ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. Library Trends VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 t JULY, 1966 Federal, State and Local Government 1 Publications THOMAS SHULER SHAW Issue Editor l! CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE THOMASSHULEElSHAW . Introduction 3 JAMES B. CHILDS 6 Bibliographic dontroi of Fkeral,' State' and Local 'Docudents ' CARPER W. BUCKLEY . 27 Implementation of thk Fed&al Dkpositky Library Act of' 1962' THOMASSHULERSHAW . 37 Distribution and Aquisitioh * ELLEN P. JACKSON . 50 Cataloging, Classification aAd Stbrage ih a Siparat; Dochen& Collktion NORMAN F. CLARKE. Cataloging, Classificaiion add Stoiage oi Gov&meAt Publicatidns 58 When Incorporated Into the General Library Collection PEmR scm . The Present and FuhLe of 'Govekneni Dochen& in Micr0fo.m 72 RICHARDL.DAIUJNG . 87 Selection and Reference Use in thk Sch&l Library ' JEANNEH.MAHLER . 93 Selection and Reference Usk in tb'e Pubiic Library ' EDITH MARIE SIMS . Selection and Referen'ce Usk in the &liege Ad Un&ersiG Librk 107 MARGARET T. LANE. 117 State Documents Cht&isi MARY SCHELL . 135 Acquisition, Handling and Servicing in State Libraries FRANP .BWTALAN . 143 SeLtion and Referedce Vie in the S&al Libra& FRED J. HEINAI?z . The Present Site of ;he Teaching of &ve&ent Publications 157 Library Schools in TIiOMAS~SHAW . 167 Library Associations and Public Documents ROBERT B. mWNS . 178 Government Publications in' Ameican iibrarik Introduction THOMAS SHULER SHAW THEONLY extant copy of the first known printed government document, written by Chen K’uel (1128-1203), was printed in 1210 and set forth the regulations and policies for govern- ment officials during the Sung Dynasty.’ This early date bears out the first part of the statement of Boyd and Rips that “Government publi- cations .. are among the oldest written records, and if measured by their influence on civilization, are probably the most important of all living records.” To go to the other extreme, Alton P. Tisdel, a former U.S. Superintendent of Documents, declared that Government publi- cations “have long been the terror of librarians and the despair of almost everyone who has attempted to make use of them.”3 It is the hope of this Editor that when the reader has finished this issue of Libray Trends he will have some mental reservations about the Tisdel quotation that materially alter its import, and will agree that documents do not need to be viewed with terror and despair. First of all let us see what a government publication really is. Laurence F. Schmeckebier has given us as good a definition as any when he states that “A government publication is a publication: (1) bearing the im- print of the Government Printing Office or printed at the Government Printing Office for the use of a government agency; (2) or a publica- tion bearing the name, imprint or seal of a government agency and recognized and used by such an agency in its operations or distributed officially in the course of government business; the afore-mentioned criteria shall apply regardless of whether it was printed at the Govern- ment Printing mce or whether the cost of the printing was charged to government or private funds; (3) or a publication which is issued by a commercial establishment, organization, journal, or individual and of which an edition or reprint is obtained by a government unit, provided the reprint or official edition bears the printed name, imprint, Mr. Shaw is Professor in the Library School, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 1131 THOMAS SHULER SHAW or seat of the agency concerned; it shall not include reprints which are purchased by the government, but which do not contain the printed name, imprint, or seal of the agency distributing it; the fact that a government officer or employee is the author of the article shall not operate to make the article a government publication.” According to Boyd and Rips, government publications fall into the following types: (1) Administrative reports; (2) Statistical reports; (3) Committee or Commission reports; (4) Reports of investigation and research; (5) Bills and resolutions; (6) Hearings; (7) Journals and proceedings; (8) Laws, statutes, compilations, codes; (9) De- cisions and opinions; (10) Rules, regulations, and manuals; (11) Di- rectories and registers; (12) Bibliographies and lists; (13) General and descriptive information; (14) Periodicals; (15) Press releases; (16) Maps and charts; (17) Films and other visual material^.^ In the papers which follow we have tried to abide by the above definition, and have attempted to show the state of the acquisition, processing, arrangement, and use of the various types of government documents. The U.S. investment in research is growing from five billion one million in 1952 to an estimated twenty-five billion in 1970,6 and the cost of government printing will probably increase in a like manner, particularly in the area of technical reports, where bibliographic con- trol and information retrieval are making their greatest progress. There are, however, no reliable estimates of the total costs of govern- ment expenditures for printing at the present time, which makes it impossible to predict costs except in the most general terms.’ At any rate, there will be a great increase in the number of government pub- lications and we hope that some of the solutions described in these papers for present-day problems will pave the way for better utiliza- tion and easier distribution and handling of these valuable additions to our knowledge. There was one lamentable occurrence during the compilation of these papers: the announcement of the death of Ellen P. Jackson soon after she finished writing her paper. This passing away of a great documents librarian was a great personal loss to the Editor, as to many others, as we had been born in the same town, Loveland, Colorado, and had carried on a friendship by correspondence that will be greatly missed. Fortunately for documents librarians, Miss Jackson had also just finished at the time of her death the revision of Herbert Hirshberg’s Subject Guide to United States Government Publkatiims.8 It was certainly not the intention of the Editor to write two papers [41 LIBRARY TRENDS Introduction for this issue. He was forced to do so by the unavoidable failure of the author assigned to the chapter on distribution and acquisition to produce his article. Since the paper was of great importance to the continuity of the whole issue, and it was too late to call upon another writer, the Editor took it upon himself to provide the information. References 1. shaw, Thomas Shuler. “A Public Trust,” RQ,4:5, March 1965. 2. Boyd, Anne Morris. United States Govemmt Publications. 3d ed. Rev. by Rae Elizabeth Rips. New York, The H. W. Wilson Co., 1949, p. 1. 3. Schmeckebier, Laurence F. Gooernment Publications and their Use (The Brookings Institution Studies in Administration, No. 33). Washington, The Brook- ings Institution, 1936. Foreword by Alton P. TisdeI, p. vii. 4. “Some Problem of Government Publications.” In A.L.A. Committee on Public Documents, Public Documents. Chicago, American Library Association, 1936, pp. 28-29. 5. Boyd, op. cit., pp. 1419. 6. American Management Association. Announcing a Timely Briefing Session: Protection of InteZ&ctuul Property against industrial Espionage and Theft. New York, American Management Association, 1966. 7. Brock, Clifton. ‘The Quiet Crisis in Government Publishing,” CoUege and Research Libraries, 26: 478-480, Nov. 1965. 8. Hirshberg, Herbert S., and Melinat, Carl H. Subject aide to United States Govemnrent Publications. Chicago, American Library Association, 1947. Csl Bibliographic Control of Federal, State and Local Documents JAMES B. CHILDS ONEOF THE DIFFICULTIES in the problem of the bibliographical control of Federal documents is the constant and never- ending need to determine when and by what act the agencies were and are being established, and which are currently instrumentalities of the Federal government. The Federal Government seems to be constantly in the process of evolution. For instance, on 9 November, 1965, the United States De- partment of Housing and Urban Development appeared as the eleventh executive department, created by Public Law 174, 89th Congress, which was approved 9 September, 1965.1 In this instance, the law states that the Congress hereby declares that the general welfare and security of the nation and the health and living standards of our people require, as a matter of national purpose, sound develop- ment of the nation's communities and metropolitan areas in which the vast majority of its people live and work. The declaration of purpose, in Section 2, says in part: "To carry out such purpose, and in recog- nition of the increasing importance of housing and urban development in our national life, the Congress finds that establishment of an execu- tive department is desirable to achieve the best administration of the principal programs of the Federal Government which provide as- sistance for housing and for the development of the Nation's com- munities. ." By Section 5 of the law, the functions, powers and duties of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, of the Federal Housing Administration, of the Public Housing Administration, and of the Federal National Mortgage Administration are transferred to the new Department of Housing and Urban Development. Upon study of other housing and urban development functions and programs within the government, the President shall provide to Congress his Mr. Childs is Specialist in Government Document Bibliography, Library of Congress. C61 LIBRARY TRENDS Bibliographic Control of Federal, State and Local Documents findings and recommendations as to the transfer of such functions and programs to or from the new Department under the Reorganization Act of 1!34g2 as amended, or by specific statute. When publications first appear in the Monthly Catalog of US.Gov- ernment Publications from the new Department or any of its changed agencies, an appropriate note is made of the creation or change.