Collection Development Policy

Chapter 176, Laws of 1993 describes the depository program structure and lays out the responsibilities of the New York State Library and other agencies. As required by law, the Library actively collects and preserves published work of New York State agencies, commissions, and public authorities. As directed by this mandate, we prioritize the preservation of this collection.

A New York State document is defined as a work of government, regardless of form, format, or copyright, created in whole, or in part at state expense, and intended for publication, distribution outside the authoring agency, or required by law. Original public records are excluded from this definition.

• Work: Informational matter produced by any process, including: annual and biennial reports; audits; financial reports; research reports and studies; directories; statistical compendiums; books; maps; surveys; published rules, regulations, codes, and laws; newsletters; bulletins; state plans; periodicals, magazines, and journals; transcripts of public hearings; brochures, pamphlets, and other ephemera.
• Government: Any state office, department, division, board, bureau, commission, corporation, authority, or other body under state authority, including, state-supported institutions of higher education. This definition also includes publications of private bodies and consultants when these have been issued under contract with or supervision of a state agency.
• State expense: Any authorized work paid for, or partially paid for with state funds, including those financed without state funds when those publications have been issued under contract with and/or under supervision of a state agency.
• Original public records: Original or official public records are those created or received under law for administrative, operational, or internal use in connection with an agency's operation, transaction of public business, or other activities, or because of the informational value of the data in them. Examples include: forms; contracts; correspondence; memoranda; internal procedure manuals; records of an archival nature; interactive, non-discrete, constantly changing electronic items, such as Web sites, databases, active server pages, and software programs. The New York State Archives is responsible for preserving original government records.
• Ephemera: Minor transient materials designed to be useful or important for only a short time such as broadsides, flyers, pamphlets, and realia.

The NYS Library collects publications from NYS Government agencies that includes information relevant to their actions. This collection is limited and may not include all publications that are considered historically and culturally relevant to the NYS Library's collections. Items that do not meet the criteria to be included in the NYS Government Documents Collection may be included in the NYS Library’s general collections. NYS Library has two state document collection levels:

Core Documents

• Definition: Publications we receive, or harvest electronically are made available in our Digital Collections. If we receive a tangible (print) copy only, we digitize the tangible copy and make it available in both our Digital Collections and print collections.
• Criteria: Relevant to the actions of a particular NYS government agency, state mandated commission, and/or state public authority.
• Examples:
  • Reports published by a NYS Government entity that includes publication information such as author, date, publisher, and title
  • Legislative and regulatory material Budgets, audits distributed to the public, financial reports, like pension fund reports, reports on public debt, tax revenue, appropriations
  • Handbooks, manuals, training materials, and guides published by a NYS Government entity for the public or for the use of elected or appointed officials
  • Maps
  • Governor’s papers and documents published by the Governor’s Office
• We opt out of digitizing some “Core Documents” because digital copies are either readily available or we do not have the resources to commit to digitizing them, for example:
  • Legislative bills

Other Documents

• Definition: Items that are sent to the NYS Library as required by law but do not meet the criteria to be a core document are not digitized by staff and are not harvested. 
• Criteria: published by a NYS Government entity but does not meet the criteria to be considered a Core Document outlined above. This material may also be under enforceable copyright limiting our rights to digitize it.
• Examples:
  • Directories
  • Catalogs
  • Ephemera (pamphlets, posters, brochures, calendars) (very limited cataloging)
  • Conference proceedings for conferences hosted by a NYS Government entity

Items that don’t meet the criteria of Core or Other collection levels

• Definition: Material that does not meet the criteria of the two NYS Library Government Document Collection levels, although it may be relevant to the NYS Library’s general collections or for the NYS Archives, is not collected in digital format or digitized.
• Criteria: not published by a NYS Government agency but may be published by a local or federal government entity or other organization. These items may have input from or may be funded by NYS funds through a grant or contract.
• Action: These items may be relevant to the NYS Library even if they aren’t relevant to the Government Documents Collection. Suggested actions are listed along with the examples.
• Examples:
  • Non-published material (NYS Archives)
  • Publications for strictly administrative or operational purposes (NYS Archives)
  • Material cataloged by the federal government (check with Government Documents Librarian – either US Collection or General)
  • Material that is readily available in other cataloged sources such as excerpts from law or policy (Discard if published by a NYS Agency. Contact reference if publisher is not a NYS Agency)
  • Dated materials such as press releases, calendars, schedules of events, flyers, announcements, notices, memos, drafts, applications (or other forms), letters, proposals, agendas, (event) programs, invitations, or presentations (Discard).
  • Recruiting material (Discard)
  • Publications funded by grants, private or federal funds on subject matter not directly linked to New York (contact reference to be added to the general collection)
  • SUNY college and university publications such as student art and literary magazines (contact reference for review to be added to the general collection)
  • Incomplete materials that lack publication information such as place of publication, title, publishing agency, and/or date (Discard).
  • The NYS Library does not archive whole webpages, databases, or large spreadsheets.

Additionally, the NYS Library may elect to not collect works known to be comprehensively collected and made publicly accessible by other State agencies or institutions, such as excerpts from law or policy.

The NYS Library accepts items in tangible and electronic format.

Tangible Documents

• Bound Volumes: Acid-free paper is preferred. Library Bindings are most preferred, then other types of hardcover, then sewn or glued soft cover, then spiral or plastic bound. The least-preferred formats are stapled or loose-leaf bindings.
• Printing method: Offset or digital printing is preferred, then inkjet with a stable ink.
• Large paper sheets (e.g., maps or posters): Rolled is preferred over folded, but if folded, with the fewest number of folds possible.

Electronic Documents

• For documents with text, PDF-A if available or a PDF. Searchable text is preferred.
• Images such as maps are preferred as TIF.
• The library will make a reasonable effort to secure copyright permissions for documents that are not clearly NYS Agency publications. If there is a question about copyright, we will contact the person who submitted the item.

Audio-Visual (AV) Materials

• The NYS Library does not collect AV materials.

The NYS Library retains three print copies of all New York State Documents: one preservation copy that does not circulate, and two copies available for public use. For core documents only issued in print, the library will use a 4th copy to digitize as staff and equipment allow. Cataloging staff that find a title with four copies will withdraw the 4th copy and give that to the Digitization Unit to decide if it will be scanned and added to the Digital Collections.

The Documents Unit accepts gifts of print New York State Documents on a case-by-case basis. In most cases the library does not accept delivery of volumes until staff has determined that copies are needed for preservation or public use. Contact nysddp@nysed.gov to learn more about the process of donating material to the New York State Library.