ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program ------------------------------------------------------------------------ October 25, 1999 GP 3.16/3-2:20/14 (Vol. 20, no. 14) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Responses to Spring 1999 Depository Library Council Recommendations Recommendations 1. Cease Production of Most Availability Records Council recommends that GPO eliminate the production of availability records for all non-map serial and multi-part monograph products (tangible and electronic) for the Monthly Catalog. Rationale: Availability records are currently created only for annual and semiannual serials. This practice is a procedural holdover from the pre-automated Monthly Catalog era. Eliminating production of these availability records would free up GPO cataloging resources to be allocated to other work and would eliminate the confusion that these duplicate records create. Response: The Library Programs Service (LPS) ceased producing availability records for serials and multi-part monographs beginning October 1, 1999, the beginning of the data entry period for the year 2000 Monthly Catalog issues. We will continue to create, maintain, and update serial records but without accounting for the availability of specific issues. Implementing this recommendation permits re-allocation of personnel to more useful tasks, particularly in the area of providing additional cataloging and locator services for electronic resources. 2. Replace Periodicals Supplement Council recommends that GPO replace the Periodicals Supplement with a more comprehensive tool, which will list all serials in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and all serials cataloged in the preceding year. Rationale: The Periodicals Supplement of the Monthly Catalog currently contains serial titles issued three or more times a year; serial titles issued once or twice a year receive availability records and appear in the regular monthly issues of the Monthly Catalog. Council has recommended elimination of the production of these availability records. Therefore, all serials, regardless of frequency, should now be included in an enhanced Periodicals Supplement. Response: The Periodicals Supplement for 2000 will be the last one to include only periodicals issued three or more times a year. In 2001, all serials, without regard to frequency of issue, will be included in the supplement, which will revert to its previous title of Serials Supplement. 3. Integrated Library System Council recommends that GPO investigate the feasibility of acquiring an Integrated Library System that would represent bibliographic records and holdings for all pieces distributed to depository libraries (e.g. serial check-in, individual volumes of a multi-volume set) and be available for public online inquiries. Council also recommends that in its investigation, GPO consider the cost savings to be gained from acquiring an Integrated Library System, including savings gained from the elimination of inquiries about holdings on AskLPS. Rationale: Council believes that both GPO and the depository community would benefit from an Integrated Library System that would reflect holdings to the piece level. Such a system would provide current awareness for materials processed by the Cataloging Branch and would eliminate any need for availability records. Response: LPS recognizes that the acquisition of an Integrated Library System (ILS) would be beneficial. The installation of an ILS will cause many operations within LPS to be changed, including, but not limited to, the production of cataloging records, the automated check-in of serial titles and the development of an online public access catalog with holdings display capabilities. Currently, LPS staff members are documenting operational and systems requirements, preparing preliminary cost estimates, investigating procurement options, and evaluating ILS project documentation obtained from several national libraries. However, the procurement and installation of an ILS within LPS would be a major project for the Superintendent of Documents and would involve the participation of several offices within GPO. These offices are currently committing resources to the installation of the Integrated Processing System (IPS) for Superintendent of Documents Sales operations, and are also still involved with Year 2000 (Y2K) remediation, testing, and contingency planning. GPO resources cannot be allocated to assist with the analysis, procurement, and implementation of an ILS in LPS at this time. 4. Fee-based products Council recommends that GPO strengthen its efforts to bring fee-based electronic products into the FDLP at no cost to the library. Rationale: Council believes that fee-based electronic government information products and services should be made available to depository libraries at no cost, in compliance with Title 44 and other laws and regulations. In addition, Council has noted the increased use of limited passwords for fee-based products and services. Council strongly encourages GPO to aggressively pursue no-fee access to fee-based databases for depository libraries, including a sufficient number of passwords so depositories can provide adequate access to their user communities. Alternative approaches of acquiring no-fee access for depository libraries should be explored with agencies that are not now complying with the law. Response: GPO continues to address the issues surrounding no-fee depository library access to agency fee-based information products and services. Each case is unique and FDLP access must be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. GPO strives to convince agencies that extending no-fee access to depository libraries is an effective way to implement the agencies' public access missions. LPS' earlier experience with GPO Access highlighted administrative and service limitations associated with password-based access. GPO now suggests that agencies provide depository library access through the allocation of a "pool" for a number of simultaneous users, rather than by assigning single passwords or IP (Internet Protocol) address recognition. The simultaneous user method proved effective during the GPO Access gateways project startup. 