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LPS Annual Report: FY 2000 

Summary 

The pace of change in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) accelerated 

dramatically in FY 2000, caused by a combination of emerging technologies used by 

Federal publishing agencies and funding constraints imposed on the Government Printing 

Office (GPO). 

In the emerging Electronic FDLP, the Library Programs Service (LPS) is increasingly 

engaged in managing an Electronic Collection (EC). This is done through updated 

versions of several of our traditional functions: to identify, evaluate, select, organize, and 

catalog Government information products in all formats, and assure that they remain 

permanently accessible to the public. These services will continue, and are critical 

elements of our Electronic Collection management activities. 

In the last fiscal year, more business was conducted with depositories via the Internet. 

Although some libraries are finding it expedient to leave the depository program, there is 

still strong commitment to public service among the more than 1,300 libraries that remain 

part of the FDLP. Indeed, depository libraries are helping to build and use the FDLP 

Electronic Collection; 95% meet minimum technical requirements and more than 1000 

have web-based catalogs. 

However, there is still a significant tangible products component in the FDLP, and a large 

amount of LPS' resources remain devoted to the acquisition, classification, format 

conversion, cataloging, and distribution of tangible products. Reshaping the organization 

remains a key challenge for LPS as major elements of the work evolve. 

LPS Highlights for 2000 include: 

• Rapid growth of online electronic content delivery 

• Reduced distribution of tangible products 

• Electronic archive 

• Ben's Guide to U.S. Government Information 

• New content partnerships 

• FDLP Desktop 

• Permanent Public Access Website 

• Digital archiving project with OCLC 
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Moving Toward the Electronic FDLP 

FY 2000 expenses for the four Salaries & Expenses programs (FDLP, Cataloging & 

Indexing, By-Law, and International Exchange) are expected to use all of the available 

appropriated funds, or $29.9 million. But for FY 2001, these same programs will have $2 

million less, as well as significant additional expenses, including $1.6 million for the 

2000 edition of the bound U.S. Code. 

Two of our biggest expense categories are printing and shipping costs, so we must realize 

savings in those areas. LPS staff are searching for print products that are also available 

electronically and changing them to online electronic dissemination. The program is 

simply not being funded at a level that permits us to continue to make dual format 

distribution on a routine basis. 

There are two major reasons for speeding up the transition to the EFDLP: 

• The $2 million funding reduction to $27.9 million in FY 2001. 

• Both the House and the Senate have told GPO to emphasize electronic 

dissemination. This was articulated most recently in the Conference report [House 

report 106-796], which said "[e]mphasis should be on streamlining the 

distribution of traditional paper copies of publications which may include 

providing online access and less expensive electronic formats." 

LPS is implementing a policy on distribution to Federal depository libraries that will 

accelerate the transition to a primarily electronic program. As an operational guideline, 

U.S. Government publications will be furnished to Federal depository libraries solely in 

online electronic format unless certain criteria or circumstances exist. 

Many format changes are already underway. LPS has established the requirements for 

depository copies for many products that will be printed under GPO term contracts 

beginning in FY 2001. LPS reviews each term contract annually, and typically the 

quantity requested for the FDLP rises or falls only slightly. But this year, in order to save 

printing and shipping expenses, we are checking each term contract to see if that title or 

set of products is available online. If it is, and it does not fall into one of the exception 

categories, LPS is changing the depository dissemination to electronic only. Recently 

LPS reviewed about 700 annual term contracts, and decided to change about 25% of 

them to solely electronic dissemination. Many of these term contracts cover multiple 

products or titles. Announcements that products formerly available in a tangible format 

are changing to solely online dissemination are listed in WEBTech Notes at 

<www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/webtech.html>. 
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Electronic Content Partnerships 

A critical element of the FDLP Electronic Collection is permanent public access to 

distributed content at FDLP partner sites. 

GPO and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have reached an agreement that 

assures permanent public access to many of NLM's most popular and important titles. 

Included in the agreement are PubMed and NLM Locator Plus, online resources that will 

take the place of at least eight titles formerly represented in the FDLP in paper or 

microfiche. The agreement is actually the result of a depository librarian query to both 

LPS and NLM, and the outcome is very positive for the Electronic Collection. 

