It’s not all on the net: Identifying, preserving and protecting rare and unique federal documents

Abstract

The notion that all the government information that researchers will ever need is available, or shortly will be, in a user friendly, electronic form on the Internet, is a far cry from the reality facing most government information professionals. Paper and microfiche, the familiar, tangible products of the Government Printing Office, remain a substantial part of most federal document collections. Although GPO is on the path to a “more electronic” environment it is not likely to become a paperless agency anytime in the next several years, if at all. Consider that in their 1998 fiscal year report GPO indicated that they had distributed over 140 million pieces of fiche and paper products, and this did not include direct mail or distribution from USGS and the National Imagery and Mapping Administration. The fact that paper will be with us in the Federal Depository Library Program well into the next century was highlighted by Dan O’Mahoney of Brown University in Government Documents Quarterly: