Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 21, no. 08 GP 3.16/3-2:21/08 May 15, 2000 

GPO Response to Proposed Appropriations Cuts 

May 11, 2000 

The Honorable Charles W. Taylor 

Chairman 

Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives 

Room H-147, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

I am writing to express my profound concern and dismay with the appropriations cuts 

recommended by the Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations last week and agreed to by 

the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, May 9. The cuts will mean the reduction of 

435 skilled GPO personnel and the elimination of public access to a significant body of 

Government information, and could jeopardize GPO’s ability to support Congress’ printing and 

information product needs. 

Salaries and Expenses of the Superintendent of Documents. If enacted, the cut in this 

appropriation will have a disastrous impact on public access to Federal Government information 

by literally dismantling the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Government’s 

primary and longest-serving information dissemination activity. Every one of the 1,337 

depository libraries nationwide will feel the following impacts, as will the estimated 

9.5 million people who use these libraries every year: 

 The 60 percent reduction in this appropriation will force our library program staff to be cut 

by nearly two-thirds, affecting 85 skilled information and library specialists and distribution 

personnel. Many of these employees are recognized throughout the library and information 

community nationwide for their expertise in the Government information field. The loss of 

their skills and capabilities from the public access arena will be incalculable. 
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 Altogether, public access to nearly 40,000 titles, or the majority of all titles made available 

through the program, will be affected. Approximately 25,000 of these titles are available in 

tangible format only, as determined by their issuing agencies, not the GPO. By requiring all 

information dissemination to be in online format only, the funding cut will terminate public 

access to these titles, abruptly ending public access to numerous critically important 

Government information products, including most congressional hearings. Public access via 

depository libraries to Census 2000 data that will be released in the near future on CD-ROM 

will also be eliminated. 

 Another 15,000 titles are available in both online and tangible formats, such as the U.S. Code 

and Supreme Court reports. While electronic access to these titles may continue, the public 

will not be able to use the printed products, which in many cases are the official, authentic 

versions of these documents. In an age when public access to these electronic documents is 

susceptible to a broad range of problems—from assurance of permanent availability to 

vulnerability to computer viruses—continued access in tangible formats remains absolutely 

essential. And it can be done for relatively little cost: the FDLP prints, catalogs, ships, and 

provides support services for all tangible formats for about $1.57 per copy, an incredibly 

efficient performance. 

 The funding cut will undermine public access to electronic Government information 

products. It will terminate virtually all depository library support services, including 

program administration, designations, product acquisition, classification, inspections, 

training, and consultative services. One of these services involves providing necessary 

locator services to online Government information products. Another involves working with 

agencies to ensure that new information products are usable by the public. Yet another 

involves establishing public/private partnerships to ensure the permanent availability of 

online Government information products. The loss of these services will be devastating to 

electronic public access both today and for the future. 

The cut to the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation will have other impacts as well: 

 It will eliminate GPO’s By-Law Distribution Program, under which certain publications 

specified by public law are distributed at the request of Members of Congress and Federal 

agencies. Agencies that receive statutory copies of publications under this program include 

the Library of Congress and the National Archives. 

 It will virtually eliminate the International Exchange Program. Under international treaty, 

this program pays for the distribution of U.S. Government publications to 71 foreign 

governments that agree, as indicated by the Library of Congress, to send to the Library 

similar publications of their governments. Without providing copies of publications for 

international exchange, the Library is not likely to receive copies of publications from 

foreign governments. 

Mr. Chairman, at a cost of approximately $30 million annually—about 1 percent of the 

legislative branch budget, which is itself only a small fraction of the overall U.S. budget—the 

FDLP and associated programs provide the Nation’s citizens with access to the most 

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comprehensive range of Government information available, all under the direct control of the 

public’s elected representatives in Congress. It is a well-managed program: only two years ago, 

the program was characterized as “a valuable public service" in the congressionally-directed 

management audit of GPO conducted by Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc. Most importantly, the 

FDLP is recognized both nationally and internationally as a model of how best to keep the public 

informed. 

The funding reduction approved by the House Appropriations Committee, however, will destroy 

this program and along with it the Government’s longstanding partnership with the American 

library community to provide the public with library-based access to Government information. I 

implore you to reconsider this decision and to restore our requested funding for this essential 

program and its associated functions. 