Similar agreements are under review with the Census Bureau, General Accounting 

Office, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

In October, 1999, GPO and the Department of Energy (DOE) launched PubSCIENCE, an 

electronic system that provides public access to a DOE database of scientific and 

technical literature. The PubSCIENCE database contains bibliographic records from 

approximately 1,000 peer-reviewed journals provided by more than 20 publishers with a 

focus on the physical sciences and energy-related disciplines. PubSCIENCE enables 

users to identify journal articles, view bibliographic citations, and hyperlink to the 

publisher's site for full retrieval (if unrestricted), or through a site license, an electronic 

subscription, or pay-per-view access. 

GPO and DOE are also involved in two new services that significantly expand public 

access to Federal Government scientific and technical research information. Developed 

by DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), the GrayLIT Network

<www.osti.gov/graylit> and Federal R&D Project Summaries <www.osti.gov/fedrnd> 

allow users to search with a single query across multiple databases. The general public as 

well as users of the FDLP can link to these services through GPO Access. 

The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has become a partner with LPS to bring additional 

completely Internet based publications into the FDLP Electronic Collection. A group of 

USIP "born digital" publications is serving as a testbed for improving metatagging and 

new cataloging practices. The project is expected to continue for the next several months, 

and a progress report is anticipated at the Federal Depository Conference in October. 

Digital Archiving 

LPS and OCLC, Inc. have developed high-level user requirements for a system to locate, 

identify, process, describe, catalog, and archive electronic publications. The proposed 

system will incorporate a mix of new and existing solutions in an effort to refine and 

integrate LPS workflow and routines for processing and storing e-titles for the long term. 

GPO is a full partner in this project, and staff have worked closely with OCLC, providing 

input in the development process. The initial application of the project will be based on 

the CORC interface, with an archiving option added. In the initial version that archiving 

function will likely direct the captured files to GPO's e-archive. 
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LPS' own archive of electronic publications continues to evolve and grow. The highest 

priority candidates for this "in-house" solution remain agency publications that are 

primarily textual or images of text, and which have no tangible counterpart in the FDLP. 

Information about the operation of the FDLP/EC Archive can be found at 

<www.gpo.gov/ppa/resources.html>. 

LPS Web Applications and Tools 

The FDLP Desktop was unveiled in July 2000. Comprised of more than 700 pages, the 

"desktop" is an enhanced version of the Website formerly called "FDLP Administration." 

It is now available at <www.gpo.gov/fdlpdesktop>. The FDLP Desktop provides an 

improved structure and better navigation tools, information about the FDLP, glossary, 

site index and more resources available for use by depository library staff. The site also 

contains the most frequently used services in a more convenient location on the page. 

A new service, New Electronic Titles (NET), located at 

<www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/net>, was inaugurated in July 2000. The NET is 

a weekly "new accessions list" of Federal Government online products that are new to the 

FDLP. The new accessions listed in NET represent products not previously included in 

the FDLP Electronic Collection. An NET listing is linked to the online resource by a 

PURL (Persistent Uniform Resource Locator) or a URL. PURLs are assigned as part of 

the archiving process, and most NET listings will contain a PURL. NET replaces the old 

Browse Electronic Titles (BET) locator service. 

Full bibliographic information for the new titles and former BET entries is available in 

the online Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) <www.gpo.gov/catalog>. 

The CGP is the prime resource for identifying, locating, and accessing both tangible and 

online U.S. Government information products. 

The other locators, including Browse Topics and Federal Agency Internet Sites, have also 

undergone facelifts to match the look and feel of GPO Access. All the locator services are 

accessible from the "Findings Aids" page at <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/tools.html>. 

Ben's Guide to Government Information 

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids is a Website designed for students, parents, and 

teachers. Found at <http://bensguide.gpo.gov>, it provides a fun and educational 

introduction to how the U.S. Government works based on information resources available 

through GPO Access. 

Produced by a team from LPS and the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination 

Services (EIDS), Ben's Guide has been received positively by the library and education 

communities. A prototype of Ben's Guide was critiqued at the American Association of 

School Librarians conference in November 1999, where it received excellent reviews. 

