United States -—» 1 1 • T~A t Government Printing Office FUDllC UOCUmeiltS

July/August 1 983

No. 61/62 (GP 3.27:61/62)

Highlights

Name Authority, Minimal Cataloging

Top Issues Debated at ALA Meeting

(These are excerpts from various reports, and

are not intended as a compreliensive account.)

Two issues raised at the spring meeting of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer were major topics of discussion at the June meeting of the American Library

Association. These were: • Personal name authority work, and • Minimal level cataloging.

A discussion paper prepared by the Docu- ments Cataloging Committee of GODORT

and the Bibliographic Control Committee of the Depository Library Council indicated "widespread support for continuing name

authority for corporate names, series and

uniform titles." However, in a resolution, the groups agreed to "discontinuing name

authority unless that presents a search problem."

Minimal Level Unclear As to cataloging, the committees found

that libraries are not able to keep up with

workloads, and that diverse definitions and

applications of "minimal level records" were

not in anyone's best interest. Many libraries assign cataloging as a part-time effort, ac- cording to the report. Because this is consid- ered unwise spending of cataloging dollars,

it was urged that libraries investigate means of reducing cataloging time without

disrupting services. Since there did not seem to be agreement

on what "minimal levels" should contain, nor what materials should be given this treatment, creation of a Minimal Level

Cataloging Committee was proposed for consideration at the next ALA meeting. Also, a

resolution was passed calling for the Gov- ernment Printing Office and the Library of Congress to continue cataloging Government

publications at or exceeding current levels. LOC Record File Attendees were told that the Library of Congress has a contractor who is manually

changing headings in a bibliographic/authority record flip based on data containing

"old catalog" references. The project, affect- ing 240,000 records, is expected to take a year to complete.

Meanwhile, the GPO will continue to accept series authority records from Federal

agencies, while the Library of Congress has

placed a moratorium on this practice.

It was also announced that by early 1984, a Linked Systems Project will provide over- night transfer of authority records among

the Library of Congress, the Washington Li- brary Network and the Research Library

Group so that users can search for records with their own system's codes. The Library

of Congress indicated it considers this the

first step in the development of a full Cooperative Data Base Building System (CODABASE).

Attendees were told that the next generation Online Computer Library Center termi- nal will be a personal computer, slightly modified for use with an online system. This

terminal will continue handling the current

software system, and is expected to be avail- able next January.

Monthly Catalog Update

A progress report on the GPO's Monthly

Catalog was presented by E. Gilbert Bald- win, Chief of Section 2, Classification and

Cataloging Branch of Library Programs

Service. He told attendees that: • The 1976-80 cumulated index is availa- ble on microfiche, and costs $24; • The January-June 1983 semiannual

issues will be printed soon; • The July 1983 issue will be distributed around mid-August; and • The fiche version will be a subscription item starting next January.

Baldwin also noted that the map surveys

are in circulation and are due back in mid- August for evaluation. On the subject of technical reports, Bald- win said that the GOP will not catalog De- partment of Energy documents that are disDepository Council Sets

Fall Meeting for Seattle

The Depository Library Council

to the Public Printer will hold its fall meeting September 15-17 in

Seattle's Park Hilton Hotel.

Registration begins Wednesday, September 14. An informal reception will be held in the lobby at 6 p.m., followed by no-host

dinner. You do not have to be a member of the Council to attend; everyone interested in the Depository Library Program is welcome to attend and participate in the discussions. Reservations should be made soon, since the fall draws many visitors to Seattle. A

special rate of $50 a room (whether single or double occupancy) is available to those specifying attendance at the Council meeting. For reservations, call direct at (206) 464-

1980, or use these toll-free numbers: From

outside the state of Washington, use 1-800-

426-0535; from inside the state, use 1-800-

542-7700.

If you wish to write, the address is: The Park Hilton Hotel

Reservation desk . 6th Avenue and Seneca Street

Seattle, WA 98101 Should there be any problems or special

needs, as for Reservations Manager Marc

DuVall.

tributed by the Technical Information

Center. He also pointed out that the GPO

will continue to catalog past-processed technical reports but no longer in dual format. Baldwin said that the GPO and the Li- brary of Congress are developing an agree- ment to formalize various cataloging proj- ects to define each agency's role. Starting June 1, the GPO began using TOSCA (Total Online Searching for Cataloging Activities), the Library of Congress name authorities data base. He explained that this will result

in the closing out of the GPO's manual authority files.
Public Documents Highlights is circulat- LPS is Active on Many Fronts

ed regularly primarily for librarians of the Federal Depository Library Program, and

mailed at first class rates. Material for use in this publication should

be sent to the Editor, Public Documents

Highlights, c/o Superintendent of Docu- ments (SD), Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20401.

