Public Documents

June 1980 Number 40 GP 3.27:40

Minnesota

Council Meeting

Successful

Gathering in St. Paul, Minnesota, on

April 27-30, 1980, were members of the Depository Library Council to the

Public Printer. Attending were documents librarians from all over America,

along with Samuel L. Saylor (Acting

Public Printer), Carl A. LaBarre (Superintendent of Documents), John D. Livsey (Director, Library and Statutory

Distribution Service), and staff members from the Government Printing

Office, Joint Committee on Printing, Bureau of the Census, and Federal Li- brary Committee of the Library of Congress. Mr. Saylor led off the presentations

from GPO. Some "highlights" from

these remarks are as follows: "I have

had the pleasure of meeting each Council member at receptions held in Washington in the past two years when I served as Deputy to John Boyle. He has

even spoken to me of the degree of pro- fessionalism each of you brings to the

Council sessions; and he has always

been impressed by the truly constructive criticism offered by the Council and

the members of the audience.

"Carl A. LaBarre has frequently

spoken of the efforts of the Council to bring forth recommendations and reso- lutions that would improve the Depository Library programs and the services

to our customers. I'm certain this ses- sion will again result in positive actions. You may be assured that while I'm serv- ing as Acting Public Printer, I will support the Depository Library programs

and the goals and objectives of this Council; that, I pledge."

Greetings were read from Minnesota's Governor's Albert H. Quie. He

particularly stressed: "Access by citi- zens to information on the functioning

of the Government is essential to the

preservation of the democratic process. Access by citizens to information pro- duced by Government agencies ad- vances our nation socially and economically. The Depository Libraries help in- sure citizen access to Government inAssistant Public Printer (Superintendent of Documents) U.S. Government Printing Office

fomation by making widely available sig- nificant records and documents."

The Mayor of St. Paul, George Lat- imer, dropped by to extend his City's

welcome, and said: "I don't envy you

your job today; but I do admire the objective of your task; and I do respect and

much depend on the quality of your

work."

Ms. Faye Padgett, Deputy Staff Di- rector, Joint Committee on Printing,

gave a progress report on House Resolution 5424, designed to update Title 44 of the United States Code. She re- ported that there had been considerable

rewriting of the Resolution in the light of recent extensive hearings, and that a number of Congressional Committees

wanted to examine it further. Later in the meeting, Mr. LaBarre gave a detailed response to each of the

resolutions passed during the Fall Council. These appear in the minutes sent out to depositories. He prefaced this re- sponse with some updating remarks on

the Sales Program, saying: "The Sales Program has had a phenomenal six months. We have had the largest month

ever in February. I'm talking about vol- ume, and, actually, the effort that went

into it. Our Bookstore Program is now 20% above last year. I'm talking about

sales and customers in the first six month period, and, that was on top of

a 30% increase for the past two years.

So, this has been a very successful time

for the Bookstores. "I'm going to announce very shortly a return to a standing order policy. Cus- tomers wishing to receive any title in our

inventory that is issued on a recurring

basis, will be able to do so by requesting

1
that their name be entered on a specific

mailing list for each item desired. The

customer must first authorize this Office

to obtain payment for the publications

ordered by charging the order to their Master Charge, VISA, or prepaid GPO

deposit account. And, in this regard, we

will make sure that the system is in effect sometime after the 1st of May, so

that we may take care of the Census

publications which will soon be gener- ated as a result of the 1980 Census."

Mr. John D. Livsey (about to join the

staff of the Joint Committee on Printing)

reported on the forthcoming move of the

Library and Statutory Distribution Service to new quarters. This is projected by

stages over the next two years. On the

topic of depository microforms, he said: "Last week we passed 13,226,000 dis- tribution of microfiche over the last two and a half years. We are making plans to

offer you either hard copy or microfiche

of all hearings, all committee prints,

starting with the 97th Congress, first session, next January."

