Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 20, no. 12 GP 3.16/3-2:20/12 July 25, 1999 

Depository Library Council to the Public Printer 

April 14, 1999 

Recommendations, Action Items, and Commendations 

Recommendations 

1. Cease Production of Most Availability Records 

Council recommends that GPO eliminate the production of availability records for all non-map 

serial and multi-part monograph products (tangible and electronic) for the Monthly Catalog. 

Rationale: Availability records are currently created only for annual and semiannual serials. This 

practice is a procedural holdover from the pre-automated Monthly Catalog era. Elimination of 

production of these availability records would free up GPO cataloging resources to be allocated 

to other work and would eliminate the confusion that these duplicate records create. 

2. Replace Periodicals Supplement 

Council recommends that GPO replace the Periodicals Supplement with a more comprehensive 

tool, which will list all serials in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and all serials 

cataloged in the preceding year. 

Rationale: The Periodicals Supplement of the Monthly Catalog currently contains serial titles 

issued three or more times a year; serial titles issued once or twice a year receive availability 

records and appear in the regular monthly issues of the Monthly Catalog. Council has 

recommended elimination of the production of these availability records. Therefore, all serials, 

regardless of frequency, should now be included in an enhanced Periodicals Supplement. 

3. Integrated Library System 

Council recommends that GPO investigate the feasibility of acquiring an Integrated Library 

System that would represent bibliographic records and holdings for all pieces distributed to 

depository libraries (e.g. serial check-in, individual volumes of a multi-volume set) and be 

available for public online inquiries. Council also recommends that in its investigation, GPO 

consider the cost savings to be gained from acquiring an Integrated Library System, including 

savings gained from the elimination of inquiries about holdings on AskLPS. 
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Rationale: Council believes that both GPO and the depository community would benefit from an 

Integrated Library System which would reflect holdings to the piece level. Such a system would 

provide current awareness for materials processed by the Cataloging Branch and would eliminate 

any need for availability records. 

4. Fee-based products 

Council recommends that GPO strengthen its efforts to bring fee-based electronic products into 

the FDLP at no cost to the library. 

Rationale: Council believes that fee-based electronic Government information products and 

services should be made available to depository libraries at no cost, in compliance with Title 44, 

and other laws and regulations. In addition, Council has noted the increased use of limited 

passwords for fee-based products and services. Council strongly encourages GPO to 

aggressively pursue no-fee access to fee-based databases for depository libraries, including a 

sufficient number of passwords so that depositories can provide adequate access to their user 

communities. Alternative approaches of acquiring no-fee access for depository libraries should 

be explored with agencies that are not now complying with the law. 

5. GPO Access and Search Engines 

Council recommends that GPO investigate and implement strategies to include top level GPO 

Access pages on popular Internet search engines, e.g. Yahoo!, NorthernLights, and Lycos. 

Rationale: The general public often relies on popular Internet search engines and services to 

locate information. Therefore the inclusion of GPO Access pages into these services will 

achieve two very positive goals: first, it will promote the GPO Access system and its related 

services; and second, it will link citizens to the official versions of the Government information 

they need. 

6. NRC Public Document Room Collections 

Council recommends that GPO work with depository libraries to continue its planning with the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assure permanent public access to NRC documents. 

GPO should identify a small group of depository librarians, including LPDR (the NRC’s Local 

Public Document Room program) and regional libraries, to work with them on final guidelines 

and procedures. 

Rationale: GPO and NRC have entered into discussions about moving the NRC microfiche 

depository collections under the auspices of the FDLP, since the NRC’s LPDR program is being 

phased out at the end of fiscal year 1999. The LPDR program was designed to provide 

information to citizens in the immediate vicinity of nuclear power reactors throughout the 

licensing and operating life of the reactors. The LPDR collections have some overlap with 

FDLP collections, but also include many unique materials. The focus of the current discussions 

is 73 collections of microfiche from 1981 to date. While some LPDRs may choose to retain their 

collections, others may choose to withdraw them. Designating these collections as part of the 

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FDLP program and finding homes for an appropriate number of those withdrawn from LPDRs 

will preserve public access to these valuable materials across the country. 

7. Migration of Physical Format Products to Online Distribution 

Council recommends that GPO test the policies, procedures, and criteria for migrating titles to 

online electronic delivery only, as outlined in the document “Migration of Physical Format 

Products to Online Distribution,” (Administrative Notes, v. 20, no. 4, Feb. 15, 1999, p. 4) and 

report back to Council within an appropriate time frame. 

Rationale: This document provides useful guidelines for evaluating FDLP titles which have been 

identified for conversion from physical to electronic format. Prior to any implementation of 

these guidelines, Council asks GPO to conduct one or more pilot projects to evaluate the 

effectiveness of these criteria and procedures. Of special interest to Council would be 

procedures for FDLP input on the title selection process and the management plan and 

procedures for the digital archive. Council expects that GPO will be able to report on its 

progress in testing these guidelines at the next Council meeting. 

8. Federal Agency Outreach 

Council recommends that GPO accelerate its outreach efforts to agencies to inform them of the 

mutual benefit that agencies, GPO, depository libraries, and the American public derive from the 

dissemination of information through the FDLP. 

Rationale: Our democratic system depends on ready public access to Federal Government 

information as has been provided through the FDLP. The loss of electronic Government 

information products from agency Web sites is a widespread, yet unrecognized, problem and 

perhaps the greatest challenge of the change in Government publishing from the print to the 

electronic environment. Accelerated outreach efforts, such as promoting the “Internet 

Information Product Notification Form,” will impress upon agencies the significant steps GPO is 

taking to address this great challenge and to make Federal electronic information readily 

available to the public through the FDLP. 

9. Partnerships 

Recognizing that permanent public access to electronic Government information is an essential 

element of the FDLP Electronic Collection, Council recommends that GPO allocate the 

resources necessary to accelerate the process of identifying new partnership models and potential 

agency and institutional partners. 

Rationale: The strategic plan identifies as a priority that GPO establish a distributed system for 

ensuring that Government information products available via Government information services 

are maintained permanently for public access through the FDLP. Council recognizes that GPO 

has initiated some efforts toward this goal. However, Council believes that, since partnerships 

are essential to a successful FDLP Electronic Collection, GPO must work more aggressively 

with agencies to develop partnership opportunities for libraries, consortia, and other institutions. 

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10. Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions 

Council recommends that GPO finalize and distribute the FDLP Guidelines on Substituting 

Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications. In publicizing the guidelines, GPO 

should emphasize that depository libraries should review their collection development and public 

service policies to ensure appropriate user services as they make decisions about substituting 

electronic formats for tangible versions of publications. 

Rationale: The draft guidelines presented at this meeting provide a reasonable procedure for 

beginning the process of substituting reliable and permanently accessible electronic publications 

for tangible products. The guidelines include appropriate cautions about considering user needs, 

as well as requirements for following disposal guidelines of the Regional depository. 

Implementation of these guidelines will allow depositories to begin a reasoned process of 

collection management that includes fully electronic versions of products. The initial list of 

official GPO databases provides a good starting point, and will be expanded as appropriate. 

Council suggests that it is not necessary to append a List of Official GPO Partnership Sites to 

this document in its initial distribution. 

11. Permanent Public Access Archive 

Council recommends that GPO develop a prototype of an archive of FDLP electronic products to 

ensure Permanent Public Access (PPA). 

