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Library Services & Content Management

FY2010 YEAR IN REVIEW
Table of Content s

1	 Welcome Letter

3	 Federal Depository Library Program

14	 Cataloging & Indexing Program

17	 By-law Program

18	 International Exchange Service (IES)

19	 A Look at Metrics

19	 Looking Ahead to FY 2011
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Welcome Letter from the Direct or of LSCM

Dear FDLP Partners:

As FY 2010 comes to a close, we want to share with you this year’s major accomplishments within 

Library Services and Content Management (LSCM). The initiatives highlighted here not only reflect the 

progress made in FY 2010 but serve to map LSCM’s work toward the future of the FDLP.

LSCM is responsible for the current and future access to published U.S. Government information. Operations are divided into four main categories: (1) the Federal Depository Library Program, 

(2) Cataloging & Indexing, (3) Distribution of Government publications to the International Exchange 

Service, and (4) Distribution of certain Government publications to Members of Congress and other 

Government agencies, as mandated by law. In this Year in Review, you will read about accomplishments in all four areas. 

As GPO continues to transform for the future, we maintain our steadfast commitment to Keeping 

America Informed and permanent public access. We do that, in part, through our strong partnership 

with the Federal depository library community. 

As always, thank you for your continued commitment to the Federal Depository Library Program. 

Best Regards,

Ric Davis

Director, Library Services & Content Management
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Federal Depository Library Progra m

The FDLP continues to provide the public with access 

to U.S. Government publications in tangible documents 

maintained by designated Federal depository libraries and with direct online access through the Federal 

Digital System (FDsys) at www.fdsys.gov. The following FY 2010 accomplishments are in direct support of 

the FDLP.

The Federal Digital System (FDsys)

FDsys automates the collection and dissemination 

of electronic information from all three branches of 

government. 

Information is:

• Submitted directly into FDsys

• Permanently available in electronic format

• Authenticated and versioned

• Publicly accessible for searching and downloading

FDsys is a Content Management System

• FDsys securely controls digital content 

throughout its lifecycle to ensure content 

integrity and authenticity

FDsys is a Preservation Repository

• FDsys follows archival system standards to 

ensure long-term preservation and access of 

digital content

FDsys is an Advanced Search Engine

• FDsys combines extensive metadata creation with 

modern search technology to ensure the highest 

quality search experience

FY 2010 saw immense progress toward the completion of FDsys. The foundational system has been 

put into place, along with the Content Management 

System, Preservation Repository, and search 

component. 

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Federal Depository Library Program

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All 40 GPO Access content collections have been 

migrated to the system. 

Full system failover is expected by the end of 

December 2010. At that time, FDsys will become 

the electronic system of record, and GPO Access will 

be shut down. Until then, the two systems will run 

in parallel. 

FDLP Consultant

LSCM is continuing the strategic planning process for 

the future of the FDLP. Identified goals are to determine a sustainable model or models for delivering 

FDLP collections and services to the American public 

in the digital era and ensuring the public has systematic and secure access to Federal Government information in the 21st century and beyond.

The desire for an informed and impartial consultant to perform program modeling has broad support 

across the depository library community and was articulated in a recommendation by the Depository Library 

Council after its Spring 2009 meeting. GPO sought and 

received funding for library program consulting and 

modeling services. Following the Federal procurement 

process, Ithaka S + R was awarded the contract. 

Authentication

To help meet the challenge of the digital age, GPO has 

been implementing digital signatures to electronic 

documents on GPO Access and FDsys that not only 

establish GPO as the trusted information disseminator, 

but also provide the assurance that an electronic document has not been altered since GPO disseminated it.

A digital signature, viewed through the GPO 

Seal of Authenticity, verifies document integrity and 

authenticity on GPO online Federal documents, at no 

cost to the customer. 

FDsys is continuing with the essential work of 

authenticating U.S. Government online publications 

that began with GPO Access. 

A workshop was hosted at GPO in June 2010 pertaining to Document Authentication. GPO stakeholders 

from the library community, academia, and Federal 

Government agencies were invited to attend. The 

objective of the workshop was to facilitate input from 

stakeholders related to:

1. User community requirements for different 

levels of authentication assurance on the same 

content (some parties willing to use less robust 

means and others requiring the current digital 

signature approach). 

2. Standards and techniques that should be used 

for native XML authentication. 

3. Standards and techniques that should be used 

for “Chain of Custody” (if content originators 

support it). 

4. User community requirements for “Granular 

Authentication”. 

This fall, GPO plans to host an Industry Day to 

gather information on technology options for XML 

digital signatures that would be of use to GPO and our 

end user community and stakeholders.

GPO continues to be a leader within the Federal 

Government for document authentication. The transcripts and summary documentation from these 

events is available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

authentication/.

Legacy Systems Modernization

GPO has made significant progress related to the 

migration, enhanced stabilization, and failover capabilities for GPO legacy systems. Funding was received 

for FY 2010 to begin this work and has also been 

requested for FY 2011 to continue these initiatives. 

