The U.S. Government Publishing Office: Keeping America Informed in the 21st Century and Beyond.

On June 23, 1860, the 36th Congress of the United States approved a joint resolution that created the Government Printing Office (GPO), and directed the Superintendent of Public Printing to have executed the printing and binding of documents approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, and the executive and judicial branch departments. GPO began operation with 350 employees on the day that Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States, March 4, 1861. The GPO has a long history and it is a remarkable story. The Printing Act of 1895 overhauled existing printing laws and created a number of new authorities for GPO. Among them was to disseminate Government public documents through three channels: deposit in designated libraries; distribution to Government entities; and sales. Another new authority was to organize the Government’s information, with the provision of a cataloging and indexing program. From this landmark legislation came two important public information programs, the Cataloging and Indexing Program (C&I) and the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Both of these programs became integral to GPO’s mission of Keeping America Informed. More recently, with the increase in digital communication and expanding publishing technologies, GPO has streamlined and transformed from a print-only operation to an integrated publishing organization. Recognizing this, Congress re-designated the agency the U.S. Government Publishing Office on December 17, 2014. The GPO has continually transformed itself throughout its history by adapting to changing technologies. In the ink-on-paper era this meant moving from hand-set to machine type-setting to digital type setting; from slower manual fed presses to high speed presses; and from hand to automated bookbinding. New strategic priorities for GPO and a National Plan for Access to U.S. Government Information for GPO’s public information programs are guiding another transformation for Keeping America Informed in the 21st century and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]