The State Ohio Library and University of Iowa Libraries Sign Preservation Steward Agreements with GPO
Washington –The State Library of Ohio and The University of Iowa Libraries sign a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) to become Preservation Steward libraries in GPO’s Federal Information Preservation Network (FIPNet). Under this agreement, the State Library of Ohio pledges to permanently preserve a complete print Bound Congressional Record collection, beginning with Vol. 1, 43rd Congress (1873). While the University of Iowa pledges to preserve 167 Congressional hearings related to Pearl Harbor, the House Un-American Activities Committee and Iran-Contra. The library will also preserve more than 1,500 print posters promoting services, programs, and initiatives by agencies such as the Works Progress Administration, the War Mobilization Office, the Environmental Protection Agency and additional items from pre-WWII through the present.
To help Federal depository libraries meet the needs of efficient Government document stewardship in the digital era, GPO has established Preservation Stewards to support continued public access to historic U.S. Government documents. Preservation Stewards contribute significantly to the effort to preserve printed documents and GPO welcomes all Federal depository libraries that wish to participate as Preservation Stewards. The Norlin Library of the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Kentucky Libraries, and The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa became Preservation Stewards.
Through the FDLP, GPO works with approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide to provide public access to authentic, published information from all three branches of the Federal Government in print and electronic formats. The program's antecedents can be traced back to the act of Congress dated December 27, 1813 (3 Stat. 140), which provided that one copy of the journals and documents of the Senate and House be sent to each university and college and each historical society in each state. GPO has operated the FDLP since 1895. FIPNet is an initiative of the FDLP to expand public access to Government information in depository library collections through collaboration with non-depository library institutions and resources that also possess collections of Federal documents and publications. This effort will result in a National Collection of U.S. Government Information for the use of future generations, and will transform GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications into an index of that comprehensive body of Federal information.
“GPO welcomes The State Library of Ohio and The University of Iowa Libraries into this important program of maintaining Government information in all platforms,” said GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks.” I encourage more libraries to become part of this venture of preserving valuable print collections of Government information.”
GPO is the Federal Government's official, digital, secure resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government. The GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats. GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through www.govinfo.gov, partnerships with approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program, and our secure online bookstore. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov.
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