Overview
The Lewis J. Ort Library serves as both a federal
and state depository. As the primary federal depository library
in Western Maryland, the library is charged with providing the
citizens of Maryland's three westernmost counties (Washington,
Allegany, and Garrett) with federal government information and
resources.
The library has participated in the Federal Depository
Library Program since 1967 and collects approximately 30% of all
government publications, focusing mainly on documents that are
relevant to the majors FSU offers and to the communities we serve.
The collection includes books, pamphlets, microfiche, CDs, DVDs,
and electronic sources. The library also has an extensive collection
of USGS maps, folded maps, and atlases. In addition, the library
collects 100% of all Maryland state documents.
The government documents collection is accessible
whenever the library is open. Most print documents and all microfiche are
located in the Government Documents Collection on Floor 2 of the
library and are arranged by Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc)
classification numbers. Other print documents may be located in
the Reference Collection (Floor 2), Periodicals (Floor 2), or
Stacks (Floors 4 & 5). The map collection is located in map
cases on Floor 2.
Anyone is free to use the government documents and
maps in the library, and patrons with a library card can check out most documents. Community users with a photo ID may obtain a library card
at the circulation desk at no charge. For more information contact
the circulation desk at (301) 687-4395.
You can search most of our government documents
collection using catalogUSMAI, the
online catalog for the University System of Maryland. The catalog
provides a full bibliographic record for each document as well
as location and an LC/SuDoc number and circulation status. Documents
are fully integrated in the catalog with all other library materials.
The GOVDOC (paper document) and GOVDOC MFICHE (microfiche document)
tags indicate that the materials are located in the Government
Documents Collection on Floor 2.
Most Maryland State documents are integrated into
the collection and housed in the Stacks (Floors 4 & 5) and
are arranged by LC number. Less widely-used state documents, such as reports,
COMAR updates, newsletters, brochures, SHA public hearings, etc.
are housed in cabinets in the Government Documents Collection
on Floor 2.
Government documents are organized by a unique classification
system known as the Superintendent of Documents number (SuDoc)
rather than the Library of Congress (LC) call number system. SuDoc
numbers begin with a letter of the alphabet that indicates which
federal agency produced the document. The major document producing
agencies are listed below: |
