Alkek Library marks 55th anniversary of Federal Documents Collection

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
November 4, 2010

Easy access to information from all parts of the federal government will be highlighted Nov. 17 at the 55-year anniversary celebration of the federal documents collection of the Albert B. Alkek Library at Texas State University-San Marcos.

All members of the campus community and general public are invited to attend events as part of the Depository Anniversary Celebration. A Government Information Fair will be held from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom. At 7 p.m., Lloyd Potter, State Demographer, will speak on “Demographics and Sustainability” in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom. Both events are free and open to the public. RSVPs and reservations are not required.

Potter's topic ties in with the university's current Common Experience theme, “Sustainability: Science, Policy, and Opportunity.” For more information on the Common Experience, see www.txstate.edu/commonexperience.

Texas State was only 52 years old when one of its most famous alumni, Lyndon Baines Johnson (then U.S. Senate majority leader), requested that the library be designated a federal depository library. That designation was awarded Feb. 1955. The library receives and retains for public use the documents issued by nearly every agency in the federal government. This collection enables citizens to gain access to a wide variety of resource, including tax information, census demographics, Texas topographic maps, Supreme Court cases, small business information and numerous other special congressional and special agency reports. State and local government decision-makers, researchers, students, and teachers all use depository libraries to access public records such as the daily Congressional Record and Federal Register, Congressional Bills, court decisions, consumer guides, topographic maps and hundreds of reports, regulatory documents and guidelines issued by government bodies ranging from the Census Bureau to the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Drug Administration, U.S. Supreme Court and other others provided by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Texas State is currently the sole government depository for the 25th U.S. Congressional District, currently represented by Lloyd Doggett. Texas State is one of more than 1,200 information centers nationwide with the special designation of Federal Depository Library. The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) was created by Congress in 1813 to ensure that official documents created by federal agencies were properly cataloged, stored and made available to the public. The library enables online access to key government information via a government information web page at www.library.txstate.edu/about/departments/gov-docs.html.