The FDLP in Transition

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is two years into a multi-year transition from an exclusively print environment to a mixed environment. The FDLP now includes tangible Government information products disseminated to depository libraries and online databases and locator services provided via the Internet from GPO Access.

It is our goal that the FDLP ensure that the public has equitable, no-fee, dependable, local public access to Government information products through a centrally managed, statutorily authorized network of geographically-dispersed depository libraries. We will continue to administer the transition of the FDLP from paper to electronic formats, consistent with the needs of users and the intended usage. We will further develop the suite of locator services and cataloging initiatives to enable the public to locate Government information regardless of format. And we will develop a management plan for the FDLP Electronic Collection, in order to ensure permanent public access to Government information products at or through depository libraries.

LPS’ 1997 highlights include:

• Permanent access initiatives, including the "collection management" concept for the FDLP Electronic Collection;

• Expanded continuing education activities, including sponsoring the Regional Librarians Conference;

• Developing new GPO Access Web applications and services for depository librarians, such as:

• Adding the Council Web pages to the FDLP Administration Web page;

• Creating "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection;"

• Using the Web to conduct the Biennial Survey and the Item Selection Update Cycle;
• Developing the Item Lister, putting up the electronic version of the Shipping List, and partnering with the creators of the Shipping List label service.

• Raising awareness of the serious issues surrounding the privatization of important Government information products, and the copyright-like restrictions that often accompany these arrangements.

More detail on LPS’ FY 1997 activities is available in our annual report, located on the FDLP Administration Page at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/97lpsar.html. The report will be printed in the January 15, 1998 issue of Administrative Notes.

The developing FDLP Electronic Collection will be managed using many familiar library collection management policies and techniques, such as selection, acquisition, bibliographic control, access, organization, maintenance, deselection, and preservation for access. The Collection includes core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products, as well as other Federal Government information products, maintained for permanent public access either by GPO or by other agencies under formal agreements with GPO.

A position paper on Managing the GPO Access Collection appeared in Administrative Notes, v. 18, # 15 (11/25/97), and is available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/wpaper.html. We intend to publish the Collection Plan in draft form for review and comments early this year.

GPO is developing a searchable WAIS database for Supreme Court opinions that are part of the Project Hermes initiative. Project Hermes encompasses the time period from 1992 to present. Until now, this information has only been available through a browsable index on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB), in either Word Perfect 5.1 or ASCII text format. Beginning in the 1997/98 term, these files will be available on the FBB in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) and tagged ASCII format.

We are also working on a WAIS application, so users will be able to perform full-text searches and retrievals of this information, including multiple field searching. GPO expects to be able to provide some specific features for this application, including a field for conducting a full-text search; and the ability to search by case name; citation number; year; justice's name; and docket number.

We are working on AskLPS, a Web-based inquiry and answer module to send inquiries, and get answers and news from us about the FDLP. We expect to have this operational in February, and we hope once it’s up you will use AskLPS as your preferred channel to get in touch with us.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) Library Programs Service (LPS) is seeking two people for one-year appointments as Expert Consultants to work on the transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). We are looking for librarians or other information professionals associated with the depository library community who have a demonstrated interest and expertise in the creation, dissemination, use, or permanent public accessibility of electronic Government information products, and who would like to work with LPS on related issues and projects for one year.

Our current Expert Consultants are George Barnum from Case Western Reserve University, who will be with us through July 1998, and Sandy Schwalb, who ends her GPO tour in August 1998. Maggie Farrell and Raeann Dossett held these positions in 1995/1996; Duncan Aldrich and Sandy Schwalb were here during 1996/1997.

The Expert Consultant(s) will work on projects directly involved in the creation, dissemination, bibliographic control, use, or permanent public accessibility of electronic Government information products. Some of these projects are continuing efforts, and some will be new ones initiated in response to emerging opportunities.

During the next year we expect these positions to focus on:

• Outreach and liaison activities, both with Federal publishing agencies and depository libraries, for the purpose of establishing partnerships to bring additional electronic products into the FDLP

• An intensive review of LPS' cataloging program and operations, in order to function more effectively in the Internet/World Wide Web environment, and to determine if a commercial, off-the-shelf local cataloging system software can support the LPS cataloging operation

• Participating in the "Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products" study now underway with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS)

• Advancing efforts with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the National Agricultural Library (NAL), or other institutions to advance the permanent access initiatives authorized by the "storage facility" component of the GPO Access Act

• Designing and implementing projects in accordance with LPS’ "Management Plan for the FDLP Electronic Collection"

• Designing, developing, and enhancing locator services in GPO's suite of Pathway Services

• Working to coordinate FDLP activities with other Federal agencies, and with other Federal units responsible for dissemination of Government information products

• Drafting articles on issues pertaining to the FDLP’s electronic transition; delivering speeches or briefings on similar topics.

The successful candidates will be hired as "Expert Consultants" for a maximum of 12 months, with a starting date to be determined. Pay to be determined, based on applicant's salary history. Benefits include some vacation and sick leave. Retirement benefits, health insurance, and relocation expenses are not included.

The next opportunity to interview prospective candidates will be during the ALA Annual Conference that will be held in New Orleans, LA, January 9 through 13, 1998.

If you are interested in one of these positions, whether or not you are planning to attend ALA, please contact us to arrange for an interview. Prospective candidates should submit a resume and contact LPS to set up an interview or to request further information. At ALA, you may locate us at Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) events, or at the GPO Exhibit, Booth 927.

The LPS contacts are:

If you have questions about the position(s), please feel free to contact George Barnum gbarnum@gpo.gov; or Sandy Schwalb sschwalb@gpo.gov. They may both be reached by phone on (202) 512-1698 or by fax at (202) 512-1432.

Cataloging Branch Update

We have recently hired two experienced catalogers, one for serials and one for monographs. Both catalogers are now being trained and both will be involved with cataloging electronic Government information products. At present, our staff includes sixteen catalogers.

We began cataloging Browse Electronic Titles (BET) soon after this application was established by the Depository Administration Branch (DAB) in June, 1996. To date, DAB personnel have posted approximately 2,300 BET entries. During December, 1997, a two-week moratorium on posting "New Additions" to the BET application was initiated to allow for an assessment of the impact that BET and its related resources have on cataloging workloads.

Many of the BET entries are "group entries" that lead users to remotely accessible works associated with monographic series, multi-part sets, technical and research report groups, and resources related by topics. As a result, a one-to-one correspondence between a BET entry and a single cataloging record is more the exception than the rule. Our survey of BET and cataloging activities reveals the following:

• Approximately 3,700 electronic works suitable for cataloging are associated with the approximately 2,300 BET entries posted to the web site. Approximately 3,000 of these titles are related to monographs and approximately 700 are related to serials.

• Approximately 1,700, or nearly 46%, of these 3,700 works have been cataloged as of the last week of December, 1997. Approximately 1,350 records represent monographs and approximately 350 records represent serials. It appears that most of the approximately 2,000 works not yet cataloged may require original cataloging.

Approximately 30 "New Additions" entries to BET are added each week. Many, but not all, of these entries are associated with multiple works. We are collecting data on the ratio of BET entries to cataloging workloads on a weekly basis and will report more information as it becomes available. Our objective is to catalog each week's "New Additions" BET application as soon as possible without compromising our cataloging of physical formats.

Approximately 7,600 pieces of work await processing. This work includes approximately 2,000 BET-related works and approximately 5,600 physical formats. Approximately 3,000 pieces of work associated with physical formats relate to serials.

More than 25,000 pieces of work were processed by the Branch during 1997. As in previous years, more than 90% of our cataloging is original.

Our Fiscal Year 1997 (October 1, 1996 to September 30, 1997) CONSER report indicates that we provided CONSER level cataloging for 149 serials and authenticated 118 additional titles present in OCLC for a total of 267 records that were added to CONSER. We maintained 1,487 authenticated CONSER records during FY 1997. More than one third, or 596 of these transactions, were associated with electronic serials or with physical forms with electronic versions. Staff also created 57 series authority records for the NACO program and logged 81 NACO-related maintenance transactions during the fiscal year.

We have downloaded, installed, and tested OCLC's PURLs software and look forward to OCLC's impending software upgrades that are scheduled for public release in 1998. In response to our requests, OCLC has agreed to upgrades that will allow server administrators to generate an accession number as a unique identifying component of each PURL. A PURLs link checking application for use in server environments is also anticipated. We hope to begin assigning PURLs to BET applications and to cataloging records associated with these applications as soon as possible after PURLs upgrades become available for public use.

