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Government Documents

Statement of Purpose

The William Madison Randall Library, University of North Carolina Wilmington, was designated as a selective depository for United States government publications in 1965. The depository collection is administered and maintained according to the requirements of Title 44, Chapter 19 of the United States Code; Instructions to Depository Libraries; and Guidelines For the Depository Library System. The library is committed to providing free access to the collection for UNCW students, faculty, staff, and the general public. Services are provided in person, by telephone, mail, email, chat and through Interlibrary Loan (ILLIAD).

Administration

The Government Documents Department is supervised by the Assistant University Librarian Directing Government Research & Regional Studies (also known as the Documents Librarian), with the assistance of a full-time Library Specialist and part time student employees. The librarian is responsible for selection, de-selection and withdrawal of depository items. Suggestions from library staff and library users are encouraged and actively solicited. The library currently selects approximately 76% of the item categories available through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and maintains the largest depository collection in southeastern North Carolina.

Service Area

The Government Documents Collection serves UNCW students, faculty, staff and the general public. As of Fall Semester 2010, there were 589 full-time faculty, 1,255 staff, 1,328 graduate students and 11,743 undergraduate students at UNCW. The university offers a wide variety of academic programs designed to meet the diverse needs and interests of our students with 56 undergraduate programs and 36 graduate programs including 2 doctoral degrees.

Wilmington, North Carolina is part of the 7th U.S. Congressional District, which includes Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, New Hanover, and Robeson counties. The library also frequently serves many users from other counties in southeastern North Carolina, particularly Bladen, Duplin, Onslow and Pender counties. Randall Library also reaches a more expanded population of users through our website and our participation in the OCLC Interlibrary Loan system.

The Wilmington community has a wide range of informational needs relating to small businesses, manufacturing, international trade, retirement communities, marine-related trades, travel and tourism, agriculture, retail trade and professional services. According to the 2009 American Community Survey tables describing the 110th Congress, the population of the 7th Congressional District of North Carolina totaled 718,875 persons. 82.3% of these residents were high school graduates. The median household income was $38,887.

Selection of Material

The List of Classes is the official listing of publications available for selection by depository libraries participating in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The list is arranged by the Superintendent of Documents (SUDOC) classification numbering system and is designed to group together publications by the same government author. The List of Classes is used at Randall Library to identify item numbers for potential addition to, or deletion from the library’s item selection profile.

It is important to note that federal documents are published in several formats and these formats are designated in the List of Classes. The formats are:

  • (P) for paper,
  • (MF) for microfiche,
  • (E) for Electronic Products (miscellaneous/format unknown),
  • (EL) for online electronic format,
  • (CD) for (CD-ROM), DVD for optical/recordable discs,
  • (FL) for floppy diskettes.

Format decisions by the FDLP have not been made for all classes, and all decisions are subject to change. Those titles identified as Essential Titles for Public Use in Tangible or Other Format are marked as such. Randall Library selects and receives all essential titles along with titles listed in the Suggested Core Collection: Small Academic Libraries. Randall Library receives material in all formats.

The List of Classes is usually published semi-annually in paper and a copy is sent to each depository library. The List of Classes is also available online through the FDLP Desktop and the data files are updated monthly.

Determining Needs

Methods of determining needs:

  1. Suggested Core Collection: Small Academic Library listed on the FDLP Desktop website.
  2. Course descriptions in the UNCW undergraduate and graduate catalogs.
  3. Student, faculty, staff, and general public requests for specific documents and requests for information during research transactions.
  4. Circulation records and in-house use by SUDOC number
  5. The distance from, and size of other U.S. depository collections.
Access

Access to United Stated depository documents at Randall Library is ensured by:

  1. Posting of the depository logo at the library entrance and in the Documents Collection area along with other appropriate signage.
  2. Arrangement of documents by SUDOC number in a separate collection, with the exception of some titles that are more appropriate in other library collections.
  3. Open stack access to the collection during all hours of operation.
  4. Circulation of most documents to registered borrowers. Some heavily used items such as indexed periodicals, selected Census reports and documents shelved in the Reference Collection are for "Library Use Only".
  5. Provision of research assistance by all Research Desk Staff.
  6. Availability of databases and websites such as the Catalog of Government Publications, WorldCat,, GPO Access, Fdsys, Hein Online, Lexis-Nexis and PAIS .
  7. Providing adequate equipment required for maintenance and accessibility such as shelving, map and microfiche cabinets, microfiche readers and printers, computers, CD-ROM players, and Internet access. The library also provides guest computer workstations made available to the public. These workstations are equipped with word processing and other software that may be required when using government information in some type of electronic format.
  8. Integration of U.S. documents information into bibliographic instruction handouts and presentations along with maintaining a website featuring government documents at Randall Library.
  9. Interlibrary loan lending and borrowing services. These services are limited to UNCW faculty, staff, and students and are provided free of charge. The general public is provided with bibliographic citations and referred to their local public library for interlibrary loan service.
  10. Ability to FAX material to users.
  11. Participation in OCLC and OCLC's GOVDOC service for cataloging U.S. depository documents. This includes providing and maintaining active Internet links to online publications through the online catalog.
  12. Providing brief records in the online catalog for documents that circulate and were acquired prior to subscription to the GOVDOC service in January 1990. Also, areas of high interest in the older sections of the collection are being cataloged as part of an ongoing retrospective conversion project when time and staffing permit.
  13. Utilizing the services of the local office of the 7th District congressional representative for obtaining information when appropriate.
Collection Maintenance

The collection is maintained in accordance with the guidelines provided in the Instructions to Depository Libraries. The following procedures ensure proper maintenance of the collection:

  1. Procedures manuals are maintained for the Documents Staff.
  2. A shelf list is maintained to the piece level. Holdings of serials and multipart titles are maintained to the piece level in the library's online catalog once the cataloging record is available from the GOVDOC service.
  3. All documents are clearly marked with the depository property stamp and the SUDOC number.
  4. Superseded documents are withdrawn upon receipt of a new edition. The Documents Librarian reviews other documents that have been held in the collection for five years. Other withdrawn titles are offered to the regional and then to other depositories in North Carolina before they are discarded. Any publication that is considered to have lasting research value is retained.
  5. Lost and damaged documents are evaluated for replacement or withdrawal. A deposit account is maintained with the Government Printing Office to facilitate ordering procedures.
  6. Heavily used items are considered for binding on a regular basis.
  7. Selected items are protected with security targets for the library's theft detection system.
  8. Item selections are reviewed regularly and surveys of new items are reviewed upon receipt using the Documents Dataminer and the List of Classes.
  9. The Needs and Offers List is reviewed online along with postings on GOVDOC-L to identify out of print items that may be needed for the collection.
  10. The Administrative Notes and Technical Supplements publications are read when posted online.
  11. The Documents Librarian regularly reviews the professional literature and attends workshops and conferences to keep abreast of new developments concerning the acquisition and processing of government documents and access to government information.
Review and Evaluation of Policies

The Randall Library Policy Committee reviews all policies and procedures on a regular basis and institutes any changes that are deemed necessary.

Questions about this policy may be addressed to Eileen Brown, Assistant University Librarian Directing Government Research & Regional Studies.

Last Update: November 2010