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, 2002 GP 3.16/3-2:23/14 (Vol. 23, no. 14) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Where We Go from Here Remarks by Gil Baldwin Director, Library Programs Service U.S. Government Printing Office Before the Depository Library Council and Federal Depository Library Conference Arlington, VA Monday, October 21, 2002 Good morning and welcome to homecoming for the depository library community. Our staff has worked intensively throughout the year to get together valuable and interesting programs, and we hope you will get a lot out of the sessions. But like homecoming, much of the real value of these meetings is the opportunity to catch up with your friends and colleagues from around the country, so we hope you’ll be able to mix and mingle. This morning I want to run through some of the most important highlights of LPS activities over the last year. But if you want more detail, including URL’s of interest, we have LPS’ FY 2002 annual report available as a handout. Our focus has been on critical program infrastructure, rebuilding personnel and updating automated systems. But we have also made progress in publicizing the FDLP, communications with the community, and in digital archiving. LPS Staff Developments LPS has made significant progress in revamping its workforce to deal with the challenges of electronic information. LPS has experienced unprecedented personnel turnover in the last few years. Recently we restarted our LPS Orientation Program for new employees, and found that about 30% of our staff was new to LPS in the last three years. And that doesn’t even count the ones who are in different jobs in LPS. This year we made extraordinary efforts to fill vacancies and to rebuild the staff. Among LPS’ new hires were library inspectors, catalogers, program analysts, distribution staff, and replacement supervisory personnel. As attrition occurred in positions that deal primarily with processing physical products, some of those FTEs were reallocated to positions that emphasize the management of electronic resources, services to libraries, collection development, cataloging, and digital archiving. In the electronic FDLP, the LPS cataloging staff has expanded the range of its efforts, and moved far beyond the traditional Monthly Catalog as its principal output. Cataloging now also functions as a gateway for bringing online titles into the FDLP Electronic Collection, and then for disseminating them under the program’s auspices. The Cataloging and Indexing Program provides access to online, as well as tangible, resources through bibliographic control. The loss of experienced cataloging staff in the past two years, coupled with the increasing complexity of the work, has had a severe impact on cataloging production. In fact, the personnel situation has acted as a brake on our ability to expand the Electronic Collection. During the past twelve months, nearly 50 candidates have been considered for cataloging positions. Seven persons have been hired. Thirty-one candidates (as of 9/19/02) have declined interviews, declined further consideration, or declined appointments that have been offered to them. Five cataloging vacancies remain to be filled, and the recruiting process continues. In addition, both of the first line supervisors were newly hired in FY2002. This created a need for training and orienting new staff. Training that was carried out in a one-on-one mode has been transformed to a combination of classroom instruction and practical application. We have never before trained so many new staff in so short a time. We also expanded recruiting, working through the ALA Placement Office at the Atlanta meeting, and advertising much more widely than before. While we worked to enhance and speed up our recruiting efforts, we also looked at ways to improve the retention of our cataloging staff. We obtained, for the first time, a green light to participate in the student loan repayment program, and to pay relocation expenses for new hires. In addition, we asked for a review of the cataloger’s position descriptions and classification, which in turn establishes their basic compensation rate. A personnel specialist from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducted an in-depth examination of the catalogers’ positions. This review, which began in May, is expected to result in a non-binding advisory determination concerning the proper grade of the catalogers’ positions. However, to date no report has been received from OPM. We also succeeded in establishing an additional librarian position in the Depository Administration Branch. This job will focus on collection-building activities, and will be directly involved in classification and product format decisions. We have selected Lisa Russell, an experienced depository librarian from the University of Maryland, for this position, and we look forward to having Lisa on board early next month. Federal Depository Libraries The number of depository libraries continues to decline, with 19 selective depository libraries leaving the system in the last year. In most cases this occurred with no advance notification to LPS that relinquishing status was under consideration. LPS has conducted several discussions intended to identify the causes of libraries leaving the program. One of the principal reasons expressed is that so much information is now available on the Internet that the traditional program paradigm of GPO providing free publications to libraries in a de facto exchange for maintaining the collections and serving the general public has broken down. Through an article in Administrative Notes, we encouraged libraries that are thinking about leaving the program to contact LPS and their regional depository librarian well in