AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

1 

Administrative Notes 

Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program

Vol. 25, no. 11 GP 3.16/3-2:25/11 October 15, 2004 

HIGHLIGHTS

Library of the 

Year Award 1 

2004 

Technical 

Requirements 3 

Council 

Meeting Update 3 

SuDocs 

Remarks 8 

Incentives 14 

Readers 

Exchange 

 WWII 22 

 FDLP Link 23 

Southern Oregon University Named 

2004 Federal Depository 

Library of the Year 

Outstanding public service, creativity and innovation are just some of the 

reasons why the Government Printing Office has selected Southern 

Oregon University as the recipient of this year’s Federal Depository 

Library of the Year Award. 

Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell; Former Oregon State Senator Lenn 

Hannon; Public Printer Bruce James, and Southern Oregon University Documents 

Librarian Deborah Hollens 

“The Lenn and Dixie Hannon Library staff members have been described 

as having amazing energy and tireless passion for their work and we at the 

GPO agree. The library is public-service driven, committed to creative and 

innovative programs and dedicated to providing access to Government 

information to the citizens of Oregon through its partnership with the 

GPO,” said Bruce James, Public Printer of the United States. 
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Public Printer James presented the award to 

the Southern Oregon University Hannon 

Library during the Fall Depository Library 

Council Meeting on Sunday, October 17, 

2004. 

“Southern Oregon University, and especially 

our library faculty, staff and students, are 

being recognized nationally for their

innovation in public service, and the 

University could not be more thrilled with 

this honor,” said Southern Oregon University 

President Elisabeth Zinser. “I want to 

personally thank the Government Printing 

Office for this prestigious honor. The creation 

of the Southern Oregon Digital Archives 

exemplifies our long tradition of stewardship 

and accessibility to an impressive and 

growing collection of government documents 

at the Hannon Library,” Zinser said. 

This is the second year the GPO presents the 

award to a library participating in its Federal 

Depository Library Program. Last year the 

award went to the Tulsa City-County Library. 

For more pictures and text, see the Federal 

Library of the Year Web page at 

<http://www.access.gpo.cog/su_docs/fdlp/ 

fdlofyear/04.html>. 

Greg Walden, U.S. Congressman from the Library of the Year Shadow Box 

2nd District of Oregon 

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2004 Minimum Technical Requirements 

Effective October 1, 2004 

In accordance with the schedule established 

to regularly increase workstation 

requirements, new minimum technical 

requirements for workstations in Federal 

depository libraries will go into effect 

October 1, 2004. These requirements were 

originally issued as the "2003 Recommended 

Specifications for Public Access 

Workstations in Federal Depository 

Libraries" in Administrative Notes, v. 24, # 7, 

(6/15/03) <http://www.access.gpo.gov/ 

su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/ad061503.html>. 

All Federal depository libraries must meet the 

minimum technical requirements to keep 

pace with technological change in order to 

fulfill their Title 44 obligation to provide 

access to Government information products. 

GPO will continue to issue Recommended 

Specifications for Public Access 

Workstations in Federal Depository Libraries 

each spring to assist depository library staff 

in planning for new computer purchases. 

As another step in the transition to an e-FDLP 

and in accordance with Depository Library 

Council recommendations from its spring 

2000 meeting, a schedule was established to 

regularly increase workstation requirements. 

Fifteen months after issuance, recommended 

specifications will become minimum 

technical requirements. The requirements, the 

recommended specifications, and the 

schedule are all available from the FDLP 

Desktop at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/ 

su_docs/fdlp/computers>. 

Any questions about the Minimum Technical 

Requirements or Recommended 

Specifications should be directed to the GPO 

Contact Center at <http://www.gpoaccess. 

gov/help/index.html>. 

[Handout] 

Depository Library Council Meeting Update 

October 2004 

AUTHENTICATION/PKI - GPO recently 

completed the operational “stand-up” of a 

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) at the U.S. 

Government Printing Office. As part of this 

process, GPO completed a key-generation 

ceremony and also successfully passed an 

external independent audit of its PKI 

operation. The Chief Information Officer's

(CIO) organization is now taking steps to 

both test and evaluate several digital signing 

tools using GPO's PKI. The purpose of this 

testing is to lead to the future application of

digital signatures on GPO Access files. In 

conjunction with this activity, steps are 

underway to cross-certify GPO's PKI 

operation with the Federal Bridge 

Certification Authority (FBCA). GPO staff

and representatives from the FBCA are 

currently mapping business and technical 

processes and discussing FBCA audit 

requirements. Once certification and testing 

have been completed, live signatures will be 

made available on GPO Access files. 

Additionally, steps are already underway to 

create a complete redundant backup of GPO's 

PKI operation at the Alternate Congressional 

Facility. 

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CENTER FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES 

DECISION FRAMEWORK - GPO 

contracted with the Center for Research 

Libraries to develop a decision framework for 

creating shared federal document 

repositories. Council commented on the draft 

version of the framework, and found it a 

reasonable initial draft for developing 

regional repositories for tangible federal 

government documents. Three related 

decision framework documents were 

developed for repositories by tangible 

repository type. These documents provided 

criteria for establishing accessible, light and 

dark archives for the CLR. The three 

documents were merged into a single 

document and released for public comment 

on September 20, 2004. Comments should be 

forwarded to Judy Russell at 

jrussell@gpo.gov by November 1, 2004. 

[Discussed on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 

10:30-12:00 in Council Session.] 

COLLECTION OF LAST RESORT 

(CLR) - The CLR supports GPO’s mission to 

provide permanent public access to U.S. 

Government publications in all formats. CLR 

consists of multiple collections of tangible 

and digital publications, located in multiple 

sites and operated with various partners 

within and beyond the U.S. Government. The 

CLR includes publications of the federal 

government of public interest and educational 

value regardless of format. Although 

publications produced solely for 

administrative or operational use are 

excluded by law from depository distribution, 

GPO, where possible, will acquire such 

publications for the CLR and identify them

by metadata to include in the National 

Bibliography. The CLR will also serve as a 

repository for products from future GPO 

initiatives. The planning document was 

released for public comment on June 18, 

2004 with comments to be submitted by July 

30, 2004. Although this deadline has passed, 

comments can still be forwarded to 

Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell at 

jrussell@gpo.gov. For quick reference, this

document is located at: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/clr0

604draft.pdf.

[Discussed on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 

10:30-12:00 in Council Session.] 

FDLP TRAINING AND 

CONSULTATION INITIATIVE – The 

transformation of GPO’s mandate to monitor 

the performance of depository libraries from

the traditional inspection process to a

proactive model of regional consultation and 

education is gaining momentum. Draft 

agreements with various depository partners 

to place consultants at host institutions are 

nearing completion. Consultants will be 

located at the host institutions, close to the 

depository libraries they will be working 

with. This work will be focused on close 

consultation with the depository libraries to 

improve the quality and effectiveness of 

library services through sharing best practice, 

collaborative discussion, and local 

educational opportunities. The first six host 

agreements should be signed soon, after 

which, recruitment and placement of the 

consultants will take place. 

