Mo. library earns GPO kudos
The Middendorf-Kredell Branch of Missouri's St. Charles City-County Library today has been named the 2007 Federal Depository Library of the Year by the Government Printing Office.
Public printer Robert Tapella
presented the award to library officials in Washington.
'I'm especially proud of the library's online program that teaches kids about the government,' Tapella said. 'Uncle Sam for Kids was one of the first programs of its kind in the nation.'
The Uncle Sam for Kids
Web site offers a wealth of easy-to-understand information and links about government, American history, geography and science.
Uncle Sam for Kids went up March 4, 1997, said Anna Sylvan, information resource manager for documents at the Middendorf-Kredell Branch. At the time, there weren't really any compilations of agency Web sites. 'I pulled out data from every possible agency I could find that would be useful for children and homework.'
Sylvan also developed a protocol to directly batch-upload government documents, instead of sending them out to a third party to be catalogued. Last year, the library uploaded 18,500 electronic government records. Library patrons can search the records by author, title, subject or keywords.
The Federal Depository Library Program was established by Congress in 1813 to ensure that the public has free access to government information.
There are about 1,200 federal depository libraries nationwide, about 20 of which are in Missouri, Sylvan said.
About the Author
Trudy Walsh is a senior writer for GCN.