Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 19, no. 11 GP 3.16/3-2:19/11 September 15, 1998 

Recent Developments in Superintendent of Documents Programs 

Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr. 

Superintendent of Documents 

Before the Federal Documents Task Force 

Government Documents Round Table 

American Library Association 

Saturday, June 27, 1998 

Washington, DC 

Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you again. 

This is a time of change and transition in the world of information from the ways we create, 

store, disseminate and use information, including government information. New buzz words like 

knowledge management, and the philosophy behind them, are capturing our attention. How our 

programs for the dissemination of government information fit into the evolving situations is what 

we are all trying to manage. 

I find myself addressing large policy issues, such as Title 44 revision, etc., issues of relations 

with other agencies over new and inventive proposals for information publishing and 

dissemination that would chart new ground, set precedents and create new models, as well as 

dealing with the myriad operational issues for running a large and complex operation within the 

Federal bureaucracy. In terms of the operations of the programs I oversee, I feel that the staff is 

doing a very good job. 

What I would like to cover this morning are three topics affecting the Superintendent of 

Documents Program: 

 appropriations 

 the Booz-Allen management audit 

 the Document Sales program 

Appropriations for FY ’99 

 

The appropriations process for the Depository Library Program Salaries and Expenses has not 

been confrontational as in other years. The Senate Appropriations Committee is recommending 

$29.6 million, about 1⁄2 million above GPO’s current funding but about $600,000 below our 

request, and a reduction in the GPO staffing level by 200 employees. The House Legislative 

Branch Appropriations has recommended $29,234,000, an increase of only $187,000 and have 
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approved an FTE ceiling of 3,416 or a cut of 134 positions. The Senate Report asks GPO to 

provide the appropriations committee with quarterly reports on action taken to implement to 

Booz-Allen management audit recommendations, which I will discuss shortly; the House asked 

for an annual report on this activity. 

Management Audit 

A management audit studying various GPO functions was recently concluded by Booz-Allen & 

Hamilton, a consulting firm, on behalf of the General Accounting Office (GAO). It was 

requested by the Appropriations Committee last year and GPO was directed to provide $1.5 

million out of the revolving fund to GAO to perform this audit. The theme or perspective that 

Booz-Allen indicated they would take in their evaluation of GPO was competitiveness and 

utilization of business practices, rather than evaluating us as a service. We were not sure what to 

expect, but as it turns out there were many positive comments in their report about GPO's 

printing and procurement service, the depository program and GPO Access. However, they 

questioned whether a Government organization should operate a retail sales activity and whether 

it is an inherently governmental function. I would like to discuss this later. 

In responding to the management audit, the Public Printer noted that he was "pleased that the 

independent review performed by Booz-Allen & Hamilton affirms a continued positive role for 

GPO in the Federal Government in the production, procurement, and dissemination of 

Government information products." 

The report says that GPO's Federal Depository Library Program "is well managed, provides a 

valuable public service, and is respected by the library community." It also indicated strong 

support for GPO to make an increasing amount of Government information available 

electronically, free of charge, over the Internet and praised the success of GPO Access. The 

report says GPO Access "is one of the Federal Government's largest and most active Web sites" 

and suggests that GPO seek additional funds from Congress to expand this program. 

Among the specific recommendations for the FDLP are suggestions that are not all new. They 

suggested 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 that would require 

agencies to provide all documents, especially those in electronic format, to the FDLP; and to 

hold an information campaign to make agencies aware of their compliance responsibilities. 

Booz-Allen had only four months to perform the audit. I think that the recommendations were 

based on a cursory analysis of GPO’s operations and incomplete information, since there was so 

little time to do an in-depth analysis. 

Sales Program 

The management audit asserts that "disseminating government information to the public is an 

inherent government responsibility. We found no evidence that people believe otherwise.” In 

the opinion of GPO, these statements apply equally to the Sales Program and the FDLP. 

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Historically these two programs have been viewed as complementary and not, as noted in the 

report, conflicting. The FDLP provides no-fee access to government publications/information 

products as defined in section 1902, Title 44. The Sales Program offers the public the 

opportunity to obtain, at a reasonable price, personal copies of a broad spectrum of government 

publications on a cost-recovery basis. 

Booz-Allen suggested that the sales program could be outsourced, privatized, or remain with 

GPO. They based this on several findings. First that Title 44 does not mandate the sale of 

publication documents, rather it authorizes the Superintendent of Documents to do so, therefore 

there would be no need to amend Title 44 to either outsource or privatize the sales operation. 

Needless to say, we view the legislative mandate and a century of administrative practice and 

service to the public as justification for the program. Booz-Allen recommended that Congress 

reexamine the direction for the sales operation and consider several models: 

• Outsourcing the entire sales operation to a contractor to manage; 

• Transferring the sales operation to a private sector wholesaler serving book retailers and 

publishers; 

• Privatize the sales operation by transferring the assets to a private company, such as forming 

an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in which current employees assume the enterprise; 

• Permit and encourage GPO to enter in inter-service support agreements with other Federal 

agencies that offer similar services. 

They based these suggestions on their findings that the prevailing trend in successive democratic 

and republican administrations has been to seek ways to outsource or privatize government 

services that are not "inherently governmental.” And although Booz-Allen recognized that 

"disseminating government information to the public is an inherent government responsibility" 

and "efforts to place government documents in the hands of citizens is a laudable objective," they 

still felt that "having the government engaged in a retail sales operation to accomplish that 

objective may run counter to that prevailing trend." 

I would rebut these findings and recommendations. I think the Sales Program is an essential 

component of our information dissemination program to provide the public with a reasonablypriced means to obtain personal copies of a broad spectrum of government publications, in the 

form of the official information issued by the government, on a cost-recovery basis. 

The value of the Sales Program lies in its being the official source for a broad range of 

Government titles. Many are limited interest publications that would not meet the qualifications 

for inclusion in commercial sales programs. If the Sales Program were privatized the public 

would lose access to these publications. 

I also take issue with the concerns over competition from the free dissemination of publications 

to depository libraries or from the increasing amount of information available on the Internet. 

People who need publications for extensive personal or business use will continue to need a 

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source to procure them. Anyone who needs to read a lengthy item on the Internet will want to 

buy a copy as an alternative to downloading it. I expect the range of materials in the Sales 

Program to expand although the quantities sold of individual items may decrease. The mix is 

changing as items people need to consult for specific pieces of information are used on the 

Internet more frequently. 

For a program that is required to cover all of its costs, the bottom line is crucial. I am pleased to 

report that the Sales Program has shown a great deal of improvement since the losses sustained 

in Fiscal Year 1996. In FY 1997, we handled over 1 million sales orders for more than 12 

million copies of tangible products--that is single orders and subscriptions--for a total revenue of 

over $70 million. And, although the FY 1997 figures are not yet official because they are still 

being audited, indications are that Sales will show a surplus of over $1 million, putting us where 

we've been in all but one of the last 12 years--in the black. 

In the first half of FY 1998, we are showing a surplus, and right now we're projecting a small 

surplus for the entire fiscal year. 

In May, I reintegrated the activities of the Documents Sales Service. As you may know, for the 

last couple of years, Sales has been working on a new Integrated Processing System (IPS) as a 

backbone to support the sales function. During the IPS planing process, the responsibility for the 

new system as well as the Order Division, and the Laurel warehouse, which would be the 

primary operations using it, was assigned to the Technical Support unit. The Director of the 

Documents Sales Service, Jay Young, was assigned to cover the vacant directorship of Library 

Programs Service in addition to his responsibilities for the Field Operations and Sales 

Management Divisions. With this consolidation, the managers of the Sales divisions have the 

responsibility for pulling together all the final plans for the implementation of IPS, data 

conversion, training staff, organizing facilities, managing the cutover we expect to begin August 

17, and going live with the new system on September 1. Until a new LPS Director is hired, I 

have taken the responsibility for acting in that capacity. 

In Sales, we are thinking about our philosophy and mission--although we have not set up a 

formal planning process. My concept is that the program actually should broaden the number of 

titles included and keep some stock longer as a service to those who want to purchase copies of 

government publications for individual use or for libraries who need multiple copies of items for 

research (both current and retrospective). The character of the program is changing inevitably as 

volumes decline due to alternate ways documents are available, such as via the Internet. 

Conclusion 

The Superintendent of Documents Progam is busy and evolving to meet the needs of libraries 

and the public. We are faced with many mandates, a lot of oversight, and the possibility of 

reform by legislation. Succeeding speakers will address the Title 44 revision process and 

specific developments in the Federal Depository Library Program operation. 

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Depository Library Public Service Guidelines 

For Government Information in 

Electronic Formats 

Background 

The Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic 

Formats (Guidelines) are the result of nearly three years of discussion and work on the part of the 

Depository Library Council and depository librarians concerned with providing public access to 

the increasing amount of Federal Government information available in electronic formats. The 

Council began discussing this issue at its fall 1995 meeting in Memphis, TN, after the Congress 

directed GPO to investigate ways of making the Federal Depository Library Program almost 

entirely electronic. Subsequently, at its fall 1996 meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, Council held 

two focus sessions on the whole array of electronic information issues confronting depository 

libraries. A report on the focus groups' discussions was presented at the spring 1997 Council 

meeting in Arlington, VA. The Council then appointed a working group to draft public service 

guidelines for electronic Government information in depository libraries. 

The draft guidelines were presented, discussed, modified, and adopted by Council at its spring 

1998 meeting in Arlington, VA. The Library Programs Service (LPS) participated in these 

discussions. These guidelines set forth performance goals for Federal depository libraries in 

providing access by the public to Government information in electronic formats. 

The General Counsel and the Public Printer have approved the guidelines, which fit within the 

statutory framework of Title 44. Depository libraries have a statutory obligation under section 

1911 to make paper and microformat publications "available for the free use of the general 

public," and these guidelines articulate the logical extension of that historic obligation into the 

electronic information era. The General Counsel states that "any library selecting items in 

electronic formats must maintain a capability to allow for unimpeded use of those documents by 

its public patrons." 

Guidelines 

1. All depository libraries should have a written policy regarding public services for 

Government information in electronic formats. This policy should contain provisions for nofee access to computer workstations with CD-ROMs, diskettes, and the Internet. These 

should be equal to or exceed the services provided for other collections of the library. 

2. All depository libraries should offer access to Government electronic information 

disseminated through the Federal Depository Library Program to the general public. 

Attempts must be made to obtain hardware that meets the latest “Recommended 

Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries” as published 

annually in Administrative Notes. 

