HI Aimee! 

I think Kathy provides some good guidance here Aimee. That said, I am not surprised at the lack of consensus between the various government agencies you shared, after all they have different administrative goals depending on their mission. 

As a native Pacific Northwesterner I was taught that the Pacific Northwest -- if forced to use/consider states in whole or in part -- comprises Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and often western Montana. If you think about researchers and research areas of study very often the scope includes part or all of Alaska (think salmon and other fish and oceanography writ large, weather systems, etc.) and similarly topics such as logging or mining bring in at least the western half of Montana and even northern California at times. 

Of course, I hope you are talking to map librarian colleagues at sister schools across the state and region to see where there collection strengths lie, or where there gaps are so that you get a sense of what to do with some of the things that may fall into a "gray area". 

Good luck on this! 

Paige 


From: "Kathy Stroud" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> 
Sent: Monday, April 9, 2018 7:17:52 PM 
Subject: Re: states which compose the Pacific Northwest 

Since I have an ecology/environmental science background I wouldn't define the Pacific NW by state boundaries. (It's not really an administrative unit.) I would include Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Northern California. I might also include parts of Idaho and a small portion of Alaska. This answer is only really helpful if you have a strong environmental studies program (or perhaps geology). 




As a map librarian, think about what state coverage your patrons are likely to want. At a minimum, I'd collect your state and adjacent states and provinces. Expand to include other nearby states and tell the administrators they are part of the Pacific NW if you think the maps will be wanted by your patrons. 





If you're working with only government maps, I'll be happy to provide further insight into what to deselect. I have also recently withdrawn portions of our government maps that don't get much use and have a substitute online. (Think topos and geology maps, although geology maps can be a political hot button if you have a long established geology department.) 




Hope that's helpful. 




Kathy Stroud 

Map/GIS/Aerial Photography Librarian 

University of Oregon. 




From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Aimee Quinn <[log in to unmask]> 
Sent: Monday, April 9, 2018 11:36 AM 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: states which compose the Pacific Northwest 


Hello folks, 



I’ve been aske d to come up with collection scope including a specified geographic limit for our map collection perhaps just to the Pacific Northwest, however, the U.S. government does not appear to have a consistently defined geographic area for the Pacific Northwest . So I thought I would turn to my colleagues to see how you define this region of the United States. Below are a sample of different geographic definitions currently in place by the federal government. 



Census Bureau 

Division 9: Pacific 

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington 

[ https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/maps/reg_div.txt | https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/maps/reg_div.txt ] 



Bureau of Reclamation 

Columbia River Basin in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming 

[ https://www.usbr.gov/pn/index.html | https://www.usbr.gov/pn/index.html ] 



USDA, Forest Service 

Pacific Northwest Region 

States of Oregon and Washington, Including Portions of Del Norte and Siskiyou Counties in California, and Portions of Nez Perce, Salmon, Idaho, and Adams Counties in Idaho 

[ https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3812803.pdf | https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3812803.pdf ] 



USA.gov 

Oregon & Washington 

[ https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/ | https://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/ ] 



USGS 

Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming 

[ https://www.usgs.gov/science/regions/northwest?qt-regions_l2_landing_page_tabs=0#qt-regions_l2_landing_page_tabs | https://www.usgs.gov/science/regions/northwest?qt-regions_l2_landing_page_tabs=0#qt-regions_l2_landing_page_tabs ] 





Your advice is greatly appreciated with m any thanks, 

Aimée 





Aimée C. Quinn 

Assistant Professor | Government Publications Librarian 

James E. Brooks Library, Depository 0649-A 

Central Washington University 

400 E. University Way 

Ellensburg, WA 98926 

509-963-1592 

[ mailto:[log in to unmask] | [log in to unmask] ] 



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