GPO is continuing to make progress on the migration of all legacy applications to current and stable 

hardware solutions. The WEBTech Notes migration 

GPO continues to be a leader within

the Federal Government for document

authentication.
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was completed in the spring of this year, followed by 

additional enhancements enabled for more efficient 

workflow processing. 

Additionally, the PURLs migration was completed 

in the fall of this year, enabling full implementation and 

launch of the enhanced application. This transition has 

many benefits. The system architecture is more robust, 

which transitioned from a flat text database file to a 

SQL database. The system now completes immediate 

system back-up through synchronization and engages 

in immediate system failover, with geographically 

separated primary and backup servers. Other benefits 

include statistical reporting, Web referral reporting, 

and improved speed for resolution of redirects. 

For the Lighted Bins and Federal Bulletin Board 

(FBB) legacy systems, GPO has enabled enhanced 

back-up and failover systems. Likewise, cross-training 

has been conducted on the maintenance of mainframe 

systems to ensure continuity of operations and to fully 

document current workflow processes to enable overall 

system migration. 

A capability mapping was completed based on 

current GPO enterprise systems for the Requirements 

Document that encompasses requirements for migration of the following legacy systems: DDIS, ACSIS, 

ADDS, Item Lister, and Amendment of Item Selection. 

The new system will be called “Library Information 

System Transformation (LIST).” In addition, a statement of work (SOW) was developed and released to 

vendors, with a contract award made in September of 

this year.

PURL Architecture Migration

GPO initiated the use of persistent uniform resource 

locators (PURLs) to provide permanent URLs to 

Federal publications in January 1997. In its use 

of PURLs, GPO identifies digital publications and 

resources on Federal Web sites and downloads a copy 

for posting to its own data repository. The initial PURL 

record links to the publication on the host Federal Web 

site. If the publication is no longer accessible on the 

agency’s Web site, GPO staff modify the PURL and link 

to the copy on GPO’s own data repository.

During its implementation at GPO, the PURL 

application has had two major events that required 

rebuilding the application, the first in 2003 and the 

other in 2009. In August 2009, the PURL application 

suffered a significant hardware failure, which resulted 

in the loss of the entire application. Based on a legacy 

backup of the application and other current files, 

the application was eventually recreated. The PURL 

server was back online in September 2009. No PURLs 

were lost in this event.

This fiscal year, the PURL Server architecture was 

upgraded by the OCLC-paid developer “Zepheria.” This 

fall, GPO migrated to this new architecture (PURLS to 

PURLZ.)

The transition boasts many benefits:

• A more robust system architecture (from a flat 

text database file to a SQL database);

• Immediate system back-up through 

synchronization;

• Immediate system failover (geographically 

separated primary and back-up servers);

• Statistical reporting (PURL referral and system 

monitoring);

• Web referral reporting; and

• Improved speed for resolution of redirects.

2009 Biennial Survey and Needs Assessment 

Survey

In FY 2009, LSCM developed and implemented a 

formal Customer Relations Program (CRP) for Federal 

depository libraries. The CRP allows LSCM to better serve depository library needs based upon unique 

characteristics (e.g., library segment) and data analysis. It also allows LSCM to monitor and document 

business operations to ensure provision of appropriate 

customer care, response to mission requirements, and 

solicitation of feedback from depository libraries on 

performance.

GPO contracted with Outsell, Inc. to develop and 

administer data gathering activities. As a first step, 

in 2009, the Segmentation Survey was conducted 

to develop an understanding of the number and 
Federal Depository Library Program

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characteristics of various types of libraries that make 

up the Federal Depository Library Program and to map 

these libraries to specified library types.

As a follow-up to the Segmentation Survey, in FY 

2010, the Needs Assessment was conducted and incorporated into an abbreviated 2009 Biennial Survey. 

The Needs Assessment was conducted to determine how well GPO is providing services to depositories and how to better support depository needs. 

The Biennial Survey is required of all libraries 

as it provides the tool for libraries to fulfill their legal 

requirement to report conditions of their library to the 

Superintendent of Documents every two years.

Some highlights of the survey include:

• 92% of respondents plan to remain in the FDLP

• 7% are reconsidering their designation

• Nine regional depositories are considering 

changing designation to selective depository.

• More than 80% of respondents reported having 

piece-level records for online books and serials.

• 37% of libraries reported an interest in receiving 

digital files on deposit.

The full report with aggregate overview, segmentation analysis, and individual responses 

is available at http://www.fdlp.gov/home/

about/723-crp-segmentation-needsassessment. 

In July 2010, an OPAL session was conducted 

entitled, “Needs Assessment and 2009 Biennial 

Survey: What Did We Learn?” This archived session is available at http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/

onlinelearning/68-opal. 

Disposition of Depository Materials in Federal 

Depository Libraries 

GPO has undertaken a project to make the disposition 

of materials process a more effective and efficient process for both selective and regional depository libraries 

and GPO. 

GPO planned to accomplish this project by 1) 

identifying disposition best practices and conveying these to the depository library community and 2) 

streamlining the disposition process for libraries by 

providing a tool that incorporates automated processes 

where applicable.

