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 [ PDF version ] [ Back Issues ] --------------------------------------------------------------------- May 1, 2001 GP 3.16/3-2:22/07 (Vol. 22, no. 07) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep in the Heart of Texas Remarks by Gil Baldwin Director, Library Programs Service Depository Library Council Meeting San Antonio, TX April 2, 2001 Howdy, partners! It's a lot of fun to be meeting with you deep in the heart of Texas, and to have Council, as Willie Nelson would say ... "on the road again." This morning I want to cover some of the changes and activities that have been going on at the Library Programs Service (LPS) and to highlight some of the upcoming presentations on this meeting's agenda. Personnel News One of the big news items for LPS has been staff changes. This has been a period of significant turnover among our staff. As you no doubt know, our former Council mistress of ceremonies, Sheila McGarr, left LPS in December to become the director of the National Library of Education. As great as that was for her and for NLE, it meant a lot of adjustments within LPS to fill the gap, especially since she had been wearing two hats. As Chief of the Library Division, Sheila had management oversight responsibility for the Cataloging Branch, the Depository Administration Branch (DAB), and the Depository Services Staff (DSS). The Depository Services Staff includes the library inspection team, the responsibility for LPS publishing, and event planning for the annual Federal Depository Library Conference, the Council meetings, and the annual Interagency Seminar. In order to cover these critical activities, I named Robin Haun-Mohamed as permanent Chief of the DSS. The transition of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to a program that emphasizes the discovery, cataloging, and management of online publications has brought about many operational adjustments in LPS' work. During the past year LPS has experimented with an Electronic Collection Team. More recently, we have begun new work processes and assignments based on a closer coordination between the Cataloging Branch and DAB staff. Therefore, Thomas A. Downing, is addition to carrying on as the Chief of the Cataloging Branch, also has been named the acting Chief of the Depository Administration Branch. Vicki Barber, Chief of the Depository Distribution Division, has been detailed to the Superintendent of Documents' staff to assist in implementing the Integrated Processing System (IPS) in the Documents Sales Service. This detail is expected to last up to one year. Consequently, Colleen Davis, Chief of the Depository Processing Branch, has been detailed to the position of Chief of the Depository Distribution Division. We presently have a number of staff vacancies that we are trying to fill. We are in the hiring process for one inspector, one publications management specialist, two catalogers, a program analyst, Chief of the Micrographics Section in DAB, the Chief of DAB, and the Library Division Chief. These hires do not represent organizational growth or empire-building; filling these jobs will just us get back to where we were a year ago. We will also request additional personnel as part of our FY2002 budget proposal. We would like to bring on additional catalogers, another inspector, and personnel to work on enhancing the FDLP Electronic Collection. The fate of these proposals remains to be seen, but I believe that they are essential to providing the level of service that you expect and deserve. Accelerating the Electronic Transition Since last fall, we have been pushing ahead with the transition to a primarily electronic FDLP. As you may remember, the reasons for this hurry-up are specific Congressional direction and reduced funding. The result of our efforts has been to raise the bar yet again for the amount of electronic products in the FDLP. For the October through February period, 61% of the new titles in the FDLP were online electronic. And you may expect this trend to continue. New Electronic Operating Guidelines At the last Council meeting, LPS presented drafts of two important working documents for our staff to use in acquiring publications for the FDLP, and in particular in making the decision of when to make a certain publication electronic only. These documents are the Superintendent of Documents' policy statement on "Dissemination/Distribution Policy for the FDLP" (SOD 71) and the related list of "Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper Format." We listened closely to the input from Council and from the library community, and incorporated the substance and spirit of those comments into our final version. Both SOD 71 and the expanded list of "Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper Format" were published in the January 15, 2001, issue of Administrative Notes (v 22, #2) and are also available on the FDLP Desktop. U.S. Code This fiscal year GPO will begin producing the 2000 bound cumulative edition of the U.S. Code. We are pleased to say that this essential product will be made available to all selecting depositories in case-bound format, although International Exchange libraries will get the paperbound edition. This is the single most expensive product in the FDLP; at almost $1.9 million it uses up almost 20% of the FDLP acquisitions budget. Originally we estimated the 2000 