Depository Guidelines for State Agencies

A.C.A. §13-2-210 – §13-2-212 designates the Arkansas State Library to serve as the official State Documents Depository and the State and Local Government Publications Clearinghouse, and directs state government entities to supply copies of their publications to the Arkansas State Library.

State Documents Depository

The State Documents Depository provides a central, permanent collection of print and digital state documents accessible by state government and the public at the Arkansas State Library.

The Depository accepts both current and historical state publications from agencies.

State and Local Government Publications Clearinghouse

Local access to state documents is ensured through the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse operates in tandem with the State Documents Depository, and distributes copies of state documents received by the State Library to a statewide network of designated state depository libraries.

Depository Benefits to State Government

When state agencies submit materials to the State Documents Depository, the Arkansas State Library is able to:

• Organize, preserve, and make documents in print and digital formats available for widespread, sustained use by both state government, academia, and the general public;
• Digitize historical materials, and make those documents which previously existed only in tangible formats freely available online;
• Increase the visibility of government publications through ASL’s online catalog, website, and Arkansas Documents Digital Collections online repository;
• Centralize the distribution of agency documents to save staff time and effort;
• Provide reference assistance and make appropriate referrals to staff within your agency;
• Loan materials from the depository collections to your staff to facilitate their work;
• Loan agency documents to members of the public, increasing the availability of older publications long after the authoring agency’s own supply is exhausted;
• Loan publications to those who cannot afford to purchase materials sold by your agency, which allows you to remain responsive to the public’s need for government information.

Agency documents, in both print and digital format, are the essential element needed for the Arkansas State Library to accomplish its mandate. Agency heads may designate liaisons to serve as a contact between their agency and the State Publications Depository program to ensure that their agency’s publications are included within the collection.

For more information or assistance, contact: