College and Research Libraries By P A U L I N E W A R D Processing Government Documents Miss Ward is documents librarian, North Texas State College, Denton, Texas. IN A p r i l 1948, the L i b r a r y of N o r t h T e x a s State College was designated as a depository f o r U n i t e d States g o v e r n m e n t documents. Before t h a t date all documents which had been acquired by purchase, ex- change or g i f t w e r e incorporated either in the r e g u l a r D e w e y classification w i t h f u l l cataloging, or in the pamphlet file by subject in the reference room. W i t h the sudden ar- rival of documents by the h u n d r e d s , a long- range p l a n n i n g p r o g r a m became essential. Several factors influenced the decision to organize a separate documents collection: ( 1 ) Shelving space. T h e already over- crowded stacks seemed an unwise location f o r a r a p i d l y - g r o w i n g n e w type of m a t e r i a l . T e m p o r a r y space was provided in the refer- ence room, which was t h o u g h t to be suf- ficient until such time as an addition to the building w o u l d provide p e r m a n e n t q u a r t e r s . ( 2 ) Cataloging cost. F u n d s and personnel w e r e not sufficient to give as complete cataloging to documents as to the other book m a t e r i a l . I t was also clear t h a t this w o u l d be duplicating w o r k in indexes pub- lished by the G o v e r n m e n t P r i n t i n g Office. ( 3 ) Type of material. Small leaflets are difficult to keep in o r d e r u n d e r any circum- stances, but in a special collection these elusive pieces can be given a t t e n t i o n . ( 4 ) Personnel. In a separate collection the docu- ments l i b r a r i a n has the a d v a n t a g e of having not only a general knowledge of the m a n y different d e p a r t m e n t s , bureaus, divisions, offices and independent agencies of the G o v e r n m e n t , but also knows of transfers, mergers, n e w and discontinued titles, fre- quency, tricks in i d e n t i f y i n g obscure items and much additional miscellaneous i n f o r m a - tion acquired only t h r o u g h w o r k i n g w i t h documents. ( 5 ) Time element. W i t h some exceptions, g o v e r n m e n t documents are avail- able f o r use almost immediately upon receipt if they are in a separate collection, since they can be put directly on the shelves. T h e choice of a method of a r r a n g e m e n t of documents w i t h i n the collection w a s easy. T h e D o c u m e n t s Office classification is fool- proof, as most of the pieces are given in the Monthly Catalog. T h e other usual method of a r r a n g e m e n t , t h a t of shelving the docu- m e n t s alphabetically by b u r e a u and title, creates the problem of locating publications of bureaus which have changed f r o m one d e p a r t m e n t to a n o t h e r . In using the D o c u - m e n t s Office classification this c h a n g i n g of bureaus need not necessarily affect the classi- fication if sufficient cross references are made in the shelflist. A n a r b i t r a r y rule of using the latest n u m b e r was applied to those sets w h i c h had been t r a n s f e r r e d f r o m one d e p a r t m e n t to a n o t h e r . Cross references w e r e made in the shelflist f r o m each of the earlier classifications to the one used as fol- lows : Ii6.43:no. U.S. Office of education. Pamphlets. see FS5.i7:no. U.S. Office of education. Pamphlets. A n y f u t u r e change in classification will be represented by a cross reference to the old classification, w h i c h will be retained in 4 S COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES o r d e r to avoid reclassifying, r e m a r k i n g , and reshelving of the set. W h a t should be done about the govern- m e n t periodicals? T h i s question w a s answered by sending to the Periodicals D e p a r t m e n t all those periodicals which are indexed in one of the usual indexing tools. T h e other periodicals w e r e given D o c u - ments classification n u m b e r s and retained in the documents collection, so t h a t they could be shelved w i t h other material on the same subject and prepared by the same office. F o r example, the C.A.A. Journal is classified in C 3 1 . 1 1 8 : and shelved w i t h the other material published by the Civil A e r o n a u t i c s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . T h u s , a search f o r air- plane hazards, latest improvements, acci- dents etc. will n a t u r a l l y lead to the Journal which might easily be missed if it were in a n o t h e r p a r t of the library. I n setting up a system of record keeping, t w o separate files w e r e s t a r t e d . O n e is merely an a u t h o r list of holdings giving the classification n u m b e r f o r each series as fol- lows : F R i . 