The Processes
Many academic libraries at large institutions are structured as a system of branch libraries distributed across campus, storing materials in specialized collections near the program, students, and faculty the collection primarily serves. The University of Washington has twelve branches on the Seattle campus, as well as extension campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. These branches house specific collections in Art, Drama, Engineering, Math, Health Sciences, Built Environments, Physics/Astronomy, East Asia, Music, Business, and Law. Odegaard Undergraduate Library houses general collections, and the media center. Suzzallo Graduate Library (with the Allen Annex) houses general reference collections special collections, maps and government publications. The material is received and cataloged through a centralized service and materials are dispersed across campus as appropriate. (With the exception of the law library, which is administratively separate from UW Libraries, has its own FDL designation, and catalogs in-house). While every university is different, it is likely that universities across the United States similar in size and scope to the University of Washington will distribute collections across branch libraries on campuses in a similar way. You will need to understand the operations of your institutions' libraries to understand how material is distributed and so you can better narrow down where to start.
Government documents will most likely be widely dispersed throughout these collections. The University of Washington Libraries distributes materials among the collections primarily based on subject matter. The primary concern is to serve users, providing access to materials in a way that is most useful to them. Whether an item is commercially produced, or published by a federal agency, if the subject matter is on architecture and of interest to the patrons using that collection then the material will probably be housed in the Built Environments Library, classified by the standard used for that collection. The same can be said for collections on Art, Drama, Math, etc. There is some duplication of materials across branches, but for the most part materials will be housed within the collection most suited based on the subject and scope of the item.
Format is also an important consideration. If your project is constrained by time, will you focus on documents, pamphlets, or microforms? Does your institution have a collection of posters and flyers, which were also widely distributed through the FDLP. Maps are an important format to consider. You could choose to focus on a format rather than a specific collection. The FDPL did not distribute films, although your institution may contain some government produced film and GPO may have cataloged these items. Check with your project adviser once you determine your scope to ensure that the collection you have decided to focus on is one that would be within the scope of the FDLP. Also review the building collections section on the FDLP desktop to review the general scope of documents collections for a basic understanding of the type of material that should be included in the CGP.
With distribution and format in mind, it is important to consider the scope of your project before diving into the collection looking for fugitives. There may be thousands of items hidden among these collections that are unknown to GPO and should be included in the CGP. There are many reasons why this happens, as is explained in the section on fugitive documents in this report. The big picture is to inventory collections and find these items, submit them to GPO for inclusion in the CGP and ultimately develop the CGP into a national bibliographic catalog of government publications located at institutions across the United States. Envision it as the WorldCat of US Publications, a reliable and complete source for researching government publications and finding physical documents at an institution near you. This project is huge, and it cannot be completed by one person. This project will be accomplished by combined efforts of librarians, volunteers, and GPO staff. It will take an immense amount of effort. You will need to think small to start. Pick a section, a bureau, a branch library, a format; select a manageable portion of the collection into which you can dig deep.
In the course of researching the UW Libraries I came across documents everywhere. Each process left breadcrumbs that I followed all over campus, talking to librarians in most of the branch libraries, trying to take an aerial snapshot of the government documents collections and brushing the surface. Even with surface strokes, I was unable to fully examine most of the branches, or the extension campus collections. If you want to be successful in this project, you will need to be realistic about how much time you can dedicate to your search and how much of the collection you can reasonably research given your time constraints. Keep this in mind as you read through the approaches to model your project.
To help determine your scope it is best to start with a wide angle lens and then focus. How is your library system structured? Create a list of all the branch libraries and collections. Does your institution have a specific government documents collection? Is there a documents librarian? Think of the degree programs and disciplines offered by your institution. Some examples of areas of study that have large amounts of government publications among the literature are agriculture, forestry, marine fisheries, and health sciences. The libraries at your institution most likely collect heavily in the fields in which it specializes. Think about the federal agencies related to these fields, and the publications they produce. Remember, a government publication is any document printed by the government or funded with federal funds. “Government publications, except those determined by their issuing components to be required for official use only or for strictly administrative or operational purposes which have no public interest or educational value and publications classified for reasons of national security, shall be made available to depository libraries” (44 U.S.C. 1902) While you should narrow your scope to focus on a portion of the collection, you should also keep an open mind about what qualifies.
