Public Documents

February 1982 Number 50 GP 3.27:50 Assistant Public Printer (Superintendent of Documents) U.S. Government Printing Office

Superintendent of

Documents Appointed

by Public Printer

On December 7th, 1981, the Public

Printer of the United States, Danford L. Sawyer, Jr., selected William J. Barrett as the new Assistant Public Printer (Superintendent of Documents). The for- mer Superintendent of Documents,

Carl A. LaBarre, has recently retired. Mr. Barrett brings more than thirty years of Federal Service to his new position. Beginning his civilian career with the United States Navy in 1949, he

served in a variety of posts including

Deputy Director of the Navy Publications and Printing Service Office, Deputy Administrative Officer, and Acting

Administrative Officer of the Navy. He came to the Government Printing Office in 1971.

He has served successively as GPO's

First Administrative Officer, establishing what was to become the Office of General Services, where he served as

Director. He also held the position of Special Projects Officer before his ap- pointment in 1974 as Deputy Assistant

Public Printer (Superintendent of Documents). He has been GPO's member of the Interagency Council on Printing and

Publications Services and its Secretary.

Numerous articles by Mr. Barrett have appeared in various publications;

and he has spoken before many organizations and at many universities. He

has also been a newspaper columnist,

radio announcer, and Golden Gloves

Boxing Champion. Mr. Barrett and his wife Betty have six children and reside

in Alexandria, Virginia.

Superintendent of

Documents Addresses

Midwinter ALA

[The following presentation was given

by Mr. William J. Barrett (Superintendent of Documents) to librarians meeting

January 24, 1982, in Denver, Colorado,

at the American Library Association's

Midwinter Convention.]

Thank you. Good afternoon ladies and

gentlemen!

I am particularly pleased that Eileen Cooke and Carol Henderson asked the

Public Printer, Dan Sawyer, and me to appear before this fine group.

I would like to share with you some of the things that we are doing at GPO

an update in keeping with the nature of

this annual session. My remarks will be brief, after which the Public Printer

will join me in fielding your questions. Mr. Sawyer will also be appearing on the

President's program panel on Tuesday.

This is my maiden flight wearing my

new Superintendent of Documents Stet- son, and I am pleased that it is with my

many librarian friends in ALA who have

given me tremendous support in my

previous position.

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One of the most creative developments

in the Depository Library Program during the past year came from initiatives taken by librarians in Missouri and New

Jersey. Like many other documents li- brarians they have been concerned with strengthening documents service in their states. To do this, they set about

drafting State plans designed to allocate

responsibilities and bolster service.

Our Depository Library Council was so impressed by this effort that they asked

the Public Printer to "investigate the

feasibility of requiring each State to prepare a plan to coordinate the Federal Documents Depository Program within each State."

In response to this, we approached the Association of Chief Officers of State

Library Agencies meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and we asked for their assistance and cooperation. Response

was excellent.

To date, twenty-three States have re- sponded by designating contact per- sons to coordinate documents support

plans within their States. This effort to strengthen depository services is a

qualitative leap which soon will provide

greater access to documents to more

Americans at less cost. Although the Government Printing Office is encour- aging the development of State plans,

full credit for them belongs to the li- brarians who are creating them.

I know that use of microforms is a subject of interest to most of you. GPO

began addressing the microform question about eight years ago, investigating the feasibility of producing microforms and identifying the kind and

quality most acceptable to the majority

of the library community. The decision was to use microfiche; and today we

believe we have one of the best sys- tems available, distributing high qualitv, second-generation diazo microfiche

yvith standard header information for access and retrieval.

Last year marked a new turning point

in the move to microfiche when for the

first time in memory even the appropriations committees of Congress

openly recommended conversion of more microfiche for the Depository Pro- gram. Prior to 1981, distribution in microfiche was the exception, microfiche

format is now the rule.

During fiscal year '81, 27,993 titles were converted to a microfiche format. This represented a 14 Y2 percent in- crease over titles converted and dis- tributed to depository libraries during

fiscal year '80.

With the assistance of the library community and the Depository Library

Council, we developed a microfiche conversion policy aimed at identifying cri- teria for publications which should re- main in hardcopy. A list of publications

to be converted has been reviewed by

Council librarians; and, at their suggestion, and suggestions of other con- cerned librarians, a number of publications were kept in hardcopy format. The move to microfiche has eased space

problems in libraries, made it possible

to actually house more titles, and pro- vided the taxpayers with dollar savings

along with greater access to docu- ments. Because of these factors, the

Library of Congress has now proposed

that distribution of Government documents to our 83 foreign library ex- change partners be made in approximately 90% microfiche, and 10% in hardcopy. This will allow the exchange

function to continue as a viable pro- gram and if any of the foreign countries

wish to supply their publications to the

Library of Congress with microfiche in- stead of paper in return, LC will be more than glad to accept.

As relates to the overall use of microfiche in the Government, we are currently preparing to approach the Office of Management and Budget with a pro- posal that will help reduce costs for es- sential Government publications by

providing a mechanism for Govern- ment agencies to publish in microfiche. Our proposal is to establish a GPO

"general purpose micropublishing contract" which can be used by all Gov- ernment agencies. It will enable them

to efficiently and cost effectively contract for microfiche production of the kind and quality used in the Depository

Library Program. Besides reducing publication costs, this approach will be a giant step toward Federal microfiche

standardization; providing standardized access and bibliographic control along with assuming maximum quality

and preservation attributes.

