John M. Olin Library Federal Depository Library
Collection Development Policy
- Mission Statement
Selection Responsibility
Subject Ares & Collection Arrangement
Subject Areas
Collection Arrangement
Formats
Selection Tools, Non-Depository Items, Retrospective Sources
Resource Sharing
Collection Evaluation
Weeding and Maintenance
Access
MISSION STATEMENT
John M. Olin Library is the largest of Cornell University's 19 libraries, which constitute Cornell University Library (CUL). Olin is a land-grant designated depository, created in 1907. It serves the 22nd (formerly 26th) U.S. Congressional District of New York. It shares the responsibility to serve community depository patrons with two other Cornell campus depository libraries, the Albert R. Mann Library and the Cornell Law Library. These three depositories share depository documents with all 19 campus libraries.
The CUL's and Olin's primary patrons are Cornell University's faculty, and students pursing a wide variety of degree programs. The Cornell University Library Mission is to enrich the intellectual life of the University by fostering information discovery and intellectual growth, nurturing creativity, and partnering in the development and dissemination of new knowledge. Its vision statement says, in part, that: The Cornell University Library will enhance campus vitality and scholarly productivity by providing a stable and reliable knowledge base, organizing information into meaningful and manageable forms, making available well-equipped and functional work places on campus, and serving as a major cultural repository. We will be the information resource of choice for the majority of the Cornell community and serve an expanding clientele.
Olin's collection contains a broad range of materials, generally representing the array of disciplines in social sciences and humanities. Olin has particularly strong holdings in national and international documents, and includes newspapers and maps from around the world. Cornell's libraries are physically open to the public and many of its resources are also available to individuals not affiliated with Cornell. Olin and Cornell's other libraries make depository information in all formats available for the free use of the public in the library.
Cornell's depositories are located in and serve the City of Ithaca, and Tompkins County, New York. The City has a citizen population of just under 30,000, and the county population exceeds 96,000. 85.5% of the county's population is White, 10.9% Asian and Pacific Islanders and other races, 3.6% Black, 3.1% Hispanic. Major elements of the local economy include three educational institutions: Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins-Cortland Community College, which have a student population totaling just over 28,000 students. Tompkins County has 2,074 businesses, which are 38.8% service, 33.6% wholesale/retail, 7.5% construction, 8.3% finance, 5.5% manufacturing, 3.2% transportation, and 3.1% agriculture and mining. The median household income was $37,272 in 1999 and the median family income was $53,041. The percent of high school graduates in the population 25 years and over is 91.4% and the percent with a bachelor?s degree or higher is 47.5%. Tompkins County has an unemployment rate of 3.7%. Ithaca is located in the heart of the Finger Lakes and is the county seat of Tompkins County. While the area is predominantly rural, it provides a number of urban conveniences. Excellent city and suburban public bus service, including handicapped access, is provided. Additional handicapped accessible transportation is also available to bring county residents to the Cornell campus.
SELECTION RESPONSIBILITY
Collection Development at Cornell is administered by the Associate University Librarian for Collections. Day-to-day decisions are made by some 45 bibliographers, curators and selectors who select materials in all of the areas which Cornell's collections cover. All the librarians with collection development responsibilities are grouped into four teams: Area, Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences, for consultation and coordination. Olin Library's collection is developed by the 7 full-time bibliographers in its Collections Coordination and Support Services Unit plus 10 subject selectors (including the selectors for the Map and Reference collections) who are not part of the unit. Primary responsibility for depository item selection and coordination of documents collection development for the Olin Library depository rests with the Olin Library Documents Librarian, who is located in Central Technical Services, a Central Administration Department with responsibility for acquisition and cataloging of materials for 12 of Cornell's libraries (and physically located in Olin Library). The Olin Library Documents Librarian is a member of the Social Sciences Team.
The Olin Library Documents Librarian is the single individual with comprehensive knowledge of the full range of government documents available for selection, as well as the means to do the selection. Active consultation with bibliographers and selectors from not only Olin Library, including its Map and Reference collections, but also the Engineering Library, the Management Library, the Fine Arts Library and to a lesser extent with the other libraries which Central Technical Services supports allows the depository materials which are selected by the Olin Library Depository to support a broad range of subjects represented in libraries across the campus. The Olin Library Documents Librarian is responsible for review of new items and for annual update of the selection profile. Consultation with appropriate bibliographers is frequent and active.
