Services for the Government of Canada

Online Catalogue of Government of Canada Publications

Overview

Publishing and Depository Services (PDS) maintains a central database of Government of Canada publications that is searchable and accessible to the public. All institutions of the Government of Canada identified in Schedules I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act are obligated to provide their publications to PDS as per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and the new Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada (TBS) Procedures for Publishing. We also welcome participation from other Government of Canada institutions.

Information to Include in Publications

In accordance with section 6.7 of the new TBS Procedures for Publishing, the following information is required when producing publications:

  1. the departmental signature or the Government of Canada signature and the Canada Wordmark, as specified in the Federal Identity Program Policy;
  2. the title must be clearly stated, preferably on a separate title page and must not be associated or presented with graphic design elements or other typography that are not part of the title; except for the official symbols of the Government of Canada;
  3. the date of the publication;
  4. a statement of availability of other accessible formats (e.g. electronic edition);
  5. a copyright notice;
  6. when there are separate English and French versions of a publication, the available notice of the other language appears on the page following the title page;
  7. the Government of Canada catalogue number, if applicable;
  8. the departmental catalogue number, if applicable; and
  9. the appropriate ISBN or ISSN.

Updated: 2013-09-17

Copyright notices in Government of Canada publications should be in the following format:

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of [legal name of GC department], [year of publication]

For example: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2013

ISBNs and Catalogue Numbers

We're responsible for assigning ISBN and Catalogue Numbers to Government of Canada publications. If you're publishing Government of Canada information for public consumption or limited circulation, then you'll need the appropriate control numbers for your publication – regardless of the medium.

Find out about ISBN and Catalogue Numbers

Apply for an ISBN and Catalogue Number

Quick Reference Guide for Author Departments

Read our Quick Reference Guide for Author Departments

You'll find information on:

  • the PDS mandate and how it has a direct impact on author departments and agencies;
  • Our full range of services for author departments and agencies.

Publishing and Co-Publishing Services

We can help you with a publication project from its initial stages to the final marketing and distribution of your work.

Find out about our Publishing and Co-publishing services

Depository Services Program

The Depository Services Program (DSP) distributes publications from Government of Canada departments and agencies to depository libraries across Canada and around the world. All publications are catalogued by the DSP and are searchable in our online catalogue. There are no costs to authoring institutions for cataloguing, inventory management or distribution, each of which is done at our expense. Departments and agencies need only provide us with sufficient copies of their hard-copy publications for distribution to our member libraries and single copies of any electronic publications in PDF format.

For more information, please contact us, or you can read more about the DSP.

Digitizing Print Publications

If you are a department or agency with Government of Canada print publications that you would like to digitize, the Document Imaging Solutions Centre (DISC) at PWGSC can help you with that. DISC digitizes millions of pages a year for Government of Canada clients, and is able to provide output in various formats, including PDF. Optical character recognition is also available, and can make your digitized documents searchable and more accessible.

While DISC is best equipped to process large batches of documents, DISC will help you find an external service provider to image smaller paper collections through the standing offers that are already available to Government of Canada departments in the National Capital Area. You can contact DISC at imagerie.imaging@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca to discuss your document imaging options at no charge, and they will recommend the solution that best suits your needs from the available options.

At Publishing and Depository Services, we strive to provide a digital collection of Government of Canada publications that is as comprehensive as possible. If you have or plan to produce electronic versions of Government of Canada publications in PDF format that are not currently available in our catalogue, please contact us to discuss integrating them into our collection.