This fiscal year has seen great progress in this 

endeavor. GPO staff presented best practices and 

legal requirements at a Fall Council session in October 

2009. Additionally, a Fall Council session conducted 

to obtain input to requirements for a Needs & Offers 

automated tool.

Soon after that, an OPAL session was conducted to 

gather input from those who could not attend the Fall 

Council session. The session was entitled “Discards, 

Needs, & Offers—Oh My! What’s One to Do?” It is available at the GPO OPAL archive, which is accessible at 

http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/onlinelearning/68-opal. 

Other progress includes the completion and posting of a Concept of Operations and Requirements 

Document on the FDLP Desktop for comment this past 

summer. Additionally, a Statement of Work (SOW) was 

completed. Visit the project page on the FDLP Desktop 

for more information at http://www.fdlp.gov/home/

about/668-dispositionofdepositorymaterials. 

Registry of U.S. Government Publication 

Digitization Projects

The Registry of U.S. Government Publication 

Digitization Projects contains records for projects 

that include digitized copies of publications originating from the U.S. Government. It serves as a locator 

tool for publicly accessible collections of digitized U.S. 

Government publications; increases awareness of U.S. 

Government publication digitization projects that are 

planned, in progress, or completed; fosters collaboration for digitization projects; and provides models for 

future digitization projects.

GPO, in collaboration with the Depository 

Library Council, identified the opportunity for several 

enhancements to the Registry.

This fiscal year, a plan was developed to address 

the full scope of the possible modifications, including 

both long and short-term possibilities. Several modifications were implemented, and it was determined that 

some modifications would require more complex solutions and systems for both LSCM as a provider and the 
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registry contributing members.

As a next step, content requirements were established, and work began. Currently, a revamp to the 

page is in process, and links to other relevant sites are 

being added.

 Some minor changes have already been made to 

the existing the Registry page, such as the link to the 

Grants summary document. Additionally, work has 

been done on the FDLP Desktop to make the link to 

the registry more visible. 

View the Registry of U.S. Government Publication 

Digitization Projects at http://registry.fdlp.gov/. 

Preservation

New Preservation Librarian at GPO

This fiscal year, David Walls, formerly of Yale 

University, joined GPO’s team as the agency’s first 

Preservation Librarian. Mr. Walls is working on numerous preservation-related issues, including working on 

preservation policies and procedures in LSCM and 

liaison activities with FDsys.

Collection Management Plan

The need for an updated Collection Management 

Plan (CMP) was identified to reflect changes in GPO’s 

information dissemination from primarily print-based 

to digital publications. 

In FY 2010, GPO staff have been working diligently 

on a revised CMP. The Plan will incorporate the change 

from GPO Access to FDsys as the primary content 

management system for the archiving and dissemination of digital library publications created by Federal 

agencies and established library partners. 

Additionally, the CMP will serve as a policy 

framework on which specific procedures for the 

development and life cycle management of both the 

tangible and intangible FDLP collection will be built. 

FDsys Trusted Repository Audit and Certification

With the sunset of GPO Access, FDsys is scheduled 

to become the primary digital content management 

system for GPO, securing and providing access to digital Government information for the American people. 

FDsys will be heavily relied upon by Federal agency 

publishers and FDLP partner libraries to archive and 

host digital publications and harvested Web content. 

As digital repositories have become more important 

to libraries and archives in their role to preserve and 

provide digital information, a body of evidence has 

developed that defines what constitutes best practices 

for the design and management of a secure repository 

of digital content.

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has 

developed a set of metrics for digital repository certification called Trustworthy Repositories Audit and 

Certification (TRAC). 

This fiscal year, GPO made the necessary plans 

to ensure that FDsys will serve as a certified trusted 

repository. GPO will be conducting an internal review 

of FDsys, according to the TRAC audit matrix. An audit 

of FDsys will require GPO’s Preservation Librarian and 

Program Management Office staff to work together 

to assess and document FDsys’ system architecture, 

ingest and archiving methodology, GPO’s staffing and 

financial support for FDsys, as well as how well FDsys 

meets the needs of its user community.

After reviewing FDsys documentation, GPO will 

engage the services of CRL’s Repository Audit and 

Certification Team to review FDsys documentation and 

conduct an independent external audit of FDsys. The 

CRL audit certification advisory panel includes known 

leaders in collection development, preservation, and 

information technology. 

GPO’s FDsys is scheduled to be the first content 

management system from a US Federal Government 

organization certified to be a trusted digital repository. 

THIS FISCAL YEAR, GPO MADE THE NECESSARY 

PLANS TO ENSURE THAT FDsys WILL SErve

as a certified trusted repository.
Federal Depository Library Program

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LOCKSS Alliance 

Also this fiscal year, GPO joined a worldwide digital preservation alliance to further collaborate with 

Federal depository libraries and other organizations on 

preservation initiatives. LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep 

Stuff Safe) provides libraries with digital preservation 

tools and support to collect and preserve their own 

copies of authorized electronic content. 