All submissions may be edited or con- densed for space consideration. Comments

are most welcome and may be printed if the sender is clearly identified. DANFORD L. SAWYER, JR. Public Printer of the United States MICHAEL F. DiMARIO Superintendent

of Documents

Letters to the Editor

Dear Sir: Let me congratulate you on the "new look." The type is clear and readable and the overall appearance is an improve- ment. I don't know if you plan to use col- ored paper again, but I personally prefer the black on white. (Editor's note: Black on

white is our preference too.) As a former professor of the traditional documents course in several library schools,

I found the Hernon-McClure report disturb- ing but not too surprising. Far too many

librarians are blissfully ignorant of the complexities of the Federal Government and its multifaceted publishing program. I think I know the solution, but library school deans

argue that their curricula include too many

"required courses" already.

Harold E. Holland

Director of Libraries Pepperdine University (Calif.)

Dear Sir: The print in Highlights is much

too small.

Sylvia N. Schmaars

Librarian Haverford College (Pa.)

Dear Sir: The May issue is packed with

information and is well-organized. I like the

pictures, too. Margaret T. Lane

Baton Rouge, La. Personals . . . Pat Haugen, Government documents li- brarian at Winona, Minn. State University

since 1971, has retired. At commencement

exercise this summer, she was given the

title of professor emeritus. She is a past president of the Minnesota GODORT group. She not only attended many of the Depository Library Council meetings but spent her

1978 sabbatical in Washington, D.C. visiting

all the various agencies issuing documents

received by depository libraries.

A review of activities by the Library Pro- grams Service was presented to the GODORT/Federal Documents Task Force/

Depository Libraries Work Group at the American Library Association meeting in Los Angeles. Highlights include: • Workflow Study—A report has been

issued by a GPO task force working with

the ADP group on a functional analysis of LPS operations. • National Collection—A 4-year LPS re- tention schedule has been established before these documents are retired to the National

Archives Records Service. This extended

schedule will make it easier for LPS staffers

to verify bibliographic data, correct errors, and perform other tasks that require "book

in hand." • LPS Warehouse—Actions have been

taken to upgrade equipment that will im- prove working conditions and operating effi- ciency. • Workshops—They have been revised and restructured, and will resume in the

fall with three sessions to be held September 26-29, October 17-20, and November 14-

17.• Selection Printouts—Last cycle implemented May 16; next is scheduled for De- cember. The LPS intends to go with a semi- annual schedule, but sometime next year

will reconsider reverting to a quarterly

cycle. • DOE Surveys—Now under review. • USGS and DMA Map Survey—It has been distributed. • Acquisitions—Efforts are being directed

at improving coordination with documents

suppliers. Some problems will persist be- cause: (1) Sales documents can be distribut- ed to retail points faster than depository

documents can be sent to libraries; (2) there

is a microfiche conversion lag; and (3) the

Publications Reference File announces new

titles faster than the LPS can deliver the

actual document. • Reprint Policy—It has been liberalized. When a "short" shipment cannot be completed by a GPO supplier, the LPS will have

the document reprinted. • PRE Microfiche—Deliveries are taking

3 to 4 days less since the LPS stopped put- ting it on the Shipping List. • Microfiche Conversion—Proposed re- vised guidelines are under internal review. Some recent delays have resulted from multiple-award contractors accepting high vol- umes of new documents. GPO's contract

staff is adding an additional contractor "online" to absorb the excess work. • General Accounting Office Reports

The LPS has asked the GAO to provide

copies of all blue-cover reports for deposi- tory distribution. • List of Classes—The June 1983 edition

will be out soon, reflecting the "housecleaning" efforts of the LPS to purge "dead" item

numbers. • Regionals-Only Shipments—This one- time procedure was undertaken to clean out an accumulation of "short" shipments.

There has been no change in distribution or

selection policy.

Two More Depositories Named

Two more libraries have been designated

as depositories. They are: • Highline Community College Library in Midway, Wash., and • Georgia State University College of Law

Library at Atlanta.

Document Dishes Create a "Lucullan" Lunch

The Government Documents staff at the University of South Florida, responding to a suggestion by Depository Library Inspector Joseph McClane on a

recent visit, hosted a "get acquainted" luncheon for "Documents Staffers" in the Tampa Bay area in May.

