Federal Documents Archive: A Model for Preserving and Providing Access to U.S. Documents at The University of California

摘要

United States government documents in print seem to have received a bad rap within libraries over the years, and not without some justification. They are cumbersome. They take up a lot of space. They are strange to many librarians, not just because of the additional rules and procedures, but also because of the weird Superintendent of Documents classification and call number system. While some may complain about the upkeep necessary for access to the printed documents collection, there is no denying that the information inside these materials has great research value and is vital to university collections as authoritative, primary sources used by many academic disciplines. With few caveats, these collections are also free from copyright, which can be a boon for those engaged in mass digitization projects.