Transfer of Superintendent of Documents Operations. The Committee has directed a study 

of the transfer of Superintendent of Documents operations to the Library of Congress. Part of 

this requirement is to transfer an electronic FDLP to the Library of Congress. However, we 

already transfer databases to the Library for use on Library systems, such as Thomas, so the need 

for the physical reorganization of these functions is not clear. Moreover, GPO Access is not 

created by the FDLP. The congressional and agency databases created for GPO Access—as well 

as transfer to Thomas—are the by-product of GPO’s electronic printing systems. These are 

integral processes that cannot be transferred without transferring associated printing functions. 

Other Superintendent of Documents programs that would be transferred would be the sales and 

agency distribution programs, under which GPO distributes publications, on a reimbursable 

basis, to recipients designated by Federal agencies. It is true that such a transfer was passed by 

the House in 1993, but only after it had been amended to transfer the right to bargain for wages 

along with the Superintendent of Documents’ employees. However, when such a transfer was 

studied by the Library in 1994 and again in 1995, the Library expressed reservations due to its 

lack of experience in operating large-scale publications distribution programs. Also, the Library 

had reservations about separating the publications distribution function from GPO’s 

production/procurement function, under which publications are obtained for sales and other 

distribution programs on a cost-effective basis with minimal administrative burden and cost. The 

removal of the distribution function from GPO could significantly increase the cost of making 

Government publications available to the public. 

Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation. This appropriation will be reduced by 

$7.8 million, or 11 percent, from the current year level as the result of a directive not to print any 

products not associated with the direct legislative business of Congress. The Committee has 

specifically recommended the elimination of the Congressional Record Index (which will result 

in the abolishment of the Congressional Record Index office, whose personnel are appointed by 

the Joint Committee on Printing). Also eliminated will be the 2000 edition of the U.S. Code and 

other miscellaneous congressional publications such as the Congressional Directory, the 

congressional Serial Sets, memorial addresses, and nominations, as well as Our Flag and 

engineering and agricultural reports submitted by Federal agencies to Congress, which are 

printed as numbered documents. In addition, funding is cut for Senate distribution of copies of 

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the Congressional Record to public agencies and institutions, blank paper for the Senate, and 

GPO details to Congress. 

The elimination of funding for these and other publications “not absolutely essential to the dayto-day operations and legislative activities of the House and Senate” calls into question the 

availability of this appropriation for related products, such as printing for the January 2001 

inauguration of the President; printing for other miscellaneous publications, including the 

Pictorial Guide, Economic Indicators, House and Senate telephone directories, and treaties; and 

printing for other numbered documents such as The Capitol Magazine, the quarterly Statements 

of Disbursements of the House and the semiannual Report of the Secretary of the Senate, as well 

as printing performed under resolutions (including the pocket Constitution, How Our Laws Are 

Made, and Our American Government). 

When combined with the elimination of printing for depository libraries and the absence of 

funding to pay the 2001 COLA for GPO’s crafts employees, as provided in wage contracts 

approved by the Joint Committee on Printing, these workload reductions will force the reduction 

of 350 production personnel, more than a quarter of our production staff, whose value to 

Congress—in providing essential congressional printing services and making electronic 

information available via GPO Access—has been praised time and again by the Members and 

leadership of both the House and the Senate. Not only are their printing crafts services essential 

to Congress, but these same personnel make Government information products available online 

via GPO Access, which is made available for the use of other online services, such as the Library 

of Congress’ Thomas. The staffing cut that this appropriation will require could very 

conceivably impact our electronic information services, especially if a RIF—which is 

enormously disruptive to the workforce—is required to meet workforce reduction goals. 

Accordingly, I urge you to reconsider this funding cut and restore this appropriation to our 

requested levels. 

Transfer of Congressional Printing Funding to House and Senate. The Committee 

recommends a study of the transfer of the Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation to 

the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate in 2003. However, it is not clear how 

such a transfer would be effected. For the past three years, the amount of this appropriation used 

by the House has averaged 38 percent. The amount used by the Senate has averaged 26 percent, 

while joint and other items, such as joint committees, the Congressional Record index, GPO’s 

Congressional Printing Management Division, numbered documents authorized by both 

chambers (Our Flag, the pocket Constitution, etc.) have averaged 36 percent. It is not clear how 

these items would be divided between the two Houses. Similarly, it is not clear whether GPO 

would remain the Congress’ source of printing and electronic information product services under 

this proposal, or to what degree Congress itself will experience increased costs and 

administrative burdens from the assumption of these new funds. Years ago, Congress created 

GPO’s Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation to address all of these issues, and I 

strongly recommend that you reconsider this potentially unwieldy and costly transfer proposal. 