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3. All depository libraries should make tangible electronic products and services (CD-ROMs, 

floppy diskettes) which they select available to the general public in a timely manner. For 

example, if a product is not currently loaded and/or supported on a depository library’s 

computer workstation, the depository library should attempt to provide access to it within a 

designated time frame as determined by each library. If the depository library is unable to 

provide adequate access to and technical support of tangible electronic products, circulation 

of those products should be made available in accordance with the library’s circulation 

policies of other non-governmental tangible electronic products or other depository 

resources. 

4. All depository libraries should provide Internet access to government information at no cost 

to the general public. Access should also include telnet and ftp capabilities to encourage 

downloading and/or transmission of electronic data. 

5. Depository libraries are encouraged to develop home pages or bookmarks for government 

information and/or work cooperatively with other depository libraries in their area to provide 

links to prominent or useful sites for the general public. Such efforts would be in line with 

Section 8-6, (publicizing the depository collection) of the Guidelines for the Federal 

Depository Library Program. 

6. Depository library public service areas should have a capability for fax and E-mail delivery 

of government information to distance users in accordance with existing policies in the 

library. 

7. Depository libraries are obligated by law to provide public access to depository receipts, 

including electronic government information products. Depository libraries should provide 

the ability to download or print electronic government information in accordance with GPO 

requirements and guidelines. Limits to or costs associated with printing or downloading shall 

be consistent with other public service provisions of the library. 

8. Whenever possible, depository libraries are encouraged to provide disk space on publicly 

available computers for temporary storage of electronic government information for patron 

use. 

9. Depository libraries should provide appropriate reference service and help 

guides/documentation of tangible electronic products and the Internet for the general public. 

10. Depository libraries are encouraged to offer training for the general public in using tangible 

electronic products and Internet resources. 

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National Climatic Data Center Online Document Library 

Available to Depositories 

The National Climatic Data Center is providing no charge access for the Federal depository 

libraries to the Online Document Library located at <www5.ncdc.noaa.gov/pubs/ 

publications.html>. Libraries may access the Monthly Climatic Data for the World, Storm Data, 

and Local Climatological Data via this controlled access site. The user must be in the library to 

access the database, and libraries must protect the passwords. At this time there is no limitation 

on the number of concurrent users able to access the database. 

[The user ID and password have been provided to depository libraries.] If you have problems 

accessing the database using the passwords, please contact staff in the Depository Administration 

Branch at (202) 512-1071, or by e-mail at <rhaun-mohamed@gpo.gov>. 

The Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view or print these PDF files. Many of the files are 

quite large (over 5 Megabytes), so please be sure to review your request before you begin the 

download. GPO continues to work with NCDC to develop a CD-ROM product to be distributed 

to the depository libraries, but it has not yet been completed. 

The publications available from this site include: 

Monthly Climatic Data of the World (MCDW) 

This publication contains monthly mean temperature, pressure, precipitation, vapor pressure, and 

sunshine for approximately 2,000 surface data collection stations worldwide and monthly mean 

upper air temperatures, dew point depressions, and wind velocities for approximately 500 

observing sites. 

Storm Data (SD) 

Monthly issues contain a chronological listing, by state, of occurrences of storms and unusual 

weather phenomena. Reports contain information on storm paths, deaths, injuries, and property 

damage. An "Outstanding storms of the month" section highlights severe weather events with 

photographs, illustrations, and narratives. The December issue includes annual tornado, 

lightning, flash flood, and tropical cyclone summaries. 

Local Climatological Data (LCD) 

Summarizes temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, wind speed and direction 

observations for several hundred cities in the U.S. and its territories. Most monthly publications 

also contain the 3 hourly weather observations for that month and an hourly summary of 

precipitation. Annual LCD publications contain a summary of the past calendar year as well as 

historical averages and extremes. Please see LCD listing of published stations for a listing of 

valid stations and dates for LCD publications. 

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New CFR Browse Feature Offered via GPO Access 

A new CFR browse feature via GPO Access has been released. This feature allows browsing the 

Table of Contents for individual titles and parts of the Code of Federal Regulations online via 

GPO Access. 

This new feature is accessible from the CFR Web page at: 

<www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html>. 

On the CFR Web page there is a link for "Search or Browse your choice of CFR titles and/or 

volumes." When that is selected, the table of available CFR Titles appears, and the user may 

select a title or titles to browse. The table for a specific title will appear, with a column titled 

"Browse Parts" in which a range of parts to browse may be selected. The various CFR sections 

may be downloaded in either text or PDF format. 

New GPO Web Service Offered: 

List of Contractor-Issued Microfiche Shipping Lists 

The List of Contractor-Issued Microfiche Shipping Lists is a new feature on the GPO Access 

Web site. This service provides the same information that appears periodically in issues of 

Administrative Notes, Technical Supplement. The List will continue to be included in 

Administrative Notes, Technical Supplement through the December 1998 issue. 

The Web site, which is updated on the first Friday of each month, lists shipping lists from March 

27, 1998 to the present. To get to it from the FDLP Administration page, choose Tools, 

Shipping Lists, and then List of Contractor-Issued Microfiche Shipping Lists. The direct link is 

<www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/msl.html>. 

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SuDocs Letter: Destroy USGS Document 

[The following letter was sent to depository libraries in August.] 

Dear Depository Librarian: 

The Library Programs Service was apprised by the U.S. Geological survey that the publication 

Field Methods for Measurement of Fluvial Sediment is defective. 

Descriptive information for this document is as follows: 

Title: Field Methods for Measurement of Fluvial Sediment 

Shipping List: 98-0926-M 

SL Date: 8/14/98 

Item: 0624-A 

SuDocs: I 19.15/5:BK.3/CHAP.C 2 

I am requesting that you immediately withdraw this defective publication and destroy it by any 

means that will prevent disclosure of its erroneous contents. Thank you for your cooperation and 

prompt attention to this matter. 

Sincerely, 

FRANCIS J. BUCKLEY, JR. 

Superintendent of Documents 

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Microfiche Shipping List Number Assignment Demystified 

LPS has received several requests to clarify how microfiche shipping lists numbers and dates are 

assigned. The explanation below outlines the process from its origins in the LPS Micrographics 

Section, through to the microfiche contractors, and finally to the distribution of the lists and 

shipments to depository libraries. 

The assignment of shipping list numbers for microfiche items differs markedly from shipping list 

number assignment for paper, separates, and CD-ROM items. 

Micrographics Section Processing 

The Micrographics Section receives documents from the Classification Section after SuDocs 

classification numbers and item numbers have been assigned. Each group of documents, sorted 

by class, is called a job. Documents for microfiche conversion fall under different contracts, and 

each job contains documents for only one contract. 

Micrographics Technicians receive documents assigned to their respective contracts. The 

Technician groups a number of documents for each job depending on the maximum weekly 

quantity allowed under each contract. These documents are then arranged in order, first by item 

number and then by SuDocs class. The Technician then finds the order count assigned to the 

item number for each document through the Item Count Report, which determines how many 

depository libraries will receive each document. The Technician then determines the number of 

titles (documents), page count (if any), the number of microfiche necessary to film the document, 

the total number of copies for each job, the total number of diazos for each job, and an estimated 

cost for each job. This information is then input into an automated system, which produces a 

print order. Once the print order has been completed, the Technician notifies the vendor 

assigned to that particular contract that the job is ready for pickup. 

Shipping List Number Assignment 

When the vendor receives the job, he verifies that all the information and documents in the job 

match the print order assigned to that job. The vendor then calls the Micrographics Section to 

request a Shipping List Number. The vendor must request one shipping list number for all jobs 

issued on the same day under the same contract number. The Micrographics Clerk assigns the 

next available shipping list number. 

 

Shipping list numbers are assigned in consecutive order beginning with 98-0001-M (for Fiscal 

Year 1998). At the beginning of Fiscal Year 1999, which begins on October 1, the shipping list 

numbers will change to 99-0001-M and continue in consecutive order until the end of the fiscal 

year. There is no set of shipping list numbers assigned to a specific contractor. 

Shipping List Date 

The vendor has 20 consecutive business days (holidays and weekends excluded) in which to 

complete each job. The 20th day is the Ship/Delivery Due Date. The Shipping List Date and the 

Ship/Delivery Due Date is the same date. 

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For any date within the workweek (Monday through Friday) that the print order is issued, the 20 

day count begins on the first business day of the following week, usually Monday. 

Note: Contract B592-S (Bill Shipments) is the only contract in which there is a 15-day turnaround requirement, and each Ship/Delivery Due Date must be on a Friday. 

Vendor Processing 

The vendor must send a draft of each shipping list within 8 days of receipt of the print order. 

The Micrographics Technician has 3 days (after the 8 day period) to either request that 

corrections be made or to authorize and approve the shipping list for filming. The vendor then 

begins filming the documents. 

 

The vendor must complete and deliver the following to the Chief, Micrographics Section, by the 

Ship/Delivery Due Date: 

 Microfiche conversion of documents and agency supplied microfiche (camera copy, 2nd

generation silvers, and diazos) 

 25 copies of each shipping list 

 Master copy of each shipping list 

 Diskette (shipping list in electronic format) 

By the same Ship/Delivery Due Date, the vendor: 

 Distributes all shipping lists to all depositories 

 Distributes the material to regional and selective depository libraries 

Ship/Delivery Due Dates are set up on a weekly basis and vendors have distribution once a 

week, usually on Fridays. 

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Readers Exchange 

Converting a Documents Processing Manual to HTML 

by 

Anne L. Noss 

Government Documents Assistant 

Drew University Library 

Madison, NJ 07932 

anoss@drew.edu

Drew University Library has been a selective (36%) depository library since 1939. As 

Documents Assistant, I supervise the processes which take our item selections from the 

mailroom to the stacks. This work requires the annual hiring and training of about four student 

employees, who must learn how to check, mark, sort, enter, and shelve the incoming documents 

and how to troubleshoot any complications which arise. To help the students learn and perform 

these duties, I wrote an office manual in 1991. Entitled "Procedures for Processing Government 

Documents at Drew University Library," it proved to be a successful training/reference aid and 

was singled out for commendation during our last depository inspection. 

Nonetheless, early in 1998 I converted the manual from its print (WordPerfect 6.1) format into 

HTML, and since that time our students' access to it has been entirely online. In the hope that 

our experience may be helpful to other depositories, this article will discuss how and why that 

decision was made, what was involved in the conversion, and how the change has affected our 

work thus far. 

The Problems With Print 

The paper manual went through many changes over the years. It served the office well, but it 

also had some fundamental problems. 

First, revisions were both frequent and time-consuming. Student feedback, and my own 

observations, often prompted new or clarified material; there were also many changes in the 

DLP's products, procedures, and services. The manual grew to some 85 pages, and almost any 

revision involved reprinting quite a few of them. Reprinting, in turn, meant extended use of a 

cranky, noisy dot-matrix printer, made more onerous by our need to maintain two copies. 