Rationale: The archive prototype is a critical component of the life cycle process within a 

Permanent Public Access system. The archive must demonstrate success before other aspects of 

PPA are implemented. Ideally, the archive prototype should be developed by summer 1999. 

12. Outreach to Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) 

Council recommends that GPO broaden its contact with the Chief Officers of State Library 

Agencies (COSLA). 

Rationale: Council is encouraged by, and very supportive of, GPO’s outreach efforts. The Chief 

Library Officers are responsible for overarching library technology planning at the state level. 

Therefore, it is essential that they are part of the planning for the FDLP and are involved in how 

that might relate to other statewide electronic information planning needs. 

Chief Library Officers meet at least once annually in the Washington, DC area and participate in 

National Legislative Library Day. Chief Library Officers work with their Congressional 

delegations on an ongoing basis. These officers are responsible for organizing the rapid and 

pervasive pace of technological change. Many state library agencies are regional depository 

libraries and most are at least selective depository libraries. The Chief Officers therefore 

understand the importance of citizen access to, and interest in, electronic Government 

information. Many state document programs benefit from and are related to Federal document 

activities and services. 

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Chief Library Officers participate in and lead statewide technological interaction among libraries 

in their states. 

Under the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), Government information 

support is an allowable activity. Access to Government information will increasingly depend on 

library building level technological capacity as well as the focal role of technologically 

sophisticated regional and selected depositories. The State Library Officers should be included 

in the planning for future Government options and services. 

13. Congressional Information/Comparative Web Site Analysis 

Council recommends that GPO continue efforts to improve coverage of Congressional and other 

legislative information on GPO Access. To this end, Council recommends that GPO conduct a 

comparative analysis of the legislative branch information available through GPO Access with 

that of THOMAS, committee Web sites, and other relevant Government and non-government 

sites. Council anticipates that GPO staff will provide a report on this topic at the fall 1999 

Council meeting. 

Rationale: Council reiterates the Fall 1998 action item on congressional information and 

continues to emphasize the importance of expanded GPO Access to current and archival 

legislative branch information. 

Council believes the report will facilitate better understanding of the competitive position of 

GPO Access vis-à-vis other related Web sites for legislative branch information. This will also 

provide a test case of comparative analysis of GPO Access and implementation of the Electronic 

Collection plan. 

Commendations 

1. Council commends GPO on their latest marketing efforts that include a new Web design, 

booth display, and promotional materials. Council is especially pleased with efforts to 

promote the full range of GPO services to existing and new constituencies. Council 

encourages GPO to continue broadening their marketing efforts to new audiences and 

industries. 

2. Council commends Nan Myers and Ablah Library, Wichita State University, for taking a 

leadership role in developing and improving the Documents Data Miner, a Web-based, 

interactive tool integrating GPO-provided and other data elements. The DDM provides 

significant benefits to individual depository libraries, their ability to network and coordinate 

collection development, referral and other services. 

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Action Items 

1. Council will work with GPO to plan a report on methods and metrics for measuring usage of 

the GPO Access Web site and major components thereof. 

2. Council will work with GPO staff to identify resources available for evaluating the value of 

depository collections of various sizes and ages. Libraries that have gathered information 

will be invited to share it, to be combined with cost information that GPO can supply. 

3. Council will continue, through its Operations Committee, to consult with GPO on specific 

electronic products that present difficult software or usage challenges for GPO and 

depositories. 

4. Council Operations Committee will explore with GPO, depository libraries, and vendors the 

current functions of item numbers for online electronic formats and consider alternatives. 

5. Council has received the Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government Information 

Products commissioned by GPO to assist in planning and implementing the transition to a 

more electronic FDLP. Council will work with GPO in the analysis of the key findings and 

data. 

6. The Electronic Transition Committee will analyze the Council Discussion Paper Completing 

the Transition to a More Electronic FDLP and will report that analysis to GPO. 

7. Council will respond to the University of California San Diego summarizing our discussions 

of UCSD’s correspondence regarding their suggestion that source files be made available for 

depository library selection. 

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7

Depository Library Council 

Summary, 1999 Spring Meeting 

April 12-15, 1999 

Bethesda, MD 

Monday April 12, 1999 

Sheila McGarr opened the session with remarks about attendance, and welcomed attendees to 

Bethesda. Sheila noted the color codes applied to attendee's badges are to help in networking. 

Some interesting information regarding attendance includes: 

500+ attendees 

80% of hotel guests are associated with the conference 

27 of 82 speakers from depositories 

477 pre-registered 

292 academic 

42 public 

66 law 

117 first conference 

75 new document' librarians and first-time attendees 

Tom Andersen, Chair of Council, California State Library, called the meeting to order and 

opened the Plenary Session asking Council members to introduce themselves. Present were: 

Donna Koepp, University of Kansas 

Mary Alice Baish, Georgetown University 

Law Library 

Julia Wallace, University of Minnesota 

Maggie Farrell, Montana State University 

Duncan Aldrich, University of Nevada Reno 

Denise Davis, The Gale Group 

Greg Lawrence, Cornell University 

Fred Wood, National Library of Medicine 

GladysAnn Wells, Department of Library, 

Archives and Public Records, Arizona 

Diane Eidelman, Suffolk Cooperative Library 

System, Long Island, NY 

Carol Bednar, California State University, 

Fullerton 

Paula Kaczmarek, Detroit Public Library 

Peggy Walker, Citizen 

Diane Garner, Harvard University 

Tom Anderson asked the attendees to indicate by a show of hands where they were from. Also, 

Tom asked attendees to applaud Ridley Kessler for speaking at a hearing on Title 44, and 

Council Chair recognized him for his testimony and contribution. 

The more than 18 GPO staff attending were asked to come to the front of the room and introduce 

themselves. 

Tom Andersen mentioned his change in employment, to oversee funding and support to the 

California State Library Board. In this role he coordinates programs and meetings, and has new 

and enhanced appreciation for the efforts of GPO. 
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Carol Bednar gave a brief overview of the Cataloging Locator committee meeting and Duncan 

Aldrich gave a brief overview of the Electronic Transition committee. Both of these committees 

meet Tuesday afternoon during Council working time. 

On Wednesday morning, Council will discuss the Draft Specifications for Workspace and Draft 

Biennial Survey. The remainder of the Council time will be spent working (e.g., discussing and 

writing recommendations). 

Attendees with suggestions for Council and GPO should feel free to put notes in the newly 

created "suggestion ice bucket." 

Tom Andersen introduced Michael DiMario, Public Printer of the United States. Mr. DiMario 

opened the spring 1999 Depository Library Council and Federal Depository Conference and 

thanked everyone for attending. He announced that Superintendent of Documents Fran Buckley 

would not be present due to the death of his mother. Gil Baldwin will present Fran’s remarks. 

Mr. DiMario described the Federal Depository Library Program as a partnership between 

Depository Librarians, your institutions, and the Federal Government. It is important to 

recognize that depository librarians own the program and their contributions are appreciated. 

The Federal Depository Conference is a valuable venue for networking with other depository 

colleagues and sharing ideas with GPO staff. 

In keeping with ribbons to identify attendees, it may be appropriate to develop campaign ribbons 

for those who have been to Conferences over the years and survived the battles of keeping the 

program alive and prospering. Council meetings are events where we can share ideas to improve 

the Depository Program. 

