Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 29, no. 03-04 GP 3.16/3-2:29/03-04 Mar. 15/April 15, 2008 

HIGHLIGHTS 

McClane New 

Acquisitions 

Manager 1 

CGP via 

Z39.50 2 

New 

Recommended 

Specifications 2 

Interagency 

Seminar 3 

Contacting 

GPO & LSCM 3 

Digitizing the 

GPO Shelflist 4 

Separates and 

Return Labels 4 

Comments 

Invited on 

Regional Study 5 

Spring Council 

Proceedings 

Online 5 

DLC Remarks: 

Ric Davis 6 

LSCM Update 20 

New Manager of Content 

Acquisitions: 

Joseph C. McClane 

Joe McClane was assigned to the position of Manager of Content 

Acquisitions on March 1, 2008. In that position he directs the acquisitions 

process of the GPO information dissemination programs, including 

outreach to Federal agencies to acquire Government publications. 

Joe earned his B.S. at the University of Delaware and a Master of Science 

in Library Science (MSLS) at Drexel University. Joe has worked at GPO 

for over 25 years. Starting as a Library Inspector, he was promoted to 

Chief, Library Inspector and then Chief, Depository Services Staff. In 

those positions, Joe created the first Interagency Depository Workshop, 

helped organize the first Depository Library Conference and edited the 

Instructions to Depository libraries, the Federal Depository Library 

Manual and many other FDLP publications. Joe traveled widely for GPO 

inspecting libraries, consulting, and presenting workshops, visiting 47 

states and many of the territories. Joe then transferred to GPO’s 

Documents Sales Service, where he reorganized and automated the 

Records Branch and became Chief, Bibliographic Systems. Back in 

LSCM, Joe worked briefly as Manager of Content Liaison, working with 

agencies to bring their publications into the FDLP. In recent years, he 

worked for GPO’s Information Technology and Systems on the Oracle 

Enterprise initiative to bring comprehensive business management 

systems into GPO. Joe returned to LSCM as Manager of Library Services 

Operations before being tapped for his present position. 

Joe can be reached at jmcclane@gpo.gov. 
AN-v29-#03-04-04/15/08 

Access to the Catalog of U.S. Government 

Publications (CGP) via Z39.50 Now Available to 

Depository Libraries 

Library Services and Content Management is 

pleased to announce that access to the CGP 

via Z39.50 for searching, retrieval and 

downloading of bibliographic records is now 

available to depository libraries. A password 

is required for access. This password is found 

in a field created for this purpose in the new 

Federal Depository Library Directory 

(FDLD) at: 

<http://catalog.gpo.gov/fdlpdir/login.jsp>. 

Go to: 

<http://catalog.gpo.gov/F/?func=file&file_na

me=find-z3950> for configuration 

information to connect to the CGP via a 

Z39.50 client and for directions on how to 

access the password in the FDLD. 

New Recommended Specifications Issued for 

Depository Public Access Computers 

The 2008 Recommended Specifications for 

Public Access Computers in Federal 

Depository Libraries are now available from 

GPO. The recommended specifications (RS) 

are intended to assist depository coordinators 

in making informed purchases that will best 

achieve the goal of providing public access to 

Federal Government information in a variety 

of electronic formats. The RS will become 

requirements October 1, 2009. The current 

Minimum Technical Requirements (MTR) 

will remain in effect until September 30, 

2009. 

When being compiled, the computer retail 

market is examined as well as agency online 

publishing formats and trends in library 

services. These guidelines are aimed at 

providing reasonably robust workstations that 

should provide years of service before they 

become obsolete, but GPO encourages the 

purchase of equipment that exceeds these 

specifications if at all economically feasible. 

Computers with these specifications meet the 

requirements for accessing and using Federal 

Digital System (FDSys). 

The RS can be found on the FDLP Desktop 

at: <http://www.fdlp.gov/computers/rs.html>. 

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Registration Open for 2008 Annual Interagency 

Depository Seminar 

Registration is still open for the 21st Annual 

Interagency Depository Seminar. The 

seminar is scheduled for July 28-August 1, in 

Washington, DC. 

The seminar has something for everyone, 

whether long-time, returning, or new 

depository librarians. Some sample 

comments: 

• I learned so much this week! 

• I would recommend this meeting to 

anyone looking for useful information 

and greater understanding of the 

FDLP. GPO really welcomes 

everyone and creates an atmosphere 

of collaborative friendship. 

• All these sessions were very, very, 

very helpful. I learned a lot. I will go 

back and practice the exercises and 

teach them to others. 

• The seminar was excellent! All of the 

presenters were excellent and 

extremely knowledgeable. They all 

seemed very willing to share their 

expertise and answer any questions 

that we might have in the future. 

To register or for more information, please 

check the events page at: 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/events/ia08.html>. 

Contacting GPO and LSCM 

GPO staff want you to know that we are 

available when you need us. Subject matter 

experts are available through our askGPO 

service, which is available at 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help>. 

In addition to that service, you may also use 

the Library Services and Content 

Management (LSCM) Director Contact 

Form, which was designed to put the 

community in touch with senior staff within 

the organization. 

The form is available at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/help/directors.html>. 

A drop-down menu provides access to the 

following contacts: 

• Ric Davis: Director, Library Services 

& Content Management 

• Laurie Hall: Director, Library 

Technical Information Services 

• Robin Haun-Mohamed: Director, 

Collection Management & 

Preservation 

• Ted Priebe: Director, Library 

Planning & Development 

We look forward to hearing from you. 

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Digitizing the Historic GPO Shelflist 

GPO has selected Progressive Technology 

Federal Systems, Inc. (PTFS) of Bethesda, 

Maryland, to assist GPO in digitizing the 

historic GPO shelflist. The one-year contract, 

with four option years, will convert 

approximately 600,000 cards in the historic 

card catalog, covering U.S. Government 

documents from the 1870's through October 

1992, to machine-readable metadata 

(MARC21). 

These metadata records will be available in 

the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications 

(CGP) at <http://catalog.gpo.gov>. They will 

be available to libraries in the FDLP and the 

wider library community to assist them in 

identifying and cataloging previously uncataloged materials in their collections. The 

new records will provide greater exposure to 

collections of U.S. Government publications 

and improve awareness of resources available 

in the FDLP libraries. 

Changes Made for Separates Labels and Return 

Label Requests 

Separates 

Depository Distribution is working with the 

UPS Account Manager to resolve some minor 

issues in regard to the UPS small package 

contract. 

One "separate" shipment has already been 

processed under the new contract. The 

"separate" items you have received bearing a 

UPS label belong to shipping list 2008-0018-

S. In future mailings, the shipping list number 

for "Separates," and GPO's return address, 

not the contractor’s, will appear on the label. 

Labels for Forwarding Boxes to Another 

Library or Returning Items to GPO 

Libraries are not required to pay postage for 

items received in error. If the material in a 

box was misdirected, and another 

depository’s number appears on the inside 

box flap, simply request a forwarding label 

for that library from Depository Distribution. 

A label with GPO's return address and the 

delivery address of the appropriate library 

will be sent to your library. If the identity of 

the correct library is not known, the material 

should be returned to GPO. 

Please use the method described below to 

request return or forwarding labels. 

• Request a label from Depository 

Distribution via "AskGPO" 

<http://gpo.custhelp.com/cgibin/gpo.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php>. 

• If the original package label is still 

available, include the weight from the 

label in your request. If not, and you 

have access to a scale, weigh the 

package. In your request, please 

specify the number of packages being 

returned and the weight for each 

package. 

• GPO will either mail the label via the 

U.S. Postal Service or place it in the 

library's regular shipping box. (The 

electronic return label feature will be 

phased in gradually.) 

• Attach the label to the box and take it 

to your library’s shipping area for 

UPS pickup. UPS will determine 

GPO’s shipping cost. 

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Comments Invited on GPO Study on Regional 

Depositories 

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) 

was directed by the Joint Committee on 

Printing (JCP) to conduct a study on the 

conditions of regional depository libraries. 

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the 

extent to which public access to Federal 

depository resources may be impaired by 

current or projected organizational, financial, 

technological, or other conditions affecting 

regional libraries. The findings are to be 

delivered to the JCP by June 1, 2008. 

