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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.govdoc-l
Date:         Mon, 11 Jan 1993 14:53:20 CST
From:         amatabent@CCVAX.CCS.CSUS.EDU
Subject:      DttP STRATEGIC PLAN

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Mary Redmond asked me to put together a strategic plan for DttP.
Last year in a guest editorial in DttP, I asked for suggestions
from our readers on where we should be heading with our
publication. I described many ideas that have been discussed at
DttP staff meetings in order to facilitate greater discussion and
development of more ideas.  To date, I have received all of three
letters.  Not much from group that usually has a lot of opinions.
Therefore, I am asking again for you to take a few minutes and
think about DttP.  Let us know what you think.


Several years ago, Diane Smith, Lean Loup, Gail Nichols, Karen
Smith, and Stephen Patrick developed a strategic plan for the
Government Documents Round Table, (GODORT).  It was last
published in the GODORT Policies and Procedures Manual: Member's
Edition in  Documents To The People (DttP), December 1990, v. 18,
no.4, p.269-71.

The plan addressed external and internal factors affecting
GODORT.  External factors focused on information technology,
economics, and politics, while internal factors included
structure, membership, finances, programs, meetings, DttP and
relations with other ALA units. It also provided a conceptual
plan with specific steps for improving the organization, such as
developing continuing education opportunities, promoting
cooperative collection development and cataloging efforts,
increasing GODORT membership participation, developing a working
relationship with the private sector, enhancing communication
within GODORT, and maintaining a healthy treasury.

After reading the plan, I tried to think of what are the issues
or questions that DttP staff and GODORT members may want to
consider for the future of DttP. I believe that future
considerations revolve around both the form and content of the
publication.  The following excerpt was taken from section VI of
the plan as it relates to DttP.

1. Strength
DttP is an excellent publication and source of information;
attracts members to the organization.

2. Weakness
DttP should provide - for those members who cannot attend ALA
meetings - the link to GODORT - including summaries of meetings,
sharing of hints, etc. If it is not timely, there may be a risk
to maintaining membership.

In focusing on the publication itself, what other strengths or
weaknesses does DttP have?  Would it be more effective if it were
published on a bimonthly or monthly basis? Can the organization
afford the extra costs (editor's time, printing, mailing, etc.)?
Would subscribers be willing to pay more for DttP if it were
published more frequently and GODORT couldn't afford to assume
the increased costs?  Is there a sufficient amount of information
to warrant the increase?  What is missing from DttP?  If DttP
attracts new members, why?  Should DttP staff periodically
conduct a formal survey to gather information about its reader's
needs?  Should DttP staff consider desk top publishing for
production purposes?  Should DttP be published and distributed
electronically (accessible on the INTERNET, BITNET, NREN, etc)?

As for content, DttP has focused primarily on government
documents and information in the past.  Should it maintain this
aim or should it strive to provide more articles on general
topics as they relate to documents librarianship such as
continuing education, reference services and evaluation,
bibliographic instruction, collection development, technical
services, management and administration, developing technologies,
or social science research techniques?  Can an article on social
science research or management techniques be published?  Possibly
someone could write an article on the basics of grant writing?
Are there teaching faculty willing to submit a series of lectures
as articles?

DttP has published articles of a practical nature rather than
compete with more scholarly journals in the field.  Are there
articles or columns that DttP is not currently providing?  Since
the development of GOVDOC-L, I have noticed some librarians
asking how other librarians are handling a particular situation
or solving a problem. Is this a function that DttP should adopt
with  something like a reader exchange since it has a much
greater readership.  How can DttP help the Depository Library
Council, GPO, other depository programs, or vendors in dealing
with nuts and bolts problems?

Besides the practical aspects of managing government documents
collections, possibly DttP needs to branch out and solicit
different kinds of articles, such as "thought pieces" by
librarians or library science teaching faculty.  With the current
trends in automation and restrictive library budgets will there
need to be a separate government documents department for
technical and reference services?  What changes are needed for
preparing new entrants into the field?  Does managing a
government documents department provide a good training ground
for promotion to administration?

What are the needs of the non-documents reader and how can they
be addressed?  What can we do for the reference librarians or
catalogers who are assigned responsibility for government
documents reference or technical services but don't have time or
access to a library school to learn the basics of documents
librarianship?  How can DttP promote better liaisons with other
ALA units?

The ALA Washington Office publishes a monthly newsletter which
not only informs but suggests action that might be taken by
librarians; virtually each issue has something to do with
government information, GPO, NTIS, etc.  How many documents
librarians know about it and have access to it?  The Office
doesn't mind if other publications use their material as long as
they receive proper recognition; should DttP utilize this
information, if it can do so in a timely fashion?  Should GODORT
be developing its own model legislation or promoting its own
revision of U.S.C. Title 44 or state depository law?

It seems appropriate that we contemplate possible future
directions for DttP as GODORT celebrates its 20th anniversary
this year and that last year Library Literature accepted DttP for
indexing.

I would appreciate any suggestions, ideas, or comments anyone
might have on new directions for DttP.  Please feel free to send
me your ideas publicly to GOVDOC-L or privately to
bamata@csus.edu.  Letters can be sent to me at my institution.  I
will gather your comments and ideas and submit them to the DttP
staff.  Eventually, the DttP staff will produce a draft strategic
plan for DttP and request further comments before submitting a
final version to the Publications and Steering Committees.

Ben Amata.  DttP Associate Editor
Documents Dept., Library
California State University, Sacramento
2000 Jed Smith Dr.
Sacramento, CA 95819-6039

(916) 278-5672
EMAIL: bamata@csus.edu
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU