What are Cataloging and Metadata Contributors?
These partners assist GPO with providing bibliographic data or serial holding information for historic and unreported publications that are not currently available in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) or for which there are only minimal records. No publications, either digital or tangible, are exchanged in this type of partnership. The publications, however, must be within scope of GPO’s information dissemination programs as defined by Title 44, U.S.C.
Active Cataloging and Metadata Contributors
| Name of Parner | NCSA | Contribution |
| Arthur Lakes Library, Colorado School of Mines | West | Bibliographic records for USGS publications in the SuDoc ranges of I 19.3:, I 19.4/2:, I 19.13:, and I 19.16: |
Cataloging and Metadata Contributor Spotlight
GPO and the University of Minnesota (UMN) signed a Letter of Agreement in July 2021, making this Cataloging and Metadata Contributor Partnership official, but GPO staff began working to create records based on publication scans provided by UMN Libraries in May 2019.
This latest collaboration between GPO and UMN Libraries includes historic publications from three significant ceased agencies and related SuDoc classes:
- The War Department (W)
- The Department of the Navy (N)
- The Office of Education in the Department of the Interior (I 16)
To support this collaborative partnership agreement, UMN Libraries staff scanned their uncataloged publications and posted links to those scans, with accompanying metadata, to a server-hosted spreadsheet. GPO staff then reviewed those digital surrogates and created CGP records for those publications. GPO staff completed their work to support this partnership on June 6, 2023. Upon completion, GPO staff added 924 records to the CGP for historic, unreported publications held by UMN Libraries. All records created as part of this collaboration between GPO and UMN Libraries can be accessed via the CGP using the expert search query “wlts=MINN*”.
Benefits of Being a Cataloging and Metadata Contributor
Gain national recognition for the work of your institution - Supporting the discovery of the tangible and digital collections in Federal depository libraries
- Increasing access to content digitized by partner libraries or Federal agencies
- Assisting Federal depository libraries with retrospective cataloging by providing access to bibliographic records
- Sharing the cataloging cost burden among libraries, and with GPO
Expectations for Cataloging and Metadata Contributors
- Records must represent information products that are within scope of GPO’s information dissemination programs as defined by Title 44, U.S.C.
- The bibliographic records or metadata provided by the potential partner meet the specifications stipulated in the partnership agreement, and the partner must be able to provide a sample of the records or metadata for evaluation.
- The partner must grant GPO permission to modify the records.
- The partner must allow GPO to redistribute the records and must impose no access restrictions on the records.
How to Become a Cataloging and Metadata Contributor
Please contact us via askGPO to learn more about how your institution can participate. When submitting a question, select the category, “Partnerships.”
The process is easy. Once you submit your inquiry, a member of GPO’s staff will reach out to coordinate on the specifics of the partnership and then work with your organization to formalize the agreement with a Memorandum of Agreement.