The Newsletter of the Documents Interest Group of Oregon (December 1999) described 

Ben's Guide as a "well-designed children's Website" that "could be useful for reference 

questions as well," and characterized it has having "an attention to detail and to 

readability that is exemplary in web design." 
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It has been featured on <http://homeworkspot.com>, selected as a Notable Children's 

Website for the year 2000 by the American Library Association, was included in the 

Scout Report and was a "Hot Site" in <usatoday.com>. Other kudos have come from the 

Philadelphia Inquirer and Access America, an electronic newsletter of the National 

Partnership for Re-Inventing Government, which called Ben's Guide "exciting" and a 

"powerful resource." 

Cataloging Operations 

The LPS Cataloging Branch processed more than 27,000 publications, including 

materials distributed to depository libraries in paper, microfiche, and CD-ROM. The 

Cataloging Branch also processed thousands of online resources made available to the 

public via GPO Access. 

There are more than 11,000 online titles accessible via the Catalog of U.S. Government 

Publications, located at <www.gpo.gov/catalog>. More than 6,000 PURLs have been 

assigned to these resources. The online Catalog provides the public with access to more 

than 140,000 bibliographic records that represent recent holdings in all formats in the 

FDLP. 

The quality of the work produced by GPO catalogers was recognized during this past 

fiscal year. The Library of Congress invited GPO to become a member of BIBCO 

(Bibliographic Cooperative Program), one of several national cooperative cataloging 

programs. This now makes GPO a member of all the national cooperative cataloging 

programs and recognizes that GPO produced bibliographic records meet all national 

cataloging standards administered by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging. 

GPO catalogers were granted National Enhanced Status by OCLC. This authorizes GPO 

catalogers to modify all OCLC records, including those produced by the Library of 

Congress and the other national libraries. 

GPO catalogers advised OCLC on the development of its CORC (Cooperative Online 

Resource Catalog) application. GPO was an early contributor to this application and staff 

continue to advise OCLC personnel on the development of data collection and cataloging 

applications software that are expected to assist GPO personnel in cataloging online 

resources selected for the FDLP Electronic Collection. 

Permanent Public Access 

The Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents have hosted a series of meetings 

to discuss permanent public access to Federal Government information. The participants 

represent U.S. Federal agencies, the national libraries, Congressional committees, public 

interest groups, and other organizations interested in issues regarding the preservation of, 

and access to, Government information published electronically. 

In FY 2000, the meetings were held quarterly. In March staff from the National Archives 

and Records Administration (NARA) gave a presentation about their Electronic Records 

Archives Program - Building the Archives of the Future. George Barnum and Steve 
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Kerchoff from LPS provided an update on the implementation of GPO's Electronic 

Collection Plan and our digital archive. 

The June roundtable discussion brought some new perspectives to the discussion. 

Participants included a mix of people from both within and outside of the government, 

including staff from the Digital Library Future Federation and John Stevenson, a new 

member of the Depository Library Council. 

Staff from LPS and EIDS, in conjunction with GPO's Production Department, set up a 

public Website on GPO Access that includes information about the Permanent Public 

Access group and its members, its goals, and links to resources relevant to the topic. It 

can be found at <www.gpo.gov/ppa>. The activities related to the permanent public 

access meetings and creation of the Website increase GPO's visibility in this area. 

New Hope for Fugitive Documents 

GPO has developed a new streamlined printing procurement process for use by Federal 

agencies. This process, called "SPA", or the "simplified purchase agreement," provides 

streamlined procurement procedures for Federal agencies to acquire printing and 

information products and services up to $2,500 in value from local commercial sources. 

Agencies using simplified purchase agreements cut their administrative costs and expand 

procurement opportunities for local small businesses. The process began with GPO 

working with the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Operations Office as a 

partner to finalize the criteria for the new procedure. Agency use of simplified purchase 

agreements help to combat the problem of "fugitive documents" by ensuring that 

products ordered under the agreement are included in the FDLP, unless agencies indicate 

the products are only for internal administrative use or have no public or educational 

value. In September we received 42 notifications from GPO's SPA partners. 

