

Agency Response

FRB The 12 Federal Reserve banks.

GSFC Office of Communications and program offices.

NPS

Individual parks, regional offices, and HQ Office of Communications. Additionally, 

more than 1,000 web authors contribute content to www.nps.gov. Management is 

distributed among NPS employees in parks, regions, and national offices across the 

United States.*

USCO Publications Section, Office of Public Information and Education.

USGS Office of Communications, USGS Publications Warehouse, and the Office of 

Scientific Quality and Integrity.

VHA Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

* U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS, “NPS.gov: Our Flagship Web Presence,” accessed March 25, 2018, https://www.nps.

gov/subjects/digital/nps-website.htm.

Most respondents drew a distinction between information products based on program-specific 

content and agency-wide communications. The former is produced, cleared for distribution, and 

disseminated directly to the web by the program or regional offices, while the latter is produced 

and disseminated by headquarters. 

Dissemination Guidance

When asked, “Where or how is (are) your agency’s information dissemination policies 

documented?,” respondents described a combination of formal and informal methods for 

internally communicating these guidelines. Some used formal documentation in an agency 

manual or intranet site, while others sent reminders and updates through email (see Table 4).

Table 4. Responses to Question: “Where/How is (are) Your Agency’s Information 

Dissemination Policies Documented?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Publishing and Communications Guidelines are online. Also written into every 

contract that every product must adhere to the guidelines.

CDC Not documented. There is a clearance chain for each office.

CMS No hard and fast dissemination rule. Print versus online is case by case.

EIA Agency intranet has a section devoted to communications.

ESA No documentation because agency is currently very small.

FHWA Public Affairs Office intranet and memos. 

FRB There is no global guidance [but] FRB is currently working on a communications 

policy.

GSFC At the HQ level and through agency-wide resources such as an online records 

management course, and Directorate liaisons. 

NPS On public website/intranet.

USCO Internal email.

USGS Agency policy manual, [which is] available online 

VHA Agency intranet.
11

Agencies were asked whether employees in communications roles receive training on the 

publishing guidelines. Respondents described a variety of approaches, ranging from mandatory 

training to periodic email reminders sent by publishing managers. One agency highlighted the 

importance of veteran staff in mentoring newer employees involved in publication (see Table 5).

Table 5. Responses to Question: “Are These Policies Communicated as Part of 

Employee Training for Staff Involved in Communications/Publishing Roles?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Guidelines are covered in all new employee orientations and [on the] intranet. 

Monthly newsletter sometimes includes information about the guidelines.

CDC Staff training on the products clearance train. Guidelines appear in standard 

operating procedures.

CMS Intranet page explains how to create a new publication; no formal training.

EIA New employee orientation includes publishing guidance for all employees.

ESA Not applicable.

FHWA Each program office has a liaison with the Public Affairs Office. Staff receive a basic 

overview as part of training through intranet, emails, memos, etc.

FRB Policy guidelines document [is] being developed.

GSFC Training primarily by means of HQ resources.

NPS Robust digital content/editing training program. Online course and webinars 

support new staff becoming writers. Agency intranet and reminders through email.

USCO Staff receive memos about [the] process.

USGS Staff within the Science Publishing Network are very aware of policies contained in 

the USGS Public Access Plan.

VHA Self-paced trainings on records/information management and documentation 

through the internal talent management system.

Dissemination and Continuity of Operations

Interviewees were also asked whether information dissemination is included in their agencies’ 

COOP plans.

16 All but one of the respondents were able to identify at least one example of plans 

for the dissemination of critical information during a COOP scenario. For example, emergency 

public health information is specifically mentioned in CMS’s COOP plan. The FHWA reported 

having recently completed a COOP exercise that included information dissemination. And GSFC 

said that its COOP plan mandates special procedures so it can maintain website accessibility and 

posting capability during an emergency (see Table 6).

Table 6. Responses to the Question: “Is Information Dissemination Included in 

Your Agency’s Continuity of Operations Plan?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Yes; internal communication. 

CDC Yes.

CMS Emergency public health information is mentioned specifically in the agency COOP 

plan.

 

16 COOP Plans are a Federal Government initiative, required by presidential directive, to ensure that agencies are 

able to continue performance of essential functions under a broad range of circumstances.
12

Agency Response

EIA Yes. COOP situation calls for more streamlined dissemination activity.

ESA Don’t know. The other larger content creators within Commerce (the Census Bureau

and the Bureau of Economic Analysis) do have COOP planning. 

FHWA Yes. FHWA recently completed a COOP exercise.

FRB Don't know.

GSFC

Yes. The COOP plan requires the COOP team to identify vital records that are critical 

to ongoing missions and alternative storage/work locations so that NASA can 

maintain website accessibility and posting capability.

NPS Yes. Dispersed workforce. Cloud-based dissemination. [With] national-level and 

local parks, some parks may need to implement COOP due to local conditions.

USCO Copyright has a COOP Officer (in Register’s Office). Parts of website are classified 

Tier 1 or Tier 2; copyright registration is Tier 1.

USGS

Yes. The USGS Publications Warehouse has redundant systems to protect data—

backup servers that can be activated by senior OCAP [Office of Communications 

and Publishing] officials.

VHA

Information dissemination is included in . . . the VHA Crisis Communications 

Planning Toolkit [which] is intended to be used as a guide [for] facilities to adapt 

and implement. The toolkit is designed to support public affairs officers and other 

communications specialists in writing and implementing a crisis communications 

plan.

Dissemination of Contractor- and Grantee-Produced Content

Ten interviewees reported that their agencies disseminate contractor- or grantee-produced 

content (see Table 7). In general, contractor-produced content must undergo an in-house 

clearance procedure and is ultimately disseminated through the same channels as agency 

products.

Table 7. Responses to the Question: “Does Your Agency Disseminate Contractoror Grantee-Produced Content?”

Agency Response

AHRQ

Yes. Grantees might also produce toolkits, which go on the website. Grantees 

usually publish journal articles, which don’t get posted on the website, but on 

PubMed. After 18 months, the public must have free access to government-funded 

articles (no firewall).

CDC Yes. There is no way to differentiate contractor/grantee-produced content. It all 

looks the same.

CMS Yes, but not out of the respondent's office. Office of Minority Health does but 

unsure about provider materials.

EIA

Yes, our agency disseminates contractor-produced content in the form of 

commissioned reports. Everything that is posted on the website must be reviewed 

by the Communications Office.

ESA No.

FHWA Yes. All contractor-produced content goes through program office approval and 

must be signed off on by Public Affairs.

FRB No contractor- or grantee-produced content.

GSFC

Yes. Technical content created by grantees and contractors is published under the 

STI [Scientific and Technical Information] Program and is posted to the NASA 

Technical Reports Server (NTRS). Some technical content under STI potentially is 
13

Agency Response

subject to export control and other restrictions which do not apply to general 

public information.

NPS NPS does work with contractors. We don’t publish grantee materials but do 

announce and link to those.

USCO A contractor might help write a report, but the report is handled in the same way as 

an internally created product.

USGS USGS issues grantee-produced reports but no contractor-produced reports. All 

products must undergo USGS review and are posted exclusively on USGS servers.

VHA

If content is developed for external purposes by a contractor or third party, VA 

[the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs] formally clears and approves this content prior 

to release and dissemination. This depends on the size and scope of the project. For 

example, if VA is developing a booklet or other large-scale publication for national 

distribution, the agency will most likely contract with GPO for printing/distribution 

assistance, and as required by law.

Yet some agencies have developed policies addressing grantee-produced information products. 

For example, the AHRQ’s Publishing and Communications Guidelines state: 

Products that grantees develop are not considered AHRQ deliverables. Grantees 

are encouraged to register copyright for their products, manage their rights, and 

seek their own distribution channels and dissemination venues. However, the 

Agency retains a royalty-free, non-exclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, 

publish, or otherwise use these products and authorize others to do so for 

Federal Government purposes. As a result, the Agency might choose to feature 

selected web-based resources that grantees develop under their projects.17

2. Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels of Public Information 

Products

There are many types of U.S. Government information products. From agency reports to

budgets, datasets to court decisions, they come in many formats and cover almost every topic. 

The transition to digital dissemination has made it easier for agencies to generate more content, 

update existing information with greater frequency, and diversify the formats used for delivering 

such information to the public. In addition to producing digital editions of traditional products, 

agencies disseminate large amounts of high-volume, transient information, such as blog and 

social media posts, audiovisual content, and podcasts (see Figure 2). 

 

17 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), “AHRQ 

Publishing and Communications Guidelines: Appendix 2-B; Web Instructions for Grantees,” last reviewed November 

2016, https://www.ahrq.gov/research/publications/pubcomguide/pcguide2apb.html.
14

Figure 2. Common Content Types of Public Information Products18

Low-Volume, 

Infrequent Updates, 

and Archival

Available in 

Tangible 

and/or Digital 

Formats

High-Volume, 

Frequently Updated, 

and Transient

Available Only 

in Digital 

Formats

Agency-Specific Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels

The agencies profiled as part of this study produce a wide range of publications and electronic 

information products that are available to users through a variety of channels and formats. The 

types of information products these agencies disseminate are determined by their missions and 

external audiences. In general, the agencies disseminate a mix of basic information for the public 

at-large, as well as technical information directed at specialized audiences. Agencies engage 

with general audiences across multiple digital platforms, including websites, social media, and 

mobile applications. They also continue to disseminate information in traditional tangible 

formats, such as books, maps, glossy brochures, and periodicals.

 

18 Source: Based on information from GPO’s, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, https://catalog.gpo.gov.

Books

Reports and 

Budgets

Serials, Newsletters, 

and Bulletins

Brochures, Forms, 

and Static Maps

Bills/Laws, Regulations, Rules, 

Notices, and Executive Orders

Grant/Contract Announcements 

and Court Opinions

Data, Datasets, and Dynamic Geospatial 

Information Products

News Releases, Advisories, Notices, and Audiovisual 

Media and Products

Website Updates, Blog and Social Media Posts, and

Subscription Digital Information Products
15

Additionally, agencies serve the information needs of specialized audiences who rely on their 

program offices for high-quality scientific, technical, and regulatory data—mainly in digital 

formats. For example, the CDC’s flagship journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, is 

written for health professionals such as physicians, nurses, and public health practitioners, as 

well as other scientists, researchers, educators, and laboratorians.19 At NASA, the Scientific and 

Technical Information Program acquires, processes, announces, disseminates, and archives

products from all of the agency’s centers for use by engineers and scientists.20 The VHA, in 

collaboration with the U.S. Dept. of Defense, publishes its “Clinical Practice Guidelines” series 

as a narrowly targeted resource to assist healthcare providers in improving and maintaining 

standards of patient care.21

Agencies such as AHRQ, CMS, ESA, FHWA, FRB, USCO, and USGS tailor many of their products 

to customers in specific fields or sectors of the U.S. economy, including financial and industry 

analysts; lawyers; medical professionals; scientists; publishers, academic educators and 

researchers; and natural resources managers. These agencies also provide critical information to 

community organizations at the state and local levels, such as banks, credit unions, and 

transportation agencies. Their targeted audiences rely on Federal information products, such as 

notices/circulars, forms and instructions, maps, statistical products, and datasets, for their dayto-day operations.

As part of this study, the FRD research team asked the interviewees to describe the main types 

of public information products their agencies publish. Respondents at every agency reported a 

wide range of product types. In several instances, the respondents suggested FRD consult the 

agency website to gain a more complete picture of their publications output (see Table 8).

Table 8. Responses to the Question: “What are the Main Types of Public 

Information Products that Your Agency Publishes?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Research reports, toolkits, consumer information, and datasets. 

CDC

Annual reports, regulations, rules, and directives; preliminary/draft and final reports; 

handbooks, manuals, and guides; maps/charts; datasets/statistical compendia; 

technical reports; monographs, books, and series; journals/periodicals; and 

guidance.

CMS

Forms, press releases, datasets, manuals, factsheets, booklets (16–40 pages), and 

yearly [reports]. CMS does not issue administrative rulings. Most products are 

digital and some are print as well.

EIA

Narrative reports, databases, press releases, congressional testimony, API 

[application programming interfaces], maps, and audiovisual material (radio 

programming). Daily pubs., weekly and monthly pubs., analysis and forecasts, 

text, graphs, and tables. Final reports. . . . No regulatory activity (by law).

ESA Reports, blog posts, and datasets. No rules or regulations.

 

19 HHS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “About the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 

(MMWR) Series,” last updated October 24, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/about.html.

20 NASA, Scientific and Technical Information Program, Homepage, last modified March 21, 2018, https://www.sti.

nasa.gov/.

21 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), “VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines,” last updated October 3, 2017, 

https://www.healthquality.va.gov/.
16

Agency Response

FHWA

Annual reports, regulations, rules, and directives; preliminary/draft and final reports; 

handbooks, manuals, and guides; maps/charts; datasets/statistical compendia; 

technical reports; monographs, books, and series; journals/periodicals; and 

guidance.

FRB Reports to Congress. Papers, articles, manuals, and examination manuals. Some 

publications [are] aimed at the Reserve Banks and some [are] aimed at the public. 

GSFC

Brochures, fact sheets . . . datasets, and stickers. [But not regulations, rules, or 

directives.] Too many dissemination methods to list: TV, web, podcast, press release, 

social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter), exhibits, 

tours, print (reports, fliers, brochures, press releases), and outreach events. 

NPS

Press releases; congressionally requested reports; annual reports [from the program 

offices]; one-off reports; regulations, rules, and directives; administrative decisions; 

draft and final reports; handbooks, manuals, and guides; maps and charts; datasets; 

technical reports; some monographs (usually cooperative effort with other entities); 

some digital content is periodical-like. 

USCO

Circulars, forms, annual reports, regulations (through the Federal Register [FR] and 

CFR [Code of Federal Regulations]), copyright law (annotated version of the Code), 

FR notices (can include policy directives), reports for Congress, [and] NewsNet 

announcements such as the start of the rulemaking process [and the] results of 

rulemaking. . . Also the Compendium of Copyright and Manual.

USGS No regulations issued. Scientific and technical products in all formats. 

VHA

Regulations, rules, and directives; opinions and orders (with OGC [Office of General 

Counsel] liaising) to also include maps and charts by the Office of Policy and 

Planning. VA does not work with series. VA has produced books and journals.

An examination of the interview responses, supplemented with information gathered from 

agency websites, shows that most product types are represented among agency publications. 

Agencies communicate with their audiences across a range of products, from occasional books 

and monographs to frequently updated news releases, maps, and datasets (see Table 9). 

Table 9. Types of Public Information Products by Agency

Respondents were also asked about the types of digital dissemination channels their agencies

use. Their comments show that, regardless of focus or mission, Federal agencies disseminate 

Agency/Type AHRQ CDC CMS EIA ESA FHWA FRB GSFC NPS USCO USGS VHA

Books/Ebooks          

Brochures           

Datasets           

Forms        

Infographics           

Manuals/Toolkits           

Maps        

Multimedia       

News Releases            

Newsletters            

Notices/Circulars            

Reports            

Rules/Regulations      
17

public information products across multiple platforms, including websites, mobile and tablet 

applications, email listservs, and social media (see Table 10). 

