Government Publications Collection Development

Mission Statement

The purpose of the Government Publications Department of the Auraria Library is to provide access to U.S., state, and local government information as needed by the faculty, staff, and students of the Auraria Campus, comprised of the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the University of Colorado at Denver. The collection supports the curriculum and research in all areas from the undergraduate level to the doctoral level. The Auraria Library is a selective federal depository library, a Colorado state depository library, and a depository for the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

Non-depository Publications

Gifts which meet the selection criteria or which fill needed gaps in the collection will be added at the discretion of the Head of Government Publications. Gift items which are not added to the collection will be offered to other depository libraries or discarded.In addition commercial electronic databases and reference books are selected to support the collection, including access to historical documents, even though the actual documents may not be owned by the library.Selection of electronic databases is made in consultation with the Electronic Resources Committee, subject bibliographers, and reference librarians.In addition, specific publications may be purchased from GPO or NTIS with deposit account funds to provide additional copies of heavily used titles or titles not available from the depository program but appropriate to the curriculum and research needs of the campus.

Current commercial electronic database subscriptions containing government information include:

LexisNexis Academic
LexisNexis Congressional
LexisNexis Environmental
LexisNexis Statistical

STAT-USA (site license)

Subject Areas and Agencies Collected

Based on the mission statement and general subject areas defined earlier, the Auraria Library collects federal information with an emphasis in the following areas:

Aerospace and aviation
Business
Census (population and economic)
Colorado
Congressional
Court cases
Criminal justice
Education
Foreign affairs
Housing
Public administration/public affairs
Regulations (all agencies)
Statistical (all agencies)

Selection within lesser used subjects is influenced by the close access to the two regional depositories in the state: Denver Public Library one mile away and the University of Colorado at Boulder 25 miles away.

Format

With over 90% of new GPO depository materials now distributed in electronic format, this is now the dominant format of the new documents added to the collection. This format serves the off campus students and faculty well and is most often the preferred format. Catakig records for online documents as well as tangible documents produced by the U.S. Government Printing Office are purchased from the Marcive company and loaded into the Library's catalog. In addition, an effort is made to catalog other online documents. Paper copies may still be acquired in addition if possible depending on the content, demand, and use. Microfiche is being phased out by GPO but still may be selected if that is the only format available for a title..

Additonal web sites which are useful are organized on library web pages under Government Information..

Selection Tools

Selection tools, both print and online, available from GPO will be used to review item selections.The GOVDOC-L discussion list, journals, and other informal notification may be used to identify non-depository publications in print or online.

Collection Arrangement

Most of the print, microfiche, and CD-ROM collection is housed in the Government Publications Department in open stacks arranged by the Superintendent of Documents Classification system, with selected publications in other areas of the library, such as Reference, in the Library of Congress classification. Any government publications placed on Reserve are available for use to any campus or non-campus library patron.

Access

All federal government publications are cataloged in the library's online public access catalog, Skyline, including Internet resources.Catalog records, including brief shipping list records, are purchased from the Marcive company for depository publications.Other publications are cataloged individually by the cataloging department. The cataloging department will also add URLs to existing catalog records or create records for Internet sites as requested.Periodicals are checked in on the library's serials records system. Most U.S. government publications may be checked out for the same time period as other library books.Serving 3 state colleges, the Auraria Library is open to the general public. Colorado residents may check out up to 6 library publications as part of the Colorado Library Card reciprocal borrowing agreement.Publications are also loaned via the Prospector online union catalog or traditional interlibrary loan. Non-circulating publications include census data, periodicals, Foreign Relations of the U.S., and reference titles and are stamped "NONCIRCULATING."Most CD-ROMS check out but selected titles are placed on computers with CD-ROM/DVD drives for in-house use only. These are generally reference type data such as statistics or CD-ROMS needed for assignments. New personal computers for public use CD-ROM/DVD workstations are purchased according to the current Recommended Specifications for Public Access Workstations in Federal Depository Libraries

Internet access is available on the library's public access computers, unrestricted by any filters. Word processing, spreadsheet, and other software are available in the Computer Commons lab in the library to students, faculty, staff, and public users.

Federal agencies, publications, and comprehensive sites are linked from the library's Government Publications Department web pages, by agency and by subject.These pages are updated regularly.

Reference service for government publications is provided by the general reference desk at all times the library is open.In addition, the Government Publications Department provides additional assistance weekdays 10-12 a.m. and 1-5 p.m.