FDLP Distribution 

The distribution of tangible products through the FDLP continues to decrease, with a 

particularly sharp decline in the number of microfiche titles. The only category of FDLP 

titles that increased was titles that GPO links to at other agency sites, which rose by over 

45% compared to FY 1999. Overall, 53% of the titles disseminated this year were online. 

The estimated distribution of products in the FDLP in FY 2000 is: 

 
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Media Titles Copies % of FDLP Titles

Online (GPO Access) 11,715 n/a 19.2 

Online (other agency 

sites) 

20,591 n/a 33.7 

Paper (includes direct 

mail & USGS maps) 

13,660 6,281,669 22.3 

Microfiche 14,572 5,684,430 23.8 

CD-ROM 617 240,965 1.0 

Total 61,155 12,207,064 

Shipping Contract 

In mid-September, FedEX Ground (formerly Roadway Package System) became LPS' 

contractor for depository delivery services, replacing Potomac Business Center. The new 

depository shipping contract was significantly strengthened from the previous version, 

and provides superior monitoring, tracking, and performance criteria. Shipment 

"batching" is expressly prohibited under the terms of the new contract, and shipments 

should be dispatched to libraries on a daily basis. 

Conferences 

Depository Services Staff (DSS) developed programs for the concurrent sessions for both 

the fall 1999 Depository Library Council meeting held at the Hotel Phillips in Kansas 

City, MO and the spring 2000 meeting held at the Hyatt Regency in Newport, RI. 

DSS has planned the agenda for the 9th annual Federal Depository Library Conference 

and fall meeting of the Depository Library Council being held October 22-25, 2000 at the 

Holiday Inn Rosslyn Westpark in Arlington, VA. A projected number of attendees is 500 

with over 50 speakers. Registration by the Web has been provided. As in previous years, 

the agenda will allow attendees to choose among a number of simultaneous sessions in 

addition to the plenary sessions. 

DSS also coordinated the weeklong 13th Annual Interagency Depository Seminar held 

from May 31-June 7 at GPO. Intended for documents librarians with three or fewer years' 

experience, this seminar attracted 60 documents staff for "basic training." GPO, Patent & 

Trademark Office, and Bureau of the Census conducted all-day sessions. Many other 
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agencies described their electronic products and services in 45-minute segments during 

the remainder of the workshop. 

Depository Services Staff in Transition 

As of September 30, 2000, DSS conducted 120 on-site inspections of depository libraries. 

In addition, 145 self-study evaluations were compiled, summarizing the strengths and 

weaknesses of each depository operation. The number of self-studies completed in 2000 

was down from 1999 due to staff vacancies and the hiring and training of a new 

inspector, Charles Bradsher, who joined DSS in January 2000. 

In July 2000, DSS announced that the schedule for submitting self-studies was postponed 

until further notice. Staff vacancies were the contributing factor. In spring 2000, Cynthia 

Etkin transferred from being an inspector to a program analyst and a new inspector has 

not yet been hired. Thomas Oertel resigned his position in early September and Barbara 

Gail Snider left LPS in early October. Two selections have been made to fill Etkin's and 

Oertel's positions, and LPS expects these new personnel during the first quarter of FY 

2001. 

Policy Guidance 

The 2000 update of the Recommended Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in 

Federal Depository Libraries appeared in the June 15, 2000 Administrative Notes. 

Libraries use this guidance for new computer purchases. A proposal submitted by DSS to 

the Depository Library Council in April 2000 was approved, establishing the 1999 

Recommended Specifications for Public Access Work Stations as minimum technical 

requirements beginning October 2000. These requirements will be updated and upgraded 

on an annual basis. 

The Instructions to Depository Libraries was revised in July 2000 and distributed to all 

depositories in paper in September. The Instructions are available on the FDLP Desktop 

in MS Word, HTML, and PDF formats also. 