Table 10. Types of Digital Dissemination Channels by Agency

Role of Agency-Specific Websites

Interview responses, as well as agency mission statements, indicate that agencies by and large 

consider their websites to be their primary platforms for sharing information with the public and 

specialized audiences. Agencies’ descriptions of their web presence underscore this central role. 

For example:

 CDC describes its main website as “your online source for credible health 

information,” which “provides direct access to important health and safety topics, 

scientific articles, data and statistics, tools and resources—and over 900 topics in the 

CDC.gov A–Z Index.”22

 EIA describes its website as “the public face of the agency.” Its information, data, 

analysis, and services “have informed policy and programmatic decisions at all levels 

in regards to energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.”23

 NASA describes its website as the “primary means of communicating . . . to the 

agency's public audiences. It focuses on providing information for general audiences, 

including students, educators, children, the news media, and the general public. As 

such, the portal's priority for publication is material for those audiences.”24

 NPS describes its website as “our digital brand ambassador to the world, the 

communications backbone of the National Park Service that helps to create, 

grow, and sustain an interactive community of visitors, friends, and supporters.”25

 USGS notes that “citations for the more than 50,000 USGS series publications are 

available [online], and 10,000 of these are also available . . . to the public as [free] 

downloadable digital files. Additionally, more than 41,000 scholarly publications 

 

22 HHS, CDC, “About cdc.gov,” last updated April 10, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/other/about_cdcgov.html.

23 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Information Administration, “About EIA.gov,” accessed March 26, 2018, 

https://www.eia.gov/about/eia_explained.php.

24 NASA, “NASA Information-Dissemination Product Inventories, Priorities, and Schedules,” September 14, 2005, 

https://www.nasa.gov/about/contact/information_inventories_schedules.html.

25 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS), “NPS.gov: Our Flagship Web Presence,” accessed 

March 25, 2018, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/digital/nps-website.htm.

Agency/Channel AHRQ CDC CMS EIA ESA FHWA FRB GSFC NPS USCO USGS VHA

Blogs            

Email Listservs            

Mobile/Tablet 

Apps         

Podcasts         

RSS Feeds          

Social Media            
18

authored by the USGS but published externally are cataloged in the Publications 

Warehouse, and links to original published sources are provided.”26

The agency communications managers interviewed by FRD concurred in their assessment that 

nearly all agency-branded public information products are disseminated through their websites.

Conversely, they uniformly said that very few to none of their products are distributed as printonly materials without a corresponding web-disseminated product (see Table 11).

Table 11. Responses to Question: “What Percentage of Your Agency’s Public 

Information Products Would You Say are Disseminated via Agency Websites?”

Agency Response

AHRQ All of it. Very few print products are created (excepted marketing material), [as] 

everything goes online. Less and less printing; most material is electronic only.

CDC 100 percent. There are two popular . . . titles that continue in print format but they 

are available online as well.

CMS Everything is available online.

EIA 100 percent.

ESA Nothing is printed. Everything is disseminated via website, often as “.pdf.”

FHWA Close to 100 percent.

FRB 100 percent.

GSFC Only a small percentage of products are not on the website. Some NTRS products 

are limited access due to sensitivity to foreign use of information.

NPS Most of it.

USCO Around 95 percent.

USGS 95 to 99 percent. One series is proprietary.

VHA A full listing of VA publications is available via the agency’s website.

Role of Agency-Specific Social Media Accounts

Most of the agencies profiled in this report have well-documented policies on the appropriate 

uses of social media, which provide insights into their strategies and objectives. For example:

 AHRQ uses Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to achieve three goals: “to speak with 

one voice on behalf of the agency when distributing content[;] to increase the 

number of followers to spread AHRQ’s messages to a diverse audience; to raise 

the agency’s profile by highlighting work that is central to AHRQ’s mission.”

27

 

26 U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Public Access to Results of Federally Funded 

Research at the U.S. Geological Survey: Scholarly Publications and Digital Data (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

the Interior, USGS, n.d.), 1, https://www2.usgs.gov/quality_integrity/open_access/downloads/USGS-PublicAccessPlanAPPROVED-v1.03.pdf.

27 HHS, AHRQ, “About AHRQ's Social Media Standards and Policies,” last reviewed May 2016, https://www.ahrq.gov/

policy/social-media/about/index.html.
19

 Similarly, CDC uses social media tools “to expand reach, foster engagement, and 

increase access to credible, science-based health messages. . . . The benefits of social 

media include: increasing the dissemination and potential impact of CDC’s science;

improving reach to diverse audiences; furthering the delivery of consistent, timely, 

repetitive, and tailored/targeted messages; facilitating engagement, participation, 

transparency, collaboration, and interactive communication; [and] enhancing health 

communication efforts.”28

 EIA follows the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE’s) social media policy, which states: “DOE 

is committed to expanding the conversation on energy issues and upholding open 

government principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration. One of the 

key ways we seek to accomplish this is through the use of social media.” In particular, 

DOE authorizes two categories of accounts: energy.gov-branded enterprise accounts 

and office-specific social media accounts.29

 FHWA’s social media policy statement notes: “When used properly, social media/

web 2.0 technologies can contribute to transparent and efficient delivery of public 

information and broaden access to audiences who rely on these technologies for 

information.” The administration then states that it “has taken great care in selecting 

the most appropriate . . . technologies to help facilitate the quick and effective 

dissemination of information.”30

 FRB states that it uses third-party social media sites “as additional means of reaching 

the public and directing people to www.federalreserve.gov, which is the primary 

source of information for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.“31

 In its 2016 annual report, GSFC reports that its social media outlets “link the center’s 

websites, news, activities, and outreach efforts, providing quick and direct lines of 

communication to stakeholders and the broader online community.”32

 Like EIA, NPS33 and USGS follow the guidance provided by their parent organization, 

the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. That policy states that: “social media services and tools 

. . . are powerful and effective means to communicate quickly and broadly, share 

information, and interact with colleagues and the public. [The department] is taking 

 

28 HHS, CDC, “CDC Enterprise Social Media Policy,” 1, last updated January 8, 2015, https://www.cdc.gov/maso/policy/

SocialMediaPolicy508.pdf.

29 DOE, “Web Policies,” accessed March 26, 2018, https://energy.gov/about-us/web-policies/.

30 U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration, “FHWA Order 1370.14: Social Media/

Web 2.0 Management,” March 16, 2011, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/orders/137014.cfm.

31 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, “Website & Privacy Policies,” last updated April 20, 2017, https://

www.federalreserve.gov/website-linking-policies.htm.

32 NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), This is Science: Goddard Space Flight Center Annual Report 2016,

NP-2016-10-504-GSFC (Greenbelt, MD: NASA, GSFC, 2016), 42, https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/

2016goddardannualreportsmall.pdf.

33 A 2014 academic paper by researchers at the University of Miami’s School of Communication examines the evolving 

use of social media by the NPS, particularly how service units employ social media as government–public relationship 

building tools. It also discusses NPS’s social media policies and presents a longitudinal overview of its use of blogs 

and platforms such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube (Bruce Garrison and Zonchao Li, “Communication from a 

Federal Agency: A Case Study of Social Media Use and Policy” [paper presented to the Public Relations Division of the 

National Communication Association’s annual conference, Chicago, IL, November 20–23, 2014], https://www.research

gate.net/publication/281033182_COMMUNICATION_FROM_A_FEDERAL_AGENCY_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_SOCIAL_MEDIA

_USE_AND_POLICY).
20

advantage of these third-party tools and services . . . to reach a wider audience and 

to facilitate and enhance professional communication and collaboration.”34

 VHA follows VA Directive 6515, “Use of Web-Based Collaboration Technologies,” 

which encourages the adoption and use of social media by VA employees, provides 

workplace boundaries, and establishes the department’s philosophy for open and 

transparent communication and collaboration with VA stakeholders online.35

When asked by the FRD research team how their agency uses social media as an information 

dissemination method, most communications managers responded that the external services 

help alert the public to new content on the main website (see Table 12). Respondents generally 

emphasized the role of social media in directing traffic to the site, rather than as channels for 

disseminating unique content. Some agencies explicitly prohibit the posting of unique content 

not found elsewhere on social media accounts. For example, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior’s social 

media policy—which governs NPS and USGS practices—states:

Third-party social media websites should never be the only place in which the 

public can view [department] or bureau information. Any information posted 

to a third-party social media website must also be provided in another publicly 

available format.36

Table 12. Responses to Question: “How Does Your Agency Use Social Media 

as an Information Dissemination Method?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Drives traffic to website.

CDC Comprehensively—to direct people to information, important findings, and 

information sharing (not just directing people to a website). 

CMS Announces new content on the site; drives traffic to website or YouTube, where 

there are informational videos.

EIA Redistributes products and drives traffic back to the website.

ESA To drive traffic to the website and to engage with citizens beyond the website.

FHWA Drives traffic to the website.

FRB YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are used . . . to alert public of website content.

GSFC Drives traffic to the website.

NPS No response recorded. 

USCO Twitter is used to memorialize a month and highlight a notable [Copyright] deposit.

USGS Announces new content.

VHA VA Directive 6515 establishes the social media policy for the department. 

 

34 U.S. Department of the Interior, “Social Media Policy,” last edited September 15, 2015, https://www.doi.gov/notices/

Social-Media-Policy#OfficialUse.

35 VA, “VA Directive 6515: Use of Web-Based Collaboration Technologies,” June 28, 2011, http://www.va.gov/vapubs/

viewPublication.asp?Pub_ID=551.

36 U.S. Department of the Interior, “Social Media Policy.”
21

In order to determine what social media services the profiled agencies use, FRD scanned their 

websites and tallied the platforms linked from the agencies’ webpages. The results are mixed, 

with some agencies more active in social media than others (see Table 13).

Table 13. Checklist of Social Media Accounts by Agency

3. Preservation of Public Information Products

The Federal Records Act requires Government agencies to make and preserve “records 

containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, 

decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency.”

37 The act defines Federal 

records as any material that is recorded, made, or received in the course of Federal business, 

regardless of its form or characteristics.38 This definition was amended in 2014 to generally read 

“all recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics,” to expressly include electronic 

records.39 The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) maintains that web records, 

such as the master files of electronic information products posted online, should be processed 

as electronic records.40

The content within scope of the SOD’s public information programs is a subset of Federal 

records. GPO has an affiliate agreement with NARA for the preservation of digital content stored 

in FDsys/govinfo.

41 In accordance with that agreement, the content is transferred into the legal 

 

37 Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 Amendments, Pub. L. No. 81–754, Sec. 6, 64 Stat. 578, 583 

(1950).

38 The act further specifies that “‘records’ includes all books, papers, maps, photographs, or other documentary 

materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received” by a Federal agency under the law or 

“in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved . . . as evidence of the organization, functions, 

policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value 

of data contained therein” (Pub. L. No. 81–754, Sec. 6, 64 Stat. 578, 589; 44 U.S.C. § 366 [1943]).

39 44 U.S.C. § 3301 (2016).

40 Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014, Pub L. No. 113–187, Sec. V, 128 Stat. 2003, 2009 (2014).

41 GPO, SOD, “Public Policy Statement 2016-1: Scope of Government Information Products Included in the Cataloging 

and Indexing Program and Disseminated Through the Federal Depository Library Program,” February 5, 2008, https://

www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/about-the-fdlp/policies/superintendent-of-documents-public-policies/2739-scope-ofgovernment-information-products-included-in-the-cataloging-and-indexing-program-and-disseminated-throughthe-federal-depository-library-program; and GPO, SOD, “Public Policy Statement 2016-2: Content Scope for GPO’s 

System of Online Access,” March 29, 2016, https://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/about-the-fdlp/policies/superintend

ent-of-documents-public-policies/2738-content-scope-for-gpo-s-system-of-online-access.

Agency/Account AHRQ CDC CMS EIA ESA FHWA FRB GSFC NPS USCO USGS VHA

Facebook           

Flickr         

Google+  

Instagram      

LinkedIn     

Pinterest  

RSS Feeds    

Slideshare 

Storify  

Twitter            

YouTube           
22

custody of NARA, while GPO retains physical custody for permanent public access and 

preservation purposes.

Responsibility for Preservation

In order to learn about the agencies’ information product preservation practices and to better 

understand where the responsibility for preservation resides, the respondents were asked about 

which organizations preserve these materials. Most identified offices involved in records 

management, particularly their Office of the Chief Information Officer, for its role as the primary 

digital records management authority and NARA liaison. Several agencies noted that program 

and headquarters offices that create informational content also play a role by preserving master 

copies of publications and ensuring they are properly classified as agency records. Some agency 

libraries systematically preserve products in both digital and tangible formats, while agencies 

with a high volume of publications maintain online archives to preserve long-term public access 

to those products (see Table 14).

Table 14. Responses to Question: “Which Organization(s) Within Your Agency 

is (are) Responsible for the Preservation of Public Information Products?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

CDC Program offices and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, [as well as the] 

Management Analysis and Services Office.*

CMS Office of Strategic Operations and Regulatory Affairs and the Office of the Chief 

Information Officer.†

EIA Office of the Chief Information Officer.‡

ESA Office of the Director, NARA liaison.

FHWA The Chief of the Management Programs and Analysis Division is responsible for 

designating the FHWA Records Officer.

FRB Office of the Secretary and the Board of Governors.§

GSFC Office of the Chief Information Officer.**

NPS NPS Records Management Officer and the Chief Information Officer.

USCO Office of Educational and Outreach Programs, Chief Printing Officer, and . . . the 

Office of Chief Information Officer.

USGS OCAP shares archiving responsibility with the USGS Publications Warehouse, [which 

is] operated by the USGS Library.

VHA VA Records Management Office, Office of the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for 

Informatics and Analytics, and the Executive Director for Information Governance.††

* HHS, CDC, “Director, Management Analysis and Services Office,” last updated May 23, 2016, https://www.cdc.gov/od/ocio/

overview/maso.htm.

† HHS, CMS, “CMS Records Schedule,” last modified October 3, 2017, https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guid

ance/CMSRecordsSchedule/.

‡ DOE, “Administrative Change to DOE Order 243.1B: Records Management Program,” July 8, 2013, 3, https://www.direc

tives.doe.gov/directives-documents/200-series/0243.1-BOrder-b-admchg1/@@images/file.

§

FRB, “Records Retention Program for the Federal Reserve Board,” last updated February 13, 2012, https://www.federal

reserve.gov/foia/recordsmanagement.htm.

** NASA, Office of the Chief Information Officer, “NASA Records Management,” last updated August 3, 2017, https://www.

nasa.gov/content/nasa-records-management.

†† VA, VHA, “Records Control Schedule 10-1,” November 2017, I-2, https://www.va.gov/vhapublications/rcs10/rcs10-1.pdf.
23

Preservation Guidance

Agencies involved in the creation of digitized or born-digital content of a cultural, historical,

or archival nature face special challenges in ensuring the content retains the highest possible 

quality and remains fully accessible and retrievable as information storage, transmission, and 

retrieval technologies evolve. The Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) is a 

collaborative effort begun in 2007 to articulate common sustainable practices and guidelines.