SUBJECT AREAS & COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
Subject Areas
Cornell was founded as "an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." The mission of the library is to support the university in achieving that purpose. The Government Documents Librarian makes item selections for the Olin Library depository which support the Olin Library bibliographers and in addition makes item selections to support the Engineering, Management, Industrial and Labor Relations, and Fine Arts Libraries specifically. Olin's depository selections are also at times of interest to the Physical Sciences, Africana, Music, Hotel, Kroch (Asia), Undergraduate, or Mathematics libraries.
The Mann Library and Law Library depositories are responsible for item selections which support agriculture and life sciences, human ecology, education (primary and secondary), environment and law, respectively.
Subject areas in which Olin collects which have significant documents components are: African-American studies, American Indians, Anthropology, Archaeology, Bibliography and Reference materials, Cartographic materials, Communications, Economics, Education, Government, History of Science, Peace Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Statistics, Urban Studies, and Women's Studies.
Subject areas in which the Engineering Library collects which have significant documents components are: Astronomy, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geological Sciences, Operations Research, and Water Resources.
Subject areas in which the Management Library collects which have significant documents components are: Economics, Finance, Management, and Marketing.
Subject areas in which the Industrial and Labor Relations Library collects which have significant documents components are: Industrial Relations, Labor, Organizational Behavior, and Personnel/Human Resource Management.
Subject areas in which the Fine Arts Library collections which have significant documents components are: City and Regional Planning, Historic Preservation, and Landscape Architecture.
In addition, item selections are made which bring in documents on the humanities, fine arts, music and military and naval science. Documents on the humanities and military and naval science are added to the Olin Library collection. Documents on fine arts are generally added to the Fine Arts Library collection. Documents on music are added to the Music Library collection.
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is at the comprehensive (5) level: Census Bureau (C 3), President of the United States (PR), Congress (X;Y1;Y4)
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is at the research (4) level: National Archives and Records Administration (AE), Commerce Department (C 1), Patent and Trademark Office (C 21), Economic Development Administration (C 46), National Technical Information Service (C 51), Economic Analysis Bureau (C 59), International Trade Administration (C 61), Bureau of Export Administration (C 63), Civil Rights Commission (CR), National Imagery and Mapping Agency (D 5.301), Energy Department (E), Environmental Protection Agency (EP), General Accounting Office (GA), Government Printing Office (GP), National Center for Health Statistics, Interior Department (except Fish and Wildlife Service) (I), International Trade Commission (ITC), Justice Statistics Bureau (J 29) (and other Justice Department statistical publications),
Labor Department (L), Library of Congress (LC), National Labor Relations Board (LR),National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS), National Capital Planning Commission (NC), National Science Foundation (NS), Executive Office of the President (PREX), Vice President of the United States (PRVP), State Department (S), Securities and Exchange Commission (SE), Smithsonian Institution (SI), Social Security Administration (SSA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Y3.EQ 2), Federal Labor Relations Authority (Y3.F 31/21-3), Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (Y3.H62), United States Institute of Peace (Y3.P31)
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is at the instructional support (3) level: National Institute of Standards and Technology (C 13), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (except National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service)(C 55), Federal Communications Commission (C), Defense Department (except NIMA) (D), Education Department (concentrating on educational statistics (NCES) and higher education (OERI) (ED), Fine Arts Commission (FA), Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FM), Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), Federal Trade Commission (FT), Foreign-Trade Zones Board (FTZ), Health and Human Services Department (except NCHS and other statistics categories which are at the 4 level) (HE), Housing and Urban Development Department (HH), Fish and Wildlife Service (I 49), U.S. Information Agency (IA), Justice Department (J) (except J 29), Merit Systems Protection Board (MS), National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities (NF), National Mediation Board (NMB), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OP), Railroad Retirement Board (RR),Small Business Administration (SBA), Treasury Department (T), Transportation Department (TD), Veterans Affairs Department (VA), Commissions, Committees and Boards (Y3) (based on our subject interest, output of most bodies is collected at this level), Federal Election Commission (Y3.EL 2/3),Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Y3.N88), Tennessee Valley Authority (Y3.T25).
