Texas State Publications Depository Program

The Texas State Publications Depository Program collects, distributes, and preserves the publications of state government and promotes their use by the citizens of Texas. As the collection and distribution center for state publications, the Depository Program acts as a broker between state agencies and public institutions of higher education that produce these documents and libraries that make them available to citizens in their local areas.

The Depository Program has four basic functions related to state publications:

Legal Authority and Program Rules

The Depository Program is authorized under Texas Government Code Section 441.101 and following (commonly referred to as the State Depository Law) and is administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) under Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Title 13, Chapter 3 .

The Depository Law (Government Code §441.101-106) and TAC 13 §3.7 require state agencies and public institutions of higher education to designate one or more publications liaisons to the Depository Program. Publications liaisons are responsible for providing information about and sending publications to the Depository Program. Liaisons work directly with Depository Staff to resolve problems and negotiate exemptions.

This section includes essential information for publications liaisons to make determinations and submit materials for inclusion in the Depository Program.

Required Forms

• Publications List Form: required for all submissions to the Depository Program. Be sure to keep a copy of the completed form for your records.
• Organization and Publications Liaison Update Form: required to report or change the designation of a publications liaison to the Depository Program.

Requirements and Exemptions

These guides summarize Depository Program rules 13 TAC §3.2 and 13 TAC §3.5 regarding requirements and exemptions for submitting state publications:

• State Publications Flow Chart: Is It a State Publication and How Many Copies Do I Send?
• FAQs for State Agencies
• FAQs for Public Institutions of Higher Education

For questions about how your agency or institution can help make Texas government publications available through the Depository Program, please contact us.

Electronic Submissions

Information regarding electronic submissions and Depository Program technical requirements for the Texas Records and Information Locator Service (TRAIL) are outlined in 13 TAC §3.3. 

The process for submitting a digital publication to the Depository Program varies depending on the format in which the publication was originally published, whether the report has been posted to your agency website, and the type of report. See the “Requirements and Exemptions” sections in the Flow Chart and FAQ links above for submission instructions based on the original publication.

Electronic submissions must be emailed by the designated publications liaison with a completed Publications List Form to be considered an official submission from the agency or institution. Email submissions for PDF format files must be under 10 MB. Files over 10 MB may be mailed to the Depository Program on removable storage media or other approved methods.

Digital publications posted to agency or institution websites and archived by the TRAIL are generally not required for submission. Agencies may browse archived webpages or search for specific titles on TRAIL to confirm that a version of an online publication has been added to the archive. Liaisons can review these metadata and tagging instructions to ensure documents are archived by TRAIL.

To request assistance from Depository Program staff and to email forms and digital publications:

   Telephone: 512-463-5455

   Email: ref@tsl.texas.gov

Digital publications must be emailed by the designated publications liaison to be considered an official submission from the agency or institution. The Publications List Form is required to submit print and digital publications to the program.

To mail print materials and files on removable storage media:

Depository Libraries

Before June 2011, a large network of depository libraries received copies of the publications until the operation of the program was severely curtailed. However, many libraries have retained their collections and assist library patrons with accessing state government information. In addition to TSLAC, publications are currently distributed to active depository collections at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and the University of North Texas in Denton as designated by 13 TAC §3.8.

Indexes

Through December 2010, the monthly checklist of Texas government publishing announced the availability of printed state publications. The monthly checklist listed documents alphabetically by publishing agency and by subject headings. Print copies of annual indexes are available at our library in Austin, Texas. Electronic copies of annual indexes for 1994-2004 are on the Texas Digital Archive. 

Locating Publications

Search for state depository publications using the the TSLAC library catalog. Digital copies of some publications are available on the Texas Digital Archive and TRAIL.

The Depository Program classification scheme for agency and institution publications is available on request.

We have identified items missing from our collection. If you have one of the titles on our wish list of missing documents and no longer need it, please contact us.