GPO is an original member of FADGI and continues to participate in the working groups, two 

of which study issues specific to still-image and audio-visual content. Of the agencies profiled in 

this report, GSFC, NPS, and USGS participate in the working groups. The former two participate 

in both the still-image and audio-visual working groups, while the latter participates in the stillimage working group.42

To help determine how widely FADGI guidelines are followed by Federal agencies, FRD asked 

interview respondents, “Does your agency follow FADGI guidance for creating and preserving 

digital content?” Most were not familiar with the initiative and could not confirm whether or not

their agency follows its digital preservation guidelines. However, several respondents noted that 

their agency follows NARA guidelines for digital content preservation (see Table 15).

Table 15. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Follow FADGI Guidance for 

Creating and Preserving Digital Content?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Don't know.

CDC Don’t know.

CMS Don’t know.

EIA Don't know.

ESA No. Agency doesn’t issue photographs, so FADGI probably not applicable.

FHWA Don't know.

FRB Don’t know.

GSFC Yes. Goddard staff have helped develop FADGI imagery standards. STD2822 is a 

FADGI-compliant NASA standard that governs metadata for imagery products.

NPS Don’t know. [NPS is a FADGI working group participant.]

USCO Don’t know. [USCO is a FADGI working group participant.]

USGS Don’t know. USGS strives to meet NARA guidelines, which may be consistent with 

FADGI.

VHA We cannot conclude that the agency does or does not follow FADGI guidance. 

However, VA does follow NARA recommendations for preserving digital content.

Though they may not be familiar with FADGI, some of the agencies have developed their own 

digital preservation guidelines for content such as scientific and technical data. For example, 

 

42 Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative, “Participants,” last updated August 29, 2017, http://www.digitization

guidelines.gov/participants/. 
24

in April 2014, USGS’s Fundamental Science Practices Advisory Committee’s Data Preservation 

Subcommittee issued new guidelines based on material from the National Digital Stewardship 

Alliance. These guidelines address six key aspects of digital preservation: storage and location,

data integrity, information security, metadata, file formats, and disposition of physical media.43

Archiving Website Content 

Apart from the mandatory scheduling of records in compliance with the Federal Records Act, 

agencies commonly maintain one or more “archive” sections on their websites for information 

products that are no longer considered current. The scope and extent of these archives vary 

from agency to agency, with some agencies seeking to archive only the most popular or most 

important reports and publications and others pursuing broader goals to maintain public access 

to older materials. The extent to which the web archiving reaches back in time also varies. Some 

agencies maintain products dating back decades, while others archive products from only the

past few years (see Table 16).

Table 16. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Archive Digital Content 

Once It is No Longer Posted on Current Sections of Agency Websites?”

Agency Response

AHRQ Yes, for the purpose of maintaining permanent public access.

CDC Don’t know. [However] CDC is known for maintaining permanent access to content.

CMS Publications are archived after six months to one year [on the main website]. Goal is to 

maintain permanent public access.

EIA Yes. Each year a copy of the website is sent to NARA.

ESA Yes. The main website is the repository of previous content. Older content on site may not 

be exhaustive, however. 

FHWA Yes. FHWA maintains an online archive. Ensuring permanent public access is a high 

priority.

FRB Yes, but most of the content does not come off the main website. . . . Public information 

stays up but internal information is archived on a non-public website.

GSFC

The Goddard library’s digital repository has both published and unpublished archival items 

but some items have restrictions on access, such as colloquia content where a speaker has 

not given consent or has not allowed parts to be used by the public.

NPS Don’t know.

USCO

Website is archived regularly by both the Library of Congress and USCO and kept 

on backed-up shared drives. Circulars and fact sheets [are] not kept on the website 

indefinitely but are rotated out/changed as superseded to prevent confusion with the 

public. [However] website does have a section for other older materials.

USGS Yes, on the USGS Publications Warehouse. Purpose is to provide permanent public access 

and to serve as online information clearinghouse.

VHA Don’t know.

A review of participating agency websites by the FRD research team indicates that they follow 

a variety of approaches to establishing and maintaining publicly accessible web archive pages.

Some agencies maintain most of the older content on the main website, some designate a 

 

43 U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS, “USGS Guidelines for the Preservation of Digital Scientific Data,” April 2014, 

1, https://www2.usgs.gov/datamanagement/documents/USGS%20Guidelines%20for%20the%20Preservation%20of%

20Digital%20Scientific%20Data%20Final.pdf.
25

separate web archive page for older content from across the agency, and still others maintain 

multiple web archives for different types of agency content or separately archive content from 

each major program office (see Table 17).

Table 17. Online Web Archives by Agency

Agency Description

AHRQ

Archive (https://archive.ahrq.gov) contains:

 Outdated information that may be useful for reference purposes.

 Materials and sites of historical or research interest.

Note: The archive's content is not current, is not being updated, and may contain 

broken links. If a member of the public needs another way of accessing any 

information, they may contact AHRQ directly at https://info.ahrq.gov/.

CDC

Main archive pages include:

 CDC Stacks (https://stacks.cdc.gov/), a free digital archive of scientific 

research and literature produced by the CDC. It is composed of curated 

born-digital collections tailored for public health research needs. This 

repository is retained indefinitely and is available for public health 

professionals and researchers, as well as the general public.

 CDC-INFO on Demand (https://wwwn.cdc.gov/pubs/CDCInfoOnDemand.

aspx), a web repository and ordering platform for general CDC information 

products. Content includes books, fact sheets, pamphlets, and educational 

materials. 

 Publication archives (https://www.cdc.gov/about/resources/archives.htm).

 Newsroom archives (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/archives.html).

 Press briefing archives (https://www.cdc.gov/media/video/index.htm).

 Health Alert Network archives (https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/dir.asp).

 Public Health Image Library (https://phil.cdc.gov/).

 Archive webpages for each of the CDC’s program offices.

CMS

Archive (https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/StatisticsTrends-and-Reports/Archives/index.html) hosts a broad range of historical 

information on CMS programs and research. Although it is no longer being 

updated, CMS maintains this content as a resource for users.

EIA

EIA maintains two different archives—one for annual energy outlook products 

(https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/archive.php) and one for the “Today in Energy” 

series (https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/archive.php).

ESA Though much of the older content is retained on the main website, ESA does 

maintain a news archive (https://www.esa.gov/news-archive).

FHWA

FHWA hosts archives for its publications (https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinforma

tion/hsspubsarc.cfm) and press releases (https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/briefingroom/

releases/release_archive.cfm).

FRB

FRB relies on three different archives:

 FRASER (https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/), a digital library of U.S. economic, 

financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal 

Reserve System.

 Board meetings archive (https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/

boardmeetings/board-meeting-archive.htm).

 Federal Open Market Committee transcripts, and other historical materials 

(https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomc_historical.htm).

GSFC

The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/) 

serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data, [which it] is 

responsible for archiving and preserving.

NPS

NPS maintains two archives—one which includes press releases from the HQ Office 

of Communications prior to May 2016 (https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/listing.

htm), and one for the Historic Photos Collection (https://home.nps.gov/hfc/cfm/

npsphoto.cfm). This collection is comprised of more than two million images which 
26

Agency Description

cover a wide variety of subjects, such as park architecture, the Civilian Conservation 

Corps, American Indian heritage, NPS personnel, roads and transportation, and 

scenic views. There are presently 1,975 images from the Collection available online.

USCO Archive (https://www.copyright.gov/rulings-filings/) contains USCO rulings and 

government briefs in copyright cases.

USGS The USGS archive (https://archive.usgs.gov/) contains scientific information 

websites formerly maintained by the organization.

VHA

The VHA Publications website (https://www.va.gov/vhapublications/) holds archived 

editions of VHA products, which contain information regarding VHA-wide policies, 

procedures, requirements, and other information of general applicability. The VHA 

Forms, Publications, and Records Management Service [within] the VHA Office of 

Information maintains the content. Most documents are available in “.pdf” format. 

Preservation of Older Tangible Information Products

In order to learn about the agencies’ efforts to digitize older tangible content, the FRD team 

asked communications managers, “Does your agency have plans to make its older historical 

content available through digitization?” Most respondents recalled at least one recent effort to 

digitize tangible content. However, in most cases, the digitization of older tangible materials has 

not been comprehensive (see Table 18).

Table 18. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Have Plans to Make Its Older 

Historical Content Available through Digitization?”

Agency Response

AHRQ

Not currently, but many older materials were scanned to DVD during a recent 

agency move. That content is available on internal servers. [However] an effort is 

underway to preserve older print materials.

CDC The CDC Museum digitizes older tangible materials on an ongoing basis.

CMS No answer recorded.

EIA Yes. . . . High-value legacy tangible information products are scanned.

ESA Not currently.

FHWA Older print material has been largely digitized.

FRB An archiving group converts paper versions of items going back to 1913 to digital 

format.

GSFC Yes, except for restricted material. Goddard is developing plans to digitize 50,000 

photographic prints . . . to make them discoverable by the public. 

NPS Old National Park records are being digitized (slow process: one or two states/year).

USCO Some pre-internet materials have been digitized. Could do more depending on 

availability of staff.

USGS There’s an ongoing effort to digitize older print-only materials.

VHA

Permanent [tangible] records are transferred to NARA. This is dependent upon 

several contributing factors such as cost to benefit. Per VHA’s historian, digital is 

best for ease of access but never replaces the original document.
27

4. External Partnerships Focused on Disseminating and Preserving Public 

Information Products

Federal agencies sometimes collaborate with other Government entities and information 

services to disseminate and preserve their products. In order to gain a better understanding of 

these partnerships, FRD asked the interviewees, “Does your agency have a partnership with an 

external organization or service to broaden access to your information products?” Respondents 

provided a variety of answers (see Table 19).

Several agencies described the digital repository service they use, or its host organization, as an 

information partner. For example, AHRQ mentioned the National Library of Medicine, which is 

overseen by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), while VHA noted its partnerships with both 

NIH and the library; the two host the PubMed Central digital repository.44 USGS, on the other 

hand, described its internal repository as its partner. Other respondents described interagency 

arrangements to share information in fulfillment of a statutory requirement as an example of 

an external partnership. For instance, nearly half of the agencies mentioned that they share web 

records with NARA on a regular basis. Except for one mention of GitHub, a web-based hosting 

service, all of the partnerships were with other Federal entities or public–private collaborations.

Table 19. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Have a Partnership with an 

External Organization/Service to Broaden Access to Your Information Products?”

Agency Response

AHRQ National Library of Medicine. Maintains PubMed and also posts certain “.html”

items.

CDC NARA.

CMS GPO for printing. Print materials come back to CMS, [and are then] distributed to 

various organizations for dissemination.

EIA Meets agency requirements for archiving. No external partnership. Regularly sends 

copy of website to NARA.

ESA

Content reposted to or from U.S. Dept. of Commerce sites only. Data syndication 

through APIs. Open data community for [the Census Bureau and the Bureau of 

Economic Analysis] to third-party platforms such as GitHub. Government delivery 

subscription service. 

FHWA DOT’s National Transportation Library serves as a clearinghouse.

FRB NARA and Federal Register. All rules are published in the Federal Register.

GSFC

Goddard uses the FDLP distribution list and donates items to the Library of 

Congress. Some digital content is accessioned to NARA; Goddard and NARA will 

also partner on an imagery archive. The Goddard archive is a fairly new effort to 

establish a digital repository that piggybacks onto the Library's holdings.

NPS Don’t know.

USCO

Federal Register. Depository Libraries. We print a lot of things through GPO, but not 

everything. Some things only get printed in very low volume. [Authors’ Note: 

Printing through GPO is a paid service, not the result of an external partnership.]

USGS USGS Publications Warehouse.

VHA

Partnerships with the Library of Congress, National Park Service, NARA, NIH, and 

National Library of Medicine. VA’s Office of Research and Development coordinates 

activities with organizations and universities. Business Associate Agreements serve 

 

44 Created in 2000, PubMed Central is a public–private partnership operated by the National Institutes of Health’s 

(NIH’s) National Library of Medicine to preserve and make public full-text journal articles.
28

Agency Response

as the official MOU [memorandum of understanding] establishing the partnership 

and include information on how records will be maintained. VA’s Voluntary Service 

partners with several state and local organizations. More than 7,400 national and 

community organizations support the program.

Agency-Approved Digital Repositories for Public Information Products

On February 22, 2013 The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a 

memorandum titled “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” 

Section 3 of the OSTP memorandum requires Government agencies to select one or more

digital repositories to host their products, ensuring the long-term preservation, public access,

and authenticity of federally funded scientific publications and data. In response, the agencies’

public access plans include information about their chosen repositories, including the selection 

criteria used and the arrangements made to route materials to them. Selected criteria identified 

in agency access plans reflect how these agencies are striving for free permanent public access, 

the foundation of the SOD’s public information programs (see Table 20).

Table 20. Agency Selected Criteria for Digital Repositories

Ensures access to full-text manuscripts and published articles.

Provides access to metadata.

Provides long-term preservation and access without charge.

Allows submissions by author, publisher, and funding manager.

Maintains attribution to authors, journals, and original publishers.

Prevents unauthorized mass redistribution.

Provides article embargo period.

Uses widely available standards and non-proprietary archival formats.

Is compliant with Section 508 [i.e., accessible to people with disabilities].

Is compatible with current and future search technology.

Is compatible with other Federal archives.

Facilitates public–private partnerships.

In response to the OSTP requirement, Federal agencies have adopted one of two approaches 

to designate a repository in their public access plans:

 Adapt their existing digital repository or registry to meet the mandated access 

and preservation requirements.

 Enter into interagency agreements to archive peer-review publications and 

manuscripts in a shared or hosted repository
29

5. Awareness of GPO’s Statutory Information Programs

GPO’s principal statutory information program is its dissemination program, which requires 

agencies to make Federal publications available through the FDLP. To better understand the 

agencies’ knowledge of these policies, FRD asked communications managers, “Would you say 

staff at your agency are aware of the statutory mandates that guide GPO’s public information 

programs?” While respondents said they are aware of the mandate as it pertains to tangible 

products, they indicated they have limited knowledge of the law’s applicability to digital ones.

Only one of the agencies—USGS—claimed that staff have a good awareness of the code as it 

pertains to both tangible and digital information products. Among the other agencies, four said

their staff had partial knowledge of GPO’s programs, while the remaining respondents said they 

believed there was little or no knowledge of GPO’s programs within their agencies (see Table 21).

Table 21. Responses to Question: “Would You Say Staff at Your Agency are Aware of 

the Statutory Mandates that Guide GPO’s Public Information Programs?”

Agency Response

AHRQ

The practice has been that print publications go through GPO. However, after 

printing activity was curtailed, our office hasn’t been submitting forms to GPO. 

AHRQ is happy to incorporate guidance for electronic materials. 

CDC Not in the communications office, but information services staff at the CDC library 

are probably familiar with the mandates. 

CMS No. We’re aware of CMS publications collected by GPO but we don’t believe CMS 

actively shared those products. 

EIA

In the days before the internet there was [some] talk about FDLP, but no one has 

talked about this in ages (uncertain about whether GPO archives their products). 

GPO does sell some EIA products. No print officers at EIA anymore.

ESA Not for digital. Some awareness regarding print products. 

FHWA

The program offices provide the content, but they do not have a lot of awareness of 

FDLP requirements. [However] FHWA complies with OMB and NARA requirements. 

