Accessing government documents should now be easier thanks to the work of two Cal Poly graduates at the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington D.C.
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) unveiled its Federal Digital System (FDsys) Jan. 15, an electronic database designed to provide easier access to government documents for the general public and the more than 1,250 libraries that participate in the Federal Depository Library Program.
“We want to make it really easy for users coming to the site for the first time,” said Blake Edwards, a Cal Poly graduate whose work has been key in the project.
Edwards graduated from Cal Poly’s graphic communication department in 2003 and managed University Graphics Systems, an on-campus commercial printing organization that is run entirely by students.
“He was a great student, very technologically astute, very focused and (he) was very involved with UGS,” said Harvey Levenson, chair of the graphic communications department. “He handled mostly very technical kind of things; software-related, hardware-related (and) computer-related things.”
Research for the FDsys started in 2003 and after technical market research, conceptualization for the FDsys (then called the Future Digital System) was underway by 2004, according to the Government Printing Office.
The project has employed about 70 people including contractors and GPO staff, and the cost has been in the neighborhood of $20 million so far.
The site itself utilizes a standard search bar for the interface but also features an “advanced users” link that allows users to select specific databases including congressional bills, documents and hearings, a compilation of presidential documents, congressional records and reports, federal register and public and private laws.
U.S. Public Printer Robert Tapella, a 1991 Cal Poly graduate and most recent College of Liberal Arts honored alumnus, said that the current eight databases, which house more than 154,000 documents, are just a starting point and that he would eventually like to archive documents “going as far back as the Federalist Papers.”
Tapella cited a need for the new system for multiple reasons, one being a need for quick access to information. The current system being phased out is GPOAccess, which can take up to several minutes per search.
“It’s a little bit antiquated,” Tapella said.
The exponential growth of the use of electronic documents since the early 1990s has created a need for a system like FDsys, which is capable of delivering information in seconds rather than minutes.
“More than 90 percent of all government documents are electronic,” Tapella said. “Some also have paper versions as well.”
The new system is also in step with a White House that has an agenda that encourages transparency and a president that is technologically savvy.
“What’s very interesting about what Blake is doing and the GPO is doing is that it’s in line with the current administration,” Levenson said. “Barack Obama himself is very astute, technologically astute, and he’s surrounding himself with people who are technologically astute. He now has a couple of very technologically astute Cal Poly people on his side.
“It’s interesting that they’re transforming the Government Printing Office to be really high-tech in an administration that wants all the agencies to go high-tech.”
Tapella met Edwards in January 2003 during Cal Poly’s International Print Week and was dazzled with the then-seniors’ potential.
“He impressed me and, so, I hired him,” Tapella said.
Edwards considers the project a “great opportunity to do a public service” and he will continue to work on FDsys, which is slated to expand to more than 50 databases in the next several years.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more for a job straight out of college,” Edwards said.