GPO invites your comments on the various 

components of the draft report as we make 

them available. The study documentation and 

the comment form are available from the 

FDLP Desktop at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/regionals/study.html>. 

Check back often as we will make portions of 

the study available as they are completed. 

Any questions may be directed by e-mail to 

Cynthia Etkin (cetkin@gpo.gov). 

Spring Council Meeting Proceedings 

Available Online 

The proceedings of the Spring 2008 Federal 

Depository Library Council Meeting are 

available on the FDLP Desktop at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/repository/dlc/spring08

/index.html>. 
AN-v29-#03-04-04/15/08 

Welcome to Spring 2008 Council Meeting 

Remarks by 

Richard G. Davis 

Director, Library Services and Content Management 

March 31, 2008 

Kansas City, MO 

Good morning. First I want to extend my 

welcome to all of you and say how happy I 

am to be here with you in Kansas City. I 

heard a brief story a few days back about an 

interesting connection between GPO and 

Missouri that I’d like to share. The U.S.S. 

Missouri was the last battleship built in the 

United States. It is probably more widely 

known, however, for being the site of the 

Japanese unconditional surrender at the end 

of World War II. But, do you know GPO’s 

role in the surrender? At 9:00 a.m. on 

September 2, 1945, aboard the deck of the 

U.S.S. Missouri, the official Instrument of 

Surrender was signed. There were two copies. 

The Japanese version was bound in canvas 

while the Allied version was bound in leather, 

had gold lining, and had the seals of the 

United States and Japan on the cover. A 

craftsman from GPO created the binding for 

the Allied version. His handiwork, along with 

the surrender document, is available for 

viewing at the National Archives in record 

group 80-G. And there you have GPO’s role 

in the ending of WW II and an early, yet 

successful, attempt at version control! 

Throughout the meeting, as always, I want to 

encourage you to approach me or any 

member of my staff and talk with us about 

any of the initiatives you hear about today. I 

am always available for questions or 

comments, and if you think of any after you 

return home, you will promptly receive a 

response from askGPO. If for any reason you 

are unsatisfied with your response, you can 

always e-mail me directly at rdavis@gpo.gov. 

I want to take a moment to recognize our 

esteemed Council members who are ending 

their tenures this fall: Peter Hemphill, Marian 

Parker, Mark Sandler, and our chair, Geoff 

Swindells. Your service and dedication is 

enormously appreciated. We are currently 

reviewing nominations for our next, incoming 

class. An announcement will be forthcoming 

soon. 

I also want to welcome some staff members 

who are part of GPO’s Leadership 

Development Program to their first spring 

Council meeting: Adrian Mandry, Mark 

Kauffman, and Richard Lee. LDR is a GPO 

program that recruits internal and external 

candidates for a two-year leadership 

development program, which includes time in 

four different business tracks. 

Now I’d like to update you on some of the 

exciting initiatives going on within Library 

Services and Content Management (LSCM). 

Authentication

This has been an exciting time for GPO in 

regard to our authentication initiative. 

To help meet the challenge of the digital age, 

GPO has begun implementing digital 

signatures to certain electronic documents on 

GPO Access that not only establish GPO as 

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the trusted information disseminator, but also 

provide the assurance that an electronic 

document has not been altered since GPO 

disseminated it. A digital signature, viewed 

through the GPO Seal of Authenticity, 

verifies document integrity and authenticity 

on GPO online Federal documents, at no cost 

to the end user. 

Recently, GPO digitally signed the 2009 

Budget of the United States Government. 

This is the first time this has been done, and 

GPO staff used the newly implemented 

Automated PDF Signing (APS) system to 

complete the signing. Also, the APS system 

has been integrated into the beta Public and 

Private Laws application. 

Also, just last week, GPO staff worked with 

the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) to 

move the Public and Private laws beta 

application to a live application for the 110th

Congress. This live database has now 

replaced the previous database, which 

provided the same files, but unsigned. I want 

to thank Lisa Russell, Heidi Ramos, and staff 

in Content Management for their efforts on 

this important initiative. 

We also have some new authentication 

materials available at the meeting, including a 

general authentication flyer, as well as an 

authentication flyer that describes the newlysigned Budget. In the coming weeks, the 

general authentication flyer will be available 

for ordering from the FDLP Desktop. 

For more information on GPO’s 

authentication initiative, please visit 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/authentication/>. 

There you will find authentication definitions, 

an authentication FAQ list, background on 

the initiative, and more. 

ILS

The overall goal of the implementation of 

GPO’s ILS is the provision of access to 

depositories and the public to bibliographic 

records of Federal government publications, 

many containing links to the electronic 

version of the publication, and the use of the 

system’s power and capabilities to provide 

services to depository libraries and to the 

public. The goal is also to streamline 

workflow and internal activities in support of 

the FDLP, and to reduce use of and 

dependency on legacy systems. A lot of new 

and exciting things have been happening in 

regard to the ILS, thanks to efforts led by 

Laurie Hall, Linda Resler, Patricia Duplantis, 

An Liu, and Violet Lee. 

LSCM recently announced the completion of 

phase 2 of the Federal Depository Library 

Directory (FDLD) with the release of the 

public interface. The release of the public 

interface replaced many of the previous 

library directory tools, including the PDF 

version of the directory on GPO Access and 

the library directory files on the Federal 

Bulletin Board. All old links to the directory 

have been redirected to the new directory 

pages. The FDLD can now be accessed from 

the homepage of GPO Access, under “Locate 

A Federal Depository Library.” 

The public interface enables the user to 

search and view directory information as well 

as to extract and export specific data in three 

file formats. The FDLD 'Help' section, 

available from the FDLD left hand navigation 

menu, provides export instructions for this 

process and other useful information. 

Phase 1 of the FDLD, as you know, provided 

libraries the administrative module to access 

and edit depository directory information. 

Phase 2 enables the public to view that 

directory information. Accordingly, GPO 

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encourages the depository community to use 

the FDLD to keep directory information 

current as changes occur. 

Another new enhancement to the ILS was 

announced in February. Access to the Catalog 

of U.S. Government Publications via Z39.50 

for searching, retrieval and downloading of 

bibliographic records is now available to 

depository libraries. 

Additionally, the upgrade of the Aleph 

software to version 18 from version 16.02 is 

complete. I just received word this morning 

that staff began production in the new 

environment today. 

The coming months will include many other 

exciting new initiatives, including CGP Web 

interface enhancements; configuration of the 

circulation module, including the creation of 

an individual patron record for each 

depository and the design of a login page to 

allow access through the CGP to 

authenticated services such as SDI (Selective 

Dissemination of Information) and “save to 

pc” functionality; configuration of resources 

and page design for federated searching; and 

serials management with the goal of setting 

up active serials titles with check-in records. 

At tomorrow’s 10:30 a.m. ILS session, 

discussion will focus on updates of several 

Technical Services projects, as well as 

information provided about GPO’s Aleph ILS 

services released this year, including the new 

FDLD, access to the CGP via the Z39.50 

communications protocol, the upgrade of the 

Aleph software, and other projects and 

enhancements scheduled for FY08 and FY09. 

Digitization

I’d now like to update you on GPO’s 

digitization efforts, led by a cross-functional 

team between Library Services and the 

Program Management Office, including 

Robin Haun-Mohamed and James Mauldin in 

Collection Management and Preservation. In 

January 2008, a Request for Information 

(RFI) for Mass Digitization Opportunities 

was posted to Federal Business 

Opportunities. GPO requested information 

specific to the digitization of publications that 

are within scope of GPO’s dissemination 

programs that only exist in tangible format. 

GPO envisioned a cooperative, mutually 

beneficial relationship with a private or 

public sector participant, where the fullyfaithful, uncompressed, unaltered files 

created as a result of the conversion process 

were to be delivered to GPO. The files would 

serve as the digital master copies that would 

be preserved and used for the creation of 

access derivatives within the Federal Digital 

System (FDsys). In exchange, the private or 

public sector participant will be able to 

maintain a collection of files produced in the 

process for inclusion in their collections (e.g., 

search indices, book search sites). GPO is 

currently in the process of evaluating the 

responses to the RFI. 