This year there is a new Congress, which impacts how GPO and the Depository Program 

operate. A great deal of time is being spent educating old groups with new people, and new 

committees in Congress. The Joint Committee on Printing is a product of two other committees, 

the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the House Oversight Committee (now the 

House Administration Committee). JCP has appointed members to a new committee, in spite of 

no funding, but they have not yet had their organizational meeting. Members of the JCP 

committee include Chair Bill Thomas of CA, from the House of Representatives side, and 

Ranking Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, MD. Both Thomas and Hoyer are well versed in issues 

of the Depository Program. On the Senate side, advocates include the Vice-Chairman, Mitch 

McConnell from KY, and Chris Dodd from CT. This is the oversight group for GPO and the 

Depository Program. 

GPO has moved forward on appropriations. The House Appropriations hearing was chaired by 

Charles Taylor of NC. Ridley Kessler provided testimony during this important hearing. Ed 

Pastor of AZ is new to the committee, and is important to GPO and the library community. He 

seems sympathetic to the program. 

At the Appropriations hearing, GPO requested $31.2 million for the Federal Depository Library 

Program. GPO’s total request was in excess of $80M. An additional $1 million was requested 

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for the Library Program. There were indications that consideration is being given to the request, 

but Mr. DiMario is not optimistic. Included in the request was funding for infrastructure, new 

elevators, staffing, and support for anticipated increased volume of work. This is the largest 

increase of any Legislative Branch agency, but is based on record data and is appropriate. 

The Senate Hearing dealt largely with Y2K issues. Regarding Y2K preparedness, GPO is very 

close to completing work to meet Federal requirements for compliance. It is expected that 

remaining issues with the Senate on Y2K compliance will be resolved by late spring 1999. The 

concerns are largely with the new mainframe at GPO. The new order processing system, IPS, 

remains to be tested. In addition, the Lighted Bin System will be replaced by the Automated 

Depository Distribution System (ADDS), which will be Y2K compliant. 

Mr. DiMario mentioned Council members ending their appointment terms in September 1999: 

Tom Andersen, Carol Bednar, Denise Davis, Diane Eidelman, Peggy Walker. Newly appointed 

Council members are: Linda Fredericks, King County Library, WA; Robert Hinton, Indiana 

University Purdue, IN; Sharon Hogan, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL; Mary Redman, New 

York State Library, NY; Andrea Sevetson, University of California, Berkeley. 

As a final note, Mr. DiMario spoke about legislation, especially Title 44 and S2288. Senators 

Warner (VA) and Ford (KY) were advocates for Title 44 Reform. The key was to improve 

access to Government information and bring fugitive documents into traditional channels of 

dissemination. The bill was an omnibus bill, working with the Interagency Working Group, and 

failed although favorably discussed. Senator Warner is no longer on the committee and Senator 

Ford has retired. A champion is needed to get the word out about the Federal Depository Library 

Program. In addition, depository librarians have a role in keeping their legislators informed 

regarding non-compliance with Title 44 and the need to curtail deviations from the program, 

especially the creation of fugitive documents. 

To assist with this effort, Mr. DiMario has brought a staff member from JCP, Mary Beth Lawlor, 

to work on GPO’s behalf to keep Congress informed of the issues and the work of GPO and the 

Federal Depository Library Program. 

Mr. DiMario indicated that future work on Title 44 will not include an omnibus bill, but future 

legislation will be specific and corrective to deal with important issues. Council has been asked 

to advise GPO on matters that need attention and GPO will try to identify a sponsor. 

Mr. DiMario thanked attendees for coming, wished them an informative and fun conference, and 

anticipated better weather. 

Tom Andersen, Chair of Council, noted that Duncan Aldrich is the chair-elect of Council (1999-

2000), and he then introduced Gil Baldwin. 

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GPO Update 

Gil Baldwin, Director, LPS, GPO 

Mr. Baldwin spoke in place of Mr. Fran Buckley, Superintendent of Documents. 

<remarks reprinted in Administrative Note, v. 20, # 8, 5/1/99s> 

T.C. Evans, Assistant Director, Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services 

(EIDS), GPO 

<remarks reprinted in Administrative Notes, v. 20, # 8/ 5/1/99> 

Gil Baldwin, Director, Library Programs Services, GPO 

<remarks reprinted in Administrative Notes, v. 20, # 8/ 5/1/99> 

Robin Haun-Mohamed, Chief, Depository Administration Branch, LPS, GPO 

<remarks reprinted in Administrative Notes, v. 20, # 8/ 5/1/99 > 

Thomas A. Downing, Chief, Cataloging Branch, LPS, GPO 

<remarks reprinted in Administrative Notes, v. 20, # 9/ 5/15/99> 

George D. Barnum, Electronic Transition Specialist, LPS, GPO 

George Barnum reported that the Electronic Transition Team is working in 5 major areas: 

1. Developing and implementing the electronic collection plan. GPO received good 

feedback on the plan from depository libraries and partners. 

2. Establishing and building the GPO Electronic Collection. The ETS handout contains 

more information [see Administrative Notes, v. 20. # 8, 5/1/99]. Discussion is scheduled 

for Tuesday. 

3. Exploring the notion of partnerships. George has been enhancing partnership 

agreements; cleaning up sites that are now defunct (University of Texas), and evaluating 

whether they should be stored for archival purposes. 

4. Updating pilot projects: NTIS and ERIC. 

5. Miscellaneous – Digital Publications Preservation Steering Committee at National 

Agricultural Library (NAL); working to get the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 

documents/resources into the Depository Program, even if in microfiche. 

Tom Andersen, Council Chair, thanked all the speakers from GPO and opened the floor to 

questions, first from Council, then from the audience. 

Questions and Answers 

Fred Wood, Council member, asked a follow-up question to T.C. Evans regarding increase in 

usage of the GPO Access site and any explanation for the increase in use. T.C. responded that 

GPO Access has been used increasingly as the site is improved. T.C. knew that performance 

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was an issue as a result of wear-and-tear on the old equipment. Equipment improvements and 

the addition of new materials, including the Starr Report, have positively affected the use and 

visibility of GPO Access. Fred Wood asked again if GPO was confident in its assessment of a 

100% increase in traffic and T.C. Evans responded affirmatively. 

Julia Wallace, Council member, asked about the binding issues regarding the Congressional 

Record and presumed the quality would improve with future editions. Robin Haun-Mohamed is 

aware of the poor quality of binding. GPO is working to rebind or reproduce the volumes in 

question. 

Duncan Aldrich, Council member, asked about the status of the memorandum regarding 

acceptable replacement of print and fiche products with electronic. Sheila McGarr responded 

that the General Counsel has approved the draft. Sheila emphasized that attendees should not 

return to their libraries and begin discarding print/tangible documents. She reiterated that the 

intent is for depository libraries to work with their regional in coordinating such discarding. The 

final policy statement would be printed in the May 15th Administrative Notes [v. 20, # 9] 

<www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ad051599.html>. 

Diane Garner, Council member, asked about the revision or replacement of the List of Classes 

and what the List means in the current environment. Robin Haun-Mohammed responded that the 

print product is about three months behind schedule. There are monthly updates to the online 

version of the List of Classes. The print will continue to be distributed twice each year. Robin 

mentioned that GPO followed Council’s recommendation on this matter, but are looking at 

additional options. 

Mary Alice Baish, Council member, asked about the NAL framework for public access 

document and asked if it was available anywhere. Greg Lawrence is the conduit for getting that 

framework and provided his e-mail address <GWL1@cornell.edu>. Greg will get copies to 

Council. George Barnum suggested that it might also be on the NAL preservation Web site. He 

will check and get back with Council. 

