Whither US Docmuments?

Those who regularly use the Federal Documents collection in the Homer Babbidge Library are already aware that this major research collection has been relocated to Level B, where it now occupies a stack space stretching literally from one end of the building to the other. Changes in the library's processing, handling, and collection development of federal documents are going into effect as well-all to keep up to date with the many changes now taking place in the delivery of federally gathered information and government sponsored research. What follows is a brief summary of initiatives that are underway to improve access to federal documents.

Weeding Paper Collections As recommended in the last official federal depository inspection, the collection has been reviewed by documents specialists, reference and liaison librarians, interlibrary loan librarians, and collection development bibliographers for deaccessioning. Numerous superseded items and non-research materials from the 60's and 70's (such as the "Maintenance and Repair Manual for the Postal Service Hamper Dumpster," the "Pistol Instruction Course for IRS Inspectors," and the "Training Manual for Navy Ship Welding") were deaccessioned. The result is a collection that is easier to use and one that is tailored to the research needs of the Libraries' primary clientele. Despite the weeding, the federal collection still occupies more than 4500 shelves-a very significant portion of the library's available stack space.

Consolidation of Paper & Fiche Collections For the first time, federal depository paper and microfiche collections will be united in one location. In June, the federal documents microfiche collections will be moved to Level B into a newly established documents reading room. The reading room, when complete, will contain reading tables, microfiche readers, special finding aids, and power for lap top data entry.

Tansfer of Documents Processing to Collections Services Receipt and processing of documents is being transferred from Research & Information Services to Collections Services. This is part of a general library effort to consolidate processing operations in Collections Services whenever this brings efficiency and effectiveness to the organization and clear benefits to the user. This step will ensure better integration of federal documents into HOMER and more appropriate oversight of processing operations. It will allow the staff who maintain the physical collection and the bibliographic records for the collection to work closely with one another. (Records for federal documents received since 1976 have been entered into the Libraries' online catalog). And this will allow the Research & Information Services staff to direct more of their energies to the public service aspects of documents librarianship.

Collection Profile Review Acting federal documents librarian Steven Batt has prepared a plan for a comprehensive collection development review of the federal documents collections at the University Libraries. The paper outlines a plan for a targeted review of the 6,659 depository collection categories for relevance to the university's academic mission. Currently, the Libraries receive items in 5,113 categories or 76% of the eligible items. The review will be undertaken by the documents librarian, collection development bibliographers, interlibrary loan librarians, and the subject liaisons in consultation with interested faculty. This will be part of a larger effort to enhance liaison knowledge of the collections and their importance for research at the university.

Documents Public Service This, perhaps the most important question of all, is still in the very early stages of discussion. The move of much federal information to networked electronic formats, greater reliance on microfiche for information storage, and all that is transpiring in the items mentioned above, requires a reshaping of our documents service to the public. In light of ever increasing Web publishing by specific government agencies, the centralized GPO model of paper distribution is becoming less vital to the dissemenation of government information. With the majority of taxpayer funded research being published online, access to Web-based electronic information for the university community and the citizens of Connecticut is a primary concern. Library staff are currently engaged in developing mechanisms for integrating federal information more directly into the Libraries' regular collections and services. For students and researchers at the University of Connecticut, the best place to start is, as always, at the Babbidge Library's main Information/Reference Desk on Level 1, or at one of the regional library reference desks.

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