Summer Updates to Your FDLP Shipments

GPO’s Depository Distribution unit continues to improve procedures at our distribution facility in Laurel, MD. Print Distribution Titles (PDT) are being shipped to PDT recipients. Overall, libraries may note a decline in the number and frequency of their shipments.

Very few shipments are being sent to non-PDT selectors (remaining shipments include, for example, editions of the bound Serial Set that were acquired in pre-PDT quantities). Shipments going to non-PDT recipients are marked with a caret (^) on the shipping list and in the FDLP Data Manager (FDM), and distribution is based on February 2024 selection profiles.

Libraries should regularly check shipping lists via FDM or FDLP.gov. To filter shipping lists to just the material your library is currently profiled to receive, an FDM tutorial is available; consult page 3. Filtering in FDM is based on your library’s current selection profile; material shipped to non-PDT recipients (note the ^) will not display if the library does not currently select the title. For this reason, libraries may also want to review shipping lists where a ^ is in the Title field.

Libraries that are missing a shipment or receive damaged copies should file a Claim for that material. The claims window is open for 60 days after the date listed on the shipping list. Review the date on the shipping list, and file your claim between 30 and 60 days from that date. This is to allow enough time for local mail services to deliver and route boxes accordingly.

As the Depository Distribution unit refines workflows, libraries will note that some shipments are going out in white envelopes. For Separates shipments, shipping lists may sometimes be affixed to the side of the box in a plastic sleeve. Some Separates may now be shipped bundled in one box instead of multiple boxes.

If you have any questions about the change to distribution procedures, please use askGPO. Select the category “Other depository library question or issue.”