Georgia Southern University
The U.S. Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) newest Depository Spotlight library is the Zach S. Henderson Library at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. The library serves Georgia's 12th Congressional District. Georgia Southern University is the state’s largest and most comprehensive center of higher education south of Atlanta. With 119 degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels, Georgia Southern has been designated a Carnegie Doctoral-Research university and provides the classic residential campus experience and online learning options to 20,673 students from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 88 nations.
Zach S. Henderson Library supports Georgia Southern University by providing access to information, collections, and services designed to meet the scholarly needs of the university and the general public. The Library promotes independent lifelong learning, employs a learner-centered service ethic, and ensures a comfortable and secure study environment. The Library opened in 1975, and a $22.75 million expansion/renovation project was completed in August 2008. This expansion added 101,000 square feet to the original building and included the first Automated Storage and Retrieval System in any library in the southeast.
The Zach S. Henderson Library was designated a Federal depository library in 1939 and also serves as a depository for Georgia state publications.
When asked about the three greatest strengths of her department, Government Documents Librarian Lori Gwinett says, "First, comprehensiveness, especially given that we are located in a small town. This is good for the whole 12th Congressional district. Second, the condition of the collection, which is very good, especially considering the number of times we've had to move it. Third, thanks to a diligent documents librarian in the 70s and 80s, we have lots of materials older than our 76 years, ranging from the predecessors to the Congressional Record, to Geological Survey monographs, to World War II materials and ephemera that were some of our first depository receipts."
She continues, "We promote service to the community through our local farmer's market, sometimes with a student dressed up as Uncle Sam. We have information on practically every conceivable topic, and it is all freely-available to anyone, permanently.” The Government Documents Department recently moved into new space that nearly doubled the size of their workroom, and which puts the staff on the same floor as the depository collection, making it easier to integrate collection maintenance and reference work in the collection. GPO salutes the Zach S. Henderson Library for their efforts to bring U.S Government information not only to the students and faculty of Georgia Southern University, but the wider community as well.