The ALA COL FDLP Task Force: Working through Association Processes, 2014

摘要

During the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Conference 2012 in Dallas, Texas, the ALA Committee on Legislation and ALA Council struggled with a proposed resolution regarding the future of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) administered by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). (Poole, p. 4) At the core of the resolution and ensuring disagreement was the future of print materials distributed by the GPO to federal depository libraries, as originally set forth in Title 44 of the United States Code, sections 1901-1916 (2010)-providing federal agency publications to libraries at no charge in exchange for public accessibility. The FDLP is a manifestation of many changes within librarianship as libraries transition to a more electronic environment consisting of online journals, electronic books, and streaming media. Finding aids for government information have improved so that specialized indexes are not required for most publications; even access to historical materials has improved as indexes have moved to online keyword searching. Yet the transition to a primarily electronic depository program has been slow and many depository libraries maintain large, historical print collections with antiquated government rules on the discard and replacement processes. This comes at a time when libraries have experienced budget and staff reductions calling into question the role of depository collections within the broader mission of libraries. As academic libraries move collections into cheaper, offsite storage dedicating limited physical space to student functions, library directors are questioning the ongoing cost of shelf space for documents and asking if these materials can be replaced with online resources or if they even need to be retained? As librarian and staff positions are reduced, public, special, and academic library directors are also asking if specialists for narrow disciplines need to be continued or if these positions can be combined with other responsibilities or merged into main reference services? While FDLP materials are free to depository libraries, there are ongoing costs to depository libraries including space, processing, training, and professional staff while following specific requirements for processing, housing, and discarding materials. While library directors are questioning the costs of depository agreements, some document librarians are advocating for the continuation of services and collections noting the unique contributions that government information provides for our democracy and service to our citizens. Both library directors and depository librarians wrestle with the question on how many tangible (print and microform) collections are necessary in the U.S. Library directors are also advocating for a streamlined network of oversight that current regional depository libraries provide to selective depository libraries. Within this tension, occurs the discussion during ALA Council about the current and future role of depository materials in libraries within the outdated legislation of Title 44 (44 U.S.C.§ 1901; Title 44 -Public Printing and Documents, Chapter 19 - Depository Library Program, Sec. 1901 - Definition of Government publication) that has not been revised since 1978 in which the Internet was in its formational years.