Public Printer visits the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Pictured (from left to right) are Bob Tapella, Public Printer; Gwen Sinclair, Depository Library Council member and Librarian; and Mabel Suzuki, Head, Government Documents & Maps.

Public Printer, Bob Tapella, recently visited the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) , which serves as the regional Federal depository library for selective depositories in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Mr. Tapella visited with Paula Mochida, Interim University Librarian, along with Mabel Suzuki, Head, and Gwen Sinclair, Librarian, of the Government Documents and Maps Department. During their visit, they discussed the preservation of tangible documents and other issues related to the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

Mr. Tapella was given a tour of the preservation department where the UH Mānoa staff is diligently working to ensure their important documents are preserved for years to come. The library has proactively rebuilt almost all of their tangible Federal depository collection after losing ninety-five percent of it in a flash flood in 2004.

UH Mānoa is the flagship institution of the ten campus University of Hawaiʻi System and is one of only thirteen institutions in the nation to hold the unique distinction of being a land-, sea-, and space grant research institution. The library recently celebrated its centennial as a Federal depository library, having been officially designated in 1907 along with many other libraries at land grant universities.

Gwen Sinclair, who is the regional depository coordinator for the Pacific island depositories, is currently serving on the Federal Depository Library Council, an advisory body to the Public Printer on policy matters relating to the FDLP.