On August 15, 2024, the Government Printing Office's Library Services and Content Management division announced the closing in March 2025 of the Cataloging Record Distribution Program (CRDP), by which GPO partnered with MARCIVE to deliver federal document records to depository libraries. This announcement has been followed on September 5, 2024 by MARCIVE announcing that it will discontinue operations by December 2024, which has advanced the end date for CRDP to December 2024 as well.
These changes will have effects on CARLI member library workflows and practices. This resource page attempts to collate information for CARLI and library staff to consider alternatives for the future.
Last updated: February 20, 2025
GPO Closing the Cataloging Record Distribution Program
Announcement on the closure of the Cataloging Record Distribution Program
Letter from Laurie B. Hall, Managing Director, Library Services and Content Management, GPO, dated August 15, 2024
GPO, Cataloging Record Distribution Program
- Provides background and information on services that are included (e.g., record customization) and excluded (e.g., barcodes, labels)
- It may be useful to review and consider whether any may be established as consortial practices.
- Acknowledges the details of the program and MARCIVE's partnership with GPO as the contracted vendor for the CRDP.
- Refers to GPO's Sources of GPO Cataloging Records (listed below).
- Identifies two of MARCIVE's services, Enhanced GPO Database Service, and Documents without Shelves, as possible successors for CRDP members to consider.
Events
2024 Federal Depository Library Conference, October 21-23. Events free of charge.
How to receive MARC records for your U.S. government document titles from OCLC, September 25, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. CDT. Register for webinar.
CARLI
I-Share members that are CRDP participants, per MARCIVE CRDP site:
- ISL, MCK, NIU, PRC, SIE, UIS, UIU
CARLI Network Zone Collections
United States Government Documents
CARLI created a central collection, United States Government Documents, in the Alma Network Zone on January 27, 2025. (Collection ID 61490589600005816) The collection is based on records from the OCLC knowledge base, "U.S. Government Documents - Electronic," and updates are processed weekly every Monday morning. OCLC's collection is filled using MARC records that correspond to titles found in the Federal Depository Library Program and contain GPO Item Numbers for selection. CARLI will be supplementing these data with records that do not contain item numbers.
Illinois State Documents
In addition to the United States Government Documents collection, Northern Illinois University created and contributed a collection of Illinois State Documents (Collection ID 61287292390005871) to the Alma Community Zone. This collection is available for any institution to activate. The collection is under consideration for sharing from the network zone.
Sources of GPO MARC Records
GPO
GPO, Sources of GPO Cataloging Records
- Cites the below resources and includes links to other GPO records information.
- Training resources on the File Data Manager.
- Tutorial for FDLP libraries to Download records based off your library's current item selection profile.
Catalog of Government Publications (CGP) on GitHub
- Repository of records from the Catalog of Government Publications.
- All records for CGP "As of April 2023" (per the readme doc, dated 8/19/2024)
- Some collections of records have earlier or later dates (per a separate readme document)
- List of github posts from GPO's Library Services & Content Management page on metadata initiatives
MARCIVE
MARCIVE homepage announcement, ceasing operations by December 2024
- Monthly subscription plan based on depository library's item profile.
OCLC
WorldShare Collection Manager: GPO - U.S. Government Publishing Office
- Automated selection of records from WorldCat using a depository library's item selection profile.
Resources
ALA, Government Documents Round Table (GODORT)
GODORT, Cataloging Toolbox for U.S. Federal Government Information
- Includes list of sources for catalog records and user friendly descriptions of each service.