Trying to access government documents online?

Last week the Government Printing Office's permanant URL ("PURL") server crashed. This means that for the last week and probably for awhile to come, you won't be able to access many online government documents. Though the GPO is working on it, it spells serious trouble for open and free public access. Here's the latest that the GPO has to say on the crash, from the government document listserv:

"Since last Monday (August 24th), when the PURL server suffered a significant hardware failure, GPO staff has been working at the highest level of priority to re-establish server access.

Though the hardware configuration was restored, GPO has worked continuously, including this past weekend, to restore the system software configurations for this legacy application. Thus far this has resulted in re-established access to a small percentage of PURLs. Although back-ups of critical files ensured no loss of data, the reconfiguration of the software on the new server is still being enabled. GPO's approach is to properly construct a new configuration and to restore all the PURLs to enable use of the automated resolution process. GPO recognizes the criticality of having stable and redundant systems to access online content for the information community.

GPO knows that many institutions have automated URL checkers that run against the PURL server. Please be aware that the PURL restoration process is severely slowed by checkers repeatedly hitting the PURL server.

On- and off-site redundant back-up of all critical hardware and systems is and will continue to be performed by GPO. Additionally, GPO is exploring hosted services and expansion of real time failover capability. GPO is also finalizing requirements for migrating legacy applications, like PURLs, to FDsys for later system capability releases. Once FDsys is fully enabled, GPO will have migrated into a more modern and scalable/failover infrastructure.

The New Electronic Titles (NET) service will be delayed until the PURLs resolve properly. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by the PURL server outage. Additional postings will be made to keep the community informed as restoration of the server progresses."

This crash is causing a lot of discussion about the best way to preserve public access to government information in the face of technology snafus. Read one librarian's thoughts here: http://freegovinfo.info/node/2704 Mentioned in his post are widely-held concerns that upcoming and ongoing changes to the Government Printing Office's website won't prevent technology crashes from happening in the future.

Please be aware that we are still dedicated to getting you the information you need; it just might take a little longer!