The USA University Library has been a member of the Federal Depository Library program since 1968 and is one of 22 depository libraries in the state of Alabama. Our primary mission is to serve the needs of the faculty, students and staff at the University of South Alabama. We also serve the needs of the citizens of the 1st Congressional District of Alabama, with emphasis on Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Since 2001, all materials acquired through depository or from outside sources are included in the SOUTHcat catalog. Many of the materials prior to 2001 are also included in the catalog with more being added as time permits. The collection is particularly strong in materials from the following agencies or departments: Census, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services and Justice. There is also a strong emphasis on materials relating to the Gulf of Mexico and the southeast region of the United States. For more information concerning our collection development policies, please consult our Collection Development Policy website. |
The emphasis of the collection is on Alabama and surrounding states (FL, GA, MS, TN), as well as additional states along the Gulf of Mexico (LA, TX). We collect primarily topographic, hydrographic and national forests/parks maps for this region. We have an almost complete collection of soil survey maps from the USDA for the state of Alabama, as well as a complete collection of topographic maps of the state from the USGS. To round out the collection, we also collect current maps for the United States, foreign countries, and the world. In addition, we have a limited collection of BLM maps of the western United States.
A majority of the maps are found in the map cabinets in the southwest corner of the department near the elevators. The small CIA country maps are housed in the vertical file nearby, while the folded maps from the USDA, NPS and USGS are housed on the documents bookshelves. |
For educational purposes, the library maintains a working law collection. Included in the collection are legislative, regulatory and judicial materials for both federal and state laws. Most of the titles in the collection come through the federal depository program, though they are supplemented with commercial publications (e.g., U.S. Law Week, CIS Index Legislative Histories) and gifts (e.g., West’s federal digests, Alabama materials). For a complete list and location of law materials, consult our “Finding Aid to Law Materials in USA Library”. |
In addition to federal documents, the department has a small collection of Alabama documents. Since the State of Alabama does not have a depository program for their publications, the scope and depth is limited but all materials are available through the library’s catalog. Additional materials on Alabama can be found in the Alabama/Gulf Coast collection at the Circulation Desk. |
