18 November 2020

New (and New to Us) Materials in the Research Room, March - October 2020 : Government Documents

Wow! I was astounded to see that I had not posted about incoming Research Room materials since the COVID-19 shutdown began back in mid-March.  To make progress, I am going to make several posts rather than one really long post to catch back up.  Expect at least two (perhaps three) more posts to cover all the new (and new to us) materials added to the Research Room holdings over the past 7 months. 

Today I will concentrate on recently cataloged local, state and federal documents added to the collection.

Let me be clear on this critical point: The Beaufort County Library is not a federal, state, county, or municipal record depository so we are not responsible for sharing government documents forever. We simply do not have the physical space nor the financial resources to permanently house all documents issued by governmental entities. Thus the BDC is highly selective in what we keep. That is, BDC staff check the South Carolina State Documents Depository, Hathitrust, and Internet Archive to see if the document happens to be online first. If so, then the BDC does not have to give up shelf space for that particular document. If not, then I decide whether the item will likely be useful to a researcher investigating the topic covered by the document. Accordingly, the following items have been cataloged by the Library's Technical Services unit for permanent retention here in the Research Room: 

On the topic of water quality: Lowcountry Guide to Runoff Control and Wise Water Use for Homeowners and Builders (1983); Areawide Water Quality Management : The Lowcountry (1992); and, Impact of Dredging Operations on the Floridian Aquifer near the Port or Port Royal, South Carolina (1991).   

On the topic of environmental degradations on local military installations and residential properties: VCC- Port of Baldwin Mines (2005) covers an EPA Superfund site at the base of the McTeer bridge on the Town of Port Royal side; Remedial Investigation/RCRA Facilities Investigation for Site 12/SWMU 10- Jericho Island Disposal Area Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina Volume II-Appendices (2001); Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island Administrative Record Supplement Information- Volume A: HRS II Scoring at Various Naval Activities in South Carolina (1992); and, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island Administrative Record Supplement Information- Volume B: Tetrachloroethylene Contamination Assessment and Conceptual Corrective Action Plan U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Dry Cleaning Facility (1994).

Planning documents added recently are: Historic Preservation Plan of the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (1987); Urban Beautification Plan for Beaufort South Carolina (1970); Overall Program Design Update (1974); A Preservation Plan for Historic Beaufort, South Carolina (1972);  Beaufort Comprehensive Plan Summary Results of Public Participation (1996); Population Projections, 1970 - 2000 (1977) [which were way off in 20-20 hindsight] and the Greater Beaufort Area Comprehensive Plan (1983). 

I kept a nifty Study of Pre-1951 Non-Metal Truss Highway Bridges of South Carolina (1993) because we get questions about bridges fairly often. Two documents about the operation of Beaufort County government may bolster someone's Master's or Doctoral thesis about the efficiency and challenges of public administration in a Sunbelt community experiencing unprecedented growth in a short period of time. The documents Beaufort County: A Study of Organization and Administration of the County Government (1961) and Beaufort County Study of Central Administration (1976) join a Public Administration Study of Beaufort County compiled in June 1971.

Although we sent 11 boxes of government documents inherited from Beaufort Branch Library's old compact shelving area to Beaufort County Records Management for disposal or storage, there are yet several more shelves worth to go. 

Heads up: 


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