Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library

Department Information

In 1908, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library (CHCBL) was granted the designation of being a federal documents depository library for the 3rd Congressional District of Tennessee by the federal government. Depository libraries provide the local community with no-fee access to documents and information produced by the federal government. In Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District, CHCBL is one of only 3 official federal depositories.

Federal depository collections are available for use by everyone. the collection includes documents in many formats including print, microfiche, videotape, floppy disk, CD/DVD-ROMs, maps, and electronic documents. They cover a wide range of topics relevant to the general public and to professionals, researchers and students in almost every field of study.

Categories include:

Law and Regulations
Business
Careers
Census Statistics
Science and Technology
Travel
Defense and Military History

Although not a full depository (roughly 38% of the offered items numbers are currently selected and received), CHCBL does select most of the standard titles recommended by the Federal Depository Library Program for depository libraries its size. These materials are distributed among the various library departments with the greatest concentration in the Business, Science and Technology area, where the main part of the collection is processed and housed. The staff in this department can provide assistance in helping patrons locate the information needed. A specialized numbering system based on grouping documents together by issuing agency is used for organization of the collection rather than the Dewey numbering system seen throughout the rest of the library system. Several computer databases as well as paper catalogs are available for use in the library to help in locating particular documents.

All documents are reviewed as they are received and any items that will be of great general interest or useful reference materials are held for special processing. These documents are assigned Dewey decimal call numbers and are housed in the library's regular collection in circulating or reference areas. The library's catalog of materials contains records for these special items which can be located by using a title, author or keyword search.

Last Updated on April 15, 2008

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