(a) The board of regents shall give aid, advice, and counsel to all libraries and to communities which may propose to establish libraries as to the best means of establishing and administering them, the selection of books, cataloging, and other details of library management and shall exercise supervision over all public libraries and endeavor to improve libraries already established. The board of regents may also conduct a book-lending and information service for the benefit of the citizens of the state, free of cost except postage. The board of regents is also authorized to purchase books, periodicals, and other instructional materials for such purposes. The board of regents may also employ necessary professional and clerical staff to carry on the work as stated in this Code section and may pay their necessary traveling expenses while engaged in such work.

(b) The board of regents shall have authority to accept gifts of books, money, or other property from any public or private source, including the federal government and shall have authority to perform any and all functions necessary to carry out the intention and purposes of this article.

(c) The State Library Commission is abolished, and the functions and services exercised and performed by it shall be exercised and performed by the board of regents.

(d) The collection of books, periodicals, documents, and other library materials held by the board of regents is designated as the State Library.

(e) Each department and institution within the executive branch of state government shall make a report to the director of the University of Georgia Libraries on or before December 1 of each year containing a list by title of all public documents published or issued by such department or institution during the preceding state fiscal year. The report shall also contain a statement noting the frequency of publication of each such public document. The director of the University of Georgia Libraries may disseminate copies of the lists, or such parts thereof, in such form as the director of University of Georgia Libraries, in his or her discretion, deems shall best serve the public interest. For purposes of this article, "public documents" shall mean the books, magazines, journals, pamphlets, reports, bulletins, and other publications of any agency, department, board, bureau, commission, or other institution of the executive branch of state government but specifically shall not include the reports of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, the journals of the House and the Senate, or the session laws enacted by the General Assembly and shall not include forms published by any agency, department, board, bureau, commission, or other institution of the executive branch of state government.

(f) Each department and institution within the executive branch of state government shall submit to the director of the University of Georgia Libraries at least five copies of each of the public documents which such departments and institutions publish, within one month of its date of publication, unless the director of the University of Georgia Libraries requests additional copies of any such public documents, up to a maximum of 60 copies, in which case the number of copies requested shall be submitted. (g) The Governor and all of the officers who are or may be required to make reports to the General Assembly shall furnish the director of the University of Georgia Libraries with at least five copies of each of such reports and additional copies upon request of the director of the University of Georgia Libraries.

(h) The Department of Administrative Services, the Georgia Correctional Industries Administration, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and any other agency of state government which prints public documents shall furnish to the director of the University of Georgia Libraries on a monthly basis a record of all public documents which have been printed or scheduled for printing by that agency during the preceding month.

(i) The director of the University of Georgia Libraries shall have the authority to supply copies of public documents to any state institution, public library, or public school in this state or to any other institution of learning which maintains a library, if such copies are available. Such copies may be furnished for a reasonable cost or free of charge or for the cost of postage or shipping, as the director of the University of Georgia Libraries deems appropriate.

(j) The director of the University of Georgia Libraries shall have the authority to act as the exchange agent of this state for the purpose of a regular exchange between this state and other states of public documents. The several state departments and institutions are required to deposit with the director of the University of Georgia Libraries for that purpose up to 50 copies of each of their public documents, as may be specified by the director of the University of Georgia Libraries.

(k) The director of the University of Georgia Libraries may transfer books and other library holdings to the Department of Archives and History, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, the State Law Library, or other public libraries. Books and other library holdings which are obsolete, defective, worn out, or surplus, or otherwise in the discretion of the director of the University of Georgia Libraries are not required, may be sold, destroyed, or otherwise disposed of by the director of the University of Georgia Libraries, without the need to comply with the provisions of Article 5 of Chapter 13 of Title 45 relating to the disposition of surplus state books.

(l) The director of the University of Georgia Libraries shall have the authority to employ the necessary personnel, including documents librarians and other professional personnel, to carry out the powers and duties set forth in this Code section.

(m) Any person or agency required by the provisions of this Code section to submit to the director of the University of Georgia Libraries copies of documents shall also submit such documents in such electronic form as the director shall specify, if such electronic form is readily available.