CONTACT CENTER OPEN FOR 

BUSINESS - Information Dissemination’s 

new Contact Center is standing by to provide 

users with the highest quality service. Contact 

representatives are available to respond to all 

of your queries about GPO and its 

information dissemination programs. While 

there will certainly be times when contacts 

must be transferred to subject matter experts 

for handling, the resulting responses will be 

captured in a knowledgebase for ready access 

by others. The Contact Center was launched 

on August 2, 2004, replacing operations such 

as the GPO Access User Support Team, 

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askLPS@gpo.gov, and the Order and

Information Desk. The knowledgebase has 

been populated with answers to frequently 

asked questions related to the following 

services: GPO Access, the U.S. Government 

Online Bookstore, and the Federal Depository 

Library Program. Users can search or browse 

the knowledgebase as a whole or by 

category/subcategory. Questions that cannot 

be answered by the knowledgebase can be 

sent to GPO using the “Ask a Question” tab, 

and questions will be routed to the 

appropriate subject specialists within GPO. 

The Contact Center is available through the 

Web at 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help/index.html, 

by e-mail at contactcenter@gpo.gov, or by 

phone (Toll-free) 866-512-1800, 

(Washington Metropolitan Area) at 202-512-

1800, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am - 9:00 

pm, EST. 

DIGITIZATION OF THE LEGACY 

COLLECTION- GPO is working with the 

library community on a national digitization 

plan with the goal of digitizing a complete 

legacy collection of tangible U.S. 

Government publications held in libraries 

participating in the Federal Depository 

Library Program (FDLP). The objective is a 

digital collection available, in the public 

domain, for permanent public access through 

the FDLP. The legacy collection of what has 

been distributed since the beginning of the 

Federal Depository Library Program includes 

approximately 2.2 million print documents. It 

is comprised of over 60 million pages, mostly 

textual, but the documents contain additional 

information, such as charts, diagrams, and 

photographs. Digitizing such a large 

collection is a large undertaking that cannot 

be accomplished all at once. To focus efforts, 

GPO conducted a survey of our depository 

partners to determine which tangible U.S. 

Government documents are most important to 

digitize and in which priority. Results of the 

Digitization Ranking Survey indicate the five 

most urgent titles, including the 

Congressional Record (Bound), the U.S. 

Congressional Serial Set, the Statistical 

Abstract of the U. S., the U.S. Statutes At 

Large and the Code of Federal Regulations. 

For more detailed information, link to 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legacy/priorities/in

dex.html 

[Discussed on Monday, October 18, 2004 at 

1:30-3:00 in Council Session.] 

FUTURE SYSTEMS - GPO is actively 

engaged in defining the next generation 

information life cycle management system

for official U.S. Government information. A 

cross-organizational team has delivered a 

concept of operations for the system, which 

will support version control, authentication, 

and preservation of content as well as access 

to and delivery of the information. The 

concept of operations is predicated upon a 

rules based, policy neutral infrastructure, 

exhibiting modularity (plug-in components), 

scalability, extensibility, comprehensiveness 

and flexibility, optimally incorporating 

technology as required. Currently, no single 

system or group of systems adequately meets 

the needs and mission of GPO. The future 

digital system for the GPO is being 

developed in a structured manner beginning 

with a concept of operations. The Public 

Printer was briefed on the concept of

operations on October 1, 2004. 

[Discussed on Sunday, October 17, 2004 at 

1:30-3:00 in plenary session and again from

3:30-5:00 in Council session.] 

INTEGRATED LIBRARY SYSTEM - 

GPO awarded a contract to Progressive 

Technology Federal Systems Inc. (PTFS) of 

Bethesda, MD, to provide GPO with software 

and services to create a state-of-the-art 

integrated library system. The chosen 

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Integrated Library System (ILS) platform is 

Ex Libris (USA)’s Aleph 500 software. GPO 

is also procuring their MetaLib/SFX 

federated search and reference linking 

application. These products provide for all 

metadata needs for GPO’s information 

dissemination programs, including the 

National Bibliography of U.S. Government 

Publications. Target date for the availability 

of the OPAC version of the National 

Bibliography is April 2005. 

MANAGING THE ELECTRONIC 

COLLECTION (EC): A POLICY AND 

PLANNING DOCUMENT, 2nd Edition – 

GPO is engaged in the first major revision of 

the FDLP Electronic Collection plan since it 

was originally issued in 1998. The six years 

since the initial edition was published have 

seen continuous development and change, 

both within and beyond GPO, as procedures 

and mechanisms have developed to manage 

digital assets. This new edition incorporates 

advances in the theory, technology, and 

practice of managing digital collections. 

Much of the revision recognizes the reality of 

a program in which over 81% of titles are 

online, and that every title in FDLP will be 

available in digital format within five years. 

The EC is part of GPO’s Collection of Last 

Resort. 

New assumptions in the second edition are: 

 Information included in the FDLP EC is 

public information published by an 

official source, i.e., the publishing agency 

or other trusted source. 

 GPO will certify EC digital content with 

varying levels of authentication 

dependent upon provenance, chain of 

custody, and level of quality assurance in 

the digitization process. 

The second edition of the EC was released for 

public comment on June 18, 2004 with 

comments to be submitted by September 7, 

2004. Although this deadline has passed, 

comments can still be forwarded to Judy 

Russell at jrussell@gpo.gov. For quick 

reference, this document is located at: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/ecpl

an2004rev1.pdf.

[Discussed on Monday, October 18, 2004 at 

10:00-11:30 in Council Session.] 

NATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF U.S. 

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS:

INITIAL PLANNING STATEMENT - 

GPO intends to develop a comprehensive and 

authoritative National Bibliography of U.S. 

Government Publications that will contain 

descriptions and locations of unclassified 

publications in all formats. The initial

planning statement examines ways to 

improve the comprehensiveness of GPO 

cataloging and metadata programs that 

enhance usability of bibliographic products 

and services at GPO. Within the scope of the 

National Bibliography is any information 

product regardless of form or format that any 

U.S. Government agency discloses, 

publishes, disseminates, or makes available to 

the public, as well as information produced 

for administrative or operational purposes 

that is of public interest or educational value. 

The initial planning statement was released 

for public comment on June 18, 2004 with 

comments to be submitted by September 7, 

2004. Although this deadline has passed, 

comments can still be forwarded to Gil 

Baldwin at ebaldwin@gpo.gov. For quick 

reference, this document is located at

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/natbi

b0604.pdf

[Discussed on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 

1:30-3:00 in Council Session.] 