Revisions were nonetheless done when needed; but the experience didn't inspire further 

development. 

Second, while the manual was a good training tool, ready reference was an ongoing challenge; 

again, due to the volume of material. We eventually settled on an intricate I/A/1/a/1)/a) format 

throughout the text, with a correspondingly intricate table of contents. This did the job, but 

hunting for such headings as "II/B/4/c/1)" certainly fell short of optimal ready reference. 

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Third, some procedures were so complex that they were difficult to make "friendly" in this 

format. The process for troubleshooting "missing documents and mystery documents" was 

presented in flowcharts; certainly an improvement over text, but admittedly rather alarming to 

navigate if you'd been up all night preparing for a Psychology exam. 

The Case for HTML 

In writing the first version of the manual I'd experimented with WordPerfect's hypertext 

function; its benefits for relating material and providing quick access were obvious. But 

hypertext documents required a computer, and our office had one desktop. (The students had 

their own computers, issued to all freshmen since Drew's Computer Initiative in 1984, but these, 

too, were desktops.) With up to four possible employees, we needed multiple copies of any 

office manual; and since it would be consulted in many locations--on the students' work desk, 

near the shelflist outside the office, up in the stacks--it also had to be portable. Putting the 

tentative idea of a hypertext manual aside, I proceeded with the most appropriate format, print. 

But by 1998 the situation had changed. There was a Web and an HTML standard, I had become 

comfortable with basic HTML while working on the library's home page, and--most crucially--

Drew University's students were now being issued laptop computers with modems. Moreover, 

the library had its own server where files could easily be uploaded and revised. The world of 

Documents had changed, too; although processing had become increasing complex, it had been 

greatly facilitated by online tools such as the Item Lister, the MOCAT, and the List of Classes. 

I'd been teaching our advanced students to use these tools, but they couldn't be seamlessly 

integrated into a print manual. 

Considering all of these factors and our intractable problems with the print version, it seemed to 

me that we'd reached a point where our student employees would find an HTML manual more 

accessible than print and no less functional, and that its revisions/expansions could be carried out 

far more efficiently. Our Documents Librarian, Jan Wanggaard, gave her support to the project. 

Somewhat over a month later, the manual went online. 

Creating the Online Manual 

To anyone considering such a project, I would say: don't try this without a good HTML editor! 

Without the capability of inserting tags, doing multiple find-and-replaces, and easily creating 

tables, frames, and links, the job would have been impossible. My editor at that time was 

Brooklyn North's "HTML Assistant Pro 97," which automates the above-mentioned processes 

but allows work directly with the code. I like this sort of editor because it helps in learning 

HTML, but there are many fine Web editors which minimize contact with the code and are more 

like a word processor. Follow your own personal preference. The important thing is to find an 

editor which suits the way you like to work, supports the HTML functions you want to try, and 

has help that's appropriate for your level of experience. Most editors have downloadable demo 

versions which you can test. This may take a bit of trial and error, but for any major project the 

investment of time will be repaid many times over. 

The first step in the conversion was developing the online manual's design and format. Since 

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improved navigation was a major objective, it had to be addressed in the basic layout. So I 

decided to display the manual in two frames; that is, two sections of the screen. The smaller 

frame, which would always be visible to the user, listed the main Contents; the larger frame 

would display whichever section of the text had been selected by clicking on a Contents link. 

This is a widely used, practical approach to navigating a large online text. Aesthetic concerns 

were addressed next: freeware graphics such as buttons, a background, an "up" arrow, and the 

FDLP logo were located and used to help create a simple design. At that point, I was able to 

create a template file with all the design-related HTML codes; the template would provide a 

time-saving starting point for all the pages yet to be created, because the design elements would 

be common to all of them. 

Content was the next issue. The general plan was to maintain the subject sections of the print 

manual, and set up each as a separate HTML file, with the section's topics as internal links at the 

top of the page. This continuity was intended to ease the students' transition from the print 

manual. Fortunately, although some of the sections were rather long, their HTML versions all 

loaded at an acceptable speed. 

As for the text itself, it soon became clear that to simply import or copy/paste from WordPerfect 

into a template and add formatting codes was only a start; a true conversion required more than 

that. The online environment provided new ways to present the same information, and for the 

conversion to be successful we needed to take advantage of whatever possibilities I could 

identify. Accordingly, the existing manual would have to be critically reviewed and 

substantially rewritten. 

At the most basic level, it became clear that paragraphs which seemed of reasonable length in 

print appeared interminable on a monitor, particularly since they were displaying in only part of 

the screen. They had to be "chunked" to remain palatable, which provided an opportunity to 

condense and clarify the content whenever possible. But beyond that, there were many instances 

where the information could be structured differently for more efficient use. For example, our 

students had always checked the item numbers on every Shipping List against our depository 

selection list, about 20 annually printed pages with pencilled-in adds or deletes; the same list in 

columns on a single scrollable page not only allowed much faster scanning, but could be easily 

updated throughout the year whenever we revised our profile. 

Another example of reformatting was the "troubleshooting" procedures which had previously 

appeared as complex flowcharts. Here, the online environment provided two major advantages. 

First, the if/then steps could be displayed one at a time, in different files (or widely spaced 

sections of the same file), so that students were not intimidated by the complexity of the process. 

And second, the text could include links to the online tools essential to the troubleshooting: the 

Item Lister, LOC, and MOCAT, making the process a seamless one--even, as events proved, an 

engaging one. 

A final example of restructuring for the online environment was the crucial matter of ready 

reference. The print manual's detailed table of contents was replaced by a variety of search 

options in the online version. First, as mentioned, the main sections of the manual appear at all 

times as content links in the smaller frame. Second, one of those links is for a site map, which 

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allows a student to scan the entire structure of the manual at a very detailed level and access any 

topic of interest with a click of the mouse. Third, each section has all of its topics listed as links 

at the top of the page. Finally, the section called "About the Manual" asks students to use 

Netscape's "Find" for locating specific text on any particular page. These combined options 

would, it was hoped, give our students the quick ready reference that print never adequately 

achieved. 

As the files were developed, another step was checking how they would look online. Tests 

showed differing displays in Internet Explorer and Netscape, because of the choice to use some 

Netscape-proprietary coding. For instance, our item selections list--which displays neatly in 

multiple columns in Netscape--forms an extremely long single column in the tested version of 

Internet Explorer. Additionally, the choice to use frames meant that the manual would not 

display at all in a text browser such as Lynx. If the manual was intended to be a public-access 

document, these would have been very significant concerns. But since it was planned as an inhouse reference tool and Netscape is our campus browser, I kept to the design. However, testing 

with multiple browsers is generally a good idea, even if the results are disconcerting! 

The occasional innovations notwithstanding, there is no denying that much of the "creation" 

process was simply work, neither creative nor exciting. A lot of HTML coding is repetitive and 

all of it has to be checked. To speed things up a bit, I created a "coding" page containing all the 

lines of codes which were used repeatedly, such as <CENTER><A HREF="#Top of This 

Page"><IMG SRC="arrow50.gif" HEIGHT=32 WIDTH=32 border=0></CENTER></A><P>, 

which inserts an "up" arrow after each topic. With the coding page loaded at all times in a 

separate window, I could just copy and paste as needed. To complete the manual, every link was 

tested for accuracy and every page went through a spell-checker; finally, it was ready for the 

upload. 

Using the Online Manual 

Our student employees can access the manual either on the Web, using a modem jack in the 

Documents office, or from two floppy disks kept at the work desk. The floppies provide a 

backup for the rare network downtime; the only tradeoff, of course, is access to other online 

resources. 

The "new" manual was in use throughout the Spring 1998 semester, when we were retraining 

two new students and had two returning students. In theory, this provided a perfect environment 

for its evaluation. One snag was that our experienced students (who have older computers) 

needed some software installation before their laptops could access even the floppy disks, 

although they viewed and used the manual on the office desktop. Fortunately, one of these 

experienced students stayed on to work during the summer, by which time his notebook was up 

to speed. All the students were aware that they were, in a sense, "beta testers" for this format, 

and they were encouraged to share their reactions. So both their comments and my observations 

can be reported at this time. 

The new trainees used the manual easily from the outset, and were soon carrying out some 

sophisticated procedures (i.e., guessing an item number might be a new one because it didn't 

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appear in the Item Lister) which their equally capable predecessors hadn't mastered until much 

later in their training. One trainee reported finding troubleshooting distinctly enjoyable! 

The most experienced employee, a graduate student who is older than his co-workers, did not 

come to Drew with a background of computer use. He told me that although abandoning the 

print manual was difficult for him, he felt the online version was easier to use in every way. He 

particularly liked the integration of online Documents resources. In fact, he suggested that I set 

up a page listing those links (at that time all embedded in the text) so that he could go to them 

directly. This was a great idea, so I created a page called "Other Useful Links for Documents 

Work" which is now heavily used. In the electronic version, as in the print version, student 

feedback makes the manual more useful to all of us. 

"Other Useful Links" was just one example of what to me, as the author, is a tremendous benefit 

of the HTML format: the capability for easy, quick revisions and additions. All that's involved is 

typing up the text in the HTML editor, perhaps making changes to the Contents and the Site 

Map, then uploading the file to the server and copying it to the two floppies. Jan Wanggaard and 

I agreed that this opens up all sorts of possibilities for expanding the scope of the manual, as well 

as improving its present contents. Indeed, some of the design elements of the manual have 

already been totally redone, again incorporating student feedback. 

So, although time may further disclose both benefits and difficulties with the new manual, its 

initial utilization has been entirely positive. But I'd emphasize that this conversion would not 

have been feasible until the students' laptops made electronic format as portable as print. Given 

that development, it appears that having an online procedures manual will streamline our 

students' training, provide fast ready reference, and facilitate development and revision. For 

those depositories where the infrastructure is suitable, it may be an option to consider. 

Procedures for Processing Government Documents at Drew University Library is located at 

<http://forest.drew.edu/~library_www/govdocs/index.htm>. 

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Depository Library Council to the Public Printer 

Summary of the Spring 1998 Meeting 

April 20-23, 1998 

Arlington, VA 

Monday, April 20, Morning Session 

Sheila McGarr, Chief, Depository Services, Library Programs Service 

Sheila McGarr welcomed the audience to the 1998 Federal Depository Conference. She 

described the contents of the conference packets and encouraged all attendees to complete the 

conference evaluation forms. Tours of Federal libraries and information centers had been 

scheduled. Since pre-registration had been required for both the STAT-USA and the Department 

of State tours, those tours were now closed. Ms. McGarr described the symbols used on the 

attendees’ badges. With more than 500 registrants, networking with colleagues was encouraged. 

