Alaska Statutes require State agencies to provide State Publications to the Alaska State Library. These publications are important to both members of the public and researchers within State government. The statutory definition of State agency for this purpose is broad, covering all "state departments, divisions, agencies, boards, associations, commissions, corporations, and offices, and the University of Alaska and its affiliated research institutes." See Alaska Statute 14.56. If you are wondering whether a particular document or publication you prepare is covered by the State Publications Program, see the definition in the sidebar to the right.
Publications developed for your agency by third-parties are covered by the State Publications Program too. If you expect a third-party to contribute content to a publication, or if a third party is the primary author, consider reserving copyright and direct the third-party to provide publications to the Alaska State Library for the Publications Program.
To ensure that the publication can be used by as many people as possible, follow the ADA Coordinator's guidance and strive to make them WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
There are three ways that state agencies can send tangible publications to the Alaska State Publications Program.
If you do not produce a particular publication in tangible form, you should provide digital copies instead. You can send the URL (Internet Address) of your publication to asldocs@alaska.gov. If the publication is not on the internet, email the file to asldocs@alaska.gov or, if the file is too large for email, submit it through Alaska ZendTo. When you send us your digital publication, we will usually either ensure that it is captured in our web archives, and/or will add preservation and access copies to our State Publications Digital Library.
Because we strive to archive State agency websites, please also notify us of any new domain name used by your agency, so that we can be sure to include it in our next Alaska State Government website crawl. Email your new domain name to asldocs@alaska.gov.
The Alaska State Publications program relies heavily on web archiving to crawl and preserve State publications available through State agency websites. We use the Internet Archive's web crawling technologies through it's Archive-it service. While these crawlers can handle some dynamic content, they struggle with others, especially AJAX. Where possible, we ask State agencies presenting content through client-side scripts to also make their publications visible to crawlers through their canonical URls, whether through site maps or some other means.
In addition, we ask that publications specialists and web developers ensure that any robots.txt file or other mechanisms do not block the crawler (archive.org_bot) from accessing servers where public web content is stored. The crawler is polite, and rarely impacts site performance. If you have concerns about this, please contact us and we will work with you.
Also, the Library of Congress has developed a concise guide of some steps site owners can take to facilitate preservation of their websites.
Under AS 14.56.180, a "State Publication" is any "official document, compilation, journal, bill, law, resolution, bluebook, statute, code, register, pamphlet, list, book, report, study, hearing transcript, leaflet, order, regulation, directory, periodical, or magazine issued or contracted for by a state agency..." Examples of publications include:
The following are NOT publications:
Under AS 14.56.180, State agencies required to provide publications to the Library include "state departments, divisions, agencies, boards, associations, commissions, corporations, and offices, and the University of Alaska and its affiliated research institutes."
