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Collection Policy Statement Index
Contents
- Introduction
- Scope
- Format characteristics
- Research characteristics and use
- Significance and relationship to the Library's mission and priorities
- Collection policies by source: U.S. materials
- Federal government publications
- Other domestic government publications (State, county, local)
- University, independent, and corporate research centers
- Collection policies by source: foreign
materials
- International research centers and government bodies
- Developed countries
- Developing countries
- Collection policies by subject
- Periodic review of this policy
I. Introduction
- Scope
This statement describes the Library's collection policies for technical reports, working papers and preprints, in all subjects. These formats for publication are used by researchers or contractors to inform sponsoring agencies, peers, or others of the progress of research. This policy statement covers these formats when issued either by government or non-government publishers, and from both domestic and foreign sources. This statement is further limited to technical reports, working papers, and preprints that are issued in numbered or otherwise clearly identifiable series.
Some technical reports, working papers, and preprints may be wanted only on a case-by-case basis rather than as a series, in which case they will fall under the Library's general guidelines for selection of library materials rather than this collection policy statement.
Although the Library of Congress has a separate custodial Technical Reports collection, all recommending officers in appropriate fields are responsible for identifying series of technical reports, working papers, and preprints that are of interest to the Library's legislative, federal, and research clientele. The custodial location of reports acquired by the Library may include the Technical Reports Section, the Serial and Government Publications Division, the Collections Management Division, or any other appropriate custodial divisions, including Law and custodial area studies divisions.
For information on the Library's collections, see http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/trs/trsover.html
Other collection policies that relate closely to this policy include the following:
Commercial Firms
Conference Proceedings
Developing Countries
Dissertations and Theses
Government Publications
International Organizations
Microfilms-Negatives
Microfilms-Quality
Science
Societies and Associations
Technology - Format characteristics of technical reports, working
papers, and preprints
The names given to these publication series vary. Common series titles are "technical reports," "preprints," "technical memoranda," "research note," "occasional papers," and "discussion papers."
Technical reports, working papers, and preprints are published using techniques that permit rapid, inexpensive, low-run, and targeted distribution methods. Hard-copy (inkprint) editions of these materials range from a few to a few hundred pages, with most falling into the 20-80 page range. They are often issued as stapled sheets with a flimsy cover.
Long-range archiving of these materials tends to favor microformats, and, increasingly, electronic storage. Microfiche is the favored microformat, particularly for technical reports in the sciences done on contract for the government. Large technical report clearinghouses commonly archive and redistribute technical reports in microfiche.
Electronic formats for technical reports and preprints are becoming increasingly common, particularly for technical reports in computer science, and preprints in mathematics and physics. Electronic technical reports and preprints may be distributed as ASCII, WordPerfect, or PostScript files, and are increasingly available for file transfer using file transfer protocol (FTP) via the Internet. In highly mathematical sciences, TeX or LaTeX are sometimes favored as a standard.
- Research characteristics and use of technical reports,
working papers, and preprints.
The technical report genre is most significant and most prolific in the physical and natural sciences. In mathematics and physics, the preprint is often used for the same research purposes as the technical report. In some social sciences and in the humanities, the working paper (occasional paper, white paper) is more common.
Technical reports, working papers, and preprints have the following distinctive research characteristics:
- Permit rapid dissemination of new research results
- Are disseminated to a small targeted audience
- Reproduce detailed methodology and data information in order to facilitate review of research by others
- Are not peer-reviewed, but generally are the result of another selection process (grant, contract, or institutional affiliation)
- Significance and relationship of technical reports,
working papers, and preprints to the Library's mission and
priorities
Unlike more conventional journal and monographic publications, technical reports, working papers, and preprints frequently serve as drafts which will appear in improved versions after peer review. Technical reports, working papers and preprints are not usually subject to the space limitations of journal publications and therefore may carry far more detail regarding data and methodology than parallel accounts in journal literature. Because they generally can be published quickly, timeliness is an important research characteristic of these genres. These publications are meant to address a relatively specialized and expert audience. They are important not only as a principal vehicle of communication among experts; they also provide non- experts with a rapid, timely immersion into the issues and methods of the expert, as well as providing clues as to who the experts are in a given field. Technical reports, working papers, and preprints form an important advance indication for research trends and new findings in many fields. Such resources are critical to the mission of the Library of Congress in its service to Congress, the Federal Government, and the nation.
II. Collection policies by source: U.S. materials
The Library of Congress places primary emphasis on the collection of technical reports, working papers and preprints disseminated in the United States, in accordance with its responsibilities to build a definitive national collection.
- Federal government publications
- Federal technical report clearinghouse series
The Library attempts to acquire for its permanent collection all unclassified Federal technical reports made available through the major Federal technical information clearinghouses, including, but not limited to:
NTIS (National Technical Information Service)
DTIS (Defense Technical Information Center)
NASA
Department of Energy
Department of Education (ERIC)
AID (Agency for International Development)
Nuclear Regulatory CommissionThe Collections Policy Office will actively pursue, in coordination with appropriate units, the development of collaborative programs with these and other Federal clearinghouses, with appropriate safeguards to ensure continued research access and preservation of these publications. The Collections Policy Committee will periodically review the status of such collaborative opportunities.
