June 16, 2003 -- With nearly a quarter of a million titles available online and free of charge, and with public retrievals exceeding 32 million every month, GPO Access  (www.gpoaccess.gov), a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), has become one of the principal tools for providing public access to official U.S. Government information.  As a result, by September 30, 2003, the Government printing Office will close all of its brick-and-mortar bookstore operations outside Washington, DC.   Before closing, bookstore customers can take advantage of low prices on remaining store stocks.  These items are being repriced at 25% of the original price.    "The GPO is remaking itself as an agency committed to using new technologies to meet the information demands of the 21st century," said Public Printer of the United States Bruce R. James.  "In the past our bookstores provided a great service, but the business of Government information production and delivery is changing, and we are not only changing with it, we will help lead that change."    The closings mark the latest in a series of developments marking the GPO's transformation into a primarily electronic information disseminating agency.  In addition to providing online access to Government information via GPO Access, GPO is actively transitioning its Federal Depository Library Program, serving 1,200 libraries nationwide, to a predominately electronic basis.   GPO offers an online bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov. The online bookstore's sales catalog includes all titles available for sale and can be searched by publication title, subject, or keywords. All titles can be ordered securely online using Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover/Novus credit cards, and customers have a rapid delivery option via FedEx.   Customers can also order Government publications from the GPO toll free by telephone from 866-512-1800, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time; by fax from 202-512-2250; or by mail from Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954.   Slated for closure are the GPO bookstores in Kansas City, Portland OR, Seattle, New York (these four will close July 1); Los Angeles, Denver, Pueblo CO, Detroit, Milwaukee (August 1); and Atlanta, Jacksonville FL, Pittsburgh, and Houston (August 29).  The store at the GPO headquarters in Washington, DC, will be reconfigured.  Since 2001, the GPO has closed bookstores in San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Birmingham, Cleveland, and Columbus, as well as a store in the Washington, DC, area.   In addition to being able to access Federal information and buy Government publications online, citizens can continue to locate and use Government information through any Federal depository library located near them.  To locate the Federal depository library nearest you, go to www.gpo.gov/libraries.