4/25/2011
USF is a government documents depository, one of three in the 11th Congressional District that in the public Library downtown (John G. German)and the University of Tampa. Gainesville is the regional depository according to the land grant system and, hence, is obligated to maintain the complete historical collection for the state. The other depositories are allowed to discard anything that they have held over five years, but must offer to other locations especially if it is of significant historical importance or value and ensure that the regional depository has the item as well. USF has been a depository since 1962. The government documents depository is designed to hold publications of the Government Printing Office (http://www.gpo.gov). The works housed therein include but are not limited to maps, census records, Congressional hearings and other records, and foreign relations documents. These include publications by different departments and are not organized by the card catalog system but by the superintendent of documents classification system (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/explain.html).
The mission of the government documents depository is different than the purely academic libraries which seek to serve the clientele of students and professors (and their local community as a secondary). The law library (forthcoming post) may include laws and regulations, but the differs in that it does not include the same publications by non-legal related agencies of the government or other historically significant documentation.
I spoke to Mrs. McCoy, who gave me a lot of insight in the history and idea of the government documents depository at USF. According to her estimate most depositories (about two-thirds) are academic libraries. The about one-quarter are large public libraries.
Unfortunately, witnessing how the depository serves its patrons is very limited. I would assume someone not familiar with the collection would approach reference and then be directed to Mrs. McCoy for her expertise. She was the one listed on the USF library website (and the reason why she was bombarded by my classmates and myself). USF no longer has a government documents reference desk; it was eliminated about 5 years ago. Mrs. McCoy had revealed that not having the reference desk anymore is something that she misses as previously she had the opportunity to develop relationships with her patrons. Previously, because the majority of patrons who used to come in for research assistance were coming for academic research, such as graduate students and professors working on extended projects. One of her most interesting patrons was a local writer who looked for very specific information to include in his writings for historical accuracy.
Government Documents at USF has about four public service staff including two student assistants for acquisitions and one other full-time employee who acts as a troubleshooter. Occassionally some catalogers step in as necessary. The troubleshooting is a shipping lists comparison and confirmations labels/barcodes, and temporary records (synopsis type of thing). The cataloging done through contractor.
There is a high level of public access to electronic resources because these are available digitally. The public is aware of many of the publications through e-government. In the case of USF, public libraries are where public goes for the egovernment stuff because of limits imposed by USF library policy on access to public computers and the costs associated with daily parking on campus. Government documents are available online through GPO but the general public may not be aware of what is available. Older documents are being digitized, but this in itself is proving too expensive and hard to maintain). Depository libraries are trying to start process with most important documents such as with legacy collections like laws, historical and scientific value, and universities are working together. GPO is beginning to as well, but not overly endowed with funding either and trying to maintain current publication collection, and veracity of authenticity of documents by using digital signatures/watermark.
The USF Tampa Campus Library has a Facebook page and Twitters, but there is nothing just for not government docs.
Mrs. McCoy received her library science master's at USF in 1989 and has worked here since in some capacity or another.
A sincerest thank you Mrs. McCoy and Kenny.
For more info on government document depositories: http://www.fdlp.gov/
No comments:
Post a Comment