The University of the South’s Jessie Ball duPont Library celebrates 150 years in the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s (GPO’s) Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

The FDLP ensures the public has free access to Federal documents in participating libraries across the Nation. The libraries, in partnership with GPO, work in support of Keeping America Informed. The Jessie Ball duPont Library has long served the public through the FDLP, carefully selecting and providing access to vital government information resources for students, researchers, businesses, scientists, educators, non-profits, and many others in our region.

To mark our sesquicentennial providing unfettered access to U.S. Government information, the Library hosted an open house on July 20, with cake and a “Documents through the Decades” exhibit.

Kevin Reynolds, Associate Provost for Library and Information Technology Services at the University of the South said, “I am very proud of the fact that the University has participated in the FDLP for so many years. Since it was my job to manage our Federal Depository collection many years ago, I know first hand how extraordinarily important, diverse, and truly fascinating these resources are. Our library was one of the very first Federal Depository Libraries in the state of Tennessee, and I am excited to see how we will continue in the important role of being a conduit to Federal information well into the 21st century.”

Through the FDLP, approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide work with GPO 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.

Librarians at nationwide FDLP libraries also offer expert assistance in navigating digital copies of many of the historical and current Government documents through govinfo <www.govinfo.gov> and GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications <catalog.gpo.gov>.