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is at the basic information (2) level: National Telecommunications and Information Administration (C 60), General Services Administration (GS), Judiciary (JU), National Credit Union Administration (NCU), Peace Corps (PE), Personnel Management Office (PM), Corporation for National and Community Service (Y3.N21/29).
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is at the minimal (1) level: Agriculture Department (A), United States Postal Service (P).
Item selection for the following departments or agencies is not made because they are out of scope (0): Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEM), Consumer Product Safety Commission (Y 3.C76/3),
The Library has continuously purchased an archival set of Readex microfiche (formerly microprint) since the inception of this set. It is housed in the Olin Library Microforms Collection. Item selection, retention of superseded materials, replacement decisions and other collection development decisions may be taken with the existence and character of this set in mind.
The Olin Library depository selects all of the item numbers listed in the basic collection in Appendix C of the Federal Depository Library Manual.
Collection Arrangement
Government documents at Cornell are integrated with the main collections. A combination of classification systems is used, but the majority of documents are cataloged and classified in Library of Congress. The Olin Library Documents Librarian manages the selection process for all depository materials. Subject selectors review new document materials weekly as part of the departmental selection review process. Many depository documents are placed on a special review shelf which is reviewed weekly by the entire Social Science Team. Other depository documents are referred directly to subject selectors by the Olin Library Documents Librarian.
Since many documents are serials or publications in series, a single review decision determines the location and classification/cataloging treatment of many documents over time. Once a decision is made by a subject selector, documents are processed by the Documents Unit staff. New document monographs and serials are searched and often cataloged immediately. Documents which do not have full cataloging copy which includes an LC call number at the time of selection receive a preliminary record, often the GPO cataloging record, and enter the Central Technical Services cataloging backlog. Materials in the CTS cataloging backlog are searchable in the online catalog and circulate within 24 hours on patron request.
Most maps (those from USGS and NIMA) are received directly in the Olin Library Maps Department. Most maps, including topographic maps, receive an LC-like call number and are filed flat in drawers. Topographic maps are entered into the map collection's shelflist and receive no further cataloging. NIMA, Forest Service, Census Bureau, CIA and other agency maps receive complete permanent call numbers immediately (if this is possible; if there is not cataloging copy they receive a permanent classification number but no cutter number) and are filed flat in drawers. Small CIA maps are filed in binders. Maps receive full LC cataloging and are entered into the online catalog quickly when full copy, such as GPO cataloging, is available. When full copy is not available, maps continue to be searched and are ultimately cataloged either from copy or originally. Maps at any stage of this process are immediately available to the public.
Technical report microfiche is filed by technical report number whenever possible and integrated with the Engineering Library's large collection of technical report microfiche from NTIS, the Defense Department, NASA and DOE. Technical report microfiche receives no further classification or cataloging. It is completely accessible through a variety of indexes and databases.
Formats
The Olin Library depository makes no distinction by format when making item selection decisions. Considerations of subject appropriateness are paramount. The library is able to provide appropriate reading, printing, storage facilities and collection maintenance in order to collect microfiche. The library provides hardware and software support for many electronic products. If the library cannot technically support an electronic product, the item will be circulated. The library provides access to Internet resources both in the libraries and through remote access to the Library Gateway.
Selection Tools, Non-Depository Items, Retrospective Sources
Primary selection tools for Depository Items are:
1) Item Cards. The Olin Library Documents Librarian continues to maintain an up-to-date paper file, using the depository shipping lists and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement.
2) List of Classes of U.S. Government Publications Available for Selection by Depository Libraries
The Olin Library Documents Librarian annotates the list of classes once or twice a year to show the item classes selected by the Olin depository.
3) Item Lister (formerly Union List of Item Selections)
A useful tool for determining whether the Mann or Law depositories are selecting an item number.
4) U.S. Government Online Bookstore
A useful tool for determining whether or not a publication which has failed to come has been published.
Non-Depository Items
Sources for acquisition of publications which we have failed to receive on deposit or which are not depository are:
1) Government Printing Office. Use the U.S. Government Online Bookstore in combination with the deposit account.