The proceedings for the conference would be published in both Web and print editions. Ms. 

McGarr then announced a few program changes. 

Dan Barkley, Chair, Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), ALA 

Dan Barkley announced an information session that evening co-sponsored by the American 

Library Association’s Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) and the InterAssociation Working Group on Government Information Policy (IAWG). Eric Peterson, Staff, 

Joint Committee on Printing, and Daniel O’Mahony, Chair, IAWG, would be speaking on 

developments to reform Chapter 19 of U.S.C. Title 44, the law governing the Federal Depository 

Library Program. 

Anne Watts, Chair, Depository Library Council 

Chair Anne Watts welcomed everyone to the spring 1998 Depository Library Council meeting. 

Members of the Depository Library Council were introduced. Chair Watts then surveyed the 

attendees on a variety of topics (e.g., geographical representation, first time attendees, types of 

libraries represented, etc.). The Government Printing Office staff was introduced. The audience 

was encouraged to attend meetings of the Council. The Chair introduced Public Printer Michael 

F. DiMario. 

Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer 

After welcoming attendees to the conference, Michael DiMario noted that Eric Peterson of the 

Joint Committee on Printing would be speaking that evening and that he would have information 

on the initiative to revise Title 44. 

Booz-Allen & Hamilton had delivered a draft management audit report of GPO conducted by the 

General Accounting Office (GAO). The draft report reviewed GPO’s document sales program, 

production, procurement, document delivery, and financial management. While there was some 

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criticism of management issues and the sales program, the draft report viewed the depository 

program positively. GPO was in the process of reviewing the report and preparing comments. 

Mr. DiMario was expecting appropriations to be decided soon. There had been three hearings on 

GPO appropriations since January. Funding was most likely to be level which would be 

essentially a decrease because of rising costs. If that is the case, there may be some negative 

impact to the Federal Depository Library Program. Mr. DiMario hoped that these problems 

could be overcome with the continuing electronic transition. GPO had assured legislators that 

they would be in compliance with the Year 2000 computer requirements. 

Francis J. Buckley, Jr., Superintendent of Documents 

Fran Buckley considered this his “maiden” speech as the official Superintendent of Documents. 

He noted that he had served on Council and had been Council Chair. He also noted that his 

overall concern was access to information, either at low cost or no fee, reiterating his longstanding commitment to provide access to Federal information. His hope was to bring a public 

service orientation to the Superintendent of Documents position. 

Mr. Buckley enumerated his areas of responsibility, including the Federal Depository Library 

Program (FDLP), GPO Access, the nationwide Sales Program, the Consumer Information 

Center, the International Exchange Program, and the reimbursable program for Federal agencies. 

His goal is to ensure that these programs operated efficiently, complementing each other in order 

to provide effective public access to Government information. 

The past four months have been challenging because of GPO’s size, scope, and organizational 

structure. Mr. Buckley reviewed the major SuDocs program statistics. 1,365 depository libraries 

have received 13.4 million copies of 44,820 tangible products within the past year. More than 

30,000 items have been cataloged for the Monthly Catalog. Approximately 188,000 people are 

served each week in depository libraries. Over 89% of depository libraries provide direct patron 

access to the Internet, while another 4% offer staff mediated access. Use of GPO Access 

continues to increase, with March statistics indicating 13.5 million documents downloaded since 

1994. Over 65,342 titles had been mounted on the GPO servers and 44,204 links provided to 

agency Web sites. GPO Access had been highlighted in Roll Call (December 1996) and in the 

Federal Computer Week (March 23,1998). 

Mr. Buckley reported on his outreach and public awareness activities. Interviews and articles 

have appeared in a number of journals, including Library Journal and the AALL Newsletter. In 

addition, he has participated in hearings, forums, and has written an editorial column for 

American Libraries. Mr. Buckley thanked Sandy Morton Schwalb and Gil Baldwin for their 

assistance in these outreach activities. 

Mr. Buckley noted that automation is the backbone of the Sales Program. The Integrated 

Processing System (IPS) has taken longer to implement than initially expected. It was hoped that 

it would be available this summer. 

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Mr. Buckley acknowledged the assistance of Duncan Aldrich on the development of the 

Collection Management Plan. The plan would help set up a policy framework for GPO 

collections. Council would discuss the plan in later sessions. 

A new Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information partnership, the 

Information Bridge, was announced. Mr. Buckley recognized Dr. Walter Warnick and Kathleen 

Chambers of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information for their work on this new 

partnership. The Information Bridge would provide on-demand access to DOE reports similar to 

those that depository libraries had received in microfiche. Access to the collection, which dates 

from January 1996, would begin this week. 

The NTIS pilot project providing on demand and free access to scientific, technical and business 

reports is being expanded. The initial pilot was at the University of California-Davis. The 

University of Nevada-Reno is the next depository in the pilot phase. 

Mr. Buckley addressed the problem of fugitive documents. He estimated that only 50% of 

Federal documents are currently included in the FDLP. This is because of the growth in agency 

Web sites and agency failure to notify GPO about the electronic versions of the reports; the 

failure of agencies to print through GPO or provide copies to depository libraries; an increase in 

agency contracting for printing resulting in copyright-like restrictions; and the increase in use of 

the language in Title 44 to exclude publications from depository libraries. Mr. Buckley also 

attributed the increase in fugitive documents to both a lack of agency knowledge about the FDLP 

and lack of interest in providing copies to depository libraries. He noted that one major 

compliance issue was publications in electronic format. Some executive agencies have not 

provided access for depository libraries to electronic information through GPO. 

Mr. Buckley commented briefly on the Booz-Allen management audit draft report. He said that 

the Booz-Allen approach was to view GPO as a business. The draft report also suggested 

outsourcing or privatizing the Sales Program. GPO believes that there are a number of positive 

findings in the report. 

J. D. Young, Director, Documents Sales Service 

Jay Young was pleased with Mr. Buckley’s proactive attitude regarding the Sales Program. Mr. 

Young noted that Mr. Buckley brought a new way of looking at the Sales Program. The Sales 

Program staff would like to develop their on-line site to resemble Amazon.com and to provide an 

optional notification system for new products. Mr. Young reiterated that the Sales Program was 

required to recover costs. In 1997 there was a surplus of $1 million and a projected surplus in 

1998. He acknowledged the hard work of the Sales Program staff in controlling costs. 

The new Integrated Processing System (IPS) for the Sales Program would replace eighteen 

mainframe systems. The startup of IPS had been slowed by legal problems. 

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T. C. Evans, Assistant Director, Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services 

(EIDS) 

T.C. Evans stressed EIDS’s goal of providing the best possible service to its customers. He 

described the growth of GPO Access including the inclusion of over 700 individual databases, 

requiring more than 80 gigabytes of memory. More than 100 megabytes were added daily. 

More than 57 million documents had been downloaded through March in FY 1998 and usage 

had doubled in the first half of this fiscal year. EIDS answered more than 9,000 user questions 

per month either by telephone or e-mail. In mid-May, user support service hours would be 

expanded to 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. E.S.T. EIDS user surveys had shown that the general public 

was even happier with GPO Access than depository librarians. 

EIDS had recently added NARA and NCLIS GILS sites. The Weekly Compilation of 

Presidential Documents now dated from 1995. Hearing applications had been added and Mr. 

Evans requested feedback on this effort. 

Mr. Evans spoke of the constant need for training of users on GPO Access and of the Department 

of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information training interactions with EIDS staff on 

the new Information Bridge. A new GPO Access training booklet would be distributed and 

available for downloading. 

EIDS had worked with the Sales Program to develop a shopping cart feature available in the 

Web. Customers could now order up to twenty products at a time. 

Gil Baldwin, Chief, Library Division, Library Programs Service (LPS) 

Gil Baldwin presented the status of the electronic transition. The depository program was about 

two and one-half years into the five-to-seven-year transition. Last year GPO had been in the 

process of identifying microfiche and discontinuing this microfiche where the information was 

provided electronically. GPO believed that it was premature to eliminate tangible products; but 

was working on developing content partnerships, notification procedures and other mechanisms 

to ensure permanent public access to agency electronic information products. They would then 

proceed to identify and replace selected tangible products with reliable, official, and permanent 

electronic versions. Mr. Baldwin said the focus today was on what agencies were doing and 

incorporating their products into the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). 

He described the FDLP Electronic Collection as containing titles on GPO Access, at agencies, 

and 160,000 pages indexed in Pathway Indexer. Over 200,000 tangible product titles had been 

distributed over the past four years. The FDLP collection was already more than 35% electronic. 

He predicted that electronic products would soon outpace tangible products and that the number 

of tangible products would decline but not disappear. 

Mr. Baldwin described the improvement in the cataloging service locator. GPO had an 

integrated process for providing bibliographic control to Internet resources. When a new 

Government product was found on the Web, that resource would be assigned a PURL and 

announced in the Browse Electronic Titles Pathway service. It would be cataloged with the 

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PURL in the catalog record. Where GPO cataloging records were used, PURLS software would 

update the URL changes. This effort combined the work of the staff in the Cataloging and 

Depository Administration Branches, the Electronic Transition staff, and GPO’s Production 

staff. 

The collection management concept would have GPO manage the various electronic 

Government information products made permanently accessible through GPO Access as a 

library-like collection. They would see the whole body of the electronic collection in the scope 

of their responsibility. There were four main components: (1) permanent core legislative and 

regulatory GPO Access products; (2) remotely accessible products (GPO or partnership 

management); (3) tangible electronic products distributed to depository libraries; and (4) 

remotely accessible electronic Government information that GPO would identify, describe and 

link, but which would remain under the control of the originating agencies. He reiterated GPO’s 

goal of current and permanent access to Government information. 

Mr. Baldwin thanked Cindy Etkin for her assistance in developing a set of “FDLP Electronic 

Collections” Web pages which would provide links to resources inside and outside of GPO. He 

requested feedback on this new service when it was available. 

Mr. Baldwin discussed the NCLIS assessment and suggestions of products for the process. An 

explanation of criteria had been made available in the handouts. 

He described askLPS, which had been announced at last fall’s Council meeting. This past month 

askLPS began to accept Web-based inquiries. askLPS had five components: the electronic 

inquiry form; WEBTech Notes (which dated back to 1991); FAQs & News; the existing FDLP 

Contacts page; and a FDLP directory. 

Last month, LPS received 2200 inquiries, of which 75% were by e-mail and 20% by phone. The 

askLPS inquiry form would provide automatic acknowledgment. LPS expects that an initial 

response would occur within 10 business days. Inquiries received by askLPS would have 

priority over fax, telephone, or mail inquiries. These inquiries would be responded to on askLPS 

if they were general questions that might be of interest to others. 

