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GPO's Online Initiatives Users may also locate and order publications available for sale through GPO's Publication and Information Sales Program. Orders may be placed online securely through the U.S. Government Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government provides learning tools for K-12 students, parents, and educators. The site provides age-specific explanations about how the Federal Government works, explains the use of the primary source materials available on GPO Access, and explains GPO's role in the Federal Government.

Users needing assistance with GPO Access or other dissemination services may direct inquiries to the GPO Contact Center specialists available by email (contactcenter@gpo.gov), telephone (1-866-512-1800), or fax (202-512-2104).

The increasing use of electronic documents poses a special challenge in verifying authenticity, because digital technology makes such documents easy to alter or copy in unauthorized or illegitimate ways.

To help meet this challenge, GPO has implemented digital signatures on certain electronic documents in GPO Access that not only establish GPO as the trusted information disseminator, but also provide the assurance that an electronic document has not been altered since GPO disseminated it.

In early 2008, GPO authenticated the first-ever online Federal budget by digital signature. The visible digital signatures on online PDF documents serve the same purpose as handwritten signatures or traditional wax seals on printed documents. The digital signature verifies document integrity and authenticity for online Federal documents, disseminated by GPO, at no cost to the customer.

A critical part of GPO's mission of Keeping America Informed is ensuring permanent access to published Government documents. GPO is developing a