Another area we are exploring in order

to increase access to Government doc- uments involves developing a central

locator capability. At present there is no central point where either the public or Federal agencies can go to locate information about Government publications. Since the Government Printing

Office is charged by law to provide a

catalog of all Government publications, we are in a unique position to be re- sponsible for a central Federal locator data base to Government publications.

A long standing concern of libraries and publishers, in the United States and abroad, is for the use of international standard book numbers and in- ternational standard serial numbers in publications. Great Britain, and many

other nations provide these numbers

as a matter of course in their publications. They greatly facilitate sales and

distribution of publications.

GPO is taking a new look at this ex- pressed concern of the international li- brary community. Use of the ISBN may

be the identification device to provide a means for control to reduce unnecessary spending in the development and

printing of publications.

We intend to confer with OMB and the

Library of Congress during 1982 to see

if we can fully implement to ISSN pro- gram for Government serials.

Various refinements in our automated

systems are underway. One of these, the depository distribution information

system or DDIS, is scheduled for im- plementation this spring. DDIS is de- signed to streamline internal processing and improve services to depository

libraries.

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The depository distribution information

system has the capability of generating

a union list which will provide biblio- graphic and descriptive information

about publications going to depository

libraries, with an identifying number

for selecting depositories. For each active item it will provide the name of the

issuing body, class, stems and titles for all associated classes, and in most

cases, a description of the item like those which appear on survey cards. This information will be followed by de- pository library numbers for all select- ing depositories, including regionals.

Since library numbers are assigned by

state, e.g. 0387 through 0436B for New York, it will be easy to identify

selecting depositories in any given

state. An appendix will provide complete addresses and telephone numbers for all depositories. The union list of item selections will be produced

quarterly in microfiche format.

Another one of our ongoing automation

projects is our proposed cataloging

system, CATS for short. It is to be an

in-house, on-line cataloging system

which will decrease the lead time for the production of the Monthly Catalog,

enabling closer adherence to statutory

requirements. It will also provide

greater control of data, promoting ac- curacy and efficiency, increase productivity through automation of manua/

operations, and provide capability to participate in the sharing of data re- sources and cataloging input. We are

investigating a number of systems to be used in this effort and hope to have

CATS operational by late 1982.

Though faced with our usual year end

problems, we are going to make im- provements in the Monthly Catalog in order to make it a more efficient and

effective cataloging reference tool. A

new feature of the Monthly Catalog, in- troduced in 1980, was the KWIC index, now a permanent part of the catalog.

You will see a new compressed format

for bibliographic entries in the January

'82 issue. During 1982 we are going to explore the feasibility of issuing a microfiche catalog with cumulated indexes for improved bibliographic ac- cess. It should be an exciting year.

I don't recall what the dedication of the New Year for the Chinese is this year, but 1982 is shaping up in the library

world as the year of the Federal depository library program. With Government

agencies hard hit by budget cuts, many

are dropping their own distribution pro- grams and asking to come in on the

Federal program. The move is on to bring separate distribution programs

under the cost-efficient umbrella of the Federal Depository Library Program.

This year will see the GPO make an all- out effort to heighten public awareness

of depository libraries as the most effi- cient means of economically providing

useful information to the American

people.

Many of you have expressed some con- cern over the Public Printer's an- nounced proposal for closing all GPO

field bookstores as well as four such

stores in Washington, D.C. Accordingly, I'd like to take a few minutes to

try to allay those concerns and hopefully with Mr. Sawyer's help answer any

questions which you may have concerning the proposal.

As some of you may be aware, Mr. Sawyer brings to the office of Public

Printer a rich background in business

with special talent in marketing, advertising, and cost accounting. Drawing on

that background, he undertook a per- sonal comprehensive review of all GPO

programs even before his actual confirmation hearing was scheduled. As a

result of that review, he was aware that he would have to take some fundamental actions to make GPO the cost-effective and efficient operation intended by

the Congress when it created the agency. His primary concern was that programs intended by law to be financially self-sustaining, in fact be financially self-sustaining.

In reviewing the general sales program,

it was clear to Mr. Sawyer that the self- sustaining statutory mandate was far from being achieved. Indeed he found

that the sales program was subsidized

to the extent of $6.6 million in 1979,

$3.2 million in 1980, and $9.7 million

in 1981. It was clear that some immediate measures were needed to turn this adverse financial situation around,

while at the same time improving the

quality of service to the three branches

of Government and the public. Mr. Sawyer's analysis showed that a massive reduction in wasteful and very

costly inventory build-up was the most

aggressive initial step that had to be

undertaken and he ordered that on an immediate basis. Other strong measures were also immediately undertaken

to improve the financial posture of the

sales program. One such proposal was

the closure of the bookstores.

The basic reason for this action is that our out-of-town stores never have, do

not now, and never will serve more than

a small part of a few metropolitan

areas, and that they do this at an unjustifiably high cost. The fact is that the majority of Americans do not have

ready access to bookstores, and even if they did, the stores carry only 10 per- cent of the titles available.

Our contacts with the leading commercial booksellers tell us that they consider that a bookstore serves only those

people that live or work within a 4 to 6

mile radius of the store. Our mail order

system reaches the entire Nation.

