GPO Digital Repository Achieves Highest Global Standard for Excellence
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) makes history by becoming the first organization in the United States and second organization in the world to achieve the highest global standard of excellence for digital repositories. The Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorization Body Ltd. awarded GPO ISO 16363:2012 for govinfo, the one-stop site to authentic, published Government information. GPO achieved the certification by meeting official criteria for trustworthy repositories as defined by experts in the field.
ISO is the International Organization for Standardization and the world’s largest developer of international standards used by Government, business and new information technology companies. The standard achieved by GPO outlines the expectations for digital repositories to be certified as “trustworthy,” meaning that they are implementing digital preservation practices to ensure long-term preservation and access. Certification under ISO 16363 will provide assurance to the public that govinfo is a standards-compliant digital archive in which Government information will be preserved, accessible, and usable into the long-term future. The certification demonstrates that not only the documents themselves, but also the organizational structures and systems around those documents, maintain integrity.
“This certification reconfirms GPO’s mission of providing the public authentic, published information on the three branches of the Federal Government,” said GPO Acting Deputy Director Herbert H. Jackson, Jr. “I am proud of our employees for attaining this certification, which emphasizes the important work GPO does for our country.”
Certification has been a key GPO strategic initiative since 2015. GPO was evaluated against 109 criteria that assessed GPO’s organizational infrastructure (adequate staffing, staff knowledge, policies and procedures), digital object management (content management and access), and security risk management (plans in case of a system failure).
GPO is the Federal Government's official, digital, secure resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government. The GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of 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 Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats. GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through www.govinfo.gov, partnerships with approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program, and our secure online bookstore. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov.
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