C&RL News May 2018 268

Gavin Baker is assistant director of government 
relations in ALA’s Washington Office, email: gbaker@
alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eGavin Baker

FDLP Modernization Act introduced, 
approved by House committee
The bipartisan FDLP Modernization Act of 
2018 (H.R. 5305) was introduced on March 
15, following months of effort by the Com-
mittee on House Administration. The Com-
mittee approved the legislation April 12.  

The bill would modernize the Federal 
Depository Library Program and related 
programs that provide public access to 
government information. The bill was 
sponsored by Committee Chairman Gregg 
Harper (R-Mississippi), Ranking Member 
Bob Brady (D-Pennsylvania), and Com-
mittee members Rodney Davis (R-Illinois), 
Barbara Comstock (R-Virgina), Mark Walker 
(R-North Carolina), Adrian Smith (R-Ne-
braska), Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia), Zoe 
Lofgren (D-California), and Jamie Raskin 
(D-Maryland).

In a statement commenting on the com-
mittee’s action, ALA President Jim Neal said: 
“Through their decades-long collaboration 
with the FDLP, libraries help the public 
find, use and understand government in-
formation. The FDLP Modernization Act will 
bolster that critical partnership and secure 
the public’s right to know.”

The FDLP Modernization Act was devel-
oped with input from the library community 
following a series of public hearings in the 
Committee on House Administration in 2017, 
which included testimony from librarians. 
Harper commented at the time that the hear-
ings were an opportunity “to see how we can 
make something that we like, better.” The 
bill follows that approach and incorporates 
many of the recommendations ALA sent to 
the committee.

While earlier, unintroduced drafts of the 
legislation dealt with a wide range of top-
ics related to the Government Publishing 
Office (GPO) and government printing, 
the FDLP Modernization Act focuses solely 
on FDLP and the Superintendent of Docu-
ments’ programs that provide public access 
to government information. Specifically, the 
bill would:

• modernize FDLP to provide greater 
flexibility, facilitate collaboration, streamline 
program requirements, and allow more librar-
ies to participate;

• improve public access to electronic 
government information by clarifying that 
digital information belongs in the program, 
guaranteeing free access to GPO’s online 
repository, modernizing the repository and 
online services, and authorizing the super-
intendent to digitize historical publications;

• strengthen preservation of government 
information by clarifying the superintendent’s 
responsibility for preservation, establish-
ing partnerships with libraries to preserve 
publications, and directing GPO to preserve 
publications in its online repository; and

• increase transparency and oversight 
to encourage the program to continue to 
evolve to meet the future needs of libraries 
and the public.

ALA welcomes the legislation and sent a 
letter of support, along with the American 
Association of Law Libraries and the Associa-
tion of Research Libraries, following the bill’s 
introduction. Prior to this process, it had been 
20 years since Congress last held hearings or 
introduced legislation regarding FDLP. 

After such a long wait, we are pleased to 
see bipartisan consensus that the time has 
come to modernize this program. ALA will 
continue to advocate for the bill to receive 
consideration on the House floor and in the 
Senate. 

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