It may be of interest to you to know

that Mr. Stanley J. Fenvessy, President

of Fenvessy Associates, Inc., a New

York management consultant firm specializing in retail distribution busi- nesses, has advised GPO that our mail- order processing now ranks among the top commercial mail order houses in the country. So it appears that GPO

should concentrate and improve on what it does best, and to rechannel its resources to increase public awareness

of Government publications and permit

the GPO sales program to operate on a

cost effective basis. We are about ready now to announce that with acquisition

of a new telephone system, we will place a credit card or deposit account

order in the mail 24 hours after receipt.

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The costs of operating the out-of-town bookstores are unjustifiably high be- cause inventory control, and the re- quired financial controls, are complicated and expensive with stock in 20

different locations. The mandatory surveillance of funds and inventory by our

auditors is time-consuming and in- volves travel and per diem costs. On

certain transactions GPO incurs double

shipping and packing costs: once, when

the books are sent to the store and

again when the store sends them to the customer. Recordkeeping alone is in- creased by a multiple of 20 times.

Thousands of commercial bookstores

are operating in cities throughout the country because that is their expressed

method of doing business. They do not choose to operate mail order houses.

GPO excels now in the mail order in- dustry and we should stick to what we

do best in order to make the sales pro- gram financially self-sustaining.

At the same time, Mr. Sawyer became

concerned that the best measures for reaching the public through mail order

sales were not being undertaken, and

that the public was generally unin- formed about the tremendous re- sources available through the depository library system. To overcome these

deficiencies, he proposes to invest 3

percent of gross sales—about $1.5

million of estimated sales revenues of $50 mjllion—in a strong marketing

program and for the first time in GPO

history, has created a marketing director's position on his own staff to over- see this effort.

His aim is to use the $1.5 million for in-house preparation and placement of marketing information directly with the media, taking maximum advantage of the considerable talents of GPO's

highly skilled design and graphics tech- nicians and the free public-service an- nouncements readily available in the

various communications media to a unique Government agency like GPO.

His belief is that this combination can be used to magnify the $1.5 million dollar expenditure to generate a marketing program equivalent to $8.5 million, or more, in commercial advertising. The program will promote both

mail order sales and public awareness

of the Depository Library Program.

I believe that there has been some misunderstanding concerning our promise

to promote the depository library sys- tem to the public. I believe that some

librarians think that we are expecting

depository libraries in cities where we

have bookstores to service customers who would have come to the bookstore. That is not our intention. We plan to pro- mote the hell out of creating an aware- ness of depository libraries. If they

know you are there, fine, maybe they

will come in and use your Government

documents. But if they want a copy to keep, we want them to know that we

can get it to them in the mail from

Washington in a reasonable timeframe.

Our new marketing director has com- menced plans for promoting depository

libraries. Already in the planning stage

is a public service announcement campaign which will inform the entire country of the vast storehouse of knowledge

available and waiting to be used in de- pository libraries.

I am not in a position to give you dates

that these announcements will begin in radio, television, print, outdoor, and

transit advertising, because we are awaiting an answer *rom the Advertis- ing Council to our request. If we fail to get Ad Council backing, however, we

are going to proceed with our own

resources.

Now, to show you that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is, I want to tell you that we have already

developed a liaison with NELINET

which had planned a campaign to stress the information services which

depository libraries provide free to the

public. NELINET formed a Government

documents task group and became a

client of the Boston University Ad Lab, a faculty non-profit directed model advertising agency. GPO is interested in this campaign. We have just learned

that Boston University has deferred

support for at least one year. Mr. Sawyer is very interested in the possibility of assisting in these kinds of campaigns and we have asked our general

counsel to look into the legality of such

assistance. Moreover, I believe that the Public Printer intends to ask our appropriations committees for specific authority for a new line item in our 1983

budget for 3 percent of our depository

appropriation to be devoted to marketing the depository program.

To those librarians who question the wisdom of closing a profitable bookstore, let me say that a specific bookstore can be profitable, and at the same

time GPO could be better off by closing

it. This is because, if the store is closed, the overall net profit to GPO

could be greater than it would if the

store remained open. In the case of the

out-of-town bookstores, closing them

will eliminate more costs than it does

revenue. Therefore, GPO is financially better off to close them.

And to those who have asked if GPO

plans to improve marketing, why not devote more marketing to bookstores, I say it would be an unwise allocation of marketing resources to promote sales through GPO's least cost-effective dis- tribution system.

The changes in the GPO sales program

that I have outlined, are analogous to those that are mandatory if a commercial enterprise is to survive. Successful

businesses, particularly those in retail sales, constantly monitor marketing

strategies to reduce distribution costs. They evaluate alternatives and select those that are most cost effective. This

is exactly what the Public Printer is doing. Now that we have automated our

order processing system, it is much

more efficient to operate from our central location where the customer has

access to every publication in the in- ventory, than it is through 20 out-of- town bookstores. This action by GPO is precisely what a prudent manager of a commercial organization would do to reduce cost and give better service. We

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should expect no less from a Govern- ment retail sales organization. In fact, such action is a solemn obligation that a Government manager has to the citi- zens he works for.

That concludes my presentation. I hope

that all of our friends in the library

community will support our effort to create more awareness to the public of

all Government documents, not just the few popular publications that our bookstores were able to offer.

As Dan Sawyer and I prepare to take your questions, I am reminded of General Custer's last words as he looked

out at the on-rushing Indians, turned

to his aide, and said, "Lieutenant, they

look friendly." Thank you!

