Jean Russell Quible Department of Collections and Technical Services: Service policy for access to government information in electronic format

The University Libraries at Virginia Tech is dedicated to the ideals of Title 44 USC to provide free use to federal government publications, regardless of format, to the general public.

The library provides:

• Access to Internet and tangible electronic information resources developed by the federal government and distributed by the Federal Depository Library Program, Government Printing Office. Tangible electronic products located on the open shelving on the fifth floor of Newman Library are available for circulation. All tangible electronic products are cataloged with bibliographic information available in Discovery Search.
• Internet access is available to students, faculty, staff, and the general public at no cost on workstations throughout the University Libraries system. Patrons are not required to present identification. Filtering software is not employed on public access machines in the library. Access to government resources on the Internet are assisted by the Government (United States) home page maintained by the government information specialist. Patron folders on the desktop allow for temporary storage of patron generated files.
• No fee access to workstations meeting or exceeding the latest "Recommended Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries" as developed by the Federal Depository Library Program, Government Printing Office, are available.
• Reference service for the depository collection is available from the second floor reference desk. In-depth reference help, consultation, or training for tangible and Internet electronic products is available by appointment with the Government Information Specialist, Bruce Obenhaus (540-231-6181).
• Access for distance users is available through the Government (United States) home page, email, and interlibrary loan services.
• Checkout privileges for circulating materials is available to all Virginia residents with valid picture identification (ex. Virginia driver's license). Printing costs for government information resources are consistent with those for similar formats from other publishers.

All use of computer workstations in the university are subject to Acceptable Use of Information Systems at Virginia Tech.