Administrative Notes

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 23, no. 06 GP 3.16/3-2:23/ 06 May 5, 2002

HIGHLIGHTS

Council 

Presentations:

Buckley 1

Baldwin 7

Evans 13

GPO Access 18

Responses to 

Recommendations 21

Security, State Plans,

Promotion, and Sales

Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr.

Superintendent of Documents

Depository Library Council Meeting

Mobile, AL

April 22, 2002

Introduction

Good morning, and welcome. I am happy to be here in Mobile today, 

and I am very pleased to see all of you here too. I would like to begin 

my remarks in a rather unusual way. I’d like to pay a tribute to one of 

us, a former documents librarian and, I’d say, citizen activist, Lois 

Mills. She was also a former member of this Council and a faithful 

attendee of these meetings both while she was working and after she 

retired. She passed away in December 2000.

I was privileged to attend a small memorial service for Lois last week as 

she was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. As the government 

documents librarian at Western Illinois University, she was renowned for 

the service she delivered to students, faculty, and the public. But her 

zeal for public causes, including the right for access to government 

information, led her to be active in state and local politics and in 

organizations ranging from the American Library Association, ACLU, 

and the Freedom to Read Foundation to educational, ecological, and 

animal rights organizations.
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She was a model, not of a modern sergeantmajor as Gilbert and Sullivan used the 

phrase, but of a real-life first-class sergeant 

in World War II who continued a life of 

public service as a teacher, school librarian, 

and university librarian. She was a recipient 

of the ALA/CIS Documents to the People 

Award and the GODORT James Bennett 

Childs Award, for a lifetime of contributions 

to government documents librarianship. She 

was a model for all of us to emulate as we 

work towards improving the Federal 

Depository Library Program and our 

delivery of access to government 

information to the public.

Now I’d like to talk about some of the 

accomplishments of the Federal Depository 

Library Program and some of the issues 

facing us. Federal depository libraries serve 

an estimated 9.5 million people each year, 

not counting those who use GPO Access

outside the libraries. In FY 2001, GPO 

distributed 5.9 million copies of 

approximately 14,700 tangible products in 

print, microform, and CD-ROM formats to 

depository libraries.

Virtually every depository library also has 

access to the vast range of information made 

available online via GPO Access. In FY 

2001, over 15,200 online titles and over 

7,600 links to agency titles were added to 

GPO Access, for a total of well over 22,000

new online titles that year alone. There 

were 355 million document retrievals from 

GPO Access in FY 2001. All of this equates 

to a greatly expanded delivery of 

government information to users.

Information Security Concerns

The goal for the FDLP for many years has 

been to be as inclusive as possible while 

operating within our defined scope and 

principles, to identify public interest 

materials produced through GPO or agency 

publishing channels, to provide bibliographic 

control for the materials, and to provide the 

publications to depository libraries for public 

access. Following the events of September 

11, our mission has not changed, but agency 

sensitivity to what should be distributed to 

the public is heightening.

The struggle to balance such liberties as 

freedom of speech and the right to know 

with concerns for public safety and national 

security is an old one. I would like to share 

a quotation with you from the eighteenthcentury author and lexicographer, Samuel 

Johnson: “Integrity without knowledge is 

weak and useless, and knowledge without 

integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

Without free access to knowledge, the 

integrity of our nation and its citizens would 

be “weak and useless” indeed. However, 

recent events have demonstrated just how 

“dangerous and dreadful” that same 

knowledge can be when it is not coupled 

with integrity. We must not make our 

citizens and fellow agencies weak through 

lack of knowledge. But we must not put that 

knowledge into the hands of those who lack 

integrity, because they are indeed 

“dangerous and dreadful” if they use 

sensitive public information for destructive 

purposes.

The depository program and the sales 

program have been at the center of some 

concern about access to unclassified 

materials which have been distributed but 

which may be used improperly. Since last 

September, agencies on their own initiative 

have been reviewing their titles to determine 

which are “sensitive,” and which non-
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classified information the agency had 

published should be withdrawn in the 

interest of national security. When and if 

agencies decide specific titles are “for 

official use only,” or “for administrative use 

only,” then that title no longer meets the 

criteria outlined in Section 1902 of Title 44, 

and therefore it is no longer in the scope of 

the program.

To establish general guidelines and criteria 

for this process, on March 19 of this year, 

the White House Chief of Staff Andrew 

Card issued a memorandum to the heads of 

executive departments and agencies calling 

for “action to safeguard information 

regarding weapons of mass destruction and 

other sensitive documents related to 

homeland security.”

He transmitted guidance from the NARA 

Information Security Oversight Office and 

the Justice Department’s Office of 

Information and Privacy for “reviewing 

Government information in your department 

or agency regarding weapons of mass 

destruction, as well as other information that 

could be misused to harm the security of our 

Nation and the safety of our people.”

He asked all departments and agencies to 

review their record management procedures 

and, when appropriate, their holdings of 

documents to ensure that they are acting in 

accordance with the guidance. In addition to 

discussing the extension of classification and 

reclassification of information “that would 

assist in the development or use of weapons 

of mass destruction,” the guidance 

establishes a new category of “Sensitive but 

Unclassified Information.”

This category is addressing “sensitive 

information related to America’s homeland 

security that might not meet one or more of 

the standards for classification...” The 

guidance suggests, “the need to protect such 

sensitive information from inappropriate 

disclosure should be carefully considered, on 

a case-by-case basis, together with the 

benefits that result from the open and 

efficient exchange of scientific, technical, 

and like information.”

But the guidance goes on to say, “All 

departments and agencies should ensure that 

in taking necessary and appropriate actions 

to safeguard sensitive but unclassified 

information related to America’s homeland 

security, they process any Freedom of 

Information request for records containing 

such information in accordance with the 

Attorney General’s FOIA Memorandum of 

October 12, 2001, by giving full and careful 

consideration to all applicable FOIA 

exemptions.”

Some agencies are in the process of adopting 

specific procedures to determine what 

publications may be released to the public. 

We’ll hear about several of their efforts 

during this conference.

As you know, since the September 11 

attacks, the U.S. Geological Survey CDROM entitled Source Area Characteristics of 

Large Public Surface-Water Supplies in the 

Conterminous United States: An Information 

Resource for Source-Water Assessment, 1999

is the only tangible publication that we have 

requested be withdrawn from depository 

libraries.

Concerns have been raised regarding the 

sensitivity of some technical report titles in 

depository libraries. Some people have 

suggested that users of certain collections 

should be screened. There is no statutory 
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basis, nor is it consistent with the public 

purpose of the FDLP, to impose access 

controls or restrictions on particular public 

documents.

Unless the publishing agencies ask that their 

titles be withdrawn from depository 

collections, depository libraries are required 

to provide full public access to all the 

depository material. There are no varying 

levels of access to Government information 

included in the Federal Depository Library 

Program; either it is a freely accessible 

public document, or it is not part of the 

program.

Security concerns also have great 

implications in the online environment. 

Government information on the web in 

electronic format is widely accessible, 

heretofore considered a good thing, but now 

it is being reconsidered.

In response to agency publishing on the web, 

the FDLP is identifying, pointing to, 

acquiring, creating metadata for, and in 

many cases archiving electronic publications 

from the agencies to provide ongoing free 

public access to these resources. This move 

towards a more electronic FDLP, coupled 

with heightened security awareness, has 

brought out concerns specific to titles 

distributed electronically. We are working 

to provide permanent preservation of and 

access to the Government information in our 

electronic collection.

In the print world, it is possible to assume 

that the document found in a depository 

library is as it was published, and that it is 

an official publication of the source agency. 

With our electronic collection, we must go 

to great lengths to ensure that all of our 

electronic titles are, and remain, the official 

content issued by the publishing agency.

The events of September 11 clearly 

demonstrate the strong need for redundancy 

of data storage at remote sites. We are in 

the process of establishing a geographically 

separate backup facility and mirror site for 

GPO Access. T.C. Evans will say more 

about this later.

But the FDLP/EC includes, in addition to 

the extensive data on GPO servers, pointers 

to thousands of titles on agency websites. 

We have addressed the issue of instability of 

agency site location by our use of Persistent 

Uniform Resource Locators (PURLs), and 

by capturing a copy of the online publication 

at the time of cataloging in a digital archive. 

If the link to the title is broken, we try to 

find the current one and redirect the PURL 

there, or redirect to an archived version if 

the title is no longer available at the agency 

site.

