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GPO releases digital Congressional Record for the 1980s
Back in September, 2016, we posted about the project undertaken by the Government Publishing Office and Library of Congress to digitize the Congressional Record in its entirety back to 1873. At that time, GPO released volumes from 1991 – 1998 (covering the 102nd – 105th Congresses). Today, GPO issued a press release about the next segment of the Congressional Record publicly available online, this time from 1981 – 1990. All digital volumes 1981 – 2001 are now available on GPO’s GOVINFO site.
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) partners with the Library of Congress (LC) to release the digital version of the bound Congressional Record from 1981-1990 on GPO’s govinfo. This release covers debates and proceedings of the 98th thru the 101st Congresses. This era of Congress covers historical topics such as:
- Ronald Reagan’s Presidency and the first two years of George H.W. Bush’s Presidency
- The Strategic Defense Initiative
- The Space Shuttle program
- The Iran-Contra Affair
- The end of the Berlin Wall and the Cold War
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
GPO and LC released the digital version of the historical Congressional Record for the 1990s in September and will continue to collaborate on this important project and release digital versions of the bound Congressional Record back to the first one published by GPO on March 5, 1873. GPO publishes the Congressional Record in print and digitally on govinfo every day Congress is in session.
via GPO Issues Digital Release of Historical Congressional Record for the 1980s.
GPO & Library of Congress begin release of digitized Congressional Record
This is good news. Today GPO announced the first release of digitized volumes of the Congressional Record, part of a collaborative project between GPO and the Library of Congress. The plan is to go back to volume 1, 1873. So stay tuned for additional releases.
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) partners with the Library of Congress (LC) to release the digital bound Congressional Records from 1991-1998 on GPO’s govinfo. This release covers debates of the 102nd through the 105th Congresses.
This era of Congress covers historical topics such as:
The Persian Gulf War
Bill Clinton’s Presidency
NAFTA
Enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act
Republicans gaining control of both the House and Senate since 1954
GPO and LC will continue to collaborate on this important project and release digital versions of the bound Congressional Record back to the first one published by GPO on March 5, 1873. GPO publishes the Congressional Record in print and digitally on govinfo every day Congress is in session.
via GPO & Library of Congress Begin Digital Release of All Congressional Records.
Roundup of Recent Government Info News and New Resources
Time once again for a selection of news and new resources that we hope will be an interest to the FGI community. The following posts are from INFOdocket.com (@infofodocket) where we compile and post new items daily.
1. New iOS App From SEC: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission News
2. Just Released: Library of Congress Offers Congressional Record As iPad App
4. Asked and Answered Questions: U.S. Department of Education Releases Mobile Version of Answers.Ed.gov
5. Smithsonian Gets Dedicated Funds for Digitization and New Media, Will Spend $8.7 Million In FY 2012
6. The Library of Congress Names Gayle Osterberg Director of Communications
7. EPA Releases Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Online Database and Dataset Available
8. White Paper: “Authentication of Primary Legal Materials and Pricing Options”
9. Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Launches Mobile Web Site
10. Full Text Reference Resource: Trade & Development: UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2011
From the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
11. NARA Launches “Citizen Archivist Dashboard”
12. U.S. Bankruptcy Courts Begin Offering Online Chat Services
13. USDA Launches New Online Nutrition SuperTracker
14. New Database: Time-Series Plots of Phrases in U.S. Supreme Court Opinions (Legal Language Explorer)
15. Statistics: NLM Updates MEDLINE Indicators With FY2011 Numbers
WaPo reports: Federal government no longer subscribing to its own journal
Well, that headline is a bit misleading, but also a bit troubling. According to the Washington Post, the White House is ordering federal agencies to cancel print subscriptions to the Federal Register, the government’s own journal of official activities. “The move means that about 4,700 fewer editions of the Federal Register will be printed for executive branch agencies, saving the government at least 4 million annually, according to the White House.”
But this is a little misleading on the cost-saving front, and may mean that in Congress’ zeal to cut budgets, the GPO may not have the funding available to produce the Federal Register and other mandated and vital publications like the Congressional Record. Public Printer Bill Boarman, in a Mar. 17, 2011 Senate Appropriations hearing for the Government Printing Office, stated that 70% of the cost and work of publishing the Congressional Record is done in pre-press, and many of the same duties necessary to publish it in print are still necessary to put it out digitally.
In fact, there’s a new bill working its way through Congress now to further defund GPO’s ability to produce the record of the US government. The bill, H.R. 1626: Prevent the Reckless, Irresponsible, Needless Typography (PRINT) Act of 2011, was introduced 2 weeks ago by Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI). Stay tuned for more.
Needs Work: Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011
As part of the search to save federal dollars, Senator Tom Coburn has introduced S 674, the Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011.
This act may save up to $8 million a year by reducing “unnecessary” printing of the Congressional Record. You can find the text through Open Congress.
We at FGI are not opposed in principle to printing fewer copies of government publications as long as permanant public access and preservation issues are adequately addressed.
We don’t believe this particular bill does so. We see three main problems with the “Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011”:
- The bill only gives gpo 45 days to determine the appropriate number of printed archival copies. – There is little published research on the appropriate number of printed copies for preservation purposes, and most of the available research deals with periodicals. Some original research needs to be done specifically for government publications and this couldn’t be completed in 45 days.
- The bill is silent on where these copies should be stored. – This legislation directs GPO to determine a number of preservation copies, but doesn’t state where these copies would be stored. Will the copies provided to Congress count? Will geographic distribution be taken into account? Will some be mandated to be stored in libraries? We the public don’t know and we should before accepting a diminished number of copies.
- It misses an opportunity to deposit the electronic CR to depository libraries as an additional anti-tampering safeguard. – If the printed copy of the Congressional Record is going to be diminished, then assuring the authencity and permanent public access to the electronic Congressional Record will gain in importance. Keeping multiple electronic copies in non-federal hands would be an important safeguard against future alterations of the Congressional Record and ought to be considered by Congress.
If the Congressional Record is an interest of yours and you agree with our concerns, consider contacting your Members of Congress.
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