U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
SALARIES AND EXPENSES

APPROPRIATIONS LANGUAGE

For expenses of the Office of Superintendent of Documents necessary to provide for the cataloging and indexing of Government publications and their distribution to the public, Members of Congress, other Government agencies, and designated depository and international exchange libraries as authorized by law, [$30,307,000] $30,827,000, of which not to exceed $500,000 shall be available for grants to Federal Depository Libraries for the acquisition of information technology equipment and capabilities necessary to provide public access to Government information in electronic formats: Provided, That travel expenses, including travel expenses of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer, shall not exceed [$130,000] $150,000: Provided further, That funds, not to exceed $2,000,000, from current year appropriations are authorized for producing and disseminating Congressional Serial Sets and other related Congressional/non-Congressional publications for [1994 and] 1995 and 1996 to depository and other designated libraries.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISION

[Sec. 210. The fiscal year 1997 budget submission of the Public Printer to the Congress for the Government Printing Office shall include appropriations requests and recommendations to the Congress that

(1) are consistent with the strategic plan included in the technological study performed by the Public Printer pursuant to Senate Report 104-114;

(2) assure substantial progress toward maximum use of electronic information dissemination technologies by all departments, agencies, and other entities of the Government with respect to the Depository Library Program and information dissemination generally; and

(3) are formulated so as to require that any department, agency, or other entity of the Government that does not make such progress shall bear from its own resources the cost of its information dissemination by other than electronic means.]

Chapter 19 of title 44, United States Code, is amended to insert the following:

Sec. 1917.

Components of the Government publishing information dissemination products falling under the purview of Section 1902 of this Chapter shall provide the Superintendent of Documents with electronic source data files of those products at the time of publication.

Sec. 1918. Publishing components shall notify the Superintendent of Documents at such time as they initiate, substantially modify, or terminate an electronic information dissemination product or service.

Those

Sec. 1919. Publishing components shall notify the Superintendent of Documents of their intent to initiate an electronic information dissemination product or service. components shall further authorize the Superintendent of Documents to either obtain, on an incremental cost basis, copies of such products which are produced or procured elsewhere than through the Government Printing Office; or, establish an agreement with the Superintendent of Documents whereby the Superintendent of Documents will reimburse the publishing component the incremental costs associated with depository library usage of the information service.

Sec. 1920. The Public Printer will issue guidelines for components of the Government to implement Sections 1917, 1918, and 1919 of this chapter. Components that fail to comply with these guidelines and Sections 1917, 1918, and 1919 of this chapter shall bear the full cost of producing copies of products necessary for depository libraries as may be required pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and will provide such copies to the Superintendent of Documents for distribution.

Sec. 1921. Definitions.

As used in this chapter-

(1) The term "publishing component" means an agency of the
Federal Government which makes its information dissemination
products or services available for public use or access.
(2) The term "information dissemination product" means a
Government publication as defined in Section 1901 of this
Chapter, including any book, paper, map, machine-readable
data recorded on a physical substrate, audiovisual

production, or other documentary material, regardless of
other characteristics.

(3) The term "information dissemination service" means any
information which falls under the purview of Section 1902 of
this Chapter which is available to the public electronically
from a Federal computer facility or site.

(4) The term "electronic source data files" means the
digital information used to produce a Government information
dissemination product, as defined in this Section.

(5) The term "on-line public access" means that information
is made accessible electronically over the Internet, or any
successor network, without regard for the storage media
which holds the data, or the searching mechanisms employed
to access it.

SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATION ESTIMATES
SALARIES AND EXPENSES

FISCAL YEAR 1997

The Office of the Superintendent of Documents operates under a separate appropriation which provides funds for: (1) the compilation of catalogs and indexes of Government publications; (2) the mailing for Members of Congress and other Government agencies of certain Government publications, as authorized by law; (3) the distribution of Government publications to designated depository libraries; and (4) the distribution of Government publications to the International Exchange Program. These four functions are related to the publication activity of other agencies and to the demands of the public, Members of Congress, and depository libraries. Consequently, the Office of the Superintendent of Documents can exercise little control over the volume of work which it may be called upon to perform. A description of these four functions follows:

Cataloging and indexing. The Office of the Superintendent of Documents is charged with preparing catalogs and indexes of all publications issued by the Federal Government. The principal publication is the "Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications."

Bylaw Distribution for other Government agencies and Members of Congress. The Office of the Superintendent of Documents maintains mailing lists and mails, at the request of Government agencies and Members of Congress, certain publications specified by public law.

Depository Library Distribution. As required, Government publications are supplied to libraries which are designated as depositories for Government information. In recent years, while there has been increasingly greater dissemination of information to depository libraries in electronic formats such as CD-ROMs and on-line access, print has still been predominant. The

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) must now change from a print environment to an electronic environment.

In accordance with Section 210 of Public Law 104-53, this budget submission includes appropriation requests and recommends a tactical transition plan which will be consistent with the long range strategic plan (due March 1996) called for pursuant to Senate Report 104-114. Entitled The Electronic Federal Depository Library Program: Transition Plan, FY 1996 - FY 1998, this plan is included as a part of this budget submission. Also included with this budget submission are proposed amendments to Chapter 19 of Title 44, United States Code, which are consistent with paragraphs (2) and (3) of Section 210 of Public Law 104-53. A key assumption of the "Transition Plan" is that nearly all of the information provided through the FDLP will be electronic by the end of fiscal year 1998. Information which has been distributed to depository libraries in paper and microfiche formats will be available instead via remote electronic access or will be disseminated in a physical electronic format for local access at a depository library. The shift will occur through a transition as Federal agencies in all three branches of Government increasingly originate and publish their information electronically. However, to move the transition forward at a faster pace before the proposed changes to Chapter 19 of Title 44 are in effect, information provided to the Superintendent of Documents in a non-electronic format will be converted to achieve cost-effective access that is appropriate to the type of information.

In an electronic FDLP, both the depository libraries and the Superintendent of Documents will assume new roles and responsibilities. Many depository libraries will have to accelerate their plans to obtain public access work stations, and deal with the demand for local printing and downloading. They will have to balance the needs to provide users with assistance in using electronic access services while at the same time providing access to the historical Government information contained in their pre-electronic documents collections. Another key assumption of the "Transition Plan" is that the responsibility for ensuring long-term access to electronic information will shift from the depository libraries to the Superintendent of Documents. In the electronic FDLP, connections to electronic access services operated under the authority of the Superintendent of Documents replace the geographically-dispersed

collections of books and microfiche.

This implies new and different tasks and expenses. To provide long-term access to data, the Superintendent of Documents assumes such costs as data preparation for mounting agency electronic source data files, as well as maintenance, storage, and ongoing costs to minimize deterioration and assure technological currency.

The "Transition Plan" details basic assumptions and policies and lays out actions necessary to accomplish the rapid transition to an electronic FDLP.

International exchange. The Office of the Superintendent of Documents distributes Government publications to foreign

governments which agree, as indicated by the Library of Congress, to send to the United States similar publications of their governments for delivery to the Library of Congress.