A map exhibition that marks Cornell University Library's 100th anniversary as a federal depository is now on display in the lower level of Olin Library, just outside the Media Center, and will remain up until mid-August.

As one of several hundred Federal Depository Libraries across the country, Cornell Library has been receiving publications and public documents issued by government agencies free of charge for 100 years. In return Cornell makes these items available to the public at no cost.

Maps, charts and atlases have been an important part of the program since its inception. Over the last century the government has provided more than 200,000 maps.

The exhibit showcases a wide variety of government maps spanning those 100 years. It includes map formats that are instantly recognizable, such as the U.S. Geological Survey's topographic quadrangles, as well as less familiar maps, such as a map showing Ithaca, N.Y., flooding in 1905, land-use maps and maps produced from satellite imagery of areas not extensively mapped from the ground, such as northern Iran.

In recent years many government publications have moved online, and the depository program now supplies very few print documents. For depository mapping the change has come more slowly and selectively, but the trend is toward making maps available online for self-printing or providing interactive sites on which users can customize their own maps from the data provided. The Olin exhibit includes example printouts of custom maps created online.

Chris Philipp is a writer and editor for Library Communications.