December 2018 Release Notes

Jump to: Statute Compilations | ISO 16363 Audit | New API | Beta USLM XML | Fixes and Enhancements | Recently Added Content | Feature Article Highlights | Coming Soon

The FDsys Website was Retired

GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) website was retired on December 14, 2018, and replaced with govinfo.

• FDsys links are now redirecting to govinfo. Learn more about the redirects.
• See a guide to finding certain FDsys resources on govinfo.
• These other GPO websites are not affected by the FDsys retirement: eCFR.gov, GPO.gov, U.S. Government Bookstore, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, FDLP.gov, Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government.

Read FAQs for more information.

Statute Compilations

GPO, in collaboration with the House Office of Legislative Counsel , Senate Office of Legislative Counsel, the Clerk of the House, and the Secretary of the Senate, are making available select Statute Compilations as a pilot project on govinfo.

An initial set of 40 Compilations was made available in October 2018, and additional Statute Compilations will be added to this collection over time.

Find Statute Compilations: Search | Browse | Search Tips | Learn more

Audit as a Trustworthy Digital Repository under ISO 16363

In December 2018, GPO staff held a series of onsite meetings with the external audit team responsible for evaluating GPO’s govinfo system against the ISO 16363 standard for certification as a Trustworthy Digital Repository. Throughout 2018, GPO has worked to become the first Federal agency to be certified and more information regarding results of the audit will be available soon.

Certification under ISO 16363 provides GPO stakeholders assurance that govinfo is a standards-compliant digital archive in which government information shall be preserved, accessible, and usable well into the long-term future.

Certification of govinfo validates GPO’s commitment to standards-based digital preservation practices and activities across 109 criteria in the areas of:

• Organizational Governance
• Digital Object Management
• Infrastructure and Security Management

Learn more about digital preservation of govinfo content.

New API

Use the govinfo API to request lists of new and updated govinfo content within several collections. The API provides machine-readable JSON summaries of packages or granules and direct access to content and metadata.

This initial release of the govinfo API includes the following endpoints:

• Collections Service - Lists documents that have been added or updated.
• Packages Service - Provides access to package level summary information, content files, and metadata.

An api.data.gov key is required to use the govinfo API. Use an existing key or request one for free. You will receive a 40 character string that provides unique identification and access to APIs from agencies participating in api.data.gov's service.

To use a key, pass the key as a URL query parameter when making web service requests. For example: https://api.govinfo.gov/packages/FR-2018-08-03/summary?api_key={YOUR_KEY_HERE}

Visit the API, take a tour, or see other available developer tools.

Beta USLM XML

Beta USLM XML is available for enrolled bills and public laws from the 113th Congress (2013) forward and for the Statutes at Large from the 108th Congress (2003) forward.

Download Beta USLM XML files in bulk on GPO’s Bulk Data Repository.

• Beta USLM XML for Enrolled Bills from the 113th Congress Forward
• Beta USLM XML for Public and Private Laws from the 113th Congress Forward
• Beta USLM XML for the Statutes at Large (at the full volume level) from the 108th Congress Forward

Download individual Beta USLM XML files by clicking the USLM button from:

• Browse pages: Congressional Bills, Public and Private Laws, or Statutes at Large (Expand the nodes to see available content and files)
• Details pages: see example of a bill, public or private law, or Statutes at Large Details page (Beta USLM XML is also available in the Zip file download from Details pages)
• Search results: see example of bills or public and private laws search results
  Note: Beta USLM XML will not appear in basic searches over the Statutes at Large because USLM is available only at the full volume level for Statutes and basic searches display only the smaller section level documents.

Download individual Beta USLM XML files from applicable browse pages.

Learn more about the USLM schema and projects.

Fixes and Enhancements

Note: Certain fixes and enhancements listed below may require content to be re-processed or re-published for the updates to take effect. This will be completed over a period of time. Content made available after these fixes and enhancements have been implemented will reflect the updates.

Search and Display

• Updated list of mapped queries when field operators are used in search. Mapped queries help make basic search results more relevant by mapping certain queries to specific publications. For example, if you enter public law 115-10 into the basic search box, content from only the Statutes at Large, Public and Private Laws, or Statute Compilations will be returned in results. See example.
• Fixed a bug with the Citation Search Get Bookmarable Link function on mobile devices.
• Truncated excessively long teaser text in search results.
• Fixed issue with related U.S. Code documents displayed under Related Documents on applicable Congressional Bills Details pages. See example. (Expand U.S. Code section to see results.)
• Fixed display of the Report Subtype field on applicable Congressional Reports Details pages.See example.
• Fixed display of Court Type filters in search results to show type name (e.g. Appellate).See example. (Scroll to see Court Type filter on left.)
• Added Public Law titles under Related Documents on applicable Compilation of Presidential Documents Details pages. See example. (Expand Public and Private Laws section.)

Repository and Preservation

• Upgraded the repository metadata editor that enables manual entering and editing of metadata.
• Automated the capturing of file fixity check events in PREMIS preservation metadata. Periodic fixity checks are performed to verify the integrity of all files within the repository. This process ensures that content within the repository is not corrupted and that the bit-level object content has been preserved intact since the point of ingest or last reprocessing.
• Added bill summaries, bill status, and e-CFR bulk data to the repository consistency check. The consistency check verifies that the files on the public site are consistent with the files in the internal repository.

Learn more about digital preservation of govinfo content.

Developer Tools

• Added a granule summary for the History of Bills in the API (GitHub API Issue #11 )
• Added congress values at the collection level for applicable collections (GitHub API Issue #20 )
• Added bill version links to bill status packages (GitHub Bill Status Issue #45 )
• Added Congressional Record Index to the API
• Enabled use of upper-case API keys
• Fixed API links for the U.S. Government Manual
• Enabled pre-rendering of HTML pages for pre-identified crawlers

See Developer Tools or visit us on GitHub.>

Processing

• Enabled persistence of metadata edits for Congressional Hearings granules. This ensures that edits made to the metadata are retained in the event of re-processing within the system.

General System Support and Maintenance

• Implemented automated redirects from FDsys to govinfo.
• Added customized analytics functionality for content and pages.

Recently Added Content

Unified Agenda, Fall 2018

November 16, 2018 - Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and the Regulatory Plan Available

Documents about the First World War

November 8, 2018 - In commemoration of the WWI centennial, The United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919 is made available

Federal Register Index

November 1, 2018 - Find the most recent cumulative monthly edition (January - most recent available) for the current year and the cumulative annual (January - December) editions for previous years (back to 2013)

Feature Article Highlights

Government Publications Trivia

December 12, 2018 - Use govinfo to find the answers

Tribute to George H.W. Bush

December 6, 2018 - A collection of documents and images

Anniversary of the Appointment of the First Female U.S. Ambassador

October 28, 2018 - Helen Eugenie Anderson appointed by President Truman in 1949

See all feature articles.

Coming Soon

Some things we're working on next.

• API enhancements
• Search and display fixes and enhancements
• Additional digitized content