The Government Publishing Office issued the public release of the new GovInfo.gov, a beta site that will eventually replace the Federal Digital System as GPO's central portal for official government documents.
While GPO already has an online repository, the new site boasts a number of new features, such as responsive design (primarily for mobile users), quick links for popular publications and shareable social media content.
Beta Site: Discover U.S. Government Information
The site is currently in beta and GPO is interested in hearing feedback about what works and what doesn't.
"GovInfo does what no other government site can do," GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks said after the new site went live, "Provide the public with a one-stop site to authentic, published government information."
As of the Feb. 3 launch, there are more than 1.5 million documents archived on the site, including the Congressional Record, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations and the federal budget.
The new site is part of GPO's general trend toward a more digital infrastructure. The office even changed its name back in December 2014, swapping "Printing" for "Publishing" to reflect the shift to more digitization.
"GPO has been a leader in adapting to the way the public receives government information," Vance-Cooks said. "Our employees were the first to provide digital access to this treasure trove of information in 1994. Today, GPO gives the public the next generation of this robust system."
Since the site is a work in progress, there are more features on the way. Soon, users will be able to search documents by author (rather than just date, branch/agency or alphabetically) and developers are working on a more robust help feature.
Users can provide feedback and suggest new features using a survey linked to from the new site.
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
