Schenectady, N.Y. (Oct. 15, 2001)
– The Pentagon Papers. Gemini photos of Earth. A 1942 publication on the
internment of Japanese. A 2000 document titled Patterns of Global Terrorism.
Those and other pieces of American
history from Union College's Government Documents collection are on display
through Nov. 9 in the Lally Reading Room of Schaffer Library. “Documents
Through the Decades” commemorates the 100th anniversary of the
library's designation as a Selective Federal Document Depository, one of about 1,400 nationally.
As part of the commemoration,
Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government,
will speak on “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Freedom of Access” on Monday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m. in Reamer Auditorium.
Each year, the College receives
between 4,000 and 5,000 paper copies of documents, an additional number of
microfiche publications, topographic maps and several hundred CDs, all without charge from the Library Programs Service of the Government Printing Office, the largest publisher in the world. Union selects about 25 percent of the 6,200 items offered, and has ready access to regional depositories, which keep
everything.
Contained in the massive offerings
is not just information from the three branches of government, but subject
areas covering agriculture, law, medicine, history, economics, energy,
engineering, fish and wildlife, oceans, transportation and health.
“I think people are unaware of
what we have here,” says Donna Burton, reference librarian and government
documents specialist, who has curated the exhibit. “If we lead them to (the
documents collection) they are surprised.”
The range of offerings, which also
include such mundane documents as Zip code directories and IRS tax forms, also
surprises library patrons, Burton added.
The most heavily used documents
are the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, popular with
students and faculty doing research on everything from demographics to economic
trends. Schaffer has them dating back to 1929.
And among the least popular?
Perhaps a lengthy volume on Congressional hearings on the replacement of silverware at U.S. embassies, or a document from a House hearing on the shortage of canning lids.
For calendar listings:
Exhibit: “Documents Through the Decades,” a commemoration of
Union College's centennial as a Federal documents depository.
Date: Through Nov. 9 (Talk by
Robert Freeman on Oct. 29, 3 p.m., Reamer Auditorium)
Times: Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Friday, 8
a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Place: Lally Reading
Room, Schaffer Library, Union College
Cost: Free
Information: 388-6281