U.S. gov’t printing office hires Baylor alum to head digitization efforts

Since 1813, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has been tasked with making information regarding the work of the U.S. government available to all Americans. Producing such publications as the Congressional Record and Federal Register, the GPO prints about 2 billion pages each year.

But storing all that for posterity is a big, big task — one that just becomes more difficult each year. Last summer, the GPO hired Baylor alumnus David Walls, BA ’84, as its first preservation librarian, tasking him with overseeing the digitization of the GPO’s printed history — and by connection, much of the history of America’s government across all three branches. A hefty responsibility, to say the least.

Walls told the Washington Post that he first became interested in library preservation during his time at Baylor, when he volunteered in BU’s rare books collection. Before moving to the GPO last year, Walls spent 12 years as a preservation librarian at Yale where he established practices for the digital conversion of library and special collection materials.

Sic ’em, David!

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