GPO Revolving Fund. The Committee has not fulfilled GPO’s request for $6 million for air 

conditioning improvements. Without an appropriation for this expensive project, the revolving 

fund will have to be used. As a result, the costs of the project will have to be recovered through 

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printing rates charged to GPO’s customers, including Congress. With less revenue coming in as 

a result of the appropriations reductions, the impact of this project on remaining revenues will be 

more significant. 

Mr. Chairman, if these funding recommendations are enacted, they will significantly impair our 

ability to carry out our statutory mission, and they will profoundly impact the public’s access to 

Government information. I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to reconsider them. 

Sincerely, 

MICHAEL F. DiMARIO 

Public Printer 

cc: The Honorable Ed Pastor 

 Ranking Member 

House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

The Honorable Zach Wamp 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable Jerry Lewis 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable Kay Granger 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable John E. Peterson 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable John P. Murtha 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer 

 Member 

 House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations 

 The Honorable C.W. Bill Young 

 Chairman 

 House Appropriations Committee 

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 The Honorable David Obey 

 Ranking Member 

 House Appropriations Committee 

 The Honorable Robert F. Bennett 

 Chairman 

 Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations 

 

 The Honorable Dianne Feinstein 

 Ranking Member 

 Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations 

 The Honorable Ted Stevens 

 Chairman 

 Senate Appropriations Committee 

 The Honorable Robert C. Byrd 

 Ranking Member 

 Senate Appropriations Committee 

The Honorable Ed Pastor 

House of Representatives 

Room 2465, Rayburn Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Zach Wamp 

House of Representatives 

Room 423, Cannon Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Jerry Lewis 

House of Representatives 

Room 2112, Rayburn Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Kay Granger 

House of Representatives 

Room 435, Cannon Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable John E. Peterson 

House of Representatives 

Room 307, Cannon Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

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The Honorable John P. Murtha 

House of Representatives 

Room 2423, Rayburn Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer 

House of Representatives 

Room 1216, Longworth Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable C.W. Bill Young 

Chairman 

House Appropriations Committee 

Room H-218, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable David Obey 

Ranking Member 

House Appropriations Committee 

Room 1016, Longworth Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

The Honorable Robert F. Bennett 

Chairman 

Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations 

Room S-125, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20510 

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein 

Ranking Member 

Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations 

Room S-206, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20510 

The Honorable Ted Stevens 

Chairman 

Senate Appropriations Committee 

Room S-128, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20510 

The Honorable Robert C. Byrd 

Ranking Member 

Senate Appropriations Committee 

Room S-206, The Capitol 

Washington, DC 20510 

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Federal Depository Library Conference & Fall Depository Library 

Council Meeting Announced for October, 2000 

The Federal Depository Library Conference will be held in conjunction with the fall Depository 

Library Council meeting on October 22-25, 2000, in Arlington, VA. The Regional Librarians' 

Meeting will be held on October 22. The location for all the meetings is the Holiday Inn Rosslyn 

Westpark Hotel, 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive, Arlington. 

A limited number of rooms are available at $126.00 (includes tax) per night. This rate will be 

honored through October 2, 2000. You can make reservations by calling 1-800-368-3408 or the 

hotel directly at 703-807-2000 and mention Code: DLC. 

The Federal Depository Library Conference is the largest meeting in the country designed 

specifically for depository library staff, with attendance averaging above 500 persons. Make 

your plans early, since many visitors will be in Washington over the weekend of October 21-22 

for the Marine Corps Marathon. 

The preliminary agenda and online registration information will appear in the June 15, 2000 

issue of Administrative Notes. 

MOCAT CD-ROM for Jan. 98 - Dec. 99 

Should Be Retained Permanently 

The MOCAT CD-ROM for January 1998-December 1999 with Periodicals Supplements for 

1998 and 1999 should be retained permanently. Limited disc space has again forced us to create 

a new disc. The new disc will start with January 2000 and will also contain the Periodicals 

Supplement for 2000; the jewel case will be colored green, as will subsequent issues. Libraries 

and subscribers should soon have two discs for permanent retention, the red colored January 

1996-December 1997 issues, and the soon-to-be-shipped blue colored January 1998-December 

1999 disc. The green disc for 2000 may be discarded with the receipt of each subsequent disc. 

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Readers Exchange 

Oklahoma State University Library 

Acquires Federal Publication as Two-Millionth Volume 

[John B. Phillips, Head of the Documents Department at the Edmon Low Library, Oklahoma State 

University, sent the following announcement.] 