By joining LOCKSS, GPO has been afforded the 

opportunity to share the preservation initiatives the 

agency has taken with FDsys and explore additional 

opportunities with the FDLP.

FDLP Marketing Efforts

In continuing its efforts to spread awareness of the 

FDLP, LSCM undertook several promotional initiatives 

in FY 2010. 

GPO has been disseminating Public Service 

Announcements (PSAs) to radio stations across the 

country. GPO staff have created two separate radio 

spots: one directed at stations on college campuses 

with a depository and another for public stations and 

for college campuses without a depository. Almost 150 

radio stations are airing the PSA nationwide. 

Additionally, GPO contracted with North American 

Precis Syndicate (NAPS). NAPS staff worked with 

GPO staff to disseminate informational articles about 

the FDLP to 10,000 print and online publications 

nationwide, as well as a radio spot to about 400 FM stations nationwide. 

A new FDLP screensaver was also created for public access workstations at depository libraries. 

In addition, an FDsys promotional plan was created and is now being executed. FDsys promotional 

initiatives currently in process include: a re-vamp of all 

promotional brochures offered for free ordering from 

the FDLP Desktop, an FDsys Web page on the FDLP 

Desktop with FDsys training materials, a new NAPS 

campaign focused on FDsys, and new FDsys mouse 

pads for free ordering on the FDLP Desktop. 

Document Discovery Program

Not all in scope Federal publications have been 

cataloged and disseminated through the Federal 

Depository Library Program. Publications that may be 

in scope of the FDLP but not yet cataloged and disseminated through the FDLP have traditionally been 

known as “fugitive documents” or “Lost Docs.” GPO’s 

Lost Docs Program has been running since the 1990s 

when GPO began requesting the help of the Federal 

depository library community and Federal agency contacts to identify documents that are not a part of the 

FDLP, but are within its scope.

In early 2010, GPO took on a project to revitalize 

the Lost Docs Program, and in that, changed the name 

of the program to the Document Discovery Program. 

The revitalization involved a two-pronged 

approach to meet the needs and convenience of two 

distinct client groups:

• FDLP librarians – Increased communication and 

changes in the workflow are taking place: 

» Submission in askGPO is encouraged to allow 

tracking of responses. 

» Librarians’ Discovery Documents requests are 

receiving priority routing and monitoring.

» Additional workflow changes are under 

consideration for greater efficiency and 

transparency.

• Federal agency publishers – Active involvement 

of Federal agency publishers is essential as more 

and more online-only documents are published. 

» GPO content acquisitions staff members 

reach out to agencies through personal 

visits, phone calls, presentations at GPO 

agency events, invitations to visit GPO, and 

a pamphlet encouraging them to report their 

publications. 

» To reach more Federal agency contacts 

and elicit their cooperation, the Document 

Discovery Program will be more tailored to 

agency needs, convenience, and motivation. 
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» The added value to the Federal agencies of 

permanent access, and the importance to the 

public are motivating factors. The message 

will be conveyed through multiple channels.

» The agency submission form will be placed 

in an easy-to-reach location on gpo.gov to 

increase ease of use and enhanced visibility.

Online Learning

Online Programming for all Libraries (OPAL)

GPO, as well as depository staff and representatives from Federal agencies have presented several 

programs on topics related to the FDLP through 

Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL), a Web 

conferencing service http://www.opal-online.org/. All 

past presentations are available for viewing in the 

GPO OPAL archive at http://www.opal-online.org/

archivegpo.htm.

In the last year, GPO started a new program 

entitled “Chat with GPO.” During these interactive sessions, GPO staff present on timely and relevant topics, 

and depository staff have the opportunity to engage 

in Q&A with the presenters. “Chat with GPO” sessions 

held in FY 2010 are listed below:

• An Overview of the Microfiche program of the 

Federal Depository Library Program

• A Brief Overview of Microfiche, Shipping Lists, 

& SuDoc Classification in the Federal Depository 

Library System 

• Cataloging Records Distribution Pilot Project 

• Discards, Needs, & Offers—Oh My! What’s 

One to Do? 

• Helping GPO Identify Fugitive Publications 

• The GPO Historic Shelflist Project

• GPO’s Federal Digital System

• Needs Assessment & 2009 Biennial Survey: What 

Did We Learn? 

Other OPAL presentations for FY 2010 are listed 

below:

• Searching for Free Government Full Text Docs 

Online: Where to Begin?

• Department of Energy Office of Science & 

Technology Information (OSTI): A Very Brief 

Overview of OSTI Offerings

• Trademarks: What Every Librarian Should Know

Also, for the first time, OPAL and GPO hosted the 

Six-State Virtual Government Information Conference, 

which includes 15 separate presentations. 

Visit the FDLP Desktop at http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/onlinelearning/68-opal to view the OPAL archive, 

submit a proposal for a program, and more.  

Education Modules

Additionally this fiscal year, GPO enhanced online 

learning opportunities through the availability of 

educational training modules. So far, we have made 

available WEBTech Notes, and the FDLP Desktop and 

others are planned for future releases.