U.S. Code at $1.6 million, but the number of volumes in the set has grown. Obviously we have to do some cost saving elsewhere to make room for the 600-pound gorilla of the FDLP. We continue to make product-by-product decisions that will ultimately reduce multiple format distribution in the FDLP by trimming the distribution of physical products. "Migrating" to an Electronic FDLP Since last summer, as we communicated in the August 2000 letter to the directors of depository libraries, LPS has been taking action to terminate the physical distribution of numerous titles when there is an official and reliable online version available. This means that we are no longer simply proceeding with the transition in tandem with the actions of the publishing agencies. Now that we are getting out ahead of the agencies we are running into a new set of operational issues. Product acquisitions through GPO's labyrinthine system can have a life of their own, particularly in cases where agencies are placing the depository orders by attaching riders to term contracts. In such cases agencies often overlook our directions to stop acquiring print copies and keep on ordering FDLP stock that shows up on our doorstep. Worse yet we get charged for it. Up to this point, our policy has been to go ahead and distribute it, but this has a couple of big disadvantages. First, we give you a mixed message, by telling you that a title is going electronic only, but the paper copies keep showing up. And second, we're not realizing the savings that we need. Since most of these situations involve term contracts, we are working with GPO's Customer Service department to get the agencies to follow our directions. Agencies will be charged for stock that they over-order on our behalf, and the excess copies will be returned to the publishing agency. This is a lot of follow-up work, but we must break the cycle of faulty ordering by agencies being charged to us. With individual monographs, general publications for the most part, we are better positioned to make these format decisions at the front end. LPS has publications management specialists stationed in the Customer Service Department. The LPS people review incoming printing orders to see if it belongs in the FDLP, and if there is an online alternative that meets our selection criteria. In many cases they can make an immediate decision to go electronic-only on a given title before any stock is ordered. Electronic Documents in your Collections The shift to a primarily electronic FDLP requires us to revisit and revise other documentation, including the Instructions to Depository Libraries, specifically the guidance on the recommended basic collection for any depository library. This list was last revised in 1993, and in the meantime some of the products have ceased, some have changed titles, and several now have online versions that may serve your customers' needs better than hard copy. The LPS staff has reviewed the list and prepared a draft for discussion at this meeting. One of the underlying approaches to revising the basic collection list is to focus on the content rather than the distribution media. LPS believes that these products should be available to the public in any depository collection, but your local needs should dictate whether you select the print or the online version. This proposal is contained in the salmon-colored handout entitled "Revise the Basic Collection " and it will be discussed in a Council working session at 2:30 today. Cataloging Priorities As we move toward a primarily electronic Program, the operations within LPS are changing as well. As Tad Downing has told you many times, the electronic environment has created significant new workloads for LPS, and made the catalogers' tasks much more complex. Our catalogers are now involved in the discovery, evaluation, and selection of online resources, as well as in assigning PURLs to those resources and archiving them. We are giving our best effort to controlling the new online resources and describing the relationships to their tangible counterparts. Inevitably this work has been accompanied by evolving policies and practices. We have just completed a thorough revision of our cataloging priorities guideline; one that gives full recognition to the importance of cataloging the online resources in the FDLP. Included in this priority guideline is the statement that "In general it is GPO's policy to create a cataloging record based on the format that was distributed or made accessible via the FDLP. Therefore, if a publication is included in the FDLP solely in online format, GPO will create a cataloging record for the online version, and appropriate record links will be made from a record describing a physical manifestation of the same content." Our cataloging policy is part of the same transition that affects the Program overall, and we are acting in recognition of the fact that bibliographic control linked to content is the critical factor in an electronic FDLP. You may read the cataloging priority guideline in our response to Recommendation 1 from the fall 2000 Council meeting, or in the April 15 issue of Administrative Notes (v 22, #6). Classification of Online Products Another guideline that we are working on is the classification policy for online products. In looking back we find that the "GPO Classification Manual" is silent on this matter, hardly surprising given that the