GPO is also working with staff at the Library 

of Congress (LC) on two important 

digitization projects. GPO is assisting LC in 

the digitization of the Bound Congressional 

Record from the 43rd Congress through the 

105th Congress. LC is digitizing the material 

to meet GPO’s specifications for converted 

content for preservation masters. This 

material will be ingested and made available 

as part of the FDsys. In addition to this 

material, GPO and LC collaborated on the 

digitization of the Statutes at Large, Volumes 

82 – 103 (1951 – 2002), which will also be 

made available through the FDsys. 

GPO continues to work with other agencies 

on the National Digital Standards Advisory 

Board, Federal Still Image Digitization 

Working Group. The goal of this project is to 

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establish common standards, methods, 

practices, and guidelines for the digitization 

of visual material (excluding motion picture 

images). Common digitization standards will 

enhance the exchange of research results and 

developments, encourage collaborative 

digitization practices among Federal agencies 

and institutions, provide the public with a 

product of uniform quality, and set a common 

benchmark for digitization service providers. 

I also want to thank GPO’s Digital 

Conversion Service staff for their hard work 

on our digitization efforts. 

Shared Regionals

Now I’d like to take a few minutes and 

update you on shared regionals. As you all 

know, the concept of multiple libraries 

sharing the responsibilities of a regional 

Federal depository is not new. It is almost as 

old as the statute that created regional 

depositories in 1962. Within the statutory 

framework of Chapter 19, Title 44, U.S.C., 

different models of sharing resources and 

responsibilities between regional and 

selective libraries within the states they serve 

have been implemented over the years, with 

GPO approval. These include different 

models of intra-state sharing between 

regional and selective libraries, and between 

regional depository libraries in one state and 

selective depository libraries in an adjacent 

state where no regional library exists. 

For just about fifteen years now, the Federal 

depository library community has discussed 

alternative models for carrying out the 

responsibilities of regional depository 

libraries. Technological innovations and the 

online environment make it possible to 

develop models for sharing resources and 

responsibilities between regional depositories 

in different states and the selective libraries 

they support. In this environment where 

geographic boundaries are blurred to services, 

who better to determine how to deliver the 

Government information needs of a region 

than the depository libraries that currently 

serve it? With guidelines in place, 

depositories should be allowed to explore and 

implement new and creative ways to 

cooperate and manage their depository 

collections and services to better serve the 

public. 

In May 2007, GPO issued draft Guidelines 

for Establishing Shared Regional Depository 

Libraries for public comment. The comment 

period ended June 29, 2007. All of the 

comments, which were generally supportive 

of the idea, were thoroughly reviewed and the 

Guidelines were revised. Suggestions were 

incorporated that were consistent with GPO’s 

Strategic Vision and the Depository Library 

Council’s Vision Statement, both of which 

express the need for a more flexible model 

for the Federal Depository Library Program 

(FDLP). You can find the final version of 

Guidelines for Establishing Shared Regional 

Depository Libraries on the FDLP Desktop. 

The Kansas/Nebraska shared regional 

proposal was the first to move forward to the 

Joint Committee on Printing for approval 

under these new guidelines. I have here the 

response letter that was transmitted from the 

Joint Committee on Printing to Mr. Tapella. 

I’d like to read some excerpts from that letter 

to you now. 

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Dear Mr. Tapella: 

Thank you for Acting Public Printer William Turri’s letter of September 13, 2007, requesting 

the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) for designation of the regional 

depository libraries at the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska as “shared” 

Federal regional depository libraries. 

While Congress has given the Joint Committee broad authority over operations of the 

Government Printing Office (GPO), which administers the Federal Depository Library Program 

(FDLP), that authority has limits. 

For guidance, the Joint Committee consulted the American Law Division of the Congressional 

Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress, for its opinion. 

As you will note, CRS concluded that neither the language nor legislative history of 44 U.S.C. 

1914 supports GPO’s interpretation of the statute. After careful review, the Joint Committee 

finds the CRS analysis persuasive; if the Public Printer may not authorize shared regional 

depository libraries under 44 U.S.C.1914, the JCP cannot approve such action. 

Although the Joint Committee cannot approve the Public Printer’s request, it is nonetheless 

concerned that this request to share resources and responsibilities may signal that growing 

challenges confront regional depository libraries in maintaining and supporting effective public 

access through the FDLP. Accordingly, the Joint Committee directs you, in consultation with 

all concerned elements of the library community, to undertake a thorough examination of the 

current state of regional depository libraries nationwide. The purpose of the study will be to 

evaluate the extent to which public access via the FDLP may be impaired by current or 

projected organizational, financial, technological, or other conditions affecting these 

institutions. 

The letter further directed GPO to provide the 

JCP with our findings by this summer, 

together with any legislative 

recommendations for improvements to the 

program that we may choose to offer. 

In light of these recent developments, GPO 

made a conscious decision to keep the 

Guidelines for Establishing Shared Regional 

Depository Libraries in effect and available 

from the FDLP Desktop. The Guidelines are 

not exclusively for interstate shared proposals 

but for intrastate arrangements as well. And 

actually, they have broader application than 

for just those seeking shared regional 

designations. The Guidelines provide best 

practices to follow for establishing any type 

of shared arrangement, selective housing 

agreements for example. Cindy Etkin has 

taken a leadership role in this initiative, and I 

want to thank her for her efforts. 

FDLP Marketing Plan

In the coming weeks, LSCM will be 

disseminating a new FDLP Marketing Plan, 

created by Kelly Seifert, a Program Planner 

within Library Services. GPO’s main goal in 

this initiative is to assist FDLs in marketing 

their unique, valuable, and underutilized 

services to the widest audience possible, as 

well as to provide FDLs with the tools 

necessary to market their own services to 

both the general public and non-Federal 

depository libraries. 

Also, according to the Depository Library 

Council document “Knowledge Will Forever 

Govern: A Vision Statement for Federal 

Depository Libraries in the 21st Century,” one 

of the goals proposed was to: 

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“Expand awareness of both the Federal 

Depository Library Program and 

Government information generally via 

excellent public relations and marketing.” 

(#7, page 10)

As part of this new marketing plan, GPO is 

unveiling a new marketing slogan for the 

services provided by FDLs. An extensive 

marketing campaign will also be launched to 

support this slogan. The new slogan on which 

the campaign will be based is: “Easy as 

F.D.L,” with the corresponding tagline: 

“Federal Depository Libraries: Free 

Information, Dedicated Service, Limitless 

Resources.” 

Additionally, two sections of the Plan are 

devoted to providing ideas and methods by 

which FDLs can promote themselves to nonFDLs, as well as the general public. In turn, 

GPO will also be using these new tools to 

assist in promoting the valuable resources and 

services provided by FDLs. 

Look for announcements on this from FDLPL and FDLP Express. Also, please continue 

to utilize the resources offered on the 

Desktop for promotional items, which can be 

found under “Outreach and Education” and 

“Promote your Library.” Here you will find 

our current promotional offerings for FDLs, 

such as our new “How a Bill Becomes a Law 

Poster,” current flyers, and various 

promotional items, to name a few. By 

subscribing to services such as FDLP-L and 

FDLP Express, you will receive timely 

reminders when such products become 

available. Visit the Desktop for more 

information. 

FDL Handbook

LSCM has consolidated and updated its 

various FDLP instructions and manuals into a 

single online publication that will continue to 

be updated as necessary. Known as the 

Federal Depository Library Handbook, the 

publication is a document written by and for 

the FDLP community. Within the Handbook, 

you will find legal requirements, program 

requirements, and guidance for depository 

operations. Each chapter also includes best 

practices, tips, and resources for library 

administrators. 

The Federal depository community worked to 

consolidate and update the Instructions to 

Depository Libraries and the Federal 

Depository Library Manual (and 

Supplements), into the FDL Handbook. With 

the publication of the FDL Handbook, the 

Instructions and Manual are superseded. 

If you haven’t already done so, I want to 

encourage you to view the new Federal 

Depository Library Handbook, released 

online on January 2, 2008. Led by Janet 

Scheitle and our Library Planning staff, this 

publication can be viewed from the FDLP 

Desktop, under the “Depository 

Administration” tab. GPO is treating the 

Handbook as an integrating resource. 

Revisions and updates will be reviewed and 

considered for inclusion on a quarterly cycle. 

