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Government Documents

Category: Government Documents

Librarian Contact: Laster, Shari

Scope and Purpose:

The purpose of the Bierce Library government documents collection at the University of Akron is to provide public access to Federal government information to the 13th and 17th Congressional District in Summit County, Ohio and to support the curricular and research needs of the University of Akron students, faculty, staff, and the community. It is a designated selective depository for United States government publications. The collection policy is based on requirements as stated in the Federal Depository Library Handbook and Title 44 of the United States Code. The University of Akron Libraries receives approximately 63% of the government publications distributed by the United States Government Printing Office. The collection includes non-depository documents added under the collection policies of this library.

Publications received through the depository status agreement are selected on the basis of curricular and research needs identified in the development policies for other collections. In addition, the depository library serves the federal information needs of the community outside of the university and those needs are considered in the selection process. The collection includes: business, census, economics, education, engineering, health, maps, science, social concerns, politics, and statistical treatment of those subjects, Congressional publications, United States Geological Survey publications, and the United States foreign relations sources. Computerized indexes and databases such as MARCIVE and Lexis Nexis Congressional, and guides such as Andriot’s Guide to U.S. Government Publications facilitate access to government documents and are purchased as part of this collection. Our Library Catalog has many links to the full text of federal publications distributed electronically.

Curriculum:

The federal depository collection supports the curricular and research needs of the University of Akron. General materials, not curricular specific, may be collected partially to fulfill the needs of the greater community of the 13th and 17th Congressional District.

Geographical Coverage:

There is no geographical limitation for the selection of publications. We receive publications on international issues with an emphasis on United States material.

Language:

The preferred language is English but the documents are not restricted by language.

Period Coverage:

By law a depository library is required to keep Federal documents for a minimum of five years. However, documents that are primary source for historical or policy studies for many disciplines are retained indefinitely on the basis of curricular and research needs as specified in departmental collection policies. All hearings are permanently retained.

Publication Types:

Principal publications collected are census material, statistics, handbooks, directories, agency reports, Congressional hearings, reports, and documents. We have kept all hearings and have bought some CIS hearings to fill some gaps.

Formats:

Formats are in paper, microfiche, electronic, and optical media. Microfiche is sometimes chosen due to space constraints.

Remote Resources:

OhioLINK, a consortium of about 80 mostly academic Ohio libraries, which also includes the State Library of Ohio, is a great source for unselected documents. These documents can be requested via the online catalog.

Referrals:

Depository referrals are made to the collections at the Akron Summit County Public Library, University of Akron Law Library, Kent State University, Cleveland Public Library and Case Western Reserve Library. We also interlibrary loan requests for documents that are not selected by this library. OhioLINK is also another source for referrals.

Exclusions:

The collection tends to avoids extensive duplication of depository coverage of the University of Akron Law School Library or the Akron Summit County Public Library.

Revised 2008-08-22