U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Has Digitized the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
From the GPO:
The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has digitized the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, a historical list of publications the Federal Government produced from 1895 to 2004, as well as other historic government publication indexes. Librarians, scholars, students, and the general public can use these indexes to find historic publications of the U.S. Government. These indexes have been digitized and published for the public to access for free on GPO’s govinfo, the one-stop site for authentic information published by the Government.
“Digitizing these indexes is the latest example of GPO’s continuing effort to capture Government information and make it available for the public to access,” said GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern. “These government document indexes provide the public with an easy way to view the historical account of what our Federal Government produced over time and expand the discoverability of historic publications for the public.”
The very first publication listed in the Monthly Catalog is a Diplomatic list for the Department of State from April 1895. Users can find the author, published date, and title of a variety of historic publications in the indexes, from WWII rationing posters to publications on UFOs to the Warren Commission Report, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In addition to the Monthly Catalog, GPO has digitized several other indexes, including the Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the United States, a chronological listing of publications produced by Congress and Executive branch agencies between September 5, 1774 and March 4, 1881. This catalog is commonly referred to as Poore’s, after compiler Benjamin Perley Poore.
Access the Monthly Catalog and Other Government Document Indexes
Filed under: News, Patrons and Users, Publishing
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.