Speaking on the Depository Library

Inspection Progam was Mr. Daniel R. MacGilvray, Depository Library Inspector. He noted that the new inspection

procedure was being improved. He also observed: "Many libraries are fighting

a real battle now to maintain a level of documents service in the face of job

freezes, job cuts, and cutbacks of funds. We hope in the new inspection pro- cedure that we can reinforce those li- braries in their requests to their own ad- ministrations for support. It is emerging

very clearly that the 1980's, in many

ways, is going to be, perhaps, the most

significant decade for depository documents. This is because, increasingly, access to the 4000 plus items is a key

for collections building."

Speaking on the Cataloging and Classification work of GPO was Mr. Stuart Greenberg, Chief of the Classificatior

and Cataloging Branch. He stated: "A

few refinements have been made to the

MoT\\h\'^ Catalog, such as the addition

of headers to the author, title, and subject indexes, and the addition of a notice page which will, hopefully, improve its usefulness. We are also exploring the

possibility of locating all entry numbers

in the indexes against the right margin

to facilitate the readability and improve

the appearance of the page. The next and probably last major change to the Monthly Catalog will be the incorporation of the Title Key Word Index." Speaking on the relationship of the

Federal Library Committee, GPO,

OCLC, and related matters, was Mr. James Riley, Executive Director of the

Federal Library Committee of the Li- brary of Congress. He explained: "The

Federal Library Committee is made up

of forty members that represent entities

in the Federal Government, namely, the

Executive, Judicial, and Legislative

branches, and departments, and agencies. So, it's an institutional membership. Then, within the Federal Library

Committee we have developed an oper- ating arm called FEDLINK, that is, the

Federal Library Information Network.

The role FEDLINK plays is the same as any network that deals with OCLC. There

are twenty such networks across the

country; they are either multistate or

state networks. Ours is a nation-wide

network. We represent Federal Libraries

in any part of the country that wish to make use of the OCLC efforts." Speaking on the 1980 Census was

Mr. Mike Garland, Chief of Data Users

Services, Bureau of the Census. He pre- sented the projection of anticipated mi- crofiche and hard copy breakdown of the forthcoming 1980 Census. Efforts would be made to provide both versions

with GPO giving depositories an opportunity for a choice of formats. Discussions were already underway with GPO

on the production and distribution of maps in both formats.

Prior to the formal meetings, was a gathering on Sunday, April 27th, of depository librarians connected with, or

interested in, Regional Depository Li- brary service. Their willingness to share

experiences and speak with GPO re- source people proved quite rewarding; so much so, that the Council went on

record endorsing a similar gathering

in the Fall. These are only a few of the "highlights" of a very fruitful Council meeting. A more comprehensive coverage

has been sent out to Depository

Libraries in the form of a summary by

the Council Secretary, Ms. -Roberta

Scull. Council will meet again during

the Fall in Alexandria, Virginia, at Holi- day Inn/Old Town, with registration and

Regional Depository Library session on

Sunday, September 28th, and meetings on the 29th, 30th and October 1st.

2
New

Depository Posters

Sent to Libraries

The long awaited posters, in two designs, were sent out on June 13th. "In- formation for Everyone," is intended to

identify the exact location of depository

services: with a line provided for filling

in the name and address of the depository. "Ben Franklin wants you to read your Government Publications," is de- signed to heighten public awareness of Government publications and their

availability in depositories and in GPO

Bookstores. Ten copies of each poster

are being sent. This will provide many

possibilities for posting: in branch li- braries, student unions, non-depository

libraries, town halls, etc. The Editor of HIGHLIGHTS would enjoy hearing about

your creative uses of the posters and

the public response.

Information

for everyone.

Publications of your

United States Government

can be found right iiere:

Ben Frajiklm waints you to Head your Government

Hut

Available In Depository Libraries and sold through GPO Bookstores. *

Monthly Catalog

Corner

A key word index will appear on an

experimental basis in forthcoming is- sues of Mor\\.h\y Catalog. It will be seen

in the 1980 Semi-annual Index, and in every monthly issue from July through

December. This will be a pilot project to

monitor public response to the index as

a possible useful feature of Monthly

Catalog.

