WASHINGTON – The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) partners with the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR) to make every issue of the Federal Register digitally available to the public.  A total of 14,587 individual issues, which go back to 1936, will be digitized.  GPO employees will hand pack and catalogue every issue. The project is expected to be completed in 2016. Currently, digital versions dating to 1994 to the present are available on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys).

The first issue of the Federal Register came off GPO presses and was published on March 16, 1936. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the first document, an executive order, to be published.  The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. It is updated daily by 6 a.m. and is published Mondaythrough Friday, except Federal holidays. 

“The digitization of every issue of the Federal Register is another example of GPO and OFR adapting to meet the changing needs of how the public gets Government information,” said GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks.  “I am proud of GPO’s 80 year relationship with OFR and how these two Government agencies continue to work together in making current and historic Government information available in multiple platforms.”

“I'm excited to "open the doors" to our library of Federal Register volumes,” said Oliver Potts, Director of the Federal Register.  “Digitizing these books and making them available online fills a critical gap in the official digital record.”