Mary Alice Baish elaborated on Ridley Kessler’s testimony, mentioned earlier by Mr. DiMario, 

before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislation for Title 44 and asked Ridley to 

share his experience with the group. Ridley remarked that this was his second testimony before 

Congress. He found the experience very valuable and thought Steny Hoyer’s (MD) contribution 

required many thanks, as will the future contributions of Ed Pastor (AZ). Ridley noted that 

though he has spent almost 20 years promoting GPO and the Federal Depository Program, that is 

nothing compared with the work of Mary Alice Baish, the American Association of Law 

Libraries, and Pru Adler of ARL, who work tirelessly on behalf of access to Government 

information. 

Mary Alice Baish added that testimony was very important this year and encouraged depository 

librarians to write their representatives. Important background information is available at 

<www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash>. Click on Testimony to review Ridley’s and other 

testimony on the Washington Affairs Web site. 

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Julia Wallace echoed the need for outreach to legislators, emphasizing how the FDLP benefits 

their staff and their constituents. This includes linking legislator's pages to your local Web site 

and through to GPO Access and other Federal Web sites. 

Fred Wood commended GPO staff for getting out there and staying competitive in the electronic 

information marketplace. 

Tom Andersen asked for questions from the floor. 

Dan Barkley, University of New Mexico, asked about the FBIS CD-ROM, which under the new 

Folio software restricts output (printing and downloading). Robin Haun-Mohamed commented 

that the licensing agreement prevents printing and downloading due to copyright restrictions, but 

that the data is also available on the NTIS World News Connection Web site. Dan remarked that 

the restrictions have been an ongoing and longstanding problem. Access to the information is 

wonderful, but is significantly diminished when printing or downloading is prohibited. Robin 

reiterated that GPO must abide by the license agreement, restricting output options, or not make 

the information available at all. 

Andrea Sevetson, University of California Berkeley, asked a follow-up question. It is an issue of 

copyright clearance and material on the FBIS CD which may appear on the NTIS World News 

Connection Web site, but it is not clear whether either source is complete. Cost is an issue, and it 

is unclear how to be sure complete information is available to the public. Another small point, 

because the online Administrative Notes is only in HTML it cannot be easily printed, as it could 

be if available in PDF. Without a searchable table of contents, it is of limited value. 

Diane Garner, Council member, revisited the FBIS issue, reiterating that the copyright extends 

back to the original publishers of the articles. It would seem the access issues are out of the 

hands of both GPO and NTIS to resolve. Theresa McGurty, NTIS, stated that it is difficult even 

for NTIS and other agencies to get their own documents. 

Afternoon Session 

Tom Andersen, Council Chair, began the afternoon session with an overview of Council 

committees and a status report from committee chairs, then a review of the agenda. 

Electronic Transition Committee, chaired by Duncan Aldrich, with members Peggy Walker, 

Gregg Lawrence, Diane Eidelman, Diane Garner, Paula Kaczmarek, Fred Wood, Gil Baldwin, 

and T.C. Evans. 

Standing Committee, FDLP Electronic Transition 

Topics included: criteria for format replacement; outreach to Federal agencies, library 

community or others interested in furthering access to Federal Government information. 

Duncan Aldrich indicated that a summary of the status of the transition to a more electronic 

FDLP was available <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ad050199.html>. The discard format 

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issue will be discussed at Tuesday's meeting along with a review the progress report, outreach to 

Federal agencies, etc., and recommendations will be prepared. 

Partnerships Work Group of the Electronic Transition and Archiving Issues Committee, a 

standing committee of Council to look at archiving and preservation issues of the FDLP, is 

chaired by Gregg Lawrence, with members Tom Andersen, Donna Koepp, Duncan Aldrich, T.C. 

Evans, and Gil Baldwin. 

Gregg indicated the group had not yet met, but planned to do so at this conference, and to make 

suggestions to Gil Baldwin and T.C. Evans of GPO. 

Tom Andersen asked Donna Koepp, chair of the Partnerships Work Group within this 

committee, to update the group. This work group is planning to meet at the conference, and 

Donna will provide a summary of their discussion to Council. 

Tom commented that many of the work groups have not reached the stage to adequately report. 

The Cataloging and Locator Services Work Group, within the GPO Operations Committee, is 

chaired by Carol Bednar with members Maggie Farrell, Diane Eidelman, and Tadd Downing. 

Andrea Sevetson, and Tim Byrne are also participants in discussions. 

Carol Bednar discussed short and long-term issues, including retention of the URL when a 

PURL has been created, availability records, and replacing the Periodicals Supplement. The 

long-term issue is the suite of Pathway services, including the function the service performs and 

how the services are presented. Carol encouraged committee members to attend the PURL 

presentation Tuesday. 

Julie Wallace, chair of the Operations Committee, commented that there have been regular 

communications with Carol's work group, and with GPO staff on operational issues. 

The Information Exchange Committee, chaired by Tom Andersen, has a subcommittee on the 

NCLIS Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products. Mary Alice Baish, Paula 

Kaczmarek and Tom Andersen are on the subcommittee. Mary Alice updated the group on the 

status of the assessment. GPO has been interested in doing an assessment of Government 

agencies providing electronic information through the FDLP. It was not until 1998 that GPO 

was able to fund such a survey, working with NCLIS and Westat. The recently completed 

assessment is the first of its kind. As a seminal study, the assessment sets the groundwork for 

additional work by GPO and participating agencies. Mary Alice reiterated Gil's comments from 

earlier in the day that this assessment puts on record issues that GPO has raised in the past. The 

assessment may be the document that gives GPO the evidence needed to improve standardization 

of platform, distribution, and preservation of Federal Government information. The assessment 

is available through the FDLP and should be arriving in your libraries very soon. 

Tom Andersen mentioned two action items from the prior Council meeting: 

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1. Internet capability, working with GPO to improve metrics, etc. Fred Wood commented that 

GPO has made significant progress in the last six months to improve the infrastructure. 

Things are moving in the right direction, and T.C. Evans will have more to report later in the 

conference. 

2. Congressional information recommendations, to increase access to Congressional 

information as part of the core collection of depository libraries. T.C. Evans reported on this 

earlier in the day. Fred Wood and Mary Alice Baish met with GPO on this item and 

discussed the need to be as inclusive as possible in GPO Access. Some steps have been 

taken by GPO to achieve this, but more work needs to be done. Mary Alice commented on 

the meeting with GPO and the issues they face in getting Congressional information on GPO 

Access. There is a gap between making print available and then putting electronic versions 

on the Web. The other issue is permanent public access. In addition, finding the information 

is difficult and this needs to be remediated. 

Tom Andersen plans to keep the membership of the committees as they are. Duncan Aldrich, 

incoming Council chair, may want to change the membership in the fall, 1999. 

Fred Wood commented that GPO Access should be the premier site for access to Congressional 

information, even if other sites are also hosting this information. T.C. Evans commented that 

linking to official sites is the mechanism to make that happen and this has been achieved. 

Tom Andersen reviewed the agenda for the week to determine which presentations Council 

members would be attending and to outline their work for the week. Presentations highlighted 

included GIS, USDA digital preservation, partnerships panel discussion on Wednesday, and 

Atlas of Understanding session. 

Peggy Walker gave a quick update on another committee, Historical Publications Committee, 

with members Paula Kaczmarek, Maggie Farrell, Markie Powell, Bill Sleeman, Ridley Kessler, 

John Grant, George Barnum, and other GPO staff. The group has been corresponding via e-mail 

and GPO has provided them with various drafts of reports on this issue. The committee will 

meet on Wednesday and Peggy will report on their work. 

