F e d e r a l D e p o s i t o r y L i b r a r y P r o g r a m ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program ---------------------------------------------------------------------- November 15, 2000 GP 3.16/3-2:21/15 (Vol. 21, no. 15) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGING TIMES IN THE FDLP Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr. Superintendent of Documents Before the Federal Depository Conference and Fall 2000 Meeting of the Depository Library Council Arlington, VA October 23, 2000 Introduction Good morning! It is quite gratifying to see so many of you here for the first fall Depository Library Council meeting and conference in many years. There is much to talk about this morning and, indeed, over the next few days at the conference. I want to begin by expressing appreciation for your continuing support for the FDLP and your library's partnership in this program to facilitate the public's access to the information products produced by their Government. Last February, I had the opportunity to speak to the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services about the "Role of the Government "Printing" Office in the Digital Millennium" - I mention that because at the time, I said we couldn't freeze technological development or turn back the clock. We want to assure that the American public, through you and your institutions, continues to have ready, long-term no-fee access to electronic government information, as it has for the print/tangible products that have been distributed through the FDLP for more than a century. As many of you know, in a previous life, I was the government documents specialist at the Detroit Public Library, a regional depository. So from first-hand experience, I am well aware how important it is for citizens of all walks of life with different levels of information literacy, to be able to access the information on all subjects collected, compiled or created by their government. FY 2001 Funding Andy Sherman has laid out the details of congressional action on our fiscal year 2001 appropriation. Needless to say, with the reduced funding from Congress, it is clear that for us to operate within the approved appropriation, we must curtail some products and services. There were a number of issues I laid out in the August 25 letter sent to depository library directors regarding the directions we would be taking as a consequence of the reduced appropriation. The most profound of these changes is the acceleration of the FDLP electronic transition. This should not come as a great surprise to you, because over the past few years, there has been a steadily increasing amount of Federal Government information disseminated online through the FDLP to libraries and to the American public. Staff from LPS has spent many hours examining ways in which we can, within our budget constraints, continue to provide necessary services to you in the depository community and to users of government information. Since the FDLP is not funded at a level that permits us to continue to make dual format distribution on a routine basis, staff has been evaluating print products in the program that are also available electronically and changing their dissemination to libraries to the online electronic version only, taking advantage of the general trend in the Federal Government to publish and disseminate information in electronic formats. These are hard decisions for us to make, and we know they are difficult for you as well. But some choices just have to be made in this fiscal year to reduce expenses. I also said in the library director's letter that we would be presenting a draft Superintendent of Documents policy to the Depository Library Council for their review and recommendations. Gil will be going into more detail about it later. But what I want to make clear is that the focus of the policy is that information content, regardless of the format, remains the primary selection criterion for inclusion of a U.S. Government information product in the FDLP. I would like to point out that a great deal of staff time was spent on crafting this policy and that none of the decisions we will be examining here this week have been made in haste. We are concerned, as you are, about these changes and I want you to know that we fully appreciate the issues you face in your libraries as the transition escalates. It is clear that we cannot maintain the FDLP as it has been and indeed, since 1995 we have been directed by the Congress to move to a more electronic FDLP. One issue we are facing is the speed with which we make this transition. We anticipate shipments of tangible FDLP products to your library will decline sharply over coming years, reducing your long-term requirements for shelving and space, but also anticipate GPO and depository libraries will have one foot in the tangible world and one in the electronic world for an indefinite period. The retrospective hard copy collections in depository libraries will continue to be needed for historical research. Except for selected items on a project basis, I cannot prognosticate when, if ever, they would be digitized for online access. In terms of current Federal Government information products, many are still not being put up on the Web by the issuing agencies, or incomplete versions are being put up. And there are core documents, which need to be published in hardcopy as official publications that are central to our governmental processes or government information dissemination. I think, however, the electronic transition has already demonstrated it will expand public access to electronic Government information products. But in order to deliver this information effectively to everyone, depository libraries as the basic backbone and safety net for public access to government information must take steps to ensure that the technological infrastructure is in place. Together we must address accelerating training and continuing education needs of depository library personnel, so that they may keep abreast of this rapidly changing technological environment. In the new, primarily electronic environment, GPO will continue to provide Federal depository libraries administrative support, collection development, and access services (identification, evaluation, selection, authentication, organization, and cataloging), as well as systems for permanent accessibility. Other Government Activities While there are many changes taking place within GPO and LPS that have a direct bearing on the FDLP, it is necessary to note other factors at work within the Federal Government that could have major implications for the way government information is collected, maintained and disseminated. GPRA One is the 1998 Government Paperwork Elimination Act which requires Executive Branch agencies to submit plans by the end of this month to the Office of Management and Budget detailing electronic options for information collection which they will have in place in 2003. These are to include paperless submission and maintenance processes for employment records, tax forms, and Federal loan applications. GAO Study As Andy mentioned, there is language in our FY 2001 funding bill asking that the General Accounting Office (GAO) conduct a comprehensive study on the impact of providing documents to the public solely in electronic format. The study is supposed to include: 1. a current inventory of publications and documents which are provided to the public, 2. the frequency with which each type of publication or document is requested for deposit at non-regional depository libraries, and 3. an assessment of the feasibility of transfer of the depository library program to the Library of Congress that: o Identifies how such a transfer might be accomplished o Identifies when such a transfer might optimally occur o Examines the functions, services, and programs of the Superintendent of Documents o Examines and identifies administrative and infrastructure support that is provided to the Superintendent by the Government Printing Office, with a view to the implications for such a transfer o Examines and identifies the costs, for both the Government Printing Office and the Library of Congress, of such a transfer o Identifies measures that are necessary to ensure the success of such a transfer. The study is to be submitted to the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration by March 30, 2001. Over the past few weeks, staff members from LPS have been called upon to provide to GAO materials and related statistics about the FDLP. A member of the GAO staff, Mike Dolak, has also spoken with some of you in the community and in fact, he will be attending the conference to obtain more information and your perspectives on the program. NCLIS NTIS Study As you are no doubt aware, the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) is currently involved in a study aimed at updating and strengthening the government's public information dissemination laws, policies, and programs, including the mission and programs of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Judy Russell will be here to talk about the NCLIS initiatives later this morning. In a related development the Computer and Communications Industry Association has produced a white paper on the Role of the Government in a Digital Age. They encourage a substantial review and rethinking of the role of government in a digital economy. They focus on what services the government should not be providing online. Among the 12 principles they suggest are: o The government should exercise substantial caution in entering markets in which private-sector firms are active. o The government (including government corporations) should generally not aim to maximize net revenues or take actions that would reduce competition. o The government should exercise caution in adding specialized value to public data and information. o The government should only provide private goods, even if private-sector firms are not providing them, under limited circumstances. o The government should only provide a service online if private provision with regulations or appropriate taxation would not be more efficient. One of the authors is Jonathan Orszag who as head of the Commerce Department's Policy Office, proposed the closure of NTIS. FirstGov And what impact, if any, will the introduction of the new Federal Government portal, called FirstGov, have on the provision of Federal Government information? This and other questions will be addressed by Tom Freebairn, the Director of FirstGov at the U.S. General Services Administration, when he speaks here tomorrow afternoon. Conclusion All this is to say that the Superintendent of Documents programs don't exist in a vacuum. We interact with other Federal agencies and oftentimes must follow their lead in how they produce and disseminate their information. But our objective is always public access. We know you have questions and comments to share with us and we look forward to hearing from you this morning and over the next three days. Thank you.