ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program -------------------------------------------------------------------- April 15, 2000 GP 3.16/3-2:21/06 (Vol. 21, no. 06) -------------------------------------------------------------------- LPS Update Spring 2000 Depository Library Council Meeting April 10-12, 2000 Newport, RI New Titles in the FDLP Online electronic U.S. Government information is the most prevalent dissemination medium in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), while the distribution of tangible products through the FDLP continues to decline compared to FY 1999. The number of online and tangible titles added to the FDLP from October 1999 through February 2000 is: Media Titles Copies % of FDLP Titles Online (GPO Access) 4,173 n/a 16.4 Online (links to other 8,956 n/a 35.2 agency sites) Subtotal for Online 13,129 51.6 Paper (includes USGS maps) 5,178 2,400,292 20.4 Microfiche 6,826 3,026,140 26.8 CD-ROM 290 107,235 0.1 Subtotal for Tangible 12,294 5,533,667 48.4 Grand Total 25,423 5,533,667 100.0 Migrating Products from Microfiche to Electronic - Bills and GAO reports LPS is phasing out the physical distribution of certain FDLP microfiche titles and migrating to the online version, when an official, reliable electronic version is available. As part of this migration process, LPS is identifying groups of titles that agencies issue in both print and 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. LPS staff met with personnel from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and determined that nearly all GAO publications are available online, either from the GAO website or from GPO Access. Therefore, except for unusual cases, LPS will discontinue distributing GAO publications in microfiche as of September 30, 2000. LPS will also discontinue distribution of the Congressional Bills on microfiche effective with the last of the 106th Congress Bills. Bills are permanently accessible on GPO Access beginning with the 103rd Congress. New Depository Shipping Contract In light of problems with batching, misdirected shipments, delayed receipts and resulting processing problems for depository libraries, LPS elected not to exercise its contract option year with Potomac Business Center (PBC). Previous mail contracts have covered all GPO mailers and were not specific to the needs of the Federal Depository Library Program. Unfortunately, this resulted in more generic contractual language with insufficient safeguards for quality service to libraries. However, because of the many inconsistencies in the performance of this past contract, LPS is now able to segregate its pick up and delivery requirements and has completed a much-strengthened Statement of Work to begin the procurement process for an upcoming mailing contract. GPO's Procurement Office announced the requirement for pick up and delivery services in the Commerce Business Daily on March 2, 2000. In addition, LPS began date stamping all outgoing boxes in early March, and is also upgrading its TanData system to increase the ability to track depository materials from the time shipments leave GPO to the time shipments arrive at depository libraries. All changes should be in place by mid-June, 2000. In the meantime, LPS has sent some shipments to depository libraries through the U.S. Postal Service as well as through PBC, resulting in a mixture of deliveries from UPS and some from the Postal Service. Library processing staff who detect any anomalies or errors in their shipments should contact Ms. Vicki Barber, Chief of LPS' Depository Distribution Division, at 202-512-1014, or by e-mail at . Biennial Survey Data Available The raw data from the 1999 Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries is available for downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). There are four files: 1. Text of the Biennial Survey (file name: s99text.rtf). 2. Optional questions and answers (file name: s99optn.csv). 3. Survey questions and answers, excluding the optional questions (file name: s99main.csv). 4. Survey key (file name: s99key.rtf). Depository librarians can use the data to compare their depository operations with others in their peer group or within their state or region. LPS plans to issue a written report entitled "Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries: 1999 Results" later this year. The FBB can be reached at ; by dial-in on 202-512-1387; by telnet to ; or FTP to . Bound Congressional Record In August 1999, libraries receiving the bound Congressional Record were directed to return specific volumes of the Record to GPO for rebinding. The volumes have been over-sewn and are in the process of being returned to each library. Libraries should expect to see the volumes back in their libraries by the end of April. Depository Product Update These important products will be distributed to depository libraries: * U. S. Industry and Trade Outlook, C 61.48:, Item 0215-L-08. Copies are expected in GPO shortly after April 30, 2000. * NOAA Diving Manual, C 55.8:D 64/, Item 0250- E-15. This publication is to be printed this summer. In addition, Mental Health: A Report of The Surgeon General, 1999, HE 20.402:M 52/2, item 0497-D-01, was distributed on shipping list 2000-0134-P, dated 2/10/2000. LPS Joins BIBCO In January, officials of the Library of Congress's Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) asked GPO to become members of the BIBliographic COoperative (BIBCO) of the national Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). In March, GPO map and monograph catalogers completed two days of BIBCO training. GPO is now a member of all four PCC components: BIBCO, CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials) Program, NACO (Name Authority Cooperative) and SACO (Subject Authority Cooperative). Membership in BIBCO means that GPO PCC map and monograph records will be accepted, with little or no review, by the Library of Congress and the other national libraries. To be coded PCC, all access points of map and monograph records must be represented by authority work. In keeping with our policy of establishing personal name authorities for only congressional publications, most of GPO's PCC coded records will be restricted to maps and congressional publications. GPO Granted OCLC National Level Enhanced Status OCLC has recently granted GPO National Level Enhanced Status. This status authorizes GPO catalogers to modify all OCLC records, including those produced by the national libraries. GPO Joins CORC In January 2000, GPO joined OCLC's CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) project. From 1999 through the present, OCLC has extracted data from more than 4,000 GPO produced OCLC records with PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) for inclusion in the CORC database. Membership in CORC entitles GPO to contribute to OCLC's development of CORC's data extraction software and other software features and to evaluate CORC for potential LPS applications.