The Federal Register is a primary source for United States federal government agencies’ proposed rules, final rules, changes to existing rules and notices, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. The Federal Register is the official journal of record for the acts of the U.S. Government. It’s updated daily and printed Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. This publication is divided into four categories: 

• Presidential documents, executive orders, and proclamations
• Rules and Regulations (policy statements and interpretations of rules by federal agencies)
• Proposed Rules (petitions by agencies for assistance in rulemaking and other proposals)
• Notices (scheduled hearings and meetings open to the public, grant applications and administrative orders)

Last month, the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR) announced the release of historical issues of the Federal Register from 1990-1994. The issues are now digitally available to the public via the GPO’s website. The project will digitize a total of 14,587 individual issues, dating back to the first Federal Register in 1936.

What does this mean for HeinOnline subscribers?

When subscribing to HeinOnline Core, users have had continued comprehensive coverage of the Federal Register with daily updates! With the digital release of the GPO’s Federal Register, users are now given the option to view the HeinOnline version of these documents, or to view the high-resolution archival version directly from the GPO. The text and pagination in both versions are identical, as they’re both scanned replicas of the original. The HeinOnline version is available in black & white, fully searchable, and provides users with inline linking to previous citations in the Federal Register, U.S. Code, and other sources within HeinOnline. The GPO’s version is available in full-color government archival quality, fully searchable, but does not include the advantage of inline linking.

There are two ways to access the 1990-1994 high-resolution PDF version from the GPO.

1. Within a Federal Register document in HeinOnline, users will see a “GPO PDF High-Res” link in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Selecting this option will link you to the GPO’s version.

2. Within the Federal Register search results, users may view the page in HeinOnline, download the PDF from HeinOnline, or download the high-resolution PDF from the GPO.

Selecting the “GPO PDF (High Res)” version from either a document or search result will direct you to the GPO’s version.

Interested in accessing historical pages of the Federal Register in a fully-searchable format, but not a HeinOnline subscriber?

To request a quote for a HeinOnline subscription, to add a database to your existing HeinOnline subscription, or to request a trial, please complete this form. Please note, we do not offer trials to individuals. If you are an individual interested in subscription options for HeinOnline, please visit our short-term subscriptions page.

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For more information on the Federal Register or any other database in HeinOnline, please contact our marketing team at marketing@wshein.com.