Introduction
As Regional Depository for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the State Library of Ohio oversees the discard process for federal documents’ depositories throughout Ohio. This process is governed by the United States Government Publishing Office and described in Federal Depository Library Handbook, chapter 12.
Guidelines
Ohio depositories are asked to use the FDLP eXchange tool for Needs and Offers. Offers can be put into FDLP eXchange in two ways:
- You can upload a spreadsheet using the template provided by GPO. Libraries are encouraged to use the FDLP eXchange Data Dictionary for help with terminology
- Libraries may also input offers manually (instructions)
Additional instructions and guidance can be found on the FDLP eXchange instruction page
After submitting your offers to the FDLP eXchange, it will take approximately 90 days for items to go through the all the review phases.
- Regional review period – 45 days
- Selectives review period – 45 days
- National review period – Not required, but strongly encouraged (minimum of 5 days)
After the material has passed through all phases of review, items may be discarded Please note: due to a number of selective libraries transitioning to online-only depositories and therefore offering large quantities of documents, the regional review period has been temporarily set to 180 days.
Preparing to Discard
- Submit only items that have been retained for 5 or more years.
- Other factors for consideration:
- Cooperative efforts within your region to assure coverage.
- Collection development guidelines in the State Plan.
- FDLP guidelines are located in the Weeding a Depository Collection article
- A selective depository is permitted to replace tangible versions with online equivalents of depository materials provided the library has held the publication for at least one year, your regional depository has approved the disposal of the tangibles, and the online version is:
- Official
- Complete
- Free of charge to the user
- No library is required to substitute online versions for paper, microfiche, CD-ROM, etc.
Discarding Microfiche
- All microfiche depository receipts are to be held for at least five years before they may be discarded. The five years is to be measured from the date of receipt, not the date covered or date published.
- Selective depositories may discard microfiche copies of depository documents after they have been retained for five years without offering them on disposition lists.
- Selective depositories discarding large runs or sets of microfiche documents, such as DOE microfiche or USGS Open File Reports, must receive permission from the Regional before discarding. The Regional reserves the right to require selectives to prepare disposition lists for this or any other type of material.