In order to adjust to the changing times, a federal government office has proposed to change its name during a congressional hearing earlier this month.
Davita Vance-Cooks, the U.S. Government Printing Office‘s public printer, testified before the Committee on House Administration about GPO in 2023: Keeping America Informed in a a Post-Print World Dec. 4. During her testimony she mentioned the hope to change the entity’s name to the Government Publishing Office since it has expanded its offerings to a variety of digitally-based services, including publishing information digitally and producing apps and e-books.
“With more than 95 percent of government information being published digitally, the time has come for our name to reflect that. We are the Government Publishing Office,” Vance-Cooks said. “GPO’s current name reflects a century and a half of proud tradition and history, but it is limiting. It doesn’t describe what we do anymore. GPO is the nation’s publisher and our future lies in providing government information to the American people in the forms and formats they want and need.”
The GPO is the federal government’s official resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating and preserving its information products. Its digital efforts support President Obama’s Roadmap for a Digital Government and the National Academy of Public Administration’s recommendations.