Public Printer Speaks

to ALA and Librarians

World-Wide via Satellite

Broadcast Hookup

[Following are the remarks of the Public Printer of the United States, Mr. Danford L. Sawyer, Jr., at the ALA Midwinter Convention speaking on the

theme, "Marketing: A Key to Surviving

and Thriving," on January 26, 1982.]

Good morning. It is an honor for me to

join such distinguished colleagues on

your President's Program Panel. You

may not be aware of it but the ties that

exist between the library community

and the Government Printing Office go

back more than 100 years. Our Depository Library System, now serving more

than 1,300 libraries nationwide, was

formally established by Congress in 1895 and before that time—Govern- ment documents were provided to li- braries upon request.

Today, as your organization places a year long focus on "Marketing, A Key

to Surviving and Thriving," these ties to GPO can become even stronger. The

V

theme you have selected for 1982

could just as easily have been selected by me when I arrived at GPO this past

August. So, I am particularly delighted

to have an opportunity to serve on this panel and to explain to you what plans

I have in store for GPO, the Depository

Library System and our marketing

program.

As with many Government organizations these days, it is essential that GPO prove its need to exist. President

Reagan has made it quite clear that un- necessary programs and overhead have no home in his Administration. As a

part of that Administration, I wholeheartedly support the President's

goals. Therefore, it is one of my first responsibilities to prove the worth of such GPO efforts as the Documents'

Sales and Distribution Programs, or if their value cannot be substantiated, to eliminate them.

No one questions the American con- cept of the public's right to know. It is an idea rooted in the founding principles of our Nation. Libraries, as well as

the functions of a Superintendent of Documents, have been established in part to fulfill that need of our populace—without causing undue financial burden.

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But, a public unaware of what is ava/7- ab/e from their Government or from

their local library cannot be expected

to utilize even a minimum of these re- sources. This is where our marketing

effort must play a key role.

You may find it as hard to believe as I did—but until only a few months

ago—there had never been a marketing director in the 120-year history of the Government Printing Office. I have

created and filled that position with Donald Fossedal, who brings broad

marketing experience to the post.

Although only in its early stages of in- fancy, our marketing program has al- ready taken its first steps and we are

eagerly waiting its maturation.

I would like to give you some details of our program and proposals—especially

in those areas affecting the library

community.

First, it is my decision to close 23 of the 27 GPO bookstores nation-wide,

leaving open only four of those in the Metropolitan Washington area. On the surface this action may appear contrary to our goal of reaching more cus- tomers. However, we believe our alter- natives to the bookstores provide a far better means of reaching the public.

The original bookstore was opened in 1921 at the main GPO complex to fa- cilitate pickup of eagerly awaited publications such as the President's

Budget or the Congressional Record. It was never intended as an extension of our mail order operation, but only as a means of enhancing GPO's tradition of service to the governmental community.

When the first out-of-town bookstore was opened in Chicago in 1967, it was

a part of a cooperative experiment be- tween the Administrator of the General

Services Administration and the Public

Printer. Space was made available for the bookstore at no cost to GPO. In 1975, GSA was placed on a modified

revolving fund accountability program.

Overnight, GPO was faced with paying

high rental fees for its then more than

20 bookstores located in Federal buildings. With a mandate from Congress

that the GPO Sales Program break-even

or operate on a self-sustaining basis, I believe the bookstore experiment at that time in 1975 became an experiment that failed and should have been

terminated at that time. Closing the 20

out-of-town bookstores alone will save

over $1 million in operations expenditures, money which I believe can be far better utilized within our new marketing program.

In the past few years, automation ad- vances within the retail order processing system have given us the ability to process orders faster and better—with- out adding to our current staff. Therefore, the capacity exists right now in our mail order system to absorb 100

percent of the volume of bookstore or- ders with no increase in GPO retail or- der processing costs.

The key to this program is an informed

public, able to conveniently order the Government publications they desire. Eighty-three percent of GPO's sales are

to schools, businesses, and Government

organizations. These institutions buy

Government documents because they

need them and will continue to pur- chase these documents no matter whether it is through bookstores or di- rectly from Washington. The general

public makes 17 percent of our documents purchases, however, and it is to this audience that I want to direct the

majority of our marketing effort.

We plan to invest 3 percent of our gross

sales of about $50 million directly in marketing, a commitment of $1.5 million annually. Although commercial enterprises often invest as much as 10

percent of their annual gross in advertising, we believe that our unique status

as a Government agency provides us

with certain advantages not available

to the commercial sector and which

should make our 3 percent investment

adequate.

I would like to briefly outline our documents marketing plan for you, as we

envision it unfolding. It is appropriate

that I start with our public service campaign which we plan to conduct in two primary areas. The first of these campaigns will be directed to the general

public describing the wealth of infor- mation available for sales from the Su- perintendent of Documents. It will be

an all encompassing generic-type campaign—an effort to make the entire population aware of the Government's doc- ument sales program. We will have to pay initial production and distribution

costs, but media time and space is made

available as a public service.

The second public service announce- ment campaign will be keyed to promulgating the existence and use of the nationwide Depository Library System.

It is a campaign effort we believe will be mutually beneficial to your libraries and to our sales program. With the public made more aware of the Depository

Library System, use of these library

facilities should increase measurably. As this use increases, we hope the public will find enough interest in the vari- ous publications they find in the librar- ies to want to purchase some of them

for themselves.

