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  I have also recently withdrawn portions of our government maps that don't get much use and have a substitute online.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 asked 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

 

Bureau of Reclamation

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

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

 

USA.gov 

Oregon & Washington

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

 

 

Your advice is greatly appreciated with many 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

[log in to unmask]

 

“Life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary.”  -- Marjory Stoneman Douglas