5. GPO Access and Search Engines Council recommends that GPO investigate and implement strategies to include top level GPO Access pages on popular Internet search engines, e.g. Yahoo!, Northern Light, and Lycos. Rationale: The general public often relies on popular Internet search engines and services to locate information. Therefore the inclusion of GPO Access pages into these services will achieve two very positive goals: first, it will promote the GPO Access system and its related services; and second, it will link citizens to the official versions of the government information they need. Response: GPO shares Council's desire to enable searchers on popular search engines to easily locate the many resources available to them on GPO Access. As a result of capacity concerns that required us to exclude indexing robots from our servers, we have been pursuing a much more labor-intensive strategy of using metadata for getting our pages included, but that has not always proved as effective as was intended. As part of the development of a site-search capability for GPO Access, several different types of metadata are being coded into GPO Access pages, including accurate and descriptive title tags, an authoritative page description, and lists of appropriate subject terms included as metatags. In addition to improving the index used by the site-search mechanism, this metadata will improve results on popular Internet search engines. Effective September 18, 1999, GPO discontinued the robot exclusion policy on GPO Access on a trial basis. If there are adverse effects on GPO Access response time, the hours during which the system is open to robots may have to be reduced or eliminated. 6. NRC Public Document Room Collections Council recommends that GPO work with depository libraries to continue its planning with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assure permanent public access to NRC documents. GPO should identify a small group of depository librarians, including LPDR (the NRC's Local Public Document Room program) and regional libraries, to work with them on final guidelines and procedures. Rationale: GPO and NRC have entered into discussions about moving the NRC microfiche depository collections under the auspices of the FDLP, since the NRC's LPDR program is being phased out at the end of fiscal year 1999. The LPDR program was designed to provide information to citizens in the immediate vicinity of nuclear power reactors throughout the licensing and operating life of the reactors. The LPDR collections have some overlap with FDLP collections, but also include many unique materials. The focus of the current discussions is 73 collections of microfiche from 1981 to date. While some LPDRs may choose to retain their collections, others may choose to withdraw them. Designating these collections as part of the FDLP program and finding homes for an appropriate number of those withdrawn from LPDRs will preserve public access to these valuable materials across the country. Response: For more than a year, LPS staff has been working closely with NRC on a cooperative plan for permanent public access to an important body of NRC information. Due to budgetary constraints, and because of an electronic transition in the way NRC information is made available to the public, NRC decided to end the LPDR program as of September 30, 1999. Under the LPDR program, NRC distributed a series of scientific and technical reports on nuclear energy related topics on 48X microfiche to participating sites for public access. Most of these publications were not included in the FDLP, although many of them would have been eligible for the program. The goal of the GPO and NRC is to maintain at least one microfiche collection in a depository library in each state formerly served by one or more LPDRs to ensure that the information in the LPDR collections remains accessible to the public. This past August, the Superintendent of Documents accepted the collections from LPDR libraries into the FDLP. This acquisition brought these materials under the permanent access provisions of 44 USC §§1911-1912, and the guidelines and requirements of the FDLP. NRC staff surveyed LPDR libraries and determined that 18 chose not to retain the microfiche, while the others indicated a desire to keep the materials in their collections. The 18 rejected collections are being redistributed to appropriate regional depositories. In most cases, regional depositories will receive a collection from a former LPDR library in its own state. In a few instances, collections will move from one state to another, in an attempt to provide an even geographic distribution. In 31 other cases, microfiche collections currently reside in libraries that are selective FDLP depositories that have agreed to retain the collections. GPO's goals in acquiring the NRC microfiche collections for the FDLP are: * to provide equitable, geographically dispersed access to a significant body of government information to which the public, particularly in the general vicinity of nuclear facilities, should have access. * to assure that the public's access to this information is preserved permanently. Permanent public access will be assured for the 49 collections in two