Government depository libraries began in 1813 with the United States Federal Depository Program and have spread to foreign governments, intergovernmental organizations, and states.\u00a0 The concept is simple,\u00a0 but the results are far reaching–\u00a0provide free access to government information for the general public<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a0 This has resulted in government accountability to their constituents, fueled entrepreneurship and economic growth, and promoted information as public good.\u00a0 Government depository libraries are a major pillar of democracy.<\/p>\n Depository libraries are required by law to comply with rules and regulations.\u00a0 While these vary among programs, there are common elements.<\/p>\n Government Information Services conducts specialized reference and instructional services; manages the acquisition of government publications and related resources, and maintains\u00a0bibliographic control of the collections as a basis of support for the following depository programs.<\/p>\n Since 1907, the University Library has been a\u00a0United States Federal Depository Library<\/a>.\u00a0 The program began in 1813 by an Act of Congress as a measure of providing the Senate and House Journals and other Congressional documents to state libraries, universities, and historical societies.\u00a0 This allowed the general public to monitor and hold the government accountable.\u00a0 In 1907, land-grant universities became federal depository libraries receiving government publications free through the depository program.\u00a0 The interest of the United States government and, consequently, the information collected has been constantly changing and growing to include most areas of research and public interest.\u00a0 See the\u00a0United States Government Collection Description<\/a>\u00a0for further information. The Illinois State Library in Springfield is the\u00a0regional depository<\/a>\u00a0for the state of Illinois.<\/p>\n The University Library became a\u00a0State of Illinois Documents Depository<\/a>\u00a0in the early 1950s.\u00a0 The program was formalized in the State of Illinois in 1967 by a public act passed by the General Assembly requiring each Illinois State Agency to deposit documents in the State Library for collection and distribution.\u00a0 The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign retains Illinois documents beyond its seven year commitment and so maintains a collection valuable to researchers examining Illinois’ historic public record.\u00a0 We receive 100 percent of the State of Illinois documents and information making the value of the collection extremely important.\u00a0 See the State of Illinois Collection Description<\/a>\u00a0for further information.<\/p>\n The University Library has been a\u00a0United Nations Depository Library<\/a>\u00a0since its inception in 1946.\u00a0 Since then, the Dag Hammarskjold Library of the United Nations Secretariat in New York has arranged for the distribution of United Nations documents and publications to users around the world through its depository library system.\u00a0 At present, there are more than 400 depository libraries in over 140 countries maintaining United Nations material from the date of designation as depository to the present.\u00a0 The general public can consult the material free of charge at any depository library.\u00a0 See the\u00a0United Nations Collection Description<\/a>\u00a0 for further information.<\/p>\n The University Library is a selective depository library of the\u00a0Canadian Depository Services Program<\/a>\u00a0and has been a partner since its beginning in 1927.\u00a0 The Depository Services Program (DSP) is an essential link between the Canadian federal government and its clients – the Canadian public, other governments, universities and businesses.\u00a0 Its primary objective is to ensure that Canadians have ready and equal access to federal government information.\u00a0 The DSP achieves this objective by supplying these materials to a network of more than 790 libraries in Canada and to another 147 institutions around the world holding collections of Canadian government publications.\u00a0 The Program is administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada.\u00a0 See the\u00a0Canadian Government Collection Description<\/a>\u00a0for further information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" History Government depository libraries began in 1813 with the United States Federal Depository Program and have spread to foreign governments, intergovernmental organizations, and states.\u00a0 The concept is simple,\u00a0 but the results are far reaching–\u00a0provide free access to government information for the general public\u00a0.\u00a0 This has resulted in government accountability to their constituents, fueled entrepreneurship and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"parent":676,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-678","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/678\/revisions\/744"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/govinfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Responsibilities<\/h2>\n
\n
United States Federal Depository<\/h2>\n
State of Illinois Documents Depository<\/h2>\n
United Nations Depository<\/h2>\n
Canadian Documents Depository<\/h2>\n