3 0 : d a t e U.S. Board of governors of the federal reserve system. Federal reserve charts on bank credit, money rates, and business. T h e only time spent on this file is in typ- ing the card as each newT series is added. N o maintenance is required. T h e Poole list1 is an invaluable source of classification n u m b e r s needed in initiating the a u t h o r file, and it is kept up to date by a d d i n g n e w clas- sification n u m b e r s as listed each m o n t h in t h e f r o n t of t h e Monthly Catalog. I t is possible to omit the a u t h o r file and depend on the Poole list to provide the n u m b e r s each time a request is made f o r a document f o r which the classification is not k n o w n . H o w e v e r , this practice has t w o disadvan- 1 Poole, Mary Elizabeth. Documents Office Classifica- tion, R a l e i g h , N . C . T h e C o m p i l e r , N o r t h C a r o l i n a S t a t e C o l l e g e , 1 9 4 5 . tages. T i t l e s u n d e r each bureau are not a r r a n g e d alphabetically in Poole, and much time is spent in h u n t i n g the specific title de- sired in o r d e r to find the classification, par- ticularly w h e r e the list of titles is a long one. F u r t h e r m o r e , a f t e r the desired title is finally located, very likely the publication has been t r a n s f e r r e d to another d e p a r t m e n t , and the search must continue t h r o u g h the pages to r u n down the classification n u m b e r t h a t is eventually used. T h e second file is a checklist of all publi- cations a r r a n g e d by classification n u m b e r . Some libraries a r r a n g e this file by a u t h o r and title in order to eliminate the a u t h o r file entirely. H o w e v e r , w i t h this system, no shelflist of documents is available and taking inventory w o u l d be extremely difficult. T h e documents librarian, w o r k i n g w i t h a shelf- list a r r a n g e m e n t , can gain a clearer over-all view of the collection. C h e c k i n g cards are all locally printed as those available f r o m library supply firms are not satisfactory for documents. O n l y three kinds of i n f o r m a t i o n are necessary on each checking c a r d : a u t h o r , title and clas- sification n u m b e r . Space at the top of commercial cards f o r publisher, source, f r e - quency etc. is o f t e n needed f o r the extra t w o or t h r e e lines in the title. F o u r kinds of serial checking cards are u s e d : n u m b e r ( 1 - 1 0 0 ) , a n n u a l (see F i g . i ) , m o n t h l y (also used f o r q u a r t e r l y ) and weekly. O t h e r variations in f r e q u e n c y of publication may be adapted to the use of one of these printed cards. D o c u m e n t s w h i c h do not fall w i t h i n any series, i.e., pieces w i t h a C u t t e r n u m b e r , are listed on plain cards. T h e top of the card gives the same i n f o r m a t i o n as series cards (classification n u m b e r , a u t h o r and general t i t l e ) . H o l d i n g s are listed on the card alphabetically by C u t t e r n u m b e r , giving title of piece and date of publication. (See F i g . 2 . ) JANUARY, 1951 49 7 C S i . 3 i : d a t e U.S. Civil service commission. Official register of the United States. LIBRARY HAS THOSE CHECKED. BELOW 1 U 21 31 41 2. 12 22 32 42 3 13 23 33 43 4 14 24 34 44 5 15 25 35 45 6 16 26 36 46 7 17 2 7 37 47 8 IS 28 38 48 9 19 29 39 49 10 20 30 40 50 (Form 66) F I G . I ( T h e f u l l year is not printed so that the same f o r m can be used f o r either 1801-1850 or 1901- 1950. O n l y fifty years are put on one card in o r d e r to allow space f o r showing all the volumes and p a r t s in which annual reports often appear.) S 1 . 2 C T . U.S. D e p t . of state. G e n e r a l publications. E d 8 3 / 2 Proposed educational and c u l t u r a l organizations of the United N a - tions. 1945. F 7 6 P / 1 2 Foreign policies; their f o r m u l a t i o n and enforcement. 1946. P92 Presidential elections; provisions of the Constitution and the U.S. Code. 1948. F I G . 2 (Space is l e f t between C u t t e r l e t t e r s to per- mit f u t u r e publications to be listed in their alphabetical o r d e r . ) I n c l u s i o n of this type of d o c u m e n t in t h e shelflist h a s m a n y a d v a n t a g e s over c h e c k i n g h o l d i n g s in each Monthly Catalog. Classi- fication n u m b e r s a r e o f t e n f o u n d in t h e Selected United States Government Pub- lications a n d in t h e " P r e v i e w s " in t h e Monthly Catalog, as w e l l as on t h e piece it- self if p u b l i s h e d by t h e T a r i f f C o m m i s s i o n . Such n u m b e r s a r e a v a i l a b l e m o n t h s b e f o r e t h e piece is listed in its c o r r e c t place in t h e Monthly Catalog. T h u s , t h e d o c u m e n t can be classified, a d d e d to t h e shelflist, shelved a n d r e a d y f o r use w i t h o u t h o l d i n g it u p f o r c h e c k i n g off in a Monthly Catalog some m o n t h s l a t e r . L i k e w i s e , m a n y p u b l i c a t i o n s a r e m e r e l y revised editions r e q u i r i n g o n l y a c h a n g e in year d e s i g n a t i o n (e.g., c i r c u l a r s of i n f o r m a t i o n r e g a r d i n g n a t i o n a l p a r k s ) or a d d e d v o l u m e s h a v i n g t h e same classifica- tion n u m b e r except t h e v o l u m e n u m b e r (e.g., h e a r i n g s in several v o l u m e s ) . T h e r e is no need t o spend t h e t i m e necessary t o look t h r o u g h m a n y issues of t h e Monthly Catalog simply to check h o l d i n g s a n d t h e n to r e p e a t t h e process to find a classification n u m b e r every t i m e a request comes f o r such a p u b l i c a t i o n . I n u s i n g t h e collection t o give r e f e r e n c e service, all t h a t is necessary is t o check t h e shelflist t o d e t e r m i n e if a specific piece is in t h e collection. I t is t r u e t h a t o f t e n t h e Monthly Catalog m u s t be used t o find t h e classification n u m b e r of a p a r t i c u l a r docu- m e n t , b u t in m a n y cases, as in the use of Price Lists a n d t h e H i r s h b e r g Guide2 w h e r e 2 H i r s h b e r g , H e r b e r t S . , a n d M e l i n a t , C a r l H . Sub- ject Guide to United States Government Publications. C h i c a g o , A m e r i c a n L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 4 7 . 50 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES t h e classification is given, this search w o u l d be w a s t e d e f f o r t . W h e n i n f o r m a t i o n is needed t h a t w o u l d obviously be published by a specific b u r e a u , it should t a k e only a m o m e n t to glance over t h e titles of publica- tions listed in t h e shelflist a n d d e t e r m i n e if a n y of t h e m w o u l d be u s e f u l in t h e question a t h a n d . A s an aid in c a l l i n g a t t e n t i o n to the docu- m e n t s collection, each series is r e p r e s e n t e d in t h e p u b l i c c a t a l o g by a c a r d giving classi- fication, a u t h o r , t i t l e and t h e f o l l o w i n g n o t e : " F o r c o m p l e t e h o l d i n g s see D o c u - m e n t s C o l l e c t i o n . " E a c h c a r d also has a r u b b e r s t a m p " G o v t , d o c . " u n d e r t h e call n u m b e r . ( S e e F i g . 3 ) S i . 3 1 : U.S. Dept. of state. Near Eastern series. Washington, Govt, print, office. F O R C O M P L E T E H O L D I N G S S E E D O C U M E N T S C O L L E C T I O N ( F I G . 3 ) (For separates, only those which seem im- portant enough for cataloging are represented in the catalog by L.C. cards giving the Docu- ments classification.) I n an e f f o r t to m a k e the f a c u l t y docu- m e n t s conscious a selected list of c u r r e n t d o c u m e n t acquisitions is i n c l u d e d in t h e f o r t n i g h t l y p u b l i c a t i o n N.T.S.C. Books w h i c h is sent to f a c u l t y m e m b e r s . Obstacles and Opportunities in Special Treatment of Documents (Continued from page 47J ing by public libraries, as on-the-spot, or long-range through correspondence. T h e driving force in these campaigns was in the larger library a far seeing cataloger; in the smaller a determined trustee, herself an ex- librarian. If the pattern is once set and if some one member of the staff can become the foster mother of these problem children, documents, a small public library can make the depository privilege a help not a hinder- ance in serving their community. T h e small college library has a tougher job. Its faculty members who frequently have done graduate work in a university or college with rich resources find a limited book stock maddening. When such a faculty member discovers his college library is a depository and can get endless stuff free, there may be a to-do. T h e care of material and what it involves is beyond his vision. W e have tried to arbitrate in such cases. Here then is an opportunity on a different level for a university or a state library to help documents and readers meet. A t one time there seemed a chance to have such off- the-campus activities accepted as part of our university extension program. T h e project did not seem worthwhile to those in high places, and what has been done later has been on a person to person basis. Making Material Available in a National Crisis It is easy at times of national stress to become sentimental or emotional. With a sincere desire to avoid either of these at- titudes, may I suggest one last opportunity for the special document worker or depart- ment? When a national emergency de- velops, all federal functions, activities and pronouncements become of increased impor- tance. T h a t the citizens may and must know the truth is mandatory. T h e public press, the radio and the library should assume in all seriousness this duty. Again this may be our part in a dangerous time. T w o different young assistants on two different occasions made exactly the same remark to me. Sud- denly in midst of tedious routine each said, "Is it not a privilege at a time like this to handle all this material from the Govern- ment?" Once this was said in the midst of a depression, once in the midst of war. If tragic times are ahead, may not document librarians rise to the opportunity of their positions and know it is a privilege? JANUARY, 1951 51 7