Tag Archives: title44

This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer” disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44.

Sec. 1712

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS

CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Sec. 1712. Documents for use of the Public Printer

The Public Printer may retain out of all documents, bills, and resolutions printed the number of copies absolutely needful for the official use of the Government Printing Office, not exceeding five of each.

(Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1281.)

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 81 (Jan. 12, 1895, ch. 23, Sec. 73, 28 Stat. 618).

This portion of the law makes it clear that the Government Printing Office (GPO) can retain documents for its own internal use. This portion of the law will come in handy has GPO digitizes materials still issued in paper and as it builds its National Collection.

I have to admit that I'm unsure of the history of the usage of this provision, which has been around since 1895, I imagine it was to have file copies available in case GPO was asked to provide a reprint. If someone else has better knowledge, I hope they will add something in comments.

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This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer” disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. Sec. 1711

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1711. Catalog of Government publications On the first day of each month the Superintendent of Documents shall prepare a catalog of Government publications which shall show the documents printed during the preceding month, where obtainable, and the price. Two thousand copies of the catalog shall be printed in pamphlet form for distribution. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 77 (Jan. 12 1895, ch. 23, Sec. 69, 28 Stat. 612).

A short section of Title 44 with a major purpose. This section, along with Sec. 1710' which we discussed last time;.designates the Government Printing Office (GPO) as the primary cataloger/describer of government publications, whether or not they fall within the Federal Depository Library catalog. Historically this was done through the Monthly Catalog, which is the direct subject of section 1711. In 1976, GPO began cataloging government publications into OCLC, making them easily machine searchable. Still more recently, the statutory authorities used to justify the Monthly Catalog are being used to plan for a comprehensive National Bibliography. Here is a description of the National Bibliography from GPO's 2005/2006 Information Dissemination Plan:

GPO's National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications (NB) is a collaborative, comprehensive catalog containing descriptions and locations of U.S. Government unclassified publications in all formats. It is not a traditional national bibliography in the sense of Canadiana , the national bibliography of Canada. Functionally, the NB will be a principal output of the Integrated Library System (ILS), Ex Libris' Aleph 500. GPO will develop one or more relational databases of library cataloging and other metadata records that describe and link to U.S. Government publications in a variety of formats and locations. The NB will utilize metadata resources created by GPO, by other agencies, and by partner institutions. The ILS' metasearch function will provide the capability to search across a distributed set of metadata resources from other institutions and display a combined result set. The public face of the ILS will be GPO's Online Public Access Catalog. Initially the NB database will consist of GPO-produced bibliographic records representing titles cataloged from 1976 to the present. Once the ILS initial implementation is completed in spring 2005, GPO plans to expand the NB database by adding pre-1976 records, records created by cooperative cataloging partners and other institutions, as well as records converted from other bibliographic or metadata formats. Enhancing the NB database with records for historical publications is a project that will span multiple fiscal years, while adding records for new publications is an ongoing effort.

The Online Public Access Catalog mentioned in the plan is now available at http://catalog.gpo.gov. A search of the catalog reveals some pre-1976 records, and more are probably being added all the time. I wish them well in their work. Be sure to thank Congress for giving the job of describing government documents to somebody, or we'd be more lost than we are today. Continue reading →

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This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer” disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. Sec. 1710

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1710. Index of documents: number and distribution The Superintendent of Documents, at the close of each regular session of Congress, shall prepare and publish a comprehensive index of public documents, upon a plan approved by the Joint Committee on Printing. The Public Printer shall, immediately upon its publication, deliver to him a copy of every document printed by the Government Printing Office. The head of each executive department, independent agency and establishment of the Government shall deliver to him a copy of every document issued or published by the department, bureau, or office not confidential in character. He shall also prepare and print in one volume a consolidated index of Congressional documents, and shall index single volumes of documents as the Joint Committee on Printing directs. Two thousand copies each of the comprehensive index and of the consolidated index shall be printed and bound in addition to the usual number, two hundred for the Senate, eight hundred for the House of Representatives and one thousand for distribution by the Superintendent of Documents. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 76 (Jan. 12, 1895, ch. 23, Sec. 62, 28 Stat. 610).

