The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

of the

United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

. The office produces and distributes information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, the

Executive Office of the President The Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The office consists o ...

, executive departments, and independent agencies. An

act of Congress An act of Congress is a statute enacted by the United States Congress. Acts may apply only to individual entities (called Public and private bills, private laws), or to the general public (Public and private bills, public laws). For a Bill (law) ...

changed the office's name to its current form in 2014.

History

Establishment of the Government Printing Office

The Government Printing Office was created by congressional joint resolution () on June 23, 1860. It began operations March 4, 1861, with 350 employees and reached a peak employment of 8,500 in 1972. The agency began transformation to computer technology in the 1980s; along with the gradual replacement of paper with electronic document distribution, this has led to a steady decline in the number of staff at the agency.

Headquarters and unique architecture

For its entire history, the GPO has occupied the corner of North Capitol Street NW and H Street NW in the District of Columbia. The large red brick building that houses the GPO was erected in 1903 and is unusual in being one of the few large, red brick government structures in a city where most government buildings are mostly marble and granite. (The Smithsonian Castle and the Pension Building, now the National Building Museum, are other exceptions.) An additional structure was attached to its north in later years.

Role and structure of the GPO

The activities of the GPO are defined in the public printing and documents chapters of Title 44 of the United States Code. The Director (formerly the Public Printer), who serves as the head of the GPO, is appointed by the President with the

advice and consent Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in List of enacting formulae, enacting formulae of bill (proposed law), bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts. It describes either of two situations: where a weak executive ...

of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The Director selects a Superintendent of Documents.

Superintendent of Documents and information dissemination

The Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) is in charge of the dissemination of information at the GPO. This is accomplished through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Cataloging and Indexing Program and the Publication Sales Program, as well as operation of the Federal Citizen Information Center in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. Adelaide Hasse was the founder of the Superintendent of Documents classification system.

Environmentally conscious initiatives

The GPO first used 100 percent recycled paper for the ''

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Ind ...

'' and ''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the government gazette, official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every wee ...

'' from 1991 to 1997, under Public Printers Robert Houk and Michael DiMario. The GPO resumed using recycled paper in 2009.

Official histories

The GPO has release several books over years that recount its history. One of the first books was released in 1881. The another book was first release in 1961 on the centennial of the office's creation describing its first hundred years of existence. The book was reprinted in 2010. In March 2011, the GPO issued a new illustrated official history covering the agency's 150 years of "Keeping America Informed". A revised version was release five years later in 2016. A picture book was released in 2017.

Name change and shift to digital publishing

With demand for print publications falling and a move underway to digital document production and preservation, the name of the GPO was officially changed to "Government Publishing Office" in a provision of an omnibus government funding bill passed by Congress in December 2014. Following signature of this legislation by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, the name change took place on December 17, 2014. File:Government Printing Office, restaurant - Washington, D.C..jpg, Government Printing Office, the restaurant in 1922 File:Machine shop in the Government Printing Office.jpg, Machine shop in the Government Printing Office File:Printing unemployment census questionnaires. Washington, D.C., Oct. 7. Scene at the Government Printing Office where 3,000,000 unemployment census questionnaires are being printed daily. LCCN2016872423.jpg, Scene at the Government Printing Office where 3,000,000 unemployment census questionnaires are being printed daily in 1937 File:Ready for postman. Washington, D.C., Oct. 7. After they are printed and folded for mailing at the Government Printing Office, the unemployment census questionaires are dumped into a mail LCCN2016878021.jpg, The mailroom in 1937 File:Unemployment census blanks prepared for mailing. Washington, D.C., Oct. 7. As rapidly as the presses in the Government Printing Office print the unemployment census blanks, workers trim and LCCN2016872425.jpg, As rapidly as the presses in the Government Printing Office print the unemployment census blanks, workers trim and mail.

GPO directors of the United States

Until 2014, the Public Printer headed the GPO. The position of Public Printer traces its roots back to Benjamin Franklin and the period before the American Revolution, when he served as "publick printer", whose job was to produce official government documents for Pennsylvania and other colonies. When the agency was renamed in December 2014 the title "Public Printer" was also changed to "Director". Davita Vance-Cooks was therefore the first "Director" of the GPO. The list of leaders for this governmental unit is located at Director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office#List of leaders.

