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. Today we consider 44 USC 1706, which states:

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1706. Printing and sale of extra copies of documents The Public Printer shall furnish to applicants giving notice before the matter is put to press, not exceeding two hundred and fifty to any one applicant, copies of bills, reports, and documents. The applicants shall pay in advance the price of the printing. The printing of these copies for private parties may not interfere with the printing for the Government. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1279.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 114 (Jan. 12, 1895, ch. 23, Sec. 42, 28 Stat. 607; June 30, 1932, ch. 314, Sec. 307, 47 Stat. 409).

This is another section of the law where I needed some extra help in interpreting it, so I consulted with my favorite Title 44 expert. Paraphrasing what she told me, this section allows people or companies who are aware that a given document is going to published to purchase up to 250 copies prior to the Government Printing Office (GPO) deciding whether that given item will be sold through the Sales Program. Apparently not everything is. Sometimes these are standing orders – like someone wanting a printed copy of everything produced by the Judiciary Committee. It is my understanding that few firms take advantage of this provision, and my source believes there is nothing objectionable about this practice. I don't see anything wrong with it either. If there are any mistakes made above, you can assume they are mine and not those of the person I consulted. One thing I didn't ask about is how people who don't have standing orders get notified of upcoming documents. Anyone out there know about that? Next time, which should be next week, we'll look at the portion of Title 44 that allows GPO to make reprints of government documents. Nice to know that some documents were popular enough to require multiple printings! 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. Now that you have discovered that I am not infallible, which I hope you realized before now from the weekly disclaimer, let us turn to the next section of the Sales program law, Sec. 1702. Superintendent of Documents; sale of documents ----------------------------------------

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1702. Superintendent of Documents; sale of documents The Public Printer shall appoint a competent person to act as Superintendent of Documents who shall be under the control of the Public Printer. When an officer of the Government having in his charge documents published for sale desires to be relieved of them, he may turn them over to the Superintendent of Documents, who shall receive and sell them under this section. Moneys received from the sale of documents shall be returned to the Public Printer on the first day of each month and be covered into the Treasury monthly. The Superintendent of Documents shall also report monthly to the Public Printer the number of documents received by him and the disposition made of them. He shall have general supervision of the distribution of all public documents, and to his custody shall be committed all documents subject to distribution, excepting those printed for the special official use of the executive departments, which shall be delivered to the departments, and those printed for the use of the two Houses of Congress, which shall be delivered to the Senate Service Department and House of Representatives Publications Distribution Service and distributed or delivered ready for distribution to Members upon their order by the superintendents of the Senate Service Department and House Publications Distribution Service, respectively. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1279.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Secs. 71, 73 (part) (Jan. 12, 1895, ch. 23, Sec. 61, 28 Stat. 610; June 25, 1910, ch. 384, Sec. 1, 36 Stat. 770; Aug. 7, 1946, ch. 770, Sec. 1(62), 60 Stat. 871). This section incorporates only part of former section 73. The balance will be found in section 308 of the revision. ``House of Representatives Publications Distribution Service'' is substituted for ``House Folding Room'' because of the change of name under authority of Public Law 88-652. Section Referred to in Other Sections This section is referred to in section 4102 of this title; title 28 section 594.

------------------------------------------------ The main thing I want you take from this section and our prior consideration of 44 USC ch. 19 is that the Superintendent of Documents is in charge of two potentially mutually exclusive programs. On the one hand this section of the law puts her in charge of the sales of public documents. In Chapter 19 of Title 44, she is named as the head of the Federal Depository Library Program, which mandates free public access to government information through the depository library system. Taken together, the law requires the Superintendent of Documents to provide free access to government information products while finding effective ways to sell them. One view, understandably held by current Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell, is that the Depository and Sales programs are complementary. As she stated in her justified correction of my last installment:

By providing a means for individuals and organizations to purchase copies of Federal government publications, the GPO Sales Program complements free public access through tangible depository collections and free online access. It will continue to serve the public by providing an alternative to using tangible Federal publications in libraries or downloading/printing copies from the Internet.

