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6. Selectivity – Discussion Questions

The Government Printing Office (GPO) document, Digital Distribution to Depository Libraries: Exploring the Issues (9/6/2006) asks these questions about Selectivity:

5. Selectivity
a. When can a selective library / regional select only the digital version of a publication?
b. Are there exceptions?


FGI Responses

Q: a. When can a selective library / regional select only the digital version of a publication?

A library may select only the digital version of a publication provided they have a backup and/or preservation plan for their digital publications subject to the exception below.

Added 5pm 10/18/2006 – We’d like to be clear that we feel that selecting a digital item to be downloaded to a library’s servers should not preclude that library from selecting a tangible format as well. We can envision times when a library would want both tangible and digital: one for easy access and searching, one for presentation/preservation and a different kind of access!

Q: b. Are there exceptions?

When the tangible format is a legally controlling version, then the tangible version must be selected.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


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