Since September 11, we have added one step 

to this process: before redirecting to our 

archived version, we must contact the 

originating agency to determine why the site 

is no longer available. If the site was 

removed because the agency deemed it to be 

sensitive material, then it has moved out of 

the scope of the program. If the site was 

removed for other reasons, such as lack of 

server space, then it remains part of the 

program and the PURL redirects to our 

archived version.

Less than 50 agency titles we cataloged and 

linked to as part of the FDLP/EC have been 

withdrawn by their originating agencies for a 

security review. However, we are aware 

that many more titles have been withdrawn 

on agency websites, including on some of 
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the partnership sites we link to on GPO 

Access, such as the DOE/OSTI Information 

Bridge.

State Planning

Starting over 20 years ago, GPO encouraged 

depository libraries and state library 

agencies to work together to develop state 

plans for the delivery of depository services 

within their states or service areas. Since 

then, much has changed in the FDLP and in 

the way libraries receive and deliver 

information in general.

Now more than ever, it is essential that 

depository libraries work together to 

redefine program relationships, and to 

develop a support network that places initial 

reliance on state and regional resources. 

The transition to the E-FDLP has caused a 

major re-examination of the roles and 

responsibilities of GPO, and the regional and 

selective depositories. Users’ expectation of 

instant gratification and immediate access to 

all information has put stresses upon 

traditional library services as well as 

government information programs in 

depository libraries.

A state plan is not a requirement of the 

program, but I believe that when libraries 

develop state plans, they are better prepared 

to provide information services to patrons, 

and the cooperative system it establishes 

among libraries implements, in a practical 

sense, the philosophy of the FDLP. State 

planning is one way that libraries can come 

together, in the spirit of resource sharing, to

come up with ways to help each other, 

improve service delivery to their users, and 

stretch limited resources.

Last week I attended a meeting of the 

depository librarians in Georgia as they 

reviewed a final draft of a new state plan 

among themselves and with library directors 

and the state librarian. The synergy from 

the dialog there is going to lead to increased 

outreach activities in a joint effort between 

depository libraries and the State Library.

Efforts To Publicize and Promote the 

FDLP

In today’s dynamic environment of 

information access, it is crucial to the future 

of the FDLP that both the library community 

and the public at large understand and 

appreciate its value as an information 

resource and point of service for everyone.

In response to the need for higher visibility 

for the program, and in response to a 

recommendation from the Council, we have 

drafted a new promotion plan for the FDLP. 

The goal of this plan is to increase public 

awareness of the unique contributions and 

benefits of Federal depository libraries, 

especially in this time of increased 

availability of Government information 

online. Target audiences for this plan 

include the general public, business, 

government, and the library community.

The plan has a proposed campaign theme: 

“U.S. Government Information – Make the 

Connection at a Federal Depository 

Library.” The focus will be on free access 

to the public, the quantity and variety of 

Government information available in print 

and electronic formats in depository 

libraries, and the services provided by 

depository librarians in finding this 

information. Print and broadcast public 

service announcements, news releases and 

feature articles, and a variety of promotional 
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materials will be used to publicize the 

campaign. Depository librarians, GPO 

bookstores and congressional offices will 

also use the promotional materials. We look 

forward to your comments regarding this 

new promotion plan.

Sales Program Update

For those who want to purchase Government 

publications, many of the titles that we 

distribute to depository libraries are also 

available through GPO’s Sales Program. 

Approximately 9,500 titles are available for 

sale at any given time, including books, CDROMs, and other electronic formats.

Publications are sold principally by mail, 

telephone, fax, and through our bookstores 

located in the Washington, DC area and 

around the country. Publications are also 

sold through the Consumer Information 

Center in Pueblo, CO. More than 1,800 

sales orders are processed every day. Also,

more and more orders are being placed 

through GPO's secure Online Bookstore site 

at: <http://bookstore.gpo.gov>. The 

Online Bookstore’s Sales Product Catalog is 

searchable by publication title, subject, and 

keywords. All titles available for sale can 

be ordered through the Online Bookstore.

Unfortunately, as a result of the public’s 

increased ability to access Government 

publications free of charge over the Internet, 

as well as a reduction in the number of 

publications produced to sell, the Sales 

Program has been losing money for several 

years. Efforts to reduce costs, hold 

vacancies due to attrition, and raise prices 

have not been sufficient to keep pace with 

declining revenues. Many of you are aware 

that we have closed GPO Bookstores in six 

locations, and we are now considering 

closing as many more.

The decision to close locations is based on 

program performance. Despite increased 

marketing attempts, these locations have 

continued to have low sales volumes and do 

not generate sufficient revenue to recover 

even direct expenses. Residents of the areas 

served by these bookstores will not be 

deprived of access to U.S. Government 

publications.

Press releases announcing the closings 

encourage the use of local Federal 

depository libraries, the Online Bookstore, 

and telephone ordering via our toll free 

number.

Conclusion

In the evolutionary development of the 

FDLP and our distribution programs, we 

have seen many milestones and many 

changes, some more welcome than others. 

However, amid all this change, some things 

are not changing. The FDLP, GPO Access, 

and our sales program, as well as you and 

your libraries, remain committed to provide 

public access to official, public Government 

information.

I would like to encourage all of you to attend 

the sessions during the conference for more 

detailed information about the topics that I 

have touched on this morning. I want to 

thank all of you for being here today; I look 

forward to talking to many of you 

individually. Enjoy the meeting!
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This is What the Future Looks Like

Remarks by Gil Baldwin

Director, Library Programs Service

Depository Library Council Meeting

Mobile, AL

April 22, 2002

Good morning! It’s a pleasure to see you 

here today, and especially so many new 

faces in a Council meeting. Your presence 

demonstrates the reason we hold these 

meetings around the country--so depository 

librarians can come who might be unable to 

attend a distant meeting.

Many of you know I like to have a theme for 

my presentation; I feel it establishes a 

foundation for what you will hear. Today 

my topic is “This what the future looks 

like,” but since I was an undergraduate 

history major, we are going to start with a 

bit of program history.

Seven years ago (not fourscore and seven, 

just plain old seven), GPO was required by 

the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act 

for Fiscal Year 1996 to perform a study. 

The outcome of that broadly participatory 

effort was our report to the Congress, the 

“Study To Identify Measures Necessary For 

A Successful Transition To A More 

Electronic Federal Depository Library 

Program.”

Embedded in this tome was a timetable for 

the transition. The input we had received 

from publishing agencies and depository 

libraries indicated a five to seven year 

transition would be realistic since it would 

allow GPO to migrate to the use of 

electronic information at the same pace as 

publishing agencies that produce it. More 

importantly, the five to seven year plan gave 

depository libraries and the public a 

reasonable time to adapt. Consequently, the 

report proposed, and Congress accepted, a 

transition period extending through FY 

2001.

By that reckoning we must be done now, so 

just as Washington Redskins’ Hall of Fame 

football coach George Allen once said, “the 

future is now.” So the FDLP of the future 

looks like this – a work in progress and all 

about access.

It’s about access to online information, 

provided through resource discovery, 

bibliographic control, and cataloging. It’s 

about permanent public access provided 

through an interlocking set of procedures 

and partnerships. It’s about access to 

libraries and their public computer 

workstations. And most recently it’s been 

about the tension between unfettered access 

to information and the need to secure some 

information that could be disastrous in the 

wrong hands.

But sometimes it’s not all about us. The 

FDLP is also affected by the larger 

environment. In recent months the most 

obvious example is the withdrawal of some 

previously public information in the 

aftermath of the September 11 attacks. And 
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while the information security issue has 

received a great deal of publicity, it is by no 

means the only external factor operating on 

the program. In recent months we have 

heard that the funding pinch at the state level 

is hurting libraries, and this has become a 

contributing factor to libraries leaving the 

program.

The FDLP is also a work in progress. We 

all know the transition to a more electronic 

program isn’t finished, and that there is still 

more work to be done to improve our 

cataloging efforts, to protect free public 

access, and to enhance the infrastructure that 

provides reliable and secure permanent 

access.

Biennial Survey Highlights

The 2001 Biennial Survey of Depository 

Libraries was conducted beginning last 

November. As required by law, the 

Biennial Survey gathers data every 2 years 

to report on conditions in the depository 

libraries. Your responses supplement the 

more in-depth site visits and self-studies that 

are performed every 6 or 7 years.

As we have done for several years, the 

complete Biennial Survey data set will be 

posted on the Federal Bulletin Board. But in 

the meantime, I wanted to mention some 

Survey highlights from the 1294 responses 

tallied so far. By the way, that’s a pretty 

good response rate, much better than prior 

years.