Robin Haun-Mohamed, Chief, Depository Administration Branch, LPS 

Robin Haun-Mohamed summarized the activities of the Depository Administration Branch. She 

emphasized LPS’ service and reiterated the five components of askLPS. The inquiry form had 

two separate parts with one having a general inquiry form and the other having password 

protection. WEBTech Notes contained the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement 

retrospective to 1991 and would be updated weekly. The FDLP Directory was the SGML 

database for PAMALA and was password protected for corrections by depository libraries. She 

reminded everyone that inquiries to askLPS would be prioritized over fax, telephone, or mail 

inquiries. Response would normally be within 10 business days, but the response might also be a 

request for more information. 

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She announced another new electronic service: the Documents Data Miner (DDM), which would 

be a collection management tool featuring a searchable List of Classes, the Discontinued Item 

List, complete depository profiles, union lists, and a searchable library directory. The DDM was 

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

University and the National Institute for Aviation Research. 

The Union List of Item Selections would be updated the first Friday of each month and could be 

downloaded in ASCII format from the Federal Bulletin Board. 

Ms. Haun-Mohamed also announced that the Shipping List service would now include the USGS 

Automatic Sendings. These would be posted on the Federal Bulletin Board in Word Perfect 6.0. 

GPO was working with their shipping list partners to find a better way to post this information. 

Ms. Haun-Mohamed also presented a product update. The 1997 World Factbook in print and on 

CD-ROM had been distributed with additional software instructions posted on askLPS. House 

Committee Print 105-P, the documents relating to the Committee’s hearing on the proposed 

tobacco settlement, had been distributed, as well as numbers 16 and 17 of the FBIS CD-ROM 

series. LPS had not been provided enough copies of the CIA declassified report on Cuban 

operations, so LPS would convert it to microfiche for further distribution. 

A new Memorandum of Understanding had been signed between LPS and the National Imagery 

and Mapping Agency (NIMA, formerly DMA) which would bring NIMA products back into 

distribution. By early May, libraries should have begun to see the NIMA products arrive. 

The Depository Administration Branch had a 94% response rate to Survey 98-001, the first online survey. The 1998 Periodicals Supplement had been distributed under an incorrect item 

number. Additional stock would be obtained for redistribution under the correct item number. 

The new CD-ROM tour of the White House was verified as not being a Government document 

and would not be distributed. Bound volumes 52-59 of the Tax Court Memorandum Decisions 

would be distributed after conversion to microfiche, since the title was now being published 

commercially. The FED LOG CD-ROM would not be coming since it had been classified as 

“For Official Use Only.” 

The Depository Administration Branch was monitoring and modifying PURLS as part of its 

numerous responsibilities in support of depository libraries. The item selection process had been 

changed in 1997 and the on-line application had enabled staff to work on other projects. 

Thomas A. Downing, Chief, Cataloging Branch, LPS 

Thomas Downing noted that PURLS was a critical element in the FDLP electronic collection. 

He acknowledged the work of Michael Clark on the PURLS project. He also thanked OCLC, the 

Production Department and the Library Programs Service for their work on the substantial 

changes in PURLS software. PURLS would support efforts to provide continued access to 

electronic resources. As links changed, the Depository Administration Branch would substitute 

new links for old ones. As they learned of new URLs for old records, they would change them 

to PURLS on a record-by-record basis. They expected to gradually convert most in the months 

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ahead. With LPS PURLS, libraries would not need to update their records locally when URLs 

changed. 

Mr. Downing announced that effective this March catalogers would apply a collection level 

cataloging policy when cataloging Browse Electronic Title entries. He thanked Arlene Weible 

and the GODORT (ALA) Cataloging Committee for their assistance in establishing a 

satisfactory level of bibliographic control to many Internet works. 

The Cataloging Branch was involved in the revision of ALA’s 1984 edition of Cataloging 

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

Rutgers University Cataloging Department and member of GODORT, was editing this 

publication. 

Mr. Downing said that the Depository Administration Branch had posted 2,728 entries to the 

Browse Electronic Titles Web page. They had processed 13,287 pieces to date. Most of their 

cataloging backlog, 6,858 pieces of work, was associated with serials, many of which had been 

received recently. 

The Monthly Catalog CD-ROM and paper issues were late. There was also a delay with 

cataloging tapes which was caused by reassignments of data support staff at LC, and delays in 

GPO due to staff assignments to assure compliance with Year 2000 requirements. 

The Web Monthly Catalog was moving towards 100,000 MARC records. Mr. Downing said that 

when links were broken, GPO would add a note “No longer available from the Internet.” In 

response to Council’s recommendation, they were presenting a more user-friendly display for 

users. For those interested in using a numeric MARC display, that would still be available. 

Mr. Downing reported that they would again publish the paper edition of the Periodicals 

Supplement which had ceased in 1995. Costs saved in publishing the Abridged Monthly Catalog 

had made this possible. There would be no significant difference in the Periodicals Supplement. 

It would also be available for purchase. 

Sandy Morton-Schwalb, Management Analyst, LPS 

Sandy Morton-Schwalb reflected on her work at GPO first as an Expert Consultant and now as a 

permanent staff member of the Library Programs Service. The Electronic Transition Staff 

consisted of LPS staff Joseph Paskoski and Lee Morey and one outside Expert Consultant, 

George Barnum, who was working on the FDLP Electronic Collection, Gateways, and visiting 

agencies. Ms. Schwalb reported on a new link from the FDLP Administration page to a virtual 

tour of LPS. She was also working on information on the mission and operation of ETS with 

Joseph Paskoski and Lee Morey. Ms. Morey had prepared a draft of the new recommended 

specifications for computer workstations and would like comments from depository libraries by 

May 5. 

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They had also been working on an initial collection of sites for the Browse Topics (subject) lists. 

Their goal was to update all topics on a quarterly basis. She requested volunteers for this task. 

There were 33 topics being maintained by volunteers. 

ETS staff was also working on Gateway status. Step-by-step information on Gateway status 

could be found in the April 15 Administrative Notes. 

She also said that the Electronic Transition Staff continued to work with other staff on other Web 

products including askLPS. The Department of Energy would roll out OSTI’s Information 

Bridge on Wednesday. She acknowledged Kathy Chambers and Walter Warnick from the 

Department of Energy who had been working with GPO on this product for over eighteen 

months. The FDLP ERIC digital pilot project would be rolled out this summer and would 

contain public domain documents from January 1997. By July 1998 300 pilot depository 

libraries would be accessing the database with the remaining depository libraries accessing it by 

late 1998. A Century of Lawmaking site from the Library of Congress would be added to the 

Core Documents of U.S. Democracy site. 

Volunteers were requested on GOVDOC-L for the NTIS pilot project. Twenty-six depository 

libraries had volunteered and from them twenty would be selected for this part of the project. 

LPS continued to provide feedback to the Foreign Affairs Documentation Center. Later in the 

conference there would be more discussion on content partnerships with the USGS and 

Cartographers Users Advisory Council representatives. 

Dan Barkley, Chair, Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), ALA 

Dan Barkley reported that Sunday’s Regional meeting was very productive and was attended by 

approximately 45 regional librarians or their representatives. Regionals are looking at 

partnerships with selectives and the need to rely on selectives for their expertise. He encouraged 

selectives to offer their assistance and support to their regionals. The regionals did not consider 

depository library work as a one-sided relationship. Electronic service guidelines would be 

presented later in the conference. The goal of the guidelines was to provide better service in an 

electronic environment. He reported that many Regionals were working on the State Plans, 

including adding electronic service components. 

Promotion of Government information was discussed at the Regional meeting. A more proactive 

stance was suggested with the example of providing public access training on the Web beyond 

the campus. 

The Regional meeting was a follow-up to the meeting held in Minneapolis last August. Both 

meetings provided a great opportunity for Regionals to share ideas. Chair Anne Watts expressed 

appreciation to the University of Maryland and GPO for hosting the Regional meeting. 

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Monday, April 20, Afternoon Session 

Chair Anne Watts announced that the afternoon session would include reports from the 

committees, a review of the recommendations from the previous Council meeting, and a 

discussion of possible new recommendations. 

Diane Garner, Statistics Committee 

Diane Garner summarized the report of the Statistics Committee’s work on the Biennial Survey. 

She suggested that we concentrate our work on sections 3, 4, and 5 of the survey. She reported 

that the committee believed that the Biennial Survey should be consistent from year to year, or at 

least for three survey cycles. New questions or topics should be announced ahead of time. She 

suggested that experts in statistical methodology needed to look at the survey and suggest how to 

collect the data. She emphasized that the main issue was to formalize and standardize the 

Biennial Survey. The Committee did not look at content, believing they had neither the time nor 

the knowledge. 

Ms. Garner identified an article about statistical reporting written by Bruce Morton 10-15 years 

ago. Data on the costs of operating a depository library could provide us a market basket cost 

similar to the Cost of Living Index. Data should include public service, bibliographic control, 

conservation, binding, reformatting, training, etc. She recommended that another committee 

work on this project. 

Comments: 

Several members of the audience suggested adding binding questions. The cost of binding the 

Serial Set was mentioned. 

Mr. Baldwin stated that concentrating on public service aspects for public advocacy reasons 

would be helpful in talking to legislative people. Questions of definition are important but this 

was increasingly problematic. Separate data gathering for a cost survey was being discussed. 

It was noted that defining depository libraries by type, size, and selection rates was important, as 

well as determining cost figures for different types of depository libraries. 

There was some discussion of the difficulty of gathering uniform statistics or cost figures from 

libraries that vary widely in their organization and practices. The usefulness of statistics as 

leverage to obtain more resources was mentioned. 

The possibility of hiring experts to work on the survey was raised. Mr. Buckley agreed that 

valuable information could be obtained by sample or enumeration. He noted the lengthy process 

entailed in the use of consultants by GPO. 

Members of the audience expressed an interest in having the Biennial survey questions remain 

the same from one survey to the next, while having advance notice of any changes. Mr. Baldwin 

said that this was a trade-off. Some of the questions were in response to questions from the 

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legislative branch. He indicated that LPS would need to have another way of collecting this ad 

hoc information. 

Diane Eidelman, Electronic Service Guidelines Committee 

Diane Eidelman reported on the Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for 

Government Information in Electronic Formats. Copies would be distributed the next morning 

and the Guidelines had been posted on GOVDOC-L. Ridley Kessler and Dan Barkley would 

present the Guidelines. Julie Wallace asked for clarification about the depository libraries that 

might not be covered by the guidelines, such as court libraries. A question on whether Federal 

agency libraries were outside the guidelines was also raised. Mr. Baldwin said that GPO would 

review the guidelines to be certain that they are consistent with other guidelines and laws before 

finalizing them. 