The Catalog of United States Government Publications contains records produced from 1994 through the present. During this period, more than 94,000 records have been added to this application. More than 2,800 of these records contain URL data. Most URL data are associated with records for titles in physical formats with electronic versions, but an increasing number of records are being produced for electronic versions only.

We will investigate modifying the record displays at the web site to display a user friendly labeled format in addition to the current MARC tagged display. Work on this enhancement was postponed pending progress on the PURLs application to assist us in maintaining records with linked URLs.

Depository Administration Branch Update

The U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook, 1998 was sent to libraries on SL 98-0006-S dated November 21, 1997. This title replaces the Industrial Outlook, last published in 1994. Over 1100 libraries received copies of this title provided to LPS by the National Technical Information Service.

Copies of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Manual will be distributed to depository libraries when available. Any commercial version advertised for sale at this time is not the complete manual. Libraries should retain the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification Manual as many of the non-statistical areas, administrative, taxes, etc. will not switch to the new system for several years.

The LandView III CD-ROMs are expected from the Census Bureau this month. Copies will be provided for distribution to the libraries. LandView III is a desktop mapping system that includes database extracts from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

USAMARK: Facsimile Images of Registered United States Trademarks is a new Cassis CD-ROM product which will contain facsimile images of U.S. registered trademarks from 1884 to the present. Libraries will be surveyed in February via the GPO’s Web site for this product. (Note: all libraries must complete all surveys, including the regional libraries.)

The Daily Treasury Statements (DTS) are now being uploaded on a daily basis to the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). Please view them at http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/tres_rpt.htm.

The Union List of Item Selections is available at http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/unionl.htm for download in ASCII comma delimited or fixed length field formats. The Union List will be uploaded to the FBB on a monthly basis on the first Friday of each month. In the past, this title was produced in microfiche format and distributed to all libraries, but the December 1997 issue will be the last one produced in fiche.

The 1997 World Factbook is due in late January. Both the paper and CD-ROM versions will be ordered for depository libraries.

Under an agreement between the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), depository libraries are being provided one free subscription to the online Environmental Health Information Service (EHIS), located at http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov. This service includes online access to Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Health Perspectives Supplements, National Toxicology Technical Reports, and the Historical Control Database.

As a value added service, Wichita State University is partnering with LPS to make the Documents Data Miner (DDM), a collection management tool, available for use by depository libraries. DDM will be linked off the FDLP Tools page when the testing is complete.

In September 1997, Congress directed GPO to discontinue distribution of the bound U.S. Congressional Serial Set to all depositories, except the regional libraries, and one library in each state without a regional library, effective with volumes for the 105th Congress. LPS will continue to distribute copies of the bound Serial Set to all libraries profiled to receive them through the 104th Congress. All libraries profiled to receive the slip distribution of House and Senate Documents and Reports will continue to receive them as they are produced. The Serial Set Title Pages and/or Table of Contents pages will be distributed to libraries wishing to use their slip copies to bind their own Serial Set volumes. LPS will conduct a survey in February of all libraries to determine who needs the Title Pages.

Libraries that submitted a letter of intent to the GPO Sales Program to purchase the Serial Set for $15,400 for the 105th Congress will be receiving a follow-up letter and an order form to confirm the purchase of the Serial Set. If there are any additional parties interested in purchasing the bound Serial Set, please contact Alan Ptak, Chief, Sales Management Division, at (202) 512-1709 as soon as possible.

Over 90% of the microfiche distributed to the depository libraries is done via one of the 15 full-service microfiche contracts. LPS has a new contractor, Lake George Industries, Ltd. of Bohemia, New York, that will be doing the conversion of the Official Gazettes, the Tax Court Memoranda and the SEC News Digest.

In the October 15, 1997 issue of the Administrative Notes, libraries were advised of some microfiche titles that were to be distributed to libraries only via an online web site. Following discussion at the October Council meeting, LPS postponed the discontinuation of any microfiche products pending further development and articulation of guidelines for such action. A set of guidelines utilized in identifying candidates for electronic only dissemination was described in Administrative Notes, (v.18, no.10, 7/15/97, p. 22). Anyone wishing to assist in the further development of these guidelines please contact:

Depository Services Update

OUTREACH

The 7th annual Federal Depository Library Conference and Spring meeting of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer are scheduled for April 20-23 in Arlington, VA. A one-day meeting for Regional librarians will be held on April 19 at the University of Maryland. For the third year in a row, the conference hotel is the Washington National Airport Hilton in Arlington, VA. The preliminary agenda was announced in the December 15, 1997 Administrative Notes. Hotel and conference registration forms were also included. Again this year, there will be Web registration. The URL is: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/98conreg.html

The 11th annual Interagency Depository Seminar is scheduled for May 27-June 3, 1998 in Washington, DC. The preliminary agenda was announced in the October 15 Administrative Notes. The registration and hotel information was also included. The deadline for registration is March 2.