We believe there is probably very little awareness of FDLP mandates overall. 

FRB The legal department might be familiar with the guidelines.

GSFC No.

NPS Not aware.

USCO

Yes, there is awareness and substantial compliance, but worth it to double-check to 

see if we are as compliant as we think we are. All FR material is distributed through 

GPO. [Also] USCO occasionally submits bibliographic information for print products 

even when we don’t publish through GPO. We notify GPO of all print publications, 

[but] not electronic posts on website. 

USGS There is a good awareness within Office of Communications and Publishing of the 

U.S.C. requirements.

VHA

There is some awareness within VA of FDLP mandates. Although staff at VA are 

aware of statutory mandates relating to GPO . . . on printing, they may not be aware 

of those guiding public information programs. Some VA products, such as the 

benefits book, are printed by GPO and they maintain a copy.

Next, the FRD research team asked whether the agencies provide guidance or regulations 

on how to comply with the FDLP provisions. None of the respondents could cite a specific 

document containing such guidance. However, USGS suggested that some guidance on the 

FDLP may be contained in the agency manual (see Table 22).
30

Table 22. Responses to Question: “Does Your Agency Provide Guidance or 

Regulations on How to Comply with the FDLP Provisions?”

Agency Response

AHRQ No response.

CDC No response.

CMS No.

EIA No, because print publications no longer produced.

ESA No. However, there are no restrictions on web crawls if GPO actively seeks content.

FHWA Not aware of any. 

FRB Don't know.

GSFC No.

NPS No response.

USCO Don't know.

USGS Guidance may be provided in the USGS manual.

VHA

Though the library highlights U.S. Government information resources, most VA 

publications (annual budget, functional organizational manual, or benefits book) 

are already available to the public and are [in the] public record.

FRD then asked the interviewees about their staff’s awareness of GPO’s online catalog-related 

services, FDsys/govinfo. A quarter of the respondents indicated that staff are aware of the 

services and how they can assist them in making content more accessible. The remaining 

agencies said they don’t know or don’t believe that staff in other departments know about 

these capabilities (see Table 23).

Table 23. Responses to Question: “Are Communications/Publishing Staff at 

Your Agency Familiar with How GPO Can Assist Them in Making Content More 

Accessible to the Public through FDsys/govinfo?”

Agency Response

AHRQ

A publications clearinghouse staff member has worked with GPO to make sure they 

know when our publications are released. AHRQ may be notifying GPO of ebook 

releases. 

CDC Don’t know. Perhaps print officer[s] are familiar. 

CMS No.

EIA Not familiar with FDsys, nor with GPO Access.

ESA No.

FHWA Web managers are not very aware of FDsys.

FRB Don't know.

GSFC No.

NPS No response.

USCO Don't know.

USGS Yes. The USGS library is familiar. Some OCAP staff may be as well.

VHA While some VA staff are aware of FDsys/govinfo, most are likely unaware of this 

system.

When asked if their staff would be interested in learning more about govinfo, about half of the 

respondents said yes. The other half said either that they didn’t know or that their staff would 

not be interested in learning more. One agency, FHWA, said the timing (summer 2017) was bad 
31

because “non-career folks are coming in and we’re awaiting further instructions from them”

(see Table 24).

Table 24. Responses to Question: “Would Your Communications/Publishing Staff 

Be Interested in Learning More about govinfo?”

Agency Response

AHRQ We would like to know if there is something we aren’t doing but could be doing.

CDC No response.

CMS No.

EIA No.

ESA Yes.

FHWA Probably not at this time. . . . Non-career folks are coming in and we’re awaiting 

further instructions from them.

FRB No response.

GSFC Don’t know.

NPS Yes.

USCO Yes.

USGS Don’t know.

VHA Recommend GPO reach out to VA’s Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Next, FRD asked if the agencies have schedules for notifying GPO of new content. Only one,

USGS, said that it maintains such a schedule. All other agencies said they are not aware of a 

schedule or that no schedule exists (see Table 25).

Table 25. Responses to Question: “Does Your Communications/Publishing Office, 

Library, or Other Component Have a Schedule for Notifying GPO of New Agency 

Content?”

Agency Response

AHRQ No.

CDC No response.

CMS No.

EIA No.

ESA No.

FHWA Not aware of active effort to notify GPO of digital content.

FRB

Not actively. Google crawls the FRB website, so GPO should be able to as well. 

GPO could [also] subscribe to receive FRB’s releases. There are no known means 

to disseminate publications to GPO but some FRB staff email attachments to GPO. 

There is a FR liaison.

GSFC

No. So many offices publish that it is not possible to track everything disseminated, so it 

is up to the program office to notify GPO. A schedule may exist for tangible content but 

not for digital. Program offices manage their own digital content. 

NPS The Office of Communications does not, but other offices may.

USCO LoC doesn’t typically submit products to GPO, except for studies in the past that were 

quite large. 

USGS Yes.

VHA Don’t know. Please reach out to VA’s Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for 

more information.

The researchers then turned to the agencies’ web managers, asking the interviewees if they use 

GPO’s Document Discovery webpage or email address (docdiscovery@gpo.gov) to notify GPO 
32

of new content. Again, only USGS replied that it uses the service. All of the other agencies said 

they are not aware of Document Discovery (see Table 26).

Table 26. Responses to Question: “Do Web/Publishing Content Managers at Your 

Agency Use GPO’s Document Discovery Webpage or Email Address to Notify GPO 

of New Web Content?”

Agency Response

AHRQ No. AHRQ only has two librarians currently. Not enough staff to take on new 

responsibilities.

CDC No response.

CMS Not aware of the service.

EIA No. Not likely to use because the EIA website already has significant traffic. Users can 

Google materials, and USA.gov has links to all EIA products.

ESA Not applicable. 

FHWA This is not being done as far as we know. Consulted web manager and there is not really 

any awareness of this service.

FRB Not applicable.

GSFC No. Not aware of the service.

NPS Don’t know. 

USCO No.

USGS Yes. OCAP, and possibly the library as well, have been notifying GPO of new digital 

content through the Document Discovery service.

VHA No. Not aware of the service.

As a follow-up, FRD asked for suggestions of additional methods of notification. One agency 

said that any notification method should be automated because the large volume of products 

would be impossible for one person to manage. Another agency suggested that GPO subscribe 

to its APIs to receive content notifications, while two more agencies said that further guidance 

on what information GPO is trying to collect would be helpful. The remaining agencies had no 

recommendations (see Table 27).

Table 27. Responses to Question: “Would Having Additional Methods of Providing 

Notification to GPO Be Helpful? Any Suggestions?”

Agency Response

AHRQ No response.

CDC No response.

CMS Notification method would need to be automated for CMS to be able to participate. 

The volume of CMS products would be impossible for [one] person to manage.

EIA Recommend GPO subscribe to EIA’s APIs to receive notification of new content.

ESA No response.

FHWA No response.

FRB No response.

GSFC Don’t know.

NPS More guidance on what GPO is trying to gather would be helpful.

USCO Don’t know.

USGS Don’t know.

VHA It would be helpful to know what methods are available to us.

As a second follow-up, the researchers asked the respondents about which steps GPO might 

take to make content notification easier. Some agencies again requested greater clarity as to 
33

what type of content GPO would like to be notified about. One agency in particular expressed 

concern that copies of its time-sensitive publications could potentially remain available to the 

public beyond their expiration date if they were held in a GPO archive. Another requested that 

no more regulatory burdens be imposed on it and that any notification requirements be made 

voluntary (see Table 28).

Table 28. Responses to Question: “What Other Steps Would You Advise GPO Take 

to Make It Easier for Agencies to Notify GPO of New/Older Content That Has Been 

Digitized and Made Accessible?”

Agency Response

AHRQ

We don’t understand exactly what type of information GPO would like to receive. 

Whatever process is established for notification could be made part of editorial 

close-out. Important to note that AHRQ clinical guidance products have a 

disclaimer stating that, after a certain point in time, they are no longer timely and 

should not be used. GPO would need to take precautions against disseminating 

obsolete AHRQ clinical guidance.

CDC CDC is limited by time and money constraints. Suggest GPO engage more directly 

with CDC on voluntary compliance rather than impose additional regulations.

CMS No response.

EIA GPO should subscribe to EIA's APIs, listservs, and social media feeds. 

ESA No response.

FHWA No response.

FRB More outreach by GPO to the legal department may help raise awareness of 

compliance issues.

GSFC No recommendations at this time.

NPS Make process more targeted by being more specific about types of content GPO 

would like to be notified about.

USCO Don’t know.

USGS Don’t know.

VHA No recommendations at this time.

Finally, FRD asked, “Are communications/publishing staff at your agency familiar with the 

Federal Publishing Council?”45 Two agencies indicated that they had received communications 

about the Council but said they do not participate. None of the other respondents were aware 

of the Council (see Table 29).

Table 29. Responses to Question: “Are Communications/Publishing Staff at Your 

Agency Familiar with the Federal Publishing Council?”

Agency Response

AHRQ No.

CDC No.

CMS No.

EIA May have seen references to it in emails, but EIA is not a member.

 

45 GPO created the Federal Publishing Council to advise on the latest publishing and printing trends. It consists 

of Federal employees involved in all facets of Federal printing and publishing (GPO, “GPO Launches the Federal 

Publishing Council,“ April 26, 2017, https://www.gpo.gov/who-we-are/news-media/news-and-press-releases/

gpo-launches-federal-publishing-council).
34

Agency Response

ESA No.

FHWA No.

FRB No.

GSFC No.

NPS No.

USCO No.

USGS USGS communications staff have received emails about the council but don’t 

actively participate.

VHA No.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Dissemination of Public Information Products

The Federal agencies profiled as part of this study produce a wide range of publications and 

electronic information products. Their missions and external target audiences determine which 

kinds of products they publish. Most produce a mix of general information for the public, as well 

as scientific and technical information for specialized audiences. The more general products 

tend to be produced and disseminated by the agency headquarters’ communications or public 

affairs offices, while program offices produce and disseminate the more technical publications.

Agencies follow a variety of approaches to training their staff in publications’ production and 

dissemination. These methods range from mandatory training to periodic email reminders sent 

by agency publishing managers. One agency in particular highlighted the importance of veteran 

staff in mentoring newer employees involved in publications roles.

2. Content Types, Formats, and Dissemination Channels of Public Information 

Products

Agency websites are the main channel Federal agencies use to share information with the public. 

Social media accounts are another important tool. However, the communications managers FRD 

interviewed stressed that their main reason for using social media is to make the public aware of 

new information that is available on the agency’s website and to drive traffic to it. 

Nearly all respondents said that in the event of a COOP scenario, their agency has a plan to 

continue public dissemination of mission-critical information. COOP planning for information 

dissemination involves identifying vital records that are critical to ongoing missions and creating

alternative storage and work locations so agencies can maintain website accessibility in an 

emergency. 

3. Preservation of Public Information Products

When asked how they preserve their website content and metadata, several of the agencies 

reported that they comply with the Federal Records Act and follow NARA’s guidance on web 

records management, which includes submitting static copies of the agency website. While 
35

agencies’ compliance with the Federal Records Act fulfills an important statutory obligation, 

it does not meet the requirements established by Title 44 of the U.S. Code to make their 

publications accessible to the public and the FDLP on a permanent basis.

Most of the agencies maintain an online archive that makes older website content publicly 

accessible, and many of them identified their Office of the Chief Information Officer as bearing 

at least some of the responsibility for preserving digital information products. However, the 

agencies use a variety of approaches to maintain these archival web pages. Some retain older 

content on the main website, some designate a separate archival page for older content from 

across the agency, and some maintain multiple archives for different types of content. Each 

agency also applies its own standard for how far back in time the archives go. Some retain 

decades-old content, while others retain content from only the past few years. To complement 

these efforts, GPO has used the subscription-based web harvesting tool Archive-It since 2011

to systematically capture, catalog, and provide access to the Federal digital landscape, including 

websites, blogs, and social media feeds.

Agencies involved in the creation or preservation of digitized or born-digital content of a 

cultural, historical, or archival nature face special challenges in ensuring that content remains

fully accessible as information storage, transmission, and retrieval technologies evolve. Most 

participants in the FRD interviews were not familiar with FADGI’s efforts to offer guidance for 

creating such content. However, a quarter of the agencies were found to participate in the 

initiative’s working groups, while another agency reported that it uses a FADGI-compliant 

standard for imagery product metadata—suggesting that it is having a real-world impact 

on digital preservation practices.

4. External Partnerships Focused on Disseminating and Preserving Public 

Information Products

The intent of the question on external partnerships was to learn how Federal agencies are 

partnering with other Government entities and services to enhance public access to their 

materials, with the outcome of identifying potential areas of partnership with the SOD’s public 

information programs. With few exceptions, however, the agencies that participated in this study 

highlighted partnerships that are required by law (e.g., NARA and the Federal Records Act) or 

arrangements with digital repositories in compliance with the OSTP memorandum, “Increasing 

Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.”

In retrospect, this question should have been worded differently, or should have included

follow-up questions for further clarification. Still, it was beneficial to learn the criteria agencies 

use for selecting a digital repository, even though this did not apply to all study participants. 

Possible areas of partnership may be gleaned from the criteria provided.

5. Awareness of GPO’s Statutory Information Programs

GPO’s principal statutory information programs are its cataloging and dissemination programs, 

which require agencies to notify the SOD of Federal publications so they may be made available 

to FDLP member libraries and included in the digital Catalog of U.S. Government Publications. 

GPO’s system of online access, FDsys/govinfo, is the primary program through which the SOD 
36

“shall accommodate any request by the head of a department or agency to include in the 

system of access . . . information that is under the control of the department or agency 

involved.”

46

When asked whether they are familiar with these programs, nearly all of the communications

managers interviewed said that while they are aware of Title 44 of the U.S. Code as it pertains to 

tangible products, they have a limited understanding of their agency’s responsibilities to make 

digital information products available to the FDLP. Only one of the agencies claimed that its 

communications staff have a good awareness of these requirements as they pertain to digital 

information products.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

The SOD seeks to improve its information-capture capability; foster more productive, 

collaborative relationships with Federal agencies; and develop new strategies to transform and 

adapt existing acquisition workflows and processes for the digital era. Based on the information 

provided by the Federal communications managers interviewed by the FRD research team, GPO 

should consider the following measures to strengthen and support these efforts.

Explore methods to automate and embed compliance with Chapters 17 and 19 of Title 44 

of the U.S. Code. Some respondents said their agencies are short-staffed and unable to 

dedicate additional resources to reporting on new (and newly accessible) content, as required by 

law. Moreover, the volume of digital-only content that Federal agencies disseminate, together 

with the dispersal of content originators, can make it impractical for a single office to track all 

new agency information products. GPO’s existing reporting mechanism for digital content, the 

Document Discovery submission form, relies on voluntary manual entry—a method that is not 

easily scalable and lacks accountability. As such, GPO may want to consider developing an 

automated or semi-automated notification system for Federal agency product releases. 

One possible model for a semi-automated system is CHORUS, the Clearinghouse for the Open 

Research of the United States, which is currently used by the academic publishing industry to 

notify agencies of new manuscripts and journal articles resulting from federally funded research. 

