5/4/2010 Note: GPO staff at the Spring 2010 meeting of the Depository Library Council were reported as asking people to use askGPO instead of their lostdocs form. The instructions below have been revised to reflect this. The lostdocs form address is kept in strikethrough because it may return in a revised form.

10/25/2011 Update: According to GPO all Lost Docs should be reported through  the Lost Docs Reporting Form at http://www.fdlp.gov/collections/collection-tools/lostdocs .

Reporting fugitive documents to GPO allows them to be cataloged and archived so their contents are not lost to history. Not all federal documents are within the scope of the FDLP, but nearly any published federal document qualifies for GPO’s national bibliography.

Help out GPO and your fellow government documents enthusiasts by reporting fugitive documents and let us know you did so. How? Follow these simple instructions:

  1. Make sure your government document is a US Federal title. GPO only catalogs publications of the US federal government.
  2. Search the title of your item in the Catalog of Government Publications (CGP).
  3. If you don’t find your item in the CGP, then search this blog by using the search box in the upper left hand corner. If you find your item here, use the comments link to add any additonal information you might have about the item.
  4. If you don’t find your item in the CGP or this blog, fill out GPO’s Lost Docs Reporting Form at  http://www.fdlp.gov/collections/collection-tools/lostdocs  provide as much information about the document as you know. GPO will e-mail you a receipt.
  5. When you receive GPO’s e-mail, e-mail your receipt to lostdocs@freegovinfo.info
  6. OPTIONAL: If you use delicious, please tag the document with “IADeposit”

If you are interested in what lost docs are being reported by other people, subscribe to our RSS feed at http://lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/feed/.