Memorial Library has been a selective depository library in the Federal Depository Libraries Program (FDLP) for many years.
Our FDLP membership has been in question at least since the last external review in 2004, when the reviewers recommended withdrawal from the program. A study group of librarians and faculty determined that Memorial Library should remain in the program, but little was done to formally describe or define the purpose of the collection. In 2019 librarians and faculty developed a scope statement for the collection, and we began conversations with the Regional Depository Librarian that included broad permission for electronic substitution and that would lead to significant reduction of the existing print collection. After pandemic-imposed shipment of physical documents was resumed in 2021, incoming selections were converted to electronic-only.
The collection review process followed the University of Alabama "Best Practices with Supersession and Substitution" and involved consultation with faculty in related disciplines. Work done on the collection between early 2020 and summer 2022 allowed for compression of the collection to a footprint half its previous size and the newly available space was reallocated as study space in the library’s quiet zone. We are on target to finishing weeding and relocating the print documents collection to shelving adjacent to bound periodicals by the end of 2022-23.
In 2019 the University of Florida and the University of Georgia provided notice that submitted to the Government Publishing Office (GPO) a notice of intent to create a shared Regional Depository Library, focusing at the time on maps and Congressional hearings. In May 2023 UGA announced they would be weeding their collection of Congressional Hearings (Y 4's) based on the Shared Regional Agreement with the University of Florida. Details on this arrangement can be found here: https://www.libs.uga.edu/magil/services/fdlp/shared-regional
Our regional depository coordinator:
Sherre is the current FDLP Depository Coordinator for Berry, so a new coordinator will need to be selected.
FDLP Library Password
ASERL Documents Disposition Database