The reinvention of the FDLP: A paradigm shift from product provider to service provider

This article highlights the Government Printing Office's (GPO) successful transition from a producer of print publications to a service provider and how this has affected the role of Federal Depository Libraries in an increasingly electronic service environment. It discusses the identity crisis currently facing Federal Depository Libraries during this transition to provide electronic dissemination of government information and proposes a 3-year certified training demonstration program for government information librarians, while vigorously attempting to make it financially self-supporting using a mixed funding formula. The cost/benefit analysis of this certified training demonstration project will be the ammunition for amending Chapter 19 of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, making training a key and permanent component of GPO's mission.