Published government documents

Official journals of government

The GPO contracts out much of the Federal government's printing but prints the official journals of government in-house, * Public and Private Laws * The ''

'' * The ''

'', which is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations. * United States ''House Journal'' * '' United States Senate Journal'' *

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

United States Statutes at Large The ''United States Statutes at Large'', commonly referred to as the ''Statutes at Large'' and abbreviated Stat., are an official record of Acts of Congress and concurrent resolutions passed by the United States Congress. Each act and resolu ...

Passports

GPO has been producing U.S. passports since the 1920s. The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

began issuing e-passports in 2006. The e-Passport includes an electronic chip embedded in the cover that contains the same information that is printed in the passport: name, date and place of birth, sex, dates of passport issuance and expiration, passport number, and photo of the bearer. GPO produces the blank e-Passport, while the Department of State receives and adjudicates applications and issues individual passports. GPO ceased production of legacy passports in May 2007, shifting production entirely to e-passports. In March 2008, the '' Washington Times'' published a three-part story about the outsourcing of electronic passports to overseas companies, including one in Thailand that was subject to Chinese espionage.Bill Gertz
Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security
, ''Washington Times'', March 26, 2008

Trusted Traveler Program card

GPO designs, prints, encodes, and personalizes Trusted Traveler Program cards ( NEXUS, SENTRI and FAST) for the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

, Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

GPO publications

* '' Cumulative Copyright Catalogs'' * '' Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion'' (1870–88) * '' Official Records of the American Civil War'' * '' U.S. Congressional Serial Set'' GPO publishes the ''U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual''. Among the venerable series are ''

Foreign Relations of the United States The United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. This includes all United Nations members and observer states other than Bhutan, Iran, North Korea and Syria, and the UN observer Territory of Palestine. Additionally, the U ...

'' for the Department of State (since 1861), and '' Public Papers of the Presidents'', covering the administrations of Presidents

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

onward (except

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, whose papers were privately printed). GPO published the ''

Statistical Abstract of the United States The ''Statistical Abstract of the United States'' was a publication of the United States Census Bureau, an agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Published annually from 1878 to 2011, the statistics described social, political and econ ...

'' for the Census Bureau from 1878 to 2012.

Internet access to GPO publications

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the GPO Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act, which enabled GPO to put Government information online for the first time. One year later, GPO began putting Government information online for the public to access. In 2009, GPO replaced its GPO Access website with the Federal Digital System, or FDsys. In 2016, GPO launched GovInfo, a mobile-friendly website for the public to access Government information. GovInfo makes available at no charge the ''

'', the ''

'', Public Papers of the Presidents, the

U.S. Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

, and other materials.

GPO Police

Security and law enforcement for GPO facilities is provided by the Government Publishing Office Police. The force is part of the GPO's Security Services Division, and in 2003 it had 53 officers. Officers are appointed under Title 44

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

§ 317 by the Public Printer (or their delegate).

Mission

Their duty is to "protect persons and property in premises and adjacent areas occupied by or under the control of the Government Printing Office".

Jurisdiction and Authority

Officers are authorized to bear and use arms in the performance of their duties, make arrests for violations of Federal and state law (and that of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

), and enforce the regulations of the Public Printer, including requiring the removal from GPO premises of individuals who violate such regulations. Officers have concurrent jurisdiction with the law enforcement agencies where the premises are located. GPO Police Officers are required to maintain active certification with the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department as their agency holds a cooperative agreement with the city, granting GPO Police authority to enforce city laws and regulations to include Traffic Code.

References

External links

*
United States House and Senate Committee Hearings and Publications in the LOUISiana Digital Library
(archived 16 June 2011)
National Federation of Advanced Information Services
{{Authority control 1861 establishments in Washington, D.C.

Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal gove ...

Government agencies established in 1861 Printing in the United States State publishers United States government information *