NEWS

Louisiana Tech University’s Prescott Library will share regional depository responsibilities with Louisiana State University Libraries and the University of Mississippi Libraries in efforts to increase access to governmental information for residents in both Louisiana and Mississippi.

“Since 1896, our mission as a Federal Depository Library has been to ensure area residents are able to access information that will empower them to be better citizens,” said Sue McFadden, interim Library Director. “Our libraries will have the opportunity to provide more robust advising to the area’s selective depositories when we collaborate in this endeavor.”

Prescott already serves in the Federal Depository Library Program of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO). This is the third time that libraries have entered this type of partnership across State boundaries, and the first that includes three regional depository libraries, as opposed to two.

“Thank you to Senator Cassidy and Senator Wicker for approving this designation and supporting our FDLP community and GPO’s long-standing partnership with libraries,” said GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern. “We are thrilled that these three libraries are collaborating to offer the people of Louisiana and Mississippi a broader collection of Government information at their fingertips. The partnership will help GPO increase accessibility to a larger audience, a major step forward in keeping America informed.”

This change carries benefits for students, faculty, and researchers. With three participating libraries, Louisiana and Mississippi now have permanent public access to three times the Government materials than they did previously.

The collaboration across state boundaries is only possible with senatorial approval and designation of shared regionals for the Federal Depository Library Program in accordance with section 1912 of title 44, United States Code. GPO received signed shared regional designations from Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Roger F. Wicker.

“This is an exciting opportunity,”  Cassidy said. “Combining these three libraries improves public access to information and enhances students’ ability to learn.”

The designation is also beneficial for the libraries involved. Sharing print and digital resources is cost-effective and enables libraries to reallocate space. 

GPO is the Federal Government’s official, digital, secure resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government. The GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through govinfo.gov and partnerships with approximately 1,100 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program.