Council Discussion – working session 

Significant discussion occurred with each of the recommendations, especially measurement of 

use and GPO Access performance, search engines, PURLs, the NCLIS assessment of electronic 

Government information products, and the Biennial Survey. 

1. Discarding tangible products in favor of electronic formats – Electronic Transition 

Committee (ET) 

2. GPO Outreach to agencies regarding electronic products – ET 

3. Electronic transition (at various levels – partnerships, NCLIS study) - ET 

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4. Item selection procedures – Paula Kaczmarek, Diane Eidelman, Gregg Lawrence, Diane 

Garner, Gil Baldwin 

 Item numbers in online environment 

 Accuracy of List of Classes 

5. Competitive GPO Web analysis – Fred Wood 

 What are other agencies doing? 

 Usage of GPO Access – what’s driving it? 

6. Self Study -Julia Wallace, Tom Andersen 

7. Biennial Survey - Diane Garner 

8. Availability Records (CLS) 

9. Periodical Supplement (CLS) 

10. Search Engines (GPO Access) – Maggie Farrell 

11. Partnerships - Mary Alice Baish 

12. NCLIS Study – continuation of discussions within GPO, link with work of the Electronic 

Transition Committee(s) - Mary Alice Baish, Maggie Farrell 

13. Fee-based electronic products coming from Government agencies and getting them into 

FDLP –ET 

14. NRC Legacy issues and work of GPO on FDLP behalf – Julia Wallace, Paula Kaczmarek 

15. Universal access issues and need for GPO to do outreach to Chief Library Officers (State 

Librarians) – GladysAnn Wells, Paula Kaczmarek 

16. CD software and distribution – Julia Wallace 

17. Replacement value of FDLP collections – Julia Wallace 

18. Census 2000 issues, especially regarding communication between GPO and Census about 

plans for distribution of the 2000 census and future permanent access – GladysAnn Wells, 

Paula Kaczmarek 

Duncan Aldrich asked if filling the Collection Manager position at GPO is dependent upon 

FY2000 funding. Gil Baldwin responded no, the position is not reliant upon new funding. 

Julia Wallace noted that no commendations have been raised yet. Mary Alice Baish commented 

on GPO's exhibit and marketing efforts at various conferences, not just libraries, and felt this 

needed recognition. 

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1. GPO exhibit schedule/activities (marketing outside the box) 

2. Promotional materials from GPO 

3. Data Miner 

Tuesday, April 13, 1999 

Plenary Session: 

8:30-9:30 a.m. 

Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products: Final Report 

Woody Horton, consultant to the National Commission on Library and Information Science for 

this survey, presented the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products: Final 

Report. A copy of the report is available at the following Web sites: <www.nclis.gov/news/ 

news.html> and <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/nclisassessment/report.html>. 

9:30-10:30 a.m. 

DOE Virtual Library Energy, Science, and Technology 

Dr. Walter L. Warnick, Director, Office of Scientific & Technical Information, US Department 

of Energy. The presentation was printed and made available to attendees. [It will also be 

published in the conference Proceedings.] 

11:00-noon 

Building the FDLP Electronic Collection 

Judy Andrews, Electronic Transition Specialist, LPS, GPO 

Laurie B. Hall, Program Analyst, LPS, GPO 

The presentation was printed and made available to attendees. [It will also be published in the 

conference Proceedings.] 

Wednesday, April 14, 1999 

Tom Andersen opened Council discussion. Council needs to talk about the Biennial Survey and 

the Draft Equipment Specification. 

Tom reported that attendees are pleased with the program and feel Council is on-track with their 

work. There are a few suggestions from attendees that Tom will bring up later in discussions. 

For some issues, Council may need to vote on the recommendations. 

Mike DiMario will be first on Thursday’s agenda, rather than at the end before open discussion 

of Council recommendations and commendations. 

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Discussion 

1. Equipment Specifications 

 It was agreed that this should be continued 

 GPO agrees that the document is useful 

 GPO will keep the specifications as current and responsive as possible based on what 

agencies are doing regarding delivery of their documents 

 Council asked GPO to remain cognizant of the inequity of equipment in libraries and 

recognize initiatives like that of Microsoft may not sufficiently position libraries to 

deal with changing electronic delivery mechanisms for depository materials. 

Tom commended GPO on their attention to “related issues and considerations” of equipment 

specifications. 

2. Biennial Survey 

Diane Garner began discussion with the need for consistency over time and the value of the 

survey helping inspectors, but not providing information valuable to libraries. There are many 

questions about policies, but no results questions (i.e., do you do binding? If yes, how much?). 

Tom asked if the survey satisfies the needs of GPO. Gil Baldwin commented that the Biennial 

Survey is a management tool for GPO. The Biennial Survey was never intended to be a research 

tool for longitudinal research purposes. 

 Need to have better definitions or examples (investigate context specific help for each 

question) 

 Need to test the questions 

 Need to know who is filling out the survey 

Julia asked about the presence of a cover sheet and felt that further explanation would be 

required for new depository librarians. 

Cindy Etkin mentioned that institutional data could be made available to researchers. Gil noted 

that the data is available on the GPO bulletin board. 

Maggie Farrell and other Council members expressed concerns about the survey as a tool to 

describe what depository libraries are doing. The Self Study is a more effective tool. As long as 

GPO is comfortable with this distinction, and recognizes the inconsistency of the data, the new 

Biennial survey approach is acceptable. 

Specific Biennial Survey questions discussed by Council included: 

 Question 2: Improve the numbering system. Gil remarked that suggestions have been 

made to put a range of numbers in. The use of the word “system” is unclear. GPO asks 

this question to categorize libraries by size. 

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 Question 3 is an example of a question to which GPO already has the answer. The 

question was perceived as benign and will remain in the survey. 

 Question 5, regarding selective housing, needs further definition. Diane Garner and other 

Council members offered different responses to this question, indicating that GPO is not 

getting the information it needs. Cindy Etkin will work on the examples to derive better 

responses. 

 Question 39: Remove “use occasionally” and confirm latest name of locator service. 

Only retain the question if necessary.

 Optional portion of the survey: Council hopes libraries answer this portion. Council 

requests GPO make it clear to respondents that not all questions need to be answered.

 The overhead question may be removed from the survey due to controversy over the 

percentage used to measure it. 

 Council requested that question 14 and the optional question on salaries be evaluated for 

consistency of collection. 

 GPO will investigate developing context specific help screens, with examples, for each 

question in the Biennial Survey. 

Suggestions to Council from attendees 

1. Agency name, including sub-agency, to be part of the List of Classes record for each SuDocs 

stem as a comma delimited field. (forwarded to Gil Baldwin at GPO) 

2. Online mechanism to find out what the most recent issue of a serial is. (forwarded to Gil 

Baldwin at GPO) 

3. Electronic versions of Administrative Notes and its Technical Supplement. 

As pointed out in the opening session, an electronic version of Administrative Notes in 

HTML does not match the pagination in the index. While an electronic index is possible, it 

would be complicated and labor intensive to produce this in HTML with hot links. The 

HTML version of Technical Supplement is unsatisfactory when printed. Entries are sent off 

the bottoms of pages and by frames, making them unreliable. 