We always ask “Do you want to remain in 

the Federal Depository Library Program?” 

This time, 1,286 said “yes” and only 6 said 

“no.” We hope this is an accurate reflection 

of intent to stay in the Program, because as 

you may know, a very significant number of 

libraries have already given up depository 

status, and we hate to lose any more. 

Unfortunately, four of the six have already 

advised us that they are dropping depository 

status, and recently two more libraries 

relinquished status out of the blue.

Many of our questions relate to issues about 

access. For example, 903 libraries have a 

written access policy for the depository 

collection. Developing such policies helps 

articulate the value of the depository library 

collection to your community, and while a

70% positive response is pretty good, it 

could be better. We encourage you to 

develop a written access policy if you do not 

have one.

Furthermore, access policies need to reflect 

the electronic environment. Just under half 

(642 of 1,294)) of the respondents report 

having a written policy regarding public 

services for Government information in 

electronic formats. There is no question that 

developing such policies is hard work, and 

we commend those libraries that have a 

policy for electronic FDLP services in place.

This time we asked specifically if the library 

provides access to the World Wide Web, 

and 1,282 said they did. The ubiquitous 

level of service is very encouraging, and 

demonstrates the overall ability of depository 

libraries to function in the electronic arena. 

Overall, depository libraries are playing a 

role in bridging the digital divide. As for 

the 12 libraries that do not offer the public 

access to the Internet, you are missing out 

on the bulk of what is in today’s FDLP.

We also asked if your library uses filtering 

or blocking software on the public access 

workstations, and 181 replied yes. We only 
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hope that, consistent with the FDLP Internet 

Use Policy Guidelines <www.access.gpo.

gov/su_docs/fdlp/mgt/iupolicy.html> 

policy, you can disable the filtering if a user 

searching FDLP information so requests.

Integrated Library System

In the fiscal year 2002 appropriation, GPO 

received general approval from Congress for 

systems modernization. LPS intends to 

acquire a commercial off-the-shelf Integrated 

Library System (ILS) within the next year. 

We want to bring our own operation up to 

the level of performance that nearly all of 

you now enjoy. All but 10 depositories use 

some type of ILS, with the most frequently 

mentioned being Innovative Interfaces 

Millennium (360), Endeavor’s Voyager 

(167), Sirsi (127), and the ever-popular 

“other” (140).

LPS operations will change to make use of 

the capabilities of a new system. In the 

environment of managing the FDLP 

Electronic Collection, our goal is make our 

services and operations as standard brands 

library-like as possible. It is especially 

likely that the way in which we distribute the 

dwindling number of physical products in 

the program will have to change. We are 

still maintaining the distribution 

infrastructure from the days when we 

shipped six times as many physical products.

LPS expects to use the ILS to support 

cataloging, classification, acquisitions, serial 

check-in, library directory maintenance, and 

to provide distribution information to the 

distribution system. We anticipate that 

public access to the Federal Government will 

be improved through use of a standard Web 

interface catalog. In addition, much of the 

product status information you now ask us 

for should be accessible to you directly 

through the system.

To date, a working group of LPS staff has:

- Looked at current systems in use by LPS 

and their functions.

- Developed a statement of work to obtain 

the services of a library automation 

consultant. The consultant will assist us 

with defining our user requirements and 

with developing the criteria for selecting 

between competing systems.

- Begun to define system requirements.

- Begun to define data migration 

strategies.

- Begun investigating existing ILS 

offerings.

- Begun investigating training 

opportunities to prepare for an ILS.

- Queried other libraries that have obtained 

and implemented an ILS.

- Received input from the depository 

library community regarding interface 

requirements and service needs.

- Begun to work with Materials 

Management Service, Network Systems, 

the Office of Information Resources 

Management, and other GPO personnel.

- Developed material to request project 

approval from the Joint Committee on 

Printing. And I’m happy to say that on 

Friday [April 19, 2002] that approval 

was granted.
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LPS Staffing Changes

Last fall I briefed Council on the 

unprecedented personnel turnover in LPS, 

both among the managers and operational 

staff. We have been working intensively to 

fill these vacancies and I am now able to 

report some progress.

James Mauldin is now the Chief of the 

Depository Distribution Division, and I’m 

very glad to have him there. James is also 

very savvy technically, and he is still acting 

as our network administrator. James is 

backed up by LPS veterans Cornelius 

Greene, Joe Powell, and James Brevard, all 

of whom have begun new positions this 

year.

Within a one-year span, LPS has lost four 

people to the Library of Congress, two to 

the Defense Technical Information Center, 

and one each to the Internal Revenue Service 

and the National Library of Education. 

These moves don’t count retirements and 

other causes. The impact of this outmigration has been particularly marked 

among the library inspectors, Cataloging 

Branch staff, and in the Depository 

Distribution Division.

We’ve recently filled our two vacant 

Cataloging Section Chief positions, by 

selecting Michael Levinson and Jennifer 

Davis. Both Mike and Jennifer have 

previous experience as serials catalogers in 

LPS, and are very savvy about processing 

electronic products.

Since the last Council meeting we have 

brought one cataloger on board, and 

extended offers to two more. At this 

moment, we have 14 catalogers on board, 

and we still have six cataloging positions yet 

to fill. We’ve also hired one library 

inspector, for a total of four, and three more 

program analysts. Most of these are 

backfilling behind people who left, and LPS 

staffing remains significantly below our 

budgeted level. We are also in the process 

of recruiting for a new librarian position that 

will augment Betty Jones’ operation in the 

Depository Administration Branch. As 

always, you can keep track of LPS staff 

moves by using the “Contacts” page on the 

FDLP Desktop <www.access.gpo.gov/

su_docs/fdlp/tools/contacts.html>.

Electronic Documents Working Group

We have been working successfully with the 

“Electronic Documents Working Group.” 

Volunteer members of the depository library 

and law library communities are assisting 

GPO in its efforts to bring fugitive online 

documents into the FDLP Electronic 

Collection (FDLP/EC). Fugitives are those 

documents of public interest or educational 

value, and not classified for reasons of 

national security, which have not been 

acquired for distribution to Federal 

depository libraries or made accessible 

through the Catalog of U.S Government 

Publications (CGP).

There are two volunteer groups, one 

comprised primarily of American Library 

Association Government Documents Round 

Table people, and one of members of the 

American Association of Law Librarians. 

Three of their main functions are to:

• Identify electronic titles that are not yet 

in the program, and evaluate them for 

inclusion in the FDLP/EC.
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• Identify online titles currently in the 

program in tangible format for possible 

migration to “e-only”.

• Identify titles/products that are currently 

in the program that have become 

fugitive, and determine their status and 

availability.

To support this activity we first established 

the Working Group site on the FDLP 

Desktop <http://ww1.access.gpo.gov/

gpoaccess/fdlp/tools/ewgroup/ewg_memb.

html>, including lists of the participants, 

what agencies they are each looking at, 

project resources, and more. We have asked 

contributors to supply some basic 

bibliographic elements, suggest a SuDocs 

class stem, and so on. So there’s more 

involved in this project that just the resource 

discovery phase. To support that, the 

various policies and processing guidelines 

that we use in LPS are available on the 

FDLP Desktop. So far we have received 

over 350 submissions. A few of these 

concern URLs that might be added to 

existing records, but most are identifying 

electronic fugitive documents.

Recently, LPS established a new email 

address, <lostdocs@gpo.gov>, for 

reporting fugitive documents. Previously 

the Electronic Documents Working Group 

and other members of the depository 

community sent all such notices to askLPS. 

The increasing volume of submissions to that 

location prompted the decision to separate 

the fugitive documents reports. This 

address, or its corresponding Web page 

<www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/l

ostdocs.html>, should be used to notify 

LPS of any fugitive documents, regardless 

of format.

New Partnerships

Partnerships remain an important component 

of carrying out our commitment to 

permanent public access. We’re pleased that 

we have nearly wrapped up two more 

partnerships, both of which have been under 

discussion for some time.

The first, between GPO and the libraries of 

Indiana University, Bloomington, establishes 

permanent public access provisions for a 

collection of electronic publications 

originally distributed to depository libraries 

on floppy disk. IU, as part of a consortium 

effort within the Committee on Institutional 

Cooperation (CIC), has mounted the content 

on servers for Web access. Many of the 

floppy disks were 5.25”, and the drives are 

increasingly rare. The project relieves 

individual depository libraries of the burden 

of making older floppy disk media and 

outdated operating systems continuously 

available, as well as assuring that the 

information will be preserved in a stable 

environment.

