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Release Faq

The document summarizes plans to publicly release Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on a new website in response to a law passed in March 2018. It outlines that the site will be located at congress.gov/crsreports and will include search functions and PDF versions of active CRS R-series reports published since the law's date. The release is aimed to be completed by September 2018 and will not impact CRS's mission of exclusively serving Congress. Only published reports will be publicly available, not confidential congressional requests or memos. Contact information for authors will be redacted from public versions.

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24 views2 pages

Release Faq

The document summarizes plans to publicly release Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on a new website in response to a law passed in March 2018. It outlines that the site will be located at congress.gov/crsreports and will include search functions and PDF versions of active CRS R-series reports published since the law's date. The release is aimed to be completed by September 2018 and will not impact CRS's mission of exclusively serving Congress. Only published reports will be publicly available, not confidential congressional requests or memos. Contact information for authors will be redacted from public versions.

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chichponkli24
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Resources

Public Release of CRS Reports: FAQ for Congressional Staff


On March 23, 2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 was signed into law. The law directed the Librarian of
Congress, in consultation with the CRS Director, to establish and maintain a public website that will contain written
CRS products available on CRS.gov. In response, the Library and CRS immediately started work to ensure products
required under this new law will be available at launch by Sept. 18, 2018. They also initiated planning to make
additional written products available as expeditiously as possible.

The Library of Congress and CRS are committed to implementing this publication directive while maintaining a
consistent and high-level of service to Congress. The law does not change the mission or focus of CRS. The law does
not affect the confidentiality of congressional requests or responses (such as confidential memoranda). It does not allow
congressional requests or confidential responses to be made available to the public. All CRS reports will continue to be
written for a congressional audience and focused on the needs of Congress.

More details will be added as planning progresses. For more information, please contact the CRS Congressional
Programs and Communications Office.

What will the site look like and what content will it include?

The Library plans to make the collection of CRS reports publicly available on the official website for U.S. federal
legislative information, Congress.gov (congress.gov/crsreports). The website will employ a simple, Google-like search
and will include options for viewing all reports and bulk download. The search results page will look similar to
CRS.gov's search results page and feature the same search sorting, filter by category, and display mechanisms.

For the initial public release, the Library will make available in PDF format all of CRS's R-series of "active" reports that
were published since the enactment date, as well as the Appropriations Status Table. The publication directive
specifically mandates that the public website is to be "updated contemporaneously, automatically, and electronically, to
include each new or updated CRS report released on or after" the date on which the Library makes the website available
for public access. The Library and CRS will ensure that every CRS report that is published or updated once the public
website is active will be so included. The Library and CRS are additionally committed to presenting the full inventory
of reports appearing on CRS.gov on the public website as soon as is practicable (with a full migration targeted for
completion by spring 2019). After the R-series reports are published, the Library will work to make other written
products, such as In Focus products, available.

Will this effort impact service to Congress?

No. CRS will continue to exclusively serve Congress. The Service will continue to produce reports written for a
congressional audience and focused on the needs of Congress. All of the information currently available to members of
Congress and their staff on CRS.gov will continue to be available.

Will my request or confidential memo be posted?

No. Only the CRS reports that are available on CRS.gov will be made available to the public. CRS will not share work
done for you or your office.

Will there be any difference between the public and congressional version of CRS reports?

The research and analysis contained in each report, as well as the overall design, will be identical on both the public and
congressional versions. The contact information (i.e., email address and phone number) for CRS report authors will be
redacted from the public version. The placement of the author information will also be modified on the public version.
The congressional version of reports on CRS.gov will have the same full contact information that is currently available.

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