MAINTENANCE OF PUBLICATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS

The technical publications and instructions maintained by a technical library are only as good as the most current up-to-date issue. Your responsibility does not end after you make sure all publications you require are available. They must be kept current. The publications that you receive by automatic distribution will also be updated by automatic distribution of changes. Those publications that you obtain for one-time use only must be reviewed periodically to determine the effective dates. Technical manuals and publications are updated by two methods, changes and revisions.

Change

A change to a manual or publication consists of a set of replacement change pages for the area of the manual affected by the change action. This approach provides both an economical and expedient method of issuing new or corrected material to the user. Upon issue, it is necessary for the recipient to remove the superseded pages and insert new material. This action is required for paper manuals only. When a change to a microfiche is required, the microfiche is usually reissued in its entirety.

Revision

Unlike a change, a revision constitutes a complete reissue or a replacement of a manual with all change information incorporated. Issue of a revision normally takes place when 60 percent or more of the document is affected by a single change or accumulated changes, or in the event manual use would be impaired because of change complexity.