Government Documents Department

Johnson Public Library is a selective depository for United States and New Jersey State Government Documents. It is located in the 9th Congressional District. It has been a congressionally designated depository since 1966. It maintains a strong collection of important publications from a variety of Federal and State agencies. The Depository collection is available for use by everyone. The Collection includes documents in print and electronic formats on a wide range of topics, e.g. laws and regulations, business & career, census statistics, health, science & technology, travel etc...

Online access to more than 70 Government databases such as Federal Register, Congressional Record, CFR, Congressional Bills, Public Laws, Commerce Business Daily etc. is alos available at GPO Access. You can also access Stat-USA for free by coming into the library. This is a Department of Commerce website containing the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) and State of the Nation databases. You can search the NTDB for international market research, statistics, trade opportunities, and country analysis. You can find U.S. economic data and financial releases in State of the Nation.

Thousands of the files from all branches of the Federal Government are available online vie the Federal Bulletin Board

There are several useful sites that have organized links related to Federal and New Jersey State Government information. The following are a few recommended web sites that you can use to find useful links.

Federal:
Fedworld
Firstgov
Marcive


State:
State of New Jersey Home Page
New Jersey Reporter
Work Force New Jersey Public Information Service
New Jersey State Legislature
New Jersey Law Network

The Library receives over 125 CD's from the GPO such as Agriculture Statistics, American Housing Surveys, County business patterns, Census of Population and Housing, Health United States, Occupational Outlook Handbook, National Trade Data Bank, US Imports and US Export of Merchandise, World fact book etc.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY STATEMENT

The Johnson Public Library, the municipal library of the City of Hackensack, New Jersey provides free library service to all individuals, both children and adults and community organizations. We are a multi-purpose organization which provides educational, informational and recreational materials to our patrons. The library recognizes its role as an educational and informational center for the public and affirms that its major concern must be to meet the information needs of its users.

Johnson Public Library has been a Selective Federal Depository Library since 1966. The collection includes depository and non-depository items printed by the Government Printing Office (GPO). Individual items not selected by the Johnson Library are available from the Newark Public Library on inter library loan basis. NPL is the regional depository library of our region. It receives every item from GPO and retains it for ever.

Objectives of Selection:

A.To make available to all the people of the community informational, educational and recreational materials in all formats.
B. To meet the needs of the municipal, business and community organizations.
C. To serve as a supplement to curricular materials.
D. To assist in the achievement of the basic aims of the library by providing opportunities for continued individual development and education.

Responsibility for Selection:

Responsibility for materials selections of documents rests with the professional staff member assigned to the documents department. Input from the other professional reference staff members as well as the clerical staff of the documents department is actively encouraged.

Collection Priority Levels By Agency:

A = Most interest
B = Moderate interest
C= Limited interest

Weeding & Discards:

An integral part of any collection development program is the weeding process. Weeding is the removal of an item from the library’s active collection for the purpose of discarding it. The following criteria are frequently used:

A.Condition
B.Duplication
C.Outdated material
D.Usage
E.Appearance

To be effective, weeding should be a continuing process, conducted within the guidelines established by the Superintendent of the Documents.

Cooperation:

It is recognized that the Johnson Public Library is one part of a very large information context. Cooperation and collection awareness among neighboring depository libraries is required to maintain efficiency and effectiveness in our service to the public. Periodic conferences will assure that these goals are attained. Membership in associations concerning themselves with document materials is encouraged and attendance at workshops is likewise urged.