The first cycle of revisions is scheduled for 

review in April 2008, covering comments 

from January – March. I invite you to suggest 

revisions at any time through askGPO. For 

quick access to askGPO, visit GPO Access

and click on the “Help” link from the main 

page. 

Biennial Survey

The Biennial Survey provides GPO with 

important information concerning the 

conditions of both individual depository 

libraries and the depository library program 

as a whole. 

Led by Nancy Faget, Karen Sieger, and our 

Library Planning staff, GPO has developed 

the Biennial Survey in consultation with the 

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Depository Library Council and comments 

from other members of the FDLP. Recent 

Biennial surveys have included a more or less 

standard core group of questions that allows 

for analysis across surveys. To that core 

group of questions, new questions are added 

and/or some old questions deleted as 

necessary for each new survey. The 2007 

Biennial Survey included new questions in 

the area of public access, collection strengths, 

and specializations. 

The results of Biennial Surveys provide 

useful information to LSCM. Your 

submission is examined as one of the first 

steps in assessing your depository operation 

and determining your library's compliance 

with public access requirements. Your 

answers to the biennial survey describe your 

depository operations and define areas of 

interest where LSCM may need further 

clarification. 

In February 2008, GPO staff posted the 2007 

Questions and Responses, the 2007 Report, 

and the 2007 Selected Findings to the 

Desktop. After analyzing the 2007 Biennial 

Survey results, I’d like to share some items of 

interest. 

1. 94% of respondents have a written 

collection development policy, and 

approximately 75% have binding or 

replacement, access, public services, 

and Internet use policies. However, 

only approximately 8% of 

depositories make those policies 

available for the public to access them 

over the Internet. Because the Public 

Access Assessments program includes 

review of the written policies of each 

depository operation, it is 

recommended that depositories post 

these documents on Web pages. It is 

further recommended that you review 

those policies periodically to ensure 

consistency with actual library 

practices. 

2. 24% of depositories have some 

materials in remote storage indicating 

that shelf space is a problem. 

Additionally, 12% indicate they have 

at least one selective housing 

agreement with some reporting as 

many as four selective housing 

agreements in place. This percentage 

does include a number of regional 

depository libraries. 

3. Most depositories are building 

collections with current and 

retrospective material, although 16% 

concentrate their collections on 

mostly current material. 

4. In general, depository staffing levels 

stayed the same since the 2005 

survey, with small numbers of 

depository libraries experiencing an 

increase or decrease in staffing. 

Library administrations set aside 

money in library budgets to pay 

mostly for both professional and 

support staff to attend local and state 

meetings and continuing education 

activities related to the FDLP. This 

does not necessarily include funding 

for attendance at national conferences. 

5. Nearly 1 in 4 respondents experienced 

construction, remodeling or relocation 

activities. Of those, 2% reported an 

impact upon public access to or 

services in the use of Federal 

government information products and 

developed a contingency plan which 

they filed with LSCM. Please 

remember to notify LSCM through 

askGPO when there are library 

closures or other disruptions in 

depository service. 

6. User authentication software is 

installed and being used on public 

access computers in about half of the 

responding libraries. Filtering or 

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blocking software is being used in 

25% of respondent libraries. As a 

reminder, depository operations 

should have processes in place to 

unblock filtering, bypass 

authentication restrictions, and 

educate patrons on obtaining service 

when access is restricted. 

7. Some very unique methods for 

promoting the depository collection 

and services were reported. We 

encourage you to review them in the 

list of Biennial Survey results posted 

on the FDLP Desktop. Approximately 

600 suggestions were received 

describing how depositories would 

like GPO to assist them in marketing 

and promoting depository operations. 

These suggestions were reviewed and 

considered as the new and upcoming 

FDLP Marketing Plan was being 

created. 

8. 12% of respondent libraries reported 

current projects or future plans to 

digitize within-scope materials. 

9. 16% of depositories downloaded, 

stored, and made online publications 

accessible via local servers in 2007, 

although most download between 1 

and 25 files. This number rises to 20% 

when depositories consider their plans 

for 2008. More depository libraries 

are now willing to receive digital files 

from GPO to store on local systems 

(38% versus 33% percent in 2005). 

10. Respondents were asked to report on 

their depository collection strength or 

area of specialization in federal 

resources. The two areas where most 

depositories claim a specialization 

were in "Politics & Law" and 

"Business & Economy." 

Individual library responses, information 

about the survey, and more can be found on 

the Desktop under the “Depository 

Administration” tab. 

FDLP Desktop

GPO’s Web Content Management staff, 

including Karen Sieger, John Dowgiallo, 

Michele Worthington, Joe Paskoski, Katy 

Davis, and John Braddock are continuing to 

develop the new Desktop, including adding 

more interactive features. Registration is now 

open to the public. Registering will allow you 

to receive customized alerts through FDLP 

Express, order promotional materials, add 

your library events to our community 

calendar, register/unregister for conferences, 

and more. 

The Desktop also offers in-depth resources in 

depository administration, managing your 

collection, cataloging, and 

outreach/education. Additionally, links are 

provided to information about Council and 

the FDLP. In our Help section, you can also 

find important contact information, a 

glossary, a link to FDLP Express, and a file 

repository that houses important documents 

from GPO, including all materials from past 

conferences. 

To learn more, and to see the new and 

upcoming Desktop features, attend the FDLP 

Desktop session, tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Also, 

please take a look at the flyers included in 

your meeting books about the Desktop and 

Browse Topics. 

WEBTech Notes

WEBTech Notes is an essential tool that 

assists in GPO’s responsibility to support the 

management of depository library collections. 

GPO staff members, led by Laurie Hall, are 

in the process of developing a new WEBTech 

Notes database application. The database will 

be implemented in three phases. The first 

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phase, which included procuring a contractor 

to migrate the existing data to SQL database 

format, is now complete. The contractor will 

shortly begin phase two, which is to develop 

the search, retrieval, and display features and 

develop an administrative module for staff 

use. The third phase will be to release the 

new product to the library community. The 

database deployed during the third and final 

phase will be available from the FDLP 

Desktop and will be similar in look, feel, and 

functionality to the new FDLD product. The 

WEBTech Notes replacement will further 

support GPO’s efforts to provide support to 

Depository Libraries for the administration 

and management of the FDLP. This project 

supports GPO’s strategic vision and LSCM 

initiatives. 

Harvesting

I’d like to now briefly speak on Web 

harvesting, which remains a priority at GPO 

and is a joint effort between staff from all 

three of the business units within Library 

Services. The goal of Web publication 

harvesting is to discover and capture newly 

identified online publications that are within 

scope of GPO's information dissemination 

programs. GPO's publication harvesting 

activities include planning for and 

discovering, making scope determination 

assessment, capturing, and archiving online 

U.S. Government publications determined to 

be within scope of GPO's information 

dissemination programs. GPO is working to 

accomplish this using increasingly automated 

technologies being developed in conjunction 

with the FDsys. 

During 2006, GPO conducted a six-month 

pilot project to harvest online Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) publications 

automatically. This was a collaborative 

project implemented by GPO, EPA, and two 

vendors. The goal for the pilot was to learn 

about available methodologies and 

technologies for automated Web discovery, 

assessment, and harvesting of U.S. 

Government publications within the scope of 

GPO's information dissemination programs. 

GPO will be using the lessons learned from 

the pilot project to continue the development 

of automated publication harvesting tools and 

methodologies in preparation for full 

implementation along with FDsys. 

GPO has undertaken projects to identify time 

commitments and resource needs to process 

files acquired during the pilot. The initial 

project was completed in December after 

GPO staff processed a sample of 

publications, both monographs and serial 

issues, from the results of the EPA Pilot 

Project. The majority of the publications were 

given bibliographic records in the CGP. 

However, a number of monographs were also 

made accessible via a browse table on GPO 

Access. More information about the sample is 

available from the Desktop. The URL for 

information on GPO’s Web harvesting efforts 

can be found in the LSCM Update Handout, 

which is in your Meeting Book. 

I want to encourage you to attend the Web 

Harvesting Council Session, being held 

today, at 3:30pm. This session will update the 

depository community on GPO’s Web 

harvesting efforts. GPO staff will 

demonstrate the processes associated with 

identifying, making scope determinations, 

and cataloging of the material acquired 

during the EPA Pilot Project. GPO will also 

discuss an upcoming demonstration project to 

evaluate ways depository libraries might be 

able to assist in the processing of this large 

amount of material. 

