National Collection Service Areas group Federal depository libraries into four regions as a means of ensuring geographically dispersed permanent public access to Federal Government information products, sharing resources among depository libraries, and receiving services from Library Services and Content Management (LSCM).
In 2015, Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) specified there be no fewer than four geographically dispersed tangible copies of a publication in the FDLP.
The Superintendent of Documents used a modified Census region map to create four National Collection Service Areas: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West.
Our goals:
- Improve opportunities for regional collecting and weeding flexibilities
- Ensure adequate tangible copies for access
- Localized services to depository libraries and NCSAs
- Foster collaboration among depository libraries in service areas
Overall Impacts of Implementing National Collection Service Areas
Federal Depository Libraries
- Potential for more targeted collection of Federal information to meet local needs
- Redefining “local” for Federal information collections
- Strengthens the safety net for tangible materials, reducing the need for “just-in-case” collecting
- Ability to right-size collection
- Enables flexibilities for regionals to weed and deselect tangible formats of some titles
Library Services & Content Management
- More responsibility for managing overall National Collection throughout the country
- Addressing concerns of safety net (public access guarantee)
- Localized service to NCSAs and depositories
- Monitoring collection levels to ensure adequate copies
Immediate Impacts
- Potential for resource sharing to ease the burden of space planning as microfiche is phased out
- LSCM recruiting Preservation Stewards and Print Selectors to ensure permanent public access
Longer Term Impacts
- LSCM recruiting Preservation Stewards and Print Selectors to ensure permanent public access
- Shared reference / ILL to improve access
- Preservation opportunities
- Shared training opportunities
Related Resources
Webinar Recordings:
- National Collection Service Area Meetings (held February, 2022)
Handouts
Related web pages
- See Partnerships page for information on Preservation Stewards
- Selective Housing Agreements (SHAs) (guidance article)
- Regional Depository Libraries (guidance article)