The Colorado State University Libraries celebrated its centennial as a Federal Documents Depository on November 10, 2003. Several special guests presented remarks in observance of the occasion. Library Dean Catherine Murray-Rust began the program with a perspective from within the library. Ray Martinez, mayor of Fort Collins, then spoke of the importance of the documents collection and the library to the community. University Provost Peter Nicholls highlighted changes and continuity at the institution in the past century. Nancy Hunter represented Marilyn Musgrave (Congresswoman of the fourth Congressional District of Colorado), and spoke of the role of the depository within the District.

Our special guest, Superintendent of Documents Judith Russell, provided an overview of the importance of the Federal depository system and its long-standing partnership with libraries around the country. She then presented Murray-Rust with a certificate from GPO recognizing the centennial of the Colorado State University Federal Depository. The framed certificate was later placed in a prominent location on the first floor of the library, near the map collection and reference area, where it can be viewed by the public.

Approximately 80 people were in attendance at the event. Included were a number of documents librarians from the Colorado Front Range. Refreshments followed the remarks and certificate presentation. An exhibit on the second floor of the library displayed representative government publications from 1903 and 2003. The Colorado weather cooperated by presenting a dry, sunny day, expediting travel to the event by those from elsewhere in the state.

As a land-grant institution, the Agricultural College of Colorado (as Colorado State University was known from 1870 to 1935) had a natural interest in acquiring publications of the Federal Government, particularly those dealing with the sciences, agriculture, forestry, and engineering. It was not until 1900 that the population of Colorado grew to a point allowing for the designation of another library in the state as a depository for such publications, joining four other libraries that already had depository status. Congressman Franklin Brooks secured depository status for the college in December 1903. Brooks, a Republican, served two terms in Congress from March 1903 to March 1907. In Colorado only the depositories at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado College, the Denver Public Library, and the Pueblo Library District predate that at CSU.

From the beginning, the CSU depository assumed an important role in library activities. By 1914, college seniors were receiving a lecture on government documents. By the late 1920s, the library featured a Technical Room that emphasized the documents collection. When other budgets diminished during the Great Depression, government publications continued to arrive in a steady stream.

Among those librarians responsible for the depository over the years have been Laura Makepeace, Lorene Ashton, and Fred C. Schmidt. In the late 1970s Schmidt obtained a grant under the auspices of the Higher Education Act that enabled the library to catalog 15,000 ephemeral government publications not previously recorded by the Government Printing Office. The advent of an electronic "card catalog" in 1988 saw for the first time the inclusion of cataloging of government publications with other library collections. In 1998, the documents reference function was integrated into the main reference desk when a new addition to Morgan Library opened, enabling staff to assist users with government publications at almost all times the library is open. Aside from electronic access, the tangible collection now numbers over one million items.

The planning for the Centennial celebration was expedited by cooperation between staff at Colorado State University Libraries and the Government Printing Office. A team at GPO consulted with CSU staff on various aspects of hosting anniversary celebrations. [One result was several new depository anniversary promotional products, which may be ordered at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pr/order.html>.]