If electronic versions are contemplated, use text searchable PDF files, not mere image files, 

with thumbnails included. This would allow accurate reproduction of copies for routing and 

work within FDLP libraries. Searchable PDF files have many advantages for searching 

within issues and can be generated from many electronic formats. (forwarded to Gil Baldwin 

at GPO) 

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4. Accommodation of persons with disabilities. Maggie Farrell reported that Council and GPO 

need to follow-up with possible programs on this issue. In addition, GPO surveys have 

neglected this issue (equipment requirements, PC design, services, etc.). 

5. Carol Bednar reported on the discussion regarding availability records and serials. 

Purpose of Locator Tools 

 What is for sale: title index, SuDocs index? Will it be depository? 

 What is cataloged: BET, title? 

 Serials - by frequency (DataMiner), still being published, serials check-in records at GPO 

continued by (sites). 

 Government Information (regardless of sale, electronic, catalog, etc.) - subject, particular 

title online, title sites which have data, agency, keyword, PURL listing 

 Serial Set - data on sets 

 Item Lister 

 GILS - metadata information 

 Suite of services - common search, simple searching (more intuitive to public), help 

information on finding tools page, streamline (less duplicative) 

 Comments to Council by 5/31/99, including likes, dislikes, suggestions 

6. Duncan Aldrich, Electronic Transition Committee (ETC) 

ETC needs a new chair person. 

Focused on two recommendations: 

 discarding tangible products, (GPO document distributed); 

 migration to electronic formats (GPO document distributed). 

Discussions will continue via e-mail. 

The Electronic Transition Committee has two action items remaining: 

 Electronic transition discussions will continue via e-mail (Greg Lawrence will set up a 

mail list). The Electronic Transition Committee will review via e-mail the Discussion 

Paper on progress toward the electronic transition that Gil Baldwin provided. The focus 

will be on the big picture, as well as on individual accomplishments. The details of how 

that discussion will proceed will be worked out shortly after Council adjourns. 

 U.C. San Diego issue. The committee felt it best to have an e-mail discussion regarding 

GPO making the Federal Register and other for-fee products available through the 

depository program, and communicate its thoughts to U.C. San Diego. Conversation 

during the meeting indicated that the gist of Council's communication will be that U.C. 

San Diego's interest is a matter for discussion between UCSD and GPO rather than a 

Council issue. 

7. Online Mocat usually displays paper item numbers, which creates a problem when a library 

selects the microfiche item number. It would be good if GPO would figure out how to 

display both item numbers with appropriate notes. (relayed by Maggie Farrell) 

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8. Please do the Improving Quality of Documents Reference Service again in Kansas City as 

there was too big a crowd for everyone to get in. 

9. A request was made that title and format be in separate comma delimited files in the List of 

Classes. 

10. A note sent to Council stated: 

In a working session yesterday someone mentioned briefly the issue of what it means to be a 

depository library in the electronic age. This issue needs to be given serious attention, and 

the sooner the better. I run a small selective depository, and I need guidelines to follow in 

handling the electronic (Web-based) publications which have been assigned item numbers 

that we select. Are we required to have a record in the OPAC for these publications? Do we 

have to keep a record in the OPAC for five years for these publications? How do I find out 

what these publications are if I don't get records from Marcive or a similar source? (I do, but 

what if I didn't?) Etc. 

Depositories know what to do with things in tangible formats. Property stamp, label with 

SuDocs, record in shelflist, keep five years, etc. What are we responsible for doing with 

Web-based publications, beyond providing computers so patrons can search the Web? Do 

we have any further responsibilities? 

Someone needs to decide these things and let us know. Those among us who are worried 

about these issues would really appreciate some guidance. 

Committee Updates to Council 

Duncan Aldrich and Carol Bednar updated Council on changes in various committees due to 

ends of terms. Carol noted that the Cataloging and Locator Service Committee (CLS) is 

currently made up of Julia Wallace, Maggie Farrell, and Andrea Sevetson (community 

representative). There was discussion of creating a working group to handle future discussions, 

including operations issues. Julia Wallace will chair this group. New members to CLS will 

include Tim Byrne and Arlene Weible, and Carol Bednar will remain on the committee after she 

leaves Council. 

The Electronic Transition Committee will be chaired by Maggie Farrell. Diane Eidelman will 

remain on the committee even though she is leaving Council, and Mary Alice Baish will be a 

member. Duncan asked interested parties to come forward and those who want to switch 

committees to come forward. 

The Council Handbook needs to be updated. Diane Eidelman agreed to update the Handbook 

over the summer. Diane will post her update to a Web site at GPO available only to Council. 

Council made a final review of all items raised as recommendations, confirming the status of 

each and clarifying whether the item was a recommendation, commendation, or action item. 

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Gregg Lawrence later reported the Electronic Preservation and Archiving Issues Committee met 

informally on Tuesday afternoon. The Committee set out four action items to be completed 

before the next Council meeting. These items are: investigate issues associated with the 

preservation of digital information, hold regular discussions with Gil and T.C. Evens, recruit a 

new Committee member from the incoming class of 2002, and organize a plenary session at the 

next Council meeting. 

Suggestions for new recommendations from Council included: 

1. DataMiner commendation for Nan Meyer in taking the initiative to lead the effort. 

2. Julia Wallace observed that it would be nice to have a handsome certificate to present to 

those whom Council commends. Since GPO creates certificates for other purposes, staff was 

asked to design a simple but attractive Commendation form which can be filled in with the 

appropriate wording for commendees. 

3. Council suggested making prior recommendations, commendations and action items from the 

GPO FDLP Web site available to Council for purposes of reference during Council 

deliberations. It was suggested these be downloaded so a live Internet connection would not 

be necessary. 

The following items were held for further Council discussion: 

Self Study Process 

Council recommends that GPO establish a Self-Study schedule each year which will result in a 

reasonable turn-around time for responses, and that GPO communicate with all libraries that 

submit self-studies to keep them apprised of the review schedule in GPO. 

Following continuing discussion with GPO staff, it was agreed to handle this through strong 

communication with GPO staff, not a recommendation. Council made it clear that the many 

pressures on GPO staff are well understood, but that delays of over a year in communicating 

with libraries which have worked hard to submit self-studies are not acceptable. GPO was asked 

to work toward a realistic schedule which will give timely feedback to every library which 

submits a self-study, and to request only the number of self-studies which staff can manage in a 

reasonable time. General communications about the process and the status of reports to the 

FDLP community would also help. The draft recommendation was withdrawn. 

Census 2000 

Council recommends that GPO continue in its outreach with agencies providing significant 

electronic information, and that specific concentrated efforts be devoted to insuring that Census 

2000 products be available through the FDLP. As the Bureau is arriving at final decisions of the 

distribution of its products, the rights of the public to no-fee access to the information in the next 

decennial Census of Population and Housing must be protected. 

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Rationale: 

Products have been lost in the past: i.e., 1990 maps in paper for all states were not available to all 

depository libraries. 

There may be less opportunity to address the issue of Permanent Pubic Access for products not 

in the FDLP. 

Thursday, April 15, 1999 

Sheila McGarr made some housekeeping announcements, including the location of the spring 

2000 meeting in Rhode Island. Tom Andersen, Council chair, welcomed attendees and thanked 

everyone for staying through the week. Council has 13 recommendations, 7 action items, and 2 

commendations for review after the program. 

The schedule is changed to permit the Public Printer to make his closing remarks first in order to 

leave for another engagement. 

Mr. DiMario thanked everyone for attending and reiterated that this is a partnership in sharing 

ideas between depository libraries and GPO in order for GPO to carry out the needs of 

depository libraries. 