2) National Technical Information Service. Use the Government Reports Announcements and Index for older materials, or the online NTIS database. Calling NTIS for information about whether or not a document is available in its collection is the most direct method. Type an order or order by phone using the deposit account.
3) Documents Expediting Project at the Library of Congress.
Olin Library is a long-standing subscriber to DocEx. Determine bibliographic information and type and submit the DocEx form.
4) Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service. Some CDS products are not sent to depository libraries. Use the class list and the online catalog to determine the depository status. Order by mail, e-mail or telephone using the deposit account.
5) Census Bureau. Use the online Census Publications catalog. Call Customer Services, or, increasingly, call the appropriate Bureau division and request a free copy. A short document can also be printed directly from the Web.
6) Identifying and directly contacting government agencies for documents which have not been sent on deposit even though we have selected an item number or which will not be deposit is very fruitful. Writing letters, telephoning or sending e-mail are all appropriate. Olin Library Documents Librarian has a large file of useful bookmarks for electronic access to government sites.
Olin selectors and others served by the Olin Library Documents Librarian and CTS will use sources at their disposal for their particular subject fields in selecting federal documents. Orders are submitted to the Olin Library Documents Librarian for acquisition.
Retrospective Sources
Out-of-print documents can be obtained from the following sources:
1) NTIS
2) Census Bureau
3) DTIC
4) Denver Technical Information Center (National Park Service publications)
5) Congressional Information Service
6) National Archives
7) Readex/Newsbank
8) USGS
9) Periodicals Service Company (Kraus)
10)Alibris
Resource Sharing
The depository at Olin Library shares the benefits of resource sharing arrangements in place for the entire Cornell University Library. We have an active interlibrary loan department. Our interlibrary loan system in New York State relies heavily on the resources of the New York State Library, our Regional Library for federal documents. Borrowing documents in this way from our Regional constitutes the relationship which we have with that library, which is geographically remote from Ithaca. We are a member of the Center for Research Libraries through which patrons may borrow lesser-used materials purchased for member use.
Resource sharing among the three depositories on the Cornell campus, Olin Library, Albert R. Mann Library, and the Cornell Law Library is extensive and an integral part of collection development at each individual depository and for CUL as a whole. We are located on one campus, where our libraries are in walking and campus bus service distance. We share one library online catalog and collection of electronic resources. Librarians from the three depositories are active in the campus collection development organization as members of the Social Sciences selection team.
Among the 3 depositories there is a formal arrangement for selecting item numbers to share with unit libraries on campus which want to duplicate a resource held in one of the depository libraries. This arrangement is coordinated by the Olin Library Documents Librarian and involves over 70 unique item numbers. While duplication of resources in our library system is permitted, and a fact of life in a large system, it is considered carefully by selectors not only with the interest of patrons in mind but also space and other library resources. Of much greater importance are the informal arrangements for consultation in advance of selecting item numbers and the cooperative collection development nature of both our daily work and our work on the Social Sciences team. We all know the missions of the individual libraries which we serve and select accordingly. We also bear in mind the totality of the depository collection which we want to make available at Cornell, and we share this effort.
Mann Library accepts primary responsibility for selecting items which support academic and research programs within the statutory departments and libraries of the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and Human Ecology (CHE), and the Division of Biotechnology and Nutrition. Mann Library also narrowly selects documents to support the programs in the School of Veterinary Sciences. Cornell Law Library accepts primary responsibility for selecting items which support academic and research programs within the Cornell Law School. Olin Library accepts primary responsibility for selecting items to support the Olin Library collection of materials on the social sciences and humanities, as well as selecting items for use in the remaining departmental and college libraries of the Cornell University Library system.
Collection Evaluation
The most important tool for collection evaluation used by the Olin Library Documents Librarian is the zero-based collection review. This review is made annually at the time of the selection update cycle. Information is gathered throughout the year, such as new item numbers to be selected. Item deselection takes place throughout the year, primarily when new items are added by GPO through the shipping list and Administrative Notes Technical Supplement.
