National Domestic Violence Awareness Month is an annual designation observed in October. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are victims of physical violence by a partner every year. The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications offers access to some excellent resources.

• Federal support for providing housing to individuals experiencing domestic violence
• Questions and answers: the application of Title VII and the ADA to applicants or employees who experience domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking
• The Violence Against Women Act: overview, legislation, and federal funding
• Domestic violence and the child welfare system

Memphis Public Libraries is hosting Halloween activities for their patrons. They are offering free pumpkins to take home for a decorating contest and fall craft bags to go.

Prepare your library for reopening with FDLP face masks and social distancing signage.

The Fire Prevention Week 2020 (October 4 – 10) campaign highlights this year's focus on cooking safety and preventing kitchen fires at home. Check out these resources from the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications:

• Grilling fire safety
• Cooking fires in residential buildings (2014-2016)
• Fire safety for older adults
• Thanksgiving Day fires in residential buildings
• Prepare, practice, prevent the unthinkable : a parents’ guide to fire safety for babies and toddlers
• Teaching family fire safety

Access resources for patrons and administrative information for library staff, as well as infographics and images for your library website.

FDLP legend, Barbie Selby, of the University of Virginia’s Alderman Library is retiring. Barbie’s contributions to the Government documents community are countless, as Virginia’s Regional Depository Librarian, a former member and Chair of the DLC, her activity in ALA’s GODORT, and much more. Please join GPO in wishing Barbie a happy and healthy retirement.

GPO names Indiana University, Bloomington’s Herman B Wells Library as the 2020 Federal Depository Library of the Year. Read more...

October 12th is National Native American Day. Check out these resources from the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications:

• APHIS: partnering across nations to safeguard Native American agriculture
• Assistance for Tribal Nations
• Preserving Native American History
• American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States [electronic resource]

At the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, NC, the staff worked hard to help two veterans who contacted the library because they had microfiche military records from the Department of Defense, and they needed to print the pages. Each had called all around town without success. The Library’s microfiche printers are in an area of the library that is not currently open to the public due to COVID-19, but that didn’t stop these Government information professionals from finding a creative solution. Depository Coordinator Mimi Curlee was able to find an old microfiche reader and take that to the patrons where they were able to bring up their images, take pictures with their cell phone’s camera, and then attach the pictures to email to send to the Library’s printer. Kudos!