Georgia Government Documents Collection Development Policy

While the University of Georgia Libraries have been collecting Georgia documents for many years, we were designated the official depository for Georgia government publications in 1993. The Official Code of Georgia Annotated 20-5-2 mandates agencies and departments within the executive branch of the Georgia state government deposit in the University of Georgia Libraries four print copies and one electronic copy of publications that are produced with the intent to distribute to the public. The Governor and all other officers who are required to make reports to the General Assembly are also required to submit copies. 

The four print copies are distributed to the Map and Government Information Library at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia at the University of Georgia Libraries for digitization in the Georgia Government Publications database, Odum Library at Valdosta State University, and the Georgia Archives. After digitization, the Digital Library of Georgia copy is sent to the Library of Congress. 

Agencies may submit electronic documents via e-mail (gadocs@uga.edu) or via an FTP server (ftp://govdftp.galib.uga.edu) in the following formats: PDF. Electronic documents may also be harvested from official agency websites by staff of the Map and Government Information Library in an attempt to supplement the Georgia Documents Collection, though these actions do not relieve the agencies of their mandated responsibilities.  

In addition to print and electronic copies, agencies are required to submit publications produced in any of the following formats: CD-ROM, DVD, DVD-ROM, maps, posters, video recordings, etc. Forms and internal agency publications are not included as required submissions. Although OCGA 20-5-2 specifies that reports of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, the journals of the House and Senate, and the session laws enacted by the General Assembly are not required for deposit, the UGA Libraries receives or harvests copies of these publications as part of the Georgia Documents Collection. 

Publications by individual units of the University System of Georgia are not considered state documents in this collection. However, the Board of Regents is a state agency, and as such its publications are part of the Georgia Documents Collection. Although some publications of the Regional Development Centers are included in the Georgia Documents Collection, their legal counsel advised that these are not considered state agencies because the RDCs do not receive the state funding that state agencies receive; therefore, they are not required to comply. 

The Georgia Government Publications database, a project of the Digital Library of Georgia, GALILEO, and the University of Georgia Libraries, provides online public access to the full text of public documents of departments and agencies within the Georgia state government published from 1994 to the present. 

All tangible documents published by the State of Georgia from 1876 to date are located in the Map and Government Information Library, located in the sub-basement of the Main Library. Documents published prior to 1876 are located in the Hargrett Library.

No documents published by states other than Georgia are included in the Government Documents collection.