FDLP Resource Guides: FDLP Succession Planning: Information for New Coordinators

Recommended Tasks for Day One

The succession plan should include first steps for the new coordinator. Make sure someone will provide the plan to the coordinator on their first day.

These are some suggested tasks for Day One:

Update the FDL Directory with current contact information. If you do not have access to your askGPO account, send an inquiry to the Federal Depository Support Services for assistance.
Subscribe to the FDLP News and Events announcements
Review your library's succession plan and related documents about FDLP operations
Browse the depository collection to familiarize yourself with the collection, whether tangible or digital materials
Review the FDLP Quick Start Guide
Read the Legal Regulations and Program Requirements
Join government information listservs, such as govdoc-l and doctech-l

Featured GPO Resources

Click on the tabs of this box to learn about the featured GPO resources that are helpful for depository coordinators and library staff that handle FDLP operations.

Screenshot of "FDLP Archive-It" website

Explore FDLP Archive-It, which "harvests selected U.S. Government Web sites in their entirety."

CGP Banner

The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is free online resource of bibliographic records for U.S. Government publications. To learn more about how to use this catalog, check out CGP Search Tips/Help.

FDLP Academy Banner

While freely available for the general public, the FDLP Academy offers webinars and webcasts for Federal depository libraries. Its mission is to "create and deliver enhanced educational opportunities to the FDLP community by fostering collaboration, by facilitating knowledge sharing, and through the application of new methods and use of multiple mediums" about Federal Government resources.

As examples, here are some webinars from 2022 and 2023:

Why We Continue to Say Yes to FDLP
- Recorded on October 18, 2022 | Length of Time: 36 minutes
FDLP PURL Usage Report - Analyzing Usage of Digital FDLP Resources
- Recorded on March 23, 2022 | Length of Time for Three Webcasts: 55 minutes
Demo for FDLP eXchange Release 1.2
- Recorded on November 28, 2023 | Length of Time: 60 minutes
FDLP Preconference: Updates from GPO's Library Services & Content Management
- Recorded on October 12, 2023 | Length of Time: 118 minutes

The FDLP Depository Operation Training Series (DOTS) are webcasts for depository coordinators on how to manage their FDL collections. Recordings with accompanying slides include

Introduction to the FDLP and GPO (17 minutes)
Legal Requirements and Regulations (13 minutes)
What’s in the Box? (28 minutes)
Depository Collection Management (22 minutes)
Public Access (31 minutes)
Cataloging and Bibliographic Control (32 minutes)
Regional Depository Libraries (33 minutes)
Promotion, Responsibilities, and Trends (13 minutes)

FDLP Resource Guides provide information about the Federal Government and the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). There are two types of guides: Subject and FDLP Information. “Subject Guides” explore a variety of topics that concern the Federal Government for the general public. “FDLP Information Guides” contain resources and guidance for Federal Depository Libraries about operations and services.

Here are some guides to explore:

Screenshot of USGPO / cataloging-records on GitHub

GPO catalogers place bibliographic information on records about various topics in GitHub. Some of the records are brief bibs or preliminary records. Almost all of the records are for online versions of the resources.

Screenshot of GovInfo

GovInfo has featured collections on types of Federal Government documents and topics. Visit the Tutorials and Handouts on how to use and search in GovInfo.

Screenshot of MetaLib

Check out MetaLib as a Federal search engine tool. It searches through multiple Federal government articles, citations, databases, and reports.