Automated Metadata Extraction

In related news, I’d like to talk about 

Automated Metadata Extraction, being 

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undertaken by staff from Library Technical 

Information Services and Planning and 

Development. In September 2007, GPO 

entered into an Interagency Agreement with 

the Defense Technical Information Center 

(DTIC) in collaboration with Old Dominion 

University (ODU) to create cataloging 

records using automated metadata extraction 

software tools and processes currently being 

used by DTIC. The Automated Metadata 

Extraction agreement will be conducted in 

two phases over two years, with project 

completion expected in October 2009. We 

expect to leverage the knowledge acquired 

through the automated metadata extraction 

project to: 

• Evaluate alternative methods of 

creating metadata for U.S. 

Government documents; 

• Investigate cost and staffing 

implications for using automated tools 

vs. manual metadata creation methods 

and to; 

• Develop detailed requirements and 

specifications for long-term use of 

automated metadata extraction tools 

for content gathered through the 

capabilities of the FDsys. 

The first and current phase of the agreement 

will focus solely on the GPO EPA harvested 

documents. GPO has identified and provided 

FDLP, in-scope, harvested EPA PDF files to 

ODU for analysis. ODU is currently 

analyzing the documents to identify major 

classes of documents in the collection, 

metadata elements present in each class, and 

issues with existing template language for 

extracting metadata. ODU is collaboratively 

working with GPO on this analysis. As this 

project progresses, the community will be 

updated via FDLP-L, FDLP Express, and the 

Desktop. 

PACER

Now for a brief update on PACER... As you 

may know, in September 2007, the Judicial 

Conference approved the pilot project to 

provide Federal depository libraries access to 

PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic 

Records), a service of the Administrative 

Office of the U.S. Courts. 

The PACER system can provide remote 

access to case and docket information from 

the Federal Courts via the Internet. Records 

include information from the Appellate, 

District and Bankruptcy Courts. Users of 

PACER are able to access information about 

a case including the names of all the parties, 

judges and attorneys involved in the case, 

case history and status, as well as many of the 

documents submitted by the parties to the 

court. 

The PACER pilot provides new Government 

content to participating depository libraries. 

The goal of the pilot project is to determine if 

Federal depository library access to PACER 

expands usage to those who currently do not 

have it available to them or would be 

inhibited by going to a courthouse to use the 

service. Participating libraries are obligated to 

promote the PACER service to the public; 

provide access to PACER only from 

computers within the library and its branches; 

and report PACER activities to GPO every 

two months. To ensure consistent data are 

collected, GPO provided the libraries with a 

bimonthly reporting form and survey cards 

for all PACER users to fill out. 

The 17 PACER Pilot depository libraries are 

currently working at promoting the service to 

the public and their primary clientele. 

Examples of promotion activities include 

notices on library Web pages, postings to 

electronic discussion lists, handouts at the 

reference desk, presentations to college 

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classes and bar association meetings, postings 

to blogs, cataloging record in OPAC, press 

releases, signage within the library, and 

newspaper articles. The first bimonthly 

report, which covers December 2007 through 

January 2008, reveals that there were 150 

PACER users, 67 of whom had not 

previously used the service. 

I’d like to now update you on a few items of 

note. 

New Specifications for FDL Public Access 

Computers

The 2008 Recommended Specifications for 

Public Access Computers in Federal 

Depository Libraries are now available from 

GPO. The recommended specifications (RS) 

are intended to assist depository coordinators 

in making informed purchases that will best 

achieve the goal of providing public access to 

Federal Government information in a variety 

of electronic formats. The RS will become 

requirements October 1, 2009. 

The current Minimum Technical 

Requirements (MTR) will remain in effect 

until September 30, 2009. 

When being compiled, the computer retail 

market is examined as well as agency online 

publishing formats and trends in library 

services. These guidelines are aimed at 

providing reasonably robust workstations that 

should provide years of service before they 

become obsolete, but GPO encourages the 

purchase of equipment that exceeds these 

specifications if at all economically feasible. 

Computers with these specifications meet the 

requirements for accessing and using FDsys. 

The RS can be found on the FDLP Desktop 

at: <http://www.fdlp.gov/computers/rs.html>. 

UPS Small Package Pick-Up

I have a brief item of note to tell you about 

regarding UPS small package pick-up and 

return labels. As you may know, GPO's 

Depository Distribution division has begun 

using UPS as its small package pickup 

contractor. There is now a new process for 

return labels. This streamlined process will 

allow for fewer misdirected packages. 

1. When Distribution receives a request 

for a return label, that request will be 

entered into the UPS Ship Master. 

2. The request is then forwarded to the 

UPS processing office in your area. 

3. The UPS Driver will come directly to 

your facility, pick up the box, label 

the box, and return it to GPO's 

Depository Distribution division. 

If your mail is received in a central facility, 

such as a mailroom, you should take the 

package to that area for pickup. The pickup 

should take place within 24 hours after entry 

into the UPS Ship Master. 

I want to thank Janet McCaskill and the 

Distribution staff for their work on the Small 

Package contract. 

Budget

Many of you have been inquiring about our 

budget request. For the FY2009 Budget, we 

are requesting $43,426,000, which is an 

increase of $8.5 million over the current level 

of funding of $34,912,500. The increase 

would: 

• Cover mandatory pay and price level 

increases ($917,000). 

• Cover overhead distribution 

($1,164,000). 

• Continue to improve public access to 

Government information in electronic 

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formats (program investments: 

$6,432,000). 

For the FDLP, the requested increase would 

cover: 

• Projects for FDLP program outreach. 

• Additional data storage. 

• Modernization of item selection 

systems and other mainframe-based 

applications. 

• Cataloging of content. 

• Initial costs for digitizing FDLP 

legacy collection. 

The House Hearing was held on February 6, 

2008. We are currently awaiting additional 

information on a possible Senate Hearing. 

Community Outreach

Finally, there are several facets of community 

outreach that I would like to touch on today. 

• Outreach Travels of GPO Staff; 

• Public Access Assessments; 

• Partnerships; 

• Online Training; and 

• Upcoming Meetings. 

 Traveling 

Recently, many GPO staff members have 

been on the move, participating in outreach 

events around the country. Locations include 

Arizona, West Virginia, New York, Alabama, 

and Pennsylvania. Additionally, staff have 

participated in events and collaborations with 

the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 

Federal Library and Information Center 

Committee (FLICC), and the National 

Information Standards Organization (NISO). 

If you would like to request GPO 

participation at your library, for special 

events such as anniversaries, or perhaps if 

you need assistance from GPO with an 

assessment of your library's adherence to the 

FDLP, there is a form available on the 

Desktop to request GPO personnel to visit 

your institution. You can locate this form 

from the “Outreach & Education” tab from 

the main page of the Desktop. Due to time 

and budget restraints, not all requests can be 

honored, but GPO will make every effort to 

meet your needs. 

Public Access Assessments 

Currently, in regard to Public Access 

Assessments, staff in LSCM, led by Kathy 

Brazee in Education & Outreach, are working 

to update “Focus on Access, Collections, and 

Service,” a document that describes the focus 

of Public Access Assessments. This 

document was initially submitted to the 

community for comment in November 2007. 

Twenty-three responses were received, which 

were mainly supportive of the direction 

LSCM is taking with the program. GPO 

received numerous helpful suggestions for 

additions or revisions to the paper, including 

several requests to define commonly-used 

terms, such as “public access,” “timely 

access,” etc. Staff members are reviewing all 

comments to determine the best way to 

incorporate changes and clarify concepts. 

Staff are also working to develop a 

“checklist” tool for GPO assessment 

librarians to facilitate consistent reviews of 

individual depositories. Both of these 

documents will be made available for 

comment shortly after this meeting. Look for 

announcements from FDLP-L, FDLP 

Express, and the Desktop. 

LSCM also recently selected a second 

librarian who will perform Public Access 

Assessments and also consult about 

depository management issues and other 

outreach activities. 

More information about the program is also 

on the FDLP Desktop under the “Depository 

Administration” tab. The Desktop includes 

links to the latest version of the “Focus on 

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Access, Collections, and Service” paper, as 

well as information about problematic public 

access issues from a program held at last 

fall’s Council Meeting. 

