Publications Clearinghouse is 40 Years Old

The Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse Service at the Library Commission turned 40 in July!  There have been many changes in how we do things, particularly providing access to government information and publications digitally rather than in tangible format.  But our purpose remains the same:  to provide access to and assistance in locating government information for Nebraska citizens, staff of Nebraska libraries and state agencies, and the Nebraska legislature. Prior to 1972 there was no comprehensive program in the state for collecting and preserving Nebraska government publications. In 1971 the Nebraska Library Commission began surveying other states and Nebraska libraries to find out how such a program should work and drafting proposed legislation to give the program legal authority. In January 1972 LB 1284 was introduced in the Nebraska Legislature, passed and signed by the Governor in March establishing the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse. The program was launched in July of that year. State Depository Program:  “There is hereby created, as a division of the Nebraska Library Commission, a Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse. The clearinghouse shall establish and operate a publications collection and depository system for the use of Nebraska citizens” The original legislation has been amended several times to exclude Junior Colleges and reduce the number of mandatory copies that agencies must send.   In 2005 distribuution to the 13 state documents depositories changed from microfiche shipments to notifications about additions to our digital state documents collection. Federal Depository Program The legislation also directed the Library Commission to provide access to federal publications. “The Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse shall provide access to local, state, federal and other governmental publications to state agencies and legislators and through interlibrary loan service to citizens of the state.” The Commission began participating in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) in 1972. It served as Nebraska’s Regional Federal Depository until 1984, when Love Library at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln became the Regional. The Commission is now a selective depository and has reduced its selections to about 2% of the publications offered through the program.   Many of those are digital publications that we do not receive in tangible format but link to from our online catalog.