United States Congress
Federal Agencies
Libraries
Public
United States Congress
GPO is the printer of key congressional documents such as Congressional Bills, Public Laws, Congressional Record, Congressional Calendars, and the United States Code. In addition to the role of printer, GPO is a distributor of Congressional material, both print and electronic to depository libraries and sales to the public, and through other statutory distribution programs.
Benefits
- Submitting jobs electronically will reduce acquisition time and costs associated with sending files to GPO;
- Batch submission of content will reduce time associated with sending files to GPO;
- Online job tracking will provide instant access to information about your orders.
Our Outreach with United States Congress
The Office of the CIO staff maintains working relationships with the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and the Congressional Research Service. Our ongoing Voice of the Customer (VOC) meetings seek to gain a better understanding of the unique requirements of the U.S. Congress.
VOC from Congress has focused on the following:
- Authentication of official Congressional documents
- Timely and robust access to Congressional information
- Version control to track changes to ensure accurate information
- Composition system replacement to accept XML inputs
Upcoming Activity
GPO recently concluded beta testing with representatives from the Congressional community.
Federal Agencies
GPO serves as a primary source for the printing and publishing needs of the Federal Agencies. GPO's primary services are producing print and related products, procuring publishing services, providing consulting services, and providing permanent public access to Federal information.
Benefits
- Submitting jobs electronically will reduce acquisition time and costs associated with sending files to GPO;
- All agency content and procurement related information will be stored in one place. Researching past orders and developing reports will be easy.
- Estimating tools will offer more accurate estimates at your convenience;
- Online job tracking will provide instant access to information about your orders;
- Detailed billing information will help you track expenses and create reports.
Our Outreach with Federal Agencies
Outreach activities for Federal Agencies have primarily centered around one on one meetings with Federal Agency customers. To increase the efficacy of this Voice of the Customer (VOC) outreach, the Office of the Chief Information Officer has established the Interagency Council for Digital Content Submission (ICDCS). ICDCS serves as the primary VOC activity for the portion of FDsys known as Content Submission. It also provides insight into how an Agency gets their content to the public, how they manage print and electronic content, and determination of future plans for the management of content. There are currently 11 Agencies with representatives on the Interagency Council. If you are interested in joining the council email pmo@gpo.gov.
VOC from Federal Agencies has focused on the following:
- Electronic submission of content and ordering information
- Job tracking throughout the entire procurement and printing process
- Access to accurate and complete billing information
- Single interface for all user actions (e.g., the three listed above plus others such as submission of complaints)
Upcoming Activity
- February 2007 - Beta testing opportunities available Contact pmo@gpo.gov if you are interested in participating in beta testing
Federal Depository Libraries
GPO has enjoyed a long sustained relationship with the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The FDLP was established by Congress to ensure the American public has access to Government information. Since 1813, depository libraries have safeguarded the public's right to know by collecting, organizing, maintaining, preserving, and assisting users with information from the Federal Government. The FDLP provides Government information through designated depository libraries throughout the country and US territories. These depository libraries, in turn, provide local access to Government information in an impartial environment with professional assistance.
The Depository Library Council (DLC) was established in 1972 to provide advice on policy matters relating to the FDLP. The primary focus of the DLC's work is to advise the Public Printer, the Superintendent of Documents, and appropriate GPO staff on practical options for the efficient management and operation of the FDLP.
Benefits
- Chain of custody information will ensure that the information available is official and unaltered;
- Version tracking will ensure that the most up-to-date information is available for public access;
- Multiple search levels will decrease search time and increase the precision and recall of results;
- Preservation processes will increase customer confidence in permanent public access;
- Access to publication status information will enable users to determine the availability of publications;
- Automatic content delivery will make information available sooner;
- Libraries will be able to manage accounts, including preferences;
- Web harvesting and electronic content submission will increase the number of government publications available.
Our Outreach with the FDLP
Voice of the Customer (VOC) activities for FDLP partners have focused primarily on surveys of the FDLP community and focus groups. The Office of the CIO staff also provides comprehensive presentations to the FDLP Council Conference held every spring and fall. VOC from FDLP has focused on the following:
- Continued access to authentic and official Government publications
- Preservation to prevent technological obsolescence
- Access to digitized publications with full search capability
- Multiple levels of search capabilities
- Access to version information for content
- Ability to pull bibliographic records from GPO
Upcoming Activity
Library Survey Results
In August 2005, GPO submitted a survey to all Federal Depository Libraries to obtain valuable input from our library partners regarding proposed features and functions of GPOs Digital Information System (FDsys). More than 400 of the approximately 1,250 depository libraries responded to GPOs request for feedback. A summary of responses is available here. Terms used in the survey that some respondents indicated needed additional clarification have been defined here.
On December 1, 2004 GPO released a Strategic Vision with emphasis placed on authenticating, versioning, and preserving electronic Government content. Survey responses showed overwhelming support for GPOs concepts. The three most requested features were:
- Access to authentic and official Government publications
- Migration of digital media to prevent technological obsolescence
- Access to digitized publications with full search capability
- Respondents also expressed interest in multiple levels of search, access to the version information for a publication, and the ability to pull bibliographic records from GPO.
Public Benefits
- Provide access to more documents through harvesting and conversion;
- Capability to search anonymously will increase customer satisfaction;
- Chain of custody information will ensure that the information available is official and unaltered;
- Version tracking will ensure that the most up-to-date information is available for public access;
- Multiple search levels will decrease search time and increase the precision and recall of results;
- Access to publication status information will enable users to determine the availability of publications;
- Automatic notifications about specific publications based on customer preferences will increase customer satisfaction.
GPO Employees Stakeholders
The Office of the CIO has established an Intranet site to keep GPO employees informed of FDsys documentation and outreach activities. The site will be updated on a regular basis.
