National Archives Office of the Federal Register and GPO Introduce User-friendly Data Tool
Press Release · Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Washington, DC

Developer community embraces Application Programming Interface for FederalRegister.gov

The National Archives Office of the Federal Register and the Government Printing Office have taken another step in making Government information open and transparent for the American public. This month, the agencies introduced an Application Programming Interface (API) for data on the FederalRegister.gov web site. For the first time, using this new open data tool, information technology developers can create new applications for regulatory information published in the Federal Register.

The API is an open data tool packaged in a light-weight, web-friendly data transfer format that requires only a web browser or client to begin development projects. This interface enables developers to tailor applications for sub-sets of agencies and particular documents, and to optimize resources for the mobile web.

"We are excited to offer tools that will increase access and openness to all. This Application Programming Interface embodies our ongoing commitment to Open Government," said Ray Mosley, Director of the Federal Register. “The Government Printing Office and Office of the Federal Register have once again shown how to make Government information transparent and easily available for the public to use,” said Public Printer Bill Boarman.

The Open Government community enthusiastically embraced this new interface. Positive reviews include:

• @carlmalamud "This is what data.gov wants to be when it grows up.
  http://www.federalregister.gov/learn/developers"
• @sunlightlabs "the Federal Register folks continue to delight and amaze the dev community"
• @ReportersLab "The coolest geek change in this admin: Federal Register. API and sensible open sourcing of our data."

The new Federal Register and Government Printing Office API builds on two earlier initiatives of the National Archives-Government Printing Office partnership. In October 2009, the two agencies created an XML bulk data repository for Federal Register files from 2000 to present. That material is available from Data.gov and FDsys.gov. On July 26, 2010, the two agencies launched Federal Register 2.0 (www.FederalRegister.gov), an accessible online news journal format for documents published in the daily Federal Register. For more information on this API, visit the developer page at http://www.federalregister.gov/blog/learn/developers. For more information on Federal Register publications, see www.ofr.gov. For more information about the National Archives, see www.archives.gov.

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For Press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (202) 357-5300.

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