The second, between GPO, the University 

Library of Case Western Reserve 

University, and the Census Bureau, 

establishes a Web site specifically for 

depository library access to Census 2000 

data issued by the Census Bureau in commadelimited ASCII format. Similar files were 

disseminated on CD-ROM for the past two 

censuses, and were made available over the 

Internet by FTP for the first time for Census 

2000. To answer concerns within the FDLP 

community regarding download times and 

permanent public access, Case Western 

Reserve University will operate an FTP site 

for the files that will be specifically 

designated for FDLP users, and will assure 
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12

that permanent public access provisions are 

in effect for these files.

These projects fill in more squares in the 

permanent public access matrix, and we 

thank Lou Malcomb of IU-Bloomington, and 

Tim Robson of Case Western, for being 

champions of these partnerships in their 

institutions.

Publicity and Promotion

Years ago the FDLP was sometimes referred 

to as the best-kept secret in Washington. 

We’re sure not a secret anymore! Recently 

the program has gotten more publicity and 

attention than any of us could have 

imagined. It’s true that maybe it hasn’t been 

all we could have wished for, since we’ve 

gotten more attention over one withdrawn 

CD-ROM than we ever did over hundreds of 

thousands of publications distributed and 

cataloged, or users served.

What we would like to do, however, is to 

improve the positive awareness of the FDLP 

through a combination of national and local 

publicity efforts. And there is definitely 

room for improvement. In the Biennial 

Survey you told us that only 202 of you 

engage in active, on-going promotion to the 

general public. The overwhelming majority 

admit to either infrequent promotion or no 

promotion to the general public. We want to 

help you promote the value of depository 

libraries more effectively.

In early November, 2001, a GPO working 

group was convened to develop a marketing 

strategy to increase awareness of the FDLP 

among various constituencies. Led by the 

Chief of the Promotion and Advertising 

Branch, with representation from the Library 

Programs Service (LPS) and the Office of 

Electronic Information Dissemination 

Services (EIDS), the Group has drafted a 

marketing plan around the theme “U.S. 

Government Information: Make the 

Connection at Federal Depository 

Libraries.” Examples of the graphic design 

associated with this campaign are here. We 

are also working within GPO to make sure 

that you can request promotional information 

easily, and that fulfillment is quick.

Once again, on behalf of the entire LPS 

staff, it’s a pleasure to be here and talk with 

you. Please give us your feedback, and ask 

any questions that are on your minds.
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

13

Current and Future State of GPO Access

By T.C. Evans

Director, Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services

Depository Library Council Meeting

Mobile, AL

April 22, 2002

Introduction

I appreciate the opportunity to update the 

Depository Library Council and the library 

community on the current and future state of 

GPO Access. Hopefully, you have a copy 

of our printed GPO Access update [see page 

18]. It contains a variety of statistical 

information on GPO Access, as well as what 

is new and on the horizon.

The vast amount of information available on 

GPO Access continues to grow, and more 

users are finding their way to our 

applications. Unfortunately, there was a 

lengthy period where system performance 

problems were severely limiting the amount 

of usage possible and frustrating large 

numbers of users. Time-out and other types 

of errors were far too common, particularly 

during the busiest hours of the workday, and 

even successful transactions took far too 

long. While I deeply regret this period of 

poor service to GPO Access users, 

particularly those who have come to rely on 

our Federal Register and Code of Federal 

Regulations applications, I am pleased to 

report that diligent work by our Production 

department has resulted in making 

tremendous progress towards overcoming 

many of these problems. As a result, system 

performance has improved dramatically in 

recent weeks.

Through a performance measurement service 

contract with Keynote Systems, Inc., we 

track performance from the user perspective 

around the clock. We accomplish this by 

monitoring actual use of the Code of Federal 

Regulations application by agents located in 

10 major cities in the United States.

The agents load the main CFR application 

page, perform a search for “hazardous 

wastes,” and retrieve a Title 40 document 

from the results list. The computer agents 

are set up to act as users with common 

technology performing through connections 

commonly available through a variety of 

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), or parts of 

the Internet backbone. Each agent makes 

multiple attempts each hour and both the 

time required for the agent to execute each 

part of the transaction and any errors 

encountered are recorded and the data is 

made available to us for analysis in a variety 

of ways.

The measurements helped to pinpoint 

problems being reported by users. 

Specifically, we found that errors frequently 

occurred in the search and retrieval portions 

of the transaction and that most of these 

errors involved time-outs, particularly 

during prime usage hours. It is important to 

note here that Keynote considers a lack of 

success after two minutes a failure at any of 

the three points of the measurement 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

14

transaction. In addition, we found that a 

significant number of users who succeeded 

in getting their search completed then 

encountered an error in attempting to 

download the target file. Even successful 

transactions were taking an unacceptably 

long time to complete. There were no 

particular patterns emerging regarding 

regions of the country or parts of the 

backbone, so we knew that the problem 

resided with us.

These findings gave us new tools to add to 

the feedback we had been getting from 

disgruntled users and both were shared with 

our Production department who went to 

work to use what we had learned to improve 

performance. I am pleased to say that they 

have succeeded in eliminating almost all of 

the error problems and the results are 

showing dramatically reduced completion 

times for successful transactions.

On average, successful transactions are now 

taking less than 10 seconds from start to 

finish, with slightly longer times during our 

busiest hours. This means that an agent can 

load the CFR application page, perform a 

search and receive the results of that search, 

initiate a download from the results and get

the first byte of the target file on their 

machine very quickly. Much faster than I 

could do myself, but that can be blamed on 

my typing skills, not GPO Access.

While these changes should greatly enhance 

the user experience on GPO Access, we will 

continue to work towards even more 

improvement in performance. In addition to 

adjusting the operation of the current system 

and adding more resources to make the 

system deliver better response to users, there 

are efforts underway to identify a successor 

platform to the Wide-Area Information 

Server (WAIS) technology currently in use. 

Funds have been included in the FY 2003 

budget to acquire this, and it is hoped that a 

rapid deployment of the platform selected 

can be effected after it has been purchased.

These improvement efforts also include 

work towards establishing a geographically 

separate mirror site and backup facility for 

GPO Access in Pueblo, Colorado. Based on 

a recently conducted onsite inspection of the 

facility, work will begin as soon as 

practicable. This effort will be funded in 

part by the $4 million Congress provided to 

GPO in supplemental transfer authority for 

emergency preparedness (P.L. 107-117) 

following the events of September 11, 2001, 

in addition to other project funding from the 

Salaries and Expenses appropriation to the 

Superintendent of Documents.

Beginning with the most frequently used 

GPO Access resources, GPO will steadily 

add to the resources and data at this facility 

until it is a complete mirror site for GPO 

Access. This will include the portion of the 

FDLP Electronic Collection Archive 

maintained by GPO.

Search Engine Results

We have continued our work with 

maximizing our visibility in major Internet 

search engines. In particular we have been 

testing paid keyword positioning for the 

U.S. Government Online Bookstore through 

the Overture service. While we had some 

success, the results pointed out that more 

research was needed. Therefore we 

contracted with Overture for a detailed 

analysis and recommendations for 

maximizing the visibility of the GPO Access 

main page, the Online Bookstore, and the 

Code of Federal Regulations main page. 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

15

The results of these efforts contained the 

following information:

ÿ A list of keywords to be bid on

ÿ Suggested bidding strategies

ÿ Total amount we could expect to 

spend each month, based on our 

budget and the position in Overture's 

search results (first or third, etc.)

ÿ Suggested language to appear with 

the links to GPO Access pages on 

Overture's search results

We are currently analyzing these proposals 

and hope to take action on them in the near 

future.

We have also continued to monitor the latest 

developments in the search engine industry, 

including sending staff to participate in the 

Search Engines Strategies Conference 

recently held in Boston, Massachusetts. A 

good example is our examination of the 

offerings from the newly emergent Teoma 

engine. Owned by Ask Jeeves, this search 

engine offers several new ways of searching 

for information. Along with the regular 

results, it also provides suggestions for 

refining your search to obtain more specific 

results.

A list of suggested keywords refining your 

search will appear on the right side of the 

screen. Clicking on one of these keywords 

will add them to the search terms you have 

entered and provide you with a new set of 

results. The refinement process they offer 

and its ability to get at specific GPO Access 

resources looks promising. In fact, we are 

adding it to the list of search engines that we 

regularly examine.

