The State Library maintains the official archive of documents from State of Iowa government and publications from state agencies. Documents and publications are stored in both hardcopy as well as digital formats. The State Library partners with state agencies to archive state publications online to expand access for Iowans and beyond.
Iowa Publications Online (IPO) is a web-based repository of documents produced by state of Iowa agencies intended for use by the general public. State agencies are encouraged to partner with IPO for a permanent, secure location to archive publications including reports, newsletters and other publications meant for Iowa citizens. Archiving with IPO also meets the statutory requirement set for state agencies by Iowa code.
IPO currently accepts reports, newsletters and other publications meant for Iowa citizens. File formats accepted are Adobe PDF, HTML and Microsoft Word. Adobe PDF is the preferred format because of its universal acceptance. Examples of documents that should be included in IPO are:
More than 49,000 state documents are digitized and available to the public via Iowa Publications Online. Browse or search for a publication on the state documents archive at publications.iowa.gov.
State Library staff assist state agencies to set up accounts and train staff on the process to deposit publications into IPO. Agencies can request depositor status by completing the form linked below.
Archiving state documents with the State Library saves space and staff resources, and makes agency publications available to the public at no cost to the agency. Depositing documents into IPO ensures continued permanent availability online, and links to publications in IPO will never change.
In addition, archiving with the State Library allows agencies to meet the requirements set out inIowa Code 8A.205.
A state publication is considered any document or material created by a state agency for use by the citizens of Iowa. These include reports, newsletters, research results, guides, brochures etc. The State Library will accept any format, from paper, to DVD, to digital and beyond. The publications deposited should be the complete official version, regardless of format.
The State Library will accept publications in any format, including non-digital, hardcopy versions. If available, agencies should send five (5) copies of each hardcopy publication. This ensures there will be enough copies for preservation and use. The State Library keeps two copies, one for the public to use and one to archive, two copies are sent to the University of Iowa's depository and one copy is sent to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Hardcopy publications can be mailed to:
State Library of Iowa State Documents Center 1112 E. Grand Ave. Des Moines, IA 50319-0034
Or send via local mail to: State Library of Iowa, State Documents Center, Miller Building
Complete the registration form and click Submit. State Library staff will process your request and you should have access to begin depositing the next business day.
User Profile The User Profile holds your contact information. Some of this information will be associated with documents you upload; some of it is for internal archival use. Information about your operating system is purely to help the archive administrators assist you with any technical problems.
When entering the profile page select “Modify Profile” to complete, update or change any relevant information.
Click the "Save" button at the bottom or top of the form to save your information.
Note: In order to deposit or edit a document you must log in in first. Click the login link in the upper left of the IPO homepage. After logging in, you are taken to the Manage Deposits workspace area. This is your private workspace.
On every page you may deposit documents using the “Deposit Item” buttons located at the top and bottom of the page.
Click the “New Item” button. (At any point in the depositing process you may click on the “Save for Later” button to stop work and return to it later in your workspace.)
Type Select Item Type. Your choices are:
Departmental Report
Newsletter
Book
Video
Audio
Other
Click “Next”.
Upload
Use the Browse button to find the file you will upload.
Select file; double click on the file and it will appear in your new document box. Click "Upload".
An icon and document file name should appear at the bottom of the page.
Make sure the document file type and the "Format" drop down menu match.
If your file type is not listed, use the description box to state the file type.
Be sure the "Visible to" drop down menu says anyone.
Click Next.
Metadata In this section you will enter information about your document:
Title: the official title of the document as stated on the title page.
Date: the official publication date, use year, month and day as applicable.
Abstract: A brief synopsis of the documents contents.
Department: Select the department that produced the document from the drop down menu.
Keywords: Enter words associated with the document that do not appear in the abstract.
Comments and Suggestions: This is a non search field to send the editorial staff notes.
Click "Next".
Subjects Add subjects appropriate to your document. These are terms people will search for when trying to find documents. You may use the “Search for Subject” box or click the subject or plus sign drop down menu. Click the “Add” button to select a subject for your document. We recommend you select three to five subjects for each document. Click "Next".