I also want to encourage you to attend the 

Public Access Assessments Council Session, 

tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. for more information. 

Partnerships 

GPO has been developing partnerships with 

Federal depository libraries and other Federal 

agencies to increase access to electronic 

Federal information since 1997. With an 

increasing amount of Federal information 

available electronically, partnerships ensure 

permanent public access to electronic content 

and provide services to assist depositories in 

providing access to electronic material and in 

managing their depository collections. 

These partnerships also allow GPO to take 

advantage of the expertise of Federal 

depository librarians and the services they 

have developed. FDLP partnerships generally 

fall into three categories: Content 

Partnerships, Service Partnerships, and 

Hybrid Partnerships. Partnerships are not 

limited to these categories, however, and 

GPO will consider partnership proposals that 

fall outside of these categories. 

• Content partnerships assist with 

providing permanent public access to 

electronic U.S. Government 

information. Partners agree to provide 

storage capacity and user access 

without restrictions on redissemination. In the event the partner 

is no longer able to provide free, 

public access to this electronic 

information, the partnership requires 

the agency or library to transfer a 

copy of the content to GPO. GPO will 

then make the content available either 

through GPO Access or in 

cooperation with another partner. 

• Service partnerships assist GPO to 

provide enhanced services to Federal 

depository libraries. These 

partnerships can focus on repurposing 

GPO-provided information or on 

providing other services to depository 

libraries and the public. These 

services may provide assistance to 

librarians with administering their 

depository collections. 

• Hybrid partnerships are a mixture of 

content and service partnerships. For 

example, providing permanent public 

access to electronic U.S. Government 

information and also offering a 

service important to the 

administration of the FDLP 

collection. 

If you would like to propose a partnership 

with GPO, please submit a partnership 

inquiry form to us via the FDLP Desktop 

under “Outreach and Education” and 

“Partnerships.” 

Thanks to our partnership leader, Suzanne 

Ebanues from Library Planning, since the 

beginning of fiscal year 2008, GPO has 

formed two new partnerships. The first, with 

the Naval Postgraduate School, will allow 

depository libraries to gain access to the 

Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL). 

HSDL is a database containing U.S. policy 

documents, Presidential directives, and 

national strategy documents, as well as other 

specialized resources related to the study of 

homeland security. 

In the second partnership, GPO joined with 

the University of Illinois at Chicago and the 

other participating Federal depository 

libraries to promote “Government 

Information Online: Ask a Librarian” (GIO). 

GIO is a free, Web-based virtual reference 

service provided by almost 20 Federal 

depository libraries throughout the country 

that focuses on responding to government 

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information-related questions. GPO is 

participating in this project by promoting 

GIO to other Federal agencies and by 

submitting to GIO any questions received 

through askGPO that do not relate to GPO 

programs, services, or products. Since 

February 11th, when the GIO was launched, 

GPO has forwarded well over 100 such 

questions. 

GPO encourages all depository libraries to 

consider adding a link to this valuable service 

from their Web pages. View the service at 

<http://govtinfo.org/>. 

GIO is an example of a successful 

collaboration and represents how depository 

libraries are focusing on services to provide 

access to government information. GPO is 

interested in collaborating with other 

depository libraries to provide "point of need" 

access to Federal information. To learn more 

about “point of need” collaborations and 

about participating in or linking to GIO, 

please see the handout in your meeting book. 

Also, please be sure to attend the 

“Collaboration with GPO” Council Session, 

to be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, for 

more information about partnering with GPO. 

OPAL 

I wanted to also take an opportunity to 

remind everyone that Online FDLP training is 

available for Federal Depository Library 

participants via OPAL (Online Programming 

for All Libraries), an interactive Web-based 

meeting and conferencing service. 

The educational sessions may be live or 

prerecorded. The live events are held in the 

GPO OPAL room or the OPAL auditorium 

and allow participants to interact via voiceover-IP, text chatting, and synchronized 

browsing. In addition, training events are 

archived to allow those unable to attend a live 

event to replay the event at their convenience. 

Past presentations, which remain archived, 

were given by GPO staff on the following 

topics: the CGP, Browse Topics, 

Authentication, and the FDLD. These can be 

accessed through the OPAL site, which is 

linked from our Outreach & Education link 

on the Desktop. 

Recently, GPO opened up its OPAL room to 

members of the depository library community 

who would like to present additional 

educational and training sessions for the 

benefit of the community. Proposals should 

focus on a specific aspect of U.S. 

Government information, FDLP issues, or 

depository library operations and 

management. I encourage you to submit a 

proposal to participate by completing the 

Online Educational Program Proposal Form, 

found on the FDLP Desktop under “Outreach 

and Education” and “Online Learning.” 

Please note that presenters will need an 

Internet connection, access to an Internet 

browser, a microphone and speakers. Most 

presentations should be developed using 

Microsoft PowerPoint. I want to thank staff in 

Education & Outreach, particularly Marian 

MacGilvray, as well as Web Content 

Management for their hard work with online 

training. 

To learn more about OPAL, to obtain URLs 

to archived GPO OPAL presentations, or to 

learn how to provide feedback for GPO’s 

OPAL presentations, please see the LSCM 

Update Handout, found in your Meeting 

Book, and visit the FDLP Desktop. I also 

encourage you to attend the 3:30pm OPAL 

session on Tuesday afternoon for more 

information. 

Upcoming Meetings 

Finally, I’d like to remind you of some 

important upcoming events: 

• The 2008 Annual Interagency 

Depository Seminar will be held July 

28 - August 1, 2008 in Washington, 

D.C. 

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• The Fall 2008 Federal Depository 

Library Conference & Fall Depository 

Library Council Meeting will be held 

October 20 – 22, 2008 in Arlington, 

Virginia at the Doubletree Hotel. 

• The Spring 2009 Depository Library 

Council Meeting will be held April 20 

– 22, 2009 in Tampa, Florida at the 

Hyatt Regency Tampa. 

These events are free, and registration/ hotel 

information will be announced on GPO’s 

FDLP-L listserv and on the FDLP Desktop. 

Please visit the FDLP Desktop for more 

information and the complete “events 

countdown” calendar. 

I want to commend Lance Cummins and his 

Education & Outreach staff for putting 

together this wonderful spring meeting. 

Lance, Marian MacGilvray, Nick Ellis, 

Yvonne Ellis, Bridget Govan, and Michelle 

Hawkins have been hard at work preparing 

for Council. Without them, this meeting 

couldn’t be possible. 

Also, please be advised that all conference 

proceedings will be added to the FDLP 

Desktop today at 1:00 p.m. 

Finally, I want to thank each and every one of 

you for being here today and for your 

continued support of the FDLP and 

dedication to Government documents. 

U.S. Government Printing Office

Library Services and Content Management

Update 

March 2008

AUTHENTICATION

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) 

digitally signed the PDF files for the Fiscal 

Year 2009 Budget of the United States 

Government on GPO Access, released on 

February 4, 2008. GPO used the newly 

deployed Automated PDF Signing (APS) 

system to sign these files. Additionally, the 

APS system has been integrated into the beta 

Authenticated Public and Private Laws 

application that was released in May 2007. 

Planning is underway for authentication of 

additional GPO Access applications. The 

GPO Access Web page on authentication has 

been updated to provide more information on 

GPO’s authentication initiatives and is 

available at 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/authentication/in

dex.html>. 

FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY 

HANDBOOK

Library Services and Content Management 

(LSCM) announced the publication of the 

final version of the Federal Depository 

Library Handbook on January 2, 2008. With 

its publication, the Instructions to Depository 

Libraries and the Federal Depository Library 

Manual, including its four supplements, were 

superseded. Depository staff are directed to 

refer to the Handbook for legal and program 

requirements, as well as guidance on 

depository operations and practices. The 

Handbook is available online at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/handbook/index.html>. 

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The Handbook is being developed in two 

phases. Phase I was completed with the 

consolidation of the Instructions and the 

Manual into one online publication. In early 

January, LSCM began Phase 2 by working 

with the Depository Library Council (DLC) 

to develop guidelines for the Federal 

Depository Library Program (FDLP), drafting 

chapter 7 of the Handbook: Public Access 

Assessments, soliciting revisions and updates 

to the Handbook through askGPO, and 

identifying policies that need to be developed 

to support current depository operations. 

