Colorado State Publications Library Collection Development Policy

Updated April 2024

Introduction

The Colorado State Publications Library (COSPL) was established in 1980 to provide Colorado residents with in-depth and permanent public access, regardless of format, to information from their state government, including the General Assembly, the Governor's Office, the Supreme Court, other state government agencies, and state colleges and universities.  The General Assembly mandated this program as an essential function of state government in CRS 24-90-201/208.

The Colorado State Publications Library has four major functions:

• Obtaining and identifying  publications both in print and in digital format from state agencies
• Cataloging and classifying publications to make accessible through a searchable database for public use
• Distributing publications to state publications depository libraries through print copies or digital access notification
• Providing reference service to the public in a timely manner via phone, in person, email, or U. S. mail

The first function, obtaining and identifying publications, is the key to achieving permanent public access to state government information.  For most libraries, decisions on what materials to add to the collection are made on the basis of the unique needs of the community to be served.  For COSPL, the statute requires that all material meeting certain criteria be collected.  Thus, our collection development policy seeks to implement the statute as effectively as possible with the resources available.

 

Definitions

Several definitions in CRS 24-90-202 establish an initial focus for the library's collection development activities:

 "State agency" means every state office, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, and its respective officers, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions, and committees, all state-supported colleges and universities which are defined as state institutions of higher education, and other agencies which expend state-appropriated funds.

 "State publication" means any information for public distribution, regardless of format, method of reproduction, source, or copyright that is produced, purchased for distribution, or authorized, with the imprint of, or at the total or partial expense of the agency, with the exception of correspondence, interoffice memoranda, or those items detailed by section 24-72-204. "State publication" includes, without limitation, information available electronically by means of computer diskettes, compact discs, computer tapes, other electronic storage media, or a public telecommunications network.

Not all publications meeting these definitions are automatically deposited with COSPL. Additionally, state agency electronic publishing on the Internet has led to the expansion of information on agency web pages. Therefore, COSPL places a high priority on working with agencies both to identify specific publications not already deposited and to develop improved compliance with the statutory requirements. 

COSPL stores digital documents in the COSPL repository and also may catalog agency web sites.  Our controlled vocabulary and the ability to search by keyword, author, agency name, and classification number provides enhanced public access that goes beyond what Internet search engines can provide.  Internet publications are cataloged and classified based on the guidelines listed below in this policy statement.

COSPL’s web page provides an alternate point of entry to state information. Links to state information by subject categories are available as well as featured subject resource guides and Quick Guides. Since COSPL’s catalog includes cross agency publications, one search can find publications on topics that cross agency lines such as water issues.

 

Guidelines

These guidelines are dynamic in nature and will be changed as needed to reflect not only what state agencies are publishing and in what format, but the information needs of the library users. Publications intended for paper distribution by state agencies will be claimed in print. Otherwise, the digital version will be placed in the repository.

 

State Agency Publications 

  a) General -The Collection will include all agency publications, both print or digital, intended for external distribution including general reports, selected directories, guidelines of interest to the public, budgets and budget requests, annual reports, non-fiction monographs, newsletters of long-term value, fact sheets, agency program pamphlets (unless the information is available elsewhere), and memos (if they are not internal and have long-term value), monographic series/serials, proceedings regardless of subject, format, or whether there are Colorado contributors, and all reports to the legislature (including those in letter format). Gifts will be evaluated with the same criteria as other publications.

b)  Regulations/Statutes Reprints - These will not be included unless the publication is clearly dated and includes enhancements or compilations or explanations or excerpts to provide easier access to the information or they are popular with patrons such as the “School Laws” or “Election Laws”.  Very old, dated material will not be kept.  New dated material will be cataloged, but not actively collected.

c) City & County Planning Reports – Any plans titled “comprehensive” or “development” or “land use” and/or indicate they were prepared for, or by, the Colorado Division of Local Affairs will be collected.

d)  Pamphlets – These will not be included if they are ephemeral in nature or have general consumer information that could easily be obtained elsewhere.

e)  PERA - The only information collected will be audits and annual reports.

f)  Videos – Considerations for collection include:  (1) how widely distributed to the public; (2) production quality; (3) substantial content; (4) if it is a workshop/meeting, is the information useful out of context of the meeting.