Prior to the Internet age, I believe the programs were complementary. If you wanted to view a government document but were unwilling or unable to pay for it, you could go to one of the nation's Federal Depository Libraries. If you wanted copies of government documents for your own use, or faster than a library could receive and process them, then you could walk into a GPO Bookstore or order documents by mail. In the early 1990s, I worked in the library of the Los Angeles office of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers. As an acquisitions clerk, when I needed to get a government document fast, all I had to do was walk several blocks to the Los Angeles Government Printing Office (GPO) book store. It was great. They were well stocked and the staff were always friendly and professional. In age of paper, the sales program and the depository system did different things. For my lawyers at O'Melveny, it wouldn't have made sense to find a depository and borrow the document. For someone interested in a part of a single report, it wouldn't make sense to buy the whole thing when they could copy a page at a depository library. In an Internet age, I can see at least two potential major conflicts between the sales program and the depository program. First is that if GPO ever wants to sell electronic information products, they will have no alternative but to restrict depository access to that product. Otherwise, why would you buy a subscription to that product? Some of the ways that free access could be crippled but still "provided" are:

1. Limit access to the information product to the physical depository library, thus forcing people to walk into a building if they want free access.
2. Provide a simultaneous user license to allow depositories to provide remote access to a few users.
3. Provide a DRM crippled version of an information product for free and a fee licensed version for greater functionality.

For a few products NOT sold by GPO, the future is now. Stat-USA and publications from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Online Document Library are two databases that GPO has been able to obtain free access for depositories on the condition that access must take place within the bricks and mortar of the depository library and only a few people at a time may access the product. Unsurprisingly, since it might diminish subscriptions, neither the Stat-USA site nor the NCDC site informs you that free access through depository libraries is available. If you're a regular citizen, you'd get the impression that you would need to shell out several hundred dollars for access to either site. A very high barrier when you just want to know the rainfall in Des Moines for 1999. As far as I'm aware (and I hope GPO staff will correct me if I'm wrong), there is currently no electronic product directly produced by GPO that is being sold to the public. But this could change. It's all a matter of policy and I see nothing in the law to stop sales of electronic information as long as some kind of free access is provided, even if it is inconvenient to citizen end users. The second potential conflict that I see between the sales program and the depository program is tangible products being restricted to sales products and libraries forced to link to an electronic product, whether or not it is the proper format for users. We almost saw an example of this with the recent publication of: American Military History, V. 1: The United States Army and the Forging of a Nation, 1775-1917 American Military History, V. 2: The United States Army in a Global Era, 1917-2003 (Casebound-Paper) Paper copies of these two volumes were initially offered for sale, but not made available through the depository program except in online format. This may have been done through a defensible reading of SOD 301 - Superintendent of Documents Policy Statement, which states in part:

3. When the product is available both online and in a tangible format, the standard practice will be to disseminate the online version to depository libraries. At the time an online publication is identified for inclusion in the FDLP, it is captured and stored in the GPO electronic archive, unless GPO has an interagency agreement for permanent public access to the material. A tangible product will be distributed only if the online version is: a. Incomplete. For example: i. Online products that contain only selected or abstracted portions of the content provided in its entirety in the tangible product, or ii. Kits comprised of mixed media tangible products where only a portion of the title is online. b. Not recognized by the publishing agency as the controlling official version of a publication. That is, the publication is placed online for informational purposes and when discrepancies exist between the tangible and online versions, the tangible version takes precedence and is viewed as the controlling official version.1 c. Not easily identifiable as an official publication. For example, this can occur when the electronic version is on a non-verifiable Government or unofficial web site. d. Very difficult to use, thus impeding access to data or content. For example this can occur when the product design imposes technological barriers to usage. e. Not cost-effective. The costs associated with disseminating the online product exceed those for the tangible product. For example, this situation may arise with fee-based online services. f. Fee-based, and created, all or in part, through the use of non-appropriated funds. For example, this can occur when the publishing agency designates the product as cooperative as provided in 44 U.S.C. Sec. 1903.