To view this first module please visit http://www.

fdlp.gov/webtechnotes. 

GPO Partnerships

In FY 2010, GPO developed a new partnership with the 

Cornell University Law Library for a pilot project to 

evaluate a conversion process of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) into XML (extensible markup language) format. The Cornell Legal Information Institute 

is converting various titles into XML and making them 

accessible on the university’s Web site for research. 

GPO and Cornell will use the lessons learned from the 

pilot project to find ways of providing public openness 

to government documents. 

Partnerships with Southern Methodist University 

for the Historic Publications from World War II Digital 

Library and with the Library of Michigan for regional 

ADDITionally THis fiscal year, GPO

enhanced online learning opportunities 

through the availability of educational 

training modules.
Federal Depository Library Program

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depository library information were renewed. The 

renewal of the agreement with the Library of Michigan 

also brought a change to the location of the regional 

information which was moved off the Library’s Web site 

and onto the FDLP Community site. 

The partnership with the Association of Schools 

of Public Health (ASPH) to provide electronic access 

to Public Health Reports was announced in September 

2009 and was fully implemented in January 2010. 

Almost 700 depositories now have electronic access to 

this journal.

Several institutions celebrated anniversaries as 

GPO partners in FY 2010:

• University of Illinois at Chicago and DOSFAN – 

13 years as a GPO partner

• Louisiana State University and the List of Federal 

Agency Internet Sites – 8 years as a GPO partner

• Oklahoma State University and Browse Topics – 

7 years as a GPO partner

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and FRASER – 

5 years as a GPO partner

Additionally, GPO entered into a new service partnership with St. Mary’s University for their Government 

Information on the Web Subject Index, which provides 

a starting point for browsing subject areas, bringing 

both broad and detailed subject listings from many 

libraries together in one index. 

GPO also released Cooperative Cataloging 

Guidelines in August 2010, which establishes the guidelines under which GPO will undertake partnerships with 

a cataloging component. The Cooperative Cataloging 

Guidelines are available at http://www.fdlp.gov/

outreach/partnerships/757-catalogingpartnershipguide. 

Finally, GPO joined the Lots of Copies Keep Stuff 

Safe (LOCKSS) Alliance this past year. More information on LOCKSS is available in the Preservation section.

Public Access Assessments & Community 

Outreach 

Public Access Assessments

Conducting Public Access Assessments is the 

primary way that LSCM fulfills the legal requirement 

“to make firsthand investigation of conditions for which 

need is indicated” (44 USC §1909). Public Access 

Assessments, or PAA, is a review by LSCM outreach 

librarians of a library’s Federal depository operations 

and services that emphasizes how they provide access 

to Federal Government information products and serve 

the community’s needs. The review identifies strengths 

of the depository and also any areas needing improvement. Individual depository libraries have the flexibility 

to determine locally how to apply the requirements. 

PAA reviews also provide LSCM and library staff 

with opportunities to share depository management 

best practices, with the goal of enhancing depository 

services to the public and promoting greater efficiency 

and effectiveness within the FDLP. Any library wishing 

to have an assessment may request one at any time.

For more information about Public Access 

Assessments, visit http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/paa.

In FY 2010, PAAs were conducted in: 

• Arizona

• Connecticut

• Georgia

• Massachusetts

• Mississippi

• Nebraska

• Oklahoma

• Texas

• New Mexico

This fiscal year, four additional Outreach 

Librarians were hired, tripling the staff who consult on 

depository management issues, provide training, and 

perform Public Access Assessments. 

Community Outreach 

Public Access Assessments are just one of the outreach activities conducted by LSCM. Related outreach 

activities pertaining to library visits, training, and other 
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outreach activities by LSCM staff may be found at 

http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/events/450-fdlp-on-thego. Also from this page, you may submit a request for 

GPO staff to participate in state and local meetings, 

speaking engagements, and to hold training. 

Additionally, the Outreach section of the FDLP 

Desktop was updated to include information about 

LSCM’s interaction, communication, and consultation 

with FDLP libraries about depository management 

activities. This includes information about GPO’s consultation services relating to depository management 

and spotlight articles about depository libraries.

Daily consultation with individual library staff in 

person, on the phone, or by e-mail about their individual library situations and best practices is of great 

importance to GPO staff. LSCM also continues to 

develop educational articles, tools, and conference programs to assist library personnel as they strive to make 

the most of their depository operations. 

LSCM staff have been very involved in working 

groups and conferences that focus on major issues in 

the FDLP. Below are some highlights.

GPO staff, particularly LSCM’s Archival Manager, 

James Mauldin, has been heavily involved in the 

recent release of “Technical Guidelines for Digitizing 

Cultural Heritage Materials.” The Technical Guidelines 

for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials: Creation of 

Raster Image Master Files represents shared best practices followed by agencies participating in the Federal 

Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI) 

Still Image Working Group for digitizing cultural heritage materials. This group is involved in a cooperative 

effort to develop common digitization guidelines for 

still image materials (such as textual content, maps, 

and photographic prints and negatives) found in cultural heritage institutions.