A number of wording changes were suggested. It was noted that some libraries had hardware 

installations that might make it difficult to comply with some of the requirements. A suggestion 

to coordinate the public service requirements with the “Recommended Specifications for Public 

Work Stations” was made. 

Anne Watts, Chair, Council, Fall 1997 Recommendations and Commendations 

Chair Anne Watts began the review of the Fall Council Recommendations. 

Recommendation: Serial Set 

Discussion ensued on the physical form of the printed copy of the Serial Set, and on the eventual 

production of an electronic Serial Set and what form it might take. Gil Baldwin reported that 

about 80% of the reports and 20% of the documents were now received in electronic form. GPO 

production staff are encouraging Congressional committees to become more electronic. 

Recommendation: askLPS 

Council would continue to monitor and suggest enhancements to askLPS. Documents librarians 

are encouraged to consult it regularly. It was noted that it would take time to train people to 

consult askLPS. 

Recommendation: Managing GPO’s Electronic Collection 

Gil Baldwin said that GPO’s response and additional information would be provided the next 

day in the presentation on the electronic collection. The scope of what would be in the collection 

would be expanded and many collection management issues would be addressed. There would 

need to be additional discussion on how the electronic collection would relate to withdrawal 

requirements and to the 5-year tangible versions. 

Mr. Baldwin reminded the group that some issues were firmly established in Chapter 19 of Title 

44. Mr. Buckley noted that in some quarters it was questioned whether electronic titles were 

viewed as “depository documents.” 

 

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Recommendation: Monthly Catalog Display 

Thomas Downing and the Cataloging Branch staff were thanked for their work on the Web 

Monthly Catalog display. 

Recommendations: Opentext Z39.50 / GILS Compliance 

T.C. Evans noted that the issue of using Z39.50 or SGML was part of GPO planning discussions. 

It was noted that the National Library of Medicine did not see a future in Z39.50, while it was 

also reported that some countries were translating databases for Spanish use and they would not 

be able to do that if they were not using Z39.50. 

The issue of GILS compliant servers was raised, since some are accessible for searching only via 

WAIS. Mr. Evans said GPO was not moving toward proprietary software and Mr. Baldwin said 

that GPO was moving away from client software. 

It was recommended that Council revisit the issue in the interest of the community. There was 

some discussion of using client software. 

Recommendation: Migration 

Further consultation with the depository library community was suggested. 

Recommendation: Supreme Court Opinions 

Gil Baldwin said GPO was running into some problems but production staff continued to work 

to make this information available. GPO would appreciate feedback from people knowledgeable 

about legal citations. 

Recommendation: Regional Meeting 

Council members who attended the meeting on Sunday were pleased with the discussion. 

Council thanked both GPO and the University of Maryland. 

Council Business 

Diane Garner requested the e-mail addresses of the new Council members. The omission of 

Council names and addresses from the list of attendees was noted. Mr. Baldwin said that the 

addresses were in the April 15, 1998 issue of Administrative Notes.

Tuesday, April 24, Morning Session 

Chair Anne Watts called the meeting to order. She announced that there would be several 

presentations: the electronic service guidelines and the Statistics Committee report. 

Dan Barkley, Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government 

Information in Electronic Formats 

Dan Barkley directed people to look at the overhead transparencies and noted that there had been 

some wordsmithing since they were completed. He briefly reviewed the background of the 

drafting of the guidelines, which began at the Council meeting in Salt Lake City (October, 1996). 

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During a discussion on State Plans, an interest was shown in service guidelines for electronic 

formats. This coincided with the evolving technical specifications requirements. 

Dan Barkley and Ridley Kessler began work nearly two years ago in response to Council’s 

request for assistance. Those guidelines are the result of their work. He reiterated that these were 

very general guidelines and that they were probably not very different from what many libraries 

were presently doing. The objective was to be consistent within one’s own institution and with 

GPO. In response to a question from Carol Bednar, Mr. Barkley said they anticipated that these 

guidelines would be incorporated with other GPO guidelines. Mr. Barkley proceeded to read the 

guidelines as amended to date. 

Guideline #1. All depository libraries should have a written policy regarding public services for 

Government information in electronic formats. This policy should contain provisions for no-fee 

access to computer workstations with CD-ROMs, diskettes, and the Internet. These should be 

equal to or exceed the services provided for other collections in the library. 

Guideline #2. All depository libraries should offer access to electronic information for the 

general public. Attempts must be made to purchase hardware that meets the latest 

Recommended Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries 

as published in Administrative Notes (updated annually). 

Guideline #3. All depository libraries should make tangible electronic products and services 

(CD-ROMs, floppy diskettes) available to the general public in a timely manner. For example, if 

a product is not currently loaded and/or supported on a depository library’s computer 

workstation, the depository library should attempt to provide access to it within a designated 

time frame as determined by each library. If the depository library is unable to provide adequate 

access to and technical support of tangible electronic products, circulation of those products 

should be made available in accordance with the library’s circulation policies of other nonGovernmental tangible electronic products or other depository resources. 

Guideline #4. All depository libraries should provide Internet access to Government 

information at no cost to the general public. Access should also include Telnet and FTP 

capabilities to encourage downloading and/or transmission of electronic data. 

Guideline #5. Depository libraries are encouraged to develop home pages or bookmarks for 

Government information and/or work cooperatively with other depository libraries in their area 

to provide links to prominent or useful sites for the general public; such efforts would be in line 

with Section 8-6, (publicizing the depository collection) of the Guidelines for the Federal 

Depository Library Program. 

Guideline #6. Depository library public service areas should have a capability for fax and email delivery of Government information to distance users in accordance with existing policies 

in the library. 

Guideline #7. Depository libraries are obligated by law to provide public access to depository 

receipts, including electronic Government information products. Depository libraries should 

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provide the ability to download or print electronic Government information in accordance with 

GPO requirements and guidelines. Limits to or cost associated with printing or downloading 

shall be consistent with other public service provisions of the library. 

Guideline #8. Whenever possible, depository libraries are encouraged to provide disk space on 

publicly available computers for temporary storage of electronic Government information for 

patron use. 

Guideline #9. Depository libraries should provide appropriate reference service and help 

guides/documentation of tangible electronic products and the Internet for the general public. 

Guideline #10. Depository libraries are encouraged to offer training for the general public in 

using tangible electronic products and Internet resources. 

Comments/Questions: 

There was extensive discussion on the circulation of CDs. It was noted that depository libraries 

have different circulation policies and that circulation of CDs may not be consistent between 

libraries. Most libraries do not routinely circulate CDs while other libraries collect duplicates to 

circulate. Some libraries work with the state data center to have backups or purchase additional 

copies of selected CDs. Sheila McGarr said that GPO encouraged libraries to circulate CDs if 

they did not have equipment or software for the product, or sufficient expertise. Comparable 

treatment was important. 

A question was raised on whether documents could be disposed of if they became available online or on CD-ROM. Ms. McGarr responded that the law had not changed although they would 

check with GPO’s General Counsel for additional advice. 

Chair Anne Watts formally thanked Dan Barkley and Ridley Kessler for their work on the draft 

guidelines. 

Diane Garner, Statistical Measurement and the Biennial Survey 

Diane Garner acknowledged the members of the Statistics Committee and announced that there 

would be a recommendation emanating from their work. She briefly described what the Biennial 

Survey was and noted that last year it had appeared on the Web. GPO uses the data in various 

ways, including updating the Master database, management, inspections, and for reports to 

Congress. She also noted that GPO required only one question, “Does your library wish to 

continue as a depository library?” She said that there had been a lack of coherence over time 

because questions were often asked in response to immediate information needs. 

The Statistical Committee has compiled the following “General Principles for Data Collection in 

the FDLP”: 

1. The data that are gathered should meet the needs of GPO and the program libraries for 

program management, for program advocacy, for reporting to Congress, for depository 

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library management, for depository library advocacy, and to satisfy the requirements of the 

law; 

2. The data should complement and be standardized with other major data surveys, insofar as 

possible, e.g. IPEDS, ARL, and the Public Library Data Survey; 

3. Each data element should be sufficiently defined so that FDLs can complete the survey 

instrument with accuracy and consistency; 

4. Data elements and definitions should be consistent over time. There must be compelling 

reasons to add or change data or definitions; 

5. Program libraries should have sufficient advance notice of new data or definitions to allow 

them to prepare, e.g. if annual data are required, the libraries should know at least a year in 

advance; 

6. The content, wording and methodology of the Biennial Survey should be reviewed and tested 

in advance by experts in statistical and survey methodology; 

7. The content, wording and methodology of the Biennial Survey should remain relatively 

constant or should change only with advance warning. If other data are needed on an 

occasional or emergency basis, GPO should use other means or special surveys. With the 

assistance of the Depository Library Council, GPO should review the survey instrument 

biennially in the off years, looking at old responses and suggesting substantive and reasoned 

revisions. In general, a question should be of sufficient lasting import to stay on the survey 

for at least three surveys. 

Diane Garner further stated that the Statistics Committee was looking at questions that would be 

valid over time and that would assist GPO in studying their relationships. She read the Statistics 

Committee’s recommendations: 

“We recommend that GPO formalize and standardize the Biennial Survey. Issues to consider 

in this process include the general principles for data collection that were outlined in the 

report of the Statistics Committee. We further recommend that: the Council and program 

libraries be consulted in developing the content and methodology; that GPO seek expert 

methodological advice in developing the instrument; review the Biennial Survey in off years; 

keep unique questions off the Biennial Survey and use other mechanisms for gathering that 

information; make the compiled data available to program libraries in a timely fashion.” 

Ms. Garner said that the last recommendation would be reworded as a commendation since GPO 

had already made the Biennial Survey data available on the Federal Bulletin Board. 

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Comments/Questions: 

The audience understood why questions remained the same; but was concerned that there would 

be a proliferation of questions coming out. The audience suggested that perhaps there could be a 

standard part and another part could be a miscellaneous section. Ms. Garner indicated that their 

suggestions would be taken into consideration. If GPO needed immediate information, they 

could not wait for the Biennial Survey. A suggestion was made that GPO could use questions 

every year as a test. It was also suggested that the classification of collections by size be revised. 

It was noted that the topic of the cost of being a depository library was so overwhelming that it 

should be considered separately, and outside assistance might be needed. Chair Anne Watts 

reported that the St. Louis Public Library was undertaking a three year cost-benefit study. She 

said that designing a cost study would take considerable time. She inquired if the audience was 

in support of looking at the cost of being a depository library. The audience responded with a 

show of hands in support. It was noted that information would be valuable, particularly when 

speaking to elected representatives who might not realize the contributions made by depository 

libraries. It was suggested that an alternative might be case studies to provide a baseline rather 

than do a thorough analysis as at the St. Louis Public Library. 

