The vast majority of government documents are handled by the Government Printing Office (GPO), which then deposits copies in over 1,300 Federal depository libraries across the nation. The GPO also puts much of the content online in a searchable fashion.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB, Executive Branch) has ordered government printing to be opened to competition and thus decentralized.
This is not the first time that the OMB has tried to harm the GPO; similar measures were proposed in 1987 and 1994. Congress issued strong warnings in both instances, saying that it was both not the OMB's place to make such a decision and that it would be bad policy.
The OMB doesn't seem to be backing down this time, despite the passage of a harshly worded resolution (HJ Res 124) warning against the move. If the OMB proposal takes effect, there will be less government material on the Internet and in our Libraries. Don't let them get away with it!
For background, the EFF recommends Miriam Drake, Is the GPO Endangered? from Information Today, August 5, 2002. I recommend the LA Times editorial for November 8, 2002, Chokehold on Knowledge: "The Bush administration's plan to strip the Government Printing Office's authority is a threat to democracy...."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/29/2002 10:01:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
