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Definitions |
Document: "an original or official
paper relied upon as the basis, proof, or
support of something."
(Webster's Third New International Dictionary)
Public
documents
are generally implied when the
Library uses that term and include
publications of
United States federal and state and Canadian
federal and provincial governments, as well as
those of other foreign national governments, and
intergovernmental and international bodies. So
"government publications" is the name used by
the
Government Publications, Maps, GIS and
Microforms Department.
In the 21st century
documents exist in non-paper formats including:
microfiche, microfilm, CD-ROM, DVD, and tangible
video and audio media. Fogler Library has over
2.3 million government publications available on
campus. Government documents need not be
on a library's premises to be accessible, so
about 250,000 more are accessible online via
links in
URSUS.
Documents that are not published,
whether authored by official bodies or not, and
that are unique or of very limited distribution,
fall in the domain of
archives
rather than of libraries (though libraries may
acquire microfilm or other reproductions of
these.) Two important archives in
our state are the
Special Collections Department of this
library and the
Maine State Archive. Archived US and
Canadian federal documents are the
responsibility of
the
National Archives
and of the
Library and Archives Canada/Bibliothèque et
Archives Canada
respectively. |
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Copyright
2000-2008, Raymond H. Fogler Library