g)  Executive Summaries of Reports - These will be collected except for those that are promotional in nature (brochure). Depending on content, such promotional material may be cataloged if the main report is not available.

h) Educator Classroom Materials - These will be evaluated on a case by case basis.  Considerations will include:  (1) support for standards-based learning and (2) content that is self-explanatory for use by teachers, home schoolers, etc.

i)  Digital Publications – The same guidelines for paper will be applied for collecting. PDF, HTML, etc. versions will be “captured” and added to COSPL’s repository. Web pages, such as searchable databases, directories, and publications lists with links will be cataloged with a URL link in the record to the web page. Pages with .com endings will be added if there is state involvement/sponsorship.

j) Foreign Languages - If editions in languages other than English are available, they will be collected.

k)  Bibliographies & Publications Lists – Both digital and/or paper copies will be collected if they are done by a state agency and contain state information. Older ones will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

l)  The following will not be collected: ephemeral materials, minutes and agendas; staff, policy and procedure manuals; grant application procedures; old, internal strategic plans; enforcement/violation reports; state plans that appear to be specifically applications for federal funds (consider if distributed elsewhere); training materials; catalogs or marketing tools for books, serials, videos/films, speakers lists, etc; and interim reports and drafts unless a final is never published; they will not be claimed.

 

Authorities

These agency publications will not be actively collected, but will be cataloged if received. Publications will be claimed if they are requested by a patron; however, distribution copies will not be pursued.

 

CDE Publications 

Any publication from the Colorado Department of Education that does not clearly fall within the policies will be evaluated on a case- by-case basis. Generally, however, they will be added as CDE staff expectations are that CDE titles will be at CoSPL.

 

College & University Publications

a) The collection will include all publications intended for external distribution including general reports, directories, budgets, and budget requests, annual reports, non-fiction monographs, newsletters of long-term value, fact sheets, and memos (if they are intended for external distribution and have long-term value), monographic series/serials, and conference proceedings regardless of subject or whether there are Colorado contributors as long as they are sponsored by the institution.  The exceptions are University Press publications and CSU Extension Series titles, which will be included only when they are about or of interest to Colorado.

b) General undergraduate and graduate catalogs will be collected in the format generally available to students.

c) The following items will not be collected: ephemeral materials, financial aid information, foundation reports, campus phone directories, athletic rosters, any information directed to students or faculty or alumni, commencement items, viewbooks, reprints from journals, and specific program brochures.

 

Interstate Regional Agencies

These agency publications will not be actively collected but will be cataloged if received. Likewise, the library will not pursue distribution copies.  Exceptions would be titles requested of the library which contain specific Colorado information on a "hot" topic, such as water, oil shale, etc. and if Colorado is a member in the agency and/or Colorado contributed funds or staff.

 

Newsletters

State agency and college & university newsletters will only be collected if they are of long-term value, meaning have substantive program information, statistics, items of permanent public interest, etc.  They will not be collected if content is mostly meeting/conference announcements or reports, staff information, training schedules, etc.

 

Privately Published 

If produced in cooperation with or authorized by a state agency, with the agency’s name printed on the publication, regardless of content these items will be added to the collection.  However, they will not be added if they are only reprinted or distributed by a state agency. URLs to non-state sites will not be in the record unless a state imprint exists on the web site.

 

Regional Agencies

Publications from these agencies will not be collected and have been/will be withdrawn from the collection:  DRCOG, RTD, Baseball District, Scientific and Cultural District, and the Urban Drainage District as well as others in the state including BOCES and RLSS.

 

Local Depository Library's Role

An individual Depository Library may become aware of publications that are not part of the State Publications collection.  While these titles may be cataloged on OCLC, the Depository should contact the State Library with publication information.  In this way, the publication can become part of the State Publications Library database and copies can possibly be obtained for other Depository Libraries.  With this approach, every library involved in the state publications network can contribute to the overall quality of the collection.

 

Retention Statement

As a rule, items are retained permanently in the State Publications Library collection.  In some cases, items are withdrawn such as ephemeral brochures, internal serials, and selected newsletters. These items were added to the collection under a previous, broader collection development policy.