In Response to resolutions from the Depository Library Council and the Gov- ernment Documents Round Table, the

index will be formatted upon a permuted

title approach which will use information from the main title, subtitle, and

variant forms of the title. All terms in the title will be employed as access

NEW ARRIVALS DISPLAYED! Looking at one of his many outstanding depository

displays, is R. Brantley Cagle, Jr., Documents Librarian with the Lether E. Frazar Memorial Library of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

points, except words designated as non- indexing on a stop-word list. In most

cases, words on this list will be prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, and

other commonly used expressions which

are of little or no value as finding aids. Virtually every word and numerical se- quence will be available as a point of entry in the index. The index line will contain a maximum of 50 characters

meaning that the full text of the title may not print on every line. Conservation of space and paper were the overriding determining factors in reaching

this decision in the hope of keeping the

overall size of the Monthly Catalog to a workable standard. The six month pilot project is being

pursued to solicit user response to the new index prior to possible formal adoption in Monthly Catalog. Your reactions,

based upon use of the \ndey, will de- termine what, if any, modifications are

in order, or even whether the index

should be included. (A means for formulating responses will be provided either through Monthly Catalog, or a separate

mailing, and should contain user comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc.) Your participation by writing to us is strongly encouraged to assist in deciding upon the key word index with users

very much in mind.

3
Our Best Effort!

[Anniversaries are always suitable occasions for publicity. A fine example of this was worked out by the very creative li- brarians with the University of Rochester

Library.^

"In March of 1880, Congressman

John Van Voorhis established the Depository designation which the University of Rochester Library has been

privileged to enjoy for one hundred

years. To commemorate those many

years of serving Rochester's active aca- demic, business and industrial communities, as well as the general public, our documents staff eagerly set to work

planning a gala centennial celebration we called the Documentenn/a/.

"Major preparations for the festive reception planned included establishing

a guest list, designing invitations, food

and beverage planning, and the assembling of documents displays on the his- tory of our Document Department, on

the development of the Census and on

the Government Printing Office. We ex- hibited selected landmark documents

of historic interest as well, and called attention to our collections of New York

State, Canadian, and United Nations

publications. Mr. Carl A. LaBarre, Su- perintendent of Documents, was so kind as to pen us a letter congratulating us on achieving our centennial year. "The financial and moral support ex- tended to us by our Library Administration was instrumental to the success of our endeavors. They did much in the way of local publicity, and notices of our festivities appeared in the local newspapers, and were broadcast on

radio. Invitations were sent to University

administrators, faculty, area librarians,

University staff, students, and the rela- tives and descendents of our founding

Congressman.

"Research was conducted into the

life of our designating Congressman,

and it was discovered that among many

accomplishments, John Van Voorhis was a delegate to the National Republi- can Convention at Baltimore, Maryland,

which renominated Abraham Lincoln for

a second term as President. He later served as co-counsel for the defense at the trial of Susan B. Anthony in 1872.

"Our much-anticipated event took

place March 28, 1980, only one day

shy of our originally designated Depository date of March 29, 1880. In honor of our heritage. Documents staff sewed their own antique costumes; all of us donned our Victorian best the day

of the big event. Our Documents Department, suitably festooned in red, white,

and blue streamers and balloons,

hosted a total of more than 125 people.

Strains of Souza might have been heard,

at least by the imaginative, as wine

and the excitement of the occasion

prompted several commemorative orations. The' text of Gregory P. Ames'

(Documents Librarian) address recognizing John Van Voorhis as our founding Congressman was printed in the Congressional Record of April 16th, as

'Extension of Remarks.'

"Attending the celebration was our own modern-day Congressman, the

Honorable Frank J. Horton. He pre- sented us with a flag and a certificate in

honor of having attained our centennial

year, and spoke of his long-standing

commitment to the Library and of his work on the Paperwork Commission.

Our political science graduate students

seized the opportunity to buttonhole

the good Congressman on many issues

of our times.