The depository library Directory update, which was part of the 1997 Biennial Survey, will soon become a separate module available from the FDLP Administration web page. Depository libraries will be able to view Directory data on any library by keying in a depository number. Changes will only be accepted with the input of a library's password. This data is used to correct addresses for shipments as well as the "Locate Libraries" function on GPO's Web site, U.S. Fax Watch, and the Federal Depository Library Directory.

In March 1998, depository libraries last inspected in 1992 in the following states will be notified to submit a mandatory self-study: California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The due date for these self-studies will be June 15.

On October 20, 1997, LPS mailed the Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries with a due date of December 1. All libraries were required to submit the mandatory survey via the World Wide Web. The regional librarians were very helpful in expediting the prompt return of the survey from those selectives under their purview. Two weeks after the deadline, GPO staff telephoned 50 librarians to remind them to submit the survey.

The Web version was well received by those librarians with a graphical user interface on a computer workstation. Those libraries without an Internet connection or with only dial-in or Lynx capabilities had to locate a site with Web browser software for the survey to be accepted in the database.

• Out of 1,366 depositories, 1159 or 85% returned the survey on time. Two weeks after the survey deadline, 3.6% still had not submitted the survey. Four weeks after the deadline, 1.4% of the surveys were outstanding.

• Two small public library depositories relinquished depository status, preferring to rely on the Internet and selective purchases for government information.

• Of the 1,255 or 93.3% of the libraries having an on-line catalog, 1,028 or 81.9% are accessible from the Internet.

• Only 191 or 14.2% of the libraries report "hot linking" current bibliographic records for "Internet only" documents in the library's on-line catalog. 702 or 52% of the libraries plan to do so in the future.

• 1,202 or 89.4% of the libraries report having Internet tools available at public access work stations, 54 or 4% plan to have Internet available within six months and 57 or 4.2% in one year.

• 43 or 3.1% of the libraries have CD-ROM capability but do not select CD's; 22 or 1.6% select CD-ROMs but do not have CD-ROM capability; and six or .04% do not have CD-ROM capability nor select any CD's.

• 723 or 53.8% of the libraries report that the person responsible for the depository collection has not attended the Federal Depository Conference, Depository Library Council, or the Interagency Depository Seminar in the last three years.

• Only 270 or 20% of the libraries report active, ongoing promotion of the depository to the general public; 851 or 63.2% infrequent promotion, and 222 or 16.5% no promotion to the public.

• 436 or 32.4% of the libraries charge a fee for printer paper, 387 or 28.7% for formatted floppy diskettes, 311 or 23.1% for fax services, and 723 or 53.6% no charge at all for these services.

Electronic Transition Staff Update

GPO, the National Library of Education (NLE) and OCLC are cooperating to make public domain reports from the Education Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) available online through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) . Scheduled to run through 1998, the FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will provide the participants with valuable information on managing a large, high-demand collection in electronic format. Reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and stored at OCLC, with access available through OCLC ‘s First Search. Up to 250 new reports are expected to be added each month.

Discussions are underway between GPO and the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) to make the electronic Government information products from the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) legacy collection permanently accessible under the auspices of the FDLP. Although the OTA files have been available from various sites, GPO and UIC will now assure permanent accessibility under this agreement.

ETS has worked on a number of web projects, such as the item selection update process and the creation of AskLPS, a web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to send questions to and receive answers from Library Programs Service. These projects are designed to make life easier for the FDLP as well as the depository distribution and acquisitions staff at GPO.

There is currently a rough prototype of the "LPS Virtual Tour." The next step will be to load photos onto the site. An announcement will be made as soon as it is ready for public viewing.