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PRINT ON DEMAND (POD) NEEDS 

SURVEY - The primary purpose of the POD 

survey was to assess the applicability for 

utilizing Print-on-Demand technology to 

improve the FDLP. GPO has discussed the 

possibility of providing a POD allowance for 

depository libraries to be used as a tool to 

augment depository library collections with 

paper versions of depository titles. The 

survey results are being analyzed for planning 

purposes but one possibility is that the 

depository library could use its allowance to 

quickly order and receive a printed copy of a 

publication, regardless of its item number, 

even if it is an electronic-only title. The 

policies being developed for use of a POD 

allowance might even permit libraries to 

order a second copy or a replacement copy of 

a print publication that is of interest. A POD 

allowance might make the selection process 

of some print titles from GPO more like using 

a book dealer. For example, libraries would 

not have to guess in advance what titles will 

be issued under certain item numbers and 

then take everything issued under those item

numbers. They could wait until the items are 

issued and then order only the titles they 

actually want. This added flexibility allows 

libraries to order print titles “just in time” 

rather than “just in case.” We will continue to 

involve the FDLP community in our planning 

process as we strive to provide more 

flexibility and enhanced benefits to each 

library. The survey showed considerable 

interest in a POD program, with most interest

in items from the sample list such as the 

Weekly Compilation of Presidential 

Documents, Crime in the United States, 

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 

Condition of Education (Annual) and United 

States Health (Annual). The most recent 

results from the survey can be viewed online 

at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pod/pod_stats.

html. 

WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL 

INFORMATION PRODUCTS FROM 

INFORMATION DISSEMINATION 

PROGRAMS - In the light of working on 

several potential publishing agency 

withdrawals in the past few months, GPO is 

revising policy, SOD 72, on the withdrawal 

of federal information products from

information dissemination programs. The 

revision effort seeks to clarify the conditions 

under which publications can be withdrawn, 

outlines the potential ramifications, and 

encourages the publishing agencies to make 

the least restrictive decision. This includes 

working to ensure that it is a fully considered 

decision endorsed by the head of the 

publishing agency. As part of the process, 

GPO will notify professional library 

associations as soon as a final publishing 

agency decision has been officially received. 

STATISTICS – During Fiscal Year 2004, 

GPO distributed a total of 32,821 titles in 

various formats. When multiple formats of

the same title are removed, approximately 

81% of the new titles were electronic and 

about 19% were tangible distributions. 

June 2004 marked the 10th Anniversary of 

GPO Access Keeping America Informed. 

Since its inception, users have retrieved more 

than two billion documents from GPO 

Access. Usage has increased from an average 

of about 20,000 monthly retrievals in 1994 to 

an average of about 34 million a month in 

2004. Users have also downloaded a total of 

195 terabytes of information from GPO 

Access, which is equivalent to more than 98 

billion typewritten pages. 

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Remarks of Superintendent of Documents 

Judith C. Russell 

Depository Library Conference 

Washington, DC 

October 18, 2004 

I want to join Bill [Turri, Deputy Public 

Printer] and John [Phillips, Chair of the 

Depository Library Council] in welcoming 

you to Washington, DC, for this meeting of 

the Depository Library Council. It is a 

pleasure to be with you again and to continue 

our discussions on the future of the 

Government Printing Office (GPO) and the 

Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). 

I am delighted that so many of you have 

made the effort to be here. As of Friday, there 

were over 700 people registered for this 

meeting. That is an increase of over 200 

registrants from last fall’s meeting – and the 

largest registration we have ever had for a 

depository meeting. 

Many of you were with us last night for the 

reception honoring the Federal Depository 

Library of the Year. For those of you that 

were not there, I would like to announce that 

Southern Oregon University was chosen for 

this honor. I know you will join me in 

congratulating SOU for their outstanding 

efforts on behalf of the Federal Depository 

Library Program. I urge you to visit the SOU 

website [http://www.sou.edu/] to learn more 

about their programs and services. Please 

take time to speak to Deb Hollens from SOU, 

who is attending the conference, to offer her 

your congratulations. [The press release is 

available at 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pr/media/2004/04

news25.pdf.]

I am also conscious that many of our

colleagues were not able to be here with us. I 

urge you to take home all that you learn from

this conference and share it with others in 

your institution and in your community. 

Encourage them to review the documents that 

we are discussing and submit their comments 

to GPO. It is important that we include the 

entire library community – not just the 

depository libraries – in these discussions and 

provide them with an opportunity to 

participate and make their views known. 

Most of you were here yesterday afternoon 

for the presentation by the Public Printer and 

GPO’s Chief Technology Officer on the 

future digital system for managing official 

Government content. I think that you can see 

from that presentation that GPO is poised to 

move forward to establish a world class 

system that will help us obtain, manage, 

deliver and preserve digital content. [The 

presentation is available at 

http://www.gpo.gov/news/2004/04_10_18_dl

c_presentation.pdf.]

In keeping with that presentation, the overall 

theme of the meeting is planning for the 

digital future – and many of the reports and 

initiatives that we will discuss over the next 

few days will help us set priorities and keep 

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our forward momentum, even as we continue 

work on the design of the next generation 

system and the preparation of GPO’s strategic 

plan, which will be presented to Congress by 

December 1st. I look forward to some lively 

discussions with Council and expect to go 

back to the office with lots of good ideas that 

can be incorporated into the next versions of 

our planning documents. 

EMBRACE THE CHURN 

A few days ago, I was at a meeting with 

David Seaman of the Digital Library 

Federation. He spoke of the fact that we are 

still in the early stages of our efforts to create 

digital libraries, saying that we are still at the 

“bug-eyed creatures in the primordial 

swamp” stage, where “seismic events are 

routine and continuing.” He used a quotation 

from Clifford Stoll’s book, Silicon Snake Oil, 

that I would like to share with you because I 

feel it is equally appropriate to the state of 

change in the Federal Depository Library 

Program: 

“Fear, nostalgia, dizziness: they tempt us 

to attitudes of rigidity and polemic – 

dangerous at a time better suited to 

exploration and to an exciting and 

empowering uncertainty.” 

Let me repeat that – this is a time for 

exploration and “an exciting and empowering 

uncertainty.” I don’t think most of us think of 

uncertainty as empowering, but in fact, it 

creates an opportunity to reinvent ourselves 

and our environment, to establish new skill 

sets and new work habits. 

David encouraged his audience to “embrace 

the churn” and to “take comfort in the 

enduring value of library and publishing core 

skills,” which are the things that we turn to 

over and over again to help us validate the 

decisions we are making and the paths we are 

taking. I encourage you to do the same – to 

approach this meeting as an opportunity to 

explore the changes that are already occurring 

as a result of our increasingly digital 

environment and to “embrace the churn” of 

the “exciting and empowering uncertainty” of 

other changes that will surely come. 

In 1996, when GPO published the report 

entitled “Study to Identify Measures 

Necessary for a Successful Transition to a 

More Electronic Federal Depository Library 

Program,” only about 5% of the titles that 

GPO distributed were electronic – mostly on 

floppy diskettes or CD-ROMs. At that time 

we “guesstimated” – that is a word used 

frequently in my family) and that is really 

what it was, a guess, not a prediction, 

estimate or a goal – we “guesstimated” that 

the FDLP distribution would be 95% 

electronic by 2005. 

