ADMINISTRATIVE MOTES

U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of Documents

Library and Statutory Distribution Service

Vol 2. No.

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RETURNED SURVEY CARDS

(A considerable number of letters and phone calls regarding some of last

year's Surveys have been received. Below is the text of a letter of reply

by the Director of the Library and Statutory Distribution Service.)

Dear Librarian:

Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding item cards mailed last

year in time to meet the scheduled cutoff dates.

At the time we returned your cards, along with those of a number of

other depositories, we thought they had been received late. However, the

large volume of letters and telephone calls we have now received has con- vinced us that we were mistaken. The late arrival of the cards at our

processing point was obviously caused by a breakdown somewhere in the

GP0 mail system.

You may rest assured that the items in question for which you promptly

sent cards will indeed be recorded as selected, if you will note the

selection on your next printout. Every consideration will be given to

depositories making claims for such items, should any be distributed in the

interim. Also, we are holding distribution of items on Surveys 62, 63, 64

and 65, until the latest printouts have been returned and entered into our data base. Special concern expressed by librarians regarding Census

material (such as CENSUS OF POPULATION: FINAL REPORTS RY STATES, and

U.S. CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING, 1980) has been noted; but, be assured

that you will not miss this material because it will not be published until

well after your next update.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience or worry this matter

may have caused. We shall try harder to eliminate such occurrences. ******************************** A A fti** * A*** ft**;^

QUARTERLY SELECTION UPDATE

We have begun to receive responses updating item selections. Remember that

your printouts must be returned before March 20, 1981, to have any changes for

your library activated on the next item selection update. Changes to Lists of

Item Selections received after that date cannot be accepted. Thank you for

your cooperation. If you have any questions regarding this printout, please

call (703) 557-9013 or 557-9026.

DUAL FORMAT DISTRIBUTION ERROR

2

Some alert depository librarians called to our attention that in

addition to receiving hardcopy format of the 1977 CENSUS OF RETAIL

TRADE, GEOGRAPHIC AREA SERIES (C 3.255/2:, Item 132-A-Oi to 132-A-54),

titles were also starting to arrive in a microfiche version. An immediate

"hold" was placed on 19 more such titles in microfiche found to be

awaiting distribution. An ongoing investigation has revealed that the

fiche should not have been sent. Also, it turns out that many of the

fiche were illegible. GPO people have met with Census staff and learned

that their contractors have produced a poor product. One positive re- sult is that Census intends to establish a Quality Control Group to oversee future microfiche production. ***************************************************************************

REGIONALS CAN SAVE TIME $ MONEY

Everything distributed by GPO goes out to Regional depository libraries

whether or not they return survey cards to GPO. A few Regionals are taking the time and spending money on postage to return cards to GPO.

Please cease and desist! Tins will prove a saving to your Regional and

eliminate needless processing of these cards by GPO staff. **************************************************************************

CHANGE IN SENATE EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS

Senate Executive Documents (mailed under Item 0996-A) will no longer be

alphabetically lettered each session of Congress. Beginning with the

97th Congress, these documents will be known as "Treaty Docs." They will

be numbered sequentially through the entire Congress, ltfhen the 98th

Congress convenes, these "Treaty Docs." will begin again with Number 1. ***************************************************************************

SHORTAGES MET WITH MICROFICHE

Some depository librarians are still expressing surprise on finding an unexpected microfiche in their box while a hardcopy publication, is on their shipping list. The explanation is that your library has just been

rescued from having no publication whatsoever! Once again some agency has

shorted GPO in the number of distribution copies. When we have called them

they have said, "Tough luck, there are no more copies available." We have

contacted GPO Sales to learn they lack copies also. Thereupon our Microfiche Specialists produce a fiche version of the short copies and you are

rescued! Please do not be surprised if you get a surprise fiche once in a while.