These Guidelines were prepared by members of 

the working group during the winter of 2009-2010. 

This document draws substantially on the National 

Archives and Records Administration’s Technical 

Guidelines for Digitizing Archival Records for 

Electronic Access: Creation of Production Master Files 

– Raster Images (June 2004), but has been revised 

and updated in several areas to reflect the current 

recommendations of the working group and to reflect 

changes that have occurred in the digitization field 

during the last five years.

The document is on the FADGI website at: http://

www.digitizationguidelines.gov/stillimages/documents/FADGI_Still_Image-Tech_Guidelines_2010-08.

pdf. 

Mr. Mauldin has also been selected as the FY 2011 

Chair for the CENDI Digitization Task Group.

Cindy Etkin, Senior Program Planning Specialist 

within the Office of the Superintendent of Documents, 

is serving as the Co-Chair of the Science.gov Alliance. 

Additionally this year, Ms. Etkin spoke before and 

participated in a discussion panel of the Association of 

College and Research Libraries, Science & Technology 

Section’s annual meeting about how GPO and the 

FDLP create greater access to and support for scientific and technical information. Sci-tech librarians are a 

new audience for LSCM as most of the attendees were 

not from Federal depository libraries. 

David Walls, GPO’s Preservation Librarian, and 

Kate Zwaard of GPO’s Program Management Office 

participated in the Archiving 2010 conference held 

in The Hague, Netherlands, sponsored by Imaging 

Science and Technology. This conference is a four-day 

intensive program covering the latest developments in 

digital imaging and archiving technology for librarians, 

archivists, and cultural property custodians. Attendees 

are typically preservation managers and technical 

experts from national libraries, government archives, 

and research institutions.

Cindy Etkin and David Walls also participated and 

spoke at the Government Information Subcommittee 

meeting at ALA Annual. David Walls gave a brief talk 

at the GIS meeting about the mission and goals of 

preservation. 

Reaching out to the Community through Events, 

Conferences, and Booth Presentations

FY 2010 was a busy year for outreach activities by 

LSCM staff to members of the FDLP community. Below 

are some highlights from the year:
Federal Depository Library Program

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Date Event Location

October 2009 Arizona Depository Library Council Meeting Phoenix, AZ

October 2009 Tennessee Library Association GODORT Annual Meeting Nashville, TN

October 2009 CENDI Working Group Meeting Washington, DC

October 2009 RightNow Technologies Summit 09 Colorado Springs, CO

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Phoenix Public Library Phoenix, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Mesa Library Mesa, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Hayden Library, Arizona State University Tempe, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Central Arizona College Coolidge, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Arizona State Library Phoenix, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Yavapai College Prescott, AZ

October 2009 Small Business Administration visit Washington, DC

October 2009 Federal Depository Library Council Meeting & Conference Arlington, VA

October 2009 Association of Research Libraries Meeting Washington, DC

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: University of North Texas Denton, TX

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX

October 2009 Public Access Assessment: Houston Public Library Houston, TX

October 2009 Prairie View A&M University visit Prairie View, TX

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: Oklahoma Department of Libraries Oklahoma City, OK

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: Bizzell Library, University of Oklahoma Norman, OK

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: Northeastern State University Tahlequah, OK

November 2009 Annual Meeting of Federal Depository Libraries in Oklahoma Oklahoma City, OK

November 2009 Federal Records and Information Managers Fall Forum Washington, DC

November 2009 Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serials Acquisitions Charleston, SC

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: School of Law, University of Georgia Athens, GA

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: University of Georgia Athens, GA

November 2009 Georgia Southern University at Statesboro: 70th Anniversary Celebration Statesboro, GA

November 2009 Public Access Assessment: Georgia College and State University Milledgeville, GA

January 2010 Open Government: Defining, Designing, & Sustaining Transparency Princeton, NJ

January 2010 Public Access Assessment: Supreme Judicial Court Social Law Library Boston, MA

January 2010 Public Access Assessment: Snell Library, Northeastern University Boston, MA

January 2010 Public Access Assessment: Boston Public Library Boston, MA

January 2010 Public Access Assessment: U.S. Courts of Appeals First Circuit Library Boston, MA

January 2010 American Library Association’s Mid-Winter Meeting Boston, MA

February 2010 iSchools iConference: iMPACTS (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Champaign, IL

March 2010 U.S. Workshop on Roadmap for Digital Preservation Interoperability Framework Gaithersburg, MD

March 2010 Bonneville Power Administration Library visit Portland, OR

March 2010 Public Library Association’s National Conference Portland, OR
13

Date Event Location

March 2010 Law Library Association of MD: Legal Research Institute Baltimore, MD

April 2010 Buffalo and Erie County Public Library visit Buffalo, NY

April 2010 Texas Library Association Meeting & Open House El Paso, TX

April 2010 Bowling Green State University Libraries: 77th Anniversary Celebration Bowling Green, OH

April 2010 El Paso Public Library visit El Paso, TX

April 2010 New Mexico State University, Branson Hall Library Anniversary Celebration Las Cruces, NM

