As a senatorially-established federal depository, this library was responsible to all of the residents of the state of Arizona to provide free access to federally produced publications made available through the Federal Depository Library Program. Geographically speaking, this area is one of the most actively growing regions of the Southwest and has experienced rapid population growth during the past 30 years, as well as a dynamically changing economy. This region contains a large Native American population on several reservations. A number of National Forests and National Parks are adjacent to Flagstaff. The university has a population of 18,000 students, with a growing number of distance students from across Arizona and neighboring states.
Degree programs range from baccalaureate through doctoral.
Notable post-graduate degree programs exist in biology, business, education, forestry, history, linguistics, and political science. In accordance with requirements set forth in the Instructions to Depository Libraries , and the Federal Depository Library Manual the Cline Library strives to serve the government information needs of the constituents in the region as described above. In order to serve depository users, collection decisions are made with the needs of the university community, and the residents of the region in mind. Item numbers that represent individual documents or groups of documents from various federal agencies and offices found in the List of Classes are added or deleted based upon the needs of the collection users, and the changing needs of those within the region served by the Cline Library. A budget exists to purchase non-depository and commercial materials which support the depository mission.