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The Superseded List - U.S. Documents That May Be Discarded By Depository Libraries, Annotated for Retention By Regional Depositories, or as it is more commonly known as "The Superseded List", is used to determine which depository publications may be withdrawn from library collections prior to the five year retention rule. Additional guidance is provided for Regional libraries in determining what publications they may withdraw as their collection retention requirements are stricter.
Materials listed in the Superseded List or falling under one of the rules may be discarded under provisions of Title 44, United States Code, §1911 and in accordance with the Federal Depository Library Handbook without submitting them on a weeding list for Regional depository approval. Depository coordinators should note that they are not required to dispose of materials listed in the Superseded List if they do not wish to. Do not dispose of any material that might be vital to the collection or of use to library patrons. 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 When keeping superseded materials, it is important to permanently mark them as "superseded" or "not current" because misinformation can be transmitted with outdated publications.
Libraries may also want to refer to the FDLP guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications when determining whether or not to maintain publications.
Instructions found in the Superseded List
The instructions listed here can be found in the Superseded List. Additional instructions unique to some titles may appear in the list itself.
- Dated. Discard when expired - Used with material that is no longer valid after a specified date (e.g., grant applications or posters advertising dated events)
- Discard if revised - Keep the latest edition/issue of each title published in the series. This term is used for monographic series where each title in the series will have to be individually reviewed (e.g., National Park Service Handbooks - I 29.9/5:)
- Keep current year or Keep current year plus previous year - Used with newsletters and announcements or publications that are generally from one to four pages in length and are of a current awareness nature
- Keep latest cumulation - Used with serials that are superseded by cumulative editions. Only the latest edition of the compilation or cumulation needs to be retained (e.g., Compilation of Federal Education Laws - Y 4.ED 8/1-12:)
- Keep latest edition - Only the latest edition or issue of the title needs to be kept. This term is used for series issued with some type of regularity (e.g., telephone books)
- Loose-leaf. Discard pages if revised. Keep latest edition - Unique to the loose leaf format, individual pages should be discarded as they are revised and the most recent version of the manual/notebook should be retained (e.g., Customs Regulations of the U.S. - T 17.9:)
- An "A" or "X" in the STATUS column indicates an active or inactive item respectively.
- R - 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.
Additional Supersession Criteria
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. 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. The following may also be considered superseded and disposed of by all libraries:
- Separates, slip opinions, slip laws, advance or preliminary reports only upon receipt of the bound volumes or cumulated issues or products
- Reprints, provided the library has received the original edition
- Corrected copy, 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.
- 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.
- Pages from loose-leaf publications that are replaced by new pages
- Transmittals, corrections, changes, errata, etc., to a basic text or manual that the depository has not received, are considered superseded and can be discarded after being retained for one year
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Materials that have been superseded by online versions, see guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Version of Depository Publications for more information.
Discard Procedures:
Information Specific to Regional libraries
If your library is a regional depository, you MUST permanently retain at least one copy of every publication received through depository distribution, except for those publications listed as superseded in the Superseded List. Keep in mind that regional libraries are not permitted to substitute tangible versions of publications for electronic versions, unless the library is able to maintain a tangible copy within a state or region.
Your library as a regional depository plays a primary role in the disposal of depository materials. The responsibilities of a regional depository library regarding the handling of selective depository discards are detailed in The Federal Depository Library Handbook, Chapter 12, Regional Services. You should have developed and have a copy of the disposal guidelines for your region or state.
Information Specific to Federal Agency libraries
Depository discard procedures are different for Federal agency libraries. If you are a depository in a Federal agency library, you are not required to maintain depository titles for five years. Materials may be withdrawn at any time and disposed of after they have been offered to the Library of Congress. You are therefore requested to be judicious in the collection development process so that you do not select too many materials you will not acquisition into your library holdings.
For more full details on discards by Federal Libraries, consult The Federal Depository Library Handbook, Chapter 15, Federal Libraries.
Information Specific to Libraries of the Highest Appellate State Court
The highest state appellate court libraries that have been designated under Section 1915 of Title 44, United States Code, have special rights. Under Federal law, if your depository is a library of the highest state appellate court, you are not obligated to retain publications for five years before discarding; and you do not have to work with a regional to discard depository materials. All depository materials remain the property of the United States Government.
Your library has the option of offering publications to the regional library or on statewide discard lists, if the regional library so desires. All depository libraries should offer any secondary publications of value through the National Needs and Offers List, which allows for material to be made available to any FDLP participant. Placing publications on the Needs and Offers list makes the best use of Government publications for the benefit of all depository libraries.
After this procedure has been followed to its conclusion, your library is then free to offer these depository materials to any public library or educational institution in the vicinity. Failing to find such a recipient after reasonable effort, your library may dispose of or recycle the various Government information products in all media at its discretion.
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
Some agencies provide 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 guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Version of Depository Publications to verify these titles.
Edition History
The Superseded List originally appeared in 1984 as Appendix C to the Instructions to Depository Libraries. The 1986 edition was printed in the same manner. In 1992 the Superseded List was first issued as a separate document and it was revised with the publication of the 1996 edition. The 2002 Superseded List was "born digital".
The content for the Superseded List was provided by volunteers in the depository community. All volunteer members of the Superseded List Update Committees who took the time away from their regular schedules to examine their Federal documents collections for new additions and updates to the entries in the Superseded List, are wholeheartedly thanked.
"Council commends the Government Printing Office and the Superseded List Committee volunteers for their efforts in producing the 2002 edition of the Superseded List, a born-digital web resource designed to be updated incrementally as new titles are identified for inclusion." (Depository Library Council to the Public Printer, April 2002)
Tips for Navigating the 2002 Superseded List PDF File
Search the .pdf file within Adobe's Acrobat Reader. Go to the toolbar and use the binoculars with the find text tag. Do not use the binoculars/page button with the search text tag. This feature allows some flexibility in searching by being able to specify matching case and/or whole word only. Printing from the .pdf file is also done within the Acrobat Reader. All or designated pages may be printed.
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