Part 13: Nonlawyer’s journey through Title 44: Printing and sale of extra copies of documents
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
Check out The Gov Doc
Washoe County Library System librarian Ian Campbell has started a new blog called The Gov Doc that looks like it will deal with local, state and federal documents of interest to Nevadans and others. In his first entry, Ian says:
Blogging is new to me and I will be working and learning to make this an informational site for postings on new developments in federal, state, and local government publications, both in book and electronic formats.With about a post a week so far, Ian seems to be well on his way to realizing his goals. I especially appreciate his intention to "link to a local document of current interest at least once a week" because local documents are usually the hardest to come by. Thanks Ian, for reaching out to your users and the rest of us in this way! The blog is located at http://washoegovtakes.blogspot.com/ and the RSS feed is http://washoegovtakes.blogspot.com/atom.xml if you'd like to subscribe to it through Bloglines. I have. Continue reading
Harris Corp Gets FDsys Contract
Harris Corporation of Melbourne, FL has been awarded the contract for GPO's Future Digital System (FDsys). You can read about the award, announced on August 4, in several places: - GPO's FDsys Blog - GPO's Press Release and Fact Sheet [PDF] - Federal Computer Week article - Government Computer News article Continue reading
Lunch with a Lobbyist
Last week I had lunch with a lobbyist. No martinis, just iced tea. (It was 100 degrees outside and I did not want to go up in flames.) I am an independent information professional, and my niche is working to meet the information needs of Washington public policy professionals. If I only talk with other librarians (which I love to do), I have no clue about what is going on with my market. I heartily endorse the FGI mission to “initiate dialogue…among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information.†Say what you will about lobbyists, they need and use government information. And this lobbyist knows a lot about government information, but not so much about what government documents librarians are up to these days (digitization, electronic preservation, web services, etc.). So much is changing in the government documents/information world that we, librarians, have a hard enough time keeping up with it ourselves. We shouldn’t be surprised when those in other knowledge professions have not kept up with our changes. I have no doubt that many librarians reading FGI are engaged in getting the word out with projects far more ambitious than having lunch with a lobbyist on a hot August day. Any successes or ideas to share? Does anyone speak at conferences outside of the library sphere? Write for, or blog for, or otherwise engage those non-library stakeholders? Continue reading
UK’s Domesday Book now online
I know, we usually focus on US documents, but I thought this was pretty cool. The Domesday Book, the UK's oldest surviving public record, has been made available online by the UK National Archives. The public can now search the 920-year old Book by name of town, city or village. In 2005 it was voted the nation's finest treasure, yet a recent survey conducted in conjunction with today´s launch revealed that less than 1 per cent of the population have actually been to see the original in The National Archives' museum.
At Christmas 1085 William the Conqueror commissioned a great survey to discover the resources and taxable values of all the boroughs and manors in England. He wanted to discover who owned what, how much it was worth, and how much was owed to him as King. It was a massive enterprise, and the record of that survey, Domesday Book, was a remarkable achievement.Continue reading