Chair Anne Watts thanked Diane Garner and the members of the Statistics Committee. 

Council Business 

Chair Watts asked if the audience had any questions from GPO’s presentations on Monday. 

There was some discussion about the priorities of producing the cataloging tapes, and the role of 

the Library of Congress in the process. Thomas Downing indicated that the problem was 

complicated and that GPO would be discussing a solution with the Cataloging Distribution 

Service of the Library of Congress. 

Concern was expressed about the LPS response time to written self-studies. Sheila McGarr 

responded that they had been short-staffed and were rebuilding the staff. 

There was further discussion on Congressional hearings being available on GPO Access. T.C. 

Evans responded that GPO would like that to happen but that it was probably not possible in the 

foreseeable future, because the files are not provided to GPO in electronic form. 

The use of hot links in library catalogs was discussed. Several libraries reported that there had 

been some problems with broken links, but that PURLS would help alleviate the problem, and 

that using dumb terminals for accessing the on-line catalog freed up library computers for other 

uses. Broken links were a general concern. The audience was reminded that vendors provide 

changes and updates as part of their services. 

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Subsequent discussion concerned the Congressional Research Service (CRS) material being 

distributed to depository libraries. Two bills have been introduced into Congress, and librarians 

were urged to write letters to their Congressional representatives on this issue. 

Francis Buckley, Gil Baldwin and George Barnum, Managing the FDLP Electronic 

Collection 

Fran Buckley said that this project was a way of recognizing developments in the electronic 

transition of the program. Previously, attention was focused on distribution; now, with the 

advent of technology, the transition would take a fresh approach, using library management tools 

in the development of a collection plan. More attention should be paid to content, collections or 

knowledge management. He thanked Duncan Aldrich for his work in bringing this approach to 

GPO. Mr. Buckley said that there was a new role, a need to institutionalize all the elements of 

information. The electronic collection framework was still a draft. 

Gil Baldwin began the presentation on “Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection” by 

indicating that he would discuss the collection from the Government’s perspective and George 

Barnum would cover the librarian’s point of view. 

Mr. Baldwin said that the focus on the electronic collection was based on a policy and planning 

document that LPS had been working on for months. They had what they were going to do, but 

not fully how they were going to do it. Under the GPO Access Act, GPO was taking 

responsibility for the life cycle management of electronic products. This was a corollary to the 

responsibilities of the regional depository libraries for tangible products. 

George Barnum listed some key assumptions and guiding principles: no-fee access was a right of 

the people, all Government information that was statutory in nature was to be included, and there 

would be a central coordinating authority. 

The implementation of the FDLP Electronic Collection’s goal was predicated on several 

assumptions including the following: GPO Access would be the primary delivery vehicle, the 

mix of institutions and users would be diverse and complex, and products would be selected and 

added according to the needs and demands of constituents. Success would depend on several 

factors: cooperation is key; agencies must inform GPO of new products and changes; GPO must 

provide timely and accurate services; and GPO must facilitate partnerships. Mr. Baldwin 

continued the description: a variety of media and formats which would comprise the collection; 

the mix of media and formats would be adjusted to meet user need and advancing technology; 

copyright-like barriers would be avoided; standards-based tools would enhance access and 

empower a broad spectrum of users; and the experience and expertise of FDLP libraries would 

form policies and practices for managing the collection. 

Eliot Christian inquired about the central coordinating agency/authority, stating that “authority” 

does not imply authority. Mr. Baldwin responded that the concept was not in a strict legal 

definition. This central authority is needed because agencies forget their responsibilities to 

depository libraries and the central authority is responsible for providing for public access. In 

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further response to a question on the involvement of agencies in developing the plan, Mr. 

Baldwin reported that they had not gotten to that stage yet. This document was still under review 

within GPO. After that, they would share it with Council, then have a public comment period 

from agencies such as NARA. Mr. Baldwin also responded that they were not suggesting that 

anyone (e.g. partnerships) would assume sole responsibility. He said that partnerships 

recognized that no single entity could accomplish all of this alone. The responsibility of the 

Government (in this case, GPO) is primary, however. 

In response to a question on the explanation of “copyright-like barriers,” Mr. Barnum said they 

wanted to avoid problems when proprietary client software was selected by the agency. 

Obtaining licenses for public access required a great deal of work. Mr. Baldwin pointed out that 

the process is slowed when they are involved with proprietary software. 

Further comments from Council included the suggestion that focusing first on the presentation of 

information was backwards and that it seemed better to focus initially on content. Mr. Baldwin 

responded that this document was speaking to a number of audiences. 

Julie Wallace said that she was interested and pleased that GPO was including metadata. 

A member of the audience said the real interest was access to information. Proprietary software 

was incompatible with permanent public access. 

Mr. Baldwin continued with the presentation. The FDLP Electronic Collection would include 

electronic Government information products except those determined by their issuing agencies to 

be required for official use only or for strictly administrative or operational purposes which had 

no public interest or educational value. Publications classified for reasons of national security 

would also be excluded. The elements of the FDLP Electronic Collection were: (1) core 

legislative and regulatory GPO Access products; (2) other remotely accessible products 

maintained by GPO or other institutions with which GPO had agreements; (3) tangible electronic 

Government information products distributed to depository libraries; and (4) remotely accessible 

products which GPO would identify, describe, and link to, but which remained under the control 

of the originating agency. He continued that the public could use the Electronic Collection 

without depository libraries but depository libraries do add the value that the public needs. Open 

system standards would be encouraged. 

A question from the audience was whether GPO was envisioning this as duplicating what 

agencies were doing on their own sites (like census reports). Would GPO say “Gee, Census is 

covering that?” Mr. Baldwin responded that GPO would like an understanding with the agency 

on the agency’s responsibility to keep their information accessible. Things would be maintained 

at the agency site, but they would be considered part of this collection. 

Tom Andersen said that one of the criteria would be permanent public access. Mr. Baldwin 

responded that if the agency made their access time short, then GPO would need to have some 

mechanism for making the information available long term. Considerable work had been done 

on criteria for what products were to be included in the collection and how to deal with them. 

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Another question from the audience was on what “facilities and resources of depository 

libraries” meant. Mr. Barnum said they had wrestled with this. They wanted further discussion 

on supporting every user including the lower end user in Gateways. GPO had focused on 

depository libraries and their users but recognized a lot of users were not coming in from there. 

They recognized depository libraries were adding a great deal of value. They needed users with 

whom they could talk. Mr. Baldwin reminded the audience of T.C. Evans’ survey yesterday 

where he pointed out that they received double the return in responses from the depository 

libraries than from the general public. 

Duncan Aldrich pointed out that the plan called for considerable investment in outreach by GPO 

to Federal agencies. 

Mr. Barnum said there were three big questions in evaluation of the FDLP Electronic Collection: 

(1) did the product meet the criteria of 44 U.S.C. sections 1901-1902; (2) what was the value and 

importance to the user community; and (3) what priority did it have in relation to other products. 

He asked what did we already have in the program in print and was it an exact copy, noting that 

electronic versions can have subtle differences. 

Continuing his presentation, Mr. Barnum explained that GPO was responsible for providing 

locator services that would include standard library descriptive and subject cataloging; GILS 

records; metadata records including persistent naming; indexers and robots; and the Pathway 

indexer/browser applications. GPO is also committed to both high-end and low-end users. 

Compliance with ADA requirements is expected and would be guaranteed if GPO linked to 

another agency. They would attempt to provide text only where feasible and cost effective. 

There would be some redundancy and mirror sites for disaster preparedness and for rapid 

response. GPO might enter into agreements for mirror sites by sharing the burden of storage and 

maintenance. Mr. Baldwin continued that the storage of digital information would be 

accomplished through a variety of mechanisms: core legislative and regulatory material in GPO 

Access would remain on GPO servers, agency material might be resident on GPO servers, on 

agency servers, or managed cooperatively by partner institutions. 

In response to concern for ADA accessible sites, Mr. Baldwin said that that would be addressed 

in the evaluation guidelines. Mr. Barnum added that the intent was to make as much available as 

possible. A person in the audience acknowledged that it was realized that GPO could not 

replicate all sites. 

The audience was also interested in mirror sites, especially on the West coast where geographic 

equitability was desired. It was also asked if GPO would be overloaded with PURLS and mirror 

sites. Mr. Baldwin did not see why a PURL site could not be mirrored. They would have to 

look into that issue. 

It was suggested that GPO needed to become more visible. A question was posed on whether 

usability issues would be discussed. Mr. Barnum said that they did not know how much more 

they could tell agencies what to do. 

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Another member of the audience reminded everyone that feedback to the agency was important. 

GPO could be a conduit between agencies and the Federal depository libraries. Gil Baldwin said 

that GPO was trying to provide a choice of formats in GPO Access, both PDF and ASCII. 

Agencies are responsible for complying with ADA requirements. GPO would ensure agencies 

that GPO Access would be in compliance. He continued with a description of organizational 

responsibilities. Within GPO, responsibility for the FDLP Electronic Collection would be vested 

in the Superintendent of Documents. He then enumerated the various responsibilities of the 

different services under the Superintendent of Documents. 

Mr. Baldwin then addressed archival preservation and permanent access, noting that they were 

frequently asked about their relationship with what NARA was doing. He stated that GPO 

wanted to complement what NARA was doing and what other national libraries and partner 

institutions were doing. GPO’s activities were not a substitute for agencies’ responsibilities to 

NARA. 

He repeated that GPO would migrate content where feasible and cost-effective to make 

Government information available to a wide spectrum of users. Funding would come from the 

Superintendent of Documents Salaries and Expenses (S&E) appropriations. Depository money 

would be funding GPO Access. 

In conclusion, Mr. Baldwin identified the next steps. They include coordination with other 

entities; cooperative agreements with agencies for retention; short term strategic planning for 

hardware and software, system capacity, personnel; and long term planning as data was gathered. 

Chair Anne Watts thanked Gil Baldwin and George Barnum. She announced the Council’s 

working sessions and invited the audience to attend them. 

Thursday, April 23, Morning Session 

Chair Anne Watts called the meeting to order. Ms. Watts announced copies of the draft of 

Council’s recommendations and commendations were available for the audience. Ms. Watts 

reminded all present that these were drafts and that Council would be wordsmithing and writing 

the rationales for each before they would be posted on the Council Web page. Ms. Watts would 

read the recommendations, Council would comment, the audience would comment. She 

requested those coming to the microphone to identify themselves and their institution. 

DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 

Service Guidelines 

Council recommends that GPO adopt the “Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines 

for Government Information in Electronic Formats” as amended at the spring 1998 Depository 

Library Council. Council understands that GPO may need to make certain technical 

amendments. 

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Diane Eidelman presented the rationale: The eighteen-month process of creating the Draft 

Guidelines had provided the entire depository community with adequate time to comment, 

recommend changes, and dialog with one another. Many changes were made taking these 

comments and GPO’s into account. It was time to move forward and finalize the Guidelines. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Biennial Survey 

Council recommends that: 

 GPO formalize and standardize the Biennial Survey; 

 the core elements of the Biennial Survey remain consistent over time; 

 the core elements of the Biennial Survey be compatible with other major data surveys 

(e.g., ARL, IPEDS, Public Libraries Data Survey) wherever possible; 

 Council and FDLP libraries be consulted on the content of the survey instrument; 

 experts in survey research be consulted on the methodology of the survey instrument; 

 Council and GPO review the instrument in the intervening years between surveys; 

 new questions to survey be announced with sufficient notice; and, 

 If the Biennial Survey must be used to gather data needed on an occasional or 

emergency basis, those questions be relegated to a special section. 

Diane Garner presented the rationale: The Survey needed to be standardized and rationalized. 

We would get our questions in the Survey and GPO would have theirs. The committee believed 

that the questions needed to be tested before being used. They wanted sufficient notice (1 year) 

and not be caught short. There was no content presented since the committee was not ready for 

that. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Council questions/comments: 

Chair Anne Watts noted that Council was looking for volunteers to serve on the Statistics 

Committee and work on the Biennial Survey component. 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Training 

Council recommends that the Public Printer allocate appropriate resources for GPO Access 

training and user support and asks the Public Printer to provide a progress report to Council on 

the GPO Access Learning Center. In addition Council recommends that GPO expand its GPO 

Access hands-on training efforts. 

Diane Eidelman presented the rationale: the remarkable success of GPO Access as evidenced by 

the phenomenal growth in its use as well as the positive publicity that had appeared in the 

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professional literature demonstrated the need for expanding training opportunities. Council 

reiterates the importance of training and user support in the continuing transition to a more 

electronic Federal Depository Library Program despite the reality of constrained funding. The 

entire GPO Access user community continues to benefit from the training efforts at conferences 

as well as on-site training and user support. 

Audience questions/comments: 

There was some discussion on the GPO Access Learning Center. Council had last year 

recommended a training center. GPO was developing it and would call it the GPO Access 

Learning Center. Council wished to be kept apprised of its development. 

The Center’s location in Washington, DC, was questioned. The general consensus was that there 

was an advantage in training Government employees and congressional staff, and that the 

Washington base would help broaden scope of training sessions. 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Processing of Monthly Catalog Tapes 

Council recommends that GPO resolve problems related to the processing of cataloging records 

so that they are available in a timely manner for the production of GPO’s own products and for 

use by libraries. Specifically, Council urges GPO to: in the short term, intensify the current 

analysis of tape processing problems within GPO and with the Cataloging Distribution Service 

of the Library of Congress, to ensure that a usable product is available promptly each month; in 

the longer term, work toward a solution based on modernizing the entire technological 

infrastructure; keep the depository community informed of developments because of the 

importance of these records to the libraries and their users. 

Julie Wallace presented the rationale: It would solve two problems: short term and long term. 

Thomas Downing expressed his appreciation to Council for their recommendation. He reported 

that he would be meeting the next day with the Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution 

Service concerning two data sets, which would speed up distribution. He pointed out a potential 

problem with the Periodicals Supplement; but he believed that to be small and resolved soon. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Frequency of Updating the Superseded List 

Council recommends more frequent updating of the on-line Superseded List. Council and GPO 

should establish an ongoing committee of depository librarians to evaluate new items for 

retention decisions, with special emphasis on tangible electronic products. 

Julie Wallace presented the rationale: Mounting the Superseded List on the Web has helped and 

the ability to update it more frequently was possible. CDs had been a particular problem. This 

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would be a project in which others can participate and she requested people to volunteer. She 

also noted that Regionals should look at CDs in the likelihood that the Selectives would discard 

the CDs. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Guidance on Retention of Tangible Products 

Council recommends that GPO provide the FDLP community with guidance on retention of 

tangible products that are available in the FDLP Electronic Collection. 

Julie Wallace presented the rationale: Council believed that even with the on-line electronic 

collection, there would still be a need to retain tangible documents for five years because of the 

legal requirements. Council would like GPO to look at the existing law and see what was 

appropriate and the effects on alternative formats. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Hearings 

Council recommends that GPO work with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House 

to encourage more Congressional committees to create electronic files of hearing transcripts, and 

that these be made available through the GPO Access database of Congressional hearings. 

Mary Alice Baish presented the rationale: She mentioned the encouragement of GPO to work 

with Congress to develop a more comprehensive electronic collection.

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Congressional Research Service 

Congress is currently considering legislation (S. 1578 and H.R. 3131) that would provide no-fee 

public access through the Internet to issue briefs and reports of the Congressional Research 

Service (CRS). If this legislation is enacted, Council recommends GPO pursue making these 

important Congressional materials available through GPO Access. 

Mary Alice Baish presented the rationale: She reminded everyone of the previous demonstration 

of the CRS Web site which was available to Congress but not to the general public. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

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Z39.50/GILS 

Council recommends that GPO continue to provide an update at Council meetings on its progress 

in implementing Z39.50/GILS compliance for the databases GPO maintains. 

Eliot Christian presented the rationale: Council reiterated its concern, expressed in 

recommendations of October 1997, that GPO remain committed to the interoperability of its online services using the Z39.50 and GILS search interface specification. This particular interface 

was essential to GPO's ability to keep pace with technology evolution in its own information 

systems as well as to GPO's ability to enable access to information throughout Government. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Information Architecture Committee 

Council recommends the formation of a committee to provide expert advice to GPO and Council 

on issues of information architecture in systems operated in support of the FDLP. 

Eliot Christian presented the rationale: The complexity of systems supporting the FDLP would 

be a design challenge under any circumstances. The pace of change in information technologies 

compounds the challenge and makes it even more critical to attend to the basics of information 

architecture. Council and GPO could benefit greatly from an ongoing source or architectural 

advice focused specifically on the FDLP. Council believes such advice could be obtained 

directly from information architecture expertise available among institutions participating in the 

FDLP. The work of such a committee might also generate a greater awareness of the FDLP 

among computer science and networking leaders. 

Audience questions/comments: None 

Vote of Council: Approval 

Chair Watts then read the Draft Commendations. 

DRAFT COMMENDATIONS 

Electronic Service Guidelines 

Council commends Dan Barkley and Ridley Kessler for their extraordinary efforts in the writing 

of the “Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in 

Electronic Formats.” Their commitment to work on this project with the entire depository 

community and GPO is greatly appreciated. 

Persistent Names for Internet Resources 

Council commends GPO for its active and positive role in assigning and maintaining persistent 

names for cataloged Internet resources. In addition to the challenges of tackling a complex 

technical problem, GPO has demonstrated leadership in accepting the risks associated with 

choosing among competing technologies such as PURLS and DOIs. Council looks forward to 

GPO's continued leadership in this critical area. 

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Biennial Survey Data 

Council commends GPO for making the raw data from the 1997 Biennial Survey available for 

downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board. 

Needs & Offers List 

Council commends Kevin Reynolds of the University of the South for his implementation and 

maintenance of the on-line “Needs and Offers List.” This service provides a rich opportunity to 

Federal depository libraries to exchange depository publications. 

“User-Friendly” Web Site Display of Catalog Records 

Council commends GPO for developing a new user-friendly default public display of entries in 

the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, while retaining the MARC display as an option. 

Council believes that the public would more easily understand this descriptive-label display. 

The Periodicals Supplement to the Monthly Catalog 

Council commends GPO for resuming publication of the Periodicals Supplement to the Monthly 

Catalog. The recent selection of this title by 990 depository libraries is a clear indication of the 

continuing need for this product. 

Department of Energy Information Bridge 

Council commends the GPO and the Department of Energy for providing no-fee public access to 

the Office of Scientific and Technical Information’s “Information Bridge” through GPO Access. 

This partnership between a major technical agency and GPO provides a convenient and costeffective successor to the DOE depository microfiche collection. 

Chair Anne Watts requested assistance from the FDLP for several of the following Council 

Action Items. 

ACTION ITEMS: 

New Recommended Specifications (high and low) with clarification. Diane Eidelman was 

leading this. 

West coast mirror sites for GPO Access. Duncan Aldrich and Thomas Andersen were in charge 

of this. 

Restate charge to Statistics Committee for cost-study. Anne Watts and Diane Garner are leading 

this. Diane Garner said that the Statistics Committee would be working on a revised Biennial 

Survey, and the draft would be needed by October 1998. 

Superseded List committee. Council was looking for assistance from the FDLP community. 

Electronic Collection Plan 

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Announcements: 

Chair Anne Watts expressed Council’s appreciation to Sheila McGarr, Willie Thompson and the 

many people at the Government Printing Office who had worked to made this a great conference. 

Public Printer Michael DiMario thanked Council for their work. He noted that this was Anne 

Watts’ second term on Council and her numerous contributions to the Federal Depository 

Library Program. Mr. DiMario expressed appreciation to the institutions for sending 

representatives to the Conference. Mr. DiMario then presented outgoing Council members (Eliot 

Christian, Dan Clemmer, Lynn Walshak, Anne Watts, Richard Werking) with Certificates of 

Appreciation for their work on Council. 

Chair Anne Watts thanked everyone. She then presented the Council gavel to incoming Council 

Chair Thomas Andersen. Chair Tom Andersen announced that Denise Davis would serve as the 

incoming Secretary. He thanked the outgoing Council members and, in particular, Anne Watts. 

Chair Tom Andersen invited all to attend the fall Council meeting in San Diego. The meeting 

was adjourned. 

Respectively submitted by: 

Margaret Walker, Secretary 

Depository Library Council 

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Table of Contents

Recent Developments in SuDocs Programs / Buckley, ALA, 6/98.................................................1 

Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in 

 Electronic Formats........................................................................................................................5 

National Climatic Data Center Online Document Library Available to Depositories ....................7 

New CFR Browse Feature Offered via GPO Access.......................................................................8 

New GPO Web Service Offered: List of Contractor-Issued Microfiche Shiping LIsts ..................8 

SuDocs Letter: Destroy USGS Document.......................................................................................9 

Microfiche Shipping List Number Assginment Demystified ........................................................10 

Readers Exchange: Converting a Documents Processing Manual to HTML................................12 

Summary, 1998 Spring Council Meeting ......................................................................................17 

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