Several months ago, I posted a question to the group about electronic access
to the Federal Register.  I had spotted an article in the Chronicle of
Higher Ed last June that indicated that legislation was signed into law that
would require the GPO to make the FR available electronically for a
"reasonable fee".  At the time, no one on the group seemed to know more than
I did about the implementation of this law.

Because it is the end of May, and the law is to be implemented in June, I
though the GPO must have some sort of plan by now, so I called them this
morning.  I spoke with Gil Baldwin from the Library Programs Service.  I
told him that I would be posting this information to a listerv for Research
Administrators, and he asked that we try and refrain from calling with
questions until they have a chance to get some information out to people
that should answer most questions.

I found out that as of June 8, 1994, the Federal Register will be available
at NO CHARGE to FEDERAL REPOSITORY LIBRARIES via a WAIS server on the
Internet.  Many Universities, like ASU, are Federal Repository Libraries, so
that means that we will have access.

For each library, one IP address (Internet Protocol) will have access to the
electronic FR.  They want the designated IP address to be a single
workstation, rather than a server.  Eventually, more than one IP address
will be allowed to access the FR, but because they are just starting out,
they want to keep the number of users manageable.

I asked it if would be allowable  for the information to be downloaded and
ftp-ed to other local users and was told that there would be no limitations
on further distribution of the information.  That means that we could go to
Government Documents at our library, FTP (or put on a floppy) the day's
Federal Register, and load it on our Gopher Server or send parts via e-mail
or campus mail.

The Electronic Information Dissemination Service of the GPO is trying to
send all Repository Libraries a copy of a Program Package that will detail
the service.  I have contacted the Electronic Services Coordinator at our
library  so that I can see a copy when they have more information.  I would
advise you to do the same, rather than trying to contact the GPO.  I think
they are a little frantic about this whole thing.

If you want to look up the legislation for more information, it's PL 10340.

I'm sorry this is such a long post,!

Jacquie Krones
Funding Information Officer
Arizona State University
xxxxxx@ASU.Edu
(602)965-6793