The Pathway Browse Topics service is being enhanced and expanded through the efforts of many in the depository community. As of early January 1998, 33 topic areas have been developed and kept up-to-date by 29 volunteers. In order to keep this project viable, individuals adopting a topic are asked to provide quarterly reviews of that topic. Some current topics that demonstrate the best practices for style and content are Human Rights, Economy, and Labor-Management Relations. Further information is available on the GPO Web site at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/topics/invite.html

An Interagency Agreement (IA) has been signed between the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and LPS to establish a pilot project through which NTIS will furnish U.S. Government information products in electronic image format to the FDLP. NTIS has been working with the University of California - Davis on the initial phase of this pilot project. The long-term project is expected to include up to 20 libraries, ranging from well-equipped academic/ research institutions to small libraries that have an interest in this material, but do not have high-tech equipment. This will enable NTIS to determine what technical specifications libraries should have in order to access these electronic image files.

GPO has signed an IA with the Department of Energy (DOE) that will provide depository libraries and the public with access to DOE reports in electronic image format. Under this IA, FDLP libraries and users will enter the DOE electronic dissemination system, called "Information Bridge," through GPO Access. This gateway will provide a public view to the DOE reports. A number of documents librarians were asked by ETS staff to examine the DOE site and provide feedback on its accessibility and ease of use. The comments received will be shared with DOE staff to ensure that "Information Bridge" will be user-friendly for the depository community. A roll-out of the depository library version of "Information Bridge" is scheduled to be held during the April depository meeting in Washington, DC.

LandView III is a desktop mapping system that includes database extracts from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These databases are presented in a geographic context on maps that show jurisdictional boundaries, detailed networks of roads, rivers, and railroads, census block group and tract polygons, schools, hospitals, churches, cemeteries, airports, dams, and other landmark features.

The mapping software in LandView III is an adaptation of MARPLOT, part of the CAMEO system (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations). MARPLOT was developed by the Hazardous Materials Response and Assessment Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The database software LandView III was developed at the Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

The minimum configuration required to run this CD-ROM:

PC with a 486-class processor, or Macintosh with a 68020 processor,
8MB of RAM,
10MB of free hard disk space,
VGA color display,
2X CD-ROM drive,
Windows 3.1 (for PC), System 7.0 (for 68K Mac), System 7.1.2 (for Power Mac)

To maximize performance the recommended configuration is:

LandView III comes with several documentation and tutorial files: LandView III Guided Tour (in PDF format), LandView III Help (in both PDF and Windows Help file formats), MARPLOT user manual and technical documentation (in PDF format), and MARPLOT Help (in Windows Help file format). The Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing PDF files is included on the CD.

LandView III is a geographic reference, like an atlas. It displays:

• A detailed network of roads, rivers, and railroads based upon TIGER/Line® 1995 files. NOTE — The TIGER/Line information is in MARPLOT format which is not readily exportable into other mapping software.

• Jurisdictional boundaries — a set of generalized boundary files for states, congressional districts (105th), metropolitan areas, Native American Indian Areas, Alaska Native lands, counties, and minor civil divisions (for 20 selected states where minor civil divisions function as general purpose governmental units or constitute legal entities).
  NOTE — Detailed place boundaries are shown only on the local discs; the U.S. Summary disc contains only place centroids.

• EPA-regulated sites, a subset of the facilities, sites, and monitoring stations represented in five EPA data bases — Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS), Biennial Reporting System (BRS), CERCLA Information System (CERCLIS), Permit Compliance System (PCS), and the Toxic Release Inventory System (TRI).

• Selected demographic and economic information from the 1990 Census, and

• Key geographic features of the United States provided by the United States Geological Survey and other Federal agencies.

This software enables you to:

• Create customized street maps showing only those classes of map features of interest.

• Create thematic maps — a graphic display of geographic boundaries and Census bureau statistical data. Users can also create thematic maps from their own databases.

• Easily determine the census tract and block group associated with a street address or point location on a map.

• Calculate the number of people and other demographic characteristics within a radius from a given point.

• Query the LandView III databases and MARPLOT map objects and export the search results to a separate file in dBASE, Lotus, Excel or fixed length text format. Users may also link the geographic areas contained in the search results to the map.

• Create a user defined map layer.

• Automatically match each record in a user file containing latitude and longitude coordinates to the census tract and block group level.

LandView III is distributed on a set of 11 compact discs. There are 10 local discs with each containing a grouping of states. An 11th CD-ROM (the U.S. Summary) covers the entire U.S. and includes all data except the detailed geography derived from TIGER/Line 1995 files (roads, rivers, railroads, place boundaries).