Deposit To send the document to State Library editorial staff, click “Deposit Item Now”. The editorial staff will check metadata for any errors or omissions and will deposit it to the live archive in 5-7 business days, or return it to your workspace for revision.
Documents you are working on, but have not deposited will remain in your workspace (Manage Deposits).
After the title, there are icons that allow you to view, remove, edit or deposit the item. When you select "Edit Item," it takes you to the creation/edit screens for that item. When you select a "View Item" you have several options:
Preview - A brief description of the document.
Details - This shows the current status of the document.
Actions:
Deposit Item – Sends the document for editor approval.
New Version – Makes a copy of document and metadata, in order to create a version of the document that is linked to each other. (i.e. version 1, version 2, version 3)
Use as a Template - Create a new item using this item as a template. There will be no connection between the two items. (Good to use for newsletter and periodic deposits)
Edit Item - Edit the metadata and upload or delete the document.
Remove Item – Removes the complete document.
Edit – This allows editing of the document and metadata at any point of the depositing process: Type, Upload, Metadata, Subjects, Deposit
History - This shows every change that has occurred to this document.
Issues - (this selection is not currently used in the IPO system)
Email IPO at IPO@iowa.gov or call 1-800-248-4483 (option 1) during business hours.
Browsing is a good way to access documents if you don't have a specific search topic. There are three ways to browse the archive:
By department
By subject
By year
To browse the archive, select Browse on the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Then choose which property you wish to browse by, for example, "Subject."
You will be presented with a list of possible subjects, select one of these, and you will be given a list of titles in the archive (if any) which match this value. To access a document, click its link in the display.
When you arrive at a document, you will be able to see the subjects relating to that document. Clicking on a subject link will lead you to other documents with that same subject.
IPO offers two levels of searching: simple and advanced. They are similar, but the advanced search form lets you perform a detailed search using more fields. Access the simple search using the Search on the front page, or using the navigation bar at the top of the screen. To perform an advanced search, use the Advanced Search link at the top of the simple search page.
There are four types of search fields:
Text fields: Search fields like abstract or author. After you type search terms, you can decide how the system will use those terms by selecting one of the options from the dropdown menu to the left of the text box.
Term List fields: With this menu, you can select one or more search terms from a list of terms. To select multiple terms, hold down the Control key while you click.
If no term in the menu is selected, the system will ignore this field (i.e. it will retrieve records with any term from the menu.)
In cases where each individual record may have more than one term attached to the list, you can also change search behavior by selecting "Any of these" or "All of these" from the dropdown menu to the right of the list.
Limiting fields: The three types of limiting fields are: "Item Type", "Date" and "Retrieved records must fulfill". Some of these limiters are only available on the Advanced Search.
Item Type: Select one or more types of items you're interested in
Date: When you're searching a date field, you can specify a single year or range of years:
1999 retrieves only records where the year is 1999
1987-1990 retrieves records with years between 1987 and 1990 inclusive
1995- retrieves records with years of 1995 or later
-1998 retrieves records with years up to and including 1998
Retrieved records must fulfill Field: This field can have the choice of matching “any of the conditions” or “all of the conditions” previously selected.
Your results can be sorted using the “Sort the results” field. You sort by: oldest year, recent year or title.
You do not have to register to browse, search, read, download or print any documents from the archive. Registration with IPO is only required if you are a state employee tasked with depositing state documents for your agency.
Email IPO at IPO@iowa.gov or call 1-800-248-4483 (option 1) during business hours.
The State Library maintains a physical collection of state documents that can be borrowed with a State Library card. Access the collection through the State Library Catalog at the link below. Click "Advanced Search" to select specific state document collection(s) to search or browse.
The State Library catalog contains special collections of Library Science titles, books on Iowa history and culture, state documents, STEM and Storytime kits available for checkout by Iowa public libraries and more. Create an account with your State Library card to save lists and request titles. You may also contact your local public library to request an interlibrary loan of a book in the collection.
