United States Government Publishing Office

Establishment of the Government Printing Office

The Government Printing Office was created by congressional joint resolution (12 Stat. 117) on June 23, 1860. It began operations March 4, 1861, with 350 employees and reached a peak employment of 8,500 in 1972. The agency began transformation to computer technology in the 1980s; along with the gradual replacement of paper with electronic document distribution, this has led to a steady decline in the number of staff at the agency.

Headquarters and unique architecture

For its entire history, the GPO has occupied the corner of North Capitol Street NW and H Street NW in the District of Columbia. The large red brick building that houses the GPO was erected in 1903 and is unusual in being one of the few large, red brick government structures in a city where most government buildings are mostly marble and granite. (The Smithsonian Castle and the Pension Building, now the National Building Museum, are other exceptions.) An additional structure was attached to its north in later years.

Role and structure of the GPO

The activities of the GPO are defined in the public printing and documents chapters of Title 44 of the United States Code. The Director (formerly the Public Printer), who serves as the head of the GPO, is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director selects a Superintendent of Documents.

Superintendent of Documents and information dissemination

The Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) is in charge of the dissemination of information at the GPO. This is accomplished through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Cataloging and Indexing Program and the Publication Sales Program, as well as operation of the Federal Citizen Information Center in Pueblo, Colorado. Adelaide Hasse was the founder of the Superintendent of Documents classification system.

Environmentally conscious initiatives

The GPO first used 100 percent recycled paper for the Congressional Record and Federal Register from 1991 to 1997, under Public Printers Robert Houk and Michael DiMario. The GPO resumed using recycled paper in 2009.

Official histories

The GPO has release several books over years that recount its history. One of the first books, History of the Government Printing Office (at Washington D. C.), was released in 1881. 100 GPO Years 1861–1961 was first released in 1961 on the centennial of the office's creation describing its first hundred years of existence,. and reprinted in 2010.

In March 2011, the GPO issued a new illustrated official history celebrating 150 years, titled Keeping America Informed. A revised version was release five years later in 2016. A picture book, Picturing the Big Shop, was released in 2017.

Name change and shift to digital publishing

With demand for print publications falling and a move underway to digital document production and preservation, the name of the GPO was officially changed to "Government Publishing Office" in a provision of an omnibus government funding bill passed by Congress in December 2014. Following signature of this legislation by President Barack Obama, the name change took place on December 17, 2014.