According to the Washington Post, Google has arranged with the GPOI to have about 1,800 government publications available for purchase and download.
The partnership, which quietly launched last week, allows e-Book fans to search for and buy copies of documents ranging from the public papers of President Obama’s administration to an official history of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Potential e-readers can purchase government titles online at prices lower than the print versions, the GPO said. A print copy of Obama’s 2011 federal budget proposal costs $77.00, for example, but a Google eBook version sells for $9.99. (A PDF version of the document is free.)
The article goes on to say that the GPO operates an online bookstore and a small shop. Revenue peaked in 1980 and has been smaller since then.
Via eBookNewser
Considering that federal government-authored works are in the public domain, I hope that this initiative doesn’t replace any of the options for getting GPO works for free online. We’ve already paid for them with our tax dollars.