The Mary and John Gray Library at Lamar University celebrated five decades of service as a Federal Depository Feb. 8, 2007. The library serves Southeast Texas’ 2nd Congressional District as the region’s only federal depository.
The Federal Depository Library Program is seen as an important government program helping safeguard one of our nation’s strongest traditions: the public’s right to know.
Lamar University’s library was designated as a federal depository when Congressman Jack Brooks requested the depository status in 1957, when the library was in what is now the Galloway Business Building. The library staff held a program 2 p.m. in the University Reception Center, 8th floor of the Mary and John Gray Library. A reception followed the brief program.
The library’s collection of materials from the Government Printing Office has grown steadily through the years. Today, the Gray Library houses 64 percent of all materials issued annually by the GPO and retain them for at least five years. Patrons needing other materials can access them through the interlibrary loan program.
The federal depository at Lamar contains more than 416,000 items, including print documents, maps, microfilm, microfiche, and electronic. Status as a federal depository is important not only to the region, it is a significant value to academic research and scholarship on campus as well. Faculty teaching courses in history and government make extensive use of the materials while undergraduate and graduate students find the resources invaluable for research as well. Patrons interested in researching their genealogy may use the genealogy link for family history research.
"As the only federal depository in the region, the Mary and John Gray Library has done its part to safeguard the public's right to know by collecting and maintaining 64 percent of the documents available from the federal government," U.S. Rep. Ted Poe said in recognition of the Lamar milestone on Capitol Hill. "Since 1957, this library has served as one of the vital links between students, Southeast Texas residents and the government." Eastern district director Kristin Barrs attended the ceremony at Lamar University and read a copy of the representative's letter there.
“We are so proud of our faculty and staff colleagues in the Mary and John Gray Library,” said Stephen Doblin, provost and vice president for academic affairs, “as they celebrate 50 years of effective service to the university and Beaumont area communities in the Texas Second U.S. Congressional District as a Federal Depository Library. These items to which the Library provides access allow students, faculty, and others to learn about the history, development, growth, and operation of our state and country and, in general, to become more informed and engaged citizens. ”
“Without a library there could not be a history program, or, for that matter, any other program of merit,” said John Storey, chair of Lamar’s history department. “A library is the heart of an academic institution. For our department, the Gray Library is indispensable to both our graduate and undergraduate programs.”
James True, Lamar University political science professor and holder of the Brooks Chair of Government and Public Service, agrees: “A value of any depository is the information that it provides across time. While journalism can make history seem like what happened only this week, there are many insights that do not appear until the subject can be studied systematically across many years.
“The national budget materials in our Federal Depository Library are a case in point,” True said. “Whether we are examining spending for national defense or spending for Social Security, there is more to be learned by examining the records of changes over many years than over only the most recent one. Our depository aids in that kind of longitudinal scholarship.”
Since Congress established the Federal Depository Library Program in 1895, it has collected, organized and preserved information produced by the federal government, and assisted people in locating and using it.
Libraries designated as depositories provide local, no-fee access to information from the government in impartial environments. Expert assistance in locating specific information is available at all locations from government information librarians. Federal depository collections are available for use by everyone. Collections are available in print, microfiche and electronic formats on a wide range of topics relevant to the public and to professionals, researchers and students in almost every field. Access to online services is available through public workstations.
Categories of information include: laws and regulations; business; careers; census statistics; science and technology; travel; defense and military history.
Overseen by the Government Printing Office, federal depository facilities include academic libraries, public libraries, academic law libraries and community college libraries, as well as state and federal libraries. They are located in nearly every congressional district throughout the U.S. and its territories.
The program offers a number of benefits, including: facilitating public access to information published by agencies in all branches of the federal government; ensuring high standards for information access, and public service; encouraging libraries to tailor collections to meet local needs; providing computer guidelines for accessing online government resources; preserve online government resources through GPO Access and the FDLP Electronic Collection archive; and furnishing records, via an online catalog of government publications.
While historically the collection has been printed material, the trend is toward digital, with a greater percentage of resources coming in digital format each year. The trend means less space is needed for storage, allowing libraries to increase their collections and lengthen the period of time they retain information.