Once you have determined your scope, you can determine your methods of research. Each of these methods involves a mixture of approaches, and most are applicable to any time of collection selected for evaluation. The processes described in this report use the Suzzallo Government Publications collection as the model. These approaches are not the only way to go about searching collections; they are more suggestions on how to start. Each search will be unique and result in interesting discoveries of some kind. Government documents are so varied that no one collection of them is the same as another. Documents vary by format, agency and subject matter. Enjoy the search, and if you take the time to look, you’ll uncover something amazing anywhere you chose to search. A best approach may be to use elements of all four approaches. During the course of your research, you will undoubtedly discover additional methods. This is a suggestion to get you started, but is not the only way to go about this project.
Government documents will most likely be widely dispersed throughout these collections. The University of Washington Libraries distributes materials among the collections primarily based on subject matter. The primary concern is to serve users, providing access to materials in a way that is most useful to them. Whether an item is commercially produced, or published by a federal agency, if the subject matter is on architecture and of interest to the patrons using that collection then the material will probably be housed in the Built Environments Library, classified by the standard used for that collection. The same can be said for collections on Art, Drama, Math, etc. There is some duplication of materials across branches, but for the most part materials will be housed within the collection most suited based on the subject and scope of the item.
Format is also an important consideration. If your project is constrained by time, will you focus on documents, pamphlets, or microforms? Does your institution have a collection of posters and flyers, which were also widely distributed through the FDLP. Maps are an important format to consider. You could choose to focus on a format rather than a specific collection. The FDPL did not distribute films, although your institution may contain some government produced film and GPO may have cataloged these items. Check with your project adviser once you determine your scope to ensure that the collection you have decided to focus on is one that would be within the scope of the FDLP. Also review the building collections section on the FDLP desktop to review the general scope of documents collections for a basic understanding of the type of material that should be included in the CGP.
With distribution and format in mind, it is important to consider the scope of your project before diving into the collection looking for fugitives. There may be thousands of items hidden among these collections that are unknown to GPO and should be included in the CGP. There are many reasons why this happens, as is explained in the section on fugitive documents in this report. The big picture is to inventory collections and find these items, submit them to GPO for inclusion in the CGP and ultimately develop the CGP into a national bibliographic catalog of government publications located at institutions across the United States. Envision it as the WorldCat of US Publications, a reliable and complete source for researching government publications and finding physical documents at an institution near you. This project is huge, and it cannot be completed by one person. This project will be accomplished by combined efforts of librarians, volunteers, and GPO staff. It will take an immense amount of effort. You will need to think small to start. Pick a section, a bureau, a branch library, a format; select a manageable portion of the collection into which you can dig deep.
In the course of researching the UW Libraries I came across documents everywhere. Each process left breadcrumbs that I followed all over campus, talking to librarians in most of the branch libraries, trying to take an aerial snapshot of the government documents collections and brushing the surface. Even with surface strokes, I was unable to fully examine most of the branches, or the extension campus collections. If you want to be successful in this project, you will need to be realistic about how much time you can dedicate to your search and how much of the collection you can reasonably research given your time constraints. Keep this in mind as you read through the approaches to model your project.
To help determine your scope it is best to start with a wide angle lens and then focus. How is your library system structured? Create a list of all the branch libraries and collections. Does your institution have a specific government documents collection? Is there a documents librarian? Think of the degree programs and disciplines offered by your institution. Some examples of areas of study that have large amounts of government publications among the literature are agriculture, forestry, marine fisheries, and health sciences. The libraries at your institution most likely collect heavily in the fields in which it specializes. Think about the federal agencies related to these fields, and the publications they produce. Remember, a government publication is any document printed by the government or funded with federal funds. “Government publications, except those determined by their issuing components to be required for official use only or for strictly administrative or operational purposes which have no public interest or educational value and publications classified for reasons of national security, shall be made available to depository libraries” (44 U.S.C. 1902) While you should narrow your scope to focus on a portion of the collection, you should also keep an open mind about what qualifies.
Once you have determined your scope, you can determine your methods of research. Each of these methods involves a mixture of approaches, and most are applicable to any time of collection selected for evaluation. The processes described in this report use the Suzzallo Government Publications collection as the model. These approaches are not the only way to go about searching collections; they are more suggestions on how to start. Each search will be unique and result in interesting discoveries of some kind. Government documents are so varied that no one collection of them is the same as another. Documents vary by format, agency and subject matter. Enjoy the search, and if you take the time to look, you’ll uncover something amazing anywhere you chose to search. A best approach may be to use elements of all four approaches. During the course of your research, you will undoubtedly discover additional methods. This is a suggestion to get you started, but is not the only way to go about this project.
Processes Suggestions
Choose a format as the focus
Walk the Stacks
Interview Librarians
Research in Integrated Library System
Walk the Stacks
Interview Librarians
Research in Integrated Library System