I am going to take the opportunity right now to ask for your support in this effort. We already have a brochure in the production stages describing the Depository Library System which we would

like for you to display and distribute throughout all your libraries. We have

included the means for each library to personalize the brochures for their individual use. In conjunction with radio and television public service tapes

which we will also provide, libraries should be able to mount their own local- ized marketing program—at no real ex- pense to them, at little cost to us, and

to the mutual benefit of us both. In addition, a generic counter card and

holder have been developed as a part

of our overall marketing effort for dis- play in libraries. These are programs,

that our marketing director would like to see underway in the very near future.

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There are several other major marketing ideas which we have already adopted

or plan to initiate in the near future which I thought you might be interested

in hearing of, even though they less di- rectly affect the library community.

In the past we have sold small numbers of publications through commercial bookstores, offering our 25 percent

discount rate. By increasing our dis- count to the 40 percent traditional to

this industry, we have reason to believe you will soon be seeing separate

"Government" sections in many commercial bookstores. In this way hundreds of stores, carefully situated to meet the needs and interests of the customer, can far surpass the job we

were able to accomplish in a meager

20-some Government bookstores. I will seek Congressional approval of a change in Title 44 to allow us to offer the traditional 40 percent discount.

There are other commercial outlets in which we intend to expand. Already we

have had success placing carefully se- lected documents in such places as

Walt Disney World, Presidential libraries, military exchanges, and the Air and

Space Museum in Washington. Skilled market research should enable us to

utilize these unique kinds of establish- ments for specialized sales efforts and we have no reason to believe that we

need stop with this country. There are obviously specialized foreign markets

eager to handle some of our publications as well.

Our entire Documents catalog program

has been revamped. We hope to put into publication very soon a new 64 page

catalog of our best selling items. It will be issued quarterly, only to those who

request it in writing. A very simple publication, which will come out every 2

months, will provide the titles of any new publications and any annotations

when necessary for subject clarification.

There are at least three remaining areas which we believe will add enormously to our public exposure while costing very

little in terms of valuable marketing and

taxpayer dollars.

The first area involves a variety of di- rect mail campaigns. We are fortunate

to have developed what we call a Notifi- cation Key series which contains over 300,000 addresses organized into 86

categories of interest. With the use of inexpensively produced promotional fly- ers, we should be able to get information on certain titles in the hands of those individuals or organizations most

interested in them.

Even simpler is a plan to place inserts

in filled orders, describing publications

in the same field as those purchased by

the subscriber. In this way information

is sifted to individuals with an ac- knowledged interest in a particular area and with no separate mailing cost in- volved.

This diagram points out the ability we

will have to cross-match our promotional vehicles with the various market

segmented lists. It is our example of the "Rifle" approach to marketing

rather than the "shot gun" approach.

We should be wasting very little ammunition by reaching specific customers

with information on specialized publications and that, of course, is one of our goals.

The second area involves the use of organization newsletters, often an im- portant link between headquarters or management and any number of pro- fessional associations, civic organizations, or large corporations. For some

time, we have received continuing cov- erage of some of our publications in such well-known commercial vehicles as

the "Kiplinger Letter" and the "U.S. News Washington Letter". We hope to expand this avenue for sales, reaching

special interest newsletters with infor- mation on publications in their field of

interest on a regular basis.

One of the best of the low-cost, high- return marketing efforts is potentially the DIALOG service provided by the Lockheed Corporation. Over 13,000 or- ganizations currently subscribe to the

service providing on-line access to over 100 bibliographic data bases, including

GPO's publications reference file. Subscribers include special and public li- braries (as I am sure you know), busi- nesses, research firms, and information

brokers. Adding to our utilization of the

service to include DIALORDER, a seg- ment of the DIALOG program, GPO's entire inventory will be made available for on-line ordering. In a 1-day test with DIALORDER, over 500 orders were re- ceived. We easily envision sales of over $1 million annually through this service which can provide 72-hour delivery time on publications requested by professional customers through DIALORDER.

As you can no doubt tell, our new marketing office has been extremely busy

and its work has really only begun. My

fellow colleagues here have already

given me some other ideas today which

I am eager to carry back to the Office. As I pointed out earlier, one of the keys

to making our effort successful lies in making the American public aware

of the fine Depository Library System

available to it. We at GPO will be doing

all we can to give you help in marketing

this system in each of your individual libraries—and I hope we can count on

your support as well. Working together

in this area, I don't see how we can fail to attain our joint goals of bringing more

individuals to our libraries and providing

them with the vast resources available from their Government.

Thank you again for inviting me to join

in this panel today.

7
Depository Library

Council To Meet In

Historic Boston,

Massachusetts

The Depository Library Council to the

Public Printer will hold its Spring meeting where America's struggle for inde- pendence began, Boston Massachusetts. Registration will begin on Sunday, April 25th, with an informal get- together for first-time attenders, new

Depository Librarians, as well as old hands. Meetings will take place on April

26th, 27th, and 28th, with special emphasis on the progress of state plans

designed to strengthen the Depository

Library Program. The place will be:

The Boston Park Plaza

Hotel and Towers

Arlington Street at Park Plaza Boston, Massachusetts 02117

Everyone interested in depository li- braries is most welcome to attend and

participate. A block of single rooms has

been reserved especially for librarians. Reservations should be made early as

the Spring season sees visitors walking

the Freedom Trail, knocking on the door

of Paul Reveres House, or crossing

the gangplank of the U.S.S. Constitution. Special rates will be available to those travelling with Government or- ders, or with Government identification,

specifying attendance at the Council

meeting and registering by April 5th. Just call the Reservation Desk at either the toll-free number, (800) 225-2008,

or the regular number, (617) 426-

2000; and for any special needs ask for Ms. Donna Millis, Reservation Director.