The Oklahoma State University (OSU) Library proudly celebrated the acquisition of its twomillionth volume, September 30, 1999 on the Edmon Low Library's South Lawn. The milestone 

two-millionth volume, Henry R. Schoolcraft's classic Indian Tribes of the United States (1851-

1857), was selected by the Friends of the OSU Library's Executive Board. Pulitzer Prize-winner 

Scott Momaday made the keynote address and acclaimed actor Wes Studi made a special 

presentation and spoke at a VIP luncheon. 

The OSU Library Documents Department, a regional depository, is pleased that a Federal 

publication was chosen to commemorate this special event. Indian Tribes of the United States 

was the first officially sanctioned government publication on Native Americans. Schoolcraft 

(1793-1864), an American explorer and ethnologist and an agent in the Lake Superior region, 

ambitiously attempted to record all aspects of Native American culture. 

Brevet Brigadier General Seth Eastman (1808-1875), who illustrated the six-volume set, is 

regarded as the foremost pictorial historian of the American Indian in the nineteenth century. 

According to noted art historian Patricia Cordon Johnston, "Eastman was a career army officer 

and a talented artist with a keen eye for cultural detail." He is one of the few artists whose 

subjects were Native Americans who also lived among them on a daily basis. His some four 

hundred drawings and paintings have been called the most valuable in the country, not even 

excepting those of George Catlin. 

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Federal Depository Library Program

Bringing Government Information to You 

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Library Programs Service Contacts

Revised April 2000 

Name Voice Fax E-mail 

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

Gil Baldwin – Director 202-512-1002 202-512-1432 ebaldwin@gpo.gov 

Debbie Ellis – Secretary 202-512-1114 202-512-1432 dellis@gpo.gov 

George Barnum – Electronic Collection 

Manager 

202-512-1114 202-512-1432 gbarnum@gpo.gov 

Laurie Hall – Supervisory Program Analyst 202-512-1114 202-512-0877 lhall@gpo.gov 

Steven Kerchoff – Electronic Transition 

Specialist 

202-512-1114 202-512-1432 skerchoff@gpo.gov 

Sandy Morton-Schwalb – Program Analyst 202-512-1114 202-512-1432 smortonschwalb@gpo.gov 

William Thompson – Program Analyst 202-512-1114 202-512-1432 wthompson@gpo.gov 

DEPOSITORY DISTRIBUTION DIVISION

Vicki Barber – Chief 202-512-1014 202-512-1429 vbarber@gpo.gov 

DEPOSITORY PROCESSING BRANCH

Colleen Davis – Chief 202-512-1007 202-512-1429 cdavis@gpo.gov 

Depository Claims Office 202-512-1024 202-512-1429 

LIBRARY DIVISION

Sheila McGarr – Chief 202-512-1119 202-512-1432 smcgarr@gpo.gov 

CATALOGING BRANCH

Thomas A. Downing – Chief 202-512-1121 202-512-1432 tdowning@gpo.gov 

DEPOSITORY ADMINISTRATION BRANCH

Robin Haun-Mohamed – Chief 202-512-1071 202-512-0877 rhaunmohamed@gpo.gov 

Yvonne Washington – Publications 

Management Specialist 

202-512-1131 202-512-0877 ywashington@gpo.gov 

Acquisitions & Classification Section 

Earl Lewter – Chief 202-512-1698 202-512-0877 elewter@gpo.gov 

John Tate – Chief 202-512-1129 202-512-0877 jtate@gpo.gov 

Micrographics Section 

Michele Harris – Chief 202-512-1060 202-512-0877 mharris@gpo.gov 

DEPOSITORY SERVICES

Charles Bradsher – Inspector 202-512-1119 202-512-1432 cbradsher@gpo.gov 

Thomas Oertel – Inspector 202-512-1119 202-512-1432 toertel@gpo.gov 

Gail Snider – Inspector 202-512-1119 202-512-1432 bsnider@gpo.gov 

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Table of Contents 

GPO Response to Proposed Appropriations Cuts......................................................................... 1 

Federal Depository Library Conference & Fall Depository Library Council Meeting 

 Announced for October, 2000.................................................................................................... 8 

MOCAT CD-ROM for Jan. 98- Dec. 99 Should Be Retained Permanently ................................ 8 

Readers Exchange: Oklahoma State University Library Acquires Two-Millionth Volume ........ 9 

Library Programs Service Contacts, Revised April 2000........................................................... 11 

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