Created in response to the OSTP memorandum titled “Increasing Access to the Results of

Federally Funded Scientific Research,” CHORUS enables the identification, discovery, public 

access, and preservation of the documents in a long-term archive.47 CHORUS tracks each of 

those features and reports the level of compliance on its dashboards.48 Embedding a similar 

reporting system into Government agencies’ publications workflows would result in more 

comprehensive notifications to GPO than is provided by current methods.

 

46 44 U.S.C. § 4101(b).

47 Howard Ratner, “CHORUS: A Solution for Public Access to Scholarly Research,” Science Editor 37, no. 1 (2014): 12, 

http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wp-content/uploads/v37n1p12-14.pdf.

48 CHORUS, “About CHORUS,” accessed March 27, 2018, https://www.chorusaccess.org/about/about-chorus/.
37

Continue to develop methods to capture agency web content. Since 2011, GPO’s efforts 

to capture FDLP-eligible information products hosted on agency websites using Archive-It, 

the Internet Archive’s subscription-based web harvesting tool, has yielded tangible results. 

At the time of this report, the FDLP Web Archive holds approximately 145 agency collections, 

encompassing 1,600 websites.49 GPO also subscribes to automatic notification tools to help it 

manually harvest online publications. The agency communications managers interviewed by 

FRD were generally supportive of these approaches to capturing digital information. None of 

the agencies raised concerns or objections to having their websites crawled and harvested, and 

several respondents encouraged GPO to subscribe to existing communications channels where 

publication announcements are likely to appear, such as agency listservs, APIs, and social media 

accounts. GPO should continue exploring ways to acquire and preserve these digital information 

products.

Continue outreach to agency communications/public affairs offices. FRD’s interviews 

indicate that agency staff have limited knowledge of GPO’s digital product dissemination and 

preservation missions. For example, a majority of the communications managers professed to 

having limited or no awareness of GPO’s digital initiatives. Most of the interviewees associate 

GPO and the FDLP narrowly with Federal printing rather than with Federal publishing more 

broadly. Meanwhile, the knowledge of GPO’s statutory information programs appears to be 

confined to staff in a few occupational categories, mainly printing officers, librarians/archivists, 

and some veteran communications managers. The reasons for this narrowly shared awareness 

of the SOD’s programs within agencies may include the declining share of publications that are 

submitted to GPO for printing, the loss of institutional knowledge as printing officer positions 

are phased out, and reductions in library and archivist staff who would be most knowledgeable 

about the full range of GPO services. As the gatekeepers of agency communications policies in 

the digital age, public affairs offices are an important resource for raising awareness of, and 

encouraging compliance with, statutory obligations. GPO should therefore continue and,

where possible, expand its direct outreach to Federal communications staff. 

Continue outreach to content originators at the program office level. Most of the agencies 

profiled identified their program offices as the main sources of direct-to-web content. GPO 

already arranges sessions with agency content originators to present the FDLP and provide 

information about Document Discovery.50 GPO should continue these outreach efforts, including 

working with agency communications/public affairs offices to identify the program units with

access to the web production environment and provide the staff with informational material 

on best practices for SOD public information programs and Title 44 compliance. 

Provide a forum for agency stakeholders to develop common guidance on Title 44 issues. 

During the interviews, some respondents said they had little or no awareness of what steps 

other offices within their agencies might be taking to comply with SOD programs authorized in 

Title 44 of the U.S. Code. As such, the SOD may want to consider approaching agencies to 

convene a forum or workshop to discuss intra-agency coordination on these issues. The SOD

 

49 Archive-It, “Federal Depository Library Program Web Archive,” accessed March 26, 2018, https://archive-it.org/

home/FDLPwebarchive/?show=Sites.

50 GPO, Federal Depository Library Program, “Document Discovery,” May 4, 2012, https://www.fdlp.gov/all-news

letters/featured-articles/1307-doc-discovery.
38

should seek participation from, at a minimum, the following five components: headquarters 

communications/public affairs offices, top-tier program offices, agency librarians/archivists,

agency information officers, and agency offices of general counsel.

Recommend OMB release a detailed memorandum on the FDLP provisions in Title 44. 

Several communications managers interviewed by FRD said they are aware of the FDLP 

provisions listed in Title 44 of the U.S. Code and OMB Circular A-130, “Management of Federal 

Information Resources,” but that it remains unclear to them what measures their agencies

should take to improve their compliance. The OMB circular in particular provides no guidance

beyond “Government publications [should be made] available to depository libraries through 

the Government Publishing Office, regardless of format.”51 A more targeted directive, including a 

definition of what constitutes a government publication and methods agencies can use to notify 

GPO of new publication releases, could help guide these agencies toward better compliance 

with the Depository Library Act provisions. 

The OSTP memorandum on federally funded research might be considered an appropriate 

model for such a directive as it details specific actions for agencies to take to ensure the public 

access and preservation of such manuscripts and publications, including the designation of 

repositories for research-based documents. A similar directive by OMB to all Federal agency 

heads might substantially improve agency compliance and reduce the prevalence of fugitive

documents.

Assessment of Study Methodology

Based on the results obtained by this study, GPO should consider the following refinements 

to the research methodology that may yield improved results during future efforts to gather 

information from Federal agencies. 

Promote broader awareness of the study and its purposes before interviewing candidates.

Recruiting participants for this study proved to be more challenging than originally anticipated. 

As discussed above, several factors may have contributed to the low acceptance rate for the 

interview invitations, including the timing of the study (during a presidential transition), possible 

misunderstandings over the purposes of the study, and hesitation to discuss internal agency 

matters with an outside organization. Future efforts to solicit information about agencies’ 

dissemination and preservation practices should be preceded by a robust notification campaign 

to the executive departments and agencies, preferably including a communication from OMB 

encouraging participation.

Provide background information on the Depository Library Act and the FDLP. Some of 

the communications managers interviewed expressed only a passing familiarity with the FDLP, 

associating GPO’s cataloging and acquisition efforts narrowly with Federal printing. GPO should 

consider including a one-page infographic as part of its initial communication to agencies 

explaining the relevance of its mandates to the publication of digital products and providing 

examples of the types of digital products considered to be in-scope for the FDLP. Having this 

 

51 White House, OMB, “Circular No. A-130: Managing Federal Information,” 15.
39

knowledge before the interviews would save time and help respondents better prepare to 

discuss relevant agency practices during the interviews.

Solicit information from program office and web development staff. While the interviewees 

were broadly familiar with their agency’s policies across a range of issues and provided valuable 

institutional knowledge, their responses to the more technical and process-oriented questions 

tended to lack detail. Managers, editorial staff, and web development staff at the program office 

level may be better equipped to discuss matters pertaining to digital publication practices (such 

as adherence to FADGI digital preservation guidelines). Communications managers should be 

asked to identify and recruit program office staff who can address GPO’s technical and processoriented questions in greater detail, through interviews or in correspondence with GPO.

Reduce the number of questions or combine written responses with verbal follow-up. 

The interviews that informed this study largely adhered to their scheduled 45 minutes in length.

However, this proved to be insufficient to provide background and clarification for all questions 

being asked and to receive clarification of all answers being provided. Future interviews should 

focus on a narrower range of topics that cannot be answered through reviews of agency 

documents, websites, and other written materials. Alternatively, the interviews should be 

sequenced as a follow-up to written responses to the broader set of GPO questions.

Use more specific wording in questions and provide examples to guide responses. Some

of the questions in the discussion guide did not elicit responses on the key topics of interest to 

GPO. Developing a glossary of terms to use with the discussion guide will help ensure there is 

equal understanding of the intent of questions. As discussed above, the intent of the question 

on external partnerships was to learn how Federal agencies are partnering with other 

Government entities and services to enhance the public’s access to their products, with the 

outcome of identifying potential areas of partnership with the SOD’s public information 

programs. With few exceptions, however, the agencies that participated in this study highlighted

partnerships that are required by law (e.g., NARA and the Federal Records Act) or arrangements 

with digital repositories in compliance with the OSTP memorandum, “Increasing Access to the 

Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” In retrospect, this question should have been 

worded differently, or should have included follow-up questions for clarification. It was, 

however, beneficial to learn the criteria agencies use for selecting a digital repository, even 

though this did not apply to all of the study participants. Possible areas of partnership may be 

gleaned from the criteria provided.
40

APPENDIX I. FRD Landscape Study of Federal Digital Publishing

The Federal digital publishing landscape is vast. Today, Federal Government websites with 

“.gov” and “.mil” domains serve as platforms for the direct-to-web publishing of hundreds 

of thousands of Federal digital information products each year. Since it would be impossible to 

calculate the total number of products produced by Federal Government agencies, tallying the 

number of active Federal websites provides a rough indicator of the scope of the Federal digital 

publishing landscape. 

As of February 3, 2017, the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) periodic listing of 

Federal agency internet domains totaled 1,316 top-level domains.52 An alternative measure, 

the domain survey conducted by the Internet Systems Consortium in January 2017, found 

2,297 two-level “.gov” domains and 627,478 three-level “.gov” domains. The survey also found 

203 two-level “.mil” domains and 181,244 three-level “.mil” domains.53 A collaborative effort 

hosted by the California Digital Library and the Internet Archive (and involving the Library of 

Congress and the U.S. Government Publishing Office [GPO]) called the End of Term Web 

Archive provides a third measure. Based on the results of the last completed crawl—which 

occurred between 2016 and 2017—Federal agencies host approximately 6,000 websites 

containing 32 million webpages and a total of 12 terabytes of data.54 As GPO considers the 

websites themselves to be information products or services, they too fall within the scope of its 

preservation mandate.

In addition to publications and reports, Federal agencies publish vast quantities of data. For 

example, a February 2017 snapshot of 95 Federal agencies tracked by the GSA lists more than 

265,000 datasets. The largest Federal dataset publishers were the U.S. Dept. of Commerce 

(73,134) and its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, 70,882); the U.S. 

Dept. of the Interior (38,071) and its U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (30,177); and the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (15,379).55 While collecting more information about 

these datasets is outside the scope of this report, Figure 3 includes the full snapshot.

Federal information products exist in every commercially available digital format, with the most 

popular formats being “.html,” “.pdf,” and “.xml.”

56

 

52 GSA, Technology Transformation Service, “Federal Government datasets,” Data.gov, accessed February 3, 2017, 

https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Government#sec-res_format. 

53 Internet Systems Consortium, “Internet Domain Survey: Distributions by Top-Level Domain Name (by hostcount),” 

January 2017, http://ftp.isc.org/www/survey/reports/current/bynum.txt.

54 End of Term Web Archive, “Project Background,” accessed February 3, 2017, http://eotarchive.cdlib.org/background.

html; End of Term Web Archive, “Crawl Statistics and Reports,” accessed February 3, 2017, http://wbgrp-svc251.us.arc

hive.org/collections/eot2012/stats/.

55 GSA, Technology Transformation Service, “Federal Government datasets.”

56 GSA, Technology Transformation Service, “Federal Government datasets.”
41

Figure 3. Datasets of Public Information Products by Agency

Source: GSA, Technology Transformation Service, “Federal Government datasets.” 

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Corporation for National and Community Service

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency

Department of Agriculture

Farm Service Agency

Foreign Agricultural Service

National Agricultural Statistics Service

US Forest Service

Department of Commerce

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

US Census Bureau

Department of Defense

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Department of Homeland Security

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Department of Justice

Department of Labor

Department of State

Department of Transportation

Department of Veterans Affairs

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Indian Education

Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Department of the Interior

Federal Geographic Data Committee

National Park Service

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Office of the Solicitor

Geological Survey (USGS)

Bureau of Reclamation

Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Treasury

Election Assistance Commission

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Executive Office of the President

Council on Environmental Quality

Executive Office of the President

Office of National Drug Control Policy

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Trade Representative (USTR)

White House

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Federal Election Commission

Federal Housing Finance Agency

Federal Reserve Board

Federal Trade Commission

General Services Administration

Institute of Museum and Library Services

Merit Systems Protection Board

Millenium Challenge Corporation

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Archives and Records Administration

National Capital Planning Commission

National Endowment for the Humanities

National Labor Relations Board

National Science Foundation

National Transportation Safety Board

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation

Office of Personnel Management

Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Railroad Retirement Board

Securities and Exchange Commission

Selective Service System

Small Business Administration

Social Security Administration

US Agency for International Development

US Consumer Product Safety Commission

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

US International Trade Commission

US Office of the Special Counsel

No. of Public Datasets (logarithmic scale)
42

Federal Policy on Permanent Access to Public Information Products

Federal Depository Library Program

Federal agencies are required by law to make all of their publications—defined as “informational 

matter which is published as an individual document at Government expense, or as required by 

law”—regardless of the printing source or publishing format, available to GPO’s Superintendent 

of Documents (SOD) for distribution to varying types of libraries through the Federal Depository 

Library Program (FDLP). Those libraries, in turn, are required to provide free public access to the

documents. In particular, Federal agencies should deposit:

Government publications, except those determined by their issuing components 

to be required for official use only or for strictly administrative or operational 

purposes which have no public interest or educational value and publications 

classified for reasons of national security . . . Each component of the Government 

shall furnish the Superintendent of Documents [with] a list of such publications it 

issued during the previous month that were obtained from sources other than 

the [GPO].57

Cataloging and Indexing Program

To facilitate the public’s access to these Government publications, the SOD is mandated to 

publish a regular index of such records. The Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications

was printed from 1895 to 2004, at which time it was replaced with an online version, the Catalog 

of U.S. Government Publications.

58 To ensure the catalog is comprehensive: 

The head of each executive department, independent agency, and establishment 

of the Government shall deliver to [SOD] a copy of every document issued or 

published by the department, bureau, or office not confidential in character.59

GPO’s System of Online Access

In June 1993, the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act

provided a means of increasing public access to a wide range of Federal electronic information 

sources through GPO.60 The result was GPOAccess, which was replaced by GPO’s Federal Digital 

System (FDsys) in 2009. In December 2018, govinfo will replace FDsys as the online system of 

record.61 A content management system, preservation repository, advanced search engine, and 

public access website, FDsys/govinfo conforms to ISO 14721, the open archival information 

system reference model for preservation and access.62

 

57 44 U.S.C. §§ 1901–16 (2016). See also GPO, “Circular Letter No. 794: Disseminating Information Products to the 

Public through GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program,” October 19, 2010, 5, https://www.gpo.gov/docs/defaultsource/circular-letters-pdf-files/2010/cir794.pdf?sfvrsn=55d06c3d_2.

58 GPO, SOD, “Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP).”

59 44 U.S.C. §§ 1710.

60 44 U.S.C. §§ 4101–4.

61 Like the Library of Congress, GPO is an affiliate of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). While 

the Library supports the Historical American Engineering Record, GPO is a NARA partner for digital content (Diane 

Vogt-O'Connor, “NARA’s Oldest Partnerships,” Prologue 38, no. 2 [Summer 2006], https://www.archives.gov/publica

tions/prologue/2006/summer/affiliates.html).

62 ISO, “14721: Space Data and Information Transfer Systems—Open Archival Information System (OAIS)—Reference 

Model,” accessed May 22, 2018, https://www.iso.org/standard/57284.html.
43

GPO Policy on Depositing Digital Information Products

GPO’s dissemination and distribution policy for the FDLP emphasizes making publications 

available to Federal depository libraries through the online distribution of electronic copies. 

