Depository Access Notice
The bulk of the tangible (physical) government documents collection is housed at a Vanderbilt offsite storage facility. Several core elements of the collection are also held in the Central Library Reference Reading Room. Most current government documents are available in full text online, free of charge, through sites such as govinfo.gov. Government documents in print or other tangible formats may be requested via your library account through the library catalog, and/or, if you are not affiliated with Vanderbilt, by emailing the depository coordinator. Please note that some government documents cannot circulate due to regional depository policy, fragility, or other factors.
Access to online government information is available through the Heard Libraries website, library research guides, and/or by emailing the depository coordinator. You may also contact Tennessee’s regional depository library at the University of Memphis Library, or other nearby selective depository libraries, for help with finding government information. Contact information for other Tennessee depository libraries, and all other depositories in the United States, may be found in the Federal Depository Library Directory.
Federal Depository Library System
The Heard Libraries are a congressionally designated depository for U.S. government documents. Public access to the library’s government documents collection is guaranteed and governed by federal law (Title 44, United States Code).
Central Library is a selective depository, meaning the library selects which documents to receive from the federal government, rather than being required to receive all documents that the federal government disseminates to the depository library system. Depositories required to receive all federal government publications are designated as regional depositories. The regional depository for the state of Tennessee is at the University of Memphis.
Tennessee depositories have a shared regional holdings arrangement. Each of the six largest depositories (of which Vanderbilt is one) is classified as a “subregional,” responsible for different classes of documents. The Central Library is designated to retain publications from the following government branches and agencies: the President (all SuDocs documents classed PR and PREX), the State Department (all S documents), Patent and Trademark Office, Energy Research Abstracts, Foreign Trade Reports, and all Congressional documents (all Y documents).
Vanderbilt University is designated as a Center of Excellence by the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL). This designation helps ASERL depository libraries coordinate to enhance access to government documents by identifying and specifying which libraries in the ASERL system have the most complete collections for documents from specified government agencies. Vanderbilt and the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia share this designation for State Department documents (SuDocs classification S).
Government Information Collections at Central Library
Central Library has been a selective depository for federal government publications since 1884, a United Nations depository since 1946, and a Food and Agriculture Depository since 1948. Central selects about 48 percent of the almost 6,000 categories offered by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The depository has approximately 700,000 paper, microfiche and CD-ROM holdings.
Access to Government Information
The mission of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is to assure public access to the information published by the U.S. government. This includes all government information products, regardless of format or medium, which are of public interest or educational value, except for those products that are for strictly administrative or operational purposes, classified for reasons of national security, or the use of which is constrained by privacy considerations.
The public is welcome to use the federal depository collection. Free-of-charge public access to government documents is guaranteed and protected by federal statute (see United States Code, Title 44). For questions about access to any government documents or other government information, please ask a library staff member or contact Frank Lester at frank.lester@vanderbilt.edu.
Reference and Other Assistance
Government information staff provide reference assistance with government information. Staff can assist with the use of both tangible and online materials. Government reference questions and instruction and consultation requests may be directed to Frank Lester.
If the Heard Libraries system does not have the government documents you need, staff will assist in identifying other libraries, including depository libraries, which may have them, and/or assist in making an interlibrary loan request.
Identifying and Locating Materials
Almost all U.S. government publications published after 1976 and United Nations publications are listed in the library catalog. However, many pre-1976 U.S. government publications are not listed in the catalog. Government documents staff will be glad to assist in locating government publications.
Government Publications on the Web
Library staff can direct you to resources that will help you find government information on the open web, including those made available digitally by the U.S. Government Printing Office at govinfo.gov. There are public workstations in each library, including Central, that allow access without the need for a Vanderbilt login. Read more about available public workstations.
Circulation
Most government publications that circulate can be checked out by Vanderbilt-affiliated patrons for two weeks. Items are checked out from and returned to the main circulation desk. There are no overdue fines for government documents. Patrons may be billed for replacement and other costs if materials are lost or not returned.
Certain categories of government publications do not generally circulate, such as subregional holdings and select serials, as well as fragile materials. Please speak with a library staff member for questions about the circulation status of any government document.
Staff
Frank Lester is the government documents librarian and federal depository coordinator.
Depository Identification
Federal Depository No. 580
Central Library
Vanderbilt University
Frank Lester, Federal Depository Coordinator
615-343-8796