GODORT (Government Documents Round Table)

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The mission of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) is to (1) To provide a forum for discussion of problems, concerns, and for exchange of ideas by librarians working with government documents; (2) to provide a force for initiating and supporting programs to increase availability, use, and bibliographic control of documents; (3) to increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians; (4) to contribute to the extension and improvement of education and training of documents librarians.

Learn more about GODORT on the ALA website.

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Looking for CA Local Gov Pubs??? IGS Library has 5000 available online!

  • 1.  Looking for CA Local Gov Pubs??? IGS Library has 5000 available online!

    Posted Jul 09, 2025 01:42 PM
    Summer Greetings!

    The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) Library (an affiliated library at UCB)  is thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our partnership with the Internet Archive: 5,000+ California local government publications are now available online! This achievement is part of our ongoing digitization initiative, which we've dubbed the LoCAL Dig Project. Below is our blog post celebrating this milestone. 
    Digitization began in July 2024, and we are incredibly pleased to reach this 5,000+ publication mark just one year later. 
    https://archive.org/details/igscalocalgovdocs
    As one of California's three designated state depository libraries for local government documents (per CA Gov Code § 50110), IGSL has been collecting these invaluable materials for over a century. Per this local depository statute, the IGS Library has an obligation to collect, preserve, and make these materials available for reference and research use.  In order meet this obligation in our current digital information landscape, the LoCal Dig Project is both a large-scale print collection digitization effort as well as a digital collecting project that makes these materials accessible online to anyone.  Stay tuned for more info on our born digital collections efforts in the coming year. 
    Visit our LoCAL Dig Project website for more information about the project, including additional blog posts organized by topic and reflections from our project staff, like this one from our student assistant Habiba Hesham Geweifal: What the Project Means to Me. 
    Please share with your communities as you see fit!
    Best,
    Kris

    Milestone! IGS Library Digitizes Over 5,000 Rare California Local Government Documents

    https://igs.berkeley.edu/news/5000th-item-digitized

    The Institute of Governmental Studies Library (IGSL) at UC Berkeley has reached a remarkable achievement: more than 5,000 local government documents from across California have been digitized and made freely accessible to the public!

    Launched in the summer of 2024, the project has digitized a sizable portion of its local government monographs, which were gathered over the years 1975-2008. These materials consist of core government publications such as general plans, zoning ordinances, environmental impact reports, and growth management studies. The collection also includes an array of rare and highly specialized documents that reflect the nuanced challenges and innovations at the local level.

    Some particularly distinctive highlights include:

    With this project, IGSL ensures that these uncommon and invaluable records-once scattered and difficult to access-are now preserved for future generations of researchers, policymakers, and the public.

    What's next on the horizon:

    • Serial publications (e.g., city budgets, climate action reports, city newsletters, regional planning and governance) will be digitized starting the Fall of 2025!

    • Born-digital materials currently hosted on local government websites will soon be actively collected and preserved as part of the library's growing digital collections.

    • User support tools -the IGS library will lead workshops, tutorials, and create online guides-beginning in 2026!

    Explore the collection: https://archive.org/details/igscalocalgovdocs

    Open knowledge builds stronger communities!



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    Kris Kasianovitz
    Library Director
    UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Library
    She/Her/Hers
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