Joint effort with STAT-USA

My staff has been working hand-in-hand 

with STAT-USA to improve the availability 

and usability of their information products at 

depository libraries and as such will be 

including information on STAT-USA’s State 

of the Nation (SOTN) and Global Business 

Opportunities (GLOBUS) & National Trade 

Data Bank (NTDB) products in GPO Access

training classes.

EIDS Staff also worked with STAT-USA 

representatives on the development of a 

special insert for the GPO Access Training 

Manual and a new flyer to promote the 

partnership. It is also expected that STATUSA representatives will participate in GPO 

Access booth exhibits.

It is hoped that these cooperative efforts can 

promote and improve the use of these 

products in depositories as well as build a 

case for the possible addition of other 

products from STAT-USA in the future.

In addition to the previously mentioned 

products, two other services are currently 

available from STAT-USA. These are USA 

Trade Online and EuroTrade Online.

While there are barriers to offering free 

public access to these two products at 

Federal depository libraries, it is hoped that 

our working relationship will assist in 

overcoming them. In the meantime, the 

information contained in USA Trade Online 

is available in the monthly U.S. Imports of 

Merchandise and U.S. Exports of 

Merchandise on CD-ROM. Both are 

distributed through the Federal Depository 

Library Program.
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

16

What’s new on GPO Access

There are a number of recent changes to 

GPO Access that should be mentioned. The 

most notable are:

ÿ The Budget of the United States 

Government for FY 2003 is now 

available. It was transmitted to 

Congress on February 2, 2002, and 

covers the fiscal year beginning 

October 1, 2002.

ÿ The new edition of the Congressional 

Directory for the 107th Congress is 

also available.

ÿ The 2002 Economic Report of the 

President is now available on GPO 

Access.

ÿ Volume I of the 2000-2001 Public 

Papers for William J. Clinton is now 

available online.

ÿ Two Independent Counsel reports are 

available:

• The Final Report of the 

Independent Counsel In Re: 

Madison Guaranty Savings & 

Loan Association Regarding 

Monica Lewinsky and Others 

• The Final Report of the 

Independent Counsel In Re: 

Madison Guaranty Savings & 

Loan Association (The 

Madison 

Guaranty/Whitewater 

Investigation)

ÿ Riddick's Senate ProcedurePrecedents and Procedures are now 

available via GPO Access.

ÿ Two new topics have been added to 

the New Titles By Topic E-mail Alert 

Service available through the U.S. 

Government Online Bookstore:

• Employment and Occupations

• Federal Statistics.

What’s on the Horizon for GPO Access

As always, work is under way to add more 

content to GPO Access and to refine access 

to the materials already provided. Some key 

examples of current efforts are:

ÿ An interactive site guide is being 

developed to help users find their 

way to the resources of GPO Access. 

Users will be able to follow a 

pathway of links in an exploration of 

the rich set of resources that GPO 

Access offers. It will provide an 

augmented assistance tool that lets 

users learn more about what is 

available when the regular navigation 

paths fail to get them where they 

need to go.

ÿ Making use of what has been learned 

from our work with users in open 

forums, usability studies, and 

through regular feedback channels, 

work toward an enhanced look and 

feel for GPO Access has begun. 

Please play a role in this process by 

attending the GPO Access Open 

Forum sessions this afternoon 

(Monday, April 22, 2002, at 2:00 pm 

and 3:30 pm) and reacting to some 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

17

prototype pages created to show our 

current approach.

ÿ Future enhancements for the U.S. 

Government Online Bookstore 

include improved online ordering for 

foreign customers and providing 

third-party hand off of orders for 

those who are unable to directly 

purchase from the U.S. Government 

Online Bookstore.

User Survey

It is almost survey time again. In the next 

few days the annual online GPO Access user 

survey will become available. I hope you all 

will assist us by participating and alerting 

other users to this opportunity to play a role 

in the ongoing development of GPO Access.

Online Bookstore Enhancements

Several new features have been added to the 

U.S. Government Online Bookstore in order 

to enhance usability and expedite orders:

ÿ The various browse features on the 

Online Bookstore have been 

enhanced so that price and status 

information is updated daily. In 

addition, customers may now use the 

search and browse features to add 

publications to their shopping cart for 

a fully integrated shopping 

experience.

ÿ While the Online Bookstore has 

safeguarded a customer's personal 

information through online 

encryption since 1999, the service 

was recently changed so users do not 

have to enter the secure environment 

until they have finished shopping and 

need to enter personal information 

when completing the order.

As you can tell, change is a constant with 

GPO Access. As its offerings and 

popularity continue to grow, our efforts to 

provide the best possible service will make 

every effort to keep pace. Once again I 

remind you that your feedback plays a vital 

role in this development process. 

Participation in this afternoon’s open forum 

is an excellent opportunity to add your voice 

to the process, but a comment or suggestion 

sent to the GPO Access User Support Team 

serves well at any time. Thank you and I 

look forward to talking with you during the 

conference.
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

18

GPO Access Update

Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services

Spring 2002 Depository Library Council Meeting

April 21-24, Mobile, AL

GPO Access Performance Measurement and Improvement

It has recently become apparent that system performance problems have been severely limiting the 

amount of usage possible and frustrating large amounts of GPO Access users. Time-out and other types 

of errors were far too common, particularly during the busiest hours of the workday, and even successful 

transactions took far too long. Through a performance measurement service contract with Keynote 

Systems, Inc., we are tracking performance of the Code of Federal Regulations from the user perspective 

from ten major U.S. cities. The findings from this service and problem reports from users were shared 

with the GPO Production Department, who have begun work to eliminate these problems. They have 

succeeded in virtually eliminating the error problems, and results are showing that successful 

transactions during peak times are now taking on average less than 10 seconds from start to finish, down 

from over 42 seconds previously. We will continue to monitor performance with an eye towards 

improvement. 

GPO Access Statistical Measures

ÿ Since 1994, GPO Access retrievals have exceeded 1.2 billion. This is equivalent to over 29 billion 

typewritten pages. 

ÿ GPO Access has averaged close to 32 million document retrievals in the last six months, and reached 

an all-time high of almost 36.5 million document retrievals in October 2001.

ÿ GPO Access contains over 133,000 electronic titles and points to over 89,000 others for a total of 

more than 222,000 titles.

ÿ GPO Access provides use of almost 2,400 databases through more than 80 applications.

What’s New on GPO Access

ÿ The Budget of the United States Government for FY 2003 is now available via GPO Access at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/usbudget>. It was transmitted to Congress on February 2, 2002, and 

covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2002

ÿ The new edition of the Congressional Directory for the 107th Congress is available at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong016.html>.

ÿ The 2002 Economic Report of the President is now available on GPO Access at 

<http://www.gpo.gov/eop>.

ÿ Volume I of the 2000-2001 Public Papers for William J. Clinton is now available online at 

<http://www.gpo.gov/nara/pubpaps/srchpaps.html>.

ÿ Two Independent Counsel Reports available at <http://icreport.access.gpo.gov>:
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

19

• Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association 

Regarding Monica Lewinsky and Others

• The Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan 

Association (The Madison Guaranty/Whitewater Investigation)

ÿ Riddick's Senate Procedure-Precedents and Procedures is now available via GPO Access at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/riddick/index.html>.

ÿ Two new topics have been added to the New Titles By Topic E-mail Alert Service. Employment and 

Occupations and Federal Statistics. To sign up for any of these lists, go to: 

<http://bookstore.gpo.gov/alertservice.html>.

Online Bookstore Enhancements

Several new features have been added to the U.S. Government Online Bookstore in order to enhance 

usability and expedite orders:

ÿ The various browse features on the Online Bookstore have been enhanced so that price and status 

information is updated daily. In addition, customers may now use the search and browse features to 

add publications to their shopping cart for a fully integrated shopping experience.

ÿ While the Online Bookstore has safeguarded a customer's personal information through online 

encryption since 1999, the service was recently changed so users do not have to enter the secure 

environment until they have finished shopping and need to enter personal information when 

completing the order. 

GPO Access Training Manual Updates

Updates to the GPO Access Training Manual were recently posted on the GPO Access help page. 

Approximately 33 pages were changed, including URL updates, new diagrams for tracking legislation, 

regulations, and Federal publications, and updated U.S. Government Online Bookstore information. In 

addition, a special insert has been added that discusses Federal depository library access to STATUSA/Internet, which is provided through a partnership between the U.S. Government Printing Office 

and the Department of Commerce. These updates may be found at 

<http://www.gpo.gov/gpoaccess/help/trainingbk>.

