Good-Bye, Government Documents

I went back to my old library tonight because their agenda showed they were going to be discussing and making a motion on the future of the government documents collection there. I was the only guest. I got to speak last, after the vote. It was difficult to speak and I could only get out less than half of my prepared remarks. So I'm going to just share them here instead.

I am here tonight because, on the agenda, it says you will be discussing the future of the government documents collection. I hope the plan for that collection will be robust expansion.

As many of you already know, I was the government documents librarian here for almost 20 years. It was my honor to work with that collection. And it is the library's honor to have that collection. No library director can just wake up in the morning and decide to have a depository collection. A library must be evaluated and determined to be worthy. A legislator or other government official must speak up for the library and attest to its ability, and its commitment to the depository program. Any library that fails to honor that commitment has made itself a failure.

You may hear tonight that the government documents collection is unpopular, or even unused [they did]. That's sad, even tragic, but thankfully that's not the main purpose of a depository collection. Some may suggest, as I was told in my last years here, that this library is not an archive. But a depository collection is an archive; that is its nature. And that's okay -- libraries can have different rules and different purposes for special collections, as any librarian who's worked with special collections knows.

So what is the main purpose of the depository collection? It's not to provide light summer reading to our local patrons, but to provide back-up to our state and federal governments (and municipal too, since we have a local documents collection). This archiving meets the goal of LOCKSS -- Local Copies Keep Stuff Safe. That is an important responsibility, too important to put in jeopardy. And it was put in jeopardy; the collection was seriously damaged by overweeding over the last two years. Its ability to fulfill its main purpose was impaired. You may hear that the collection is of no use, but if that's true it's because it was caused to be that way. All of this is reversible; you just have to commit to it and this collection can grow again. It would help to have a dedicated government documents department, but you can do it without one. You still have people here who are talented and experienced and can help nurture this collection again and make it grow.

The government documents depository collection used to be the jewel in the crown of this library. It defined what made this library special for decades. We had the largest collection of government documents between Chicago and DeKalb and the largest collection in a public library anywhere in the suburbs. Do you want to lose that special status, on your watch? Or will you affirm your commitment to aid the state of Illinois and the United States of America through this program?


...To a man, the board voted to kill their depository status.