Tennessee was the one of the last states in the Union to institute a regional depository. This occurred in 1989. Since the regional depository is unable to house all depository publications, each of seven depository libraries in the state (East Tennessee State University; Tennessee Tech; University of Memphis; Tennessee State Library and Archives; UT Knoxville; Memphis Public Library; and Vanderbilt) have signed a Shared Holdings Agreement (selective housing agreement) making each of the libraries responsible for maintaining the state archival copy of depository publications of selected agencies.
In March 1991, a Shared Holdings Agreement was signed between Central Library and the state regional depository, the University of Memphis Library (at the time called Memphis State University Library). Under the terms of that ongoing agreement, the Central depository is responsible for the requirement that at least one tangible copy of every depository publication be available in the state for publications issued before 1989 for these agencies:
and these Serial titles:
In March 1991, Central Library also signed separate Selective Housing Agreements with three other libraries in the Jean and Alexander Heard Library system: Peabody Library (then called the Education Library), Eskind Biomedical Library (then called the Medical Center Library), and Science & Engineering Library (then called the Science Library). Most Department of Education depository publications are sent directly to Peabody; many Department of the Interior, Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Nuclear Regulatory Agency, and Patent Office depository publications are sent directly to Science & Engineering; many Department of Housing and Human Services depository publications are sent directly to Eskind Biomedical Library.
To make needed government publications available in the Nashville MSA, the Depository cooperates with other depositories in the Nashville and mid-state region. The Central Depository provides complete coverage of the Core Collection for Academic Libraries and other essential material.
For little-used government publications or supplementary information, Central Library will use the resources of:
The Depository borrows government publications held by the regional depository or at other depositories and libraries as necessary. The Depository also lends government publications automatically within the state of Tennessee and to libraries outside the state if the publications are not readily available within the borrowing library's state.
