In an environment in which most documents are created, transmitted
and consumed electronically, the Government Printing Office has released
a five-year strategic plan focused on turning the government’s printer into a digital information platform.
“The demand for printed publications has declined while there has
been exponential growth in digital requirements,” the plan says. “GPO is
transforming its business model to a content-centric model, focusing on
managing content for customer and public use today and tomorrow.” This
calls for increased use of electronic media.
The direction is not a new one for the 151-year-old GPO, which has
been shifting its focus from ink-on-paper toward digital documents for
the last 18 years. What is new is the speed and extent of the
transformation, said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks.
“Any agency that has lasted as long as we have has had a history of
change,” Vance-Cooks said. “The change we are experiencing today is far
more rapid than anything we have experienced before.”
The level of sophistication expected by GPO customers is increasing,
she said. “We are putting the information into any format that is
wanted. We have to make sure that we watch the trends.”
GPO has been making documents and publications available online since
1994, when it created the GPO Access Web site. This was upgraded to the
Federal Digital System (FDsys)
portal in 2009, which included the ability to digitally sign and
authenticate online documents, giving them the status of official
records. This is an important element of GPO’s digital document
management, Vance-Cooks said.
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