forms: o Collections that reside or are placed in regional depositories will be retained permanently. o Collections that reside in selective depositories may be disposed of only with the expressed consent of the regional library under the usual procedures of the FDLP. NRC is providing financial support for the relocation of the 18 collections that must be physically moved. The regionals were notified that the NRC microfiche would remain U.S. Government property as a depository item. Collections of microfiche not covered in the above provisions, as well as other NRC material in the LPDRs, have been abandoned to the custody of the libraries currently housing them, to be disposed of as they see fit. 7. Migration of Physical Format Products to Online Distribution Council recommends that GPO test the policies, procedures, and criteria for migrating titles to online electronic delivery only, as outlined in the document "Migration of Physical Format Products to Online Distribution" (Administrative Notes, v. 20, no. 4, Feb. 15, 1999, p. 4), and report back to Council within an appropriate time frame. Rationale: This document provides useful guidelines for evaluating FDLP titles that have been identified for conversion from physical to electronic format. Prior to any implementation of these guidelines, Council asks GPO to conduct one or more pilot projects to evaluate the effectiveness of these criteria and procedures. Of special interest to Council would be procedures for FDLP input on the title selection process and the management plan and procedures for the digital archive. Council expects that GPO will be able to report on its progress in testing these guidelines at the next Council meeting. Response: The policies, criteria, and procedures for migrating products historically disseminated in a tangible medium to solely online electronic dissemination are applicable only in those cases in which LPS has a choice of dissemination media. In many cases the publishing agency has already made the decision to eliminate the tangible medium. Then LPS incorporates the online product into the FDLP Electronic Collection by describing it bibliographically and linking to it. It is important to note the distinction between migration and conversion. Migration refers to choosing between available dissemination media when the agency publishes both online and tangible versions. Conversion refers to changing the agency's published medium to another, as LPS does when converting paper documents to microfiche. At present LPS has no program to convert print products to electronic media, for example through scanning and digitization. During routine processing, LPS' Depository Administration Branch, Cataloging Branch, and Electronic Collection Team often identify new products that agencies issue in both print and electronic (online) versions. When LPS determines that the content of the online version is substantially equivalent or superior to the print version, LPS selects the online version for the FDLP. These decisions are made in accordance with criteria described in "Migration of Physical Format Products to Online Distribution" (Administrative Notes, v. 20, no. 4, Feb. 15, 1999, p. 4) and Appendix II of Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection. These titles are described as "EL" in the List of Classes. Some examples include The Food Safety Educator (A 110.19:), FEWS (Famine Early Warning System) Bulletin (S 18.68:), and the Economic Working Papers (T 12.22:). Given the continued pattern of essentially flat funding for the FDLP, and the delays inherent in the processing, conversion, and delivery of microfiche, LPS intends to begin actively migrating products currently distributed in microfiche and also available online by eliminating the distribution of the microfiche versions. Whenever possible, the cessation of a microfiche serial title will take place at the end of a volume or annual run. LPS will announce these changes in distribution media in the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. Some candidate microfiche titles for this migration include titles with low selection rates, such as the New Publications of the Rocky Mountain Research Station (A 13.151/2:), Small Business Innovation Research Program annual report (D 1.48/3), and the annual Report on the Survey of U.S. Shipbuilding and Repair Facilities (TD 11.25:). Other titles are under consideration for migration because they are currently offered in multiple formats with the online version available on GPO Access. Examples of this category include the daily Federal Register on microfiche (AE 2.106:), the daily Congressional Record on microfiche (X 1.1/A:), and the Congressional Bills on microfiche (Y 1.4/). 8. Federal Agency Outreach Council recommends that GPO accelerate its outreach efforts to agencies to inform them of the mutual benefit that agencies, GPO, depository libraries, and the American public derive from the dissemination of information through the FDLP. Rationale: Our democratic system depends on ready public access to Federal Government information as has been provided through the FDLP. The loss of electronic government information products from agency Web sites is a widespread, yet unrecognized, problem and perhaps the greatest challenge of the change in government publishing from the print to the electronic environment. Accelerated outreach efforts, such as promoting the "Internet Information Product Notification Form," will impress upon agencies the significant steps GPO is taking to address this great challenge and to make Federal electronic information readily available to the public through the FDLP. Response: GPO continues to expand its efforts in promoting the benefits of agency