Geographic-Based CGP Record Sets on GitHub

Metadata and Collection Services (formerly Library Technical Services) has launched a new GitHub repository, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications Geographic-Based Record Sets. The repository contains sets of Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) bibliographic records based on geographic coverage and governmental jurisdictions. Our intention is to provide a new product to assist Federal depository libraries with the development and management of their collections and the GPO records in their catalogs and systems.

Multiple MARC fields are used to identify records that are related to a particular state or entity. The reports are in the form of tab-separated values spreadsheets. They include several different types of metadata, including the match points, major metadata element (titles, SuDoc numbers, agency name, and OCLC numbers), and collection development and management information (shipping list numbers, agency classes, and the OCLC numbers of online equivalent records in the CGP). More information is available in the repository description.

GPO is testing this process with one state in each National Collection Service Area (NCSA):

• Alaska (West).
• Ohio (Midwest).
• Pennsylvania (Northeast).
• Texas (South). 

The plan is to create record sets for all states and entities and to combine the files for the states and entities in each NCSA into individual collections.

Webcasts on our GitHub resources are in development. The first two webcasts are available in the FDLP Academy Training Repository: LSCM GitHub Repositories Webcast Series. 

GPO is very interested in hearing from you about your experience using this new set of records and others in our GitHub collection. Please contact us via askGPO. When submitting an inquiry/feedback, please use the Cataloging/Metadata (Policy and Records) category.