"We are glad to report that a splendid

time was had by all. The celebration at- tracted a sizeable cross-section of most

of our prime user groups: including faculty, area business and industrial li- brarians, along with students. In addition, the festivities promoted no small amount of documents awareness within the Rochester community. Our Documentennial offered an appreciative trib- ute to Documents staff, GPO personnel,

and documents users, past and present.

More importantly, the event served to reaffirm in all of us a very real sense of dedication to excellence in documents

service." 4
Document Reviews

[HIGHLIGHTS welcomes short reviews by

depository librarians of significant recent documents. Just send them typed double

spaced to the Editor. Our most recent contributions are by Mrs. Diane Gates, Li- brary Assistant II, Willis Library, North Texas State University, and by Steven D.

Zink, Documents Librarian, Andrews Li- brary, The College of Wooster.]

John Paul Jones' Memoif of the Ameri- can Revolution Presented to King Louis XVI of France. Translated from the

French and edited by Gerard W. Gawalt.

(Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress,

1979.) Pp. 116. $6.50. LC 1.2:J 71.

(Available through GPO Bookstores,

Stock Number 030-000-00094-3.)

John Paul Jones' memoir serves to remind us of the spirit of the generation

who fought the American Revolution.

This volume was published by the Li- brary of Congress for the Bicentennial

Celebration. As well as relating details written by Jones' own hand, it exemplifies the rich holdings found in the col- lections of the Library of Congress. This

translation from the French conveys the

flavor and shades of meaning found in the original. Footnotes add biblio- graphical data, and comment on actual events as opposed to Jones' version of the events. A biographical glossary

with years of birth, death, and major

accomplishments of people mentioned

in the text supplement the work. The

documentary letters contained in the

original are appended (also in an

English translation). An introduction

also supplements the work with many

added details about the life of John Paul Jones. For instance, he was accused of murdering the ship's carpenter at an

early point in his career. He had flogged

the carpenter for laziness. The car- penter jumped ship, shipped on another

vessel, and later died of a fever in no way connected with the flogging. Later, Jones killed the ringleader of a mutinous crew (perhaps inadvertently)

and altered his name to the now familiar John Paul Jones. In America, he began

as first lieutenant in the Continental

Navy. The memoir takes up his revolu- tionary career in which he displayed

both "blatant egotism" as well as great

I have not yet I begun to fight 1

I John Paul Jones I US Bicentennial I5c ' \m m m m m m.jm^ it ^ m mMj

courage during considerable trials. He

was beset by many uncooperative as- sociates: such as those who delayed act- ing on his suggestions about strategy

until it was too late to do anything; or

the commissioner who acted solely on

personal interests and could not keep

from telling about secret missions. The

commissioner also interfered with Jones' crew, who came to regard themselves as French subjects and Jones as

a foreigner who had no power over them. He constantly referred to his crews as a "group of rogues."

A sufficient number of men for a crew was hard to find, so prisoners were often added to reach the minimum number

necessary. His ship (the Bonhomme

Richard) had the "bad luck" to run

afoul with the Alliance at night due to the negligence of the officers on watch,

who were cashiered and discharged, al- though only minor damage was suffered by the ships. Jones wrote that: "With

all these mishaps, it is easy to see that I was thwarted in all my projects and that my situation was perhaps the most pre- carious and the most disagreeable in which a commander ever found himself." He could not persuade some of the other captains to support his daring

ventures and suffered damage from

situations such as that which arose when the A///ance fired on both the Serapis (the English vessel) and the Bonhomme Richard (commanded by

Jones), and would not cease firing. The

Bonhomme Richard sank, with the

Serapis surrendering to her. Both vessels had been on fire, but the men had

been transferred to the Serapis. John

Paul Jones and his crew lost all per- sonal belongings, and some members

were never compensated for service or belongings. But, Jones did receive the

first Captain's commission granted in the new United States Navy, and was

awarded a gold medal by Congress.