The 25 persons who attended from Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Lakeland and Tampa were treated to the follovnng menu that was strictly GPO:

Chicken Tetrazzini Food (A 1.11/3:F 73/2) Vegetable Medley, Carrots in Custard Sauce, Jel- Cooking for Small Groups (A 1.77:197)

lied Citrus Salad and Raw Vegetable Salad. Rolls and Brownies Bread, Cakes and Pies in Family Meals (A 1.77:186/3) Apple Cake Apples in Appealing Ways (A 1.77:161/2)

The gourmet cooks were Donna Asbell, Julia Schwartz, Elizabeth Smith and

Dorothy Tiemann, all from the Government Documents Department of the

library of the University of South Florida.
Libraries To Benefit

GPO Reveals Marketing Strategies

New marketing initiatives by the Govern- ment Printing Office will greatly benefit li- braries, Library Division Chief Mark Scully

told attendees at a GODORT/Public Library

Association Joint Program at the American

Library Association meeting in Los Angeles.

Scully also noted that the GPO has made

great strides in improving its order fulfill- ment system.

Discussing the marketing strategy, Scully

said, "In the near future, we should see

public service announcements on radio and

TV informing us of the wealth of information available in depository libraries and en- couraging us to 'contact our local library.'

"

At the same time, he went on, "A second marketing campaign will be directed toward

public libraries through the Library Journal and by direct mail." He pointed out that

interested libraries will be sent information

kits containing material to assist them in handling public inquiries on the Depository

Library Program.

Everyone Will Gain

Scully said the marketing campaign for depository libraries still is in the planning

stage but is being developed in consultation with professional librarians. "I believe that

all parties stand to gain something from

this campaign," he asserted. "The public be- comes aware of depository libraries and

their benefits; libraries will receive in- creased visibility; and the GPO moves

toward its objective of promoting the Depository Library Program."

In discussing backlogs during the past decade, Scully noted that "in 1976, there were 500,000 publication backorders and the

order fulfillment period was 30 to 90 days; if the manual record of your order happened

to be lost in the process, your order would

be recycled and an additional 90 days added

to the process." He added that in 2 years, automation had reduced the turnaround

time to 5 to 10 days.

Turning to serials, he declared that "there were 100,000 subscription orders backlogged

at any given time; by the end of 1973, the year of subscription automation, the backlog

had been reduced to 20,000 orders. Today, we strive for a 10-day turnaround on subscription entries." He pointed out, however,

that dependence on issuing agencies and dis- tribution contractors often means a 4 to 6- week delay before actual subscription start- up. Complaints Reduced

"One final horror story," he told the

group. "Ten years ago, there were 70,000

subscription complaints in the mill routinely. Today, that figure has been reduced to

1,500, half of which refer to nonreceipts that the GPO knows were mailed to the customer."Scully pointed out that the GPO currently has on file 1 million subscription address

records, and each year about 38 million

serial publications are distributed to customers.According to Scully, "Current efforts to develop a Consolidated Order Processing

System to further automate and expedite order handling and an Automated Call Di- rectory System to manage incoming calls will further improve the level of service in the order processing area."

Commercial Publisher Set

To Print EEOC Decisions

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Decisions are to be published commercially beginning late this year, according to an announcement made to the GODORT/

Federal Documents Task Force/Acquisitions

and Bibliographic Control Work Group at the American Library Association meeting

in Los Angeles.

The publisher will provide the Decisions

as well as an Index. The Index will be copy- righted but the Decisions will remain in the

public domain.

The group also was told that the National

Technical Information Service has begun to

offer "electronic ordering" by computer ter- minal, or by using a Touch-Tone telephone

with an 800 number.

NTIS will be shortening its new docu- ments accession time. Now 12 to 13 weeks, it will be down to 8 weeks by next January

and 6 weeks by next June.

Trials and Tribulations . . . A Chicago school teacher was having trou- ble with the reference file until a librarian said politely that the word "instructor" did not start with the letter "e" . . . At a university library, a student insisted on seeking all materials listed under "Down

Broad Street." After a prolonged exchange

of frustrated responses, the librarian finally

figured out that the student misheard the

professor, who was discussing "Dun and

Bradstreet."

(Editor's note. Send your trials and tribu- lations for use in this newsletter.)

Government Publications

Highlighted by Librarian

Because he noticed that many library pa- trons haphazzardly browsed through the vo- luminous shelves of Federal publications rather than using indexes or a catalog and came away frustrated, Mark Megalli of Gardena, Calif. Library established a new sec- tion that includes most of the interesting

Government documents.