Mr. DiMario remarked that he has not had an opportunity to review the Spring 1999 

Recommendations, and thanked Council for their work in crafting the recommendations for his 

office. Mr. DiMario thanked the outgoing Council members for their contributions and 

presented them with certificates of appreciation. Outgoing were Peggy Walker, Diane Eidelman, 

Denise Davis, Carol Bednar, and Tom Andersen. Mr. DiMario especially thanked Tom for his 

work as Council chair. 

Tom Andersen introduced Duncan Aldrich, first speaker in the morning’s presentation on 

Electronic Transition and Partnerships. 

Duncan Aldrich, Partnership on the Web: Partnering to Provide Access to Electronic 

Resources 

When Duncan began as a documents librarian very little was automated. Duncan shared a brief 

outline of the transition to more electronic distribution of depository information from 1988 

forward. 

Duncan commented on the increase in funds spent by the Federal Government to create and 

disseminate Government information; interpretation of Title 44 and coordination of public access 

to Government information in non-tangible formats; the work of GPO to evaluate the feasibility 

of distributing more electronic information; implementation of the study findings and the 

strategic plan. 

Partnership activities at GPO were facilitated through a variety of staff positions which Duncan 

Aldrich and others have filled since 1997/1998. A great deal of work was done to identify 

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partners within the Federal Government and higher education such as USDA/NAL and Cornell 

University, distribution offices such as NTIS, and the efforts of the Interassociation Working 

Group to evaluate amendments to Title 44. 

Duncan stressed the importance of protecting access to Government information that is being 

removed by Government agencies. 

Duncan felt his work with partnership efforts at GPO was modest compared with the work 

ahead. The greatest challenges facing GPO and depository libraries include: 

1. Policy vacuum within agencies to use FDLP for dissemination of agency information 

2. No longer a passive chain of events to bring Government information into the FDLP 

3. Not clear how permanent access will happen, or who will take the lead to bring this 

information into the FDLP 

Duncan reiterated that GPO takes the lead as matchmaker between libraries and agencies to 

facilitate the flow of Government information into the FDLP. 

George Barnum, GPO and FDLP Partnerships: Coordinator's Perspectives 

Key Issues: 

1. Issues of capacity required for storage of data 

2. Expertise required to make the information available 

Models used for partnering with agencies 

1. Content partnerships - usually formalized through Memorandum of Understanding 

2. Service partnerships – less formalized, usually a letter of understanding between the partner 

library and GPO gateways 

3. Direct agreements with agencies – very formal, usually through interagency agreements, 

include: 

 permanent public access (PPA) 

 bibliographic control 

 distribution of responsibilities 

 increased involvement with libraries 

 strengthened partnership with agencies 

Questions to be asked: 

If a library wants to be a participant, how does GPO get them introduced to the agency? 

Is the single agency/single host the only or best model? 

Is a topical approach to hosting information a viable model for partnership growth? 

What about partners for scanning historical documents? 

What does GPO do when a library approaches them with a “really good idea”? 

GPO continues to search for a set of models that will work best to facilitate the partnership 

efforts. 

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Although there may be some interest in permanent access among agencies, there is little funding 

and interest on the part of agencies to make this happen. Partnerships become more important to 

ensure PPA occurs. Initiatives such as that with the University of North Texas is a good example 

of partnerships that protect access to “dead agency” information. 

There is a growing critical mass of agencies that understand the partnership efforts and PPA 

issues. Depository libraries need to recognize that this is a process and our patience has paid off. 

The progress is very real, as demonstrated in Gil Baldwin’s comments earlier in the Conference. 

The effort toward PPA is not unlike other efforts at ETS – a strong start and persistence over 

time to ensure the success of the partnership initiative. 

Donna Koepp, Constructing a Partnership: Nuts and Bolts Perspective 

Donna shared her partnership experience with the group and reiterated this is not a “one size fits 

all” process. 

Partnership includes cartographic and spatial data. Two concerns drove Donna to embark on a 

partnership: 

1. Preservation of data 

2. Spatial databases were being withdrawn from the FDLP due to cost constraints, esp. Digital 

Orthophoto Quads (DOQ’s) 

The data isn’t the important message to take away from Donna’s remarks, but rather the process 

she has gone through to become a partner with GPO and Government agencies. 

Donna’s membership on the Cartographic Users Advisory Council and her liaison with a few 

agencies inspired her to initiate a partnership. USGS and Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) 

were agencies that Donna liaisons with. 

USGS was withdrawing DOQ’s from the FDLP. Production and support costs were high and 

usage was low. USGS was going to produce the DOQ’s on demand and for a fee to GPO. 

USGS could not afford to continue to send them to libraries as part of the FDLP. If USGS does 

not distribute the data electronically, libraries do not have access to this information. Microsoft 

has facilitated access to a site hosting older DOQ’s (Terra server), although only images are 

available (no data behind the images). 

There is an extraordinary quantity of map data produced by other agencies that is not included in 

the FDLP. It is likely this data is not being preserved in any way. Another agency, Federal 

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), was willing to work with CUAC and precipitated Donna’s 

interest in pursuing a partnership around DOQ’s and cartographic data among agencies. 

A consortium of FDL's will be established to work with agencies and GPO. Agencies would 

provide one set of data to consortia, and the FDLP consortia would make the data available in a 

user-friendly way. It is not yet clear who would participate, or the extent of internal partnerships 

with geography or other academic departments. Storage issues would need to be determined 

depending upon the data. 

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Consortia-contributed resources are not enough to make this happen. Donna is investigating 

grant funds to assist. 

Key points: 

 Read the Partnership Agreement from GPO 

 Identify an area of interest for your institution 

 Interest in making this information permanently accessible 

 Make contacts with agency concerned and determine its interest in this effort 

 Talk with GPO about idea and goals 

 Be patient and persistent 

 Get permission and commitment from your institution early on in the process 

Summary: 

Partnerships are charting a new way of preserving Government information. FDL's have an 

opportunity to pioneer the new frontier of preservation of Government information. There are 

many exciting opportunities ahead. 

John Shuler: DOSFAN: Launching the Partnership System 

After 6 years of work a partnership is finally launched. The partnership process is a love-hate 

relationship – how can we love you if you don’t go away? 

What the DOSFAN partnership has built is the invention of a shared electronic space between 

the U.S. Department of State, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Library, and GPO. UIC 

committed resources, $60,000 and 4 staff, and is preserving U.S. Department of State through 

the Electronic Research Collection (ERC). The ERC will be re-launched at ALA Annual, New 

Orleans. There will be a Web site that provides access to State Department documents (living 

and dead), citizen reference questions, other foreign policy information, Hall of the Secretaries 

(Secretaries of State), digitizing correspondence and documents, and more. 

There are things that GPO must embrace, including ownership of permanent access. This is a 

legislative, even congressional, struggle over ownership of the information. Although the 

DOSFAN partnership was born of the GODORT Adopt an Agency initiative, the agencies need 

help and are seeking help. There is significant opportunity to collaborate with other Government 

agencies. 

Questions from Council and attendees: 

Approximate cost of setting up DOSFAN? What happened to support of the rest of the UIC 

documents collection. 

$60,000 each year from Dept. of State. This covers equipment and some salaries. 

Additional funding comes from grants and library support. The estimated annual costs 

are $250,000 per year. Regular operations continue uninterrupted. 

NTIS - What efforts are being made to maintain partnerships over time? 

John Shuler responded that he could not control it. Just keep moving and keep it going. 

