{"id":2252,"date":"2023-04-27T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/?p=2252"},"modified":"2023-04-28T19:59:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T23:59:56","slug":"celebrating-75-years-as-a-federal-depository-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/sycamore-stacks\/2023\/04\/27\/celebrating-75-years-as-a-federal-depository-library\/","title":{"rendered":"UNT Celebrates 75 Years in the Federal Depository Library Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\"The<\/a>\n

[Library Building of the North Texas State Teachers College<\/a>, <\/span>photograph<\/span>, date unknown; <\/span>University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History<\/a><\/span>; crediting\u00a0Denton Public Library<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Government Documents Collection at the University of North Texas Libraries is 75 years old this year.<\/p>\n

In the words of James Madison, “A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” (Letter to W. T. Barry, August 4, 1822<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Here is a brief history of how we became a federal depository library<\/a> and how we have developed our collection and services over the years in an ongoing effort to provide our ever-burgeoning clientele with free public access to government information.<\/p>\n\n

<\/h2>\n

First Request Is Rejected<\/h2>\n

Our quest to become a depository library got off to a rocky start when our first request was rejected in 1937.<\/p>\n\"Photo<\/a>\n

W. J. McConnell<\/a>, photograph, c. 1935; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History<\/a>; crediting Denton Public Library.<\/em><\/p>\n

On April 15, 1937, President W.J. McConnell sent a letter to Senator Tom Connally<\/a>, requesting that North Texas State Teachers College be designated a depository for receiving selected federal government documents. In his letter he stated that \u201c[NTSTC] is a coeducational institution with a long session enrollment of 2,250 and a summer session enrollment of 3,500. The registration is approximately half men and half women.\u201d A copy of the letter was sent to W.D. McFarlane<\/a>, U.S. House of Representatives, 13th District; and on April 27 President McConnell sent a letter to Senator Morris Sheppard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McConnell was well aware that another college in Denton, Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman\u2019s University<\/a>), had already been designated the 13th District\u2019s federal depository many years previously, but found that situation problematic because the facilities at a college for women were not accessible to the large male population enrolled at NTSTC. Not only would a collection at the co-educational NTSTC be available to both male and female students, it would be housed in a brand new library building that was \u201csaid by competent critics to be the second largest and most useful among the institutions of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

President W. J. McConnell had concluded his fervent plea to Senator Sheppard with an earnest warning:\u00a0“To look down the line of the future for this large school of men and women with no hope of getting a depository would be discouraging.”<\/p>\n

On April 29, Senator Sheppard replied to President McConnell that the Senator\u2019s allotted designation had already been used some years ago to designate Southwestern University<\/a> (in Georgetown) as a depository, but he promised to make further inquiries about the matter.<\/p>\n

On May 6, Superintendent of Documents Alton P. Tisdel wrote back to Senator Sheppard, who then enclosed the Superintendent\u2019s letter in a message to President McConnell. As Sheppard and McConnell must have anticipated, Tisdel reminded everyone that federal law allowed only one designation by each senator, and only one depository library in each congressional district. Because Senator Sheppard had already designated Southwestern University<\/a>, another request could not be considered. Furthermore, as Tisdel also rather unnecessarily pointed out, there was no vacancy in the 13th District anyway, because another college in Denton, Texas State College for Women, had already been assigned this designation in 1932.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s hopes were dashed, and a decade would pass before North Texas State Teachers College would make another request.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n

Second Request Is Successful<\/h2>\n

The 1940s were a crucial time for depository libraries. The distribution of government documents, especially pamphlets, was critical to the war effort, and documents collections in Texas and the rest of the United States were the principal means of bringing this vital information to the public (Texas Library Association, History \u2013 the 1940s<\/a>). As a result, federal depository collections throughout the country were growing.<\/p>\n

On December 11, 1947, Texas State College for Women, which had been the 13th<\/span>\u00a0District\u2019s depository library since 1932, requested permission to relinquish their depository status after concluding that they did not have sufficient staff to maintain the burgeoning depository collection.<\/p>\n

Seizing upon the opportunity provided by this sudden vacancy, on December 18, 1947, NTSTC librarian (and future Poet Laureate of Texas) Arthur Sampley wrote to the Honorable Ed Gossett, the current Representative of the 13th Congressional District, requesting that the NTSTC Library be designated a federal depository library for his District.<\/p>\n\"Photo<\/a>\n

Library Director Arthur M. Sampley in the 1948 edition of The Yucca, Yearbook of North Texas State College<\/a>. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History<\/a><\/span>; crediting\u00a0UNT Libraries Special Collections<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Sampley persuasively argued that NTSTC easily met the requirements for depository designation, highlighting the following characteristics:<\/p>\n\n