Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 19, no. 07 GP 3.16/3-2:19/07 May 15, 1998 

Renewed Commitment to Public Access 

Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr. 

Superintendent of Documents 

U.S. Government Printing Office 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 20, 1998 

Arlington, VA 

Good morning. I am pleased to be speaking to this large gathering of the depository community. 

Although I made some brief remarks at the Fall Depository Library Council meeting last 

October, I was not yet "official." This is, therefore, my "maiden" speech to the council as the 

Superintendent of Documents. 

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to serve on and chair the Depository Library 

Council in the late 70's. What has struck me is that 20 years later, we are discussing many of the 

same issues; of course using different acronyms and some terms that were not in our 

vocabularies then, such as the Internet and World Wide Web. We were talking about cataloging, 

indexing, formats, mediums, and of course information policies. But what remains the 

overarching concern of the community is access to information -- to ensure that it is equitable 

and easily available, for no or low fee. 

Role of Superintendent 

What I hope to bring to bear in my administration as Superintendent of Documents is my public 

service orientation and experience in actually finding or trying to find Government information 

to answer questions from the public. I consider the Superintendent of Documents role as one of 

the most visible and longstanding demonstrations of the U.S. Government's commitment to 

keeping the public informed. The mission of the GPO is to produce and procure information 

products for the Federal Government and to disseminate them to the public through several 

channels. I oversee a number of important programs as the Superintendent of Documents: 

 The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), through which libraries receive 

Government information products at no cost in return for making them available to the 

public at no charge; 

 The no-fee electronic Federal information service GPO Access <www.access.gpo.gov>; 
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 The nationwide Sales Program, that includes 24 bookstores, a central order service, and 

the Consumer Information Center in Pueblo, CO; 

 The International Exchange Program (IES) through which we distribute U.S. Government 

information products to foreign national libraries, as designated by the Library of 

Congress, which in turn agree to send copies of their country's official publications to the 

Library on a reciprocal basis; and 

 Distribution of publications on behalf of Federal agencies, which in turn reimburse GPO 

for warehousing and dissemination services. 

My goal is to ensure that these programs operate efficiently, complement each other and are 

coordinated to provide effective public access to Government information in tangible and 

electronic mediums, on a current and long-term basis. 

During my four months at GPO, I have found it a challenge to manage these areas not only from 

a policy perspective, but operationally as well. The size and scope of the programs is massive, 

and the complexities of operating the programs within the policies and procedures of GPO, the 

Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) and the Government is a whole new world. It even has been 

a challenge to learn the organizational structure with its hundreds of good people to manage the 

various tasks involved in the acquisition, indexing, classification, and dissemination of 

Government information products. 

I would like to comment briefly on some of the SuDocs programs, to give you an overview of 

the operations and the issues we face. They will be amplified by succeeding speakers. 

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) 

In regard to the FDLP, some current statistics illustrate the range, scope and vitality of the 

program. 

As of January 31, 1998, there were 1,365 libraries in the depository program. Of that number 

over 50% were four-year academic institutions, 20% were public libraries, and 11% were in 

accredited law school libraries. The remaining depositories are found in two-year community 

colleges, Federal agencies, state libraries, state courts, special libraries, Federal courts and 

military service academies. 

In fiscal year 1997, 13.4 million copies of 44,820 tangible products were distributed to 

depository libraries and approximately 30,000 items were catalogued to produce the Monthly 

Catalog of United States Government Publications. 

The recently completed Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries found that the number of users 

being served by depositories each week averages 188,000 or nearly 10 million each year. We are 

serving many people well with access to Government information in tangible and electronic 

mediums. In addition, it indicated that over 89% of depository of depository libraries have a 

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publicly accessible computer workstation for access to the Internet and another 4% of the 

remaining libraries have staff access. 

GPO Access 

We continue to be pleased with the success of GPO Access and the fact that it is one of the 

leading sites on the Internet. I know that T.C. Evans will provide more details, but I like to tout 

our good news. We are seeing an ever-increasing amount of use. Statistics for March show that 

more than 13.5 million documents were downloaded, up from 10.5 million documents in just 

several months. 

In an effort to quantify the successful implementation of the electronic transition of the FDLP, 

we have developed statistics that show how much depository material is available electronically 

via GPO Access. 

From 1994 to date we have a cumulative total of 65,342 titles on GPO servers. These include 

issues of the Congressional Record, Federal Register, CFR's, the Budget and many other titles. 

In addition, we provide links to another 44,204 titles on other Government agency servers 

through MoCat links, and partnership agreements. This totals over 109,000 titles. 

GPO Access has drawn praise from a variety of sources, including the library community. In 

December 1996, in a guest column in Roll Call, representatives of the Congressional 

Accountability Project and the Heritage Foundation, each representing very different ends of the 

political spectrum, together called GPO Access "an enormous success." In January 1997, OMB 

Watch released a report on Government Information Locator Services (GILS) which noted that 

"GPO Access has become the largest single location for GILS services and records in the Federal 

Government," and that "GPO should be seen as an example to agencies that are struggling with 

their GILS implementation." 

The March 23 Federal Computer Week had an article titled, "GPO's Web Site Muscles Up on 

Links to Federal Documents." It notes: "In a Web environment overrun by sites that are the 

equivalent of a Hollywood movie set where style takes precedence over substance, the GPO site 

stands out as an unassuming, information-rich offering." I hope that some of you had a chance to 

read the full article since it was mentioned in a number of GOVDOC-L messages last month. 

Needless to say, we have been quite pleased with this good press. 

Through GPO Access, we are attempting to provide a comprehensive point of access to official 

Federal Government electronic information products for your libraries and the public. 

Outreach/Public Relations 

We are also attempting to increase our efforts at outreach and public relations. When I was 

appointed, Mr. DiMario asked me to emphasize the role of spokesperson for public access to 

Government information. Since coming on board at GPO or to be factual, even before I was 

sworn in, I began to receive a number of invitations to speak and write about my new role as 

Superintendent of Documents. Prior to starting at GPO I was interviewed by Leonard Kniffel, 

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editor of American Libraries for an article in their December 1997 issue. During my second 

week at the agency, I was interviewed by Susan Tulis, former documents librarian at the 

University of Virginia law library and currently one of "those" information consultants, for the 

American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) newsletter, the Spectrum. That interview 

appeared in the March 1998 issue. 

I have participated in our Congressional appropriations and oversight hearings this year; made 

presentations to the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) annual forum 

and the University of Connecticut InForm Colloquium; and was a guest lecturer at Syracuse 

University's Federal Information Policy Class here in DC. I have been interviewed for an 

upcoming issue of Library Journal and have submitted articles for publications of the Oregon and 

Ohio Library Associations as well as writing an "On My Mind" editorial for American Libraries. 

I have visited bookstores in Denver and Pueblo and toured the depository collections at Yale 

University and Law School Libraries. 

In the next few months, I will be speaking to members of the Federal Publishers Committee, the 

Library of Congress Collection Development Committee, and the Ohio GODORT; attending the 

annual meetings of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and AALL and of course I will 

participate in the American Library Association (ALA) meeting that will be held in beautiful 

downtown Washington, DC in the height of summer. We want to expand our reach and visibility 

by attending and exhibiting at a wide array of information-related conferences. 

GPO's display booth has made appearances this year at the ALA Mid-Winter meeting in New 

Orleans, the SLA Winter meeting and Computers in Libraries Conference as well as the Public 

Library Association in Kansas City this past March to demonstrate GPO Access as well as to 

distribute information about the depository and sales programs to a wider audience. We will be 

exhibiting at the upcoming Special Interest Group for CD-ROM applications and Technology 

(SIGCAT) in May; National Online Meeting in New York City in May; SLA in Indianapolis in 

June, ALA annual conference here in June, AALL in Anaheim in July, and Online World here in 

DC in October. Within the next few months GPO will have a larger booth so that there will be 

room for information about the many facets of the Superintendent of Documents program. In 

addition, when and where possible, staff from LPS and the Sales Program will work in the booth 

along with those from the Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS). We want to be 

able to showcase our sales products along with those we provide for free. 

Integrated Processing System (IPS) 

At the Fall Depository Library Council meeting, Jay Young talked about the Integrated 

Processing System or IPS, that has been in the works for several years to upgrade our Sales 

Program. IPS should greatly improve customer service and document delivery by using one 

central database for transactions; streamline the ordering process, utilize scanning and imaging 

technology to maintain records of orders, improve research, inventory management and 

forecasting tools, and have state-of-the-art warehouse management technology. We think this 

will enhance quality of service and marketing opportunities for the Sales Program. 

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It has taken longer than anticipated to develop the system and for us to prepare for 

implementation. We want to be very sure that "all systems are go" before we make such a major 

change to our Sales Program. We are hoping to have the system up in the summer. 

Although IPS will initially focus on the central ordering process, we are evaluating its 

application to GPO bookstores and other areas. After implementation we will evaluate the 

possible integration of other existing legacy systems in Library Programs Service to move them 

off the mainframe and into an integrated client-server environment. 

Collection Plan 

As a librarian taking over the Superintendent of Documents programs, I was very pleased that 

the development of a collection management plan for online information was already underway, 

thanks to the efforts of Duncan Aldrich during his tour of duty with GPO as an expert consultant 

last year. I would like to expand the scope of this collection concept to include the FDLP print 

and sales collections, but our initial plan will address the various electronic Government 

information products we make available to depository libraries and the public as a library-like 

collection. 

You will be hearing about the plan in more detail from Gil Baldwin and George Barnum. 

Partnerships 

As many of you know, LPS staff has been working diligently to forge new partnerships to 

provide current and permanent public access to Government information products. A number of 

these partnerships will be showcased here this week. 

One new, exciting venture will be "rolled out" by the Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of 

Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) this week. Sandy Schwalb will provide more 

details about the project, but I wanted to recognize the Director of OSTI, Dr. Walter Warnick, for 

his hard work and great sense of cooperation to make this project happen. The DOE electronic 

dissemination vehicle, called "Information Bridge" will be made accessible via GPO Access. It 

will provide on-demand access to electronic versions of some 15,000 reports annually that were 

previously provided to depository libraries in microfiche until 1996. Actually, when Information 

Bridge opens to depositories this week, there will be more than 25,000 sci-tech documents in 

electronic format dating back to January 1996. Dr. Warnick, I want to thank you and your staff 

for your efforts to making this partnership a reality. Would you please stand and be recognized? 

I hope you, in the audience, have an opportunity to hear Dr. Warnick discuss the project at a 

Federal Agency Update Session on Tuesday afternoon from 3:45 to 5:00 in the Decatur-Farragut 

Room. On Wednesday morning from 8:30 to 10:00 there will be a demonstration of the 

Information Bridge in the James Room. We look forward to continuing our good working 

relationship with you, Dr. Warnick. 

We also are in the initial stages of a pilot project with the National Technical Information 

Service (NTIS) which will provide depositories with digital images of Federal Government 

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scientific, technical, and business reports from the NTIS collection on demand and for free. We 

are pleased to be involved in this historical partnership. You will be hearing more about the 

project later this morning. 

Fugitive Documents 

We are all too aware that there are many Government information products that fail to be 

included in the FDLP. Their absence from depository library collections impairs effective public 

access to a great deal of vital Government information. While many studies of the fugitive 

documents problem have been conducted, the exact amount of material outside of the FDLP has 

been difficult to isolate. 

Four major factors have contributed to losses of key general interest publications for the FDLP: 

1) electronic information dissemination via agency Web sites without notification to the 

FDLP; 

2) decreasing compliance with statutory requirements for agencies to print through GPO or 

to provide copies of publications not printed through GPO to the FDLP; 

3) the increasing trend for agencies to establish exclusive printing arrangements with private 

sector entities that place copyright or copyright-like restrictions on the products involved 

in such agreements; and 

4) increasing use by agencies of language in 44 U.S.C. 1903 that permits publications to be 

excluded from the FDLP if they are "so-called cooperative publications which must 

necessarily be sold in order to be self-sustaining." 

When an agency uses GPO for production or procurement of a publication (defined in section 

1901 of Title 44 as "informational matter which is published as an individual document at 

Government expense, or as required by law"), GPO ensures that distribution to the libraries is 

made. If a publication is produced elsewhere than GPO, the publishing agency is required by 

section 1903 to supply the requisite number of copies to GPO, at its own expense, for 

dissemination to depositories. 

Some agencies want more independent control of their printing and have challenged the 

requirements to use GPO, a legislative branch agency, under the separation of powers doctrine. 

Others, such as the Department of Defense/Defense Automated Printing Service (DAPS) are 

operating with economic motives. They have just announced a merger with the General Services 

Administration (GSA) to do general printing in regional defense printing plants to have a higher 

volume of business to support their operations. All of the examples of agency independent 

printing programs have been replete with fugitive documents not provided to the FDLP. 

Another compliance issue involves publications in electronic formats. The Executive Branch has 

taken the position that Title 44 does not apply to Government information in electronic formats. 

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OMB's Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources," requires agencies 

to cooperate with GPO for print publications, but only "encourages" cooperation for publications 

in electronic formats and provides agencies with a rationale for exempting electronic information 

products from the FDLP based on cost. 