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Donna Koepp reiterated this is a commitment of the institution and is serious. It is just as 

important as the FDLP agreement. 

George Barnum emphasized the durability of the MOU between the agency and the 

partner/host institution. 

Bert Chapman, Purdue University 

Concrete benefits that the partnership provides, beyond prestige? 

Having this relationship proves to the institution that funding is coming from the agency 

to support the partnership. The funding helps your boss make the pitch to her boss. Also, 

there has to be a fruitful relationship between the library and the computing community. 

Mary Alice Baish mentioned that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) offers 

leadership grants and funds these types of partnerships. 

What do the three other UIC staff do, what departments do they work in, etc? 

They are all Documents staff, with one member doing half time in systems and 

Documents. They are all documents librarians, providing support to Web pages, 

questions from users, and systems. John is doing the “Web work,” moving pages around, 

collaborating with State Department staff to design the pages. 

Council chair, Tom Andersen, thanked the speakers. Tom next mentioned that Council received 

many suggestions in the “suggestion bucket” and they have been recorded and passed along to 

the appropriate GPO staff. He asked attendees to review the Council Recommendations during 

the break. 

Council chair reminded attendees not to put the draft recommendations on any state discussion 

lists. Each recommendation was reviewed and encouraged questions from attendees. Attendees 

were reminded to speak into the microphones provided on the floor and to state their name 

before asking their question. 

Review of Draft Recommendations, Action Items, and Commendations 

1. Cease Production of Most Availability Records 

Carol Bednar, Council member, reiterated that this was a resource allocation issue at GPO. 

No discussion. 

2. Replace Periodicals Supplement 

No discussion. 

3. Integrated Library System 

Questions and comments from floor. 

Incredibly excellent idea. Clarification from Council that you would know when to expect the 

next issue. Confirmation from the floor that this is a great idea. 

4. Fee-Based Products 

Comment from floor: Get private letter ruling from the IRS into the program. 

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5. GPO ACCESS and Search Engines 

No comments. 

6. NRC Public Document Room Collection 

No comments. 

7. Migration of Physical Format Products to Online Distribution 

Diane Garner, Council member, commented that the recommendation refers primarily to 

products that GPO might be choosing between microfiche or online distribution. There are 

concerns about the policies. 

No comments. 

8. Federal Agency Outreach 

No comments. 

9. Partnerships 

No comments. 

10. Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions 

No comments. 

11. Permanent Public Access Archive 

No comments. 

12. Outreach to Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) 

Comment: This could be a GODORT task for State Libraries interested in setting up national 

meetings to share ideas and fundraising concepts. 

13. Congressional Information/Comparative Web Site Analysis 

No comments. 

Action Items: 

1. Council will work with GPO to plan a report on methods and metrics for measuring usage of 

the GPO Access Web site and major components thereof. 

2. Council will work with GPO staff to identify resources available for evaluating the value of 

depository collections of various sizes and ages. Libraries that have gathered information 

will be invited to share it, to be combined with cost information that GPO can supply. 

3. Council will continue, through its Operations Committee, to consult with GPO on specific 

electronic products that present difficult software or usage challenges for GPO and 

depositories. 

4. Council Operations Committee will explore with GPO, Depository Libraries, and vendors the 

current functions of item numbers for online electronic formats and consider alternatives. 

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5. Council is pleased to have received the Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government 

Information Products commissioned by GPO to assist in planning and implementing the 

transition to a more electronic FDLP, and looks forward to working with GPO in the analysis 

of the key findings and data. 

6. The Electronic Transition Committee will analyze the Council Discussion Paper Completing 

the Transition to a More Electronic FDLP and will report that analysis to GPO. 

7. Council will respond to the University of California San Diego summarizing our discussions 

of UCSD’s correspondence regarding their suggestion that source files be made available for 

depository library selection. 

Diane Smith, Congressional Research Service 

#7 – Duncan Aldrich, Council member, responded that Council was not sure how to deal with a 

request like this, and it should be a communication between the FDL and GPO. There were 

additional questions regarding cost, delivery, etc. Council has tabled the question for further 

review. Council discussion will appear in Council Minutes. 

Kathy Tezla, Emory University 

#6 – Duncan Aldrich, Council member, responded that Council would set up a discussion list as 

soon as members return to their institutions. Discussion will appear as part of the minutes. 

Duncan mentioned it was unclear how to deal with the document at the Conference. It may be 

that Council responds in writing. 

Kathy Tezla mentioned that it was important not to repeat the process, and asked if there would 

be an opportunity for FDL’s to make additional contributions. 

Duncan Aldrich, Council member, mentioned that Maggie Farrell has agreed to chair the ETS 

committee. Kathy Tezla commented that GODORT stands ready to help. 

Reading of Commendations by Maggie Farrell and Julia Wallace 

Commendations: 

1. Council commends GPO on their latest marketing efforts that include a new Web design, 

booth display, and promotional materials. Council is especially pleased with efforts to 

promote the full range of GPO services to existing and new constituencies. Council 

encourages GPO to continue broadening their marketing efforts to new audiences and 

industries. 

2. Council commends Nan Myers and Ablah Library, Wichita State University, for taking a 

leadership role in developing and improving the Documents Data Miner, a Web-based, 

interactive tool integrating GPO-provided and other data elements. The DDM provides 

significant benefits to individual depository libraries, their ability to network and coordinate 

collection development, referral and other services 

Nan Myers remarked that this is an honor and thanked staff who made this possible. When 

documents librarians lessen their load, they have more time to spend with users. 

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Gil Baldwin, on behalf of the Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents, thanked 

Council for its advice. Thanks were extended to attendees and they were asked to complete the 

evaluation form provided in their packets. GPO values the input for planning future meetings. 

Gil thanked outgoing Council members for their contribution to GPO and the Depository 

Program. 

Tom Andersen commented that this is the part where we get all sappy and sentimental. 

Everyone at GPO works very hard to make this conference happen. There are three in particular, 

Sheila McGarr, Willie Thompson and John Tate. 

Tom was pleased that no one fell off the platform this year and remarked that it had been a 

pleasure working with the Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents. It is especially 

nice to have worked with Gil Baldwin. GPO administration made a wonderful decision to 

promote Gil. 

Tom regrets this may be his last FDLP Conference due to his recent job change. Tom introduced 

Duncan Aldrich, Council chair, and handed him the gavel. 

Duncan Aldrich commented that he is pleased to chair Council for the coming year and 

expressed appreciation for Tom’s excellent work. 

Duncan Aldrich next announced committee chairs for the coming year and encouraged attendee 

participation in meetings: 

Electronic Transition Committee – Maggie Farrell 

Depository Operations Committee – Julia Wallace 

Subcommittee on Cataloging – Julia Wallace 

Archiving and Preservation – Greg Lawrence 

Partnership Subcommittee – Donna Koepp 

Duncan announced Donna Koepp as Council Secretary for next year. 

Tom Andersen returned to the podium to thank Peggy Walker for the "Council Road Tour" tee 

shirts. 

Duncan welcomed the incoming class and hoped current Council members would provide 

assistance. 

The spring 1999 Depository Council Meeting and Federal Library Conference was adjourned at 

11:28 a.m. by Duncan Aldrich. 

Submitted by: 

Denise M. Davis 

Secretary, Depository Library Council 

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30

Table of Contents 

Recommendations, Depository Library Council, 1999, Spring.................................................... 1 

Summary, 1999 Spring Council Meeting ..................................................................................... 7 

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 via World Wide Web at URL: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/adnotes.html 

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