April 2010 Public Access Assessment: University of New Mexico Libraries Albuquerque, NM

April 2010 A National Conversation on the Economic Sustainability of Digital Information Washington, DC

April 2010 Federal Depository Library Council Meeting Buffalo, NY

May 2010 Open House: GPO on the Road Little Rock, AR

May 2010 Tectonics of Digital Curation Cambridge, MA

May 2010 Society of Government Meeting Planners Kansas City, MO

May 2010 Michigan Libraries Stakeholders Meeting (4 locations) Michigan

May 2010 Ex Libris Users of North America 2010 Meeting Fort Worth, TX

June 2010 American Library Association’s Annual Conference Washington, DC

June 2010 Can We Relax Yet? Assessing the Risks to Library Collections Workshop Beltsville, MD

June 2010 Special Library Association’s Annual Conference New Orleans, LA

June 2010 North American Serials Interest Group 25th Annual Conference Palm Springs, CA

June 2010 Society for Imaging & Science Technology Archiving 2010 Conference The Hague, Netherlands

July 2010 Interagency Depository Seminar Washington, DC

July 2010 American Association of Law Libraries’ Annual Meeting & Conference Denver, CO

August 2010 Hoyt Public Library Anniversary Celebration Saginaw, MI

August 2010 Library of Michigan’s 150th Anniversary Celebration Lansing, MI

August 2010 Association of Southeastern Research Libraries Summertime Summit Atlanta, GA

August 2010 District of Columbia Public Library visit Washington, DC

September 2010 Solving Data Interoperability in Government Washington, DC

September 2010 Public Access Assessment: University of Connecticut, School of Law Library Hartford, CT

September 2010 Public Access Assessment: Connecticut State Library Hartford, CT

September 2010 Public Access Assessment: Ferguson Municipal Public Library Stamford, CT

September 2010 Public Access Assessment: Trinity College Library Hartford, CT
14

GPO is charged with cataloging and indexing all publications issued by the Federal Government that are 

not confidential in character. This task serves libraries 

and the public nationwide and enables people to locate 

desired Government publications in all formats. The 

following FY 2010 accomplishments are in direct support of the Cataloging and Indexing (C&I) Program.

Integrated Library System (ILS)

FY 2010 saw significant progress regarding the 

Integrated Library System (ILS).

MetaLib was recently released with an initial collection of 49 resources. A direct link to a pre-populated 

category in askGPO “Suggest a Resource” on the 

MetaLib banner leverages expert knowledge of Federal 

Government documents in depository libraries and in 

the user base at large by facilitating recommendations 

to GPO for additional resources to add to MetaLib.

The FDLP login page was also released this 

year. The FDLP Login page gives depository libraries 

access to authenticated services in the Catalog of U.S. 

Government Publications. These include the setup of 

Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) searches 

whose results can be returned via RSS or e-mail. In 

addition, it provides the ability to add desired records 

to the Bookshelf, create folders to organize and store 

them, and save them across sessions. Moreover, there is 

the option to save to the authenticated users’ local PC 

and the option to set and save user preferences such as 

number of results per page and result format. 

The Authority Control initiative has lead to the 

validation of Library of Congress’ name and subject 

headings in monthly files of bibliographic records 

throughout the year. Aleph has also been configured 

so that new or updated Library of Congress name 

and subject authority records now automatically 

CATALOGING & INDEXING Program 
15

update bibliographic records in the Catalog of U.S. 

Government Publications (CGP).

ILS Aleph software has been upgraded from 

version 18 to the latest version of 20 and is now in 

production. 

New hardware was brought into production and the 

software has been upgraded for the ILS Citrix implementation. This enhancement provides GPO staff users 

secure, thin-client access to the Aleph staff client. 

Another layer of systems support has been added 

to the Federal Depository Library Directory which 

includes monitoring and data capture. 

Additionally, LSCM staff conducted a stress test 

with depository library volunteers on the z39.50 server. 

The test results demonstrated that the existing hardware could handle an increased load. Therefore, the 

z39.50 per-session record limit was raised from 1,000 

records to 10,000 records. 

A new format was added to the New Electronic 

Titles Monthly Archive Reports. As of June 2010, the 

reports are available in both html and csv formats. The 

csv format allows depository libraries greater flexibility 

in manipulating the report data. 

Quality Control

GPO continued its efforts to ensure quality control in 

classification and cataloging this past fiscal year. 

Quality control processes in the classification and 

microfiche units have been reviewed and documented. 

Bibliographic Control staff also reviewed and deleted 

over 21,000 duplicate bibliographic records from the 

CGP. These duplicate records were issue level records 

that existed in the previous version of the CGP.

In an effort to better track the types of questions 

received through the “Cataloging” category of askGPO, 

it was determined that each question will be assigned a 

question type category as they are answered. Monthly 

reports of the numbers of questions received in each 

category are being reviewed as well as a sample of the 

questions in the categories. This information will be 

used to identify any problem areas as well as identify 

areas where additional information about a LSCM 

policy is needed. 