We believe that the spirit and intent of the law since the founding of the FDLP has been to make 

information produced at taxpayer expense available to the public through depository libraries 

regardless of format. In 1990, GPO's General Counsel stated, "[i]t is our opinion that Congress 

did not intend to carve a distinction based upon the technology employed to disseminate the 

Government publication and that Title 44 U.S.C. Sec. 1903 governs regardless of whether the 

publication is in the traditional ink-on-paper format or some new medium." Congress itself 

created GPO Access in large part to provide for online dissemination of Government information 

to depositories. While we make every effort to work closely with agencies to ensure the 

inclusion of their information products in the FDLP in all formats, the continuing agency 

practice of not providing electronic products to the FDLP by many agencies, through ignorance 

or intent, is creating gaps in information availability to the public and creating potential problems 

for permanent public access to that Government information in the future. 

In order to be proactive in regards to fugitive Government information products, within GPO, we 

are discussing a proposal for a team dedicated to getting more content into the FDLP. We have 

come to the understanding that we must reach out to the agencies to resolve the fugitive problem. 

The team will utilize notices that GPO staff receive from librarians when a Government 

information product is discovered to exist outside of the FDLP as well as lists of agency 

publications that will be checked for depository distribution. Such notices will act as a trigger 

for discussions between GPO and agencies to get the material into the FDLP, GPO Access or the 

Sales Program as appropriate. We certainly appreciate help from those of you in the depository 

community who advise us about fugitives. 

Management Audit 

As you can see, we are extremely busy at GPO, but a General Accounting Office (GAO) 

management audit, being conducted by Booz-Allen, Hamilton, will present us with more new 

challenges to work through. 

The theme or perspective Booz-Allen indicated they would take in their evaluation of GPO was 

competitiveness with business, rather than evaluating us as a service. As it turns out there were 

many positive comments in their report about GPO's printing and procurement services, as well 

as the depository library program and GPO Access. 

Among the recommendations for the FDLP are suggestions that we refine the goals of the 

program to include target dates for completing the transition to a more electronic program; to 

develop additional depository partnerships; to expand marketing efforts to all potential 

stakeholders; to pursue changes to Title 44 to require agencies to provide all documents, 

especially electronic documents, to the FDLP; and to hold an information campaign to make 

agencies aware of their compliance responsibilities. Most of these are already ongoing 

programs. Other recommendations were to consolidate functions in the library program and the 

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sales program and to reduce staff; increase training; provide managers with more authority over 

personnel decisions; and institute a formalized quality control system for FDLP processing 

activities. A number of the recommendations have a textbook quality, but they will each need to 

be evaluated carefully and responses developed. 

There were many more critical findings and recommendations regarding the sales program. 

Because Booz-Allen does not regard the sales program as an inherently Governmental activity, 

they suggested it could be outsourced or privatized. Although they recognized the imminent 

implementation of IPS, which "offers the potential for dramatic productivity improvements in 

order processing and inventory management," and which will involve a more efficient and more 

customer-friendly system with a new staffing pattern, they recommended a new staffing pattern, 

a more rigorous customer service program, and a complete overhaul of the retail sales central 

ordering processing operation. All of which are underway! They suggested a reorganization of 

the Superintendent of Documents organization, revamping the process for selecting, pricing, and 

promoting products; and being more proactive in seeking cooperative ventures to package, 

promote and sell publications. Again not much new, the report could be viewed positively or 

negatively. We prefer the former as you can tell from the news release. 

Conclusion 

In so many of the speeches I have made recently, I have said much about the depository 

program. But this is certainly the one place where I know I am "preaching to the converted" and 

that you understand so well how much the public and the Government benefit from the 

efficiencies afforded by this centralized indexing and distribution system that we call the FDLP. 

You have my assurance that GPO will continue working to develop and evolve our systems so 

that citizens--your users--will have permanent access to Federal Government information well 

into the next century. 

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New Perspectives in the Sales Program 

Remarks by J.D. Young 

Director, Documents Sales Service 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 20, 1998 

Arlington, VA

Good morning. As Fran has indicated, many things are happening throughout the Office of the 

Superintendent of Documents. Fran is bringing in new ideas and I think I speak for all of us that 

it’s a real pleasure to have him with us. He has come in at a very crucial time when it is 

important to be proactive—not to sit back and do nothing. I just finished reading a novel by 

Nelson DeMille titled “Plum Island” where his lead character, on the first page, expressed a 

problem with “doing nothing.” He says “It occurred to me that the problem with doing nothing 

is not knowing when you’re finished.” 

This line struck me as special and I wonder how long DeMille had been waiting to use it. 

Unfortunately, should your patrons ask, the rest of the book did not quite measure up to that 

opening. 

But another problem with doing nothing is that you get left behind. We are working hard not to 

be in that position, as you will hear throughout this morning. 

What I'd like to do is update you on the Sales Program and mention a few of the things we are 

doing. 

Our Sales Program is required to recover all of its costs, therefore the bottom line is crucial. I'm 

pleased to report that we've shown a lot of improvement since the losses we sustained in Fiscal 

Year 1996. For fiscal year 1997, we had a surplus of about $1 million, putting us where we've 

been in all but one of the last 12 years--in the black. Through the first five months of FY 1998, 

we are showing a surplus, and right now we're projecting a small surplus for the entire fiscal 

year. This good financial news is in large part due to the hard work of Documents Sales Service 

personnel in controlling costs. 

Speaking of doing things, without question the single biggest thing that we have ever undertaken 

in the Sales Program is moving to our new Integrated Processing System, or IPS. 

Last October, I told the Council that we expected to have the new Integrated Processing System 

operational within a month or so. IPS is the acquisition of off-the-shelf software using clientserver technology that will replace some 18 mainframe systems built over many years. One 

thing that we've learned in the past year, however, is not to underestimate how complicated it can 

be to modernize a long-established operation. This has proven even more complex than we or 

our contractor, Northrup-Grumman, ever anticipated, largely because we operate within such a 

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restrictive legal environment with many rules that are different from the commercial sector. We 

knew that modifications to the software would be required, but underestimated the extent, due to 

being unique. We still have much work to be done, but we are now looking to go live this 

summer. 

An area of particular interest to you is our sales product bibliographic file on our Web site. 

When the time comes to "cut over" to the new system, the existing Publications Reference File 

will remain available for searching but records will be frozen in place. However, we will add 

new titles until a Sales Product Catalog can be generated from the new system which will replace 

the Publications Reference File. Notices on the Web site will keep you apprised of the situation 

during this transition period. 

One of the new ideas that Fran has brought to the Sales Program since he became Superintendent 

of Documents is a new way of looking at ourselves--as a Sales Collection that is part of an 

overall SuDocs Collection of Government information products, with the other two components 

being the Depository Library Program Print Collection and the Depository Library Program 

Electronic Collection. 

When we look at the Sales Program this way, the selection and retention of Sales titles becomes 

not just a marketing or financial decision, but a public policy decision as well. We're now taking 

a new look at what the scope of the Sales Collection ought to be, to ensure we're including 

enough of the tangible Government information products that business libraries, educational 

institutions, and the general public need and want to buy from us. We're also looking at how 

long we ought to keep products available for sale, particularly those of “historical significance” 

like Senator Byrd’s books. Because we think libraries are the sales audience most likely to need 

older documents for replacement copies or earlier editions of certain products, we're going to 

solicit the views of a few of you in an interview in the next few days primarily concerning 

selection and duration. We expect this to be an ongoing process that will expand the dialogue 

between our Sales Program and the library community. 

One of our main concerns about the Sales Collection is our ability to enhance its content 

effectively. Like the depository program, we worry about missing items we should have for sale. 

We feel that good candidates for Sales are being printed out there and that for various reasons we 

aren't finding out about them in time. That's why Sales will be an enthusiastic participant in a 

cross-organizational Collection Development Team that we are putting together. In fact, I would 

like to see us all quietly forget about hunting for “fugitive documents” and instead speak of 

development of the collection. 

Another new initiative is a project to develop a real online book selling site on GPO Access. 

This site will be developed and managed by our Promotion and Advertising area. We want it to 

have the look and feel of Amazon.com and other attractive commercial bookselling sites. 

It should encourage frequent return visits, participation by agency publishers, and provide fullservice search, ordering, inquiry, and announcement capabilities. A very important feature will 

be an opt-in e-mail notification system, so that anyone wanting to be notified when a new 

product of interest becomes available will receive that notification via e-mail. Customers must 

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opt in voluntarily and will be given the opportunity to opt out whenever they want. This service 

will provide timely information to a very targeted audience on new products. It will also avoid 

the postage expense of paper-based notification services. 

We also expect to link with publishing agency pages, enabling us to take orders from agency 

sites--another way to better serve our customers. 

The Sales Program is working to improve product selection, modernize its order processing, 

fulfillment, and inventory management operations, and use the power of the Internet. This is to 

help us fulfill the mission of providing a means for anyone who wants their own copy of a 

tangible Government information product to be able to obtain it at a reasonable price, 

complementing the free access provided through the Federal Depository Library Program. And 

certainly, the Sales Program is deeply grateful to the Depository Program, through the Regional 

libraries, for shouldering the burden of ensuring permanent public access. 

I would like to mention that tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the Dewey III conference room, 

several of our top Sales Program managers will talk about their areas and be available to hear 

your thoughts and answer questions about our activities. Please try to stop by--we'd like to hear 

from you. 

I thank you and I look forward to Council’s deliberations and to the Conference sessions. 

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LPS Progress Report 

Remarks by Gil Baldwin 

Chief, Library Division, Library Programs Service 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 20, 1998 

Arlington, VA

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Library Programs Service portion of the morning 

program. It’s great to have another terrific turnout for the spring Council and Conference. 

We‘re proud to be able to host what has become the annual premier event for the nation’s 

Government information librarians. In my time this morning I’ll address the status of the 

transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Then I’ll tell you 

about some new developments and some works in progress. I’ll touch on what should be a real 

enhancement to communications between LPS, depository libraries, and other program 

participants. 

But right now I’d like to have all of the LPS people who are here stand up and be recognized. I 

think this country is very fortunate to have such a dedicated group working on getting 

Government information out to the public. And when I say that I don’t mean just these people 

here today, but also all of the team back in the red brick building, who are busy making sure 

you’ll have a stack of boxes to process when you get home. 

I hope that many of you will take the opportunity to come downtown and take one of the tours of 

LPS. These are being offered Tuesday morning and both morning and afternoon on Wednesday. 

You can sign up at the registration desk. But if you can’t find the time to get away and take the 

physical tour, we’re pleased to announce that you can now take a virtual tour of LPS via the 

Web. Just a click on <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/lpstour.html> and you’ll be able to 

“mouse through” our operation from receiving through shipping, from acquisitions through 

cataloging, from classification to microfiche conversion, from soup to nuts. I want to thank Joe 

Paskoski and Mike Clark for getting the virtual tour together, and if you drop by Joe’s talk table 

Wednesday morning in the Rappahannock Room he’ll give you a peek. 

Status of the Transition 

Concerning the transition to a more electronic FDLP, we are now about 21⁄2 years into the 5 to 7 

years process. This is an evolutionary process, similar to replacing one computer system with 

another. Today we are in a parallel processing period, where you keep using the old system 

running while developing, installing, testing, and debugging the new. An example of this occurs 

in cases where we continue to distribute tangible copies of certain titles to depository libraries 

even when the originating agency also publishes the same content over the Internet. 

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Let me revisit an issue from the October 1997 Council meeting to elaborate on this. Last year 

LPS developed and publicized criteria for identifying and evaluating candidate publications that 

are currently distributed to depository libraries in microfiche format, and that the originating 

agency also makes available to the public online. As part of the transition to a more electronic 

FDLP, LPS had proposed to discontinue distribution of the microfiche and point to the online 

version for use by depository libraries and the public. 

During the discussions at the fall meeting, concerns were raised about the provision of 

permanent access to such titles. This is a serious issue, and one that we had not yet fully 

addressed for this type of information. Inasmuch as we are still developing a comprehensive 

approach to ensuring permanent access to this category of electronic products it is premature to 

proceed at this time with eliminating related tangible information products from the FDLP. 

However, we are working to develop content partnerships, notification procedures, and other 

mechanisms to ensure permanent public access to agency electronic information products. Once 

these mechanisms are in place LPS will proceed with identifying and replacing candidate 

tangible products with reliable, official, and permanent electronic versions. 

The inclusion of electronic information in the FDLP is proceeding in a rational fashion, in 

tandem with developments in the publishing agencies. Early in the transition we looked into 

converting print publications to electronic formats. We determined that for us to outrun the 

publishing agencies was not only very expensive, but also did not adequately take into account 

the usability of the electronic products or the libraries’ or the public’s ability to access them. So 

our focus today is to improve our awareness of what agencies are doing, and to incorporate their 

electronic products into the FDLP Electronic Collection. 

