The Digitizing Of GPO
by Bob Neubauer
When the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia prepared to release Judge Thomas P. Jackson's "Findings of Fact" in the Microsoft case in November of 1999, the court contacted the U.S. Government Printing Office. GPO was asked to make advance preparations for the rapid dissemination of the document. GPO, as always, was ready for the challenge.
Judge Jackson's decision was announced at 4:30, and the court sent a printed copy and a disk version of the 207-page document to GPO, where print production began immediately. Covers had been produced in advance. By 6:30, when GPO's main bookstore reopened, copies were available. By 8:30, 147 had been sold.
Meanwhile, GPO made digital versions of the findings available on its Web site in WordPerfect, PDF and HTML formats. It established a specific URL for this information (usvsm.gpo.gov). In the first hour of release, the site experienced 152,000 successful connections.
For GPO, the largest in-plant in the country, such monumental projects have become second nature.
Now in its 139th year of existence, GPO drastically changed itself over the past few years from a strictly ink-on-paper provider to a high-tech digital data delivery organization. The public downloads some 20 million documents a month from GPO Access, GPO's Web site (www.access.gpo.gov). Because of this major change in the way people want to receive information, GPO has expanded its focus on the online world.
"We're putting more and more electronic products up, which seems to be what the public wants," notes Public Printer Michael DiMario. He recently signed a request for more Internet bandwidth in the form of a T3 line to accommodate the anticipated demand.
The successful online dissemination of the Microsoft findings was welcome news for those who remember the initial posting of the Starr Report last year, when GPO Access was jammed with traffic, which clogged the system.
"We took certain steps to upgrade the number of T1 lines that we have and install additional servers," notes Andrew M. Sherman, director of congressional, legislative and public affairs. A BigIP load balancer, served by five T1 lines, helped to make sure that heavy volume didn't freeze some visitors out.
Over the past few years, Sherman notes, online delivery has helped to decrease print volume—as well as outside procurement. (Also contributing were shrinking government budgets and fewer requested copies.) Concurrently, the skills of GPO's work force have migrated more toward the electronic end.
But print is still strong. GPO's two new Krause America LX170 computer-to-plate systems are now up to speed, Sherman says, and they're being used to run plates for all major publications, including the Congressional Record and the Federal Register. The new passport bindery line is operational, as well. And with 7.5 million passports passing through GPO last year, the line has its work cut out for it.
In the next decade, DiMario says, GPO will strengthen its efforts to share its expertise with other government agencies. Already it has expanded its Federal Printing and Electronic Publishing Institute, which offers courses to help agencies deal with technological changes in information processing.
GPO also hopes to provide digital access to even more government documents in the future, he says.
As for GPO's size, DiMario doesn't see it changing much. GPO has already downsized dramatically in the 1990s. In 1994 it employed 1,701 production personnel; today there are 1,173.
"We're probably scaled back as much as we can be...without some potential problems," observes DiMario. "We've got a very professional work force. The results speak for themselves."
Key Equipment
• Macintosh, PC computers
• Nine CD Recorders
• 10 CD publishing workstations
• Two CD-ROM duplicators
• Numerous servers
• DEC Alpha 100, 1000/A, 3000 systems
• Five imagesetters
• Two wide-format plotters
• Two computer-to-plate systems
• Scanners
• Laser printers
• 19 sheetfed presses
• Three 25x38˝ web presses
• Five 35x50˝ web presses
• Two 223⁄4x36˝ web presses
• Five envelope presses
• 19 cutters (up to 85˝)
• Two three-knife trimmers
• 13 folding machines
• Four gathering, binding, stitching machines
• One automatic passport system
• Various drilling, sewing, punching, laminating, stamping equipment
