It is well known that shelflisting and cataloging facilitate access to and visibility of depository holdings to patrons. GPO encourages online processing of documents which conform to GPO's requirements on bibliographic control of depository holdings. GPO is less interested in the mechanics of bibliographic control than ensuring that each depository meets the standards set forth in the Instructions. How these standards are achieved is up to each library. The answer depends on how these products are used.
Tape dumping by itself is similar to asserting that the Monthly Catalog is a holdings record.
But tape loading, when the tape is tailored to the library's item number profile, checked against actual receipts, and coupled with the library entering individual issues of serials received meets GPO's requirements. A shelflist, to meet the requirements for accountability for Federal property and to facilitate public service, should contain certain additional information such as a SuDocs number and an accession or receipt date to aid in disposition, and, if applicable, a unique depository identifier, location symbol, supersession notice, etc. GPO does not want to define every acceptable shelflist element as such a list could never be exhaustive. As long as the library has a record or records that fulfill these piece level requirements, the standards in the Instructions will be met. As some librarians prefer to use an online product as the foundation for a shelflist, they are concerned about the time lag between receipt of an item and the availability of its full MARC bibliographic record.