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49 DttP 11 (2021)
Weeding Digital Government Information Resources: Considerations and Strategies

handle is hein.journals/dttp49 and id is 39 raw text is: FEATURE Weeding Digital Government Information Resources Considerations and Strategies Paul Riermaiere, Will Bandoma, Sue Gagnon, Janet Marler, Sandra Standish, and Victoria Turner Weeding is a systematic approach to the removal of resources from a library's collection. In the weedingprocess, materials are identified for withdrawal in order to maintain a collection that is accurate, updated, well-used, meets the needs of the users, and is in line with the library's mission. When weeding tangible resources that are part of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), a deposi- tory library must ensure that its weeding policy follows the Legal Requirements & Program Regulations of the Federal Depository Library Program and any separate guidelines set by the Regional Depository. However, there are no specific rules orguidelines tofol- low when weeding digital FDLP resources. This means that indi- vidual libraries have more leeway to craft digital weeding proce- dures that best serve their institution, patrons, and the community at large. In this article, we will discuss initial considerations when developing a process for weeding digital depository materials, we will examine different methods for analyzing a digital collection's size and usage, and we will review methods for maintenance and weeding of digital resources. L ibraries in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) act as stewards for the government documents in their col- lection. Physical space constraints and other resource limita- tions have long impacted decisions on holding tangible mate- rials both in a library's general collection and its depository documents.1 While the space required to house print and other physical materials provided functional limitations on collection size and required regular maintenance and curation, the same limitations do not exist for digital items. Absent such exter- nal pressures it is easier to neglect maintenance of the digital collection. However, regular maintenance and curation are part of providing users with a useful and accessible digital collection. he need for regular maintenance of a library's digital hold- ings extends across not only its general collection but also to its government documents collection. Initial considerations when developing a process for weeding digital depository materials at selective depository libraries include examining size, usage and maintenance. Background As library collections evolved to include digital materials along- side tangible materials, library processes have had to evolve to accommodate this shift. The shift to providing digital materials alongside, or in lieu of, physical materials was driven in part by the efficiencies inherent to digital materials and in part by user preferences. A 2006 user study conducted on the Univer- sity of Montana campus showed that although some respon- dents prefer printed materials for specific types of information, users generally want to find and access government information online. The ease in which documents can be produced digi- tally has given way to more documents being produced than ever before, and very much greater than the earlier production of printed government information.3 In 2013, the National Academy of Public Administration reported that 97 percent of all federal documents are 'born digital. Relying on that 2013 report, Representative Rodney Davis remarked in his opening statement at the Hearing for the Oversight of the Government Publishing Office (GPO) on March 3, 2020 that most users expect to use those documents in their digital form.5 In addi- tion to born-digital documents, libraries have expanded their offering of digital versions of print-born documents. While there are still work flows and procedures that must be followed, digital federal documents can be added to a depos- itory collection more seamlessly than tangible resources.6 This DttP: Documents to the People Summer 2021

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