The U.S. Summary Disc is designed for those users whose primary interests are creating thematic maps at the national level or performing radius calculations that extend over a number of states. With the exceptions of Delaware, District of Columbia and Prince William County, VA, this disc does not show local roads contained in TIGER/Line 1995. Therefore it would be unsuitable for either creating detailed street maps or matching street addresses to census tracts and block groups.

The local discs contain the same information as the U.S. Summary disc for the grouping of states plus detailed networks of roads, rivers, and railroads based on the TIGER/Line 1995 files. NOTE — The U.S. Highways, Railroads, and Water layers present on the MARPLOT map for the national LandView CD (#11) which are from the Department of Transportation and the United States Geological Survey are not present on CDs 1-10 because these CDs have the detailed network of roads, railroads, and water extracted from the TIGER/Line 1995 files. There are no database files associated with the roads, railroads, and water layers.

The local discs are designed for users who need to: create maps containing a detailed network of roads, rivers and railroads, match streets and addresses accurately to census tract or block groups or see detailed place boundaries. It also provides the same functions available on the national disc but only for the states contained on the local disc. For example, a population radius calculation performed from the District of Columbia on local disc 1 would not contain information for Virginia even if the radius encompassed portions of Virginia.

The prices are $99 for each disc or $549 for the entire set of 11 discs.

NOTE: The LandView III discs are in production and will become publicly available by the end of November, 1997. Contact Customer Services, Bureau of the Census at (301) 457-4100 or FAX (301) 457-3842 to order. For more information about LandView III contact the Products and Services Staff, Bureau of the Census at (301) 457-1128.

Disc 1 CD-TGR95-LV3-1

Disc 2 CD-TGR95-LV3-2

Disc 3 CD-TGR95-LV3-3

Disc 4 CD-TGR95-LV3-4

Disc 5 CD-TGR95-LV3-5

Disc 6 CD-TGR95-LV3-6

Disc 7 CD-TGR95-LV3-7

Disc 8 CD-TGR95-LV3-8

Disc 9 CD-TGR95-LV3-9

Disc 10 CD-TGR95-LV3-10

Disc 11 CD-TGR95-LV3-11

Library Programs Service Annual Report FY 1997

Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 saw progress in every area of the Library Programs Service (LPS) in effectively moving toward a more electronic program. This transition is guided by the 1996 "Study to Identify Measures Necessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program" (FDLP).

Significant events in FY 1997 marked the beginning of partnerships and agreements among GPO, other Government agencies, and depository libraries, for making available, producing, and permanently storing certain electronic Government products. These initial projects will provide the foundation on which future partnerships will be based. The focus of this report will be on these partnerships as well as on the new applications that have been created in LPS to assist in the transition to a more electronic FDLP.

Important LPS 1997 highlights include:

• Permanent access initiatives, including the "collection management" concept for GPO Access;
• Expanded outreach activities, such as participating in and sponsoring conferences;
• Developing new GPO Access Web applications and services for depository librarians, such as:
• Adding the Council Web pages to the FDLP Administration Web page;
• Creating "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection";
• Using the Web to conduct the Biennial Survey and the Item Selection Update Cycle;
• Developing the Item Lister, putting up the electronic version of the Shipping List, and partnering with the creators of the Shipping List label service.
• Office space renovation and local area networking.

The distribution of tangible products from LPS in FY 1997 was:

FY 1997 saw the first general renovation of LPS' office space since we moved to the main GPO building in 1985. In addition to a general facelift, a Windows NT Local Area Network (LAN) was installed. The LAN is in its initial stages of development, and other applications will be added to enhance LPS' operational capabilities.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 LPS continued the evolution toward a more electronic program. This transition is guided by the 1996 "Study to Identify Measures Necessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program" (FDLP).

Significant events in FY 1997 marked the beginning of partnerships and agreements among GPO, other Government agencies, and depository libraries, for making available, producing, and permanently storing certain electronic Government products. These initial projects will provide the foundation on which future partnerships will be based. The focus of this report will be on these partnerships as well as on the new applications that have been created in LPS to assist in the transition to a more electronic FDLP.