Comparative figures for print and electronic distributions indicate that the electronic transition 

may be farther along than you think, even though we are following the more gradual, 

evolutionary path. In the nearly 4 years since GPO Access began back in June 1994 we have 

provided access to over 110,000 titles via the Internet. These FDLP Electronic Collection titles 

include resources available on GPO Access, at partner sites, and on agency sites, which we 

describe and link to. It does not include the over 160,000 Web objects or pages that we index for 

the Pathway indexer. Over the same 4-year period, we’ve distributed over 200,000 titles to 

depository libraries in paper, microfiche, and CD-ROM formats, so you can see that the FDLP is 

already running at more than 35% electronic. 

So, when will the FDLP be “all electronic?” I don’t expect to ever see it. I believe that for many 

years to come this will be a mixed-format program, with an enduring print product component, 

including both paper and microfiche. Yes, the numbers of tangible products are probably going 

to continue to decline, but they’re not going to disappear. The Government information 

environment is yet another example of a new technology augmenting the old, not eliminating it. 

Nevertheless, the direction of the trend line is clear--we know where the growth area is. Every 

one of us must balance the complex issues attending the transition to electronic information 

dissemination and our need to maintain ongoing traditional services. During the coming years 

we will continue the transition of the FDLP from paper to electronic formats, consistent with the 

needs of users and the intended usage. And we will further develop the suite of locator services 

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and cataloging initiatives to enable the public to locate Government information regardless of 

format. 

Finding Tools and Bibliographic Control 

This leads me to a very exciting development; one which holds a great deal of promise for 

depository librarians and our users. I’m talking about a significant improvement in our 

cataloging and locator services. We now have an integrated process for providing bibliographic 

control to Internet resources. We have our different tools working together in a seamless 

fashion, in a consistent manner, which should improve the utility of these services while taking a 

maintenance burden off of you. When we learn about a new Government product on the 

Internet, either from an announcement, an inquiry, or from our Web mining efforts, we assign 

that resource a PURL, a Permanent Uniform Resource Locator, and we announce it in our 

Browse Electronic Titles Pathway service. Then we catalog it and we include the PURL in the 

cataloging record. That means that wherever that GPO cataloging record is used, whether in our 

own Web catalog, or in your local OPACS, the user can move directly from the description to 

the content. And when the URL changes, we can fix the problem for everybody by updating our 

PURL resolver table. This is a key development, and provides a critical element to our ability to 

manage the products in the FDLP Electronic Collection. It’s the kind of “behind the scenes” 

work that is not too glamorous but which can make a real difference in people’s ability to locate 

and use electronic information. This effort involved people in our Cataloging and Depository 

Administration Branches, our Electronic Transition Staff, as well as in GPO’s Production area. I 

particularly want to thank Tad Downing and Robin Haun-Mohamed for their leadership on this 

complicated business. Both of them will be covering more of the details in their remarks. 

FDLP Collection Plan 

One of last year’s key developments was the "collection management" concept. When we began 

working on this we said that GPO will manage the various electronic Government information 

products made permanently accessible via GPO Access as a library-like collection. Since then 

the concept has expanded, resulting in a more global view of our role in the electronic 

information arena. You have already heard me refer to the FDLP Electronic Collection, and this 

is another area where a lot of work and thought has been going on behind the scenes. In our 

planning we recognize that GPO is building the FDLP Electronic Collection using GPO 

resources, and is coordinating permanent access through a distributed networked system. We see 

the whole body of electronic Government information that is in scope for the FDLP is part of our 

public access mission. And we refer to that body of products as the FDLP Electronic Collection. 

This is a more expansive view of the Collection than you have heard from us before. 

The FDLP Electronic Collection consists of four elements: 

1) core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products which will reside permanently on 

Government Printing Office (GPO) servers; 

2) other remotely accessible products managed by GPO or other institutions with which 

GPO has established formal agreements; 

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3) the tangible electronic Government information products distributed to Federal 

depository libraries; and 

4) remotely accessible electronic Government information products that GPO identifies, 

describes, and links to but which remain under the control of the originating agencies. 

Portions of the Collection, other than the core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products, 

may be maintained at partner institutions, including other Federal agencies, depository libraries, 

consortia, or other institutions, such as OCLC. 

But the FDLP Electronic Collection is also a way to visualize what we must address to ensure 

permanent, future public access to electronic Government information products, whether those 

products are shipped to depository libraries or made accessible via the Web. In our policy and 

planning discussions we have taken the position that GPO’s permanent access responsibility 

extends to electronic Government information products that we bring under bibliographic control 

through our cataloging and locator services, but which remain on their originating agencies’ 

servers. This commitment demonstrates how important the PURL/Pathways/Cataloging 

continuum is to managing these products. I’m not going to dwell on the Collection concept too 

much right now, because George Barnum and I will be a doing a full presentation on this topic 

tomorrow morning in this same room. We hope you’ll be there to join in on the discussion of the 

collection issues and how they can assist in fulfilling our goal of providing current and 

permanent access to Government information. 

Collections Web Page 

As you know, one of the early manifestations of the collection concept is a digital collection on 

GPO Access known as the "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection" 

which we created almost a year ago. But now we’re taking this to the next level. Thanks to 

former Council member and now library inspector Cindy Etkin, we’re developing a set of 

“FDLP Electronic Collections” Web pages for GPO Access. These pages will provide links to a 

variety of electronic collection resources, both inside and beyond GPO. We will link to full-text 

content and a complete array of finding tools. We hope to have this application up for comment 

soon, and will welcome Council’s feedback when the service is available for review. 

Biennial Survey Highlights 

Let’s turn for a moment to a few highlights from the 1997 Biennial Survey. As you no doubt 

recall that was our first Biennial Survey conducted via the Web, and overall we were really 

pleased with the experience. We hope it was an improvement from your perspective as well. 

There were some interesting things in the responses, and they serve as a kind of barometer for 

the state of the program. 

 Over 89% of the libraries report having Internet available at public access work stations. 

10.7% lack Internet at public access work stations. 

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 Over 90% provide GPO Access to the public through the Web, but 6.7% do not provide it 

at all. 

 51% of you have an adequate budget for computer hardware and software replacement. 

Another 38% report an inadequate budget and almost 11% report no such budget at all. 

 Almost 95% of the depositories have CD-ROM capability and select CDs. Another 3.1% 

have CD-ROM capability but do not select CDs. 

For any of you who may want to perform some additional research using the 1997 Biennial 

Survey, the raw data is available from the Federal Bulletin Board on GPO Access. The files 

include the text of the Biennial Survey, data conversion table, and the answers from each 

depository in comma-delimited format. Depository librarians can use the data to compare their 

depository operations with others in their peer group or within their state or region. 

NCLIS Assessment 

A critical component of our transition to a more electronic FDLP is information about the 

standards and mediums being used or which agencies plan to use for electronic dissemination. 

GPO and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) have entered 

into an interagency agreement to conduct an "assessment of electronic government information 

products." The assessment will: 

 identify medium and format standards that are the most appropriate for permanent public 

access; 

 assess the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of various alternative medium and format 

standards; and 

 identify public and private medium and format standards that are, or could be used for 

products throughout their entire information life cycle, not just at the dissemination or 

permanent public access stage. 

NCLIS, working through the Department of Education, will contract to undertake research and 

data collection from a select number of Federal agencies in all three branches as well as solicit 

opinions from selected knowledgeable experts. The contractor will complete an analysis of the 

data and opinions and produce a final report that will be available from GPO. Mr. Woody 

Horton from NCLIS will provide you with a complete update on the project on Wednesday 

afternoon at 3:45 p.m. But in the meantime, I want to invite you to participate in the process. As 

some of you know, we have asked agencies, library associations, and other interested parties to 

recommend agency information products to be included in the data gathering phase of this 

project. You may have already been contacted about this by GODORT or through another 

channel. Depository librarians have a critical role in the success of the assessment, because of 

the unique knowledge you possess about agencies’ products and your users’ needs. There is a 

handout here on the project, and it includes an explanation of the criteria for suggesting products 

for the study. I’ve also included an early version of LPS’ working list of suggestions, so you can 

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see what’s already been covered. 

askLPS 

Last fall I announced that we were beginning work on a Web-based inquiries and announcements 

module that should improve your ability to ask us questions, find news from LPS, and determine 

what problems have already been resolved. Just this month LPS began accepting inquiries and 

questions from depository librarians and the public via our new askLPS service. LPS appreciates 

the advice and active participation of Council member Julia Wallace in the testing and 

development of this new service. 

askLPS is available by e-mail or via the Web. We have a handout here with the addresses and 

we welcome your use of this new service. askLPS is an automated inquiry service that makes 

filing inquiries and directing e-mail to the appropriate LPS contact easier for those in the 

depository community. There are five components to askLPS: 

1) An electronic inquiry form; 

2) WEBTech Notes, a searchable database for postings made in the Administrative Notes 

and Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, dating back to 1991; 

3) FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and News; 

4) FDLP Contacts; and 

5) The Federal Depository Library Directory. 

This service is important to us, and we hope that you will use it. Last month, LPS received over 

2200 inquiries from outside the walls of GPO; about 75% of them by e-mail and nearly another 

20% by phone. So everything that you channel through this service should help you and it will 

help us. All askLPS inquiries originating from the Web page will receive an immediate response 

acknowledging the receipt of the inquiry. We are still working on the automatic 

acknowledgement for the pure e-mails. LPS’ goal is to respond to each inquiry sent to askLPS 

within 10 working days. Occasionally the first response may be an interim answer when 

responding to the question requires information from another agency. Inquiries received via 

askLPS are being given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, telephone, or regular mail. 

Focusing on this one channel for inquiries should help LPS to track the inquiries as they arrive, 

and should also minimize the duplication of effort to research inquiries by staff throughout LPS. 

If an inquiry submitted via fax, telephone, or regular mail is on a matter of general concern to the 

depository community the response will be incorporated into one of the askLPS applications. 

Depending upon the subject matter of the inquiry, in addition to a direct reply to the person 

making the inquiry, the response may appear in the WEBTech Notes, the FAQs, or the News 

area of askLPS. Although LPS is giving priority to inquiries sent electronically, fax inquiry 

forms will continue to be a useful mechanism when additional information, such as photocopies 

of titles, must accompany the inquiry. 

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I want to especially thank Robin Haun-Mohamed and her team for making askLPS happen. And 

with that I’m going to turn the microphone over to Robin. We’ll all be around later and 

throughout the week. So if you have any questions, or if there’s any way we can help--just look 

for one of us with the red GPO ribbon on our badge. 

Recent Happenings in the Depository Administration Branch 

Remarks By Robin Haun-Mohamed 

Chief, Depository Administration Branch 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 20, 1998 

Arlington, VA

Good morning! On behalf of the staff of the Depository Administration Branch, I am pleased to 

be here to address Council and relate the activities of the Branch over the past 6 months. I would 

like to begin with service issues and then move to a short product summary. 

askLPS 

On April 6, 1998, Library Programs Service inaugurated askLPS, a multi-faceted service located 

on GPO Access designed to expedite the submission of inquiries and enhance communication to 

appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is designed for use by depository staff and the general 

public. It represents a true cross-section of GPO talents as staff from the Depository 

Administration Branch, the Electronic Transition Staff, Depository Services, the office 

automation talents of the LPS Director’s Office, and GPO Production all cooperated maximally 

to produce what we think is a superior, interactive product. I thank Council for their assistance 

with askLPS, especially Julia Wallace who has given us feedback on the service from the 

beginning. The URL for askLPS is <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>. 

There are five components to askLPS: 

1) the Inquiry Form; 

2) WEBTech Notes; 

3) FAQs and News; 

4) FDLP Contacts; and 

5) Federal Depository Library Directory. 

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The inquiry form has two versions. One form is password protected for use exclusively by 

depository librarians. The alternate form is not password protected and is designed for use by 

members of the public. Inquiries submitted to askLPS will receive an automatic e-mail response 

acknowledging receipt of the inquiry. Priority will be given to inquiries received electronically 

over inquiries received via paper, fax or phone. 

WEBTech Notes 

Another component of askLPS is WEBTech Notes, a searchable database containing postings to 

Administrative Notes and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, retrospective to 1991. 

WEBTech Notes is designed to be an interactive, online resource for depository librarians to 

query the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. WEBTech Notes consists of information 

from the four major columns, the Classification/Cataloging Update; the Update to the List of 

Classes, Miscellaneous; Update to the List of Classes, New Item Numbers; and Whatever 

Happened To... ? WEBTech Notes cumulates on a weekly basis. It provides access to 

information far in advance of the paper issuance of the Administrative Notes Technical 

Supplement. DAB also provides a .dbf version of WEBTech Notes available for downloading 

on the Federal Bulletin Board at: <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/webtechn.htm>. 

FAQs and News 

FAQs and News is a listing of answers to frequently asked questions from the depository 

community. It also includes an area for announcements that have been posted in the past on the 

GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly, or more frequently as needed. 

FDLP Contacts 

The FDLP Contacts page is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general 

areas of responsibility. The e-mail links to LPS staff are imbedded in the page. 

Federal Depository Library Directory 

The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO directory 

of Federal depository libraries. This SGML database contains information from the PAMALA 

database (which is maintained by staff in Depository Services). Each library's Item Lister file is 

also linked to the library's directory information. Library staff are encouraged to make 

corrections to their directory entries via a password-protected form also located off this page. 

Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQ & News weekly postings before 

submitting their inquiry form to askLPS, as the question may already have been researched and 

the response posted in the database. Because the information is loaded into the database on a 

weekly basis, the answer to the inquiry will be available via the WEBTech Notes several weeks 

before the printed Administrative Notes Technical Supplement is available in the libraries. 

Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or 

regular mail. Fax inquiry forms will continue to be an important mechanism for providing 

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additional information necessary for the completion of an inquiry (such as photocopies of title 

pages, introductory pages, etc.). LPS will attempt to answer the askLPS inquiries within ten 

business days. However, users may receive an intermediate answer pending receipt of additional 

information from other government agencies. By focusing on one route for inquiries, LPS 

expects that it should be able to track inquiries more effectively and alleviate the duplication of 

effort associated with inquiry research. 

There are two askLPS demonstrations being given by Joe Paskoski during this conference. The 

first is Tuesday, from 3:45-5:00 p.m., and the second is Wednesday morning from 10:30-12:00. 

Both will be held in the Rappahannock Room. If you haven't yet had the chance to use the 

askLPS service, please take a few moments to review the site listed on the DAB handout. LPS 

thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. Please send any 

suggestions for changes or improvement of the service to me, or use the new e-mail address, 

<asklps@gpo.gov>. We look forward to comments and suggestions on askLPS from the 

librarians in the Federal depository library community. 

Documents Data Miner 

Another electronic service to assist in the operation of a Federal depository library is also now 

available. The Documents Data Miner is a collection management tool which features a field 

searchable List of Classes, a field searchable Discontinued Item List, complete depository 

profiles and union lists, and a searchable library directory. Documents Data Miner was 

developed through a service partnership between the University Libraries at Wichita State 

University (WSU) and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The Federal 

Depository Library Program is pleased to join with WSU and NIAR to offer access to the 

Documents Data Miner, which is available at <http://kronos.niar.twsu.edu/govdocs>. 

Documents Data Miner is a very powerful tool. For example, I wanted to research materials 

selected by a specific depository. The Angelo M. Iacoboni Library in Lakewood, California, 

(where I worked in my first position in a library) continues to be dear to my heart. When I 

searched Documents Data Miner using their depository number and the word "Journal," the Data 

Miner returned a listing of ten records with item number, SuDocs class number, title, agency, 

format and frequency that are selected by Iacoboni. You can learn more about this exciting new 

service in "Collection Management Using the Documents Data Miner," one of the sessions this 

afternoon from 3:45 to 5:00 in the Farragut Room. 

Union List of Item Selections 

The Union List of Item Selections is now available for download in an ASCII comma delimited 

format on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). It is updated on a monthly basis on the same time 

frame as the List of Classes and Item Lister (the first Friday of each month). The location of the 

Union List file is also included on the DAB handout. For those wishing to learn more about the 

Federal Bulletin Board, its history, and how it works, please attend one of the two FBB sessions, 

"The FBB, Helpful Hints in Its Use." The first session will be held today from 2:00-3:15 and the 

second is scheduled for Wednesday, also from 2:00-3:15. Both will be held in Dewey III. 

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USGS Automatic Sendings Lists 

The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS 

Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in Word Perfect 6.0 format. We are working with 

our shipping list partners at SUNY Buffalo, the University of Texas-Arlington, and the USGS to 

find a better way to post this information with a minimum amount of intervention. If you have 

any specific comments or suggestions on these files, please contact me directly. And again, the 

location of the shipping list files is given on the DAB handout. 

FDLP products 

Let me move to the FDLP product update. Copies of the 1997 World Factbook were distributed 

to libraries in paper format on Shipping List 98-0020-S, dated March 11, 1998. Copies of the 

1997 CD-ROM were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0036-E, dated March 20, 1998. 

The instructions on the CD-ROM product were incomplete, but additional instructions have been 

posted on the askLPS FAQs and News site. And we will distribute the instructions in a printed 

format as soon as we receive them from the agency. 

The House Commerce Committee has published Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to 

the Committee's Hearing on the Proposed Tobacco Settlement. Both the committee print in 

paper, and the supporting documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all libraries on 

Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998. 

LPS has received copies of numbers 16 and 17 of the FBIS on CD-ROM series. They were 

distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0043-E dated April 9, 1998. Disc number 18 has not 

yet been released from the agency, but it will be distributed to the libraries once we receive the 

copy for replication. 

The CIA has recently declassified publications on the Bay of Pigs. The report, “Inspector 

General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation and Associated Documents” has been acquired for 

distribution through the FDLP. These publications were prepared in 1962. They have been 

classed under PREX 3.2: C 89/PT. 1 & 2, item 0856-A-02. LPS contacted the CIA to ask for 

paper copies, but we were unable to obtain sufficient copies for distribution to the libraries as 

very few were printed. The agency did provide a copy for conversion to microfiche format. 

They will be sent to the libraries in the very near future. 

LPS and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) have signed a new Memorandum 

of Understanding (MOU) to bring the NIMA products back into GPO for distribution on the 

lighted bin system. For several years we have been working with NIMA, the agency formerly 

known as the Defense Mapping Agency, to have the library sendings profile at the agency match 

the library item selection profile of the Depository Distribution Information System (DDIS). 

They have been unable to make the necessary programming changes and with the shift in 

distribution location to the Defense Logistics Agency, the time was right to bring the material 

back into GPO for distribution. By early May, libraries should begin to see the NIMA materials 

arrive from GPO in separates shipments and through the boxes. 

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Survey 98-001 closed March 30, 1998. We had a response rate of 94% to this first on-line only 

survey. I congratulate the depository community on this unprecedented response to a survey. 

Here are the survey numbers: 325 libraries elected to receive the Title Pages/Table of Contents 

for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. 359 libraries elected to receive the new CASSIS CDROM 

product. And 990 libraries have selected to receive the paper Periodical Supplement. Look 

forward to a new survey in the very near future for the GAP Analysis CD-ROM by USGS. 

Again, my congratulations to all on a job well done! 

The 1998 Periodical Supplement has been distributed to libraries, but while it was listed 

correctly on the shipping list, it was not distributed under the new item number, but under the 

item number for the paper Monthly Catalog. There is a significant difference between these 

counts (350 vs. 990). Please bear with us while we obtain additional stock and redistribute the 

paper Periodical Supplement to all libraries responding to Survey 98-001. 

Fugitive Documents 

Researching and acquiring fugitive documents continues to be a focus in DAB. Searching for a 

new product is very time intensive and often the results are less than satisfactory. One of the 

first problems we encounter is the definition of a government document. Case in point is the 

recent picture in the Washington Post showing the new CD-ROM tour of the White House. LPS 

staff verified this is not a government document and will not be distributed through the FDLP. 

LPS was advised by a depository librarian, Dennis Ladd of Southwestern University Law 

Library, that many of the Tax Court Memos from the period 1983-1990 have not been received 

through the Program. LPS staff contacted the Tax Court, who provided LPS with copies of the 

Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (volumes 52-59) because the slips were no longer available. 

LPS in turn contacted the publisher of the bound volumes to obtain permission to convert this 

material to microfiche format for distribution to the libraries. Credit will be acknowledged with 

each volume with a permission statement from the publisher, Research Institute of America. 

Yet another example is the FED LOG CD-ROM Basic. In this case the product, according to the 

agency, is “For Official Use Only ” and is “classified and ‘self-sustaining’.” Copies will not be 

coming through the FDLP. 

DAB Role in Transition 

In many ways, the remarkable people of the Depository Administration Branch interact with 

others in LPS, EIDS, and indeed, with all of GPO and others throughout the Federal government, 

to identify and acquire government information products for the libraries of the Federal 

Depository Library Program. As staff in the libraries have been transitioning to electronic 

resources, so have we in DAB. We have learned so much in a very short time. I am pleased to 

publicly acknowledge the progress of the DAB staff in not only taking on new duties, but also in 

working with all others of LPS, EIDS, and GPO Production to ensure government information is 

made available to the libraries. 

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In addition to classification and acquisition of tangible information products, DAB is also 

responsible for searching, identifying and classifying new on-line Internet sites. The assignment 

and maintenance of the PURLs for all new Browse Electronic Titles (BET) entries is also a DAB 

responsibility. DAB staff also perform the weekly maintenance of existing URLs on the Browse 

Electronic Titles pages: identifying dead links, locating the new URL for dead links, and 

modifying the BET pages accordingly. Coordination of the conversion of printed documents to 

microfiche format for the FDLP libraries and the International Exchange Service libraries falls 

under the authority of the Micrographics Control Section. 

DAB staff are also responsible for many of the publications and tools depository librarians 

frequently use. Examples include everyday duties such as shipping list preparation (electronic 

and paper), update and maintenance of the List of Classes (electronic and paper), production of 

entries for the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement for paper production and updating of 

the WEBTech Notes on GPO Access. As you can see, the electronic transition of the FDLP has 

truly begun in services throughout LPS. 

One further example is the item selection update process. This process, which used to take so 

much staff time, changed significantly in 1997 and it has been a change for the better from all 

perspectives. The process of updating the library’s item selection profile via the Web 

amendment form has allowed staff in DAB to focus on other duties. It of course would not be 

successful without the participation of the libraries’ staff in making these changes online. I am 

so pleased with the results of last year’s cycle and hope we have an equally successful update 

session this year. 

I thank Council for this opportunity to review the activities in the Depository Administration 

Branch and for your attention this morning. 

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Recent Developments in the Cataloging Branch 

Remarks by Thomas A. Downing 

Chief, Cataloging Branch, Library Programs Service 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 20, 1998 

Arlington, VA

PURLS 

I am pleased to report that we now have a PURLs application within the Library Programs Service 

(LPS). Persistent Uniform Resource Locators, or PURLS, are now associated with Browse 

Electronic Titles (BET) applications and with Catalog records at our Web site. 

As Gil has indicated, PURLs are a critical element in our ability to provide cataloging and locating 

services and in managing the products in the FDLP Electronic Collection. This initiative has been 

an extensive multi-phase project that has involved the efforts of people within OCLC, GPO's 

Production Department, and the Library Programs Service. 

PURLs provide a means for supporting efforts to provide continued access to electronic resources. 

As links change, new links will be substituted for old ones within our PURLs resolver and users 

who click on a PURL will be redirected to the current link. This application is of value to such LPS 

applications as BET and our Web Catalog and may be useful for other applications in the years 

ahead. I wish to thank Mike Clark for his persistent efforts during the most recent phase of this 

project. Mike has set up, tested, and initiated the first-time use of OCLC’s most recent PURLs 

release for LPS applications. 

I also wish to thank OCLC for responding to our request for substantive changes to its PURLs 

resolver software. OCLC has improved its PURLs software to include an integrated URL checker 

application, the automatic assignment of sequential accession numbers as unique PURL identifiers, 

and a basic exception report module. The new release, which is freely available to everyone, is 

more amenable to large-scale applications than earlier versions. Our first PURLs were assigned to 

electronic titles for the week of March 30th. PURLs are built into BET entries and work behind the 

scenes to redirect users from older URLs associated with agency Web sites to the most current 

URL. PURLs are also now input into the 856 field of Web Catalog records that represent electronic 

titles on BET. 

At present, more than 360 Catalog records representing titles posted from January, 1998 through the 

present now include PURLS in records produced in OCLC. We anticipate that most of these 

PURLs will be visible in our Web site records by May of this year. 

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Links for BET applications and for records within our PURLs server are checked each week. When 

Mike Clark identifies broken links, he very often is able to locate new URLs so that access can be 

restored. 

We are selectively converting URLs to PURLs in the more than 3,800 Catalog records that contain 

URLs. As we learn of new URLs for these old records, we will substitute PURLs for URLs on a 

record by record basis. In this way, we expect to gradually convert most URLs to PURLs in the 

months ahead. We hope that those of you who know of new URLs for electronic titles with broken 

links will advise us of this information via askLPS. 

The LPS PURLs application is significantly useful for the many library catalogs that contain URLs. 

With LPS PURLs, libraries will not need to update records locally when URLs change. PURLs are 

an essential component of our efforts to bring bibliographic control to products in the FDLP 

Electronic Collection. 

Collection Level Cataloging Policy 

Effective this March, catalogers now apply a collection level cataloging policy to electronic titles 

when such entries take users to collected works associated with an electronic title. This new policy 

has been posted at the publications portion of the FDLP Administration Web page. This policy was 

endorsed in principle during Midwinter ALA by the GODORT Cataloging Committee of the 

American Library Association. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Arlene Weible, chair of the committee, and the 

committee members for their continued interest, advice, and support of our efforts to establish a 

satisfactory level of bibliographic control for many Internet related works. We appreciate the 

involvement of the committee in developing cataloging initiatives and have benefited from its good 

counsel. 