After determining which of these docu- ments would appeal to the public, he housed them in a new section of the library. Called

"Selected Government Publications," it contains about 15 to 20 percent of the entire Government documents collection. According to Megalli, this project serves many purposes: • Encourages library patrons to browse through Government publications, thus pro- moting increased use of these documents; • Provides easy access to such publications for library patrons and staff, making it easier to find popular and interesting issues without consulting the card catalog; • Eliminates 20 percent of the time usually spend on routine weeding; • Promotes Government publications by

arousing patron interest and curiosity and

hopefully increasing circulation; and • Increases the overall attractiveness of the section. Well-placed signs and displays

result in increased patron attention and re- sponse.

Bookless Libraries Urged

A letter to the editor of The New York

Times recently explored the possibility of "bookless libraries." It noted some advantages to an electronic library system:

"No book, pamphlet, newspaper or magazine would ever be lost, stolen, damaged or on loan. "Many users of the system would be able

to view the same material simultaneously.

"Library space would no longer be a limi- tation. I fact, many electronic libraries the world over could be integrated to form one

'logical' library system, offering the user

quantities of material unthinkable in the

traditional library system. "In the not-too-distant future, electronic

libraries will be able to translate material on command."

As might be expected, the writer of the

letter is president of a computer software

firm. (Comments are welcome—The Editor.)
New Guidelines Established

for Library Inspections

New guidelines have been established by

the Library Programs Service for depository

libraries: All libraries requesting to become depositories will be inspected to determine whether facility has sufficient space and other re- sources; and understands its responsibilities

under the law. A biennial survey will be used to identify

libraries with problems, and those libraries

will be inspected.

Follow-up inspections will be made where

problems are identified, to note improve- ments which have been made since the first previewed. Only at this time would libraries be placed on probation.

Each non-By-Law Depository library will be inspected at least every 7 years. (LPS is currently attempting to inspect libraries which were not inspected since 1977 or earlier.) Workshops will be used to cover bylaw

depository library issues and problems.

Teleconferencing and other techniques

will be used to cover issue identification and

problem resolution for areas which seem to affect more than a few libraries. Any depository library may request an in- spection at any time.

Notes from the ALA meeting . . Under a new agreement announced at the American Library Association meeting in Los Angeles, there will no longer be dupli- cate distribution of maps. From now on, the U.S. Geological Survey

will service depository libraries with all USGS maps as well as those from the Defense Mapping Agency.

The Government Printing Office will ad- minister such details as developing and up- dating selection lists, and will maintain bib- liographic control of all maps under this new program.

Sen. Claiborne Pell (Dem.-R.L), former chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing, was awarded an honorary life membership in the ALA.

E. J. Josey was chosen president-elect of the ALA. He is chief of the Bureau of Specialist Library Services, New York State

Library, State Education Department.

Carol Turner was named Assistant Chair

(Chair-elect) of GODORT. New chair of the

Map and Geography Round Table is Philip

Hoehn.

GODORT GOINGS-ON

In GODORT developments: • Judy Myers of the University of Houston Library was named to succeed Bernadine Hoduski of the Joint Committee on

Printing as chair of the Documents Cataloging Committee; • The GODORT Cataloging Manual will be issued soon; and • GODORT has asked that the Govern- ment Printing Office include Department of Energy depository publications in the Monthly Catalog.

Ad Hoc Committee In Business

The newly formed Ad Hoc Committee on

Depository Library Access to Federal Auto- mated Data Bases (see May 1983 issue of Highlights, No. 59, Page 5) has begun hold- ing two-day meetings once a month through

December.

The purpose of the hearings is to evaluate

the feasibility and desirability of providing

access to Government information in elec- tronic formats to depository libraries. Chairing the committee is Bernardine Hoduski, professional staff member of the Joint Committee on Printing.

NOT FOR SALE

^ lis. C;w«r»men*

BOCMKS 1 nii«t$A-^<«.«<Mra)5>»it(^oo(in«L)«-«.v

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Because It's Free!

Every year the Government

publishes thousands of books. And every year the

Government Printing Office

sells millions of these books to people in the know. Now there's a book that tells you about the

Government's "bestsellers"

but it's not for sale . . . it's free!

It's our new catalog of almost 1,000 of GPO's

most popular books. Books like Infant Care,

Merchandising Your Job Talents, The Statistical Abstract, Starting a Business, The Space

Shuttle at Work, How to Select a Nursing Home,

Voyager at Saturn, and Cutting Energy Costs. This catalog includes books from virtually

every Government agency. So the subjects range

, ^-iS^ from agriculture, business,

children, and diet to science, space, transportation, and

vacations. And there are

titles on military history,

education, hobbies, physical

fitness, gardening, and much,

much more. There's even

a special section for recently

pubUshed books.

Find out about the Government's bestsellers. Send today for a copy of the book we don't sell. WriteNew Catalog

Superintendent of Documents

Washington, D.C. 20402

GPO : 1983 O - 413-752