Most of you see the monthly reports that we 

issue on distribution of depository titles. This 

week I received the analysis for FY 2004, 

which just ended on September 30th. 

For fiscal year 2004, 11,932 online titles and 

9,141 links to agency titles were added to 

GPO Access, for a total of 21,073 new online 

titles. During the same period, GPO 

distributed 11,275 tangible titles. The 

tangible titles consisted of 6,232 paper titles, 

3,613 microfiche titles, 252 CD-ROM/DVDs, 

and 1,178 USGS maps. Thus, the total 

number of titles added to the Federal 

Depository Library Program was 32,348 of 

which 65% were made available online. 

Let me also note that these additions bring the 

total number of titles on GPO Access to 

165,280 and the total number of titles linked 

from GPO Access to 110,690 for a grand total 

of 275,970 titles available through GPO 

Access as of September 2004. I think David 
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would be pleased to hear these numbers. That 

is a decent sized digital library. 

However, there is an interesting thing about 

the way these numbers have been compiled 

through the years. For the Congressional 

Record, Federal Register, Code of Federal 

Regulations and a number of other titles, 

GPO has the full text on line on GPO Access

and also offers depository libraries the choice 

of paper or microfiche. Consequently, these 

titles are counted three times in our 

distribution statistics, once for each format. 

Since there are two tangible copies of each 

issue (title) and only one electronic copy, we 

are putting our thumb on the scale (so to 

speak) and weighting the numbers more 

heavily toward the tangible collection. 

I asked the staff to compile an additional set 

of statistics, identifying the tangible items 

that are distributed for which there is no 

electronic counterpart. Our progress toward 

the 1996 “guesstimate” looks very different 

when analyzed this way.

Through August of FY 2004, the total 

number of online titles added was 18,958 

(about 1,000 titles short of the 21,073 new 

online titles reported for the full fiscal year). 

The total number of tangible items distributed 

in the same 11 months for which there was no 

electronic distribution was only 3,117 (not 

even close to the 11,275 reported for the full 

fiscal year using the traditional method of 

reporting). 

Through August, only 14% of the new 

tangible titles were available to the FDLP 

only in tangible form. The FDLP distribution 

is already 86% electronic. 95% by 2005 is 

looking amazingly accurate for a guess made 

8 years ago. 

What does this mean for the FDLP as a whole 

and for each of your libraries? It clearly 

means that we have been successful beyond 

our wildest dreams. We have vastly improved 

public access to U.S. government 

information. We can all be enormously proud 

of that accomplishment. 

It also means that – whether we like it or not 

– whether we are experiencing “fear, 

nostalgia, dizziness” as a result of this rapid 

transformation or finding this a time of 

“exciting and empowering uncertainty” – the 

ground has shifted and a seismic change has 

occurred. Every selective depository library 

could be an 86% selective without accepting 

a single tangible item. Every library in the 

country (and for that matter in the world) 

could be an 86% selective without becoming 

an officially designated Federal Depository 

Library. 

We are no longer exclusive with respect to 

content entering the program. But we are 

exclusive with one particular and invaluable 

resource – the skills of each and every one of 

you and of your colleagues, who are 

dedicated and professional documents 

librarians. 

We need to continue our joint efforts to 

redefine the characteristics and roles of 

depository libraries and to identify the 

services that GPO should provide to 

depository libraries in the future to ensure 

that invaluable resource remains vital. 

Participation in this conference is an 

important part of professional development 

through the educational sessions that are 

being offered and of planning for the future 

that will occur in the Council sessions. 

As you can see, we have an agenda that is 

filled to overflowing. Your packets include 

the traditional “GPO Update” which provides 

some quick facts or status reports on some

items of general interest. I want to mention a 

few other things here that are not covered in 

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the update and will not be topics at any of the 

sessions. 

DISASTER RECOVERY 

Several years ago, in the wake of the 

September 11th attacks, GPO was provided 

with funds to develop a disaster recovery site 

to ensure our electronic data is protected and 

remains accessible. The original plan was for 

a backup/mirror site in Pueblo, Colorado. 

When GPO’s CIO came on board last year, 

he quickly recognized that the Pueblo facility 

was not the best place for our disaster 

recovery operation, primarily due to the lack 

of local technical support and the investment 

necessary to replicate our existing hardware, 

software and data storage at that site, and he 

began an effort to identify alternatives. 

The alternative has been identified and GPO 

is moving forward on the implementation of a 

disaster recovery plan. This will ensure that

an offsite backup system will continue to 

offer all of GPO’s Web services to users in 

event of an unforeseen system failure or 

catastrophe. It will also maintain an archival 

copy of GPO data for redundant, off-site 

backup. A statement of work for disaster 

recovery hosting services was sent to several 

companies offering such services back in 

September and a procurement has been 

completed for the EdgeSuite service from

Akamai Technologies, Inc. Work on an 

expedited implementation will begin later this 

month, with the full capability scheduled to 

launch in February/March of 2005. 

The Akamai disaster recovery service makes 

use of a globally distributed and highly 

scalable content caching and delivery

network that is comprised of over 14,000 

servers deployed in over 1,100 networks 

across more than 65 countries. The Akamai 

system identifies and deploys the most 

efficient routes for data throughout the 

Internet, based on the individual user needs 

and application and content demands. By 

pushing GPO's data to the edge of the 

Internet through Akamai's distributed, secure 

network, we will ensure the reliability and 

stability of the GPO Access services in the 

event of an internal system failure at GPO or 

an external catastrophe that prevents GPO 

from delivering its services directly to users. 

Akamai is probably most familiar to you as 

the means by which GPO “akamaizes” high 

demand files to distribute the load and make 

sure that it is possible for many users to 

rapidly access a popular document, such as 

the 9/11 Commission report. GPO could not 

have handled over 1.2 million downloads in 

the first few weeks after the report was 

released without using the Akamai service. 

EdgeSuite is a different service from the 

same company. 

 

NEW GPO ACCESS DATABASES 

When GPO completed the survey to prioritize 

titles for digitization, the most requested title 

was the bound Congressional Record. It is 

one of three major publications produced by 

GPO that have never been made available as 

a GPO Access database – until now. 

Most of the 1999 volumes of the bound 

Record have been converted from typesetting 

files to a WAIS database. The web interface 

and documentation have been completed, and 

the database functionality has been tested. 

The bound Record database will be 

demonstrated at the GPO Access open forum

at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon and launched 

shortly after the conclusion of the conference. 

We will continue to update the database as 

additional volumes of the bound Record are 

published. 

We are also working on a database for the 

Statutes at Large. The Office of the Federal 

11
AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

12

Register (OFR) will finish proofreading the 

Statutes at Large of the first session of the 

108th Congress shortly. Once that is done, 

and the files are corrected, it will take GPO a 

month or two to create the database, develop 

and test the web interface, and prepare the 

documentation. We estimate release of this 

database in December or January. As with the 

bound Record, we will continue to update the 

database as additional volumes of the Statutes 

at Large are published. 

