Washington, D.C. – The University of Minnesota Libraries, the University of Maine Garbrecht Law Library, St. John’s University School of Law, Rittenberg Law Library, and the State Law Library of Mississippi each signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) to become Preservation Stewards. Under this agreement, the libraries pledge to permanently preserve GPO’s print collections of the following:

University Minnesota Libraries:
United States Serial Set

University of Maine, Garbrecht Law Library:
United States Reports

St. John’s University School of Law, Rittenberg Law Library
Congressional hearings and prints from the 100th Congress through the 103rd Congress
State Law Library of Mississippi:
United States Reports, Statutes at Large, and Public Papers of the President

To help Federal depository libraries meet the needs of efficient Government document stewardship in the digital era, GPO has established Preservation Stewards to support continued public access to historic U.S. Government documents in print format. Preservation Stewards contribute significantly to the effort to preserve printed documents and GPO welcomes all Federal depository libraries that wish to participate as Preservation Stewards.

Through the FDLP, GPO works with approximately 1,150 libraries nationwide 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. FIPNet is an initiative of the FDLP to expand public access to Government information in depository library collections through collaboration with non-depository library institutions and resources that also possess collections of Federal documents and publications. This effort will result in a National Collection of U.S. Government Information for the use of future generations, and will transform GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications into an index of that comprehensive body of Federal information.

“GPO welcomes this group of libraries as our newest Preservation Stewards and recognizes them for their commitment to maintaining Government information,” said Superintendent of Documents Laurie Hall. “It is critical that we preserve these very valuable print collections of Government information, and I encourage more libraries to consider becoming Preservation Stewards.”