last revision was in 1993. We have developed a draft guideline for classifying online resources, and we are test-driving it within LPS. Later this spring we will post the draft guideline on the FDLP Desktop and get your comments and feedback before we finalize it. Systems Modernization Underway LPS has begun modernizing the automated systems used in LPS in support of the FDLP. For many years LPS has used four legacy systems: * ACSIS (Acquisitions, Classification, and Shipment Information System) put in operation about 1992. * DDIS (Depository Distribution Information System) designed in the late 1970's. * MoCat system for cataloging and Monthly Catalog production, started about 1976. * ADDS (Automated Depository Distribution System, formerly known as the Lighted Bin System), started about 1985. In recent years, it has become obvious that these old systems do not communicate, interact and exchange data well, and they are unable to support your expectations for service. This is truer than ever now that most depositories use commercial Integrated Library Systems (ILS). We are looking into replacing at least the first three and possibly all four of the old LPS systems. The most likely way to attain this goal is to obtain a commercial, off-the-shelf ILS and to use it for as many of our processes as it is able to support. Currently we are looking at three very well known ILS packages. Just coincidentally, they are the top three library systems reported in use at depository libraries. We are also examining some of the ways in which we do things, to better make them fit into standard library practice and meet the capabilities of a standard software package. Ms. Laurie B. Hall, supervisory program analyst, is taking the lead on the LPS systems modernization effort. While we are in this planning stage, we would like to get input from you about your expectations of what an LPS automated system should do. I hope that you will be able to attend our Wednesday morning "LPS Systems Modernization Discussion Group." Laurie will present some background information about our current systems environment. Then we want to hear from you about the services and features a system must offer in the FDLP of the future. AskLPS Backlog The need for systems modernization has a very direct impact on our ability to process work, and specifically to answer your inquiries. I'm referring to askLPS, our email channel for inquiries about the FDLP operations. In the most recent 6 months, we received about 5700 email inquiries, and we processed 5300, or about 93% of them. Most of these inquiries come in directly to an individual person, not to the askLPS general email box. The askLPS questions run about 40% about classification, 25% about fugitive documents and "whatever happened to..." another 25% for cataloging and PURLs, about 5% for distribution and claims inquiries, and another 5% miscellaneous. Many of these questions require significant amounts of research, and then the results need to be posted to our legion of legacy systems. It's a time-consuming process, averaging 30-60 minutes per inquiry to research, process, and respond. And the fact is we have no staff purely dedicated to responding to askLPS questions and other inquiries. It's an ancillary duty for 6 or 7 different people, many of whom are here today, including Laurie and Robin. Meanwhile, the inquiries keep on coming in back at home. In order to keep up at all, we are obliged to perform a triage on inquiries. One category includes inquiries that have already been answered. Another category is the multi-paragraph questions that could take hours of research to unravel all of the threads. The third category, and this is where we put most of our efforts, is questions that can be answered in a reasonable amount of time, especially if they involve fairly new material in the program. When we left for this trip, we had about 500 inquiries on hand. Answering inquiries has always been a resource issue for LPS, so we need to look for some innovative ways to work together on these questions. One approach that would reduce everyone's frustration is for folks to look in the Serials Supplement, in WEBTechNotes, and so on, before they send in a question. We still find lots that have already been answered. Another approach might be to partner with people in the library community to assist with some of the underlying research. There is a long tradition of this kind of voluntarism in the FDLP, and it can really benefit everyone if done well. Feedback Loop I believe that it is an honor to be part of this program. It's a real bargain for the public, in terms of services delivered for the dollars invested. We value your comments and feedback, and we do our best to be responsive. I only hope that others can learn how much these services mean to constituents, in terms of economic impact, distance education, civic involvement and the like. Librarians are always thought to love to read, and we know that you love to write as well. Just make sure to write other people who can influence the program as well. Thank you coming today and helping to keep public information one of the nation's strengths. And one more thought before I step down. I want to express LPS' appreciation to all of the folks on the local arrangements committee here in San Antonio. Your help and hospitality means a lot to us and to the success of these meetings. Thank you all!