participation in the FDLP. GPO staff from LPS, the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS), and the Sales Program together have become more actively involved with agencies by meeting with agency publishing staff including Webmasters and other staff directly responsible for the creation and dissemination of electronic information. Acquisition of information products for the FDLP and Sales programs has expanded beyond the receipt of agency material through routine procurement tasks. We work directly with agencies as they create new products and services for their constituents and the public. Three such projects include our ongoing work with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Background Notes project with the Department of State, and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) project with the Department of Labor. Recently, new promotional materials, including an FDLP information package and partnership flyers, were developed to promote the FDLP and its mission and programs. This information is freely distributed when GPO staff visit agency libraries and attend government publishing and technology meetings, workshops, and conferences. Revisions to GPO Circular Letters 320 and 413, emphasizing the role of the FDLP and our transition to a more electronic depository program, are being prepared for dissemination to the agency publishing community. An article promoting use of the "Internet Information Product Notification Form" will be included in the GPO Newsletter distributed to Federal agency publishers and others in the Federal information community. 9. Partnerships Recognizing that permanent public access to electronic government information is an essential element of the FDLP Electronic Collection, Council recommends that GPO allocate the resources necessary to accelerate the process of identifying new partnership models and potential agency and institutional partners. Rationale: The strategic plan identifies as a priority that GPO establish a distributed system for ensuring that government information products available via government information services are maintained permanently for public access through the FDLP. Council recognizes that GPO has initiated some efforts toward this goal. However, Council believes that, since partnerships are essential to a successful FDLP Electronic Collection, GPO must work more aggressively with agencies to develop partnership opportunities for libraries, consortia, and other institutions. Response: GPO is committed to permanent public access to government information products. Establishing new and maintaining existing partnerships continues to be a priority as we make the transition to a more electronic depository program. During FY 1999, LPS expert consultants met with staff from several agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Library, to identify possible opportunities for establishing content oriented partnerships and encourage participation in FDLP activities. Our new Electronic Transition Staff member, Steve Kerchoff, continues the work begun by previous consultants, Judy Andrews and George Barnum. Steve, who comes to us from the Library of Congress' Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC), brings an extensive knowledge of Federal libraries and information contacts to this position. Working together with the new Electronic Collection Manager, Steve will focus on strengthening existing partnerships, building new ones, and refining the partnership process. 10. Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions Council recommends that GPO finalize and distribute the FDLP Guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications. In publicizing the guidelines, GPO should emphasize that depository libraries should review their collection development and public service policies to ensure appropriate user services as they make decisions about substituting electronic formats for tangible versions of publications. Rationale: The draft guidelines presented at this meeting provide a reasonable procedure for beginning the process of substituting reliable and permanently accessible electronic publications for tangible products. The guidelines include appropriate cautions about considering user needs, as well as requirements for following disposal guidelines of the Regional depository. Implementation of these guidelines will allow depositories to begin a reasoned process of collection management that includes fully electronic versions of products. The initial list of official GPO databases provides a good starting point and will be expanded as appropriate. Council suggests that it is not necessary to append a List of Official GPO Partnership Sites to this document in its initial distribution. Response: The FDLP Guidelines on Substituting Electronic for Tangible Versions of Depository Publications, accompanied by the List of Official GPO Permanent Full-Text Databases, was published in Administrative Notes, v. 20 #9, May 15, 1999, pp. 2-6, and is also available at . At the fall 1999 Depository Library Council meeting regional librarians plan to discuss implementation issues surrounding this policy. Over time, LPS anticipates adding additional products from official partnership sites and GPO Access to the substitution list. 11. Permanent Public Access Archive Council recommends that GPO develop a prototype of an archive of FDLP electronic products to ensure Permanent Public Access (PPA). Rationale: The archive prototype is a critical component of the life cycle process within a Permanent Public Access system. The archive must demonstrate success before other aspects of PPA are implemented. Ideally, the archive prototype should be developed by summer 1999. Response: One critical step in the transition to a more electronic FDLP is to establish a digital archive for the FDLP Electronic Collection (FDLP/EC). Such an archive will address the "storage facility" requirements of the GPO Access law, pursuant to 44 USC §4101(a)(3). Dissemination of online electronic information is now the fastest-growing component of the FDLP, accounting for over 45% of the titles made available to depository libraries during fiscal year 1999. A significant portion of the FDLP/EC consists of titles at agency sites to which we point. While some of these more than 59,000 titles reside on servers at agencies or institutions with which we have formal agreement that provide for permanent public access (PPA), many of these titles are not under our control. In our 1998 report, Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document, we stated that the FDLP/EC includes "remotely accessible electronic government information products that GPO identifies, describes, and links to but which remain under the control of the originating agencies." It is GPO's goal to assure PPA to the electronic products to which we point and link since, by definition, pointing and linking makes those products part of the FDLP/EC and means that we have a permanent public access responsibility for them. Meeting our PPA commitment for the FDLP/EC requires bringing agency-disseminated Internet resources under GPO control by incorporating them into a digital archive. The FDLP/EC digital archive is a cooperative venture shared by LPS, EIDS, and GPO's Production Department. Since early this year a Production staff member has worked with LPS to provide space for our initial archive testing activity. Production intends to devote additional personnel resources to the development of the digital archive once certain vacant information technology positions are filled. Initially, LPS and EIDS will utilize existing staff in this effort, but as the electronic archive grows in size and complexity additional staff may be required. The next step is the development of an integrated service to bring under GPO control selected individual electronic products that originated on other agency sites, and for which we do not have interagency or partnership agreements for PPA. Although we can capture agency files from the Internet at a particular point in time, without an agreement or a notification process in place we will face difficulties assuring that the publishing agency does not subsequently modify or supersede the product. Therefore a critical element in the archiving process is to establish communication with the publishing agency in order to develop a partnership or other formal relationship, so that the agency will notify us concerning changes in its products. A new server and a backup initially configured with two years' projected storage capacity were procured specifically for the digital archiving project. The first of the new servers was delivered in July and has been configured for use as the prototype digital archive. Functionally, the prototype FDLP/EC archive will be populated with electronic source data files by FTP transfers, downloads, file captures, or other means. The initial set of test files consists of source data files captured by LPS staff earlier in FY 1999 in conjunction with processing additions to the Browse Electronic Titles service. The files will be accessible through a persistent naming application and made freely accessible to public users through a Web interface. Users will be able to search cataloging or Pathway locator services record descriptions linked directly to the content described. We plan to open the FDLP/EC archive for public use later in 1999. 12. Outreach to Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) Council recommends that GPO broaden its contact with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA). Rationale: Council is encouraged by, and very supportive of, GPO's outreach efforts. The Chief Library Officers are responsible for overarching library technology planning at the state level. Therefore, it is essential that they are part of the planning for the FDLP and are involved in how that might relate to other statewide electronic information planning needs. Chief Library Officers meet at least once annually in the Washington, DC, area and participate in National Legislative Library Day. Chief Library Officers work with their Congressional delegations on an ongoing basis. These officers are responsible for organizing the rapid and pervasive pace of technological change. Many state library agencies are regional depository libraries and most are at least selective depository libraries. The Chief Officers therefore understand the importance of citizen access to, and interest in, electronic government information. Many state document programs benefit from and are related to Federal document activities and services. Chief Library Officers participate in and lead statewide technological interaction among libraries in their states. Under the Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), government information support is an allowable activity. Access to government information will increasingly depend on library building level technological capacity as well as the focal role of technologically sophisticated regional and selected depositories. The State Library Officers should be included in the planning for future government options and services. Response: The Superintendent of Documents has talked with Ray Ewick, Indiana State Librarian and current Chair of COSLA, about an enhanced liaison relationship. This would build upon our practice of including COSLA in our distribution of important FDLP studies and reports, such as