Bruce James was sworn in as the 24th Public Printer of the United States on December 9. Unanimously confirmed by the Senate November 20, James had been nominated to the post by President Bush eight months ago.
Superintendent of Documents Francis J. Buckley Jr. announced that he would retire at the end of December so James could bring in his own team. Buckley, who has served as superintendent of documents since December 1997, was the first librarian ever to hold the position.
James, a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, earned a $35-million fortune in the printing industry before retiring at age 50 in 1993, the Associated Press reported December 3. He is the chairman of the Congressional Roundtable of Printing Industries of America, was president of the Printing Industries of California trade group, and served on the executive board of the Government Affairs Council of the Printing Industries of America.
The American Library Association’s Washington Office reports that at his nomination hearing—in response to a question regarding the May 3 memo from Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels directing agencies to contract out printing services—James stated that he would act according to current law, which requires the government and federal agencies to obtain printing services through the Government Printing Office. He said that he sees the controversy as “an issue between Congress and the Executive” but added that he would explore the reasoning behind the memo.
James noted that librarians are concerned about the effect of the proposed change on the federal depository library system, adding that executive branch agencies don’t do as good a job as the GPO in getting copies of documents to the depository libraries.
Posted December 16, 2002.