[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20938]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                CONGRATULATIONS TO VIRGINIA F. SAUNDERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, in the ranks of federal workers are many 
exceptional people. I want to draw the House's attention to the latest 
achievement, and lifetime of service, of one federal employee who lives 
in my congressional district: Ms. Virginia F. Saunders, of Beltsville, 
Maryland.
  Ms. Saunders, a dedicated Government Printing Office employee for 
over fifty years, was recently presented the James Bennett Childs Award 
by the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table. 
This prestigious honor, reserved for persons making extraordinary 
contributions in the field of government documents librarianship, was 
awarded to Ms. Saunders in June at the ALA's annual convention in New 
Orleans. She received the Childs Award in recognition of her work in 
the compilation and publication of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 
which since 1817 has collected all numbered Senate and House documents 
into an authoritative, permanent record of the U.S. Congress.
  Ms. Saunders has served with distinction at the GPO since 1946, when 
Harry Truman was President. For the last 30 years, she has been the 
individual primarily responsible for the Serial Set, a publication of 
incalculable value to library collections, historians, researchers, and 
students everywhere.
  In the words of historian Dee Brown, the U.S. Congressional Serial 
Set ``contains almost everything about the American experience . . . 
our wars, our peacetime works, our explorations and inventions . . . If 
we lost everything in print, except our documents, we would still have 
a splendid record and a memory of our past experience.'' As the GPO's 
1994 Report of the Serial Set Study Group pointed out, researchers and 
librarians agree that the Serial Set is ``without peer in 
representative democracies throughout the western world as a 
documentary compendium.''
  Throughout her career, Virginia Saunders has worked tirelessly to 
improve the Serial Set, and has generously shared her knowledge with 
document librarians across the country. In 1998, she delivered an 
overview of the Serial Set's history at the 7th Annual Federal 
Depository Library Conference. In addition, she has served as a 
panelist at the ALA's annual conference.
  This latest award is not Saunders' first recognition for her 
exemplary service. In 1989, her timely, common-sense suggestion that 
duplicative House and Senate reports stemming from the Iran-Contra 
investigation be assigned serial numbers as required, but not bound, 
saved the government more than $600,000, and earned her commendations 
from the Public Printer and President George Bush.
  Her nomination for the Childs Award summarized her work with the 
Serial Set as follows: ``Ms. Saunders has not only meticulously 
maintained a set of records of vital importance to the Nation, but has 
worked with information professionals and Government officials to 
improve it, to lower costs, and to enhance its accessibility to 
librarians, researchers, and the public.''
  Mr. Speaker, let's join in offering our heartfelt congratulations to 
Virginia Saunders for her latest achievement, and our sincere thanks 
for her lifetime of service and a job well done.




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