Collection Development and Status Statement: Government Documents and Information

Per 44 USC §1911, government documents staff strive to make government publications available for the free use of the public. All depository materials are housed in a manner that facilitates easy access. As of September 2023, all tangible government documents are housed and at the Library's remote storage facility, known as the Annex. There are fully developed contingency plans to facilitate public access to government publications that are housed at the Annex, with turnaround for public requests to view tangible documents not to exceed 24 hours during the course of the normal business week. As with any government publications, for purposes of reference and research, government documents staff will offer digitized versions of publications as a matter of course as a way of expediting access to the information contained in them. This policy is in accordance with the strategic imperatives of the ongoing transformation of the FDLP to a digital-preferred program.

For any questions about access to government information, please ask a library staff member.

Any government documents that circulate are (as with all other Vanderbilt library materials) allowed to circulate only to patrons who have a Vanderbilt affiliation and a library account. Any person who does not have a library account at Vanderbilt may request staff assistance in getting physical copies of sections of publications if needed.

Access to depository publications at Vanderbilt is ensured by:

1. Prominent placement of the depository library logo at the Central Library building main entrance;
2. Provision of comprehensive reference service for government information by appropriate staff;
3. Records of all government publications since 1976 listed in the online catalog;
4. Circulation of most government publications to any patron with library privileges;
5. Unrestricted interlibrary loan of any circulating depository publication to any requesting library within the state, as well as access to any circulating depository publication to any requesting library outside the state if other copies are not readily available;
6. Interlibrary loan from the regional depository at the University of Memphis.