This collection level record policy is an important new initiative that establishes, for the first time, a 

one-to-one correspondence between each electronic title and a single cataloging record. Collection 

level records provide users with access to collected works associated with a major topic that are 

often further identified at a site via a clickable index or search window. Our new policy has been 

approved by the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is consistent with AACR2 practice, and is 

consistent with the realities that face users when they encounter multiple resources that are 

accessible via a single electronic title. A one-to-one correspondence between Catalog records and 

each new electronic title also sets the stage for the assignment and use of the same unique PURL for 

each electronic title and its related Catalog record. 

This collection level record cataloging policy joins two other electronic related cataloging initiatives 

available at the Web site. These earlier initiatives include policies on computer files and linking 

records. 

Participation in Revising the Cataloging Manual 

We are involved in the effort to revise ALA's 1984 edition of Cataloging Government 

Documents: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2. Rhonda Marker, Head, Cataloging 

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Department, Rutgers University, and a member of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is 

editing this publication and has welcomed our interest in participating in the revision process. 

We look forward, in particular, to working with people on chapters associated with maps and 

electronic resources.

Cataloging of Browse Electronic Titles 

As of March 30th, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,728 BET entries. As of the 

week of March 30th, all but 192 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 192 titles in the BET 

backlog, 67 were monographs and 125 were serials. With our new collection level record policy, 

we expect that, as of April 20th, most of the monographs in the backlog will have been cataloged 

and that many, but not all, of the serials will have been cataloged by this date. As of the present 

time, electronic titles are cataloged within one week after posting. 

Cataloging Production 

From October, 1997 through the end of March, 1998, the Cataloging Branch received 16,818 pieces 

of work. To date, we have processed 13,287 pieces. We have also cataloged, from the inception of 

BET until the end of March, 2,536 BET entries.

Cataloging Backlog 

A recent inventory of uncataloged physical format and BET entry related works indicates a backlog 

of 6,858 pieces of work to be cataloged. This figure includes uncataloged BET entries. Most of our 

backlog is associated with serials, very large numbers of which have been received from contractors 

within the last few weeks. With the exception of serials, BET entries and works in paper are 

processed within one week. Works in microfiche are usually processed within two weeks. 

GPO Cataloging Tapes Have Been Re-Issued And Made Available to CDS 

Many of you are aware that GPO Cataloging Tapes made available by the Cataloging and 

Distribution Service (CDS), Library of Congress, have not been issued since November, 1997. 

CDS staff have experienced technical difficulties with the tapes for December, 1997 and for the 

months of January and February of 1998. We have recently re-issued tapes to CDS for these 

months and are engaged in ongoing discussion with CDS about how this service might be 

improved. Based on discussions, we expect that CDS will soon provide these tapes to customers. 

We also expect that CDS will soon issue tapes for March and April and that tape-related services 

will soon be on track.

1998 Issues of the CD-ROM Edition of the Monthly Catalog to Be Issued Soon 

We also have experienced a delay in producing the January, February, and March 1998 issues of the 

CD-ROM and paper editions of the Monthly Catalog. This delay has been caused by shifting work 

priorities within the organization that processes our data, provides file conversion to support the 

Documents Sales Service Integrated Processing System (IPS), and works to assure compliance with 

Year 2000 requirements. Data processing components are working to produce data for our 

26 
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products. We expect that the January issue for the CD-ROM Monthly Catalog will be distributed in 

the middle of May and the subsequent issues will be available soon after. 

In the meantime, we hope that people will use our Catalog Web site application as a useful 

alternative. The Catalog application has the advantage of including records that have been produced 

in OCLC as recently as one day before posting. 

Seeking Data Processing Alternatives 

We regret delays associated with the GPO Cataloging tapes and CD-ROM and paper editions of 

the Monthly Catalog. Unfortunately, given shifting priorities for data processing support staff, 

such delays may become increasingly common. Given this situation, we see a need to develop 

long range data processing alternatives for supporting Monthly Catalog related products and 

applications. We would welcome advice concerning available options and expect to devote staff 

resources and time to seeking suitable solutions. 

The Catalog of United States Government Publications 

Our Web Catalog edition of the Monthly Catalog now contains more than 98,027 records produced 

from 1994 through the present. As stated previously, more than 3,833 of these records contain URL 

data. When broken links are detected we convert URL data to PURLs. When links cannot be reestablished, we delete URL/PURL data from records and add a note advising users that the resource 

is no longer available via the Internet. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise 

us by using <asklps@gpo.gov>.

Proposal for More "User Friendly" Default Display of Catalog Records 

Council has recommended that a more user friendly labeled data element default display be added 

to the Web edition of the Catalog. We appreciate the usefulness of Council's recommendation and 

have made available a handout for a proposed "user friendly" display for your consideration. This 

proposed display achieves the goal of presenting information in a more easily understood manner 

than is possible with the numeric MARC tagged display. 

We do not propose development of a compressed printed "card catalog" display similar to records 

within the old paper Monthly Catalog. While some nostalgia is associated with such a display, the 

value of this type of display is outweighed by the costs and time involved in creating it. A line by 

line name labeled display of bibliographic elements such as we propose is a common standard used 

in many libraries today. 

Under our proposal, users wishing to see all data elements associated with a record may choose to 

view the MARC numeric tagged display. We anticipate making some improvements to the MARC 

"Catalogers" display and hope to improve this application in the near future.

Resumption of Publishing the Paper Edition of the Periodicals Supplement 

I would like to conclude my remarks by adding that a product with popular appeal has made its 

way back in print as a paper edition. The Periodicals Supplement for 1998 is being distributed to 

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depository libraries. We ceased publishing a paper edition in 1995 as a consequence of our need 

to fund the costs of developing Web and CD-ROM editions. With Web and CD-ROM editions 

now established products, the costs saved from producing an abridged paper edition of the 

Monthly Catalog may be applied to resume publishing the Periodicals Supplement in paper. 

This is a very popular title. Nine hundred ninety libraries chose this title under item number 

0557-D-01. 

We hope that people are pleased by the re-appearance of this title in paper. We intend to publish a 

paper edition of the Periodicals Supplement from this time forward. The Periodicals Supplement 

will continue to be part of each CD-ROM issue of the Monthly Catalog. 

The Periodicals Supplement paper edition also is expected to be available for sale in the near future. 

This ends my formal presentation. As always, it is a pleasure to be here to answer questions and to 

meet with you. I look forward to our meetings and thank you for being here. 

The Transition: Real and Virtual 

Remarks by Sandy Schwalb 

Management Analyst, Library Programs Service 

Before the Depository Library Council and 

Federal Depository Conference 

Monday, April 1998 

Arlington, VA 

Good morning. And yes, it is a pleasure to be here. Seems like only 5 years ago, well, it was 

actually, that I received my certificate of appreciation from GPO for my three long years of 

service on the Depository Library Council. Ah, they thought they were rid of me then. It didn't 

work. I came back to haunt GPO in August 1996, when I came on board as a member of the 

Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) to work as, I love this title, an "Expert Consultant." Then last 

August I was reappointed for another year and lo and behold a little over a month ago--on the 

Ides of March--I crossed the "t's" and dotted the "i's" and signed on as a permanent staffer in the 

Library Programs Service. Phew. Who said, "what a long strange trip it was?" And although 

this is not an awards show, I would like to thank the folks I have been working with for these 18 

months for all of their help in getting me settled into ETS, LPS and GPO, especially Jay Young, 

who brought me on board and Gil Baldwin, who worked to keep me on board. 

Despite the fact I am no longer an official member of ETS, it will always be in my heart and for 

the next few minutes, up here as well. 

28 
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As you probably know, ETS is comprised of seasoned GPO veterans, Lee Morey and Joe 

Paskoski and those pesky expert consultants, who come from the "outside" and work on making 

the electronic transition of the depository program a reality. Lee continues to fine-tune the many 

facets of the suite of Pathway services available on GPO Access. Joe has been an integral part of 

TS from its inception in the fall of 1995 and is the ETS and LPS "Web-meister." 

ant. 

ge broker) as well as managing the FDLP Electronic Collection and 

sues relating to Gateways. 

the 

paper and electronic versions include Web addresses for most of the 

tes I will be mentioning. 

PS Virtual Tour 

om 

n area; 

ve 

 if you actually take the physical tour, 

ou could look at it virtually and see how it compares! 

, 

 White 

 answer is no, or at least it is not being distributed 

s such. But, ah, do THEY have lighted bins? 

ecommended Specifications 

es 

corporating any comments/ideas put forth here. The deadline for final comments is May 15. 

E

Currently George Barnum from Case Western Reserve University is the ETS expert consult

George, who has been part of ETS since last July, has worked on forging new partnerships 

(acting oftentimes as a marria

is

Many of the topics I will be discussing here are summarized on a real piece of paper found in 

back of this room. This update will also appear in an upcoming paper and electronic issue of 

Administrative Notes. The 

si

L

As Gil mentioned earlier, for those who have never had an opportunity to visit GPO or would 

like to learn more about the operations of LPS, you can now "visit" a new Web site linked fr

the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Administration Page. This virtual tour, in 

words and photos, follows the order in which tangible government information products are 

processed in preparation for dissemination to depository libraries: depository distributio

lighted bins--yes, photos of the infamous lighted bins; mail manifest; acquisitions and 

classification; micrographics; cataloging; and depository services. In addition, there is 

information--everything you could possibly want to know or not--about the mission and 

operations of ETS. You can take a look at the site while here, but if you can't, we hope you ha

a chance to "visit" it when you get back home! Or even

y

Just as Gil stole some of Robin's thunder, so she did the same to me! As I was preparing my 

remarks last week I noticed that we were being upstaged by the White House! As already noted

Mrs. Clinton unveiled, at the main branch of the DC Public Library no less, a CD-ROM

House tour. I was wondering when I saw the newspaper article, whether it is in fact a 

government document. You just heard that the

a

R

Lee, with input from other GPO colleagues has put together DRAFT recommended 

specifications to assist you and others in the depository community who are planning purchas

of new personal computers for public use in the libraries. A hard copy of these specs can be 

found with the other handouts. It will be available electronically following this conference, 

in

29 
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These specifications are intended to "assist" depository staff in making informed purchases that 

will best achieve the goal of providing public access to Federal government information product

in a variety of electronic formats. Given the large variation in the sizes of the depositories and 

the numbers of users served, LPS cannot recommend one universal standard for the number of 

public access workstations in any given library. Other related issues and considerations can be 

s 

und on the draft we have available here. We look forward to your comments and suggestions. 

rowse Topics 

the 

ee wanted 

project and provided GPO with 

formation, we want to thank you for your time and interest. 

athway Indexer 

d 

r 160,000 Web pages from over 1380 

ifferent servers with new sites added to the list daily. 

ateways 

-by-

 the 

ho provided input and spent considerable time and effort on 

rmulating this information. 

eb Activities 

for the depository community to communicate with LPS 

aff that was rolled out just last week. 

DLP Electronic Collections 

fo

B

The initial collection of sites for almost all 160 Topics in the Subject Bibliography-based Browse

Topic list is now complete. Currently there are 33 topics being maintained by volunteers in 

depository and information communities. Links have been created from Topics to relevant 

Subject Bibliographies. Our goal is to update all Topics on at least a quarterly basis. L

me to mention that more volunteers will be needed for Browse Topics. There will be 

announcement on GOVDOC-L in the next few weeks describing the work to be done by 

volunteers. And for those of you who have participated in the 

in

P

We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online government 

information using the freeware product Harvest and will continue this effort until the Advance

Search Facility is online. This service indexes well ove

d

G

Several institutions have expressed interest in Gateway status. An article in the April 15 

Administrative Notes outlines GPO's objectives for the Gateways initiative and gives a step

step view of how to proceed. Input from the existing Gateways assisted in developing this 

document and redefining the Gateways initiative. George wanted to be sure that I expressed

gratitude of the staff to those w

fo

W

ETS, in the guise of Joe Paskoski, continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic 

Information Dissemination Service (EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of 

Web projects. They include both the recently-completed Web Biennial Survey, and Web item 

selection survey. Another team project about which you have heard a great deal is askLPS, the 

Web-based inquiry and answer module 

st

F

The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will 

30 
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roll out a depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge

this week. This gateway will provide a public view

," 

 to the more than 25,000 reports that have 

f 

d 

ut 

wn 

ith 

ation Bridge was up and running and could be ready to 

owcase here this week. 

STIs, Partnership, and Access to Government Information: GPO's Electronic 

ollection Model." 

lic 

 libraries should 

ave access to the products by July and access for all depositories by late 1998. 

." It is from the Library 

f Congress Web site and the URL can be found on the ETS handout. 

you 

y of Californiaavis and Duncan Aldrich, University of Nevada at Reno will be on the panel. 

 and 

 a government-wide basis and 

been produced by DOE/OSTI since January 1996. 