Weeding and Collection Maintenance

Due to space limitations of the building, the library is mandated to maintain zero physical growth. The collection size has been limited through weeding and transfer of low use publications to the offsite storage facility PASCAL. More recently efforts are underway to reduce the physical size of the collection. Tangible versions of selected titles are weeded if they are online and online is only is an appropriate format for usabiity and level of use. Superseded materials are withdrawn regularly. Weeding of second copies and older, less used publications will be done by evaluating age, the subject covered, the circulation record, and replacement by another format, such as electronic. High demand publications, such as statistical, reference and publications for key programs on campus such as the Graduate School of Public Affairs may also be retained in print. All withdrawals are made in conjunction with the U.S. Government Printing Office Superseded List and according to GPO discard regulations. Substitution of an electronic full-text database for tangible publications will be considered according to the FDLP Guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications and the accompanying Substitution List: Official FDLP Permanent Full-Text Databases. An example would be substituting the online Federal Register (1994 - ) for issues more than 2 years old, thereby saving considerable space and subscription cost for microfiche. Documents which have not been superseded are retained for at least five years. A discard list is prepared and submitted to the two regional depositories in the state, Denver Public Library and the University of Colorado at Boulder, for distribution to other depository libraries in the state.

The collection is maintained in accordance with the Instructions to Depository Libraries , other GPO guidelines, and the current federal law governing depository libraries.

Preservation

Periodicals are bound regularly. Damaged or worn documents are repaired or bound. Lost documents are replaced as needed. All publications are tattletaped for detection by the library's security system.

Promotion

Promotion of the collection will be accomplished through library web pages; library exhibits, such as census and elections; posters in the library; and as part of other library promotion efforts. Bookmarks from GPO Access are available on the service counter. Course related library instruction is conducted by the Head of Government Publications when assignments involve government information.Other instructors also integrate government information into their basic instructional classes as well.

Resource Sharing

For depository publications, selection is coordinated with the selections of other selective depositories in the Denver region as well as the two regional depositories. Such information is shared at regular Government Publications Interest Group meetings and informally via e-mail or telephone conversations. Retention decisions may also be made on the basis of regional holdings, as assessed through the Prospector union catalog and other libraries' online catalogs.

The Auraria Library cooperates in the purchase of electronic databases as a member of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, the BCR network,the University of Colorado system, and other cooperative arrangements.

Colorado State Depository Publications

The Auraria Library has been a Colorado State Depository Library since 1981. At that time most Colorado publications were received in microfiche.These were selectively cataloged, but some remain uncataloged.Print Colorado publications were cataloged in the Library of Congress classification.In the late-1980s Colorado depository publications migrated to print format and were cataloged by Library of Congress classification.Starting in 1995 Colorado depository publications have been cataloged on the library's online catalog Skyline and arranged by the Colorado State Classification system and housed in open stacks in the Government Publications Department.Some publications have been transferred from other parts of the library but some will probably always remain in LC due to space limitations in Government Publications.Most Colorado state publications circulate, including CD-ROMS, except for those designated as reference sources.

Selection is made by the Head of Government Publications in consultation with the bibliographers and reference librarians. Selection may be made by agency and almost all agencies are selected with the exception of local interest publications of some state supported colleges. Legislative publications-bills, journals, and laws-are received in paper on a weekly basis and retained permanently or until replaced by bound volumes, such as the House and Senate journal obtained from the Legislature. Legislative publications are housed in the library's general reference section with other law materials.

Publications are retained according to guidelines from the State Publications Depository System, which allows discard at any time without formal procedure. Most publications are retained indefinitely unless the information is superseded or out of date. Damaged or lost publications are replaced if deemed necessary through the issuing agency or photocopying.

Denver Regional Council of Governments

The Auraria Library is a depository for Denver Regional Council of Governments publications.The publications are cataloged according to the Library of Congress classification system and designated as circulating or reference depending on the content.

Local Government Publications

Publications from cities and counties in Colorado are selectively collected.

Foreign and International Publications are selected by the subject bibliographers.

State Data Center Affiliate

The Auraria Library is a Census Bureau State Data Center affiliate, which means it receives selected additional census publications, which are cataloged, and may send librarians and staff to semi-annual update meetings where they regularly receive state and local population estimates and projections and economic data. Much of this data is also on the Colorado Department of Local Affairs web site which is linked from the Auraria Library's Colorado state publications web page.