Revisions and updates to the Handbook will 

be reviewed and considered for inclusion into 

the Handbook on a quarterly cycle. The first 

cycle of revisions is scheduled for review in 

April 2008, covering those comments 

received from January-March, 2008. LSCM 

invites the depository community to suggest 

revisions for the Handbook by submitting 

them at any time through askGPO at 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help/index.html>

. 

BIENNIAL SURVEY

GPO posted the 2007 Biennial Survey 

questions and responses, the 2007 Biennial 

Survey Report, and the 2007 Biennial Survey 

Selected Findings in February 2008. 

Additionally, an e-mail with individual 

library submissions was sent to depository 

coordinators and library directors in 

February. 

The Biennial Survey provides GPO with 

important information used in administering 

the FDLP. The 2007 Biennial Survey results 

will also be used by the Public Access 

Assessment program. 

The questions and individual library 

responses may be downloaded from the 

FDLP Desktop at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/repository/bsurvey/200

7.html>. Contact askGPO for assistance with 

the survey files by visiting 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help/index.html> 

and selecting “Federal Depository Libraries” 

as the category and “Biennial Survey” as the 

subcategory. 

FDLP DESKTOP

The FDLP Desktop provides the community 

with the latest news and updates regarding 

the FDLP. As we continue to develop the site, 

more interactive features will come online 

that will allow our users to interact not only 

with GPO, but with the community as a 

whole. This interaction is coordinated 

through individual user accounts. 

Registration is open to the public and unlocks 

features such as the ability to receive 

automated, customized news alerts through 

FDLP Express; order FDLP promotional 

materials; add your library events to our 

community calendar; register/unregister for 

conferences; and much more! 

A Plenary Session on the FDLP Desktop on 

Tuesday, April 1, at 1:30 p.m. will provide a 

walk-through of the Desktop and include how 

to: register for the Desktop, order 

promotional materials, and add calendar 

events. The session will also focus on our 

upcoming release—the FDLP Community 

Forum. 

ILS STATUS AND NEXT DELIVERABLES

The Catalog of U.S. Government 

Publications (CGP) just passed its second 

birthday on March 9, 2008. As of March 6 of 

this year, there have been more than 

36,500,000 successful requests, with a daily 

average of more than 50,000. Two new 

services have been released recently: the new 

Federal Depository Library Directory 

(FDLD) and Z39.50 access. Depository 

libraries can now access the CGP using the 

Z39.50 software client of their choice to 

search, retrieve, and download bibliographic 

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records. Access is currently limited to 

depository libraries and requires a password. 

The upgrade of the Aleph software to version 

18 from version 16.02 is nearly complete. 

GPO staff are scheduled to begin production 

in the new version on March 31, 2008. Once 

the new version is live, work will begin on a 

number of initiatives throughout the year, 

including: CGP Web interface enhancements; 

configuration of the circulation module, 

including the creation of an individual patron 

record for each depository and the design of a 

login page to allow access through the CGP 

to authenticated services such as SDI 

(Selective Dissemination of Information) and 

“save to pc” functionality; configuration of 

resources and page design for federated 

searching; and serials management with the 

goal of setting up active serials titles with 

check-in records. More information on 

Z39.50 and the Integrated Library System 

(ILS) will be provided in Tuesday’s ILS and 

Directory Update session at 10:30 a.m. 

FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY 

DIRECTORY

LSCM recently released the new FDLD in 

two phases. In November, with the release of 

the administrative module, depository 

libraries gained the ability to edit their own 

directory information in real time. The 

subsequent release of the public interface in 

February gave every user the ability to 

search, view, print, and export directory 

information. The export feature, available 

from the public interface, provides the 

capability to export directory information in 

several file formats: formatted HTML, tabbed 

text, and comma-delimited. Now that 

development is complete on the FDLD, GPO 

requests your feedback to assist us in 

identifying potential enhancements for the 

application. More information on the FDLD 

will be provided in Tuesday’s ILS and 

Directory Update session at 10:30 a.m. 

WEB HARVESTING

Web harvesting remains a priority at GPO 

and is included in pending releases of the 

Federal Digital System (FDsys). Lessons 

learned from the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) Web Harvesting Pilot Project, 

conducted in 2006, will be helpful in the 

development of this functionality. 

During the EPA Web Harvesting Pilot 

Project, files were harvested that may be 

within scope of the FDLP. GPO has 

undertaken projects to identify time 

commitments and resource needs to process 

files acquired during the pilot. The initial 

project was completed in December after 

GPO staff processed a sample of 

publications, both monographs and serial 

issues, from the results of the EPA Pilot 

Project. The majority of the publications were 

given bibliographic records in the CGP. 

However, a number of monographs were also 

made accessible via a browse table on GPO 

Access. More information about the sample is 

available at 

<http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/har

vesting/index.html>. 

AUTOMATED METADATA EXTRACTION 

AGREEMENT

In September 2007, GPO entered into an 

Interagency Agreement with the Defense 

Technical Information Center (DTIC) in 

collaboration with Old Dominion University 

(ODU) to create cataloging records using 

automated metadata extraction software tools 

and processes currently being used by DTIC. 

ODU will determine if the engine component 

developed for the DTIC and NASA projects 

can be used for GPO collections, including a 

sample of the GPO EPA harvested collection. 

However, GPO collections differ 

significantly from the DTIC and NASA 

collections and therefore, the scope of the 

work will be expanded to take the domain 

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into account and answer questions as to what 

metadata can be extracted. ODU will also 

conduct a feasibility study and exploratory 

prototyping of major types of documents 

from GPO’s collections to determine if 

automated metadata extraction is a viable 

method for creating metadata for these 

materials. 

The Automated Metadata Extraction 

agreement will be conducted in two phases 

over two years, with project completion 

expected in October 2009. The first and 

current phase of the agreement will focus 

solely on the GPO EPA harvested documents. 

GPO has identified and provided FDLP, inscope, harvested EPA PDF files to ODU for 

analysis. ODU is currently analyzing the 

documents to identify major classes of 

documents in the collection, metadata 

elements present in each class, and issues 

with existing template language for extracting 

metadata. ODU is collaboratively working 

with GPO on this analysis. 

DIGITIZATION

GPO is working with staff at the Library of 

Congress (LC) on two important digitization 

projects. GPO is assisting LC in the 

digitization of the Bound Congressional 

Record from the 43rd Congress through the 

105th Congress. LC is digitizing the material 

to meet GPO’s specifications for converted 

content for preservation masters. This 

material will be ingested and made available 

as part of the FDsys. In addition to this 

material, GPO and LC collaborated on the 

digitization of the Statutes at Large, which 

will also be made available through the 

FDsys. 

GPO continues to work with other agencies 

on the National Digital Standards Advisory 

Board, Federal Still Image Digitization 

Working Group. The goal of this project is to 

establish common standards, methods, 

practices, and guidelines for the digitization 

of visual material (excluding motion picture 

images). Common digitization standards will 

enhance the exchange of research results and 

developments, encourage collaborative 

digitization practices among Federal agencies 

and institutions, provide the public with a 

product of uniform quality, and set a common 

benchmark for digitization service providers. 

This highly collaborative project team, 

involving multiple Federal agencies and 

inviting input from outside organizations and 

corporate entities, meets on a regular basis. 

Tools for collaboration and for 

communication will be identified, defined, 

developed, and promoted as a project priority. 

These may include such vehicles as wikis, 

listservs, Web sites, conference calls, or 

conference collaboration applications. A 

public Web site will be made available in the 

near future to communicate the objectives, 

methodology, progress and conclusions of the 

working group, as well as to solicit public 

input. 

In January 2008, a Request for Information 

(RFI) for Mass Digitization Opportunities 

was posted to Federal Business 

Opportunities. GPO requested information 

specific to the digitization of publications that 

are within scope of GPO’s dissemination 

programs that exist only in tangible format. 

GPO envisioned a cooperative, mutually 

beneficial relationship with a private or 

public sector participant where the fullyfaithful, uncompressed, unaltered files 

created as a result of the conversion process 

were to be delivered to GPO. The files would 

serve as the digital master copies that would 

be preserved and used for the creation of 

access derivatives within the FDsys. In 

exchange, the private or public sector 

participant will be able to maintain a 

collection of files produced in the process for 

inclusion in its collections (e.g., search 

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indices, book search sites). GPO is currently 

in the process of evaluating the responses to 

the RFI. 