Although a defensible reading of SOD 301, it was a disappointment as one could argue that long books are in fact difficult to use in online format, especially if it is a PDF document being delivered over a slow connection. Some of the discussion about this document on govdoc-l noted that there was another part of SOD 301 that could have authorized tangible distribution (emphasis mine):

4. If a product is disseminated to depository libraries online and a tangible format is available, the tangible product will also be distributed if the tangible product meets special conditions or needs, i.e., when: a. There is a legal requirement to distribute the product in tangible format, e.g., Journals of the House and Senate; b. The tangible product is of significant reference value to most types of FDLP libraries, as may be the case with certain compilations, legal resources, permanent legal records or products of historical importance; c. The tangible product is intended to serve a special needs population. For example, this could occur when the publication is in Braille or large print; d. The commonly accepted medium of the user community is tangible format. For example, this could apply to maps and/or charts; or e. The product is essential to the conduct of Government. GPO has identified a list of "Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper or Other Tangible Format" [http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/estitles.html]. When those titles are published in tangible format they will be made available for selection by depository libraries in that format. i. If an agency ceases to publish an Essential Title in tangible format in favor of online dissemination, GPO will request electronic files suitable for printing from the publishing agency and its authorization to reproduce and distribute the title to depository libraries.

I think most depository librarians would agree that a two volume history of the US Army up to 2003 would definitely fall under 4(b) of SOD 301. In the end, it looks like GPO agreed with the community and obtained more physical copies to distribute to selecting libraries after considerable outcry on govdoc-l. But a process like the one above insures only that items the community immediately notices for sale will get into the program in tangible format, even when a printed book may be a much better format, particularly for older users who are interested in history. Next time we will skip over a few provisions of 44 USC ch. 17 and consider sec 1706, which allows private parties to have short print runs of documents done by GPO. 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. After a few weeks hiatus, I'm ready to tackle another major section of Title 44 that affects the dissemination of government information and Federal Depository Libraries. I'm speaking of 44 USC chapter 17: Distribution and sale of public documents. While this is a section of law that many depository librarians, myself included, wish didn't exist, it does and so needs to be examined. In addition, it was first proposed with good intentions. In an age of paper, the Sales Program helped provide some of the funding needed to make publications freely available to the public through Federal Depository Libraries. In a mostly electronic age I believe that the existence of the sales program is a direct threat to free access to government information, at least to access at times and places of a citizen's choosing. But I'll more to say about the interactions current and possibly future between the depository program and the sales program after we've concluded our examination of chapter 17. Unless people ask questions either through comments or by e-mailing me at dnlcornwall AT alaska.net We begin our consideration of chapter 17 with Sec. 1701:

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1701. Publications for public distribution to be distributed by the Public Printer; mailing lists Money appropriated by any Act may not be used for services in an executive department or other Government establishment at the District of Columbia, in the work of addressing, wrapping, mailing, or otherwise dispatching a publication for public distribution, except maps, weather reports, and weather cards issued by them or for the purchase of material or supplies to be used in this work. The Public Printer shall perform this work at the Government Printing Office. The head of an executive department, independent office, and establishment of the Government at the District of Columbia, shall furnish from time to time to the Public Printer mailing lists, in convenient form, and changes in them, or penalty mail slips, for use in the public distribution of publications issued by the department or establishment. The Public Printer may furnish copies of a publication only in accordance with law or the instruction of the head of the department or establishment issuing the publication. This section does not apply to orders, instructions, directions, notices, or circulars of information printed for and issued by an executive department or other Government establishment or to the distribution of public documents by Senators or Members of the House of Representatives or to the Senate Service Department, House of Representatives Publications Distribution Service, and document rooms of the Senate or House of Representatives. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1278.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 95 (Aug. 23, 1912, ch. 350, Sec. 8, 37 Stat. 414; July 2, 1954, ch. 455, title I, Sec. 101, 68 Stat. 397). ``House of Representatives Publications Distribution Service'' is substituted for ``House Folding Room'' because of the change of name under authority of Public Law 88-652. The term ``executive department, independent office, and establishment of the Government'' is substituted for ``executive department and other Government establishment'' for uniformity. Section Referred to in Other Sections This section is referred to in section 1722 of this title.

