Future Digital System

The FDsys is a digital content system, which will form the backbone of GPO's future operations. It will allow providers of content i.e. government agencies to submit content, which will be managed and stored for future retrieval.

Included in the FDsys will be all known Federal Government documents within the scope of GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), whether printed or born digital. This content will be entered into the system and then authenticated and catalogued according to GPO metadata and document creation standards. Content may include text and associated graphics, video and sound and other forms of content that emerge. Content will be available for Web searching and Internet viewing, downloading and printing, and as document masters for conventional and on-demand printing, or other dissemination methods.

This is a pretty lofty goal for an agency that hasn't been able to articulate its plans for an electronic depository system for the last 12 years it has been in the works. However, as skeptical as I am, I am also excited. The idea of being able to provide government information to all citizens any time any place free of charge is exhilarating to say the least. If GPO can pull this off, it will be quite a coup.

I do still worry about the current Public Printer's desire to charge for access to government information. And about the willingness of some members of the depository community to go along with that. But that's another rant for another time.