Public documents
Adelaide R. Hasse, of the New York Public library
How issued
Government documents are issued in two sets or editions, viz.: the
Congressional or sheep, and the Departmental or cloth. The annual
reports of the heads of departments, with many of the serial and
occasional publications of the various departments, are contained in
the sheep set, and in addition, all the reports of committees, and
records of the transactions of congress, except the debates which are
contained in the Congressional record. The cloth set contains all the
publications of the various departments, irrespective of the fact that
some of them may have appeared in the sheep set.
To whom issued
The depository libraries receive the sheep set by law from the
superintendent of documents. Each department has its own list of
"exchanges" (i.e., designations) which receive gratis the publications
of that department intended for general distribution. Non-depository
libraries receive their documents regularly from the departments
when on the department exchange list, or irregularly from their
representatives in congress. "Remainder libraries" receive from the
superintendent of documents such documents as can be supplied from the
fractional quotas sent to him after the editions ordered for the
use of congress have been equally divided among the senators and
representatives.
"Special libraries" are those libraries specially designated by
members of congress to receive the publications of the geological
survey.
Many thousands of books have been sent on special application to
libraries not on the list. The depository, remainder, and special
libraries together now number over 1300.
All the departments still control the distribution of their own
publications, the superintendent of documents only distributing the
sheep set, and such of the department publications as have been turned
over to him by the departments for this purpose, or of which there
have been remainders. Sometimes the number of copies of its own
publications allotted to the department is very small and soon
exhausted.
Librarians and others who want full information about the
distribution, present methods of issue, etc., of public documents,
should send for the First annual report of the superintendent of
documents. In addition there have been issued from his office, since
its establishment in March, 1895, a check list of public documents,
and since January, 1895, a monthly catalog of current publications.
Both are mailed free upon application.
Care in a library
The question of the most economical, and at the same time satisfactory
manner of caring for documents in a library, cannot be considered in
the space of so brief an article as this necessarily must be. After
all, it is a question that must be settled by each library for itself,
since it rests chiefly upon the extent to which the library can afford
duplication.
Depository libraries have better opportunities than others for filling
up the sheep set, and having this set they have the greater portion
of those documents useful to the average library. A complete sheep
set from the 15th Congress to the close of the 53d Congress numbers
slightly over 3343V., and will require 860 feet of shelving, or six
modern iron book stacks.
Though it is done in a few cases, the subject classification of the
sheep set is not to be recommended. Where subject classification, or
the incorporation of the documents in the general library, is desired,
the cloth set is preferable, and is in most cases procurable. If
a library can afford shelf room for both, it will be found more
satisfactory to keep the sheep set intact, and to make a selection
of such reports from the cloth set as will be locally useful to the
library.
No small library should undertake to acquire any documents but those
for which it has an actual use; only the largest libraries can afford
the task of filling up sets of documents simply for the sake of having
a complete record.
Small libraries, and all libraries in need of any special report or
document, can get it, in most cases, by applying to the superintendent
of documents. Return all your duplicates to the superintendent of
documents; arrangements for their transportation will be made by him
upon notification, and anything he has that is needed will be sent in
exchange.
Do not try to collect a complete set of government documents; the
government of the United States has not yet been able to do that.