As near as I can read this section, it seems to keep maintenance of mailing lists of items with the agencies, while insuring that agency money won't be used in mailing publications to customers. But if a publication is being distributed within the government only, then the agency picks up the distribution tab. If someone has some better insight, please offer it in the comments. Next time we will look at 44 USC 1702, which spells out some of the sales duties of the Superintendent of Documents, the same official who is in charge of the Federal Depository Library Program. [Update - July 25, 2006] I was mistaken about the Sales Program EVER subsidizing the depository program. Here is the the real story straight for Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Russell, Judith C. (SuDoc)" To: "'Discussion of Government Document Issues'" Cc: Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:05 AM Subject: RE: New Discussions at FGI: July 24, 2006 In his most recent analysis of Title 44, Dan Cornwall states: "In an age of paper, the Sales Program helped provide some of the funding needed to make publications freely available to the public through Federal Depository Libraries." The GPO Sales Program is by statute a self-sustaining program. Revenue from the Sales Program has never been used to fund the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which receives its funding from annual Congressional appropriations. By providing a means for individuals and organizations to purchase copies of Federal government publications, the GPO Sales Program complements free public access through tangible depository collections and free online access. It will continue to serve the public by providing an alternative to using tangible Federal publications in libraries or downloading/printing copies from the Internet. Judy Russell Judith C. Russell (jrussell@gpo.gov) Managing Director, Information Dissemination (Superintendent of Documents) U.S. Government Printing Office Phone: 202-512-0571 Fax: 202-512-1434

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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. Today I conclude my examination of Federal Depository Law (though NOT Title 44) with Sec. 1914. Implementation of depository library program by Public Printer. In choosing to stop here, I will not comment on two other sections of depository law:

• Sec. 1915. Highest State appellate court libraries as depository libraries.
• Sec. 1916. Designation of libraries of accredited law schools as depository libraries.

If you really want to see those sections, just look them up in 44 USC ch. 19. Now, for Section 1914:

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 19--DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Sec. 1914. Implementation of depository library program by Public Printer The Public Printer, with the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing, as provided by section 103 of this title, may use any measures he considers necessary for the economical and practical implementation of this chapter. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1287.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 81c (Pub. L. 87-579, Sec. 10, Aug. 9, 1962, 76 Stat. 356).

As I read this section, this part of the law gives the Public Printer a considerable amount of discretion in administering the Federal Depository Library Program, as long as his or her measures do not directly violate other provisions of 44 USC ch. 19. I believe this flexibility is a good thing. It means that the Government Printing Office (GPO) can deal with digital publications without waiting for legislation from Congress. It means that it can work with depositories to improve service to users of government information without taking every little matter back to Congress. I do not know for certain, but it is probably part of the statutory justification for the Future Digital System. On the down side, this means that librarians and other users of federal information have a heavy burden of proving that GPO is not acting in the interests of the government information community. For instance, GPO could institute heavy duty Digital Rights Management and/or charge users merely to view documents from home and not be in violation of Title 44, provided they made some provision that people could physically go a library and access the content – though not necessarily be able to print it out. To date, while GPO has tried to sell information over the Internet in the past, they have not tried to lock down documents. But there's no legal barrier to doing so, which is possibly part of the reason they are insisting on a policy neutral system for the Future Digital System. What motive could GPO have for wanting to restrict electronic information in the future? Well, that relates to the next section of our journey through Title 44. The next few months of this series will take us to 44 USC Ch. 17-- Distribution and Sale of Public Documents. Before I hear anyone boo that the government should NEVER have sold information paid by the taxpayers in the first place, let me say that when this part of the law was put into place decades ago, it was to promote the free access of government information through depositories. In an age of paper, it made sense. But more about that next time in Part 11 of our journey. For now, I'd like to see if anyone has questions, comments or challenges to the first ten parts of this layman/practitioner analysis. If you have any, please either put them in comments below, or drop me a line at dnlcornwall AT alaska DOT net. If you do e-mail me, please let me know whether you mind me giving a public response through the blog and whether I can use your name. 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. Today we examine the part of USC Title 44 that deals with the depository librarian's best friend – the Regional depository. Regionals are covered in Sec. 1912:

