September 18, 2002
 

Sen. Sarbanes, Other Officials to Speak at UM Libraries
For Government Documents Grand Reopening
 

U. S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) will be among the featured speakers when the Government Documents & Maps Collection at the University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, celebrates the grand reopening of its new facility in McKeldin Library on Monday, September 30. 

Festivities, beginning at 10 a.m. in Room 6137 at McKeldin, will include a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony, remarks by other national and local leaders on the future of government information, an exhibit, and lots of giveaways, prizes, and refreshments. The public is invited to attend.
Others expected to attend and speak include U.S. Superintendent of Documents Francis J. Buckley, Jr., and University President C. D. (Dan) Mote, Jr.

For more than 75 years, Government Documents & Maps has served the UM campus and the public as a federal depository library providing patrons with no-fee access to government information.  Today, Government Documents has a collection of nearly two million items and more than 400,000 topographic and thematic maps.  Since its designation as a Regional Federal Depository Library in 1968, it also oversees 67 selective depository libraries throughout Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, including the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins University Library. 

Government Documents’ move to the 4th Floor West of McKeldin Library is its latest step to improve access to its collection and services.  For the first time, the government publications and map collections is housed in one convenient location.  Patrons now have a comfortable, well-lit space to browse and research government information.  A new computer center provides online access to government electronic publications and databases as well as to Geographic Information Systems.  In addition, expanded reference service offers professional assistance to patrons throughout the week. 

Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Sen. Sarbanes is serving his fifth term in the U.S. Senate. He previously was in the U.S. House of Representatives for three terms and, prior to that, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. The senator did his undergraduate work at Princeton University where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He later was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. He also has been an associate with two Baltimore law firms.

Superintendent of Documents Buckley was appointed to his current position in 1997, coming from the Shaker Heights (OH) Public Library, where he served as Director since 1994. From 1966 to 1994, he was with the Detroit Public Library where he rose from reference librarian and documents specialist to assistant director for technical services and collection development and associate director for public services, with a two-year break for military service. Superintendent Buckley earned his bachelor's degree and his master's degree in library science from the University of Michigan 

In September 1998, Dr, Mote began his tenure as President of the University of Maryland and Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering. He was recruited to lead the University of Maryland to the top echelon of public research universities under a mandate by the state. Prior to assuming the Presidency at Maryland, Dr. Mote served on the University of California, Berkeley faculty for 31 years.  He received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. 

More information about Government Documents/Maps’ grand reopening is available at  http://www.lib.umd.edu/GOV/.

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