As many of you know, this project has been in the works since DOE ceased its distribution o

microfiche to depositories in October, 1996. When the announcement about the microfiche 

program appeared in the September 15, 1996 Administrative Notes, it said that "LPS' Electronic 

Transition Staff is investigating how this electronic information can most effectively be used an

incorporated into the FDLP. OSTI has assured us that no lapse in coverage will occur..." It is 

ironic that on the same page on which that announcement appeared there was also a blurb abo

my then-new position with ETS. So my career at GPO has been closely intertwined with the 

DOE/OSTI project. We are quite pleased with the cooperation we have had with the folks do

in OSTI as they worked to ensure that the Information Bridge would be both depository and 

public friendly. Many of my ETS colleagues were communicating in every possible form w

the OSTI staff to make sure Inform

sh

As an another facet of LPS' outreach efforts, George will be speaking at an upcoming O

sponsored conference, Inforum, to be held in Oak Ridge, TN in early May. He will be 

discussing "Librarie

C

The FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will be rolled out this summer and make pub

domain reports available from ERIC to depositories. Previously provided to the FDLP in 

microfiche, reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and 

stored at OCLC. This pilot will provide the project participants with useful information on 

managing a large, high-demand electronic collection. The full pilot group of 300

h

Gil discussed GPO's Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection. There is a 

recent addition to the collection that we wanted to mention, titled, "A Century of Lawmaking for

a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873

o

Another project with which I have been closely involved for many months is now officially 

underway as a pilot with the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). I hope that 

have seen the announcement we recently posted to GOVDOC-L asking for volunteers to 

participate in this pilot project. At the moment, we have 24 institutions that have offered to be 

part of this pilot. We hope that those of you with questions or who are interested in participating 

will be able to attend the session on the project to be held on Wednesday from 2:00-3:15 p.m. in

the James Room. I, along with Kris Vajs from NTIS, Linda Kennedy, Universit

D

LPS continues to monitor and provide feedback on an effort by the U.S. Information Agency

the Corporation for National Research Initiatives to create a Foreign Affairs Documentation 

Center that would collect online foreign affairs documents on

31 
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provide both access and authentication to those documents. 

32 
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Partnerships 

Discussions continue with several agencies and institutions for new content partnerships. Staff 

from LPS will be meeting with representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey and the 

Cartographic Users Advisory Council during this conference with an eye toward possible 

partnerships. 

Your suggestions for new partnerships are always welcome. George is the point person on the 

partnership activities, but feel free to contact any members of ETS with your ideas. You are the 

experts out there in the libraries, knowing what information you and your users need and we can 

certainly help to act as the conduit or marriage broker in seeing that all the parts can work 

together to ensure permanent public access to government information products. 

Conclusion 

So, in conclusion, that is a very brief overview of the what ETS has been working on. As you 

can see there is much collaboration between ETS and the other units within LPS--all of which is 

focused on moving the FDLP to a more electronically based program. As I mentioned, the 

current members of ETS will be here this week. We all look forward to hearing from you. 

[HANDOUT] 

Recommendations and Commendations of the 

Depository Library Council to the Public Printer 

October 20-23, 1997 

Clearwater Beach, Florida 

1. RECOMMENDATION: SERIAL SET

Council recommends that the Government Printing Office distribute those documents and reports 

that comprise the Serial Set in acid free paper with margins wide enough to enable binding of 

these important publications. Since CD-ROM has not yet been proven to be an archival medium, 

Council further recommends that Federal depository libraries be permitted to select this 

important historical title in dual formats -- CD-ROM and either microfiche or paper. 

Rationale: Congress has mandated that only one copy of the bound Serial Set be distributed to each 

regional depository and one to each state without a regional depository. Many Federal depository 

libraries recognize the historical importance of the Serial Set for the legal and research 

communities, and are concerned that their Serial Set documents will deteriorate or disappear over 

time. Allowing depository libraries to select the Serial Set in both CD-ROM and an archival 

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medium would solve the issue of permanent access to this historical collection and respond to 

objections to duplicative paper distribution. 

RESPONSE: 

The Library Programs Service (LPS) recognizes the historical significance of the documents and 

reports that comprise the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. House and Senate Documents and 

Reports have been distributed to libraries on acid free paper for the last four years. In March 

1998 depository libraries were surveyed to select the Serial Set Title Pages and/or Tables of 

Contents pages for those libraries wishing to bind their own Serial Set volumes. Libraries will 

be supplied with the Title Pages, also on acid free paper, as soon as possible after the completion 

of a Session of Congress, beginning with the 105th Congress, 2nd Session. 

Concerning a CD-ROM Serial Set, it is not possible at this time to create a complete electronic 

Serial Set, since many documents and reports are not currently available in electronic format and 

are too graphically intense to convert to an electronic format. We will work with the Secretary 

of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, as well as continue ongoing efforts with the 

information systems planners in both Chambers, toward the eventual production of a complete 

electronic Serial Set. 

2. RECOMMENDATION: askLPS

Council applauds the development of the askLPS feature on the FDLP Administration World 

Wide Web page, as a significant step forward in efficient communication between LPS and all 

depository libraries. Council recommends that askLPS and the existing Administrative Notes 

Technical Supplement be examined together in order to provide continuing and cumulative 

information for depositories on the status of depository publications. Council would like to be 

actively involved with the development team, and encourages LPS to move forward to 

implement askLPS as soon as possible. 

Rationale: Changes in the formats and the SuDocs numbers of depository publications are 

appearing at a rapid rate as more materials migrate to electronic formats. In addition, titles are 

moving out of (and sometimes back into) the program in great numbers. The current procedure 

for announcing each change in the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement is useful, but 

makes it difficult for librarians to keep track of the many changes and retrieve them when 

needed. Announcing such changes on a non-official discussion list such as GOVDOC-L also 

provides a useful service but does not assure that information will be at hand at the time a 

particular library needs it. A GPO electronic service, which provides a method for asking 

depository questions, and also a way for sharing answers and information from LPS, will be a 

service to depositories and will also save LPS staff from answering the same question many 

times. It will provide a communication channel between LPS and depositories which is more 

efficient than paper and more official than a privately sponsored discussion list. The service will 

be most useful if the information posted can be cumulated by subject and searchable by number 

and title. If askLPS is carefully developed with the needs of the depository libraries in mind, it 

might be possible to stop the publication of the paper Administrative Notes Technical 

Supplement altogether, providing savings in time and money. Council would like to advise GPO 

34 
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staff on the initial development and future enhancements of askLPS, to assure the most effective 

organization and features which would fulfill the needs of depositories. 

RESPONSE: 

In April 1998 LPS began accepting inquiries and questions from depository librarians and the 

public via the askLPS service. LPS appreciates the advice and active participation of Council 

member Julia Wallace in the testing and development of this new service. 

The askLPS e-mail address is <asklps@gpo.gov> and the web site address is 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>. AskLPS is an automated inquiry 

service that makes filing inquiries and directing e-mail to the appropriate LPS contact easier for 

those in the depository community. There are five components to askLPS: 

- An electronic inquiry form; 

- WEBTech Notes, a searchable database for postings made in the Administrative Notes and 

Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, dating back to 1991; 

- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and News; 

- FDLP Contacts Page; and 

- The Federal Depository Library Directory. 

All askLPS inquiries receive an immediate response acknowledging the receipt of the inquiry. 

LPS’s goal is to respond to each inquiry sent to askLPS within 10 working days. Occasionally 

the first response may be an interim answer when responding to the question requires 

information from another agency. Inquiries received via askLPS are being given priority over 

inquiries submitted via fax, telephone, or regular mail. Focusing on this one channel for 

inquiries should help LPS to track the inquiries as they arrive, and should also minimize the 

duplication of effort to research inquiries by staff throughout LPS. If an inquiry submitted via 

fax, telephone, or regular mail is on a matter of general concern to the depository community the 

response will be incorporated into one of the askLPS applications. Depending upon the subject 

matter of the inquiry, in addition to a direct reply to the person making the inquiry, the response 

may appear in the WEBTech Notes, the FAQs, or the News area of askLPS. Although LPS is 

giving priority to inquiries sent electronically, fax inquiry forms will continue to be a useful 

mechanism when additional information must accompany the inquiry (e.g. photocopies of title 

pages, introductory pages, etc.). 

3. RECOMMENDATION: MANAGING GPO’s ELECTRONIC COLLECTION 

The Depository Library Council is encouraged that the Government Printing Office has produced 

the white paper, "Managing the GPO Access Collection," and that GPO is drafting a collection 

plan with which to manage GPO Access databases and other electronic Federal Government 

publications made available through the FDLP. To ensure the effective management and 

permanency of the electronic collection, Council recommends that in preparing the collection 

plan GPO develop policies and procedures to ensure that permanent access to remotely available 

electronic publications, including necessary redundancy, will be provided. In particular, Council 

recommends that GPO: 

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1) Delineate clearly the scope and coverage of the FDLP Electronic Collection; 

2) Maintain mirror sites to provide the redundancy necessary to ensure uninterrupted service and 

permanent access to materials in the collection; 

3) Ensure that outreach efforts to agencies and depository libraries include procedures for 

providing access to electronic publications temporarily made available on agency Web sites; 

4) Provide for the preservation of and permanent access to information distributed on CD-ROM 

and other tangible electronic media to ensure that information currently available on CDROM will not be lost owing to technological obsolescence; 

5) Establish and maintain effective bibliographic access to the Collection; 

6) Continue and refine the FDLP library partnership concept to leverage the skills and resources 

shared with the FDLP; and 

6) Ensure that the responsibility for dissemination and preservation of electronic Government 

information remains with the Federal Government, and that the Superintendent of 

Documents, as coordinator of the FDLP, is responsible for the dissemination and 

preservation of publications in the Electronic Collection, whether located at GPO or at FDLP 

partner institutions. 

Rationale: In the Electronic Collection session held at the Depository Library Council meeting 

in October 1997, significant concern was expressed that in managing remotely accessible 

electronic materials GPO take special care in addressing the issues identified above. Council is 

concerned that levels of public access to remotely available electronic publications maintained 

by GPO and FDLP partners continue at levels equal to or greater than has been provided to print 

materials traditionally distributed to FDLP libraries. 

RESPONSE: 

GPO has prepared a document entitled Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection, which we 

intend to share with the Council and the depository library community in the near future. This 

policy and planning document (Plan) incorporates the concepts enumerated in Council’s 

recommendation. It is based on the overall vision for the FDLP, which is to ensure current and 

permanent public access to all Government information products, regardless of format or 

medium, which are of public interest or educational value, except for those products which are 

for strictly administrative or operational purposes, classified for reasons of national security, or 

the use of which is constrained by privacy considerations. The draft Plan defines parameters and 

requirements for the electronic products and services that constitute the Collection, and 

establishes a policy framework on which specific procedures for the development and 

maintenance of the Collection will be built. Managing the Government electronic information 

products in the FDLP Electronic Collection as a library-like collection will facilitate the 

accomplishment of the FDLP responsibility to provide permanent public access to these 

36 
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products, as well as other products which meet the definition for Government information set 

forth in the Plan. 

The FDLP Electronic Collection consists of four elements: 

- Core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products which will reside permanently on 

Government Printing Office (GPO) servers; 

- Other remotely accessible products managed by GPO or other institutions with which GPO has 

established formal agreements; 

- Tangible electronic Government information products distributed to Federal depository 

libraries; and 

- Remotely accessible electronic Government information products that GPO identifies, 

describes, and links to but which remain under the control of the originating agencies. 

4. RECOMMENDATION: MONTHLY CATALOG DISPLAY ON GPO ACCESS

Council recommends that GPO modify the public display of entries in the Catalog of U.S. 

Government Publications to a more user-friendly, labeled format. The underlying MARC tags 

should remain available as an alternate display format. 

Rationale: The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on GPO Access is clearly intended to 

provide the public with information about collections in depository libraries. A display that uses 

MARC tags is not easily understood by the public, and a simple labeled display indicating 

author, title, subjects, and appropriate descriptive information, will more easily lead the public to 

publications. The necessary labels are embedded in the existing MARC tags. The full MARC 

record should remain as the underlying database, with the MARC format available to librarians 

as an alternative format. 

RESPONSE: 

LPS is redesigning the public user display for the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on 

GPO Access. The default display will feature descriptive labels for the cataloging record data 

elements instead of the numeric MARC tags. The MARC-tagged display will remain available 

as a user-invoked display option. Sample displays will be available for review and discussion at 

the spring 1998 Council meeting. 

5. RECOMMENDATION: OPENTEXT Z39.50

Council recommends that GPO provide the Z39.50 search interface for the OpenText software. 

Rationale: Council appreciates the progress being made in GPO production in migrating toward 

SGML as the common representation for documents. However, having a common markup 

language does not by itself provide for common searching across sets of documents. Adding the 

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Z39.50 search interface to OpenText would make the production documents sets interoperable 

with the WAIS databases as well as the thousands of other relevant government and library 

resources accessible through Z39.50. Also, the Z39.50 search interface will allow for a variety 

of user interfaces and Web gateways in addition to those provided by OpenText. 

6. RECOMMENDATION: GILS COMPLIANCE

Council recommends GPO install GILS-compliant software for all of the WAIS databases and 

assist libraries in obtaining GILS-aware client software. 

Rationale: There are nearly 100 WAIS databases accessible at GPO Internet servers. In addition 

to the GPO Access Web interface, these are to be searchable through both the WAIS protocol 

and Z39.50/GILS. However, the Z39.50/GILS search is currently broken and requires 

installation of an available fix to the commercial WAIS software. Current FDLP requirements 

include provision of GILS-aware client software for public access to government information. 

