Federal Government Documents Tutorial

Depository Libraries

Another function of GPO is to supervise a network of libraries throughout the country. There are nearly 1300 of these depository libraries which contract to receive from GPO free copies of government publications that local librarians may select. In exchange for the free publications, depository libraries agree to make those materials freely available to the general public. There is typically at least one depository library in each Congressional district. The D.H. Hill Library has been a depository since 1932.

The federal depository collection in the D.H. Hill Library has arrived, over the years, in multiple formats: paper, microfiche, maps, CD and floppy disk. Since the late 1990s, a majority of federal documents have been made available only via the Internet. Links to many of these electronic resources are included in The Libraries catalog.

The paper federal document collection is shelved on the second floor, with call numbers A - I 18: in the south bookstack tower, and the remainder of the collection, I 19: - Z, in the older, north bookstack tower. The Libraries Unity Lab is situated between the two halves of the hardcopy documents collection.

Microfiche federal documents are housed in the Microforms Room at the southeast corner of the second floor of the East Wing of the library complex. Sheet maps - during the 2005-06 renovation project - are found in the East Wing, ground floor. CD-Rom products received from GPO are housed close to the Reference Desk; ask there to access them. The Reference Desk is the place to come with all questions concerning use of the documents collection.

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