What Did Your Library Do During the War? A Look Back at Depository Libraries and the World War II War Effort, with a Brief Bibliography

Abstract

After some thirty years dealing with the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) as a reference librarian and later as head of Indiana University’s Government Information, Maps, and Microforms Department, I still feel passionate about the role FDLP librarians play in maintaining documents collections and providing easy access to what our governments publish. Throughout my career as a documents librarian, I contended that documents librarians are stuck in the middle: between ensuring access to government information for our researchers and students, and working as an “agent” of the government to protect these collections. I am specifically remembering all the various recalls for specific documents from the Government Printing Office (GPO), a fundamental aspect of FDLP in working with agencies to get depository items. While cleaning up office files in anticipation of retirement a few years ago, I uncovered a few treasures I would like to share with my government documents colleagues.