- Federal reports outside the scope of clearinghouses
The Library will also acquire Federal technical report series not distributed by the NTIS or depository library system, except in the fields of technical agriculture and clinical medicine.
- Federal technical report clearinghouse series
- Other domestic government publications (State, county,
local)
Contract research to inform policy making and governance is increasingly conducted at the state, county, and metropolitan levels of government. The published results of such research are in demand by the Congressional Research Service staff for their work and are useful in Federal policy research in general. The Library, therefore, collects technical reports, working papers, and preprints on a selective basis from agencies at other levels of government in the United States (State, county and local), with particular emphasis on publications in areas of special subject interest to the Library and its constituents (see Section IV below for discussion of subject emphases.)
As with Federal clearinghouse reports, the Library will actively seek collaborative collection agreements with appropriate governmental, academic, and professional organizations wherever this improves access to this literature and results in processing efficiencies.
- University, independent, and corporate research centers
The Library recognizes that while many universities and other research institutions maintain archival collections of technical reports, working papers, and preprints compiled by their staff, these practices are often not centralized, may not be consistent, and often do not involve creating bibliographic records in their institutions' library catalogs. For these reasons, the Library does not rely exclusively on the collections of the publishing institutions, but both collects and catalogs technical reports, working papers, and preprints from nationally significant independent, university- and corporate-based research centers. Examples of such centers include RAND, the Stanford Research Institute, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and the (Wisconsin) Institute for Research on Poverty. As for Federal technical reports, the Library may place particular emphasis on publications in areas of subject interest to the Library and its constituents (see Section IV below for discussion of subject emphases).
III. Collection policies by source: foreign materials
The Library of Congress places a secondary emphasis on technical reports, working papers, and preprints produced outside the United States and pursues a more selective policy with respect to their acquisition than with similar materials produced in the United States.
- International research centers and government bodies
The selection of series published by major international government bodies and research centers should reflect an emphasis on those subject areas of particular importance to the Library's mission and the information needs of its clientele (see also Section IV below). Series available through the Library's depository collection of United Nations documents and other depository collections of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO's) are generally not duplicated elsewhere in the Library's collections.
- Developed countries
The Library of Congress attempts to collect complete series of technical reports, working papers, and preprints from internationally recognized foreign research centers and important foreign national government research bodies.
The selection of series for the Library's collections should reflect an emphasis on those subject areas of particular importance to the Library's mission and the information needs of its clientele (see also Section IV below). Whenever series are available in more than one language, the English version is preferred.
With the exception of these major series, the library defers to the central national technical information services and national libraries in the countries of origin for the collection, description, and retention of these publications. In particular, the Library attempts to minimize the duplication of its collections with foreign technical document supply services such as SIGLE (System for the Integration of Grey Literature in Europe) and its cooperating members; CISTI (Canadian Institute for Science and Technology Information), etc.
In lieu of acquiring foreign technical literature that is available through such foreign national services, the Library will usually provide for its on-site users and others access (including electronic access, where feasible) to the publications catalogs of these technical literature services through the assistance of its reference and research staff and its reference databases.
Technical reports, working papers, and preprints which are published principally to disseminate broadly understood scientific findings are not collected.
- Developing countries
The Library of Congress acquires series of technical reports, working papers, and preprints from developing countries whenever the series contributes significantly to the world scientific community or presents unique research findings directly relevant to an understanding of that country.
Technical reports, working papers, and preprints which are published principally to disseminate broadly understood scientific findings are not collected.
The Collections Policy Statements for Developing Countries (C:DEV) should be consulted for additional information.
IV. Collections policies by subject
The Library tries to reflect in its collections of technical reports, working papers, and preprints Library-wide collection policies and priorities in all subjects (except clinical medicine and technical agriculture), recognizing the increasing interdisciplinary aspect of many sciences, which cut across conventional distinctions between the physical, natural, social and political sciences. In general, Collection Policy Statements relative to the various subject areas and disciplines shall apply in recommending technical reports, working papers and preprints.
In addition, the Library may place special emphasis on subjects of particular interest to the Library's constituents and missions. These selected areas should be reviewed regularly to ensure adaptation to the changing needs of the legislative and Federal information communities, including the development of technical information programs in which the Library is a partner or for which the Library may become a client. In these cases the general Collections Policy Statements may be applied with somewhat greater latitude, as the special commitments of the Library may dictate.
V. Periodic review
The Library's policies on collecting technical reports, working papers, and preprints require frequent and regular review. Factors to be considered include:
- Changing research priorities of Congress and the Federal government;
- Rapid and unpredictable evolution of scholarly and technical communication in light of wide area networking and electronic communications;
- Probable emergence of improved bibliographic control and access to working papers, preprints, and technical reports, both in and outside the United States;
- Probable interest of other Federal agencies and other domestic and foreign partners in developing cooperative means of acquiring access to and knowledge about these types of publications.
June 1994