ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program ------------------------------------------------------------------------ July 15, 1999 GP 3.16/3-2:20/11 (Vol. 20, no. 11) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Transition Staff/ Electronic Collection Team Update Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) Evolves When the first visiting "expert consultants" came to the Library Programs Service (LPS) in 1996, ETS focused on developing initial electronic services for the FDLP. Early projects included Locator Services, such as the Pathway Indexer and building Web page capability within LPS. Later ETS efforts emphasized establishing the content and service partnerships and articulating the concepts behind Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document (the "Collection Plan"), published in 1998. Recently, ETS' focus has been on fostering partnerships, such as the NTIS pilot project, the Department of Energy Information Bridge, and DOSFAN (the Department of State Foreign Affairs Network). Currently much of ETS' time is devoted to efforts to implement the plans for the FDLP Electronic Collection (FDLP/EC), outreach to Federal agencies and libraries, and developing the infrastructure and relationships that will provide permanent public access to FDLP electronic information. Personnel changes in ETS parallel this functional evolution. Laurie B. Hall, as Supervisory Program Analyst, supervises the program analysts and Office Automation Specialist within LPS and the ETS, as there is a substantial congruence in their interests and responsibilities. Currently the expert consultants are George Barnum, who will finish his term in July and Judy Andrews, who has been asked to stay on for a second year. Steven Kerchoff will join the ETS effective October 1, 1999. Kerchoff, a Federal librarian from the Library of Congress' Federal Library and Information Center (FLICC), will use his extensive knowledge of Federal libraries and information resources to assist in increasing awareness about GPO's Electronic Collection activities and in developing additional partnership opportunities with agencies. Electronic Collection Manager One of the action items in the Collection Plan is establishing an Electronic Collection Manager (ECM) position in LPS. This new librarian position was advertised nationally and a selection is expected later this year. Once on board, the ECM will establish, review, maintain and modify comprehensive plans to assure permanent public access to products in the FDLP/EC. Electronic Collection Prototype Archive Recognizing that an electronic archive is a critical component of the life cycle of an electronic resource, LPS has been capturing HTML and PDF files of products announced in the Browse Electronic Titles (BET) service for some months. In support of this effort, at its spring 1999 meeting, the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer (DLC) recommended that GPO develop a prototype archive. Though these test files are not yet publicly accessible, LPS has obtained a commitment from GPO's Production Department to aid in the development of a functional prototype archive. GPO's goal is to provide permanent public access to the electronic Government information products disseminated via GPO Access or otherwise included in the FDLP/EC. One path to meeting this commitment is for GPO or one of our partner institutions to have day-to-day management of the electronic resources, and take the necessary administrative and technical steps to keep them accessible, while maintaining their authentic and official status. GPO already meets this commitment for the products on GPO Access, but the electronic products to which we point and link, by definition considered part of the FDLP/EC, must be fully included under the umbrella of permanent public access. Electronic Collection Team Since the publication of Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection last year, LPS has worked to identify and implement the steps that will bring the Plan's provisions into practice. A cross-organizational work group from Depository Administration and Cataloging Branches, Electronic Information Dissemination Services and the ETS has been working to define the possibilities, identify the issues and develop strategies for dealing with the issues. The work group was successful in this endeavor and has been re-configured into an ongoing "Electronic Collection Team," which is examining and evaluating electronic products for inclusion in the Electronic Collection. While looking at these products the team continues to develop the processing procedures necessary to fully incorporate electronic resources into the FDLP. National Technical Information Service The NTIS/GPO Pilot Project, through which 22 depository libraries have access to a NTIS database of approximately 35,000 image documents, went live on January 18, 1999. The pilot is scheduled to run for a year. As of mid-March the search site was averaging 100 visits per week. As the libraries explore the site's potential they are making excellent suggestions for its improvement. ETS has been individually contacting participating libraries to gain more detailed insights into user behaviors and expectations. USDA Digital Publications Preservation Steering Committee Gil Baldwin and George Barnum represent GPO on a Steering Committee organized by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Library that will implement the Framework for the Preservation of and Permanent Public Access to USDA Digital Publications. The "Framework" was developed following a 1997 conference for which GPO was one of the co-sponsors. The Steering Committee meets quarterly to address the issues of inventory and life cycle management of USDA digital publications, technical requirements, and user access and retrieval. George Barnum is chairing the Committee's working group on user access and retrieval, which is beginning work on draft preservation guidelines for digital publishing for USDA agencies.