Home Page > FDLP Desktop > FDLP Guidelines for Determining Superseded Materials

FDLP Guidelines for Determining Superseded Materials

[ Revision of preliminary pages of the 1996 Superseded List ]

Background

Once part of the Superseded List, these criteria for determining superseded materials were established to assist librarians at Federal depository libraries with decisions regarding the disposition of superseded materials under provisions of Title 44, United States Code, §1911 and in accordance with the Instructions to Depository Libraries. The criteria are useful in identifying obsolete, dated or ephemeral documents for removal from shelves, map cases, and microfiche and CD-ROM storage cabinets. Materials that meet these criteria may be discarded prior to the normal 5-year statutory retention period, without submitting them on a weeding list for Regional depository approval.

Discussion

All depository librarians should note that these guidelines do not require that materials be discarded. Do not dispose of any material that might be vital to the collection or of use to library patrons. In fact, practices or services that have evolved in your library may require that you retain, rather than remove, material from the collection. Depository librarians should carefully consider the particular needs and collection development policies at their libraries before discarding any material. When keeping superseded materials, it is important to permanently mark them as "superseded" or "not current" because misinformation can be transmitted with outdated publications.

Regional Depository Libraries

Regional depository librarians agree that some superseded materials should be retained for long term public access. These items are identified by an "R." These items were designated by a consensus agreement of the Regionals, not by legal requirement of 44 U.S.C. §1911 and therefore they may change over time.

Supersession Criteria

The following may be considered superseded and disposed of by all libraries according to Chapter 4, Maintenance, in the Instructions to Depository Libraries:

1. Separates, slip opinions, slip laws, advance or preliminary reports only upon receipt of the bound volumes or cumulated issues or products

2. Reprints, provided the library has received the original edition

3. Publications upon receipt of a revised edition or an edition that states it supersedes. If a later edition is distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program or is otherwise available to the library, the superseded edition can be discarded by the library, even though that library has since deselected the item number and does not possess the new edition.

4. Pages from loose-leaf publications that are replaced by new pages

5. Transmittals, corrections, changes, errata, etc., to a basic text or manual that the depository has yet to receive, are considered superseded and can be discarded after being retained for one year

6. Lists and indexes of publications of various agencies upon receipt of complete new editions. Small spot-lists, such as publication announcements, may be discarded 90 days after receipt

7. Annual or biennial publications that merely revise information and bring it up to date, such as Index of Specifications and Standards, Light Lists, etc., upon receipt of a new issue. This permission does not apply to annual publications such as annual reports of departments and agencies, which cover the activities of the organization for a specific period of time

8. Materials that have an effective expiration date, unless otherwise covered, may be discarded after expiration of the event. These items include, but are not limited to, press releases; dated posters; calendars; announcements of seminars, workshops, meetings, or events; announcements of products or publications; and grant applications

9. Materials that have been superseded by online versions

A Note About EL Only Materials

Publications in a given item number that have migrated to electronic format only (EL) status are guaranteed permanent public access. Therefore, if a library has a tangible title that is superseded by an online publication, the tangible version in the collection may be withdrawn according to established practice.

A Note About CD-ROMs (or DVDs)

Some agencies make CD-ROMs available to depository libraries that are compilations of publications. While some titles on the CD may be superseded, this may not be true for all the titles contained on the disc. Additionally the disc may contain monographs that are not superseded. Librarians should exercise caution when determining the retention status of these CDs.

A Note About Floppy Disks

Between approximately 1987 and 1999, some agencies provided floppy disk versions of some titles. In many cases libraries have become unable to utilize these disks as hardware and software have become obsolete. In 2002, the Indiana University, Bloomington Libraries and the Committee on Institutional Cooperaton (CIC) joined GPO in a partnership to make data from FDLP floppy disks available for download over the Internet via FTP. A searchable list of titles in the CIC Floppy Disk Project is available. Floppy disk titles appearing on this list are considered superseded, and may be discarded without further permission. In some cases, the online version may be substituted for the paper version. See the Substitution List to verify these titles.

Corrected Copies

When a library receives a corrected copy of a document, it replaces a publication previously distributed through the FDLP. The publication that was initially distributed should be removed from the collection and disposed of accordingly. This is done in order to prevent misinformation from being disseminated to the public. These copies are identifiable by the /CORR at the end of the Superintendent of Documents classification number.

Related Resources

• Documents Data Miner
  http://govdoc.wichita.edu/ddm

• FDLP Guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications
  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/coll-dev/subguide.html

• Instructions to Depository Libraries
  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/instructions/index.html

• WEBTech Notes
  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/webtech.html

[ Top ]

A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Last updated: June 10, 2004
Page Name: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/coll-dev/supersede.html