Selectors Guide: Government Documents

Jackie Daniel

Email: jdaniel@auctr.edu

Phone: 404-978-2016

Subject Area: Government Documents

Robert W. Woodruff Library is an official United States Depository Library.
The purpose of its Government Documents collection is to provide a wide range of government information to the members of the AUC community and to the citizens of the 5^th Congressional District.  

The Government Documents collection supports programs in political science, history, education, the social sciences, health science, demographic and economic research, and numerous other subject areas at all four member institutions. 

Languages 

English. A very small number of public information items are held in Spanish.    

Scope 

The collection focuses primarily on social, economic, demographic, diplomatic and political issues, as well as legal and legislative materials. There are substantial holdings in the health sciences, education and history as well.

The collection consists primarily of U. S. Government Printing Office publications issued by Congress, Executive Branch departments and agencies, and the Supreme Court. 

Publication types include reports, legal publications, statistical compilations, reference works, bibliographies, serials, maps, posters, Congressional hearings, and online resources. 

The GPO formats is 97% online and is keeping only a small number of essential publications in print.

As a U. S. Depository Library, RWWL receives U. S. Government Printing Office (USGPO) publications for free, on the condition that the Library provide the same level of access and assistance as it does for the rest of its collection. The U. S. Government retains legal ownership of these publications, and conditions of use are governed by Title 44 of the U. S. Code. Among the legal requirements for Depository Libraries:

• Members of the public must be granted free access to the Documents collection.
• Documents must be retained at least 5 years unless superseded by another publication. After 5 years, they can be discarded only after being offered to other Depository Libraries.
• Should the Library relinquish Depository status, the entire collection of USGPO material would have to be returned or donated to other Depositories.

RWWL government collection is a digital/ or an almost digital collection and supports the needs of the students, faculty, staff and administration of Atlanta University center. The resource are selected from the Basic Collection in electronic form. The library endeavors to select relevant items from the Suggested Core Collection and according to our profile. All depository items remain the property of the United States Government and are weeded and discarded periodically in accordance with procedures outlined by the FDLP. See FDLP: Weeding a Depository Collection.