Changes made to Senate, House and Executive Reports Application on GPO Access

In response to user feedback, the Senate, House and Executive Reports application 

<http://www.gpo.gov/congress/cong005.html> on GPO Access now includes the ability to search across 

multiple Congresses in addition to being able to search for these documents within a particular Congress.

GPO Access User Survey

EIDS staff is in the process of developing a new online GPO Access User Survey, which will provide us 

with valuable feedback and a measure of usability and efficiency. The survey will be available in the 

near future on GPO Access at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/survey02.html>.
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

20

Under Development

ÿ An interactive site guide is being developed to help users find their way to the resources of GPO 

Access. Users will be able to follow a pathway of links in an exploration of the rich set of resources 

that GPO Access offers. It will provide an augmented assistance tool that lets users learn more about 

what is available when the regular navigation paths have failed to point them in the right direction.

ÿ Making use of what has been learned from our work with users in open forums, usability studies, and 

through regular feedback channels, work toward an enhanced look and feel for GPO Access has 

begun. Please play a role in this process by attending the GPO Access Open Forum sessions this 

afternoon (Monday, April 22, 2002, at 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm) and reacting to some prototype pages 

created to show our current approach.

ÿ Future enhancements for the U.S. Government Online Bookstore include improved online ordering 

for foreign customers and providing third-party hand off of orders for those who are unable to directly 

purchase from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore.

Upcoming Outreach

EIDS personnel will be attending and displaying the GPO booth at the following shows:

May 14-16 Info Today 2002 New York, NY

June 13-19 American Library Association Annual Conference Atlanta, GA

June 30- July 2 National Education Association Dallas, TX

http://www.gpo.gov/gpoaccess
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

21

RESPONSES TO RECOMMENDATIONS

DEPOSITORY LIBRARY COUNCIL • FALL 2001

1. Scheduling

Council recommends that the Government 

Printing Office (GPO) implement the 

following schedule changes beginning with 

the Fall 2003 Council Meeting:

a) Retain the Sunday night through 

Wednesday afternoon meeting 

schedule, but move the Fall Orientation 

session for new Council members to 

the Thursday immediately following 

the meeting;

b) Consider concurrent or consecutively 

scheduled meetings with other library 

conferences (e.g. state associations, 

Public Library Association, 

Association of College and Research 

Libraries).

Rationale: Moving the orientation to 

Thursday would provide more time for this 

valuable session, and would give new 

Council members background information 

from their first meeting to help them better 

understand GPO operations before their 

visit. This schedule change would also not 

require non-Council members, many of 

whom pay some or all of their own 

expenses, to spend more money to stay 

additional time.

Having Council sessions in conjunction with 

other organizations’ meetings might increase 

the size of the audience, including librarians 

not primarily responsible for government 

information in their respective institutions. 

Program opportunities might be enhanced by 

collaboration with these other organizations 

as well.

Response: Scheduling for the Council and 

Fall Conference Meetings requires a great 

deal of coordination and planning, not only 

with Council members and GPO staff, but 

also in relation to other activities in the 

greater Washington metropolitan area. 

The nation’s capital can be a difficult place 

in which to schedule meetings, and GPO 

tries to be as flexible as possible in order 

to obtain the best possible rates for the 

council/conference meeting rooms and 

hotel rooms for those registrants who 

require overnight accommodations. 

The orientation session for new Council 

members is most effective at the beginning 

of the Council meeting, thus allowing new 

Council members to be better informed of 

the mission and operation of the Library 

Programs Service (LPS). Moving the 

orientation session to Thursday extends the 

Council members’ stay by at least one 

more day, thus incurring additional costs 

for GPO and for Council members in the 

length of time they must spend away from 

their institution. Therefore, we plan to 

retain the Sunday night through 

Wednesday afternoon meeting schedule, 

but move the orientation session for new 

Council members to Sunday afternoon.

We believe the problems arising from 

scheduling Council/Conference to run 

concurrently or consecutively with other 

organizations’ meetings would exceed the 

benefits, and could present unworkable 

scheduling difficulties for attendees, 

presenters, and LPS. LPS reviews the 

evaluations after each Council/Conference 

meeting, and a frequent comment is that 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

22

there are too many competing events and 

sessions. Many attendees also mention 

that it is difficult for them to be away from 

their libraries for the full duration of the 

Conference. GPO now contracts for hotel 

space and Conference facilities up to three 

years in advance, another factor that makes 

concurrent or consecutive scheduling with 

other events problematic. GPO believes 

that it is in the best interest of the Federal 

Depository Library Program (FDLP) and 

the majority of attendees to continue 

scheduling our Conference as a stand-alone 

meeting.

2. Virtual Depository Collections

Council recommends that GPO study the 

feasibility of a virtual depository library 

collection. If feasible, Council further 

recommends that GPO draw on the expertise 

of the depository library community to serve 

their Congressional district through an 

online depository collection and supporting 

services by carrying out a pilot project.

Rationale: In light of the increasing 

predominance of online resources in the 

FDLP, GPO should consider the possible 

modification of the depository relationship. 

Exploring the concept of virtual depository 

collections with the depositories GPO could 

positively publicize the electronic transition, 

the fact that the majority of the new 

depository materials (60%) are now 

disseminated online, and the new roles that 

libraries have in building web and catalog 

resources for the distance learner/customer.

Response: FDLP program managers have 

discussed the concept of a depository 

library selecting only those items made 

available in online format. Nothing in the 

statute or practice categorically precludes 

such a selection profile once a depository 

library has been established. According to 

44 U.S.C. 1909, libraries must have at 

least 10,000 books, other than government 

publications, to remain a depository 

library. As the law has not changed, this 

is still a requirement, even for a library 

that wishes to adjust its item selection 

profile to receive only online titles.

GPO is working with the regional librarian 

at the Arizona State Library, with whom 

the idea for this recommendation 

originated, and the University of Arizona 

in Tucson, which has expressed interest in 

focusing on online only resources. We 

have also had discussions with two other 

libraries in Arizona that may be interested 

in collecting only electronic resources once 

the project has been developed. We will 

be working to develop an evaluative 

framework to ascertain that the needs of 

the immediate user community and the 

Congressional district are adequately met, 

and that a depository which establishes an 

all-electronic item selection is able to be 

evaluated in the Biennial Survey, selfstudy, and inspection on an equal and fair 

footing with a traditional depository.

The pilot project is expected to begin in 

fall 2002, with staff from the University of 

Arizona Library, the University of Arizona 

School of Information Resources and 

Library Science, and the Library Programs 

Service working together to develop plans 

to implement and evaluate the one-year 

project. Periodic progress reports will be 

developed during this period. A baseline 

initial assessment will be followed by 

informal subsequent assessments during 

the year, and a final assessment will take 

place by the end of the pilot project. 

Council will be kept abreast of the 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

23

progress of the pilot project on a regular 

basis.

3. Integrated Library System (ILS)

Council recommends that GPO provide a 

written update by the Spring 2002 

Depository Library Council meeting on the 

progress of the potential acquisition of an 

Integrated Library System.

Rationale: In the 1999 spring meeting 

Council recommended that GPO investigate 

the feasibility of acquiring an Integrated 

Library System. Council continues to 

believe that benefits to both GPO and the 

depository community exist. Additionally, 

GPO was receptive to the idea of an 

Integrated Library System but was unable to 

make a full resource commitment to an 

Integrated Library System acquisition due to 

its involvement with the Year 2000 

compliance efforts. It is also likely that the 

migration from GPO’s use of a variety of 

legacy systems to a single Integrated Library 

System would help streamline internal 

processes as well as increase responsiveness 

to the Depository Community.

Response: In the fiscal year 2002 

appropriation, GPO received general 

approval from Congress for systems 

modernization. LPS intends to acquire an 

up-to-date cataloging and library data 

management system. Our goal is to decide 

what to purchase, and to commit the funds 

necessary to purchase a commercial offthe-shelf Integrated Library System (ILS) 

within the next year.

LPS operations will undoubtedly change to 

make use of the capabilities of a new 

system, although all of the details of such 

changes cannot be predicted at this time. 

LPS expects to use the ILS to support 

cataloging, classification, acquisitions, 

serial check-in, preparation work for 

conversion contracts, library selection and 

address information, and to provide 

distribution information to the Lighted Bin 

System.

To date a working group of LPS staff has:

- Looked at current systems in use by 

LPS and their functions.