The Bibliographic Control unit is also revamping it’s method for performing quality control checks 

on original and updated bibliographic records, which 

will permit the gathering of better statistics and allow 

staff to more easily develop strategies to address any 

problem areas. 

Pre-1976 Shelflist Conversion Project

GPO is continuing with the transcription of the historic 

Shelflist. In January 2010, contracted staff began work 

at GPO to transcribe the Shelflist cards into MARC 

records. Work began in the Y4’s but has now moved 

onto other SuDoc classes.

LSCM staff have been enhancing records by adding 

1 Library of Congress Subject Heading and 1 corporate 

name authority to the transcribed records.

As of August 2010, over 6,300 records are available in the CGP. Shelflist records are also included in 

Cataloging Record Distribution Project.

GPO has also completed the digitization of over 

280,000 Shelflist cards which will be used for internal 

GPO processes. Additionally, a Statement of Work 

has been released to complete the digitization of the 

remaining Shelflist cards.

An OPAL session on the shelflist was held in 

May 2010 and can be view in the OPAL archive, 

accessible from http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/

onlinelearning/68-opal. 

Information about GPO’s historic Shelflist 

is available at http://www.fdlp.gov/home/

about/759-gpo-historic-shelflist. 
16

Cataloging & Indexing Program

Cataloging Record Distribution Pilot

Among the initiatives funded by H. R. 1105, the 

Omnibus Appropriations Act of FY 2009 (P. L. 111-8) 

was a project to enhance the services GPO provides to 

members of the FDLP and the public.

GPO contracted with MARCIVE, Inc. for a pilot 

project for the FDLP. 48 Federal depository libraries were chosen to participate in the pilot program in 

which GPO bibliographic records were distributed from 

GPO’s ILS to these libraries. It was a new process and 

workflow for both GPO and MARCIVE, Inc. 

Participating libraries received 12 months of 

records. To date, two batches of records have been 

distributed to libraries. 

GPO is taking lessons learned from this pilot to 

look at a long-term solution for bibliographic record 

distribution.

As a next step, this project is moving out of pilot 

phase and continuing for the duration of FY 2011. In 

this, the original 48 pilot libraries had the opportunity 

to continue receiving records through October 2011, 

and GPO is accepting new libraries into the project. 

The goal is to have a total of 75 participating libraries. 
17

By-Law Program

LSCM administers the dissemination of certain tangible 

publications as specified by public law. Under Title 44 

of the United States Code, GPO is required to provide 

copies of publications to certain Federal agencies and 

others at the direction of Congress. Two or more copies of every publication printed are provided to the 

Library of Congress, regardless of whether the publication is distributed to Federal depository libraries. The 

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) 

is entitled to receive three copies of every publication 

printed. Additionally, on behalf of the Department 

of State, LSCM distributes copies of publications to 

foreign legions. LSCM also maintains mailing lists for 

By-Law distribution of specific publications.

A database created to track By-Law publications 

more efficiently continues to provide excellent results. 

Additionally, there is adequate on-site storage for 

By-Law publications. Furthermore, protocols were 

recently established between various GPO business 

units that further ensure that all By-Law publications are identified as such by the Superintendent of 

Documents. 

A database created to track by-law

publications more efficiently continues 

to provide excellent results.
18

Under the direction of the Library of Congress (LC), 

GPO distributes tangible Government publications to 

foreign governments that agree to send to the United 

States similar publications of their governments for LC 

collections. The following statistics reflect IES activity 

for FY 2010 (through July 2010 only).

Distributed IES Publications:

• Full Sets: 88,546

• Congressional Record: 8,862

• Federal Register: 6,243

• Serial Set (Paper): 900

• Serial Set (Microfiche): 8,228

• Total Boxes Shipped: 2,561

INTERnATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE (IES)
19

A Look at Metrics

The following statistics reflect notable LSCM metrics 

for FY 2010 (through July 2010).

• New Titles Acquired (Online & Tangible): 15,281

• Searches of the Catalog of U.S. Government 

Publications: 15,800,348

• Total Titles Cataloged: 13,830

• Total PURLs Created: 9,019

• Total Titles Distributed: 6,952

• Total Copies Distributed: 1,607,369

• Number of Federal Depository Libraries: 1,228

Looking Ahead to FY 2011 

The strong partnership between GPO and depository 

libraries is what makes the FDLP such a vital and successful Program. The strength in that program lies in 

the foundation of communication and collaboration 

between GPO and depositories. 

As we move forward into FY 2011, all depositories 

are encouraged to share feedback with GPO. There are 

several mechanisms by which to do so:

1. Utilize askGPO: http://gpo.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/

gpo.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

2. Contact LSCM directors and managers directly 

through the LSCM Contact Form: http://www.

fdlp.gov/help/contact

3. Visit GPO staff at 1) the Spring Depository 

Library Council Meeting, 2) the Interagency 

Depository Seminar, and 3) the Federal 

Depository Library Conference and Fall 

Depository Library Council Meeting.

Everyone at GPO thanks you for your support in FY 

2010, and we look forward to working closely with you 

again in FY 2011. 


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