Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 5 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 6 the following section:-

Section 6A. Each state agency shall also provide two copies of its publication, as defined in section thirty-nine of chapter six to the state secretary, one of which shall be retained for two years as a reference copy. The state secretary shall determine which publications are of sufficient public interest and may then either reproduce the publications in appropriate quantities or acquire the publications in appropriate quantities directly from the issuing agency, at the cost of printing, for distribution by said secretary.

SECTION 2. Chapter 6 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 39 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 39. As used in sections thirty-nine to thirty-nine B, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:-

"Agency", each agency, office, state-supported institution of higher education, department, authority, executive office, bureau, officer, board, committee, task force, commission, special commission, division, executive office of the commonwealth, whether permanent or temporary in nature, including any state agency supported wholly or in part by public funds.

"Publication", any document, study, rule, regulation, report, directory, pamphlet, brochure, periodical, newsletter, bibliography, microphotographic form, tape or disc recording, annual, biennial or special report, statistical compendium, or other printed material regardless of its format or manner of duplication, issued in the name of or at the request of any agency of the commonwealth or produced and issued as part of a contract entered into by any agency of the commonwealth regardless of the source of funding, provided they constitute "public records" as defined in clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four, excepting correspondence, blank forms, and university press publications.

"Regional public libraries", those libraries as defined in section nineteen C of chapter seventy-eight. These definitions shall not include any records of the general court.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 6 is hereby further amended by striking out section 39A, inserted by chapter 259 of the acts of 1966, and inserting in place thereof the following two sections:-

Section 39A. (1) In order that all state publications of the commonwealth are preserved and made available for the use of citizens of the state, the state library is hereby designated as the depository library for Massachusetts state publications.

(2) The state library shall maintain a complete collection of Massachusetts state publications, both current and historic.

(3) A depository library system, providing for the distribution of state documents to the Library of Congress and to each of the regional public libraries in the state shall be established and maintained by the state library.

Section 39B. Each state agency shall furnish the state library eight copies of its publications. Said copies shall be forwarded to the state library no later than five working days after they are received from the printer or contractor. The state library shall make three copies available for public consultation in the library and for permanent historic preservation by the library. The others shall be provided to the Library of Congress and to each of the state's regional public libraries.