However, GPO has been distributing only the WinWAIS software, which is not GILS-aware. 

GPO could enhance the WinWAIS or other Z39.50 client software to be GILS-aware, or 

encourage libraries to use available GILS-aware client software such as BookWhere, SIRSI 

Vizion, Znavigator, etc. 

RESPONSE to RECOMMENDATIONS 5 and 6: 

GPO recognizes the value of full GILS and Z39.50 compliance for our online services. 

However, the lack of current support for the WAIS server software has stymied our efforts to add 

the Z39.50 capabilities to WAIS necessary for full GILS compliance. Therefore we have 

investigated what resources would be required to incorporate a Z39.50 interface upgrade into the 

OpenText software. Based on our discussions with Open Text and another software vendor it 

appears that this enhancement will be a resource-intensive proposition, of a magnitude that will 

require a lengthy approval and procurement process. Since GPO’s five-year contract with 

OpenText will expire in FY 2000, we do not believe that modifying GPO’s older release of the 

OpenText software represents the best use of our program funds. Instead, we will concentrate 

upon the next generation of GPO Access software. As GPO plans the future evolution of GPO 

Access we will emphasize: 

- Full compliance with all applicable standards, such as Z39.50; 

- Interoperability with a variety of source databases and tagging schemes, including SGML; 

- Robust search and retrieval capabilities using standard Web browsers; and 

- Recognition of the importance of our GILS application. 

Council and the depository library community will be involved in the future development of 

GPO Access through a variety of mechanisms, including the focus group discussions held in 

conjunction with Council meetings. Topics such as Z39.50 compliance and client software will 

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be discussed at the April 1998 focus group, and we expect to receive valuable input for future 

planning efforts. 

However, as an interim measure we are investigating obtaining software to bring the GPO 

Access GILS application into full Z39.50 compliance. This is expected to be attainable at a 

reasonable cost, and will improve access to the agency GILS records that are hosted on GPO 

Access. 

In the years since the effort that resulted in GPO’s procurement of the OpenText software there 

have been significant changes in network information discovery and retrieval. While separate 

client software was once the norm, the explosive growth of the Web has resulted in Web 

browsers becoming the de facto standard method of access for the vast majority of users. 

Therefore, in order to promote the widest possible use of GPO Access we are designing for 

optimal use with industry-standard Web browsers, rather than with application-specific client 

software. Additionally, in light of the changes brought about by the Web technology, we are 

considering eliminating the recommendation for separate client software for depository library 

computer work stations in the upcoming 1998 Recommended Specifications for Public Access 

Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries. We believe that the best approach to providing 

full functionality of the products and services of GPO Access is to include Z39.50 capabilities in 

industry-standard Web browsers. This approach could ultimately result in benefiting the largest 

number of users, both in depository libraries and among the general public. 

7. RECOMMENDATION: MIGRATION OF MICROFICHE PUBLICATIONS TO 

ONLINE FORMAT

Council recommends that GPO develop, in consultation with Council, selection criteria and a 

plan for permanent access to microfiche publications migrating to an online format only. 

Rationale: In the October 15, 1997, Administrative Notes, LPS published a list of tangible 

products that they intend to eliminate in microfiche and convert to online format. Council 

believes that explicit criteria for elimination of tangible media must be established first. Council 

also believes that certain categories of depository publications must remain in a tangible format. 

Council would be pleased to work with GPO in establishing these criteria. This plan should be 

coordinated with the collection plan for the GPO Access Collection. 

RESPONSE: 

LPS has developed and publicized criteria for identifying and evaluating candidate publications 

that are currently distributed in microfiche format, and that the originating agency also makes 

available to the public online. As part of the transition to a more electronic FDLP, LPS proposed 

to discontinue distribution of the microfiche and point to the online version for use by depository 

libraries and the public. (See Administrative Notes, vol.18, no.14, 11/15/97; vol. 18, no.13, 

10/15/97; and vol. 18, no. 10, 7/15/97). 

During the discussions at the October 1997 Council meeting, concerns were raised about the 

provision of permanent access to such titles. In the policy and planning document Managing the 

FDLP Electronic Collection, we set forth the position that GPO’s permanent access 

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responsibility extends to electronic Government information products that we bring under 

bibliographic control through our cataloging and locator services, but which remain on their 

originating agencies’ servers. Inasmuch as we are still developing a comprehensive approach to 

ensuring permanent access to this category of electronic products it is premature to proceed at 

this time with eliminating related tangible information products from the FDLP. However, we 

are working to develop content partnerships, notification procedures, and other mechanisms to 

ensure permanent public access to agency electronic information products. Once these 

mechanisms are in place LPS will proceed with identifying candidate tangible products to be 

replaced by reliable, official electronic versions. 

8. RECOMMENDATION: SUPREME COURT OPINIONS ON GPO ACCESS

Council recommends that GPO give a high priority to making the Hermes collection of Supreme 

Court opinions available as a searchable database on GPO Access. 

Rationale: Since the Supreme Court has made the decision to provide Hermes subscribers with 

court opinions in PDF and tagged ASCII file formats, Council believes it is imperative that the 

GPO take full advantage of these enhancements without delay. Timely, ready and easy access to 

this important body of case law through GPO Access will greatly benefit the American public. 

Users will be pleased with the improved search capabilities as well as the ability to download 

and print Supreme Court opinions in an official format. 

RESPONSE: 

We are taking steps to improve access to Supreme Court opinions from the Project Hermes 

collection through the development of an OpenText database. Considerable work has been 

accomplished to develop a full-text searchable database that will offer users multiple field 

searching capabilities. Completion of this initiative by Production Services has been delayed by 

other priorities, but it is our goal to roll out the enhanced Supreme Court opinions application in 

the near future. We have received some valuable comments from individuals who tested this 

application, and we are incorporating their feedback into the service prior to the formal rollout. 

9. RECOMMENDATION: REGIONAL LIBRARIES CONFERENCE

Council commends the Public Printer for sponsoring the Regional Libraries Conference held in 

August 1997. Council recommends that the Government Printing Office request funding to 

sponsor additional regional library conferences in the future. 

Rationale: The August 1997 Conference was extremely successful in providing regional 

depositories the opportunity to discuss and assess the services and responsibilities that are unique 

to regionals, as well as to identify new areas for service to selective depositories, particularly in 

light of the ongoing transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program. Council 

is aware that the August 1997 conference was planned as a one-time event, but, given the 

complicated issues entailed in shifting to a more electronic FDLP, considerably more focused 

interaction will be required to further the dialog initiated in August 1997. A follow-up 

conference in the near future would serve as an appropriate forum for this continuing dialog. 

RESPONSE: 

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GPO appreciates Council's compliments on the successful Regional Libraries Conference held in 

August 1997. In GPO's FY 1997 appropriation Congress granted GPO’s request for an increase 

in the statutory limitation on travel funded by the Salaries and Expenses appropriation. The 

request was for the specific purpose of funding this Conference, and was made with the 

understanding that this was a one-time event intended to strengthen the abilities of the regional 

librarians to assist their selective depositories in the transition to a more electronic FDLP. 

To continue the work begun at the August 1997 Conference GPO scheduled a 1⁄2-day program for 

regional librarians at the fall 1997 Council meeting. In April 1998, a special one-day Regional 

Librarians’ Meeting is being held at the University of Maryland. GPO intends to continue 

programs specifically by and for regional librarians, but these programs will be held in 

conjunction with future fall Council meetings and spring Federal Depository Conferences rather 

than being independent events. 

COMMENDATION: 

Council commends the Public Printer on his appointments of Robert T. Mansker as Deputy 

Public Printer, Andrew M. Sherman as Director of Congressional, Legislative and Public Affairs, 

as well as his intention to appoint Francis J. Buckley, Jr. as Superintendent of Documents. 

Council is gratified by the speed with which the Public Printer made these appointments and 

impressed with the admirable qualifications of all three individuals. The appointment of Francis 

J. Buckley, Jr. to be the new Superintendent of Documents is especially significant. Mr. 

Buckley, a public library director and former depository librarian, has long been a champion of 

public access and the depository library program. Furthermore, Council believes that these 

appointments send a very positive message to Congress and the depository community on the 

future direction of the depository library program. 

COMMENDATION: 

Council commends former Council member Susan Dow and Joseph Paskoski of GPO’s 

Electronic Transition Staff for their extraordinary efforts in developing and maintaining the 

Depository Library Council's home page. Its well-organized and user-friendly arrangement leads 

visitors to a very comprehensive wealth of information about Council activities, both current and 

past. Council believes that its home page will become a valuable resource for librarians and 

others interested in the depository library program, and is very grateful to Susan and Joe for their 

efforts to create a truly outstanding information resource. 

COMMENDATION: 

Council commends the Library Programs Service for resuming the in-house fulfillment of paper 

claims, discontinuing the use of an outside contractor. The prompt fulfillment of claims is 

important to depositories, and the Government Printing Office will be able to provide more 

efficient service, and to monitor problems more accurately by managing this service in-house. 

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COMMENDATION: 

Council commends the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) for the role they have played in 

implementing goals outlined in Federal Depository Library Program: Information 

Dissemination and Access Strategic Plan FY 1996 - FY 2001. Council recognizes that ETS was 

directly responsible for the Pathway Indexer and the FDLP Administration pages, and has been 

significantly involved in the development of various other electronic products on the 

Superintendent of Documents Web site. Council also recognizes the important role ETS has 

played in establishing content and service partnerships with FDLP libraries and with Federal 

agencies, and in supporting efforts with NCLIS to initiate the Assessment of Standards. 

COMMENDATION: 

The Depository Library Council commends the Government Printing Office for making 

significant progress in providing GPO Access training for depository librarians and others. The 

high-quality training sessions conducted by the staff of the Office of Electronic Information 

Dissemination Service, with scheduling coordinated by the Depository Services Staff, have been 

highly praised by participants. The successful completion of the first cooperative "train the 

trainers" workshop will also lead to a broadening of efforts, which will benefit even more end 

users. 

COMMENDATION: 

Council commends Wayne P. Kelley, former Superintendent of Documents, for his professional 

and personal commitment to the Federal Depository Library Program and the GPO Sales 

Program. Since his appointment as Superintendent of Documents in 1991, Mr. Kelley has 

provided strong leadership within the Government Printing Office and the depository library 

community in championing broad public access to Federal Government information. Council 

appreciates his substantial role in the development of and enhancements to the highly acclaimed 

GPO Access system, the establishment of its User Support team, and the creation of the 

Superintendent of Documents home page. Mr. Kelley's commitment to the broad principles of 

public access to Government information are further evidenced by his chairmanship of the GPO 

Study group and his willingness to bring all interested constituencies, including the library 

community, into the process. We especially commend Mr. Kelley for his dedication and firm 

resolve to keeping Government information in all formats in the public domain. This is perhaps 

best exemplified in his eloquent speech regarding the Journal of the National Cancer Institute

that so impressed Sen. John Warner that it was attached to the Senator's remarks in the 

Congressional Record this past February. 

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[HANDOUT] 

Cataloging Branch Update 

Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting 

April 20-23, 1998 

PURLS

LPS has established Persistent Uniform Resource Locators (PURLs) as a service to help assure 

permanent access to the electronic resources listed in Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) posted by the 

Depository Administration Branch via cataloging records produced by the Cataloging Branch. Our 

use of PURLs is made possible by OCLC's recent release of enhanced PURL software that includes 

an integrated URL checker application, the ability to machine generate unique, consecutively 

assigned accession numbers, and a basic exceptions report module that identifies broken links. 

Working with OCLC, we have participated in the development of a freely available new release of 

OCLC's PURL software that contains features that are essential for large scale use of PURLs. 

PURLs provides an effective environment for updating broken URLs by providing a seamless 

interface between the user, via a PURL, and the most recent URL. PURLs are of critical 

importance to our efforts to provide continued access to electronic titles. The 856 field of most Web 

site records of the Catalog of United States Government Publications (Catalog) for BETs posted 

from January 1998 through the present now contain PURLs rather than URLs. PURLs embedded 

in BET entries provide the redirect function for this application. 

LPS' PURLs application is significant for the many library catalogs that contain URLs. With LPS 

PURLs, libraries will not need to update records locally when URLs change. PURLs are an 

essential component of our efforts to bring bibliographic control to products in the FDLP Electronic 

Collection. 

COLLECTION LEVEL CATALOGING POLICY

We have established a collection level records cataloging policy to provide access to resources 

through the Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) Web site application. This policy has been approved 

by the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is consistent with AACR2 practice, and is consistent 

with the realities that face users when they encounter multiple resources accessible via one BET. 

With this policy, we now have a one-to-one correspondence between a BET and a catalog record 

and now have a single PURL associated with both applications. This policy is the most recent of 

our Internet-related cataloging policies and will soon be posted at the Publications portion of the 

FDLP Administration page on GPO Access. Other cataloging policies available at this site include 

policies on computer files and linking fields. 