List of Items Praised

[GPO has received an enthusiastic re- sponse from depository librarians using

the LIST OF ITEMS produced last year. The following letter, which mentions

how the LIST was utilized, is typical.

We very much appreciate the kind

words.]

Thanks to the producer of the LIST OF ITEMS FOR SELECTION BY DE- POSITORY LIBRARIES (GP 3.22:981/

1). It has helped us greatly in updating

our item selection cards with the proper

classes and titles.

Bravo! and Thanks!

Sincerely yours, Henry Terrill Documents Librarian Harding University

Searcy, Arkansas

New Deputy Assistant

Public Printer Appointed

Assisting GPO's new Superintendent

of Documents will be Mr. Michael F. Di- Mario. The Public Printer has selected him to be Deputy Assistant Public

Printer (Superintendent of Documents).

Mr. DiMario has worked with the

Government Printing Office since 1971

and has held a number of posts, in- cluding: Personnel Staff Assistant, Assistant Administrative Officer, Director

of General Services, Labor-Management

Specialist, and Deputy General Counsel.

He is a graduate of Davis and Elkins College and Georgetown Law School,

holding degrees in history/political sci- ence, and law.

8
Regional Progress

Takes a New Turn

1981 witnessed little outward change

in states lacking regional depository

service. There were no new regional

depositories added during the year. However, with more than half the states working on state plans supportive of the depository library program, new

developments are possible.

One leader in the state plan move- ment is Missouri, which lacks regional

service. The Government Printing Office is carefully studying their state plan which calls for shared responsibility for regional service. Missouri librar- ians may very well have come up with the solution to meet their needs.

Monthly Catalog Corner

The "bibliographic data sheet" as it relates to cataloging has recently been

an item of concern at GPO and other

agencies. For those libraries which fol- low GPO cataloging practice, we would

like to clarify our position regarding the "bibliographic data sheet" (also known

as "technical report documentation

page," "technical report data," "report

documentation page," etc.). Under AACR 1, the Government

Printing Office, in an agreement with the

Library of Congress and the Joint Committee on Printing, had treated the "bibliographic data sheet" as a prescribed source of information. When GPO

switched to AACR 2 in October 1980,

however, GPO personnel in charge of cataloging policy wished to adhere as

THE MOST ATTRACTIVE BOOTH AT MIDWINTER ALA in Denver, Colorado, where LSDS

staff member Joe Mahar displayed GPO publications and answered questions. He is seen here with Librarian Victor Schormann of Northern Illinois University's Founders

Memorial Library.

strictly as possible to the new rules. The AACR 1 policy was therefore not

carried over to AACR 2. AACR 2 places great stress on pre- scribed sources of information for the

different areas of the bibliographic description. For the title, statement of responsibility, and edition statement for books,

the designated prescribed sources of in- formation are defined as the title page, other preliminaries, and the colophon.

The AACR 2 glossary defines the pre- liminaries as "the title page or title pages of an item, together with the verso of each title page, any pages pre- ceding the title page/s, and the cover." The "bibliographic data sheet" per se

is not included as a prescribed source, although it fortuitously becomes one in some documents, when printed as part

of the cover, or when bound in front

of the title page. Except in those cases, GPO does not

treat the "bibliographic data sheet" as

a prescribed source of information for the title, statement of responsibility,

and edition areas. However, two im- portant pieces of information frequently

appear on the bibliographic data sheet: the contractor and the contract number.

GPO will include both of these items in the cataloging record. In addition, the name of the contractor will appear in the Monthly Catalog author index, and

the contract number will appear in the

series/ report number index. GPO is therefore following AACR 2 regarding

prescribed sources for the title and edi- tion fields, but is using the "biblio- graphic data sheet" as a supplementary

source of information for other fields.

9
Document Reviews

[HIGHLIGHTS welcomes short reviews

by depository librarians of significant recent documents. Just send them

typed double spaced to the Editor. Our most recent contributions are by,

respectively, Dr. Annie E. Mills, Docu- ments Librarian, The University of Mississippi; Ms. Ann Bevilacqua, Ref- erence/Documents Librarian, Fackenthal Library, Franklin and Marshall

College; and Ms. Faye Finlay, Docu- ments Librarian, Otto G. Richter

Library, University of Miami/Coral

Gables.]

Fort Huachuca: The Story of a Frontier

Post. By Cornelius C. Smith, Jr. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government

Printing Office, 1981.) Pp. xvi, 417.

Paper. $8.00. D 101. 2:F 77hu. Item

No. 325. (Available through GPO, Stock

Number 008-020-00872-9.)

This book is a history of one of the most interesting old forts in the Southwest. "Fort Huachuca, Arizona,

is a unique and colorful place. Given

its location, character, and the re- markable things which have happened

there through the years, it could

scarcely be otherwise. Born of necessity, nurtured in hardship, and vulner- able to savage attack in its formative

years, the post served courageously to protect an ever-increasing influx of

settlers into a wild and fearsome

territory."