The third new database will be the U.S. 

Reports. It is in the queue behind the bound 

Record and the Statutes at Large, and we will 

report on a likely release date when we have 

more information. 

DEPOSITORY SERVICES 

CONSULTANTS 

As you know, GPO is transforming the 

depository inspection program into one of 

consultation, education, and training with 

GPO employees physically located in the 

field. 

The depository services consultants will 

facilitate communication with GPO, assess 

depository operations in a consultative spirit, 

and serve as training assets in the field for 

depository libraries. Regional libraries are 

expected to be closely involved with the 

activities of any consultant placed in their 

region, although it is not a requirement that a 

regional library serve as the host institution. 

On Friday I signed the Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) with the Library of 

Michigan that will let us place the first 

depository services consultant out into the 

community to provide training and work 

directly with local depository libraries. We 

have several other proposals in-house or 

promised, and we are eager to move forward 

to fill the positions that we have allocated for 

this purpose. We have prepared our FY 2005 

budget based on the funding and staffing 

approved by the Senate Appropriations 

Committee. Under that scenario, we can hire 

6 consultants this fiscal year. If the House 

appropriations provisions prevail in the 

conference, we will be able to hire 12 

consultants this year. 

These will be GPO employees, and their 

salaries, benefits and travel expenses will be 

paid by GPO, but we are hoping that each 

consultant will have a sponsoring depository 

that will provide office space and other 

support, as the Library of Michigan is doing. 

The MOU with the Library of Michigan will 

be posted after the conference, along with 

other information on the plans for creating 

additional consultant positions. Although 

there may be variations depending on the 

circumstances and requirements of other 

hosting institutions, this MOU will serve as a 

template. You can share the MOU with your 

general counsel or others in your institutions 

who are reviewing hosting issues. 

If you are interested in serving as a consultant 

or offering to host a consultant, or just need 

more information, please talk to Kevin 

[O’Toole, Director, Library and Customer 

Relations] or Larry [Blevins, Director of 

Education and Development] during the 

meeting or contact them after it is over. 

GPO ACCESS 10TH ANNIVERSARY 

As you know, the roots of the Federal 

Depository Library Program go back to 1813. 

GPO has been working to “Keep America 

Informed” since the program was transferred 

here in 1895. In 1993, GPO was authorized to 

begin online distribution of U.S. Government 

information and GPO Access was launched in 

June of 1994. So GPO Access has now 
AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

passed the 10 year mark for “Keeping 

American Informed”. 

Since its inception, users have retrieved more 

than 2 billion documents from GPO Access. 

Usage has increased from an average of 

20,000 retrievals a month in 1994 to an 

average of 34 million a month in 2004. Users 

have also downloaded a total of 195 terabytes 

of information from GPO Access, which is 

equivalent to more than 98 billion typewritten 

pages. 

COUNCIL AGENDA 

Finally, let me remind you that Council has a 

very full plate at this meeting, focused on a 

variety of important policy issues and 

planning documents. There has already been 

an excellent session on the future digital 

system for managing official Government 

content. Later today there will be sessions on 

managing the FDLP electronic collection and 

the initiative to digitize the legacy collection 

of U.S. government documents. 

Tomorrow morning we will begin with 

breakout sessions by library type to discuss 

two important topics, the priorities for 

digitization and incentives to remain in the 

FDLP, including an allowance for print on 

demand publications. Council will then 

discuss the Collection of Last Resort – which 

the regional documents librarians 

recommended renaming the National 

Collection of U.S. Government Publications. 

This would make its name parallel and 

complimentary to the National Bibliography 

of U.S. Government Publications, which the 

Council will also discuss. 

On Wednesday, Council will listen to a panel 

presentation on issues related to version 

control of U.S. government publications, and 

then discuss this important issue. You may 

recall that Bruce identified three major 

technological challenges for GPO to address: 

authentication, preservation and version 

control. We have made significant progress 

on digital signatures as a means of 

authentication (which will be discussed more 

fully during the GPO Access open forum)

and preservation. The sessions on Wednesday 

will help us focus on the challenges of

version control. 

CONCLUSION 

We have an exciting meeting ahead of us. 

This meeting will help GPO prepare for the 

work of the coming year. We will expand our 

efforts to plan for – and obtain materials from

the community for – the National Collection 

of U.S. Government Publications. GPO will 

work with you to begin the digitization of the 

legacy documents collection for both 

preservation and public access. We will begin 

cataloging of the retrospective (pre-1976) 

materials by conversion of our shelf list and 

other means, and we will pursue other 

initiatives to help you better mange the 

retrospective materials and make them more 

accessible to users in and outside of your 

libraries. 

Simultaneously, we will continue working 

with you on an orderly, but accelerated, 

transition to a digital FDLP, which will 

continue to cause depository librarians to 

change from managers of collections into 

managers of electronic services, a trend in 

libraries that is not limited to government 

documents. This transformation will change 

the ways that GPO acquires, preserves and 

provides access to electronic files. It will also 

require GPO to offer different services to 

depository libraries, including increased 

training and other support. We are eager to 

learn about services that you would like to 

have from GPO in the future. 

13
AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

Finally, the impact of the transition to a 

digital FDLP is already substantial and will 

become more substantial with the passage of 

time. So we have an urgent need to plan for 

the future of the Federal Depository Library 

Program and of GPO in order to ensure 

public access to authentic government 

information, now and in the future. I have 

said it before – and I will say it again now – 

we must “get out of the box” and take a fresh 

look at the mission we share and determine 

the best means to accomplish it. This meeting 

is an opportunity to explore options and begin 

to shape the future. I am looking forward to 

our discussions. 

Incentives Document 

Progress Report: How’s the Carrot Crop Doing? 

October 2004 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/staywiththeprogram.html 

BACKGROUND

To encourage depositories to remain in the 

Federal Depository Library Program, the 

Depository Library Council identified a 

number of services/added benefits that GPO 

could provide. Some of these were viewed as 

short-term (less than two years) 

implementation projects. It was recognized 

that others would require more time or need 

further study. With the addition of these 

services, the depositories will get a better 

return on their investment, their partnership 

with GPO will be strengthened, and the 

public will receive enhanced access and 

better services. 

Incentives that could be implemented 

within two years 

I. PROCEDURAL

Provide depository libraries with access to 

fee-based government information

database services. 

Databases identified as being of particular 

interest to the depository community include: 

Internal Revenue Service’s Business Master 

File, MILSPECS database, Davis-Bacon 

Wage Rate Database and Service Contract 

Wage Rate Database, NTIS database (pre1990), World News Connection, and 

EuroTrade Online. 