the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products and Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection. The Superintendent of Documents has suggested a stronger relationship between GPO and COSLA given the number of state libraries that are depositories and the importance of access to Federal Government information to the libraries within their states. GPO continues to refine our outreach efforts in venues where we can educate audiences about GPO's efforts in keeping America informed and to identify potential partners for information dissemination endeavors. Over the past year GPO staff has participated in, spoken and exhibited at a variety of organizations' conferences and meetings both in the Washington, DC area and around the country, including: American Association of Law Libraries American Bar Association Technology Show American Library Association Association of College and Research Libraries Computers in Libraries Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information Inforum Federal Publishers Committee Government Printing and Information Council, Printing Industries of America Interagency Council on Printing and Publication Services Michigan Council of Depository Libraries Mountain Plains Library Association/Montana Library Association Joint Conference NASA Information Managers Workshop National Online Meeting Online World Special Libraries Association U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Digital Publications Preservation Steering Committee 13. Congressional Information/Comparative Web Site Analysis Council recommends that GPO continue efforts to improve coverage of Congressional and other legislative information on GPO Access. To this end, Council recommends that GPO conduct a comparative analysis of the legislative branch information available through GPO Access with that of THOMAS, committee Web sites, and other relevant government and non-government sites. Council anticipates that GPO staff will provide a report on this topic at the fall 1999 Council meeting. Rationale: Council reiterates the Fall 1998 action item on congressional information and continues to emphasize the importance of expanded GPO Access to current and archival legislative branch information. Council believes the report will facilitate better understanding of the competitive position of GPO Access vis-à-vis other related Web sites for legislative branch information. This will also provide a test case of comparative analysis of GPO Access and implementation of the Electronic Collection plan. Response: A report will be provided to Council at the upcoming meeting in Kansas City. The report will contain a comparison of the Congressional and other legislative branch information available through GPO Access with that available on other relevant government and non-government Web sites. The following factors will be analyzed: * What resources are available (e.g., Congressional Record, Public Laws, U.S. Code) * The scope of those resources (i.e., years, volumes, sessions of Congress, etc.) * The source of those resources (i.e., Are they produced and housed by another provider or do the records on other Web sites point back to GPO Access?) The report will recognize that some of the other Web sites in this comparison have resources that span a different period of time than GPO Access, as well as having different mission mandates. Recognizing these fundamental dissimilarities is critically important in both performing a comparative analysis and understanding its results. Commendations 1. Council commends GPO on their latest marketing efforts that include a new Web design, booth display, and promotional materials. Council is especially pleased with efforts to promote the full range of GPO services to existing and new constituencies. Council encourages GPO to continue broadening their marketing efforts to new audiences and industries. 2. Council commends Nan Myers and Ablah Library, Wichita State University, for taking a leadership role in developing and improving the Documents Data Miner, a Web-based, interactive tool integrating GPO-provided and other data elements. The DDM provides significant benefits to individual depository libraries, their ability to network and coordinate collection development, referral and other services. Action Items 1. Council will work with GPO to plan a report on methods and metrics for measuring usage of the GPO Access Web site and major components thereof. 2. Council will work with GPO staff to identify resources available for evaluating the value of depository collections of various sizes and ages. Libraries that have gathered information will be invited to share it, to be combined with cost information that GPO can supply. 3. Council will continue, through its Operations Committee, to consult with GPO on specific electronic products that present difficult software or usage challenges for GPO and depositories. 4. Council Operations Committee will explore with GPO, depository libraries, and vendors the current functions of item numbers for online electronic formats and consider alternatives. 5. Council has received the Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products commissioned by GPO to assist in planning and implementing the transition to a more electronic FDLP. Council will work with GPO in the analysis of the key findings and data. 6. The Electronic Transition Committee will analyze the Council Discussion Paper on Completing the Transition to a More Electronic FDLP and will report that analysis to GPO. 7. Council will respond to the University of California San Diego summarizing our discussions of UCSD's correspondence regarding their suggestion that source files be made available for depository library selection.