Submit Regional Discard Requests to GPO

  • Last Updated: September 01, 2023
  • Published: May 04, 2023

All regional depository libraries are invited to submit requests to discard Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) titles to the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO).

Please read below for information on how to submit a request to discard to GPO.

Titles Eligible for Discard

  1. Titles on a GPO-produced discard eligibility list.
  2. Titles that meet the following requirements:
    1. Retained by the regional for at least seven years
    2. Available on GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys)/govinfo as a PDF file that is digitally-signed by the Superintendent of Documents.
  3. Titles for which there are at least four designated geographically-dispersed Preservation Stewards. Until further notice, GPO will confirm if titles meet this requirement.

GPO-Produced Eligibility List

GPO has created an initial list of titles that were distributed in 2009 or prior and are available on FDsys/govinfo as a PDF that is digitally-signed by the Superintendent of Documents.

Library Nominations

At a yet-to-be determined point in time during Phase 1, GPO will also begin to request library nominations for inclusion to the Eligible Titles List.

Preparing to Submit a Request for Approval to Discard

Libraries must confirm that each title meets the first two criteria above for discard eligibility. Libraries are then required to complete a submission form or attach a CSV file to the form. In order to be able to complete a submission form libraries must:

  1. At a minimum, identify:
    1. Document title
    2. FDsys/govinfo URL
    3. Classification number
    4. Publication date
    5. Condition of the tangible document
    6. Date of receipt, processing date, shipping list date, library stamp date, or publication date.
  2. Perform a comparison of the FDsys/govinfo document with the tangible document to ensure the documents match. There is no definitive way to determine if a digital version is the same document without comparing it to the tangible document. Content to look for includes, but is not limited to, matching dates, titles, supplements, a table of contents, appendices, page numbers, and images or charts.

If there are differences between the tangible document in hand and the digital document available via FDsys/govinfo, contact GPO via the Regional Discard Contact Form.

***Regional Federal depository libraries are required to use one of the two following forms to submit discard requests to GPO.

Request to discard multiple titles 

 

Request to discard individual titles