By Ginger Whitaker
Federal News Radio

Going into a new year, one agency has a new moniker to reflect its changing mission. The Government Printing Office is now known as the Government Publishing Office.

“Publishing” more accurately describes GPO’s role and focus on digital platforms in providing access to government information and documents, according to a news release. Davita Vance-Cooks, the agency’s chief executive officer, has long been pushing for the name change.

“We want this name change, because we are just much more than a print operation,” Vance-Cooks said last year in an interview on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. “We want it to more accurately reflect the function of what we do today. We produce digital products, utilize digital equipment, embrace digital processes, create digital databases, develop apps — we just do so much more than print. We are a publishing operation.”

GPO prints the Congressional Record, Federal Register, bills and other official documents, and also maintains the online database, Federal Digital System (FDSys). GPO estimates that 97 percent of federal documents produced today are “born digital,” meaning they are published to the Web and not printed.

GPO previously laid out its digital strategy leading up to 2017, including plans for further app development. The agency developed its first mobile app in late 2011, and has since created other apps, including one that offers a picture directory of members of Congress.

The name change was part of Section 1301 of H.R. 83, recently passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this month. Vance-Cooks also took on an updated title with the passing of the legislation. She is now Director of the Government Publishing Office, rather than “public printer.”

The bill does away with outdated language from the original legislation creating the agency requiring the President’s pick for GPO director to “be a practical printer and versed in the art of bookbinding.” It also removes repeated male references in the original language of the legislation, such as “he” and “his” used to describe the agency’s director.

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