Accessibility

Permanent Public Access
Title 44 of the United States Code (44 U.S.C. Section 1911) stipulates that public access to official Government information products disseminated through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) must be maintained permanently in regional depository libraries and by depository libraries not served by a regional library. Since online products are not physically distributed to depository libraries for retention, GPO has assumed responsibility for the provision of permanent access to Government information products residing on GPO Access servers.

GPO's permanent public access commitment is also met by bringing agency-disseminated Internet resources under the purview of GPO and incorporating them into a digital archive. GPO captures copies of agency electronic information products, and creates PURLs so that users will be automatically redirected to the archived products if the information is no longer accessible on the agency Web site. Please refer to the report Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document for more information.


Section 508 / Accessibility
In 1998, President Clinton signed the Workforce Investment Act into law. This Act amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to include accessibility requirements for electronic and information technology. Section 508 now requires that electronic and information technology used by the Federal Government, including their Web sites, be made as accessible for people with disabilities as it is for people without disabilities. The U.S. Access Board has outlined specific accessibility standards for implementing Section 508, especially as it applies to Web pages.

The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has always had a commitment to accessibility. In the past, we have taken time to ensure that GPO Access complied with provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other accessibility concerns, whenever feasible.

Currently, GPO is working to ensure that existing pages on GPO Access are Section 508-compliant, and that future pages will be created specifically with these accessibility standards in mind.

Feel free to contact us for any reason, especially if you encounter barriers to accessibility on any of our Web pages. With your help, we can work together to ensure that GPO Access remains as accessible as possible. Please direct questions, comments, or recommendations regarding the accessibility of GPO Access to the GPO Contact Center.

More information about Section 508 can be found on: http://www.section508.gov.

Back to Top