Captain Samuel Marmaduke Whitside

chose the site for what was to become

Fort Huachuca on March 3, 1877.

There was a good supply of grass and

water; and the site commanded a beautiful and, at the same time, a

strategic view. It began as a camp, but was later designed as a fort. It was

established to protect settlers in the

region. From this fort men were later to sally forth and chase Geronimo,

Pancho Villa, and a "good" Indian turned "bad," the "Apache Kid."

The author has told of the estab- lishment and development of the fort, as well as written of the men who

commanded and led at Huachuca. He

has described the post from the time

it was in a wilderness country to the time it became a thriving post of many

buildings and streets. Events surrounding the Indian pursuits are described,

along with the roles played at Huachuca

by the Buffalo Soldier and the Indian Scout. During the century-long history of the fort there were times when it seemed no longer needed. One such

occasion was following World War II. But the fort did not cease to be, instead

it entered the era of electronic warfare.

In this way the fort which started out as a camp to protect settlers evolved

into a communications center vital to the security of the nation. The book is well illustrated with photos and maps. There are repro- ductions of documents, an extensive

bibliography, a list of post commanders, hospital commanding officers, major units stationed at the fort, and

a chronology covering the period from

1540 to 1975. This makes interesting

reading for anyone who enjoys history or learning about historic places.

10
Food Problems and Prospects in SubSaharan Africa: The Decade of the 1980's. A Report by the Africa and

Middle East Branch, International Economics Division, Economic Re- search Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.)

Pp. xviii, 293. Paper. A 105.22:166.

Item No. 42-B. (Available in Depository Libraries, not for sale by GPO.)

The balancing of world food production to meet the needs of the world's population is a topic of great concern

in many of the developed nations of the world. The United States Department of Agriculture has studied this problem in their recently released Food Problems and Prospects in SubSaharan Africa: The Decade of the 1980's. The region south of the Sahara

faces the critical problem of having a population which has outstripped food

production for the past two decades.

This study, compiled by country ex- perts and supplemented by visits to several of the countries, covers the

causes, consequences, and future ex- pectations of this crucial world food

problem.

In-depth analysis of the food supply

and demand is done for each region.

There is a comprehensive report of poli- cies affecting food supply with a lengthy

discussion of models, projections, and

scenarios. The study is supplemented

by various tables, figures and appendices, all of which greatly enhance the

usefulness of the work. It is technically

marred somewhat by the omission of an

index. On the whole, it is an impressive and

timely study of an important issue; and

it deserves to be in any college or uni- versity library which supports a pro- gram in the social sciences.

Subject Index to Current Population Reports. (Current Population Reports

Series P-23, Special Studies, No. 109.)

By Thelma Hall and Catherine O'Brien

(Washington, D.C.: Commerce Depart

ment, Census Bureau, Data User Serv

ices Division, 1981.) Pp. 49. Paper

$3.25. C 3.186:P-23/109. Item No

142-C. (Available through GPO, Stock

Number 003-001-91522-7.)

This work is an excellent resource to access one of the most important sources of information for population

and a wide variety of topics. For the

first time, a full bibliographic inventory of the Current Population Reports,

1945-1980, has been undertaken (ex- cepting reports in the Special Censuses

Series).

The index is divided into twenty sections. Each section is preceded by a concise introduction which gives perti- nent information about what is offered

in that particular P-Series. Each indi- vidual publication is listed by subject,

series number, year covered, area or

level of coverage, and title. Anyone who

uses this work will find in it a valu- able too!, a time-saver, and a ready

resource.

11
On Caring

for Microfiche

During 1982, depository libraries can

expect to see an increase in the volume

of microfiche coming from the Govern- ment Printing Office. Regional depositories, which receive everything in the Depository Library Program, may ex- pect about 28,000 titles, and should

plan to allocate some 93 linear feet of

file space. The average selective de- pository library is likely to choose 30%

of this output, or about 8,400 titles for the year. An allocation of 28 linear feet

of file space will meet this need.

In caring for microfiche, one should

begin by remembering the three types:

diazo, vesicular, and silver halide. Know

what kinds your library presently has

and is receiving. It is not easy to tell them apart by sight; however, a film expert or a chemist can test to tell which

is which, if necessary. The expert will also point out that diazo and vesicular

fiche are generally on a polyester base,

whereas the silver fiche contain silver halides suspended in gelatin generally on an acetate base. Different proce- dures for storage and handling will en- hance life of each type of microfiche.

DIAZO. The Government Printing Office,

through its Depository Library Program,

sends out diazo microfiche. These fiche,

when properly cared for, are quite dur- able and can last 50 years or longer.

They stand up well to patron use and

are resistant to high temperatures

(100°F). However, ultra-violet light will damage the image, as will leaving them

exposed on a window sill for a month.

Storage is best in acid free cardboard

boxes with covers, and/or being loosely

packed in metal filing cabinets. Uncovered fiche collect dust and can be

scratched or stick together.

VESICULAR. Although the Government

Printing Office does not produce vesic- ular microfiche, it does receive some

from Government agencies and dis- tributes them. Vesicular microfiche

should be stored separate from both

diazo and silver halide in their own file cabinet.

SILVER HALIDE. At one time, the Gov- ernment Printing Office sent silver halide microfiche to Regional depositories only. Many firms sell silver halide microforms and stress their archival

quality. Ironically, silver halidefiche best

retain archival quality if rarely used. But frequent use with ungloved hands

will wear them quickly. A number of conditions need to be met to help silver halide fiche retain archival standard.