- Developed a statement of work to 

obtain the services of a library 

automation consultant. The consultant 

will assist us with defining our user 

requirements and with developing the 

criteria for selecting between 

competing systems.

- Begun to define system requirements.

- Begun to define data migration 

strategies.

- Begun investigating existing ILS 

offerings.

- Begun investigating training 

opportunities to prepare for an ILS.

- Queried other libraries that have 

obtained and implemented an ILS.

- Received input from the depository 

library community regarding interface 

requirements and service needs.

- Begun to work with Materials 

Management Service, Network 

Systems, the Office of Information 

Resources Management, and other 

GPO personnel.

- Developed material to request project 

approval from the Joint Committee on 

Printing.

4. Superseded List

Council recommends that GPO develop 

principles that clearly articulate how 

depository libraries should manage editions 

of superseded, tangible materials for which 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

24

the current edition now appears solely in an 

electronic format. Further, Council urges 

GPO to provide links to URLs in the 

electronic Superseded List.

Rationale: Because the last compilation of 

the Superseded List is approximately 5 years 

old and more products once distributed in a 

tangible format have migrated to the 

electronic environment, the need for an 

updated Superseded List is critical. Council 

believes that a statement directing the 

management of tangible superseded material 

now available in an electronic only format is 

necessary, particularly when the tangible 

material is less than 5 years old. Linking 

URLs will assist depository libraries in the 

maintenance of material that is superseded 

on a regular basis.

Council appreciates the time and effort of 

GPO and volunteers from the depository 

community and is looking forward to the 

new, electronic list in the very near future.

Response: LPS has worked with depository 

librarians to update the printed 1996 

Superseded List, and the revised version is 

available on the FDLP Desktop at 

<http://www.access.

gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/suplist/index.ht

ml>. This data is an extension of the 

1996 List as records from the revised 

Superseded List are complemented with 

information from the Substitution List.

LPS has revised the preliminary pages of 

the 1996 Superseded List to develop the 

“FDLP Guidelines for Determining

Superseded Materials,” available at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/

fdlp/coll-dev/supersede.html>. The 

Guidelines provide guidance on product 

retention for superseded titles, including 

the case when a tangible title has been 

superseded by an online product. These 

Guidelines were also published in the 

March 15, 2002 issue of Administrative 

Notes.

For the future, LPS is investigating the 

possibilities of attaching supersession 

information and other FDLP-specific data 

to the bibliographic records in the ILS. 

5. Awareness

Council recommends that GPO expand 

efforts to increase awareness among library 

administrators as well as library users of the 

unique contributions and benefits of the 

FDLP in the continuously changing 

information environment.

Rationale: Council recognizes that diverse 

constituencies may be unaware of the 

Program’s contributions and benefits. In 

light of recent trends that include more 

information offered virtually and a decline in 

the number of depository libraries 

nationally, increased promotional and 

marketing efforts are vital. These efforts 

should not only be aimed at the various 

constituencies in the library community 

(administrators, reference staff, and 

bibliographers) but at the faculty, business, 

students, government, and the general 

public.

Response: In early November 2001 a GPO 

working group was convened to develop a 

marketing strategy to increase awareness 

of the FDLP among various 

constituencies. Led by the Chief of the 

Promotion and Advertising Branch, with 

representation from Library Programs 

Service (LPS) and the Office of Electronic 

Information Dissemination Services 

(EIDS), the Group has drafted a marketing 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

25

plan around the theme “U.S. Government 

Information: Make the Connection at 

Federal Depository Libraries.”

6. Inspections

Council recommends that GPO continue to 

reorient the depository “inspection” process 

as mandated in 44 U.S.C. 1909 to a more 

positive learning and training experience. 

Whenever possible, the designated inspector 

should request that a representative from the 

depository’s regional and/or a local peer 

expert be included as part of the visiting 

team. Moreover, GPO should train 

inspectors how to conduct sessions with 

ranking library officials to the best 

advantage for depository operations.

Rationale: Council recognizes concerns

among certain libraries regarding the 

inspection process, noting that nomenclature 

and emphasis may contribute to a negative 

perception. It is the sense of Council that a 

change in the use of the word “inspection” 

to a more positive term, such as “site visit” 

may facilitate the sharing of expertise, best 

practices, and other positive outcomes. 

These outcomes can be further served by 

requesting the presence of a regional or local 

peer expert during the visit, as that person 

can provide support for the depository 

coordinator. Finally, Council believes that 

specialized training will allow inspectors to 

communicate with library officials on a more 

equal basis.

Response: The depository library inspection 

is the “firsthand investigation of 

conditions” required of the Superintendent 

of Documents in 44 U.S.C. 1909. The 

“firsthand investigation” or site visit has 

two major components. GPO staff act as 

consultants to the depository staff and 

administration, offering insights about best 

practices and suggesting alternatives in the 

operation of the depository. GPO staff 

also examine the depository to ascertain 

compliance with fundamental program 

requirements, such as free public access 

and proper maintenance of the depository 

collection. GPO views the on-site 

inspection as a time for depository staff to 

learn more about the FDLP and the 

depository community, and GPO staff 

make every effort to emphasize the 

consultation function of the visits. 

GPO always contacts the regional library 

prior to inspecting in that state, and 

encourages regional librarians to 

accompany the LPS inspector for on-site 

evaluations. The regional librarian has 

always had the option of sending another 

person when he/she is not available on the 

day of the inspection. 

Training depository library inspectors is an 

on-going process. LPS is in the process of 

training two new inspectors, and will 

schedule training sessions as appropriate. 

While the inspectors continue to look at all 

the areas shown in “Preparing for a 

Library Inspection,” there has been a 

change in emphasis from strict adherence 

to the Guidelines, Federal Depository 

Library Manual and Supplements, and the 

Instructions, to a more results-oriented 

approach. Emphasis is placed on access—

physical and bibliographic—to depository 

resources located in the library and 

available via the Internet. In response to 

this recommendation, a session entitled, 

“Discussion Session: Inspections & 

Addition of Peer Experts to Accompany 

Inspectors for On-Site Library 

Inspections” has been included as part of 

the Spring 2002 Council meeting. This 

session builds upon several other training 
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26

sessions and presentations on the 

inspections and self-study processes that 

have been included in the Federal 

Depository Library Conference and 

Council meetings. 

7. Self-Studies

Council recommends that GPO assess the 

value and effectiveness of the self-study 

process for depository librarians and GPO.

Rationale: Council would like to know 

whether the self-study process is working to 

improve depository library operations and 

the inspection process as anticipated by GPO 

and depository community. Council also 

would like to know if the self-study 

adequately helps GPO determine whether or 

not a formal inspection is warranted.

Response: In December 2001, libraries in 

Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and 

Michigan were requested to submit selfstudies of their depository operations. 

Most of the self-studies from those states 

have been received and LPS’ Depository 

Services staff are reviewing the studies as 

well as evaluating the effectiveness of the 

self-study process. While the self-study 

has been helpful in helping new librarians 

understand the role of their depository 

collection in their library and the FDLP, it 

is an extremely time-intensive undertaking 

for all parties. A minimum of six months 

elapses from the time a self-study is 

requested until the earliest date that the 

library could be inspected. Libraries are 

generally given three months to return the 

self-study, then two months are taken to 

receive and evaluate the self-studies for a 

contiguous area, and then inspections are 

scheduled, providing at least four weeks 

advance notice for the libraries.

Out of 63 self-studies called for review, 60 

libraries returned the self-study on time. 

Three libraries have been contacted and 

advised their self-study submission is late.

In response to this recommendation, a 

session has been scheduled for the 

discussion of the self-study process and its 

relation to library inspections during the 

Regional Meeting at the Spring 2002 

Council meeting.

8. Geographically Separate Backup for 

GPO Access

Council recommends that GPO proceed as 

quickly as possible to create a geographically 

separate backup for GPO Access and the 

Electronic Collection. Council also 

recommends that GPO begin working 

toward a complete mirror site, with full 

content and functionality, for GPO Access 

and the Electronic Collection.

Rationale: Preservation of electronic 

government publications in GPO archiving 

initiatives is vitally important for 

guaranteeing permanent public access to 

these core government publications and 

other content-rich government information 

resources. The events of September 11th

clearly demonstrate the strong need for 

redundancy of data storage at remote sites. 

A complete geographically separate backup 

and mirror site will allow GPO to better 

serve the needs of a growing user base.