It has established two primary methods that agencies may use to notify GPO of born-digital 

information products and to “deposit” them for distribution: 

– When an agency publishes an information product on its own website or electronic 

information service, the agency can notify GPO of the URL and other pertinent details 

(e.g., new, corrected, reprint, or next issue in continuing resource) so that GPO may 

catalog the publication and direct users to it. The most direct method of notification 

is by sending an email to: DocDiscovery@gpo.gov. Agencies also may submit Form 

3868, “Notification of Intent to Publish,” with the product title and other pertinent 

details by email to: IntentToPublish@gpo.gov, or by fax to: 202-312-0181.

– When an agency ceases to offer remote public access to an information product 

within the scope of the FDLP, GPO can use electronic source files to provide 

permanent access through the program. Source files may be provided to GPO via 

file transfer protocol, internet download or telnet, or CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.63

Agencies also may assist the SOD’s cataloging and preservation efforts by authorizing the office 

and its partners to crawl and harvest content from their websites at regular intervals. The FDLP 

Web Archive, for example, is comprised of selected U.S. Government websites archived in their 

entirety by the SOD in order to create working “snapshots” of various points in time. The aim 

is to provide permanent public access to this content, which GPO collects with Archive-It, a 

subscription-based web service offered by the nonprofit Internet Archive. The SOD interprets 

nearly all Federal public online information products as being subject to ingest by FDsys:

With the exception of materials classified for national security, all official 

Government publications, information, or information dissemination products 

paid for with Federal funds originating from agencies of the legislative, executive, 

and judicial branches of the U.S. Government are within scope for ingest into 

GPO’s system of online access. Government content converted by parties with 

whom GPO has a formally signed partnership agreement that contemplates 

ingest of such content are also within scope.64

In those instances where GPO cannot harvest the content from an agency’s website, it seeks to 

enter into a content partnership with the agency itself. Such a partnership establishes a joint 

commitment between GPO and the agency to preserve permanent public access to its content 

within scope of the FDLP. Agencies may then maintain the content on archive sections of their 

own websites or partner with a Federal depository library to host the content on their servers. 

 

63 GPO, “Circular Letter No. 794: Disseminating Information Products,” 5–6.

64 GPO, SOD, “Public Policy Statement 2016–2: Content Scope for GPO’s System of Online Access.” Also, 44 U.S.C. § 

4101(b) stipulates that SOD “shall accommodate any request by the head of a department or agency to include in the 

system of access . . . information that is under the control of the department or agency involved.”
44

GPO is involved in a similar harvesting effort at the end of presidential administrations. Along 

with the libraries of George Washington University, Stanford University, the University of North 

Texas, as well as the California Digital Library, Internet Archive, and Library of Congress, GPO is 

an active partner of the End of Term Web Archive, which helps preserve Federal agency websites 

before, during, and after presidential transitions.65 In GPO’s view, however, passively sharing web 

content by allowing external crawls—while preferable to no access—should not be substituted 

for actively depositing content with the agency. 

Managing Federal Information as a Strategic Resource

In July 1993, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a revision 

of OMB Circular A-130, “Management of Federal Information Resources.” The revision stressed

the importance of public access to Government information, and it contained a lengthy 

discussion of the FDLP, including the need to distribute electronic information dissemination 

products to depository libraries.66 The circular was revised in 2016 and also provides additional 

policy guidance with regard to Federal agencies’ responsibilities:

Agencies have a responsibility to provide information to the public consistent 

with their missions and subject to Federal law and policy. Agencies will discharge 

this responsibility by:

a) Publishing public information online in a manner that promotes analysis 

and reuse for the widest possible range of purposes, meaning that the 

information is publicly accessible, machine-readable, appropriately 

described, complete, and timely. This includes providing such public 

information in a format(s) accessible to employees and members of the 

public with disabilities. . . .

d) As appropriate, making Government publications available to depository 

libraries through the [GPO] regardless of format.67

OMB Circular A-130 defines the term "information dissemination product" to include all 

information that is disseminated by Federal agencies. It further stipulates:

While the provision of access to online databases and search software included 

on compact disk, read-only memory (CD-ROM) are often called information 

services rather than products, there is no clear distinction and, moreover, no real 

difference for policy purposes between the two. Thus, the term “information 

dissemination product” applies to both products and services, and makes no 

distinction based on how the information is delivered.68

Digital Government Strategy and Open Data Policy

On May 23, 2012, the Obama administration issued a directive entitled “Building a 21st Century 

Digital Government.” It launched a comprehensive strategy aimed at delivering better digital 

 

65 End of Term Web Archive, “Project Partners,” accessed March 20, 2018, http://eotarchive.cdlib.org/partners.html.

66 National Archives and Records Administration, Office of the Federal Register, “Federal information resources 

management (Circular A-130); revision,” Federal Register 58, no. 126 (1993): 36083.

67 White House, OMB, “Circular No. A-130: Managing Federal Information,” 14–15.

68 White House, OMB, “Appendix IV to Circular No. A-130,” accessed March 20, 2018, https://obamawhitehouse.arc

hives.gov/omb/circulars_a130_a130appendix_iv.
45

services to the American people. The strategy complemented several existing initiatives, 

including Executive Order 13571, “Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer 

Service,” and Executive Order 13576, “Delivering an Efficient, Effective, and Accountable 

Government.” It was developed to provide Federal agencies with guidance on improving their 

digital services and to enable them to thrive within the fast-paced, ever-changing world of 

technology.69

As part of the strategy’s 12-month roadmap, agencies were required to mobilize two of their 

priority customer-facing services, and to begin making open data the default for Government 

IT systems. Among the initiatives advanced by the strategy, the GSA’s data.gov website was 

expanded and upgraded to offer Federal web analytics data in real time.70

Public Reporting of Fugitive Documents

Despite these policies and initiatives, some Federal agencies and their components do not 

consistently notify GPO of newly published documents posted on their websites. These files, 

commonly referred to as fugitive or “lost” documents, are neither published through GPO 

nor do they appear in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications; hence, they are not a part of 

the FDLP. To mitigate this issue, GPO encourages librarians and members of the public to report 

fugitive documents through its online “Lost Docs Reporting” form so they may be tracked down 

and added to the catalog.

71

Agency Compliance with GPO’s Deposit Requirements

Several Federal agencies issue their own policy guidance for disseminating and preserving 

digital information products. In accordance with GPO’s policies, these agencies aim to ensure 

permanent public access through the FDLP. For example:

 Chapter 6308, “Acquisition of Printing Requirements at the NIH,” of the NIH

(National Institutes of Health) Policy Manual contains the following guidance:

All Government publications (except those determined to be required for 

strictly administrative purposes having no public interest or educational value, 

and documents classified for reasons of national security) must be made 

available to the [FDLP] of the GPO Library Service, the Library of Congress,

and the [GPO’s] Cataloging and Indexing (C&I) Program.72

– Similarly, NOAA Administrative Order 205-17A, “Information Access & 

Dissemination,” states:

All publishers [must] provide [GPO] with copies of Government-produced 

publications for distribution to designated depository libraries. Copies of 

 

69 Steven VanRoekel, “Roadmap for a Digital Government,” White House Blog, May 23, 2012, https://obamawhite

house.archives.gov/blog/2012/05/23/roadmap-digital-government.

70 Steven VanRoekel, “Roadmap.”

71 GPO, Federal Depository Library Program, “Lost Docs Reporting,” accessed March 20, 2018, https://www.fdlp.gov/

collection-tools/lostdocs. See also GPO, SOD, “Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP).” 

72 HHS, NIH, Office of Management Assessment, “NIH Policy Manual: Chapter 6308; Acquisition of Printing 

Requirements at the NIH,” accessed March 20, 2018, https://policymanual.nih.gov/6308.
46

publications sold by the GPO are automatically distributed to the depository 

libraries. NOAA organizations producing “public” publications not printed by 

the GPO . . . are responsible for providing the necessary copies to the 

depository libraries.73

– Section 1633, “Printing and Distribution,” of the U.S. Forest Service Manual, 

likewise notes:

All Federal publications, except those determined to be strictly administrative 

or operational in purpose, must be provided to GPO, Superintendent of 

Documents, Depository Library Program . . . Such publications covered by this 

requirement include environmental impact statements, Forest plans, other 

publications required by law, visitor maps, and recreation folders.74

– Section 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) “Information Access 

Policy” mandates:

c) EPA will provide permanent access, in either electronic or non-electronic 

format, to EPA information products depicting EPA’s environmental mission 

activities . . . that are published electronically (born digital) and will ensure

that these documents are inventoried, stored, retrieved and, as appropriate, 

made available to internal and external audiences.

d) EPA will provide permanent access, in either electronic or non-electronic 

format, to EPA information products depicting EPA’s environmental mission 

activities . . . that are published in hard copy and will ensure that these 

documents are inventoried, stored, retrieved and, as appropriate, made 

available to internal and external audiences.

e) Agency publications, as appropriate, will be digitized into the [EPA’s] 

electronic repository for information products.

f) EPA will comply with requirements for submitting publications (both hard 

copy and born digital) to [GPO] and/or the National Technical Information 

Service.75

– The U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT’s) states in Section 7.6.1, “Publications,” 

of its public access plan:

The DOT will ensure the permanent preservation and long-term accessibility 

of publications resulting from DOT-funded research and programs by:

 Adopting sound, non-proprietary preservation standards and archival 

formats for publications and associated content. 

 Developing practical backup, migration, and technology refreshing 

strategies.

 Partnering with other appropriate publication archives across the 

Federal, academic and business communities.

76

 

73 U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Administrative Order NAO 205-

17A: Information Access & Dissemination,” last revised June 14, 2013, http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/

administrative_orders/chapter_205/205-17.html.

74 USDA, U.S. Forest Service, “Forest Service Manual 1600: Chapter 1630; Publishing and Related Activities,” January 

10, 2018, https://www.fs.fed.us/dirindexhome/fsm/1600/wo_1630_amend_2018-1.doc.

75 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information, “Information Access Policy,” January 24, 

2008, 2–3, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-11/documents/21710.pdf.

76 DOT, Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research Results (Washington, DC: 

DOT, December 16, 2015), 13, https://cms.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Official%20DOT%20Public%20Access%20

Plan%20ver%201.1.pdf.
47

Agency Web Archives

Several Federal agencies also maintain their own archive pages for online documents that are 

no longer considered current. The scope and extent of these collections vary, with some 

agencies seeking to preserve only the most popular or most important publications, while 

others pursue broader preservation goals. The extent to which these archives reach back in time 

also varies, though many agencies maintain archives of born-digital materials dating back to the 

early to mid-1990s. Examples of these agencies include:

– The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS), which maintains an archive 

of historical documents, data, and other information that “has value to researchers 

and the public.” The archive enables one’s access to legacy information about the 

department’s past programs, administrations, initiatives, and activities. HHS follows 

a digital content lifecycle management approach which requires its web content to 

be reviewed and evaluated on an annual basis. This content is then archived online. 

Broadly speaking, HHS recognizes three categories of archived content: websites, 

references, and one-offs; each category may include multiple collections.77

– The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which, like HHS, archives 

historical documents, data, and other information that may be of value to researchers 

and the public. HUD separates its historical documentation from current content, 

ensuring one’s access to information about past programs, administrations, 

initiatives, and activities.78

– The U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL), which preserves department and agency web content 

long after the sites have changed. Since January 2009, the Wirtz Labor Library—

working with the DOL Office of Public Affairs—has collected, preserved, and provided

access to select agency websites with enduring value. The resulting collection is part 

of a continuing effort by the library to retain key resources and publications in all 

formats.79

– The U.S. Dept. of State, which hosts an archive of websites dating back to the Clinton 

administration. Additionally, the Federal depository library at the Richard J. Daley 

Library (located at the University of Illinois at Chicago) holds an electronic archive 

of information products produced by the department from 1990 to 1997. This 

partnership, which began in 1994, is recognized by GPO as the first electronic 

partnership agreement between an executive agency and a depository library. The 

university also works to ensure that the electronic archives are easily accessible and 

clearly organized.80

– The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a component of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 

which encourages the use of digital object identifiers, persistent URLs, or some 

equivalent to ensure consistency and ease of access in retrieving USGS information. 

 

77 HHS, “HHS Website Content Lifecycle Management (CLM) and Archive Guidance,” last updated January 9, 2014, 

https://www.hhs.gov/web/building-and-managing-websites/managing-websites/content-management-lifecycle-andarchive-policy/index.html.

78 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “HUD's Web Publication Procedures and Style Guide,” April 

22, 2016, 17, https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/WEBPUBSTANDARDS.PDF.

79 U.S. Department of Labor, “U.S. Department of Labor Announces Digital Snapshot Project to Archive Content of All 

Departmental Web Sites,” January 8, 2009, https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/oasam/oasam20090108.

80 U.S. Department of State and the Federal Depository Library at the Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois 

at Chicago, “Electronic Research Collections,” last modified May 2003, http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/index.html.
48

It further requires that official USGS information products published on the web are

available through the survey’s electronic publications database system.81

Federal Access Plans for Public Information Products

Many agencies fund research that results in extramural academic papers, journal articles, and 

associated databases that may not carry agency branding but are nonetheless subject to Federal 

open access laws and policies. The dissemination of this information through designated digital 

repositories has expanded since the early 2010s in response to government-wide mandates 

requiring broader public access and more robust preservation of agency information products, 

as well as the results of their federally funded research. The most direct mandate was issued on 

February 22, 2013, when the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued 

a memorandum titled “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.”

The memorandum’s directive applies to two distinct categories of content arising from Federal 

funds: digital scientific data and peer-reviewed publications. In order to ensure the accessibility 

and preservation of public information products based on federally funded research, OSTP 

recommends that the results “be stored for long-term preservation and publicly accessible to 

search, retrieve, and analyze in ways that maximize the impact and accountability of the Federal 

research investment.”82

Through this memorandum, OSTP directed all agencies with more than $100 million in annual 

research and development expenditures—which includes the parent organizations of nine of 

the 12 agencies profiled in this report—to prepare a plan for improving the public’s access to 

the results.83 These plans generally follow a similar outline: acknowledging that they constitute a 

formal response to the White House directive; establishing the effective dates after which all 

unclassified agency-funded, research-based publications are to be deposited in a trusted 

repository; and identifying the repository the agency will use to preserve its publications.84

In response to the OSTP memorandum, by early 2016, 22 Federal agencies and components had 

released individual plans for increasing the access to and preservation of the results of their 

agency-funded research. These results included intramural and extramural (contractor- or 

grantee-produced) articles and reports (see Table 30).

 

81 U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS, “Manual: Chapter 1300; Publishing Records,” May 2009, https://www2.usgs.

gov/usgs-manual/schedule/432-1-s1/ch1300a.html#plan.

82 White House, OSTP, “Memorandum: Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research,” 1, 3.

83 White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), “Memorandum: Increasing Access to the Results of 

Federally Funded Scientific Research,” February 22, 2013, 1, 3, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/

files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf.