(1) Store the fiche in a room that is under 80°F and with 20%-

40% humidity. Air conditioning

is appropriate.

(2) Store the silver fiche in a dif- ferent room or in separate cabi- nets from diazo or vesicular

fiche.

(3) Don't use rubber bands on any

fiche, but especially not on sil- ver. Rubber emits sulphur di- oxide and provokes color spots

called measles.

(4) If you paint a room, remove all fiche beforehand and let the room air for two weeks before

bringing the fiche back.

(5) Make sure envelopes, boxes,

and dividers are acid free.

(6) Avoid plastic boxes which can

adversely affect fiche.

(7) Avoid keeping fiche in rooms

near photo copiers and chemical duplicators.

(8) A storage vault might best protect silver fiche from urban and

industrial air pollution, gas fumes, etc.

GENERAL CARE. The envelopes which

hold GPO microfiche are acid free, as

are inserted dividers. If you wish to write on an envelope with ink, or use

a rubber stamp, acid free ink should

be used. Before writing on an envelope, remove the fiche. This will avoid making an impression on the fiche. If it becomes necessary to wash microfiche, approved film cleaners should be

used. Lastly, testing the library's fiche every two years is a good idea. Examine

1% °f y°ur collection; note in a log- book the fiche examined and their condition. Try to discover the causes

of any problems and take corrective

action.

EQUIPMENT. The National Micro- graphics Association (8728 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910;

PHONE: (301) 587-8202) regularly

updates and sells a booklet entitled,

How to Select a Microform Reader or Reader Printer. They carefully describe

the features librarians should consider

when selecting equipment. Bear in mind that GPO microfiche use magnifications of 24X and 48X.

Should you have any further questions, feel free to write to the Library

Division, or call Mr. Duke Spence,

Chief, Micrographics Section, at (703)

557-1100. Remember, proper care and

use of microfiche will save both space

and money in the days ahead.

12
L

[Depository librarians' ideas are al- ways welcome in HIGHLIGHTS and are

very much appreciated by documents

people. An example of this is the re- sponse to two such shared ideas which

appeared in our August 1981 issue. Keep those good suggestions coming!]

Dear Friends:

I thought it was time to drop a note thanking you for the great suggestion

of making pamphlet boxes out of GPO depository shipment boxes, which was printed in PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

HIGHLIGHTS.

We use the system all the time now. Your boxes really work better than the expensive "store-bought" cardboard pam boxes, of which we could never get enough anyhow.

The only people not happy with the system are the mailroom personnel,

who liked to use GPO boxes for inter- library loan, for shipments, etc.

Sincerely, Mrs. Carolyn W. Kohler Head, Government Documents

The University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, Iowa

Public Documents Highlights is cir- culated bi-monthly by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402, and is mailed at first class postage rates. Public Documents Highlights

is intended primarily for librarians of the Federal Depository Library Program.

Material proposed for circulation may

be submitted to the Editor, Public

Documents Highlights, Library and

Statutory Distribution Service, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20401. The Superintendent of Documents, however, retains the right to accept such material, to edit it, and

to assign priorities of circulation.

New Depository

Libraries

We would like to welcome the follow- ing libraries which became depositories

during 1981:

U.S. Department of the Interior Alaska Resources Library

Anchorage, AK 1051

University of Alaska-Juneau

Juneau, AK 0020A

U.S. Court of Appeals

9th Circuit Los Angeles, CA 1052

Yale Law School Library

New Haven, CT 0076A

District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Library

Washington, DC 0099A

John Marshall Law School Library

Chicago, IL 0157A

Harvard Law School Library

Cambridge, MA 0261A

Mississippi College Library

Clinton, MS 031 1A

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, NE 0344A

Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community

College Library

Long Island City, NY 0409A

Columbia University

School of Law Library

New York, NY 0405A

University of Toledo

College of Law

Toledo, OH 0486A

South Texas College of Law Library

Houston, TX 0609A

George Mason University

School of Law Library

Arlington, VA 0640A

U.S. Court of Appeals

9th Circuit

Seattle, WA 1053

University of Wisconsin

Law Library

Madison, Wl 0663A

DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION FOR THE YEAR 1981

Shipment Paper Copy Microfiche Bills Surveys

January 164 . . . 2,169 . 1,542 . . 633 . . . 40

February 101 . 1,905 . . 1,301 . . 478 . . . 38

March . 130 . . 2,565 . . 1,265 . . . 1,383 . . . 24

April .120 . . . 2,054 . 1,245 . . 2,014 . . . 30

May 101 . . . 2,031 1,632 .

\ . 395 . . . 12 June 101 . . . 2,169 . 1,911 . . 483 . . . 17

July . . 169 . . . 2,002 . 2,197 . . 464 . . . 14 August . 155 . . . 1,925 . 1,719 . 30 . . . 16

September 122 . . . 1,525 . 1,301 . . 0 . . . 7 October 112 . . . 1,522 . . . -840 . 0 . . . 2 November . 134 . . . 1,254 . . 1,318 . . 0 . . . 4

December . 95 . . . 1,243 . . 1,044 . . 0 . . . 7

Totals . 1,504 . . 22,364 . . . 17,315 . . . 5,880 . . . 211

Active Item Numbers in the Program (December 1981)

Number of Titles Processed (Calendar 1981) .

5,401

45,559

13