Of these to date, access to World News 

Connection, NTIS’ version of the DavisBacon Wage Rate Database, and PACER 

have been sought unsuccessfully. In seeking 

access to PACER, GPO sent a letter to the 

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) 

proposing free access to PACER from one 

workstation in every Federal depository 

library. While AOC did not reject the 

proposal, approval of the Judicial Conference 

was required. The proposal was sent forward 

to their Electronic Public Access Working 

Group for approval but was rejected. It was 

rejected on the grounds that they already 

provide free public access. They currently 

provide public access terminals in every 

courthouse, they don't charge for the first $10 

of searches, and people can apply for fee 

waivers. They have been authorized by 

Congress to charge a reasonable fee. 

GPO is continuing to work to seek access to 

these and other Government databases. 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

Create a GPO Web page listing accessible 

databases. 

Since the FDLP Desktop was launched in 

July 2000, there has been a Web page that 

lists all the databases to which GPO has 

negotiated access for Federal depository 

libraries. Some of these services no longer 

require passwords. The page will be updated 

as GPO negotiates access to more databases. 

The URL for this page is: 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/colldev/pw-serv.html. 

Allow certain titles, ephemera and posters 

to be more easily weeded. 

FDLP Guidelines for Determining 

Superseded Materials, which can be found on 

the FDLP Desktop at 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/colldev/supersede.html, give depository libraries 

some flexibility in using their professional 

judgment to discard materials not specifically 

addressed in the Superseded List. The 

Guidelines allow discard, before the five-year 

holding requirement is met, for the following: 

 Separates, slip opinions, slip laws, 

advance or preliminary reports only 

upon receipt of the bound volumes or 

cumulated issues or products; 

 Reprints, provided the library has 

received the original edition; 

 Publications upon receipt of a revised 

edition or an edition that states it 

supersedes. If a later edition is 

distributed through the Federal 

Depository Library Program or is 

otherwise available to the library, the

superseded edition can be discarded by 

the library, even though that library has 

since deselected the item number and 

does not possess the new edition; 

 Pages from loose-leaf publications that 

are replaced by new pages; 

 Transmittals, corrections, changes, 

errata, etc., to a basic text or manual 

that the depository has yet to receive,

are considered superseded and can be

discarded after being retained for one 

year; 

 Lists and indexes of publications of 

various agencies upon receipt of 

complete new editions. Small spot-lists, 

such as publication announcements, 

may be discarded 90 days after receipt; 

 Annual or biennial publications that 

merely revise information and bring it 

up to date, such as Index of 

Specifications and Standards, Light 

Lists, etc., upon receipt of a new issue. 

This permission does not apply to 

annual publications such as annual 

reports of departments and agencies, 

which cover the activities of the 

organization for a specific period of 

time; 

 Materials that have an effective 

expiration date, unless otherwise 

covered, may be discarded after 

expiration of the event. These items 

include, but are not limited to, press 

releases; dated posters; calendars; 

announcements of seminars, workshops, 

meetings, or events; announcements of 

products or publications; and grant 

applications; and 

 Materials that have been superseded by 

online versions. 

Notify depository libraries of new

electronic titles added to the FDLP. 

New Electronic Titles (NET) has made 

depository librarians aware of electronic-only 

titles within the FDLP since 2000. Archives 

are maintained as well. These are available 

from the FDLP Desktop at: 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/

net/. At present there is no e-mail notification 

of new online titles in the FDLP. One of the 

features of Ex Libris’ Aleph 500, the 

Integrated Library System that GPO 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

procured, is the ability for selective 

dissemination of information. The ILS team

is investigating how this might be used to 

notify the community of online titles added to 

the FDLP. A related service of interest is 

GPO-ELSALE, an awareness service of 

FDLP electronic titles that are available for 

sale. Subscribe, or search the GPO-ELSALE 

archive that dates from July 2000, by pointing 

your browser to: 

http://listserv.access.gpo.gov/archives/gpoelsale-l.html.

Publish, in Administrative Notes, the 1995 

memorandum on eliminating microfiche 

from future discard lists.

The 1995 memorandum on eliminating 

microfiche form future discard lists will be 

printed in the next edition of Administrative 

Notes. Many of the recommendations from

this memo were incorporated into the 2000 

revision of the Instructions to Depository 

Libraries. In Chapter 9 (Regional Services) 

section C Publication Disposal Process, 

regional depositories are given the option to 

“exempt specific categories or formats from

the disposal listing requirement.” The 

regional is given the discretion to decide what 

those categories or formats should be, taking 

into consideration the collections in their state 

or region. 

Add OCLC holding symbols for regional 

depositories.

Working with GPO, OCLC has begun to 

develop an automated process to set the 

holdings of the 53 regional depository 

libraries in bibliographic records contributed 

by GPO. This process will initially include 

records GPO creates “live” on OCLC and any 

records GPO may contribute for batchloading 

after the implementation of the ILS. The 

project is open to all regional depository 

libraries; the library may decide whether or 

not to participate. Regionals were given an 

opportunity to sign on to this project while at 

the fall conference. GPO expects to start 

adding these holdings in early 2005, or 

approximately 90 days after OCLC receives 

the list of participants. 

Provide branded recognition of 

GPO/FDLP electronic information. 

GPO is currently investigating the ability to 

provide branded recognition of authentic 

GPO/FDLP files from search results in 

Google and Yahoo. 

II. FUNDING

Allow depository libraries to purchase the 

print edition of the Serial Set from GPO 

Sales at a discounted price. 

GPO is exploring the possibility of 

depositories purchasing the Serial Set from

GPO at a discounted price. 

Provide depository libraries with 

allowances, discounts, and free shipping 

for Print on Demand (POD) services.

GPO has discussed the possibility of 

providing a POD allowance for depository 

libraries to be used as a tool to augment 

depository library collections with paper 

versions of depository titles. GPO is still in 

the process of evaluating different options but 

one possible scenario is that the depository 

library could use an allowance to quickly 

order and receive a printed copy of a 

publication regardless of its item number. 

The policies being developed for use of a 

POD allowance will permit libraries to order 

multiple copies, replacement copies, or to 

supplement item selections with print 

publications that are of interest. 

A survey of Federal depository libraries was 

conducted from September 8 to 27, 2004 to 

help gauge the future demand for print on 

demand (POD) publications. The survey 

presented two different hypothetical scenarios 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

and enabled GPO to gather data regarding the 

level of interest for a representative sample of

potential POD publications. For the purposes 

of the survey, the cost of each title was the 

estimated POD sale price, less a 25% (book 

dealer discount). 

The top titles identified by participating 

libraries as the most desirable for purchase 

with $500 POD allowance are: 

 Weekly compilation of Presidential 

Documents 

 Crime in the United States (annual) 

 Sourcebook of Criminal Justice 

Statistics (annual) 

 Condition of Education (annual) 

 Health, United States (annual) 

 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 

 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 

(annual) 

 Safeguarding Privacy in the Fight 

Against Terrorism. Report of the 

Technology and Privacy Advisory 

Committee, 2004 

 Where to Write for Vital Records 

(triennial) 

Complete survey results are on GPO Access

at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pod/pod_stats.

html. 

GPO has been testing potential vendors to see 

exactly what capabilities are practicable now, 

as well as investigating future POD 

capabilities. The results are encouraging in 

most cases and the ability to deliver quality 

reproductions through POD is available now. 

