9.7 Various Types of Housing Arrangements

In addition to housing all materials in the main depository library building, your library has several options for housing a government publications collection. It is possible to use offsite storage and to make arrangements with other facilities for selective housing of material.

9.7.A Offsite Storage

• Your depository library may consider using an offsite storage facility for a variety of reasons. When shelving in the regular library approaches capacity, the transfer of some materials to an offsite storage facility can provide the room needed to safely shelve and provide access to the most frequently used portions of the collection. Furthermore, the climate and security in a storage facility may make it more desirable for older, fragile, or valuable publications. With many publications available in microfiche or in digital formats, your library may want to retain its paper originals in an offsite facility while providing day-to-day access via the duplicate copy.
• Offsite storage facilities MUST meet the requirements for storage and handling of U.S. Government publications. Your depository library remains responsible for ensuring that the offsite storage environment meets the climate, security, physical and bibliographic access REQUIREMENTS for depository libraries as described in this handbook. If the offsite storage facility is not under the same administrative control as your depository library, a formal memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the two libraries MUST be signed.
• Your depository library should establish a policy for reasonable retrieval times for publications not directly accessible to users. Just like publications stored in closed stacks within the library, publications stored at offsite storage facilities MUST be retrievable and available to users within a certain time frame. Retrieval time should generally be within 24 hours but should be as soon as feasible given the distance between the library and the offsite storage facility. If your library does not normally retrieve library publications from offsite storage facilities on the weekends, retrieval may be limited to Monday through Friday.
• If your offsite housing facilities are open to the public and have reading rooms, the facility should have sufficient seating, lighting, and workspace for users. If appropriate, microfiche readers, printers, and photocopiers should also be available.
• Your depository MUST fully catalog all material in offsite storage so that it remains accessible. It is important that your depository library's records clearly indicate the location of those publications located in offsite storage.

9.7.B Selective Housing Arrangements

Your depository library, whether a regional or a selective, may also transfer current or retrospective materials to another library, institution, or agency through an arrangement called shared or selective housing. A participating alternate site receiving depository materials from a depository library may be a branch library of the same institution as the depository library, another depository library, a public or academic library, a special library, or an agency. A formal agreement between the parties MUST be signed if the host site is not under the same administrative control as your depository that is offering the material for selective housing. However, your designated depository library remains legally responsible for these materials including their receipt, initial processing, and disposition.

Selective housing agreements have several advantages:

• Selective housing agreements can place publications in areas that allow for wider usage and greater accessibility;
• It increases the scope of the available collection, thereby providing a larger number of publications and a greater level of public service;
• It enhances the capabilities of participating libraries to develop retrospective or current subject, series, or agency collections; and
• It may help to alleviate space problems at participating institutions.

Remember the selective housing site MUST abide by all of the standards and legal requirements that govern the FDLP. Your depository library should furnish selective house sites with copies or links to appropriate instructions for the housing of and free public access to depository materials.

Depository materials placed in a selective housing site remain the property of the U.S. Government and are governed by all public access, custody, maintenance, and public service requirements.

Selective housing sites MUST post the depository emblem in a prominent location, preferably visible from the exterior of the library, indicating that government information products can be used by the general public without charge. Your depository library should provide the selective housing site with the free decals.

Memorandums of Agreement

If your depository library director is not the administrator of the site of the selectively housed collection, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) MUST be drawn up outlining the host institution's responsibilities to provide for free public access, and to maintain the records and materials in the government publications collection. See HYPERLINK \l "_Appendix_D._" Appendix D in this Handbook for a model selective housing MOA.

An MOA for a selective housing agreement should specify:

• The justification for the transfer;
• The duration of the agreement;
• Conditions for the termination of the agreement;
• The manner in which the collection will be maintained and organized;
• Guarantees of free access by the general public;
• Arrangements for interlibrary loan cooperation; and
• The procedure to be followed in the event the agreement is dissolved.

Selective housing agreements and MOAs MUST be signed by the directors of both organizations involved, with copies sent to the appropriate regional depository library and to:

Office of Library Planning and Development, Library Services U.S. Government Printing Office 732 North Capitol Street, NW Mail Stop IDLP 
Washington, DC 20401

The agreement may also be faxed to (202) 512-2300 or emailed if digital signatures are included to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Office of Planning and Development, Library Services should be notified anytime a portion of the depository collection is housed outside of the designated depository.

Depository materials located in selective housing sites are subject to the full range of depository standards contained in this Handbook and the materials remain the responsibility of your depository library. Ownership of the material and the responsibility for meeting FDLP standards remain the same, whether the publications are routed through your depository library or mailed directly to the selective housing site, as can be the case with U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps.

It is important that your depository library's records clearly indicate the location of the publications covered by the selective housing program. The receiving institution MUST also keep records indicating the source of the materials, and your depository materials should be clearly identified. These records MUST be kept at the piece level, that is, all depository maps, slip laws, slip opinions, etc., MUST be individually recorded.

It is not necessary, however, for your depository to maintain the official holdings record for material selectively housed elsewhere. The official holdings record may be kept at the selective housing site if it saves your staff time and can be done in accordance with the instructions in this Handbook.

If your depository library participates in a selective housing arrangement, you should bring new item numbers to the attention of the staff of the receiving institution and assist them in selecting items. A schedule should be developed for adjusting the selection of items covered by the selective housing agreement. The schedule should coincide with the FDLP annual item selection update.