The 1907 admission of land-grant university depository libraries: A 90-year perspective

This presentation of how land-grant university libraries became federal dep ository libraries in 1907 examines the principal legislative statutes creat ing the land-grant university system. It proceeds to cover how a congressio nal Printing Commission, concerned with eliminating duplicative governmenta l publications, also produced legislation granting federal depository statu s to the libraries of land-grant universities. There is also discussion of the presence of GPO Access gateways at many land-grant university depositor ies and the continuing relevance of the land-grant university service ideal to the depository library program during its transition to an increasingly electronic environment. The historical evolution of America's rural electr ic industry, community network movement, and federal information resource m anagement initiatives also present potentially useful service models for em erging electronic depositories. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.