Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Winter 2016
Abstract
An intergovernmental relations perspective is important to understand challenges facing the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). National library related programs exist as intergovernmental networks tasked with gathering, preserving, and disseminating government information produced at the national level. This paper begins with an overview of the work of the GPO and a discussion of what is meant by an intergovernmental perspective. In reviewing the scholarly literature that has been produced within the last twenty years regarding the work of the GPO, focusing upon organizational dimensions of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the author addresses intergovernmental trends that are impacting these agencies. These three trends include the need for interagency cooperation, the establishment of stronger capacity, and the necessity to collaborate with non-governmental entities (in this case libraries throughout the country) to fulfill the agency’s mission. This topic must be studied further since there is a need for scholarly literature to address the intergovernmental aspects of the GPO.