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Collection Policy Statement Index

Contents

I. Definitions
II. National level
III. Major subdivisions
IV. Municipal governments
V. Additional considerations
VI. Interlibrary considerations

APPENDIX A: List of major subdivisions
APPENDIX B: List of major foreign cities

I. Definitions

For purposes of this statement, government publications include all those issued under authority of any legislative body, executive or judicial department, bureau, independent office, court, commission, or officer of any government.

In some countries governmental agencies may issue a variety of cultural and scientific publications which in other countries would be published commercially. These are judged on their own merits, and in light of other acquisitions policies.

II. National level

The Library of Congress gives high priority to the acquisition of government publications at the national level from all countries of the world. Those publications considered to be of lasting research value are added to the Library's permanent collections, with the following exceptions:

1. Monographs and serials in the field of technical agriculture which are excluded by the Collections Policy Statement on Agriculture are transferred to the National Agricultural Library.
2. Serials relating to clinical medicine which are excluded by the Collections Policy Statement on Medicine are discarded or used for exchange; monographs are transferred to the National Library of Medicine.
3. Publications excluded by other collections policy statements, or which are of ephemeral value, are not added to the permanent collections but may be retained for temporary use by the appropriate Library units. Examples of such materials are press releases, daily weather maps, tourist brochures, and individual speeches.

III. Major subdivisions (See also Appendix A)

1. The Library's efforts to acquire publications of provinces, states, regions, etc., are limited to those of countries where such subdivisions have a high degree of autonomy and issue publications containing a substantial amount of information which is not available in publications at the national level. The publications to be acquired include official gazettes and other substantial legal publications (as required by the Law Library), statistics, census publications, and major administrative reports. Other publications of governments at the provincial level may be acquired selectively, based on their subject content and research value.
2. Because of their proximity to the United States, the Library makes a major effort to acquire all substantial publications of the provinces of Canada and the states of Mexico. For the other countries listed in Appendix A, publications are acquired through existing exchange arrangements; where exchange is not possible, purchases are attempted.
3. None of the foregoing precludes the acquisition of individual publications outside the scope of this statement, when such publications are recommended for acquisition as containing information on subjects of particular concern to the Library's users, which is not likely to be available elsewhere. (See also Sections V.B and V.C, below).

IV. Municipal governments (See also Appendix B)

1. The Library acquires substantial publications of selected foreign municipal governments, including statistics, city planning, and other subjects of interest to the Library, with emphasis on those contributing to a study of the country as a whole.
2. In general, the Library limits its major efforts to official publications of the capital cities. Where appropriate, the official publications of one or more important cities may be acquired in addition to those of the capital (for example, Sydney, Australia as well as Canberra). A list of cities other than capitals to be included is attached as Appendix B.
3. Publications of the governments of cities not listed may be acquired on a title- by-title basis, and are selected for their content and research value.

V. Additional considerations

1. Publications of museums, universities, etc. are acquired on their individual merits, regardless of their affiliation with a provincial or municipal government.
2. In recognition of the extreme difficulties which the Library experiences in obtaining publications from developing countries of the world, a more liberal approach to the acquisition of government publications below the national level is followed, as described in Collections Policy Statement for Developing Countries (C:DEV). It is understood that a high degree of judgment will be exercised in making selections for the permanent collections from among the materials acquired.
3. Government publications which are not selected for the permanent collections because of their ephemeral nature, but which may have research value in association with other ephemera, may be retained for possible filming and/or collection-level cataloging. Examples of such materials include pamphlets reflecting current affairs and political and social problems.

VI. Interlibrary considerations

The Library of Congress will seek to establish cooperative agreements with other libraries in the United States concerning a division of responsibility for collecting government publications below the national level, as well as for cooperative microformatting.

APPENDIX A:

List of countries from which the Library makes efforts to acquire the official publications of major subdivisions (See Section III).

Argentina:	Province
Australia:	State, Territory
Austria:	Bundesland
Brazil:	State
Canada:	Province, Territory
China:	Province
Colombia:	Department
Germany:	Land
India:	State, Territory
Indonesia:	Province
Italy:	Region
Japan:	Prefecture
Malaysia:	State
Mexico:	State
Nigeria:	State
Pakistan:	Province
South Africa:	Province, "Homelands"
Spain:	Autonomous Community

NOTE: Official publications at the provincial or state level from countries not listed above may be acquired when recommended as containing information on subjects of particular concern to the Library's users, which is not likely to be available elsewhere.

We have temporarily dropped from the list Russia and other Republics of the former USSR as well as the former Czechoslovalia, pending consultation on the revision of the policy for the resulting new national entities. The Library will, however, attempt to acquire official publications from these regions as arrangements can be established.

APPENDIX B:

List of countries from which the Library makes efforts to acquire the official publications of cities in addition to the capital, as listed (See Section IV):

Australia	Sydney
Brazil:	Rio de Janeiro
Canada:	Montreal Toronto Vancouver
China:	Canton (Guangzhou) Shanghai Tientsin (Tianjin)
Colombia:	Medellin
Germany:	Berlin Hamburg Munich
India:	Bombay Calcutta Madras
Indonesia:	Medan Semarang Surabaya
Israel:	Tel Aviv
Italy:	Milan Naples
Japan:	Kobe Kyoto Osaka
Pakistan:	Karachi
South Africa:	Johannesburg
Spain:	Barcelona
Switzerland:	Geneva Zurich
Ukraine:	Kiev
Russia:	St. Petersburg
United Kingdom:	Belfast Cardiff Edinburgh

NOTE: Official publications of cities outside the scope of this statement may be acquired when recommended as containing information on subjects of particular concern to the Library's users, which is not likely to be available elsewhere.

Notes:

(1) Formerly Acquisitions Policy Statement No. 6.

October 1990

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