advance of any final decision. When contacted early in the decision making process, LPS can often help the library by clarifying issues or discussing areas of concern that may have contributed to the library’s review of its depository status. In the future, the program must provide for electronic-only depository library collections, meaning that a depository may select only those items made available in online format and still maintain its status in the FDLP. Nothing in the statute or practice categorically precludes such a selection profile once a depository library has been established. LPS is working with the University of Arizona to develop an evaluative framework to make sure that the needs of the immediate user community and the Congressional district are adequately met, and that a depository which establishes an all-electronic item selection is able to be evaluated in the Biennial Survey, self-study, and inspection on an equal and fair footing with a traditional depository. The pilot project has begun, with staff from the University of Arizona Library, the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science, and the Library Programs Service working together to implement and evaluate the one-year project. LPS has engaged the regional librarians in developing a plan for standardizing the termination process for depository libraries. In yesterday’s Regional Meeting there was a discussion of issues related to designation and termination of libraries in the FDLP. With feedback from the regional librarians and with additional assistance from library community volunteers, LPS intends to have an initial draft proposal on this issue for Council’s consideration at the spring 2003 Council meeting. The library inspection program is currently undergoing a performance audit from GPO’s Inspector General’s office. Part of the audit process involves discussion with us and a review of existing documentation. The audit also involves fieldwork, so an IG auditor will probably accompany LPS staff on an upcoming inspection to see in person what happens. The IG staff may also make some surprise visits to depositories. We hope that the results will identify ways to improve the self-study and inspection process that will ease the administrative burdens on libraries, while still supporting the goal of protecting public access to depository information. Digital Archiving LPS is becoming a center of excellence in managing an electronic collection for permanent public access. Last year we expanded use of the GPO archive servers and our participation in the beta test phase of the OCLC Web Document Digital Archive initiative, and we entered into important new content partnerships. GPO guarantees the public will have permanent access to the online titles in the FDLP, in similar fashion to the assurance that physical products in the FDLP will be permanently accessible at the regional depository libraries. Permanent public access for online electronic files requires an organizational commitment to preserving and maintaining the data, beginning with capturing non-GPO Access content, managing files to prevent deterioration of storage media, creating metadata to facilitate preservation, migrating files to newer file formats to prevent technological obsolescence, managing backup and mirror sites, and other ongoing activities. GPO’s responsibilities for permanent public access are described in LPS’ 1998 report Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document. At the macro level, LPS is using three approaches to provide permanent public access: 1. Digital archiving using partner sites, through contractual partnership agreements with depository libraries and/or publishing agencies. 2. Digital archiving on GPO servers. 3. Developing a processing "tool kit" of software for archiving digital objects, and an off-site archival storage and preservation capability with OCLC. I call this the "three-horse race" and all three horses are off and running. LPS’ own archive of electronic publications provides a first level of security for agency publications that are primarily textual or images of text, and which have no tangible counterpart in the FDLP. LPS staff routinely downloads copies of online titles for which there are no analogous print versions in the FDLP. These files are eventually stored on GPO’s archive server, as a security measure. Their active use begins only when the original agency version is no longer available. As of August, there are approximately 4750 titles stored in the archive server, with 77 archived titles being served up to users. GPO and OCLC have completed the first phases of testing of a system to locate, identify, process, describe, store and preserve electronic publications. The Web Document Digital Archive Pilot Project includes several other partners, including the state libraries of Connecticut, Michigan, Arizona, and Ohio, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The system incorporates a mix of new and existing solutions in an effort to refine and integrate LPS workflow and routines for processing and storing e-titles for the long term. GPO is a full partner in this project, and staff has worked closely with OCLC, providing input in the development process. LPS’ Director and Electronic Collection Manager were instrumental in conceptualizing this project, convincing OCLC of the value and importance of digital archiving, and in prototyping the features and the user interface. The resulting product, while initially a reflection of GPO's high-level requirements for an archiving system, is making a significant contribution to the ability of libraries worldwide to manage and expand access to digital resources. As an outgrowth of the digital archive project, GPO is a charter member of the OCLC Digital