84 Many of these plans also include guidance on increasing public access to the agencies’ digital data. However, as 

such data was out of the scope of this project, the researchers focused solely on the publication requirements listed. 
49

Table 30. Federal Access Plans for Public Information Products

Executive Agency/

Component (Eff. Date) Scope of Public Access Plan Link

Office of the Director of 

National Intelligence 

(Sep. 2016)

I: Data and full-text scholarly 

publication repositories and catalog 

implemented by Jan. 2017

E: N/A

https://www.iarpa.gov/images/files

/Documents/ODNI%20Public%20

Access%20Plan_Sept%202016.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture 

(Nov. 2014)

I: Articles published after Oct. 1, 2014

E: TBA

https://www.usda.gov/sites/default

/files/documents/USDA-PublicAccess-Implementation-Plan.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Commerce

 National Institute 

of Standards and 

Technology (Dec. 2014)

I: Articles published after Oct. 1, 2015

E: Articles from new funding 

opportunities starting Oct. 1, 2015

https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/

files/documents/2017/04/28/NISTPlan-for-Public-Access.pdf

 National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Admin.

(Feb. 2015)

I: Articles published after Jan. 1, 2016

E: Articles from research in response to 

funding announcements and contract 

solicitations issued on/after Jun. 1, 2016

https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/review

2016/reviewer_docs/NOAA_PARR_

Plan_v5.04.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Defense 

(Feb. 2015)

I: Jan. 10, 2017

E: TBA

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/pdf/dod_

public_access_plan_feb2015.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Education 

(Oct. 2016)

Articles funded by the Institute of 

Education Sciences on/after Oct. 1, 

2011; articles funded by other units TBA

https://ies.ed.gov/funding/pdf/ED

PlanPolicyDevelopmentGuidance

forPublicAccess.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Energy (Jul. 2014)

I: For DOE and DOE Laboratory staff, 

articles published after Oct. 1, 2014

E: For grantees, articles from awards 

issued/renewed after Oct. 1, 2014

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod

/files/2014/08/f18/DOE_Public_

Access%20Plan_FINAL.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

 Admin. for Community 

Living (Feb. 2016, 

updated Jun. 2017)

Articles resulting from awards made 

after Oct. 1, 2016

https://www.acl.gov/sites/default/

files/about-acl/2017-12/ACLPublic

AcccessPlan.pdf

 Agency for Healthcare 

Research and Quality 

(Feb. 2015)

I: Articles published after Jan. 1, 2016

E: Articles from new awards issued after 

Jan. 1, 2016

https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/

policies/publicaccess/index.html

 Assistant Secretary 

for Preparedness 

and Response (n.d.)

Articles resulting from awards made on 

or after Oct. 1, 2015

http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/

planning/science/Documents/

AccessPlan.pdf

 Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention 

(Jan. 2015)

I: Articles published after Jul. 15, 2013

E: Articles resulting from new and 

continuation awards issued after 

Sep. 30, 2013

https://www.cdc.gov/od/science/

docs/Final-CDC-Public-AccessPlan-Jan-2015_508-Compliant.pdf

 Food and Drug 

Administration 

(Feb. 2015)

I: Articles accepted for publication after 

Dec. 29, 2015

E: Articles from new awards issued after 

Dec. 29, 2015

https://www.fda.gov/downloads/

ScienceResearch/AboutScience

ResearchatFDA/UCM435418.pdf

 National Institutes of 

Health (Feb. 2015)

I/E: Articles accepted for publication 

on/after Apr. 7, 2008

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/

NIH-Public-Access-Plan.pdf
50

Executive Agency/

Component (Eff. Date) Scope of Public Access Plan Link

U.S. Dept. of Homeland 

Security (Dec. 2016)

I: Publications beginning in FY 2017

E: N/A

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/

files/publications/DHS%20Public%

20Access%20Plan%20-%20FINAL_

161229-508.pdf

U.S. Dept. of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey 

(Jan. 2016; updated Mar. 2016)

I/E: Articles from research published 

after Oct. 1, 2016

https://www2.usgs.gov/quality_

integrity/open_access/down

loads/USGS-PublicAccessPlanAPPROVED-v1.03.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Transportation 

(Dec. 2015)

I/E: Publications from projects initiated 

or with new funding added on/after 

Jan. 1, 2016

https://www.transportation.gov/

sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Official%

20DOT%20Public%20Access%20

Plan%20ver%201.1.pdf

U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs 

(Jul. 2015)

Articles from research initiated after 

Jan. 1, 2016

https://www.va.gov/ORO/Docs/

Guidance/VA_RSCH_DATA_ACCESS

_PLAN_07_23_2015.pdf

Independent Agency 

(Eff. Date)

Scope of Public Access Plan Link

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration 

(Dec. 2014)

I/E: Articles resulting from funding 

awarded on/after Oct. 1, 2015

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default

/files/atoms/files/206985_2015_

nasa_plan-for-web.pdf

National Science Foundation 

(Mar. 2015)

Articles and juried conference papers 

resulting from awards issued in 

response to proposals submitted 

or due on/after Jan. 25, 2016

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/

nsf15052/nsf15052.pdf

Smithsonian Institution 

(Aug. 2015)

Articles and book chapters submitted 

for publication after Oct. 1, 2015

http://public.media.smithsonian

mag.com/file_upload_plugin/1f143

b54-a9f9-4746-bef5-1c76151e3c7

a.pdf

U.S. Agency of International 

Development (Nov. 2016) Articles published after Sep. 5, 2015

https://www.usaid.gov/sites/de

fault/files/documents/15396/US

AID_PublicAccessPlan.pdf

U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (Nov. 2016)

I: EPA will begin depositing prospective 

peer-reviewed research manuscripts in 

PubMed Central during 2017

E: N/A

https://www.epa.gov/sites/produc

tion/files/2016-12/documents/epa

scientificresearchtransperancyplan.

pdf 

Source: CENDI, “Implementation of Public Access Programs in Federal Agencies,” accessed March 13, 2018, https://www.

cendi.gov/projects/Public_Access_Plans_US_Fed_Agencies.html.

Based on these public access plans, there are a number of agencies outside of those profiled 

for this study that use designated digital repositories (see Table 31). These agencies include:

DHS U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security

DoD U.S. Dept. of Defense

DOE U.S. Dept. of Energy

DOT U.S. Dept. of Transportation

ED U.S. Dept. of Education

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce
51

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce

NSF National Science Foundation

ODNI Office of the Director of National Intelligence

SI Smithsonian Institution

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

USDA U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

VA U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Additionally, along with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), several components from the U.S. Dept. of 

Health and Human Services rely on PubMed Central, namely the Administration for Community 

Living (ACL), the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Table 30. Digital Repositories for Federally Funded Research Publications 

by Agency

Agency(s) Repository (Link) Description

ACL, AHRQ, 

ASPR, CDC, 

DHS, EPA, 

FDA, NASA, 

NIH, NIST, 

VA

PubMed Central 

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/)

PubMed Central (PMC) has been the designated 

repository for papers submitted in accordance with the 

NIH’s public access policy since 2005. It also serves as 

the National Library of Medicine’s document repository 

and includes papers across a variety of scientific 

disciplines. PMC’s aim is to make full-text papers 

resulting from publicly- and privately-funded research 

more readily available to the public, healthcare 

providers, educators, and the scientific community.

CDC*, NOAA CDC Stacks (https://stacks.cdc.gov/)

CDC Stacks provides access to current and historical CDC 

research and literature, such as the Open Access 

Collection and the first 30 vol. of the Morbidity and 

Mortality Weekly Report. It also includes the ability to 

search the full text of all documents, browse journal 

articles by subject, and explore curated collections of 

documents on relevant topics.

DoD, ODNI

PubDefense 

(https://publicaccess.dtic.mil/

padf_public/#/home)

PubDefense provides access to journal articles resulting 

from DoD- and ODNI-funded research. It contains a 

collection of published articles and accepted 

manuscripts. Additional documents, links, and metadata 

are added as they are submitted to the Defense 

Technical Information Center. Access to the full-text 

items in this collection is made available after a 12-

month embargo.

DOE, NSF

Public Access Gateway 

for Energy and Science 

(https://www.osti.gov/pages/)

The Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science 

(PAGES) is a search tool developed and maintained by 

DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information. It 

employs a hybrid model of both centralized and 

distributed content, with PAGES maintaining a 

permanent archive of full-text scientific and technical 

information and metadata. In this way, PAGES builds on 

the DOE's existing infrastructure while integrating the 

publishers' public access efforts.
52

Agency(s) Repository (Link) Description

DOT

Repository and Open Science 

Access Portal

(https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/)

Founded as an all-digital library program, the Repository 

and Open Science Access Portal includes full-text 

electronic publications, datasets, and other resources. It 

also serves as the full-text repository for DOT-funded 

research. The National Transportation Library, which 

supports the portal, provides its collections freely to 

transportation researchers, statistical organizations, the 

media, and the public.

ED Education Resources Information 

Center (https://eric.ed.gov/)

The Education Resources Information Center is a digital 

library sponsored by ED’s Institute of Education Sciences. 

It provides access to a comprehensive, easy-to-use, 

searchable database of bibliographic records of journal 

and non-journal literature from 1966 to the present.

SI Smithsonian Research Online 

(https://research.si.edu/)

Smithsonian Research Online (SRO) collects and 

manages publication data—and, in some cases, 

supplementary data and datasets—for works created by 

Smithsonian staff and affiliates. It currently collects 

nearly 2,500 publications per year. Data stored in SRO is 

reused on many Smithsonian websites to showcase 

recent publications by specific authors or research units. 

Full-text articles can also be submitted to SRO, where 

they are housed and managed in a stable repository.

USAID

Development Experience 

Clearinghouse 

(https://dec.usaid.gov/)

The Development Experience Clearinghouse is the 

largest online resource for USAID-funded technical and 

program documentation, with more than 155,000 

documents available for viewing and electronic 

download.

USDA

NAL Catalog 

(https://agricola.nal.usda.gov/)

NAL Digital Collections 

(https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/

naldc/home.xhtml)

USDA plans to leverage its existing investments in public 

access tools and repositories of full-text scholarly 

publications (e.g., NAL Catalog and NAL Digital 

Collections) to create the foundation for an expanded 

repository suitable for achieving the objectives of the 

OSTP public access policy. 

USGS

USGS Publications Warehouse 

(https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/)

U.S. Geological Survey Science Data 

Catalog

(https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/)

Timely search, discovery, and access to all USGS 

publications subject to the plan will be provided by the 

USGS Publications Warehouse. USGS will use its Science 

Data Catalog to facilitate discovery of and provide access 

to digital data resulting from its funded research. The 

full-text of all USGS final manuscripts will reside in the 

Information Product Data System (IPDS), a trusted 

repository that functions in part as a dark archive for all 

USGS-funded information products.
53

APPENDIX II. FRD/GPO Interview Discussion Guide

Interview Date: ________________

Agency: ________________________________________________________________

Office(s): _______________________________________________________________

Respondent(s): _________________________________________________________

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. The Federal Research Division of the 

Library of Congress is conducting this interview on behalf of the U.S. Government Publishing 

Office (GPO). The broad goal of this research effort is to determine the impact that the 

migration of government information products from paper, microfiche, and other tangible 

media to Federal agency websites has had on the public’s ability to find and access these 

products on a continuing basis. We will be asking you about your agency’s information 

publishing, dissemination, and preservation policies and practices. 

1. Information Dissemination Activities and Policies

a. Which office(s) within your agency is (are) responsible for the dissemination of 

public information products?

b. Where or how are agency information dissemination policies documented? 

c. Are these policies communicated as part of employee training for staff involved in 

communications/publishing roles?

d. Are they communicated in some other way (e.g., page on agency intranet, periodic 

emails, or memos)?

e. Can you share a copy of those guidelines?

f. Is information dissemination included in your agency’s continuity of operations 

(COOP) plan?

If asked for clarification: GPO defines COOP as an initiative that ensures Federal 

Government departments and agencies are able to continue operation of their 

essential functions under a broad range of circumstances, including all-hazard 

emergencies as well as natural, man-made, and technological threats and national 

security emergencies.

g. Does your agency disseminate contractor- or grantee-produced content? Is this 

content published in the same manner as agency-generated content? If not, how 

is it disseminated?
54

2. Information Product Formats and Dissemination Methods

a. What are the main types of public information products that your agency publishes?

If asked for examples, prompt with some of following types of information products:

 Annual Reports

 Regulations, Rules, and Directives

 Administrative Decisions, Opinions, and Orders

 Preliminary/Draft and Final Reports 

 Handbooks, Manuals, and Guides

 Maps/Charts

 Datasets/Statistical Compendia 

 Technical Reports

 Monographs/Books 

 Series

 Journals/Periodicals

 Others?

b. What percentage of your agency’s public information products would you say are 

disseminated via agency websites? 

c. What other method(s) of information product dissemination is (are) your agency 

using (e.g., microfilm/microfiche, social media, or email listservs)?

d. How does your agency use social media as an information dissemination method? 

If asked for clarification: Does your agency use social media mainly to announce new 

content, or does it also provide content through social media, or both?

e. Does your agency produce any information products with print-only distribution?

If Yes: Are these expected to continue as print-only for the foreseeable future? 

f. Does your agency/office disseminate unique information products in microfiche 

format?

85

If Yes: Are these expected to continue as microfiche-only for the foreseeable future?

3. Preservation Activities and Policies

a. Which organization(s) within your agency is (are) responsible for the preservation 

of public information products? (Probe if necessary: agency library, history office, 

archive, etc.)

b. Does your agency follow Federal Agency Digital Guidelines Initiative 

(FADGI) guidance for creating and preserving digital content? 

If asked for clarification: FADGI is a collaborative effort started in 2007 by Federal 

agencies to articulate common sustainable practices and guidelines for digitized 

 

85 This question was asked because GPO was wondering if their libraries will need to invest in proprietary software 

or different equipment to access this content. Microfiche readers are disappearing and digital viewers are often too 

expensive for many of their libraries, particularly the smaller ones.
55

and born-digital historical, archival, and cultural content. All Federal agencies and 

institutions involved in the creation or collection of digitized or born-digital content 

of a cultural, historical, or archival nature are welcome to participate.

c. Does your agency archive digital content once it is no longer posted on the current 

sections of agency websites?

If Yes: For what purpose is digital content archived? Is the intention to provide 

permanent public access?

How is permanent public access achieved (e.g., online archive, onsite digital archive, 

added to online information clearinghouse)?

d. Does your agency have plans to make its older historical content available through 

digitization? 

If Yes: How comprehensive would you say this effort is? (Prompt with: How far 

back in time does it go? Does it include only major reports or all public products?)

4. External Partnerships

Does your agency have a partnership with an external organization or service to broaden 

accessibility to your information products (e.g., GPO, depository library, information 

clearinghouse, university/law school library, historical society, professional association)?

If Yes: Which organization(s) or service(s)?

5. Awareness of GPO’s Statutory Public Information Programs

a. Would you say that staff at your agency are aware of the statutory mandates that 

guide GPO’s public information programs?

If asked for clarification: This is in reference to the Federal Depository Library 

Program (FDLP) provisions of 44 U.S.C. Chapter 19, the cataloging and indexing 

provisions of 44 U.S.C. Chapter 17, and OMB Circular A-130, all of which instruct

agencies to notify GPO of new information products.

b. Does your agency provide guidance or regulations on how to comply with the 

FDLP provisions?

