West Chester University is a Selective Federal Depository for documents from the United States Government Printing Office (GPO) and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The library receives 26% of the material produced by the GPO; this material is selected on the basis that it supports the University's curriculum and the needs of the West Chester community.
The GPO is the largest publisher in the world, and the documents it produces register the activities of the agencies, offices, bureaus, and departments of the federal government. These documents include such things as Congressional hearings, reports, and all of the other texts created and used by Congress; US Census reports; national crime data; publications produced by government bodies such as NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Disease Control, etc.; and all other kinds of documents released by all of the Federal agencies.
West Chester University also receives documents from Pennsylvania state government agencies, including books, pamphlets, periodicals, electronic resources, and much more.
The general public is welcome to use depository materials free of charge.
All of the material in Government Documents circulates, except for Government Documents Reference material and the items in our Maps collection.
West Chester University adheres to the Federal Depository Library policies set in Title 44 U.S.C. §§ 1901 -1916 (2010).
Government documents are found on shelves in the far right corner of the 2nd floor of the FHG Library, as well as online through our library catalog.
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