We have been studying the balance of building the Regional collection for the benefit of all, against the work you are doing to list and offer your surplus documents and our work in identifying and absorbing those needed here. There is a payoff for all your work in what is now a large comprehensive collection with historical depth, currently numbering 2.3 million documents.  Diminishing returns are setting in, as a natural consequence of nearly 40 years of diligence filling collection gaps, and it is prudent to rematch effort vs benefit.

General Instructions
Effective immediately, all selective depositories in the Tri-State Region have these instructions and blanket permissions concerning disposal of federal documents no longer needed at your library:

• Continue to offer all documents to your Regional first and exclusively, when required according to the table below.

• Our preference is for a series of smaller lists rather than one giant list, since these are easier to schedule.  But this depends on what works best for you.

• Our goal for maximum response time is 60 days.  We hope you’ll be understanding in the rare occasions it may be necessary.  If you’re in a bind for time, call. We try to respond to your needs.

• Continue to follow the five-year retention rule.

• At your discretion you may offer documents disposed of under the blanket permission, or those remaining from a list sent to the Regional:

• on the National Needs & Offers List

• to another library, whether a depository or not. 

• To the public: must be clearly marked “NOT FOR RESALE”.

• Discard or send out for paper recycling.

• When possible offer remaining documents to a distressed depository library (see list below).
  

Communication
You may send discard lists as an e-mail attachment to frankw@umit.maine.edu. The list should be formatted as either a Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel document. Include your Library’s name in the header of each page, and include a page number in the footer.  It would be most helpful if you include the following data fields:  SuDoc number, summary of what’s offered, Agency, Series title. Yes, it is perfectly OK, and would save us both time if your listings were summarized.  Here are various examples to fit different situations and which are clear and complete, yet still save writing out individual holdings:

Interlibrary loans
The Regional Depository collection is always at your disposal, in keeping with the original and central mission of Regionals.  Please communicate with our Interlibrary Loan Department in whatever way is customary: Ariel, OCLC, email, fax, ALA form in the US mail, moose express, or carrier starling.   Almost everything and in every format is available for loan, including most map, posters, government periodicals, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and government audio and video materials.  

Distressed Depository Libraries
This is just a selection.  Other distressed libraries may have been noted on the GovDoc-L listserv.  Note: please deal directly with disaster-affected depositories: