ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program --------------------------------------------------------------------- May 1, 2000 GP 3.16/3-2:21/07 (Vol. 21, no. 07) --------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE ON SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS PROGRAMS Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr. Superintendent of Documents Before the Depository Library Council April 10, 2000 Newport, RI Introduction Good morning. It certainly is a pleasure to be here in beautiful Newport and have this opportunity to speak to you at the first Depository Library Council meeting in the new millennium (depending on how one counts). National Library Week Since this meeting coincides with National Library Week, it gives me the opportunity once more to recognize the importance of the partnership between libraries and the government in the provision of access to government information to the public. The responsibilities assumed by depository libraries are especially important as a safety net for public access. But all types of libraries are supplying government information whether obtained through purchase or from the Web. Since 1958, National Library Week has been a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate. I personally liked the National Library Week theme of a few years ago: Libraries Change Lives. We asked people for testimonials for how libraries had impacted their lives and we received wonderful heart-warming stories. But those of you on the front lines of documents reference probably could write such stories every day about the information you've provided to satisfy patron inquiries. This meeting here in Newport is certainly an excellent opportunity for all of us in the depository community to discuss and recognize the accomplishments, contributions and future of the FDLP during National Library Week. Today's Topics Today I have a number of topics I'd like to cover: first, a success story, Ben's Guide. Then I'll talk about permanent public access (PPA), a research project on government websites in which we have been participating, our online transition and some comments about our Sales Program. Gil Baldwin, T.C.Evans and other staff will be presenting many of our operational developments and I don't want to steal their thunder. Ben's Guide I hope that by now you are all aware that GPO released Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids in December 1999. With Benjamin Franklin as a guide, this powerful resource for students, parents, and teachers provides a fun and educational introduction to how the U.S. Government works based on information resources available through GPO Access. In its first month, the site received just over 100,000 retrievals. By February 2000, this number jumped to approximately 350,000. This marks a 197 percent increase. Since its release, Ben's Guide has received excellent feedback and many forms of recognition, including the ALA's 2000 Notable Children's Web Sites Award, USA Today's Hot Site of the Week, and Pacific Bell's Blue Web 'n. Each day, our virtual Ben receives e-mail from individuals (especially children) all over the world such as Julian, age four, asking if Ben could come to his birthday party to Candice, eighth grade, asking, "Does a person running for president have to have lived in the U.S. for 14 consecutive years?" That first question was easier than the second to answer. Staff responded that Ben was flattered about the party invitation, but he was not able to attend the party. He did wish the young writer a happy birthday. Now the second question was quite a stumper. The Constitution states that a person must be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. There is no mention if these have to be 14 consecutive years. Schools in this country are fostering the Internet as a learning tool. So, as we improve and enhance the capabilities of the site, we hope Ben's Guide will continue to be utilized. Recently, an elementary school teacher in Illinois wrote that she used Ben's Guide, "not only to increase [the student's] knowledge of U.S. History but also to use this site to teach Internet navigation skills and to reinforce reading and writing skills." We rely heavily on user feedback to improve Ben's Guide. Please send any comments and suggestions to . Permanent Public Access I have mentioned previously that GPO has been hosting meetings of participants representing U.S. Federal agencies, the national libraries, Congressional committees, public interest groups, and other organizations interested in issues regarding the preservation of, and access to, Government information published electronically. We held our third meeting just a few weeks ago. Staff from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) gave a presentation about their Electronic Records Archives Program-Building the Archives of the Future, and George Barnum and Steve Kerchoff from Library Programs Service provided an update on the implementation of GPO's Electronic Collection Plan and our nascent digital archive. Gil will be describing this in more detail, and both George and Steve are here to explain the program as well as discuss partnership possibilities. In the coming months, members of the PPA Working Group will be formulating goals. Some draft goals include: * Facilitating discussion among stakeholders engaged in digital archiving research or applications. * Providing a forum for sharing information among the participants, and informing a wider audience about U.S. Government PPA activities. * Identifying a set of core values regarding current and future public access to U.S. Government electronic information. * Developing and publicizing a set of "best practices" for digital archiving that will facilitate cooperation among agencies and organizations. * Identifying "at risk" electronic information and developing collaborative solutions or partnerships to ensure its permanent public accessibility. * Creating an environment to foster the development of collaborative PPA projects. * Formulating policies and programs to assure ongoing access to Federal government information. Staff from the Library Programs Service and the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS) in conjunction with our Production staff are working on a public website on GPO Access that will include information about the group and its members, its goals, and links to resources relevant to the topic. The concept for such a website was broached only a few months ago and I am pleased that it will be a reality very soon. I believe that the activities related to these permanent public access meetings and the creation of the website will put GPO on the map as a leader in this area. Government websites The rapidly changing Federal information arena poses a myriad of challenges to Government managers striving to keep pace. With increasing frequency, these challenges revolve around the publication and dissemination of Federal information on the Internet. As Government managers work through these challenges, they seek information on policy and best practices to aid them in the process. As you know, we commissioned the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) to