Coates Library Government Documents Collection

Laws mandating that government documents be made available to the public, go back to the mid nineteenth century, but it was the Printing Act of 1895 that laid the foundation for the dissemination of government information in its current form.  Along with the Printing Act, the Depository Act of 1962 and the Freedom of Information Acts of 1966 and 1974,  are part of Title 44 of the U.S. Code.  These statutes result in the U.S. Government being the most open in the world.  By law all non-secret documents are required to be deposited with the Government Printing Office (GPO) for dissemination, however, loopholes and a lack of enforcement power leave approximately 50% of government documents with a "fugitive" status. They are not available through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). 

Operated under the auspices of the Government Printing Office and the Public Printer, the FDLP, lead by the Superintendent of Documents, distributes information products to nearly 1350 public, academic, state and law libraries around the country who voluntarily collect these items and agree to abide by the program's rules and procedures for providing the public with free and easy access to the information.  The System is two tiered with "Regional" depositories collecting all information put out by the Feds and "Selective" depositories collecting a chosen percentage of material.  Mandated by law, each Congressional District must have at least one Regional Depository. Our Regional is the Texas State Library in Austin.

Trinity University's George Storch Memorial Library signed on as a Selective Depository early on in the life of the program in 1964.  In 1979 the library's collections were moved to their current location in the Elizabeth Huth Coates Library.  Currently we collect 51% of the material  from  the Government Printing Office.  This material comes in many different formats from print to online content, and much of it can be accessed through Quest, our online library catalog. 

Government Documents are a gold mine of useful current as well as historic data and information that can be valuable to one's research.  For the most part, it's written in plain, easy to understand English. A sample of new "govdocs" can be viewed in the display stand on the left side of the current periodicals room.  Government documents are arranged by a separate call number system - the "Sudocs" (short for Superintendent of Documents) system.  Unfortunately this system does not lend itself to browsing as items are arranged by issuing agency rather than by subject.

 In an effort to save money through reduced labor and resource costs, the Congress has mandated a shift to electronically formatted materials wherever possible.  Many items are now only produced in electronic format.  While this situation raises a number of concerns, among them - permanent public access, it also provides faster and easier access to much government information.  This site is designed to help you tap into this wonderful source of knowledge and data, often referred to as the nation’s “collective memory.”

Read more about the Federal Depository Library Program here: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/about.html

For more information on the Federal Depository Library Program Internet Use Policy Guidelines, see:  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/mgt/iupolicy.html

FDLP Basic Collection

Suggested Core Collection

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy

Federal Depository Library Websites on Terrorism

Texas Documents

Texas State Depositories receive all state publications submitted to the State Library in Austin.  Agencies are required to submit documents when more than 300 copies are produced, exceptions being things like correspondence, advertising and bids.  The collection mainly consists of reports, annual reports, and newsletters averaging around 150 items received per month.  

San Antonio Documents

While we have some budgets and major agency reports dating back to the 1950's, the bulk of our collection of over 1000 city documents covers a broad range of reports beginning in the 70's.  Our collection is partially cataloged  under a locally devised classification scheme.  A "shelf list" of our collection is available.