The plight of U.S. government regional depository libraries in the 1980s: Life in a pressure cooker

Abstract

This article grew out of a presentation given by Richard Nicoles, then Regional Depository Librarian for the California State Library, at the Spring 1986 meeting of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer in St. Louis, Missouri. Although space and staffing pressures on U.S. regional depositories continue to grow, only recently has much been done to alleviate their distress. This article examines the nature of those pressures and suggests possible alternatives to the present system for making a complete collection of U.S. government publications available in each state.