perform an assessment of agency plans for producing electronic government information products. It did not give us exact data but it validated our perceptions of a rapidly evolving, somewhat chaotic environment. We are now participating along with several other agencies in a new study being undertaken by the Information Use Management and Policy Institute, in the School of Information Studies at Florida State University. This effort, headed by Dr. Charles McClure, is designed to explore appropriate performance measures for Federal agency websites. The project began with Dr. McClure and his associates conducting separate meetings with each of the participating agencies to gather information to measure the performance of their websites. Among the topics GPO sees as important for Federal websites are depository library access, Permanent Public Access, how agency pages are located and retrieved on commonly used search engines, no fees or copyright-like restrictions, customer satisfaction ratings, user support, and training. Dr. McClure's team will analyze what has been learned in these meetings and through follow-up information and develop a recommended set of criteria for agencies to use in evaluating website performance. These will be tested on participating agency sites and the results included in the project's final report, scheduled for release in September of this year. Online transition The digital revolution and the facilitation of new products and services produced by Federal agencies and GPO for public use is having many impacts. You all are seeing it in the transition of the FDLP and Federal agency publishing to electronic formats, which has increased so dramatically in just several years. We do not see an end in sight. We are committed to providing access to Government information products in print or electronic formats as produced by the agencies or by GPO in cooperation with agencies for free FDLP public access. Resource constraints and legislative direction dictate that increasingly we will move to electronic versions and that we will not be able to continue simultaneous distribution of titles in two or even three formats. One of the side-effects of this publishing transition are concerns raised by publishers about GPO and indeed, other government agencies, making new electronic products available for free. We have certainly heard these arguments before about "value-added" government products and whether we should be involved in such ventures, dating back to the inclusion of microfiche in the FDLP. Recommended Specifications for Public Access Workstations As we continue our electronic transition, we are all faced with the challenges of the constantly evolving technology to access and use the government information being released in new formats. In our recent Biennial Survey, over 95% of the libraries reported meeting the 1996 standard of providing, at a minimum, a low-end Pentium for public access. We presume most of the remaining libraries either provide mediated access to electronic government information or have older equipment. It is time now to raise the bar for both service provided and equipment used in depositories. We need to look at new standards for technology requirements for depository libraries currently to access the range of electronic government information. This is part and parcel of the proposals staff will be presenting to the Council here. Proposal #3 would revise the "Depository Library Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Formats" to establish a service requirement for tangible electronic products. Gil will be discussing the proposals more fully, but this one represents an important step in order for the FDLP to move forward. Another proposal that LPS staff has put forth has to do with the Recommended Specifications for Public Access to Workstations in Federal Depository Libraries for 2000. As noted in the handout, these recommended specifications are intended to assist depository librarians in making informed purchases which will best achieve the goal of providing public access to Federal government information in a variety of electronic formats. We want to work with you on this transition. As new standards or guidelines are developed or other significant changes occur in the FDLP, we plan to communicate with depository library directors as well as the documents librarians to gain support for whatever needs to be done to move the FDLP forward. Sales For some time now, our Sales Program has been feeling the impact of the revolutionary changes in Government information dissemination. As agencies increasingly resort to the Internet and other non-print methods of publishing, the Sales Program has seen both a decline in sales volume and in the number of salable titles available. For example, sales of the Federal Register declined by $1.2 million, or 20.9 percent, between FY 1998 and FY 1999, and the Code of Federal Regulations declined by $3.9 million, or 63.9 percent. As a result, the Sales Program is losing money. We are working on short- and long-term strategies to deal with this situation, including price increases, cost-cutting measures, new methods of increasing public awareness of the products we sell, and an analysis of where a predominantly print sales operation will fit into the increasingly electronic future of Government publishing. As part of our strategic planning, we are also re-examining the role of our bookstores, as well as our reimbursable services activities in the Washington area and at our Distribution Center in Pueblo, Colorado. We have just completed a study of the Pueblo operation's future workload potential at the request of the House Appropriations Committee, since the overall declining workload in print publications distribution is a factor there too. Conclusion We continue to move forward into the electronic future. But sometimes it is interesting to take a look back. This is quite a week in history, as staff discovered. On this very day, April 10th (1912) the R.M.S. Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic, thought to be the world's fastest ship afloat and almost unsinkable, spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. It carried some twenty-two hundred passengers and crew. I assume you know the rest of the story and I certainly wouldn't want to spoil it, in case you haven't seen the movie. On a more contemporary note that directly affected many of us, thirty years ago today Paul McCartney announced that he was leaving the Beatles to go solo. April 12th is quite a milestone--the bloodiest four years in American history began when Confederate shore batteries opened fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. We know where that led. These might not be the most uplifting events to report on. However, on April 13, 1743, Thomas Jefferson was born. He said in a letter to John Adams in 1816 that "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past..." I am always pleased to have the opportunity to tell you about where we have been, but more about where we hope to go. I look forward to working with members of the Council over the next three days as we plot our future course in this ICE Age-Internet Changes Everything. Thank you.