I.  STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The William Madison Randall Library, University of North Carolina at 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, by mail and email, and through Interlibrary Lending Services.

II.  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 Technical Assistant II and part time student employees. The librarian is responsible for selection of depository items, and suggestions from library staff and library users are encouraged and actively solicited. The Library currently selects approximately 68% of the item categories available from the Government Printing Office, and maintains the largest depository collection in Southeastern North Carolina.

III.  SERVICE AREA

The Government Documents Collection serves UNCW students, faculty, staff and the general public. During Fall Semester 2003, there were 806 faculty, 786 staff, 955 graduate students and 9,974 undergraduate students at UNCW. With 71 undergraduate programs and 21 graduate programs including a Ph.D. in Marine Science, UNCW has a variety of academic programs designed to meet the diverse needs and interests of all students.
    Wilmington, North Carolina is part of the 7^th 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. Through participation in the OCLC Interlibrary Loan system and the Internet telecommunication network, the Library serves a vast population of users.
    The Wilmington community has developed 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 2000 Population and Housing Characteristics for Congressional Districts of the 108^th Congress, the 7^th district consisted of 619,603 persons in 2000. 279,292 were urban residents and 340,308 were rural residents. 75.6% of these residents were high school graduates.

IV.  DETERMINING NEEDS

Methods of determining needs:

1. "Suggested Core Collection: Small Academic Library" list in the Federal Depository Manual.
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. Interlibrary loan requests.
5. Circulation records and in-house use by Sudoc number
6. The distance from, and size of other U.S. depository collections.

V.  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 reference service by all Reference Desk Staff.
6. Availability of indexing tools such as the GPO Monthly Catalog, Lexis-Nexis, WorldCat, GPO Access, U.S. Government Periodicals Index, and PAIS International .
7. Providing adequate equipment required for maintenance and accessibility such as shelving, map and microfiche cabinets, microfiche readers and printers, microcomputers, CD-ROM players, and Internet access. The library also has a workstation available for the public 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, including the "Day of Documents" workshop series featuring government information at Randall Library aimed at local community groups such as teachers, librarians and civic leaders.
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. Availability of a FAX machine.
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 congressman for obtaining information when appropriate.

VI.  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 shelflist 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. Superceded 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. Those titles no longer needed 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 strips for the library's theft detection system.
8. Item selections are reviewed annually and surveys of new items are reviewed upon receipt.
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 upon receipt.
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.

VII.  REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF POLICIES

The library staff reviews all policies and procedures at least annually and institutes changes that are deemed necessary.

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

Last Update: February 18, 2004