If Yes: Where is it listed (e.g., agency manual, OGC Circular, other)?

Can GPO receive a copy or a link to that guidance?

c. Are communications/publications staff at your agency familiar with how GPO can 

assist them in making content more accessible to the public through FDsys/govinfo?

If asked for clarification: FDsys/govinfo is a content management system and a 

digital preservation repository. It combines modern search technology with extensive 

metadata creation to ensure the highest quality search experience. The beta version 

is available at govinfo.gov.
56

d. Would your communications/publications staff be interested in learning more about 

govinfo?

e. Does your agency’s communications/publications office, library, or other component 

have a schedule for notifying GPO of new agency content?

f. Do web/publishing content managers at your agency use GPO’s Document Discovery 

webpage (http://usgpo.wufoo.com/forms/document-discovery/)

86 or email address 

(docdiscovery@gpo.gov) to notify GPO of new web content?

If No: Why not (e.g., not aware of the service, don’t know what information to 

provide, requires clearance from higher authority)?

If Yes: Would you say they use the service consistently?

g. Would having additional methods of providing notification to GPO be helpful? Any 

suggestions?

h. What other steps would you advise GPO to take to make it easier for agencies 

to notify it of new content or older content that has been digitized and made 

accessible? GPO seeks to make this process as easy as possible for agencies.

i. Are communications/publications staff at your agency familiar with the new Federal 

Publishing Council?

6. Best Office/Individual to Contact

If GPO has a question about one of your agency’s publications, to whom or to what 

office should it be addressed? The question may relate to accessibility, frequency, how 

to get copies, title change, etc. for digital or tangible publications.

 

86 The form for Document Discovery was discontinued October 20, 2017, and replaced with a referral to askGPO, 

GPO’s customer relationship management system. The URL to use now is https://www.gpo.gov/askgpo. The email 

address, docdiscovery@gpo.gov, remains valid.
57

APPENDIX III. Case Study Invitation Letter

Dear Federal Information Officer,

On behalf of the Federal Research Division (FRD) of the Library of Congress and the U.S. 

Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) Superintendent of Documents, we are issuing your 

agency an invitation to participate in case study research of Federal agency information 

publishing, dissemination, and preservation policies and practices. The study will rely heavily 

on the institutional knowledge of agency operating units and the willingness of key personnel 

in public information roles to participate in informational interviews.

We hope you will recognize the value of the project and will agree to contribute to the 

success of the research. An anonymized copy of interview findings and the final report will 

also be shared with participating offices so that they may share awareness and insights about 

the spectrum of Federal public information policies, strategies, and practices.

The broad goal of the study is to determine the impact that the migration of government 

information products from paper, microfiche, and other tangible media to Federal agency 

websites has had on the public’s ability to find and access these products on a continuing 

basis.

Statutory authority for the public information programs of the Superintendent of Documents 

(the Cataloging and Indexing Program, the Federal Depository Library Program, and GPO’s 

System of Online Access) can be found in 44 U.S.C. §§ 1710–11, 1901–5, 1911, and 4101–4. These 

sections of Title 44 obligate GPO to provide free permanent public access and comprehensive 

indexing to both tangible and digital U.S. Government information products.

The shift among Federal agencies from tangible to digital or online information products has 

drastically impacted these public information programs. While GPO is proactive in identifying 

and acquiring relevant agency content, acquisitions and preservation are not as comprehensive 

as they were in the ink-on-paper environment. Learning how agency policies and strategies 

have changed public information practices and products will go a long way in helping GPO 

accomplish its mission of Keeping America Informed. Armed with this knowledge, GPO will be 

able to better foster productive, collaborative relationships with agencies, and develop new 

strategies to transform and adapt acquisition workflows and processes for the digital era. 

GPO entered into an Interagency Agreement with FRD to conduct this study. A brief summary of 

the interview and reporting processes are below, and we are happy to provide more details as 

needed: 

 Interview participants may choose to be identified by name or not. Participants 

choosing not to be identified by name will be described by agency and general 

area of responsibility only (e.g., senior communications manager at the U.S. Dept. 

of Education).

 Interviews should take about one (1) hour. Interviewees may choose whether to 

conduct the interviews by telephone or in their offices. FRD anticipates conducting 

the interviews between May and July 2017.

 FRD would like to record the interviews for note-taking purposes only, but only if the 

interviewees provide their consent. FRD does not intend to transcribe the recorded 

interviews and would use the recordings only for quality control purposes.
58

 FRD will share summaries of the interviews with GPO. 

 In addition to the summaries shared with interview participants, a final report will be 

presented to the Federal depository library community and it will be available online.

FRD will follow up on this letter to discuss your possible participation, or that of others in your 

office. If you are interested in participating in this study, please respond to this letter by email or 

by telephone within five (5) business days. If you would rather not participate, FRD would also 

appreciate your response, so as to allow sufficient time to contact other candidates. 

Thank you for your consideration. Please contact Ramón Miró, the FRD Project Manager, 

by email (rmir@loc.gov) or by phone (202-707-1256) if you have any questions or concerns 

regarding the interview process or the application of the data derived from these meetings.

Sincerely,

__________________________________ _________________________________

Mukta Ohri

Chief, Federal Research Division

Library of Congress

mohri@loc.gov 

Laurie B. Hall

Acting Superintendent of Documents

U.S. Government Publishing Office

lhall@gpo.gov
59

APPENDIX IV. GPO Email Follow-Up

Dear Federal Information Officer,

By this time you should have received an invitation to participate in a case study of information 

publishing, dissemination, and preservation policies and practices in Federal agencies. The 

invitation originated from the Federal Research Division (FRD) of the Library of Congress, 

which is conducting the study on behalf of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO).

The Government’s transformation from print-on-ink publications to digital online information 

products has drastically impacted how the public finds and uses Government information. 

Through this case study GPO aims to improve its understanding of information lifecycle 

management in Federal agencies, and identify ways to enhance awareness of and access to 

public information through the Superintendent of Document’s Federal Depository Library 

Program (FDLP) and Cataloging and Indexing (C&I) Program.

I hope you are willing to allot a little of your time to share your agency’s experience for this 

study. If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please contact Ramón Miró, 

Project Manager, FRD, at rmir@loc.gov or 202-707-1256. Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

Laurie B. Hall

Acting Superintendent of Documents

U.S. Government Publishing Office
60

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baldwin, Gil. “Fugitive Documents—On the Loose or On the Run.” Presentation, American 

Association of Law Libraries Conference, Seattle, WA, July 15, 2003. Administrative Notes

24, no. 10 (August 15, 2003): 4‒8. https://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/historical-publica

tions/administrative-notes/2003-adnotes/904-administrative-notes-vol-24-no-10.

Garrison, Bruce, and Zonchao Li. “Communication from a Federal Agency: A Case Study of Social 

Media Use and Policy.” Paper presented to the Public Relations Division of the National 

Communication Association’s annual conference, Chicago, IL, November 20–23, 2014. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281033182_COMMUNICATION_FROM_A_

FEDERAL_AGENCY_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_SOCIAL_MEDIA_USE_AND_POLICY.

Internet Systems Consortium. “Internet Domain Survey: Distributions by Top-Level Domain 

Name (by hostcount).” January 2017. http://ftp.isc.org/www/survey/reports/current/

bynum.txt.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). 

This is Science: Goddard Space Flight Center Annual Report 2016, NP-2016-10-504-

GSFC. Greenbelt, MD: NASA, GSFC, 2016. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/

atoms/files/2016goddardannualreportsmall.pdf.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). “Bulletin 2010–02: Continuing Agency 

Responsibilities for Scheduling Electronic Records.” February 5, 2010. https://www.

archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2010/2010-02.html.

———. “Bulletin 2014–02: Guidance on Managing Social Media Records.” October 25, 2013. 

https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2014/2014-02.html.

———. “NARA Guidance on Managing Web Records: Roles and Responsibilities.” January 2005. 

https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/policy/managing-web-records.html#4.0.

Partnership for Public Service. “2017 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government Rankings: 

Participating Agencies and Agency Subcomponents.” Accessed April 11, 2018. http://

bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/all_agencies.

Ratner, Howard. “CHORUS: A Solution for Public Access to Scholarly Research.” Science Editor

37, no. 1 (2014): 12–14. http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wp-content/uploads/v37

n1p12-14.pdf.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Implementation Plan to Increase Public Access to Results 

of USDA-Funded Scientific Research. November 7, 2014. https://www.usda.gov/sites/

default/files/documents/USDA-Public-Access-Implementation-Plan.pdf.

———. U.S. Forest Service. “Forest Service Manual 1600: Chapter 1630; Publishing and Related 

Activities.” January 10, 2018. https://www.fs.fed.us/dirindexhome/fsm/1600/wo_1630_

amend_2018-1.doc.

U.S. Department of Commerce. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

“Administrative Order NAO 205-17A: Information Access & Dissemination.” 

Last revised June 14, 2013. http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/

administrative_orders/chapter_205/205-17.html.
61

U.S. Department of Energy. “Administrative Change to DOE Order 243.1B: Records Management 

Program.” July 8, 2013. https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/200-series/

0243.1-BOrder-b-admchg1/@@images/file.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 

(AHRQ). “AHRQ Publishing and Communications Guidelines: Appendix 2-B; Web 

Instructions for Grantees.” Last reviewed November 2016. https://www.ahrq.gov/

research/publications/pubcomguide/pcguide2apb.html.

———. AHRQ. “TalkingQuality.” Last reviewed October 2017. http://www.ahrq.gov/profession

als/quality-patient-safety/talkingquality/index.html.

———. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “CDC Enterprise Social Media Policy.” 

Last updated January 8, 2015. https://www.cdc.gov/maso/policy/SocialMediaPolicy508.

pdf.

———. CDC. “Data Dissemination.” PowerPoint presentation. Accessed March 25, 2018. 

https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/fetp/training_modules/21/datadissemination_ppt_final_09252013.pdf.

———. National Institutes of Health. Office of Management Assessment. “NIH Policy Manual: 

Chapter 6308; Acquisition of Printing Requirements at the NIH.” Accessed March 20, 

2018. https://policymanual.nih.gov/6308.

U.S. Department of the Interior. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “Manual: Chapter 1300; 

Publishing Records.” May 2009. https://www2.usgs.gov/usgs-manual/schedule/

432-1-s1/ch1300a.html#plan.

———. USGS. Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research at the U.S. Geological 

Survey: Scholarly Publications and Digital Data. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

the Interior, USGS, no date. https://www2.usgs.gov/quality_integrity/open_access/

downloads/USGS-PublicAccessPlan-APPROVED-v1.03.pdf.

———. USGS. “USGS Guidelines for the Preservation of Digital Scientific Data.” April 2014. 

https://www2.usgs.gov/datamanagement/documents/USGS%20Guidelines%20for

%20the%20Preservation%20of%20Digital%20Scientific%20Data%20Final.pdf.

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of 

Federally Funded Scientific Research Results. Washington, DC: DOT, December 16, 2015. 

https://cms.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Official%20DOT%20Public%20Access%20

Plan%20ver%201.1.pdf.

———. Federal Highway Administration. “FHWA Order 1370.14: Social Media/Web 2.0 

Management.” March 16, 2011. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/

orders/137014.cfm.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “VA Directive 6515: Use of Web-Based Collaboration 

Technologies.” June 28, 2011. http://www.va.gov/vapubs/viewPublication.asp?Pub_

ID=551.

———. Veterans Health Administration. “Records Control Schedule 10-1.” November 2017. 

https://www.va.gov/vhapublications/rcs10/rcs10-1.pdf.
62

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Environmental Information. “Information 

Access Policy.” January 24, 2008. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2013-

11/documents/21710.pdf.

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Technology Transformation Service. “Federal 

Government datasets.” Data.gov. Accessed February 3, 2017. https://catalog.data.

gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Government#sec-res_format.

U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). “Circular Letter No. 794: Disseminating Information 

Products to the Public through GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program.” October 19, 

2010. https://www.gpo.gov/docs/default-source/circular-letters-pdf-files/2010/cir794.

pdf?sfvrsn=55d06c3d_2.

———. “Federal Digital System (FDsys) Requirements Document (RD), Public Release Version 

3.2.” December 4, 2007. https://www.govinfo.gov/media/FDsys_RD_v3.2.pdf.

———. Office of Inspector General. Additional Information Needed for Ensuring Availability of 

Government Information Through the Federal Depository Library Program, Audit Report 

18–01. October 12, 2017. https://www.gpo.gov/docs/default-source/inspector-general/

audits/2018/18-01.pdf.

———. Office of the Superintendent of Documents (SOD). National Plan for Access to 

U.S. Government Information: A Framework for a User-Centric Service Approach to 

Permanent Public Access. Washington, DC: GPO, February 2016. https://www.fdlp.gov/

file-repository/about-the-fdlp/gpo-projects/national-plan-for-access-to-u-s-govern

ment-information/2700-national-plan-for-access-to-u-s-government-information-aframework-for-a-user-centric-service-approach-to-permanent-public-access.

———. SOD. “Public Policy Statement 2016-1: Scope of Government Information Products 

Included in the Cataloging and Indexing Program and Disseminated Through the Federal 

Depository Library Program.” February 5, 2008. https://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/

about-the-fdlp/policies/superintendent-of-documents-public-policies/2739-scope-ofgovernment-information-products-included-in-the-cataloging-and-indexing-programand-disseminated-through-the-federal-depository-library-program; 

———. SOD. “Public Policy Statement 2016-2: Content Scope for GPO’s System of Online 

Access.” March 29, 2016. https://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/about-the-fdlp/policies/

superintendent-of-documents-public-policies/2738-content-scope-for-gpo-s-systemof-online-access.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey:

Governmentwide Management Report. Washington, DC: OPM, 2017. https://www.opm.

gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-management-report/gov

ernmentwide-report/2017/2017-governmentwide-management-report.pdf.

VanRoekel, Steven. “Roadmap for a Digital Government.” White House Blog. May 23, 2012, 

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/05/23/roadmap-digital-government.

Vogt-O'Connor, Diane. “NARA’s Oldest Partnerships.” Prologue 38, no. 2 (Summer 2006). 

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/affiliates.html.
63

White House. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). “Appendix IV to Circular No. A-130.” 

Accessed March 20, 2018. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a130_

a130appendix_iv.

———. OMB. “Circular No. A-130: Managing Federal Information as a Strategic Resource.” 

Accessed May 22, 2018. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/

omb/circulars/A130/a130revised.pdf.

———. Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Memorandum: Increasing Access to the 

Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” February 22, 2013. https://obama

whitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo

_2013.pdf.

In addition to these sources and the websites of the profiled agencies and their parent 

organizations, the researchers consulted a number of Government websites, such as those 

managed by CENDI, GPO, NARA, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. They also visited 

agency blogs, including those for GSA and the Obama White House. Web-based data analytics 

platforms like Archive-It, the Internet Systems Consortium, and the End of Term Web Archive 

were used to evaluate the scope of the Federal digital publishing landscape. The research team 

investigated partnerships, particularly the Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United 

States and the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative, to see what examples or 

recommendations they could provide as GPO works to improve its information-capture 

capability; foster more productive, collaborative relationships with Federal agencies; and 

develop new strategies to transform and adapt existing acquisition workflows and processes 

for the digital era.