WASHINGTON - The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) designates the J.C. Oliver Library at Arkansas Baptist College as the newest member of GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The library will provide patrons with access to Federal Government publications at no cost.  Arkansas Baptist College was founded in 1884 and is a four-year historically black liberal arts institution.  The Little Rock, AK college is the only black Baptist higher education institution west of the Mississippi River. 

Through the FDLP, GPO works with more than 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 Arkansas college joins a program whose 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 Federal Depository Library Program since 1895. 

“GPO welcomes the Arkansas Baptist College library into the FDLP and looks forward to providing free access to Government information to the students at this historical institution,” said GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks.  “I want to thank Dr. Hardin for his recognition of the important services GPO provides libraries and for initiating the process of the library joining the FDLP as one of his first acts since becoming the library’s director.”

“If you want to make a difference in an Arkansas Library or any other Library, then make a difference by joining the GPO program that keeps America informed on the Federal Government,” said Dr. Willie Hardin, Library Director for Arkansas Baptist College library.