He had wanted a commission in France's RoyaJ Navy and made at least four copies in French of his autobiography: one for the King, one for the

Foreign Minister, one for the Minister

of Marine, and one for himself. Only two

copies survived: Jones' personal copy, and the copy presented to Louis XVI. Even the original English version disappeared. The French copy is kept in the Archives Nationales; Archives de la Marine copy and Jones' own are kept

with the John Paul Jones Papers in the

Library of Congress.

Through the many obstacles and cir- cumstances faced by Jones, one may

conclude, as he did, that "although in the realization of my projects I have

been sometimes countered by various

circumstances, I dare flatter myself that

his Majesty is convinced that my zeal was never dimmed by all the obstacles I had to surmount."
Exhausted GPO Sales Publications Ref- erence File. (Washington, D.C.: Govern- ment Printing Offce, 1980.) 136 microfiche, 48X $25.00. GP 3.22/3-3:980.

(Available through GPO Bookstores,

sold as a set, Stock Number 021-000-

00099-0.)

Over the past few years, many documents librarians and users have come to recognize the GPO Sales Publications

Reference File (PRF) as a nearly indis- pensable ready-reference tool. The re- cent appearance of the Exhausted GPO

Sales Publications Reference File (EPRF) promises to expand further the

utility of the basic File. Originally designed for use as a documents-in-print, the PRF was never in- tended to serve as a permanent record

for all items ever sold by the Superintendent of Documents. As a result each item, after being retained in the

File with "stock exhausted" status for one year, was removed. The Exhausted

GPO Sales Publications Reference File

is designed to serve as an historic sup- plement to the PRF by cumulating all of those "stock exhausted" items re- moved from the original File. The first edition of the EPRF consists

of 136 microfiche containing almost

25,000 entries for out-of-print items. In every physical respect, the EPRF is identical to the current PRF; and like the basic File contains a GPO stock

number sequence, a Superintendent of Documents classification shelflist ar- rangement of the entries, as well as a combined alphabetical listing of titles, personal author names, agency series,

report numbers, and subject key words.

Currently, the Government Printing

Office plans to publish the EPRF on an

annual cumulative basis. Unfortunately,

due to computer formatting problems,

cumulations are projected to begin with the 1981 edition. One can only hope

that the problems will be resolved and

that the 1980 EPRF will somehow be

merged with future editions. Although the Exhausted GPO Sales

Publications Reference File identifies only those U.S. Government publica- tions which have been available for pur- chase from the Superintendent of Documents, it is nevertheless another valu- able access-enhancing tool to the wealth

of information available in Government

publications. The Government Printing

Office is to be commended for vigilantly

improving the quality of the PRF over

the years, and, in particular, for re- sponding to librarians' requests for this supplement to the Publications Refer- ence File.

Public Documents Highlights is cir- culated bi-monthly by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402, and is mailed at first class postage rates. Public Documents Highlights

is intended primarily for librarians of the Federal Depository Library Program.

Material proposed for circulation may

Golden Gate

Not State!

Among the new depositories wel- comed in the February HIGHLIGHTS,

one got miscalled. We hereby acknowledge one of the Bay area's best: Golden

Gate University, School of Law Library,

San Francisco, California, D62C. Apolobe submitted to the Editor, Public

Documents Highlights, Library and

Statutory Distribution Service, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20401. The Superintendent of Documents, however, retains the right

to accept such material, to edit it, and

to assign priorities of circulation.

gies for the slip.

VOLCANOES ANYONE? Spokane Public Library, within easy fall-out distance of Mount

St. Helens Volcano, this Spring had the foresight to display the Geological Survey's 20

color plates of the Atlas of Volcanic Phenomena along with lots of local photos and

clippings. One panel is shown here. The Atlas is for sale through GPO Bookstores or main GPO. It was published in 1973 and sent out to depositories selecting Item 621.

Price is $7.35. SuDoc Number is I 19.2:V 88/4. Stock Number is 024-001-01202-2.

6

GPO 8 70 8 2 4