ACRL Calls on GPO to Work with Depository Libraries to Develop Multi-State Collaborative Models

On Nov. 2, 2011 ACRL president, Joyce L. Ogburn, Dean, J. Willard Marriott Library and University Librarian, Univ. of Utah responded to recent GPO rulings that rejected new multi-state partnerships within the FDLP. From the letter to William Boarman, Public Printer of the United States, and Mary Alice Baish, Superintendent of Documents:

ACRL believes that the future of libraries will be based in innovative uses of technology and intensive collaboration across geographic boundaries. The multi-state models for managing federal documents that libraries have developed address the pressing issues of the economic climate, the imperative for wider collaboration, and the improvement of access to these critical resources. We view these as necessary and viable partnerships that will sustain library collections and services and will create enduring programs of access and preservation

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We understand that many people in the library community are concerned about the long-term quality of government information services, and ACRL is convinced that the quality of services associated with collaborative efforts will be stronger than stand alone efforts. ACRL urges the GPO to work closely and openly with depository libraries to explore and establish new models. It is essential that we leverage the possibilities inherent in 21st century practices to serve our citizens now and well into the future.

Full text of the ACRL Letter on Multi-State Depository Libraries (ACRL Insider blog). Hat tip to Gary Price, INFOdocket. [JH]