Response: Pursuant to our goal of 

establishing a geographically separate 

mirror site and backup facility for GPO 

Access, an onsite inspection of potential 

locations in GPO facilities was recently 

completed. Based on what was learned, a 

cost benefit analysis is being performed to 

determine the optimal location for this new 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

27

facility. When this analysis has been 

completed, the location for the new site 

will be selected and work will begin as 

soon as practicable.

In late 2001, in the aftermath of September 

11, Congress provided $4 million to GPO 

in supplemental transfer authority for 

emergency preparedness (P.L. 107-117). 

Establishing a geographically remote 

mirror site and backup facility for GPO 

Access will utilize a portion of these funds, 

in addition to other project funding from 

the Salaries and Expenses appropriation to 

the Superintendent of Documents. 

Beginning with the most frequently used 

GPO Access resources, GPO will steadily 

add to the resources and data at this facility 

until it is a complete mirror site for GPO 

Access. This will include the portion of the 

FDLP Electronic Collection Archive 

maintained by GPO.

9. Geographically Separate Backup for 

Partners

Council recommends that GPO investigate 

the feasibility of providing a geographically 

separate site for the FDLP partners and 

agency partners to store data contained on 

the partner sites.

Rationale: If partners are responsible for 

locating their own geographically separate 

storage sites, GPO may or may not have 

easy access to the data or know where the 

backup is located in the event of a disruption 

at a partner site. By providing a data 

storage site for the FDLP and agency 

partners, GPO enables the partners to store 

data contained on their sites in a 

geographically separate facility. In the event 

of a disruption at a partner site, GPO can 

easily retrieve the stored data and assist the 

partner site with restoring public access to 

the data.

Response: Two options for providing a 

geographically separated backup storage 

site are being investigated at this time. 

GPO is currently investigating the 

establishment of a backup facility separate 

from GPO Central Office in Washington, 

DC, and as development of that facility 

progresses, possibilities may exist to 

include partner data.

GPO is also actively working with OCLC, 

Inc. on the establishment of OCLC’s 

Digital Archive services. GPO expects to 

store material in OCLC’s Digital Archive 

with supporting preservation metadata, and 

could conceivably place partner material in 

this arrangement as well. 

Both these options are developing rapidly, 

but some details remain to be clarified, 

particularly with regard to costs. We will 

continue to monitor developments and 

communicate with Council and our 

partners as it is feasible and appropriate.

10. Distribution of Electronic Publications

Council recommends that GPO and a 

working group of Council examine the 

concept of establishing the systematic 

distribution of Federal government 

electronic publications through the FDLP in 

order to assure further redundancy in free 

public access to that body of information.

Rationale: In response to concerns for 

permanent public access to electronic 

government information expressed by some 

in the depository community, Council 

believes that GPO and the Council working 

group should examine the following issues: 

legal issues; issues including technology; 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

28

authenticity and data integrity; feasibility; 

and the nature and level of interest in 

pursuing the proposed distribution concept in 

the depository community.

Response: LPS staff is participating in the 

discussions of the Electronic Distribution 

Working Group that is examining the 

concept of establishing the systematic 

distribution of Federal Government 

electronic publications through the FDLP.

One of the Working Group’s tasks is to 

develop a model or a proposal describing 

the ideal system for the distribution of 

electronic publications to depository 

libraries. The proposal should address the 

purpose and goals of electronic document 

distribution through the FDLP, the short 

and long-term responsibilities of 

participating libraries, and technological 

issues including authenticity, security, and 

data integrity.

GPO has reviewed the legal issues for an 

FDLP electronic publication distribution 

system. The salient point is that the law 

governing the FDLP has not changed. 

Consequently, the responsibilities of 

libraries for their depository collections 

have not changed either. Therefore, under 

existing law every regional depository 

would be required to participate, and 

would have to permanently preserve, 

maintain, and provide access to every 

electronic publication in the FDLP. This 

requirement may place a disproportionate 

burden on regional depositories in an area 

of responsibility and development that 

differs significantly from earlier 

expectations. The impact of this must be 

addressed in any proposal.

One of the Working Group’s tasks is to 

determine the nature and level of interest 

in pursuing the proposed distribution 

concept. It has been suggested that 

libraries be surveyed as to whether they 

favor a program of electronic distribution 

that emulates the traditional FDLP for 

tangible publications. Before any such 

survey can be responsibly conducted, the 

Working Group must clarify what 

responsibilities would be incumbent upon 

participating libraries from a program 

designed in accordance with existing law. 

Library administrations should not be 

expected to commit their libraries' 

resources to an electronic version of the 

traditional FDLP without knowing the 

scope of their responsibilities.

11. Shared Bibliographic Information

Council recommends that GPO appoint a 

working group to examine options for 

Federal Depository Libraries to share 

bibliographic information about government 

publications with GPO Cataloging Branch 

with the goal of sharing this cataloging 

information with all participants in the 

FDLP via GPO cataloging records. Options 

to be considered might include:

1) Sharing information to aid in the 

identification, description, and subject 

cataloging of Federal government 

publications via the process developed 

for the Electronic Publications 

Working Group;

2) A pilot project in which national 

libraries would contribute cataloging 

records for online publications to GPO 

Cataloging Branch; and

3) A pilot project in which other Federal 

Depository Libraries would contribute 
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

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cataloging of Federal publications to 

GPO Cataloging Branch.

For options 2) and 3), only libraries 

currently qualified to participate in the 

Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) 

would be eligible for participation in pilot 

projects.

Rationale: Council appreciates the panel 

discussion by representatives of the Program 

for Cooperative Cataloging held at this 

Depository Library Conference. This 

presentation stimulated discussions of the 

several options for Federal Depository 

Libraries to share cataloging records or 

bibliographic information needed to create 

cataloging records with other FDLP 

participants via GPO cataloging records. A 

working group is needed to examine the 

feasibility of these options, weighing the 

benefits of augmenting the cataloging 

available for government information 

products outside the current GPO cataloging 

workflow and distribution of that cataloging 

to FDLP participants against possible 

negative impact on GPO Cataloging 

Branch’s workload.

Response: GPO’s Cataloging Branch, as the 

national authority for cataloging U.S. 

Government publications in all formats, 

actively supports the goal of sharing 

bibliographic information with other 

libraries through participation in all 

national cooperative cataloging programs. 

However, the administration of a 

cooperative cataloging program requires a 

different level of commitment and 

resources than does participation in such 

projects. Council’s recommendation to 

establish a working group to investigate 

options for sharing bibliographic data is 

not feasible at this time, in part because 

the acquisition and implementation of an 

ILS may bring significant changes in LPS’ 

ability to share bibliographic data.

Not only is LPS devoting significant 

resources to planning for and acquiring an 

ILS, but LPS lacks sufficient personnel to 

establish and successfully work with such a 

group. The Cataloging Branch has 

experienced a serious loss of staff and has 

yet to replace a number of essential staff 

members. Within the past twelve months 

the Branch has lost both of its section 

chiefs (one to promotion, one to 

retirement) and 30% of its catalogers (all 

to promotions elsewhere). The Cataloging 

Branch’s current top priority is to address 

this crisis of recruitment and retention, and 

LPS is working closely with GPO’s Office 

of Personnel Service to develop solutions.

GPO intends to defer any action on this 

recommendation until such time as LPS’

Integrated Library System is in place, and 

the Cataloging Branch is fully staffed. 

However, this deferral should not impede 

depository or other libraries from joining 

together to share bibliographic data, as the 

panel discussion suggested during the 

October 2001 Federal Depository Library 

Conference.
AN-v23-#06-5/5/02

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Table of Contents

Security, State Plans, Promotion, and Sales \ Buckley, Council Meeting, 4/02 .................. 1

This is What the Future Looks Like \ Baldwin, Council Meeting, 4/02 ............................ 7

Current and Future State of GPO Access \ Evans, Council Meeting, 4/02 .......................13

GPO Access Update, Council Meeting, 4/02 .............................................................18

Responses To Recommendations, 2001 Fall Council ...................................................21

Administrative Notes is published in Washington, DC by the Superintendent of Documents, 

Library Programs Service, Government Printing Office, for the staffs of U.S. Federal 

Depository Libraries.

It is published on the 15th day of each month; some months have additional issues. 

Postmaster send address changes to: The Editor, Administrative Notes

U.S. Government Printing Office

Library Programs Service, SLLD

Washington, DC 20401

Internet access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/index.html

Editor: Marian W. MacGilvray (202) 512-1119 mmacgilvray@gpo.gov