The Documents Expediting Project, 1946–2004

Abstract

The Documents Expediting Project (DocEx), an acquisition and distribution service for federal documents that operated out of the Library of Congress (LC) from 1946 to 2004, was an important source of non-depository items, second copies, and fugitive documents. In addition to distributing documents to subscribing libraries and other organizations, DocEx supplied documents to the Superintendent of Documents for inclusion in the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications (MoCat). DocEx stands as a model of cooperation between libraries, library associations, LC, federal agencies, the Superintendent of Documents, and vendors to facilitate the acquisition and distribution of millions of documents that would otherwise have disappeared.