The Olin Library Documents Librarian learns from selectors, primarily through the weekly process of review of new documents, what is needed and what might not be needed in the future. Orders for new documents not received on deposit, which might indicate the need for selection of an item number, are sent by selectors to the Olin Library Documents Librarian. Selectors regularly receive and review interlibrary loan requests to gather information about materials which might need to be added to the CUL collection. Document titles which a selector feels should be added to or replaced in the collection are sent to the Olin Library Documents Librarian for ordering; this may also be cause for selecting an item number. The Olin Library Documents Librarian reviews the Daily Depository Shipping Lists in order to learn about documents sent on deposit under Item Numbers which we do not now select. An interesting item is pursued for more information and perhaps ordered. Ultimately the item number may be marked for selection at the next opportunity.
Our collection of government documents is compared by the Olin Library Documents Librarian and by subject selectors to lists of materials, both standard and informal, both print and electronic. Documents may be ordered and/or item numbers added to our selection profile based on these exercises.
Patrons are encouraged to request items which are not in the CUL collection. Forms may be submitted at reference desks or electronically. Selectors review these suggestions and act on them. Requests for documents may be routed to the Olin Library Documents Librarian for ordering.
Weeding and Maintenance
The documents collection of Olin Library and the other CUL unit libraries to which it supplies depository documents are integrated collections. Maintenance of the Olin stack collection is the responsibility of the Preservation and Collection Maintenance Department, which has a long history of handling and shelving document materials. Collection Maintenance staff interfile looseleaf materials. Current, unbound materials are shelved in greyboards (string-tied binding). Decisions for withdrawing superseded documents or for binding are typed on the board labels and followed by staff personnel as they shelve. Maintenance of the maps and reference collections are the responsibility of those departments.
Decisions are made at time of selection, and may be reevaluated as necessary, concerning withdrawal of superseded documents. Superseded documents which are considered to have research value are retained. Superseded documents that have value only when they are current or which are superseded by other forms, such as slip issues superseded by bound volumes, are withdrawn with reference to the Superseded List. At this time, no tangible versions of depository publications with electronic equivalents have been replaced under the "FDLP Guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications."
Documents are included in all library procedures for binding and repair of library materials. Documents are routinely commercially bound, stiffened in-house or paper or pamphlet bound as appropriate. Worn or mutilated documents are evaluated for repair, replacement or withdrawal; such documents are generally discovered by Collection Maintenance staff and referred to the Conservation Department, whose staff may consult with selectors or the Documents Librarian.
Most documents are selected for their research value and retained indefinitely, particularly in the Olin Library collection, in which there is no weeding. A unit library such as the Engineering Library, which receives many documents, retains many of them indefinitely, for example geological materials and technical reports. The Management Library, on the other hand, regularly reviews and weeds its collection, including some documents. The Management Librarian, and other unit librarians, are aware of the regulations of the depository library program and consult with the Olin Library Documents Librarian when appropriate. Older documents which are no longer needed in the Management Library or other unit libraries and which are not held in the Olin Library are routinely reviewed by Olin Library selectors and may be transferred to Olin Library.
Documents which are not added to the permanent collection are retained until they are replaced by a commercial microfiche alternative or for five years and then discarded following the guidelines supplied by our Regional Library.
Access
Documents are freely accessible to library users during all library opening hours. In addition, document electronic online resources which are referenced in the library's catalog are available at all times. Documents in all formats are cataloged with bibliographic and holdings information available in the library's online catalog, which is a single integrated file. The online catalog is available to users both on site during regular library hours and remotely, both on and off campus at all hours.
Professional librarians and trained information assistants with knowledge of government documents and the skills to find them are available at regularly scheduled hours throughout the day and evening. In addition, the library provides for remote reference through e-mail and other techniques.
In addition to both historical and current document indexes and abstracts, the library holds a wide variety of commercial indexes which include or are exclusively devoted to government documents.
Examples of major indexes are: almost all of the Congressional Information Services products which index current and retrospective congressional, executive and foreign policy documents, and the American Statistics Index.
The Library Gateway provides access to indexes, catalogs, numerical and spatial data and full text documents which are available as networked resources through Cornell's online catalog. Networked resources both document and commercial are presented in a high profile and user friendly environment. Significant document resources on the Library Gateway are: GPO Access, CenStats, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, Stat-USA, DOE Information Bridge, NTIS, and The Center for Electronic Records. Significant commercial resources providing access to government documents which are on the Library Gateway are: Statistical Universe (CIS) and Congressional Universe (CIS).