When I first came across this law, I thought that it might be the statutory authority to create the US Serial Set, and I still believe this to be the case. It is more. According to chapter one of the Federal Depository Library Manual, 44 USC 1710, together with 44 USC 1711 are the statutory authorities for the the Cataloging and Indexing Program which provides for bibliographic control of Government documents. This is a surprising situation for me. Cataloging government publications seemed to be tied into sales program law (chapter 17), while shipping government publications is under a different section (chapter 19). We librarians so strongly association cataloging with libraries that it's hard to picture cataloging as formally part of the Sales program; at least in statutory authority. I have to confess that I don't know where all the serial set volumes go. It seems like the House and Senate are getting twice as many as each individual Representative or Senator would need. Additionally, I'm not sure that 1,000 are still produced for distribution by the Superintendent of Documents. According to a recent FDLP-L posting, the Serial Set is only distributed to regionals in each state plus one copy per state without a regional. So I'd suspect that the others are not being produced. If someone with more information could comment, feel free! Next time we will examine the other surprising piece of sales program law, the Catalog of Government Publications. Continue reading →

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This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer” disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. 44 USC 1709:

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1709. Blank forms: printing and sale to public The Public Printer may print for sale by the Superintendent of Documents to the public, upon prepayment, additional copies of approved Government blank forms. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 94 (June 7, 1924, ch. 303, Sec. 1, 43 Stat. 592).

I really don't have too much to say about this section of Title 44 other than to marvel that it took an Act of Congress to empower the Government Printing Office to sell blank government forms. You could say that this section of law symbolizes the difficulty of reforming anything about government publishing and distribution – so many seemingly minor things are written into statute that even minor reforms take Congressional action. On the other hand, it has been good insurance against the Federal Depository Library Program being wiped out entirely in favor of selling all government information. Another reason that I just had to highlight this section is the fact that the government is empowered to sell blank forms makes it understandable that some agencies should have an Index of blank forms! Continue reading →

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This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my “not a lawyer” disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. 44 USC 1708

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1708. Prices for sales copies of publications; crediting of receipts; resale by dealers; sales agents The price at which additional copies of Government publications are offered for sale to the public by the Superintendent of Documents shall be based on the cost as determined by the Public Printer plus 50 percent. A discount of not to exceed 25 percent may be allowed to book dealers and quantity purchasers, but the printing may not interfere with prompt execution of work for the Government. The Superintendent of Documents may prescribe terms and conditions under which he authorizes the resale of Government publications by book dealers, and he may designate any Government officer his agent for the sale of Government publications under regulations agreed upon by the Superintendent of Documents and the head of the respective department or establishment of the Government. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280; Pub. L. 95-94, title IV, Sec. 409(a), Aug. 5, 1977, 91 Stat. 683; Pub. L. 103-69, title II, Sec. 207(b), Aug. 11, 1993, 107 Stat. 708.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 72a (June 30, 1932, ch. 314, Sec. 307, 47 Stat. 409). Amendments 1993--Pub. L. 103-69, in first par., struck out at end ``Receipts from general sales of publications in excess of the total costs and expenses incurred in connection with the publication and sale thereof, as determined by the Public Printer, shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of miscellaneous receipts.'' 1977--Pub. L. 95-94 substituted ``Receipts from general sales of publications in excess of the total costs and expenses incurred in connection with the publication and sale thereof, as determined by the Public Printer,'' for ``Surplus receipts from sales''. Effective Date of 1993 Amendment Amendment by Pub. L. 103-69 effective Oct. 1, 1993, see section 207(c) of Pub. L. 103-69, set out as a note under section 309 of this title. Effective Date of 1977 Amendment Section 409(b) of Pub. L. 95-94 provided that: ``The amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section] shall take effect on October 1, 1977.'' Section Referred to in Other Sections This section is referred to in sections 1504, 4102 of this title.

Surprising as it may seem, Congress placed limits on how much the Government Printing Office (GPO) could charge for government documents. Those who weren't surprised by Congress setting limits might be surprised that that price is higher than the cost of producing the item. I speculate that the original purpose was to get a little more money for the general treasury. Up until 1993, this section of the law required any funds receive over and above the costs of production be deposited into the US Treasury. Public Law 103-69 deleted that provision, allowing (I believe) excess funds to stay with GPO to be plowed back into the sales program. Unfortunately for the sales program, 1993 was the same year that Public Law 103-40, known as the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Enhancement Act of 1993 passed Congress. That legislation created GPO Access, a wonderful source of free government information (after a short-lived attempt at a pay service) that largely killed bread and butter subscription to titles like the Federal Register and the Congressional Record. But we will save a full discussion of PL 103-40 and related laws until our journey reaches 44 USC ch. 41, Access to Federal Electronic Government Information. Next time we will examine the law of blank forms and tie this hopefully serious look at Title 44 to our Best Titles Ever! Continue reading →

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