DIGITAL REGISTRY

GPO encourages you to contribute 

information about your institution’s 

digitization projects containing U.S. 

Government publications to the Registry of 

U.S. Government Publication Digitization 

Projects at 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legacy/registry/>

. 

The Registry’s goal is to provide 

comprehensive coverage of all appropriate 

digitization projects that include U.S. 

Government publications. The Registry is 

designed to: 

• Serve as a locator tool for publicly 

accessible collections of digitized 

U.S. Government publications; 

• Increase awareness of U.S. 

Government publication digitization 

projects that are planned, in progress, 

or completed; 

• Foster collaboration for digitization 

projects; and 

• Provide models for future digitization 

projects. 

GPO staff are in the process of revamping the 

current HTML application to a more robust, 

database-driven, Web application that is used 

through a Web browser. 

Some of the Web-based functionality will 

include:

• Keyword Searching 

• Advanced Searching (fielded 

searches, allowing for more specific 

searches) 

With Advanced Search, you can search for 

entries: 

• that contain ALL of the search terms 

typed in 

• that contain the exact phrase typed in 

• that contain at least one of the words 

typed in 

• that do NOT contain any of the words 

typed in 

• written in a certain language 

• that have been updated within a 

certain period of time 

Information about the revamped service and 

implementation dates will be shared with the 

community as they become available via the 

current Registry page. Comments concerning 

additional functional requirements to be 

included in the revised application are 

welcomed at 

<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help/index.html>

. 

PUBLIC ACCESS ASSESSMENTS

LSCM is currently developing a “checklist,” 

a tool LSCM assessment librarians use to 

facilitate consistent review of individual 

depository libraries. GPO will disseminate 

the checklist, along with an update of “Focus 

on Access, Collections, and Service,” a 

document that describes the focus and 

organizational scheme of the Public Access 

Assessment, for depository library comment 

after the Conference. 

LSCM recently selected a second librarian 

who will perform Public Access Assessments 

and also consult about depository 

management issues and other outreach 

activities. 

Additional information about Public Access 

Assessments may be found in the response to 

the DLC recommendation on “Assessments” 

and also in the materials created for a Council 

session about the program to be held on 

Tuesday, April 1 at 3:30 p.m. The response to 

Council includes further detail about 

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significant program implementation 

milestones. The session documentation 

includes sample scenarios illustrating best 

practices to achieve free public access at 

depository libraries. More information about 

the program is also on the FDLP Desktop at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/paa/about.html>. This 

site includes links to the latest version of the 

“Focus on Access, Collections, and Service” 

paper, as well as information about 

problematic public access issues from a 

program held at last fall’s Council Meeting. 

PARTNERSHIPS

GPO is continuing to expand its partnership 

efforts. Since the beginning of fiscal year 

2008, GPO has formed two new partnerships. 

The first, with the Naval Postgraduate 

School, will allow depository libraries to gain 

access to the Homeland Security Digital 

Library (HSDL). HSDL is a database 

containing U.S. policy documents, 

Presidential directives, and national strategy 

documents, as well as other specialized 

resources related to the study of homeland 

security. Additional details about this 

partnership and access to HSDL will be 

announced to the community soon. 

In the second partnership, GPO joined with 

the University of Illinois at Chicago and the 

other participating Federal depository 

libraries to promote “Government 

Information Online: Ask a Librarian” (GIO). 

GIO is a free, Web-based virtual reference 

service provided by almost 20 Federal 

depository libraries throughout the country 

that focuses on responding to government 

information-related questions. GPO will be 

participating in this project by promoting 

GIO to other Federal agencies and by 

submitting reference-type questions received 

through askGPO that cannot be answered 

using the resources available on GPO Access. 

GPO encourages all depository libraries to 

consider adding a link to this valuable service 

from their Web pages. 

ONLINE LEARNING

As part of its education and outreach mission, 

LSCM has presented several programs on 

topics related to the FDLP through Online 

Programming for All Libraries (OPAL), a 

Web conferencing service <http://www.opalonline.org/>. Four of these presentations are 

available for viewing in the GPO OPAL 

archive at <http://www.opalonline.org/archiveGPO.htm>. In January 

2008, GPO placed an evaluation tool on the 

FDLP Desktop to gather data on audience 

satisfaction with the presentations, which can 

be accessed at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/learning/opalfeedback.

html>. 

Also in January, LSCM opened up its OPAL 

room to members of the depository library 

community who would like to present 

additional educational and training sessions 

for the benefit of the community. To submit a 

proposal, applicants should complete the 

Online Educational Program Proposal Form 

at 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/learning/opalproposal.

html>. 

DISTRIBUTION AND OTHER STATISTICS

During FY 2007 (October 2006 - September 

2007), GPO distributed a total of 4,509,718 

tangible copies of 8,837 titles. 

For FY 2007, 18,812 bibliographic records 

were created, which is an increase of 3,624 

compared to FY 2006’s total of 15,188. 

11,888 PURLs were created during the same 

time period, which is an increase of 414 

compared to FY 2006. 

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GPO ACCESS STATISTICS

In FY 2007, 444.4 million documents were 

retrieved from GPO Access, and 2.7 million 

searches were conducted on the CGP. At the 

end of FY 2007, the total number of titles on 

GPO Access was 224,856, and the total 

number of titles linked from GPO Access was 

55,034. 

LSCM currently posts monthly statistics on 

the activities of the FDLP and the Cataloging 

and Indexing Program. Additional statistics 

related to askGPO inquiries are now part of 

that reporting. 

The legacy statistics from FY 2005 forward 

also available via a summary report online at: 

<http://www.fdlp.gov/repository/metrics/inde

x.html>. 

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The 2008 Annual Interagency Depository 

Seminar will be held July 28 - August 1, 2008 

in Washington, D.C. The free seminar, open 

to depository library staff, provides an 

opportunity for both new and experienced 

documents personnel to review basic 

materials and learn about new products 

directly from Federal agency staff. 

The Fall 2008 Federal Depository Library 

Conference & Fall Depository Library 

Council Meeting will be held October 20 – 

22, 2008 in Arlington, Virginia at the 

Doubletree Hotel. 

The Spring 2009 Depository Library Council 

Meeting will be held April 20 – 22, 2009 in 

Tampa, Florida at the Hyatt Regency Tampa. 

Both DLC meetings are free and open to the 

public. 

Registration and hotel information for all 

meetings will be announced on GPO’s FDLPL listserv and on the FDLP Desktop.

Questions? 

If you have questions or comments on any of the content in Administrative Notes, please send them to askGPO, the 

online help service at: 

http://gpo.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gpo.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

To ensure that your question is routed to the correct area, please choose the category "Federal Depository Libraries" 

and the appropriate subcategory, if any. 

You may also contact the GPO Customer Contact Center at 866-512-1800 (Toll-free), or at 202-512-1800 (DC 

Metropolitan Area), Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., EST. 

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Table of Contents 

New Manager of Content Acquisitions: Joseph C. McClane ....................................................... 1 

Access to the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) via Z39.50 

 Now Available to Depository Libraries...................................................................................... 2 

New Recommended Specifications Issued for Depository Public Access Computers................. 2 

Registration Open for 2008 Annual Interagency Depository Seminar......................................... 3 

Contacting GPO and LSCM ......................................................................................................... 3 

Digitizing the Historic GPO Shelflist ........................................................................................... 4 

Changes Made for Separates Labels and Return Label Requests................................................. 4 

Comments Invited on GPO Study on Regional Depositories....................................................... 5 

Spring Council Meeting Proceedings Available Online............................................................... 5 

Welcome to Spring 2008 Council Meeting: Remarks by Richard G. Davis ................................ 6 

Library Services and Content Management Update, March 2008.............................................. 20 

Administrative Notes Cumulative Table of Contents 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/adnotes_toc.pdf 

Updated with each issue 

Searchable by keyword 

Administrative Notes is published in Washington, DC by the Superintendent of Documents, 

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: Administrative Notes 

U.S. Government Printing Office 

 Stop IDED 

Washington, DC 20401 

Internet access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/index.html 

27