GPO to Digitize Every Issue of Federal Register

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) is planning to digitize all 14,587 issues of the Federal Register going back to 1936 in partnership with the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR). GPO employees have already started hand packing and cataloging every issue. The work will be done by an outside vendor, with completion of the project expected in 2016.

Currently, digital versions of the Federal Register dating from 1994 to the present are available on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys). The first issue of the Federal Register came off GPO presses and was published on March 16, 1936. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the first document to be published, an executive order. The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. It is updated daily by 6 a.m. and is published Monday through Friday, except on federal holidays.

“The digitization of every issue of the Federal Register is another example of GPO and OFR adapting to meet the changing needs of how the public gets Government information,” says GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks. “I am proud of GPO’s 80-year relationship with OFR and how these two government agencies continue to work together in making current and historic government information available in multiple platforms.”

“Digitizing these books and making them available online fills a critical gap in the official digital record,” adds Oliver Potts, director of the Federal Register.