and Preservation Cooperative, which will advance research and development of digital preservation and archiving solutions for libraries worldwide. Partnerships Establishing partnerships with agencies, depository libraries, and other organizations builds on the successful model of the FDLP sharing responsibility for access and preservation. Partnerships have taken various forms. Six libraries provide services or tools for locating Government information or managing depository library collections. Currently, responsibility for one of GPO's original Pathway locators, Browse Topics, is passing to new management at Oklahoma State University. Nine partners manage content with specific permanent public access safeguards contractually defined. Among these are depository libraries including: the University of Illinois at Chicago, which hosts Department of State material; Indiana University, which hosts an online server of publications previously distributed in the FDLP on unstable floppy disk media, and the University of North Texas, which houses the Cybercemetery, a site which collects and preserves the web sites of Government agencies and commissions that have ceased operation. In the past year the Cybercemetery has averaged over half a million hits per month, and has received favorable media attention from the Washington Post and the Associated Press. Several Government agencies, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Library of Medicine, maintain agreements through which GPO is assured that web content will be maintained on agency servers permanently, thus relieving GPO of the burden of capturing and archiving their content. In late 2002, a content partnership between the U.S. Census Bureau, GPO, and the Case Western Reserve University Libraries (CWRU) began. Case Western will operate a site specifically geared to depository libraries offering the 2000 Census Summary Files for download by File Transfer Protocol (ftp). I want to thank CWRU Documents Librarian Karen Thornton for all her help in this project. Integrated Library System The most exciting development for LPS’ future is our acquisition of an Integrated Library System (ILS). This will enable us to improve services to libraries and make a greater range of Government publications accessible to the public. In the fiscal year 2002 appropriation, GPO received general approval from Congress to acquire a commercial off-the-shelf ILS. Two other important milestones in the acquisition process have taken place this fiscal year: * LPS obtained spending approval from the Joint Committee on Printing for the ILS. * GPO has contracted and begun work with a library automation consulting firm, RMG, Inc., of Chicago, IL, to analyze functional requirements, review available systems for "fit" with those requirements, and recommend the best system to meet LPS’ needs. RMG’s principal is Mr. Rob McGee, who is working intensively with LPS to refine our needs, define appropriate systems architecture, and so on. McGee has performed similar work for many domestic and international libraries, and he has a well-developed process that we are going through. The next step is that RMG will issue a Request for Information (RFI) on GPO’s behalf to the top 5 system vendors. The RFI sets forth our requirements and asks the vendors to describe the offerings and to respond to a lengthy series of questions. We are working with other GPO offices to ensure that whatever we purchase is consistent with network security requirements and preferred network architecture. The vendors will be asked to respond by mid-December, and we will begin a very intense evaluation process, likely culminating in vendors’ presentations at GPO in mid-to-late January. We intend to have identified the system for us by the end of February, and then proceed to the acquisition stage. LPS will strive to have the ILS up and running in early 2004. Of course this means we will face many issues, like migrating data, populating the database, building programming interfaces with other systems, re-engineering our workflow, staff training, and much, much more. In order to meet this ambitious schedule, LPS will have to keep our nose to the grindstone, and try to avoid distractions. I think that those of you who have been through a major system implementation know what we will face. Recently we have had nearly 10 of our staff working exclusively on the ILS project, but of course all of this time comes out of the existing staff resource pie. In order to build the system for the future, we are going to have to accept some constraints on making incremental changes to the existing systems. I trust that you will give us the breathing room to get the job done. The results, in improved service and expanded access, will be well worth it. The ILS implementation and system installation is expected to take place in phases. Phase 1 features the replacement of the bibliographic functions currently supported by OCLC and the Catalog of Government Publications (GCP). These actions will take place by Day 1 of using the ILS: * The ILS’ public access catalog will replace the CGP. * Begin cataloging in ILS and export records to OCLC. * Perform serials check-in in ILS. * Utilize authority file functions in ILS. * Create output products through ILS, for printed products and for MARC record distribution. * Populate ILS modules with bibliographic and authority records produced by LPS from July 1976- present. We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of changes to go through. But we have a great team at work in LPS, and I’m confident that the results are going to be spectacular. Before I close, I want to acknowledge all of the support we have gotten from the Council for the ILS project. Thank you for your help, encouragement, and patience.