The Government Printing Office (GPO) has a mission to provide perpetual free access to the print and digital collections of the U.S. Government. Public Law 103-40, passed in 1993, expanded GPO’s mission to include the provision of electronic access to federal government information. Starting in June 1994, GPO accomplished this mission using a web platform called GPO Access, but since 2004 a transition has been taking place to move documents from GPO Access to FDsys, the government’s new content management system. The GPO ceased updating GPO Access as of Nov. 2011, and now new content will only be loaded into FDsys.
FDsys contains documents from 50 collections of Government information. Popular publications used for business include the Code of Federal Regulations, the Economic Report of the President, Economic Indicators, the Federal Register, and the U.S. Code. A full list of FDsys collections is available to browse. This page also contains a link to Browse Federal Agency Internet Sites by Topic where users will find a Business & Economy category with links to popular agencies such as the U.S. Small Business Administration. The link to Federal Agency Internet Sites provides access to all the independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve, the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.
Enhanced search capabilities in FDsys let users browse collections, run basic and advanced searches, and search by citation. Using the Advanced Search feature, users can limit their search by publication, date and document features such as title or government author. The citation searching is guided by examples showing how to create the citation structure.
The archival capacity and multiple search features make FDsys a much improved site for searching government documents. Give it a try the next time you need government data or information to support your paper or project. If you need assistance, be sure to ask a reference librarian!
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