I am curious to see the article Paige Andrews mentions. Although not 
formally established, some of the groundwork for the FDLP had begun in 
the early 19th century as the idea of distributing select government 
documents to libraries outside the government began to surface. The 
Printing Act of 1895 set up some of the legal groundwork for 
distribution. The formal establishment of the FDLP, from what I can see, 
came with the Depository Library Act of 1962 ( Title 44, Chapter 19 of 
the U.S. Code; 
http://www.fdlp.gov/file-repository/about-the-fdlp/4-depository-library-act-of-1962?path=about-the-fdlp 
).

         Joel Kovarsky



On 10/2/15 8:16 AM, Ken Grabach wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 7:27 PM, Hartley, Melissa 
> <[log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>     Hello. I am new to maps cataloging and to this list, so please
>     pardon my ignorance of the answer to this question.
>
>     Does anyone know when federal maps (USGS in particular) began
>     distribution via FDLP depository libraries?  My research points to
>     sometime around 1984.  Does anyone know if this date is correct?
>
>     Thanks,
>
>     Melissa Hartley
>
>     OSU Libraries and Press
>     Oregon State University
>     Corvallis, Oregon 97331-4501
>
>     [log in to unmask]
>     <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     541 737-7317 <tel:541%20737-7317>
>