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 19--DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Sec. 1912. Regional depositories; designation; functions; disposal of publications Not more than two depository libraries in each State and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be designated as regional depositories, and shall receive from the Superintendent of Documents copies of all new and revised Government publications authorized for distribution to depository libraries. Designation of regional depository libraries may be made by a Senator or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico within the areas served by them, after approval by the head of the library authority of the State or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as the case may be, who shall first ascertain from the head of the library to be so designated that the library will, in addition to fulfilling the requirements for depository libraries, retain at least one copy of all Government publications either in printed or microfacsimile form (except those authorized to be discarded by the Superintendent of Documents); and within the region served will provide interlibrary loan, reference service, and assistance for depository libraries in the disposal of unwanted Government publications. The agreement to function as a regional depository library shall be transmitted to the Superintendent of Documents by the Senator or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico when the designation is made. The libraries designated as regional depositories may permit depository libraries, within the areas served by them, to dispose of Government publications which they have retained for five years after first offering them to other depository libraries within their area, then to other libraries. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1286.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 84a (Pub. L. 87-579, Sec. 9, Aug. 9, 1962, 76 Stat. 355.) Section Referred to in Other Sections This section is referred to in section 1911 of this title.

As the law above indicates, the three most important things to know about Regional libraries is that one they receive all tangible products distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program, they provide interlibrary loan and reference service to libraries within their region, and no selective library can dispose of unwanted Government publications without a Regional. This makes them sort of libraries of last resort when a selective library in the area cannot obtain a given government publication or gets stuck on a government information reference question. To libraries blessed with a good Regional librarian, the Regional is kind of like a guardian angel. I'd like to take this moment to celebrate Herrick Heitmann, the current Regional librarian at the Washington State Library, and his predecessor, Arlene Weible, late of the University of North Texas and now on staff at the Oregon State Library. Both of them have been very generous with time and resources when my library needed help with documents and reference questions. This despite the fact that my library is in Alaska and they were in Washington state. Officially, Alaska's seven selective depository libraries are part of the Washington system, but not all of Herrick and Arlene's predecessors treated us that way. But both Herrick and Arlene regularly communicated (Herrick still communicates) with their northern charges. For that I am very grateful. The gushing compliments above point out a fact not made clear by section 1912. While two depository libraries in each State and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be designated as regional depositories, not every state has a regional. Along with Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming are served by Regionals outside the state. According to the latest listing from the Government Printing Office (GPO), there are 53 regionals. In recent years, GPO has proposed reducing the number of Regionals as a way to save on distribution costs. Some librarians agree with this approach, but others feel it is a minimum level of geographic dispersion. I fall into the second group. Additionally, I think it is clear is that if the number of regionals is significantly decreased, then the level of service they can provide to libraries and individuals will suffer. At a time when people are saying that they expect more help from their libraries with government information reducing the number of Regionals offering expert assistance seems like an unwise move. Next time we'll tackle a very short section (Sec. 1913. Appropriations for supplying depository libraries; restriction) of the depository law that I'm not sure how much light I can throw on, but thought you should be exposed to. I'd really appreciate it if anyone actually familiar with Sec. 1913 would drop me a line at dnlcornwall AT alaska.net. Continue reading →

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