The goal for the application of POD in the 

FDLP would be to offer POD publications as 

close to the original quality as possible, 

without sacrificing the ability to use the 

information. Quality access to authentic 

Government information remains an essential 

goal to GPO and will always be considered in 

the deliberations of how POD could be used 

to benefit the FDLP. 

Samples from the vendor tests are available 

for viewing at the conference. Any questions 

regarding POD may be directed to Bill 

Grennon at wgrennon@gpo.gov. 

III. TRAINING

Reorganization of the Superintendent of 

Documents organization has allowed the 

creation of the Office of Education and 

Development, which will focus on 

education, training, and outreach. Dr. 

Larry Blevins, who has extensive 

experience in training and distance 

learning technologies, was hired to head 

this office. GPO is in the process of

hiring additional staff for this area. 

Produce a GPO PowerPoint for the Web. 

An Interagency Agreement (IA) was recently 

finalized, which provides a mechanism for 

producing Web-based tutorials and other 

training tools. Through this IA GPO will 

produce training materials in the use of GPO 

Access as well as for the community to assist 

with depository administration and 

operations. 

Provide small competitive grants for new

documents librarians to attend DLC and 

other GPO sponsored meetings.

GPO does not have grant-giving authority. 

GPO does have the ability to issue invitations 

to travel and will explore how this might be 

used to support training efforts for new 

documents librarians. GPO currently provides 

support to members of Council to attend the 

Fall Depository Library Conference and 

Depository Council Meeting and the Spring 

Depository Library Council Meeting. GPO 

has also provided support to representatives 

from the regional libraries for attendance at 

the regional meeting preceding the Fall 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

Depository Conference last year and is doing 

so this year as well. 

Support training for small non-depository 

libraries.

Once consultants are placed in the field 

through the Consultant Initiative, members of 

the community have suggested that training 

sessions be extended to non-depository 

libraries. Since GPO Access training has been 

provided to interested parties regardless of 

depository library affiliation, the expectation 

is that this will be the case in FDLP-related 

training conducted by consultants in the field. 

Non-depository libraries, or anyone with 

Internet access, will be able to use the Webbased tutorials once they become available. 

Provide training for new technology. 

The consultants in the field are expected to 

provide training as the FDLP moves toward 

an increasingly electronic dissemination 

service that may require additional 

technology-related skills from depository 

staff. 

INCENTIVE THAT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED 

WITHIN TWO YEARS THAT GPO NEEDS TO 

ADDRESS: 

 Add shipping list numbers to the map 

tubes 

 Provide a list of official electronic titles 

on GPO Access. 

 

INCENTIVES THAT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED 

BEYOND TWO YEARS

I. PROCEDURAL 

Clarify and simplify the “Instructions to 

Depository Libraries”.

The Instructions were reviewed to update 

links and contact information. The Office of 

Library Program Planning, responsible for 

policy for the FDLP, will be reviewing FDLP 

policies and administrative publications. 

Update the List of Classes.

Updating the List of Classes is an ongoing 

process. To facilitate identifying and deleting 

obsolete items, a file was generated of item

numbers for which nothing has been 

distributed within the last five years. The 

entire item number process will come under 

review as part of the ILS implementation and 

the development of the National 

Bibliography. 

Provide cataloging for pre-1976 cataloging 

projects.

GPO established a working group to develop 

a retrospective conversion plan for pre-1976 

publications. This project will be contracted 

out and GPO is in the process of conducting 

market research. Conversion record samples 

of shelflist cards, old Monthly Catalogs, and 

microfiche versions of the Monthly Catalog 

will be produced and used to help determine 

the strategic directions for the project. 

Statement of Work (SOW) drafting is in 

process. 

Provide credits to libraries that provide 

pre-1976 cataloging to GPO. 

GPO is exploring what type of credits or 

incentives could be provided to libraries for 

providing cataloging to GPO. 

Coordinate a list of retrospective 

cataloging projects. 

The 2003 Biennial Survey of Depository 

Libraries asked libraries to identify their 

retrospective cataloging activities. GPO is 

reviewing these results in relation to its 

retrospective conversion plans and this can 

become the basis for a “clearinghouse” of 

retrospective cataloging projects. 

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Create a consultant program based in 

geographically dispersed areas.

The Consultant Program, as envisioned, is for 

the consultants to visit selectives within their 

specified region and improve 

communications between the depositories and 

GPO as well as with their regional library and 

with each other. They will also assess

depository operations in a consultative spirit, 

identify and share best practices for 

depository management as well as provide 

training. It is expected that regional libraries 

will play an instrumental role in establishing 

the duties of the consultant, although the host 

institution does not have to be a regional. The 

consultant program resides in the Office of 

Education and Development. To date 

proposals have been received from: 

 Michigan 

 North Carolina/South Carolina/Georgia 

 Colorado/Arizona/New 

Mexico/Wyoming/Utah 

 California 

 New England 

 Kentucky/Virginia/Tennessee 

The first consultant will be placed in 

Michigan. The Memorandum of 

Understanding between Michigan and GPO 

was signed at the regional meeting this week. 

GPO is still accepting proposals. 

II. FUNDING 

Fund library school students for projects 

and/or clearinghouse of library school 

practicum.

GPO funded the use of library school 

students for the University of Arizona 

Electronic Depository Pilot Project, which 

was recently completed. In this project 

electronic titles were identified and 

systematically substituted for tangible titles 

they receive from GPO as a selective 

depository library. GPO is willing to consider 

other proposals. 

Provide cataloging records free to

libraries. 

At present libraries can download GPO’s 

cataloging records are available for 

downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board 

(FBB). When the ILS is implemented, 

libraries will be able to download records 

from the OPAC. The ILS Team is exploring 

how this service can be enhanced. 

Provide grants for equipment. 

GPO does not have grant-giving authority. 

Other projects guided by legal agreements, 

may provide opportunities for libraries to 

receive equipment. GPO is working with the 

University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff (UAPB) 

to test the feasibility of an Economic 

Development Program (EDP) for Federal 

depository libraries located in economically 

depressed areas. This pilot project, located in 

UAPB's Watson Library, seeks to create 

community awareness of existing Federal, 

state and county resources available for small 

business development in the local area. GPO 

has enhanced the depository's collections by 

providing a dedicated computer workstation 

and a customized Web page template with 

links to area economic development agencies, 

small business concerns and minority 

business services and opportunities. 

Provide funding for depository librarians 

to attend one FDLP meeting per year.

GPO does have the ability to issue invitations 

to travel and will explore how this might be 

used to support attendance at FDLP meetings 

for documents librarians. GPO currently 

provides support to members of Council to 

attend the Fall Depository Library 

Conference and Depository Council Meeting 

and the Spring Depository Library Council 

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Meeting. GPO has also provided support to 

representatives from the regional libraries for 

attendance at the regional meeting preceding 

the Fall Depository Conference last year and 

is doing so this year as well. 