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PARTICIPATION IN REVISING THE CATALOGING MANUAL

We are involved in the effort to revise ALA's 1984 edition of Cataloging Government Documents: 

A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2. Rhonda Marker, Head, Cataloging Department, Rutgers 

University, and a member of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is editing the manual and 

has welcomed our interest in participating in the revision process. We look forward, in particular, to 

working with people on chapters associated with maps and electronic resources. 

CATALOGING OF BROWSE ELECTRONIC TITLES

As of March 30, 1998, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,728 BET entries. As of 

the week of March 30, all but 192 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 192 BETs in the 

backlog, 67 were monographs and 125 were serials. With our new collection level record policy, 

we expect that, as of April 20th, all of the monographs in the backlog will have been cataloged and 

that many, but not all, of the serials will have been cataloged. BETs are currently cataloged within 

one week after posting. 

CATALOG OF UNITED STATE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

The Web edition of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications now contains 

more than 98,027 records produced from 1994 through the present. More than 3,833 of these 

records contain URL data. When broken links are detected, we convert URL data to PURLs. When 

links cannot be re-established, we delete URL/PURL data from records and add a note advising 

users that the resource is no longer available via the Internet. Librarians encountering records with 

bad links should advise us using <asklps@gpo.gov>. 

"USER-FRIENDLY" WEB SITE DISPLAY OF CATALOG RECORDS

We appreciate Council's recommendation that we establish a default user-friendly display for our 

Web application. Handouts showing our proposed labelled display are available for review and 

comment. The MARC tagged display will remain an option for selection. 

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[HANDOUT] 

Depository Administration Branch Update 

Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting 

April 20-23, 1998 

ASKLPS 

On April 6, 1998, LPS inaugurated askLPS, a feature of GPO Access designed to expedite the 

submission of inquiries and enhance communication to appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is an 

electronic service available via the World Wide Web and will be available to the public user as well 

as the depository community. The askLPS home page is located at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>, or you can e-mail your question to 

<asklps@gpo.gov>. 

There are five components to askLPS: 

 The Inquiry Form provides two versions of the inquiry form. One form is password 

protected for use exclusively by depository librarians. The alternate form is *not* password 

protected and is designed for use by members of the public. Inquiries submitted to askLPS 

will receive an e-mail response acknowledging receipt of the inquiry. Priority will be given 

to inquiries received electronically over inquiries received via paper, fax or phone. 

 WEBTech Notes, a searchable database containing postings to Administrative Notes and the 

Administrative Notes Technical Supplement (retrospective to 1991). There is also a version 

of this database available (in .dbf format) for downloading located on the Federal Bulletin 

Board at <fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/webtechn.htm>. 

 FAQs and News is a listing of answers to frequently asked questions from the depository 

community. It also includes an area for announcements that have been previously posted on 

the GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly or more frequently as 

needed. 

 The FDLP Contacts is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general areas 

of responsibility. 

 The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO 

directory of Federal depository libraries. Depository libraries may submit corrections to their 

directory entries via a password-protected form. 

LPS will attempt to answer inquiries within ten business days. However, users may experience 

situations in which an intermediate answer will be conveyed pending receipt of more information 

from other government agencies. 

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Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or 

regular mail. Fax will continue to be an important mechanism for providing additional information 

necessary for the completion of an inquiry (such as photocopies of title pages, introductory pages, 

etc.). By focusing on one route for inquiries, LPS expects that it should be able to track inquiries 

more effectively and alleviate the duplication of effort associated with inquiry research. 

Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQs & News weekly postings before 

submitting their inquiry, as the question may already have been researched and the response 

posted to the database. 

LPS thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. We look forward to 

comments and suggestions on askLPS from the librarians in the Federal depository library 

community. 

ELECTRONIC SERVICES

The Documents Data Miner (DDM) is a collection management tool which supports the creation of 

in-house relational databases. It features a field searchable List of Classes, a field searchable 

Discontinued Item List, complete depository profiles and union lists, and a searchable library 

directory. DDM was developed through a partnership between University Libraries at Wichita State 

University (WSU) and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The Federal 

Depository Library Program is pleased to join with WSU and NIAR to offer access to the DDM at 

<http://kronos.niar.twsu.edu/govdocs/ >. 

The Union List of Item Selections is now available for download in an ASCII comma delimited 

format on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). It is updated on a monthly basis on the same time 

frame as the List of Classes and Item Lister, the first Friday of each month. Location: 

<http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/unionl.htm> 

The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS 

Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in WordPerfect 6.0 format as received from the 

USGS. They are located at <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/usgssl.htm>. 

NEW PRODUCTS UPDATE

Copies of the 1997 World Factbook were distributed to libraries in paper format on Shipping List 

98-0020-S, dated March 11, 1998. Copies of the 1997 CD-ROM were distributed to libraries on 

Shipping List 98-0036-E, dated March 20, 1998. The instructions on the CD-ROM product were 

incomplete. Additional instructions have been posted on GOVDOC-L, in askLPS FAQs & 

News, and sent in shipment boxes. 

Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to the Committee’s Hearing on the Proposed 

Tobacco Settlement: both paper print and documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all 

libraries on Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998. 

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[HANDOUT] 

Depository Services Update 

Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting 

April 20-23, 1998 

LIBRARY DIRECTORY MODULE

The depository Library Directory is a new feature available from the FDLP Administration Web 

page <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ldirect.html>. Depository libraries can view Directory 

and Item Lister data on any library by keying in a combination of data elements, e.g., depository 

number, size and type of library, state, etc. Depository librarian e-mail addresses and item 

selections are also hot-linked. Directory changes can be made only by using a library’s 

password. Directory data is used to correct addresses for shipments as well as the “Locate 

Libraries” function on GPO’s Web site, U.S. Fax Watch, and the printed Federal Depository 

Library Directory.

SELF-STUDIES

In mid-March 1998, 233 documents librarians and their directors whose depository operations 

were last inspected in 1992 were notified to submit a mandatory self-study. The states include 

California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oregon, 

Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The due date for these self-studies is June 15. 

1997 BIENNIAL SURVEY

The raw data from the 1997 Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries is available for 

downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). The files include the text of the Biennial 

Survey, data conversion table, and the answers from each depository in comma-delimited format. 

Depository librarians can use the data to compare their depository operations with others in their 

peer group or within their state or region. 

The FBB can be reached by dial-in on (202) 512-1387; by telnet to <fedbbs.access.gpo.gov>; 

FTP to <ftp://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov>; or URL <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/lps_info.htm> 

 1,213 or 89.3% of the libraries report having Internet tools available at public access 

work stations, 57 or 4.2% plan to have Internet available within six months and 57 or 

4.2% in one year. 

 1227 or 90.3% provide GPO Access to the public through the WWW, 386 or 28.4% 

through another institution’s gateway; and 91 or 6.7% do not provide it. 10.7% lack 

Internet at public access work stations. 

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 Of the 1,359 libraries responding, 695 or 51.1% have an adequate budget for computer 

hardware and software replacement. 517 or 38% report an inadequate budget and 147 or 

10.8% report no budget for this equipment. 

 Of the 1,269 or 93.4% of the libraries having an on-line catalog, 1,034 or 81.5% are 

accessible from the Internet. 

 Only 194 or 14.3% of the libraries report “hot linking” current bibliographic records for 

“Internet only” documents in the library’s on-line catalog. 709 or 52.1% of the libraries 

plan to do so in the future. 

 94.6% of the depositories have CD-ROM capability. Of the remaining 5.4%, 43 or 3.1% 

of the libraries have CD-ROM capability but do not select CD’s; 23 or 1.7% select CDROMs but do not have CD-ROM capability; and seven or .05% do not have CD-ROM 

capability nor select any CD’s. 

 Only 271 or 19.9% of the libraries report active, ongoing promotion of the depository to 

the general public; 862 or 63.4% infrequent promotion, and 226 or 16.6% no promotion 

to the public. 

 441 or 32.4% of the libraries charge a fee for printer paper, 388 or 28.5% for formatted 

floppy diskettes, 312 or 22.9% for fax services, and 657 or 48.3% do not charge at all for 

these services. 

OUTREACH

The 7th annual Federal Depository Library Conference and Spring meeting of the Depository 

Library Council to the Public Printer occurred on April 20-23 in Arlington, VA. Nearly 500 

people had preregistered by the deadline. A one-day meeting for Regional librarians was held on 

April 19 at the University of Maryland. For the third year in a row, the conference hotel was the 

Washington National Airport Hilton in Arlington, VA. Registration by Web was provided and 

used by a majority of participants. 

The 11th annual Interagency Depository Seminar is scheduled for May 27-June 3, 1998 in 

Washington, DC. Fifty documents staff members have registered for the seminar. In addition to 

GPO, other agency sponsors include Office of the Federal Register, GAO, USGS, NOAA, 

Bureau of the Census, Patent and Trademark Office, and several offices in the Library of 

Congress. 

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[HANDOUT] 

Electronic Transition Staff Update 

Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting 

April 20-23, 1998 

LPS VIRTUAL TOUR <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/lpstour.html> 

For those who have never had an opportunity to visit GPO or would like to learn more about the 

operations of LPS, you can now "visit" a new Web site linked from the Federal Depository Library 

Program (FDLP) Administration page. A virtual tour, in words and photos, follows the order in 

which tangible government information products are processed in preparation for dissemination to 

depository libraries: depository distribution area; lighted bins; mail manifest; acquisitions and 

classification; micrographics; cataloging; and depository services. In addition, there is information 

about the mission and operations of the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS). 

BROWSE TOPICS http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/pathbrws.html 

The initial collection of sites for almost all 160 Topics in the Subject Bibliography-based Browse 

Topic list is now complete. Currently there are 33 topics being maintained by volunteers in the 

depository and information communities. Links have been created from Topics to relevant 

Subject Bibliographies. Our goal is to update all Topics on at least a quarterly basis. 

PATHWAY INDEXER http://gather.access.gpo.gov/Harvest/brokers/Pathway/query.html 

We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online government 

information using the freeware product Harvest and will continue this effort until the 

government-mandated Advanced Search Facility is online. This service indexes well over 

160,000 Web pages from over 1380 different servers. New sites are added to the list on a daily 

basis. 

GATEWAYS

Several institutions have expressed interest in Gateway status. An article in the April 15, 1998 

Administrative Notes outlines GPO's objectives for the Gateways initiative and gives a step-bystep view of how to proceed. Input from the existing Gateways assisted in developing this 

document and redefining the Gateways initiative. 

WEB ACTIVITIES

ETS continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic Information Dissemination Service 

(EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of Web projects. They include: the 

completed Web Biennial Survey, the just concluded Web item selection Survey, and askLPS, a 

Web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to communicate with LPS 

staff. 

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FDLP ELECTRONIC COLLECTIONS

LPS continues to monitor and provide feedback on an effort by the U.S. Information Agency and 

the Corporation for National Research Initiatives to create a Foreign Affairs Documentation 

Center that would collect online foreign affairs documents on a government-wide basis and 

provide both access (through permanent resource locators) and authentication (through digital 

signatures) to those documents. 

The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will 

roll out a depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge," 

during the April depository conference. This gateway will provide a public view to the more 

than 15,000 reports produced by DOE/OSTI annually. 

The FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will be rolled out at the April conference and make 

public domain reports available from ERIC to depositories. Previously provided to the FDLP in 

microfiche, reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and 

stored at OCLC. This pilot will provide the project participants with useful information on 

managing a large, high-demand electronic collection. The full pilot group of 300 libraries should 

have access to the products by July. 

There is an addition to GPO's Core Documents of Democracy. Titled, "A Century of 

Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873," it is 

from the Library of Congress Web site and can be found at: 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/coredocs.html>. 

PARTNERSHIPS

Wichita State University has joined GPO in a service partnership with their Documents Data 

Miner product that brings together data from various Library Programs Service administrative 

databases to create a searchable List of Classes, directory of depositories, and other features. 

Discussions continue with several agencies and institutions for new content partnerships. Staff 

from LPS will be meeting with representatives from U. S. Geological Survey and the 

Cartographic Users Advisory Council during the April conference with an eye toward possible 

partnerships. 

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51 

Table of Contents 

Renewed Commitment to Public Access / Buckley, Council Meeting, 4/98 ............................... 1 

New Perspectives in the Sales Program / Young, Council Meeting, 4/98 .................................... 9 

LPS Progress Report / Baldwin, Council Meeting, 4/98........................................................ 12 

Recent Happenings in the Depository Administration Branch / Haun-Mohamed, 

 Council Meeting, 4/98 .............................................................................................................. 18 

Recent Developments in the Cataloging Branch / Downing, Council Meeting, 4/98 ................ 24 

The Transition: Real and Virtual / Schwalb, Council Meeting, 4/98 ......................................... 28 

Responses to Council Recommendations, 1997, Fall................................................................. 32

Cataloging Branch Update, Council Meeting, 4/98.................................................................... 42 

Depository Administration Branch Update, Council Meeting, 4/98........................................... 44 

Depository Services Update, Council Meeting, 4/98.................................................................. 46 

Electronic Transition Staff Update, Council Meeting, 4/98 ....................................................... 48 

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