1999 Biennial Survey 

The 1999 Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries was issued in October 1999 with a due 

date of December 1. Libraries entered their responses via a web application. A substantial 

amount of data correction is still required, especially on the "free form" answers. The raw 

data files were posted on the Federal Bulletin Board for downloading in April 2000. A 

written report on the survey results will be issued later. 
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Federal Depository Libraries 

FY 2000 FY 1999 

• FDLP libraries 1,328 1,346 

• New depository designations 1 3 

• Libraries leaving the FDLP 19 17 

• Libraries placed on probation 11 5 

• Inspections 120 100 

• Self-studies evaluated 145 252 

LPS Outreach 

In addition to the usual appearances at American Library Association conferences and 

Depository Library Council meetings, LPS staff made presentations on various aspects of 

the FDLP in a variety of venues, including: 

• George Barnum spoke on the OCLC/GPO Archiving project at the Federal 

Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) quarterly meeting, 

September 2000. 

• Gil Baldwin made two presentations ("GPO Update" and "Benefits of FDLP 

Collections") to the Five State Depository Library Meeting, Flagstaff, AZ in 

August 2000. 

• Sheila McGarr delivered the "FDLP Update" and was on a panel discussing 

"Reconsidering Depository Status" at the American Association of Law 

Librarians meeting in Philadelphia, July 2000. 

• Cindy Etkin made a presentation on "Collection Development and Reference 

Service in the Electronic Information Environment" at the FLICC Reference 

Institute, July 2000. 

• Barnum spoke on "Archiving and Authentication," at the FLICC Reference 

Institute, July 2000. 

• McGarr spoke at the "lunch and learn" program of the Federal Law Librarians 

Section of the Law Librarians Society of the District of Columbia, June 2000. 

• Tad Downing presented two workshop sessions at the North American Serials 

Interest Group, San Diego, California, June 2000. 

• Baldwin and Barnum spoke to the National Archives and Records 

Administration's Archives Assembly (their professional association) on the 

"FDLP Electronic Collection" May 2000. 

• GPO staff made the following presentations at the GPO Interagency Depository 

Seminar in May: 

o "Service in an Electronic Environment: Workstation Specifications" and 

"Your Depository's Web Presence" (Etkin) 

o "Impact of the Electronic Environment on Collection Development, Public 

Service, and a Depository's Web Presence" (Etkin with Thomas Oertel and 

Gail Snider) 
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o "Depository Self-Study Process and Depository Responsibilities." 

(McGarr) 

o "Guidelines for Substitution of Electronic for Tangible Versions of 

Depository Publications" (Oertel) 

o "The Electronic Transition" (Barnum) 

o "The Ins and Outs of LPS Processing" (Vicki Barber, Robin HaunMohamed, Downing) 

• Barnum presented "From Shipping Boxes to Browsers: The Digital Library 

Concept and Federal Government Information," Case Western Reserve University 

Symposium on Digital Libraries, April 2000. 

• Etkin spoke on "The Federal Depository Library Odyssey: The New Century" at 

the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries annual meeting in San Antonio, 

TX, March 2000. 

• Barnum and Kerchoff spoke and gave a slide presentation on "The FDLP 

Electronic Collection: What's New?" to the Permanent Public Access Working 

Group, at GPO, March 2000. 

• Haun-Mohamed worked with members of EIDS in staffing the GPO booth at the 

Public Library Association meeting, Charlotte, NC, March 2000. 

• Barnum presented a lecture for the Government Documents Class, San Jose State 

University School of Library and Information Science, February 2000. 

• Oertel spoke before the Northwest Government Information Network meeting in 

Seattle, WA on the topic of the "Guidelines for Substitution of Electronic for 

Tangible Versions of Depository Publications," December 1999. 

• Etkin staffed the GPO booth at the American Association of School Librarians 

(AASL) annual conference in Birmingham, AL in November 1999. 

• Etkin discussed "New Roles for Federal Depository Libraries in the Next 

Century" Illinois Library Association, joint presentation with John Shuler, 

University of Illinois, Chicago, October 1999. 

• Throughout fiscal year 2000, McGarr conducted LPS tours for a variety of 

groups: 

o Eight librarians from Russia sponsored by the U.S. Department of State 

o Depository librarians visiting Washington, DC on vacation 

o Law students from Georgetown University 

• Downing and Sandy Morton-Schwalb continued to serve as chairs of two FLICC 

working groups; Downing with the Personnel Working Group and MortonSchwalb with the Education Working Group. Etkin is a member of the Education 

Working Group. 

• A number of LPS staff members worked at the GPO booth at both the ALA midwinter (January) and annual meetings (June).