Provide allowance for travel to support 

training at selectives. 

The intent of the Consultant Program is to 

place consultants in the field to bring the 

training to the selective depository libraries, 

both on-site at the hosting regional or 

depository library and at selective depository 

libraries within the consultants’ assigned 

regions. 

Develop web and video based training 

modules. 

The Office of Education and Development is 

planning to develop Web-based training 

modules covering the eight areas of the 

Instructions to Depository Libraries: 

Collection Development; Bibliographic 

Control; Maintenance; Human Resources; 

Physical Facilities; Public Service; 

Cooperative Efforts; and Regional Services. 

There will be capabilities to pre-test to 

determine existing knowledge and to posttest. The training will be available via the 

Internet twenty-four hours a day. An 

Interagency Agreement was recently

finalized, which provides a mechanism for 

assisting GPO to produce Web-based 

tutorials and other training tools. 

 

III. ARCHIVAL MATTERS

Digitization, preservation, legacy 

collections.

GPO’s mission is to provide comprehensive, 

timely, permanent public access to U.S. 

Government publications in all formats, 

which is carried out through the mandates of 

44 U.S.C. Chapters 19 and 41. This is a 

period of continuous development and 

change, both within and beyond GPO as 

procedures and mechanisms have been 

developed to manage both our digital and 

tangible assets. In recent months meetings of 

experts were convened and plans were 

developed and made available for comment. 

Highlights are below: 

The Collection of Last Resort (CLR) is 

comprehensive and includes publications of 

the Federal government, which are of public 

interest and educational value, regardless of 

format. Publications classified for reasons of 

national security and those produced solely 

for administrative or operational use are 

excluded by law from depository distribution. 

However, whenever possible administrative 

and operational publications will be acquired 

for the CLR, identified by metadata and 

included in the National Bibliography. Since 

the legal scope of the GPO Cataloging and 

Indexing Program is broader than that of the 

FDLP, some products will be included in the 

CLR solely because they are represented in 

the National Bibliography. The CLR will also 

serve as the repository for products from

future GPO business initiatives. The CLR 

consists of multiple collections of tangible 

and digital publications, located at multiple 

sites, and operated by various partners within 

and beyond the U.S. Government.

The CLR plan is online at: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/clr0

604draft.pdf

Ø Ø Ø

The second edition of the FDLP EC plan

incorporates advances in the theory, 

technology, and practice of managing digital 

collections. Much of the revision recognizes 

the reality of a program in which over 81% of 

titles are online, and that every title in FDLP 

will be available in digital format within five 

years. The EC is part of GPO’s Collection of 

Last Resort.

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This second-generation plan defines 

parameters and requirements for the EC, and 

refines the policy framework on which 

development and maintenance of the 

Collection are based. In managing the EC, the 

guiding principle that the public has a right of 

access to Government information prepared 

and published at Government expense is the 

same principle that has guided the FDLP 

throughout its history. 

The FDLP EC plan is online at: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/ecpl

an2004rev1.pdf

Ø Ø Ø

GPO is encouraging the movement toward 

shared repositories, or shared housing 

agreements, that allow libraries to eliminate 

some of the redundancy among their 

collections. Though still in the early stages, 

these initiatives are very important since they 

assure active preservation of the government 

documents collections in Federal depository 

libraries by moving toward a smaller number 

of comprehensive sets of tangible 

publications that can be more readily 

preserved. GPO contracted with Center for 

Research Libraries (CRL) for the 

development of a Decision Framework for 

Federal Document Repositories that can be 

used to evaluate the level of assurance 

provided by such repositories based on their 

physical characteristics, resources, 

governance and other factors. 

“Federal Document Repositories: Decision 

Framework by Tangible Repository Type” is 

online at: 

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs

/matrix_repository_type.pdf. This draft

document is open for comment until 

November 1, 2004. 

Ø Ø Ø

GPO is working with the library community 

on a national digitization plan with the goal 

of digitizing a complete legacy collection of

tangible U.S. Government publications held 

in libraries participating in the Federal 

Depository Library Program (FDLP). The 

objective is to ensure that the digital 

collection is available, in the public domain, 

for no-fee permanent public access through 

the FDLP. The project will ensure that the 

collection is digitally reformatted for 

preservation purposes. The digital 

preservation masters and the associated 

metadata will be preserved in the GPO 

electronic archive (in addition to any other 

places that the materials might be held) and 

there will be no-fee public access to the 

content through derivative files on GPO 

Access. 

For more information on GPO’s digitization 

and preservation initiatives, including the 

Report from the Meeting of Experts on 

Digital Preservation and the digital priorities 

survey results, see 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legacy/index.html. 

GPO could serve as a clearinghouse for 

digitization projects. 

GPO has been working with the Government 

Information Technology Committee 

(GITCO) of ALA GODORT. GITCO is 

transferring their Clearinghouse of 

Government Documents Digital Projects to 

GPO. GPO developed a matrix that compares 

various digital registry elements. 

Agree to take over a database of digital 

material if a library is no longer able to 

maintain the site. 

Standard language to this affect is included in 

all Memorandums of Understanding that 

relate to “official content” to which GPO 

agrees. 

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INCENTIVES THAT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED 

BEYOND TWO YEARS THAT GPO NEEDS TO 

ADDRESS: 

 Place SuDoc numbers on publications 

 Allow selection by title and not 

item/class number 

 Provide smart barcodes to be added to 

publications to allow scanning for 

discard lists 

 Develop a portal/template for electronic 

collections management

Readers Exchange 

Vernon Parish Library Displays WWII Posters 

The Vernon Parish Library in Leesville, LA 

recently mounted a display of historical 

World War II posters to showcase a part of 

their Federal Depository Library collection. 

The display was noted in the Libraries 

Southwest newsletter (Fall, 2004). 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

Readers Exchange 

Georgia Southern University Library Home Page 

Features FDLP Link 

The online home page for the Zach S. 

Henderson Library, Georgia Southern 

University, in Statesboro, GA, now features a 

prominent link to online government 

documents resources 

<http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/>.

Stephen L. Sexton, Government Documents 

Librarian, notes that this feature helps to 

promote the Henderson Library as a Federal 

depository library, and highlights the 

availability of online Federal government 

information resources through depository 

libraries. 

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AN-v25-#11-10/15/04 

Table of Contents 

Southern Oregon University Named 2004 Federal Depository Library of the Year.................... 1 

2004 Minimum Technical Requirements Effective October 1, 2004........................................... 3 

Depository Library Council Meeting Update, October 2004 ....................................................... 3 

Remarks of Superintendent of Documents, Judith C. Russell, Depository Library 

 Conference, October 18, 2004 .................................................................................................... 8 

Incentives Document, Progress Report: How’s the Carrot Crop Doing? ................................... 14 

Readers Exchange 

 Documents Promotion, Vernon Parish Library (LA) ............................................................... 22 

 Depository Promotion, Zach S. Henderson Library (GA)........................................................ 23 

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 

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