PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

HIGHLIGHTS

VOL.1, NO.

1

MAY, 1973

Advisory Council Meets On Depositories

SUPERINTENDENT'S LOG

Welcome to Public Documents Higlilights! This is the

firet attempt at a circular letter of interest primarily to Documents librarians.

The letter is significant because it is one of the many

recommendations of the Public Printer's Advisory Council on Depository LiLiraries convened earlier this year. A

number of other important contributions were made,

many of which you'll see effected in coming months.

"The world was not built by conformists!" said a former PubUc Printer. Althougli conformism is not an

evfl unto itself, it has to some extent inhibited our growth in recent years to meet the burgeonmg demands

of Americans and many of our overseas' friends for new

knowledge in the hands of many of our government

departments.

In the Depository Program particularly, we're looking

for new-if nonconformist-programs leading to better

service to libraries and, hence, to those who use them.

Keeping "in touch," something we haven't done as well as we should have in the past, is one way we think we can improve our service to depositories.

Tliere arc two ^vays you can help:

Supporting the Public Printer's Advisory Council is one; the other is exchanging material, suggestions and recommendations for Public Documents Higliliglus.

Public Documents HiL'hliglits is circulated on an

irregular basis by the Superintendent of Documents,

Washington, D.C. 20402, and is mailed at first class postage rates PubUc Documents lliplili^litb is circulated

to librarians of tiie Federal Depository Library Program.

Material proposed for circulation may be subniitted to

llie Chief, Planning Division, Public Documents Depart- ment, Rox 1533, Washington. D.C. 20013. The .Superin- tendent of Documents, however, retains the riglii to accept such material, to edit it and to assign priorities of

circulation.

A newly-organized Advisory Council to the Public

Printer on Depository Libraries met in Washington, D.C,

on February 2, 1973. The Council offered a number of

recommendations, including publication of a circular

letter. This is the initial issue.

The Council, numbering fourteen respected librarians across tlie nation, replaces an earlier constituted body

but which never conducted formal meetings.

Much of the discussion centered around micropublishing and the role of both the Government Printing

Office and Superintendent of Documents in its preparation and distribution.

Considered, meanwhile, were recommendations in- volving instructions to depositories, the Monthly Catalog, particularly indexing, changes in depository sliipping

lists with a new format, study groups, as well as

newsletters.

Yet to be clarified are a number of administrative matters pertinent to the Council's function.

At the February meeting were:

D. Clihon Brock , Jr., University of North Carolina;

Clifford P. Crowers, Free Library of Philadelphia; Bernadine E. Hoduski , USEPA, Kansas City; Charles G. LaHood, Library of Congress; Jean E. Lowrie, Western Michigan University; Ralph E. iVicCoy. Southern Illinois University; Peter J. Paulson, University of the State of New York; Carolyn Else, Peirce County (Washington) Library System;

Katherine Laich , University of Southern California; Maryellen T. Hall , Oklahoma Department of Libraries; former-Superintendent of Documents Carper W. Buckley ; Eileen D. Cooke, American Library

Association; Catharine J. Reynolds, University of Colorado; and Margaret T. Lane , Office of the Secretary of State of the State of Louisiana.

Selection of a chairperson was considered without

ilnal decisiim.

Then-Acting Public Printer Leonard Golden called

noti'. the Depository Program and the work of the Council "iniportant" adding;

Continued ©

Continued

"With . . . expansion of the (depositor}') program in view, we determined tJiat it would be in our best

interest, and we hope in yours also, to establish a

professional advisory group to the Public Printer on the Depository Library program."

No new meeting was set at the time but a session has aiKe been scheduled for the June convention of the American Library Association at Las Vegas.

BOOKSTORES

Depository librarians nationwide frequently mention

support' they've received from GPO Bookstores in acquisition and reference not directly associated with

the Depository Program. It occurred, again, most re- cently at Huntsville, during a meeting of the Alabama

State Library Association. The object of note at the Huntsville proceedings was the GPd Bookstore at Birmingham and the assistance of its people to all librarians, not alone to those most intimately associated with Depositories.

Vith the ribbon barely cut opening the 20th store at Qeveland in March, the Department, meanwhile, turned

its attention to stores to be opened shortly at Seattle and Milwaukee.

Six more are proposed for fiscal 1974; Houston, and mentioned as possibilities are Jacksonville, Minneapolis,

Buffalo, Phoenix and St. Louis.

Pittsburgli, Honolulu and New Orleans also are thouglit to be futures.

The New York store is expanding. So is Philadelphia,

into new and larger quarters. Similar relocations are scheduled at Los Angeles and Chicago.

And so the chain grows.

Additional stimulus to the program is expected with

relaxation of requirements that stores be located in federally-owned or leased faciUties. Beginning next year, wider latitude in selection of market places is expected

in cities ihouglit suitable for bookstore locations.

The goal is a store in each of the major marketing

areas tliroudiout the United States, not necessarily only

in those cities offering surplus space in federally- controlled buildings.

That the growth is a healthy one is indicated by

notable increases in sales tlirougliout the bookstore

organization, up more tiiun 556,000 during a recent reporting period over the same time span a year ago, with libraries and librarians increasingly counted among

its customers.

it

NEW AGENCY

Publications of a new agency uithin the Department

of Commerce, the Domestic and International Business Administration, means additions to the Superintendent

of Documents classification system. DIBA has organized

into four subordinates. Bureau of International Commerce, Bureau of Resources and Trade Assistance, Bureau of Competitive Assessment and Business Policy and the Bureau of East-West Trade.

iVew "classes " look like this:

Domestic and International Business Administration (C57.1:-99)

(Includes Secretary's Office and administrative offices.)

International Commerce Bureau (C57J00's)

• (formerly C42j

Resources and Trade Assistance B\iKmi(C57.200's)

Competitive Assessment and Business Policy Bureau

(C57.300-S)

(formerly Domestic Commerce Bureau C4I

East-West Trade Bureau (C57.400's)

^

ORGANIZATION MANUAL-The organization manual of tlie U.S. Government is expected to wear a new face next year, in line with a White House

recommendation to improve design of all government

publications. New cover designs are not expected to increase costs, however.

fr i!r *

NEW PEOPLE-The Public Documents Department,

long plagued with too few people for too much work,

particularly in sales and order-processing, is getting much-needed relief. Twenty-eight new people were

brought on board in t!ie first week of March; ciglity- seven others were scheduled for the balance of the month and into April.

ic i: it REFERENCE FILE-The Department's Reference

File, microtiched experimentally a year ago, nears "on

line" use. Updating of the file is scheduled every 6 weeks—in the beginning-through Ad-ministrative Terminal System (.ATS) outlets to computers. The result is expected in savings of thousands of "reference" hours

annually.

GPO 865-273