McGeachy, 'Depository Library Program in Jeopardy', NCSU Libraries Newsletter v21n06 (January 1994)
 
_The NCSU Libraries Newsletter_
Volume 21 no. 6
January 1994
McGeachy, Jack
"Depository Library Program in Jeopardy"


Legislation (H.R. 3400) passed the U.S. House of 
Representatives in November 1993. The bill would transfer the 
office (Superintendent of Documents/Library Programs 
Service) responsible for collecting, organizing, and sending 
government information to the public via depository libraries 
from the Government Printing Office to the Library of 
Congress.

This move would break a crucial link between the office 
responsible for printing federal information (GPO) and the 
office responsible for informing the public (SuDoc) about the 
existence of federal information. Fugitive publications--those 
titles produced at governmental expense but not known to or 
distributed by SuDoc--have become a serious problem for 
depository libraries. The organizational restructuring proposed 
by H.R. 3400 will increase the likelihood that document titles 
will not be sent to libraries to be available for public use. The 
Libraries believes the bill should not be enacted in its present 
form. Please write your congressman expressing your support 
for the current structure of the Depository Library Program.