Other important LPS 1997 highlights include:

• Permanent access initiatives, including the "collection management" concept for GPO Access;

• Expanded outreach activities, such as participating in and sponsoring conferences;
• Developing new GPO Access Web applications and services for depository librarians, such as:
• Adding the Council Web pages to the FDLP Administration Web page;
• Creating "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection;"
• Using the Web to conduct the Biennial Survey and the Item Selection Update Cycle;
• Developing the Item Lister, putting up the electronic version of the Shipping List, and partnering with the creators of the Shipping List label service.

FY 1997 saw the first general renovation of LPS' office space since we moved to the main GPO building in 1985. All of the offices were repainted and new carpet was installed. Office partitions were installed in the Micrographics area, and partitions are planned for the Acquisitions and Classification area. In addition to the general facelift, a Windows NT Local Area Network (LAN) was installed. The LAN, with Internet access, mainframe connectivity, and e-mail, enables LPS staff to communicate effectively with one another and the depository libraries. Catalogers are now using the Internet to access the OCLC system and produce cataloging records. The LAN is in its initial stages of development, and other applications will be added to enhance LPS' operational capabilities.

The purpose of the LPS Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) is to identify, assess, and implement information technology solutions for the transition of the FDLP to a more electronically based program. Once developed, these solutions are being integrated into the LPS line operations. The four-person staff now includes George Barnum, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who joined LPS on a one-year appointment. George is concentrating on the issue of permanent public access for electronic information in general. Specifically he is working on forging partnerships between depository libraries, Federal agencies and GPO. Sandy Morton-Schwalb has been appointed for another one-year term and is working primarily on negotiating with Federal agencies to expand depository access to their electronic information products.

One of the key developments of FY 1997 is the "collection management" concept for GPO Access, which establishes that GPO will manage the various electronic Government information products made permanently accessible via GPO Access as a library-like collection. Permanent public access will be provided under the authority of the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-40), and planning for GPO Access storage will be done in the context of a GPO Collection Management Plan. GPO planning efforts recognize that GPO is building a FDLP Electronic Collection using GPO resources, and is coordinating permanent access through a distributed networked system. The FDLP Electronic Collection consists of remotely accessible electronic Government information products, including core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products which will reside permanently on GPO servers, and other products either maintained by GPO or by other institutions with which GPO has established formal agreements.

A Collection Management Plan is being developed by a team led by LPS, joined by staff from the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS), and Production. The Plan will delineate policies, procedures, and organizational responsibilities for managing the Collection. Establishing a Collection Plan will promote recognition among Federal publishing agencies that GPO is dedicated to ensuring permanent access to Federal electronic information products, whether those products are held by GPO Access or by an institution with which GPO has a partnership agreement.

The "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection" went live in late June and gives users direct online access to the basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society. This core group of current and historical U.S. Government publications is available for free, permanent, public access via GPO Access at the following URL:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/coredocs.html . Where appropriate, the core documents collection points to content at other official Government sites such as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Web site.

LPS continues to develop applications for the FDLP Administration page on GPO Access as the principal channel for official communications for the FDLP. One addition to the FDLP Administration page in 1997 was the Council Web pages, which contain useful information on the activities of the Depository Library Council. This information includes the dates of and minutes from its meetings as well as its mission, history and a list of current and former members. Although GPO hosts the pages, the content originates from the Council.

The most successful new service in 1997 was the development and implementation of the online "Amendment to Item Selections" form. The 1998 Annual Update Cycle was completed on July 31, 1997. There were nearly 65,000 transactions performed by over 1,000 libraries on the "Amendment to Item Selections" on the FDLP Administration page. This new application saved 104 hours of weekend overtime by Depository Administration Branch (DAB) staff in manually editing and keying in the information from the green cards that have been used in the past.

In 1997 a change was made to the Browse Electronic Titles page. All titles are now maintained in a comprehensive list organized in alphabetical order by agency and sub-agency. The original single page has now been split into many pages, thus reducing the time required to pull up a page. Retention of titles on the "New Additions" page will increase from one week to four weeks.

The Item Lister, which creates an online list of a depository library's item number selection profile, was launched during 1997 and has proven to be a most popular product. Located off the FDLP Administration home page on the World Wide Web, the Item Lister reflects the depository library's item selection profile in the latest update to DDIS (Depository Distribution Information System), and allows the libraries to download a copy of their selections. The application has already saved time and money for the program, as LPS no longer needs to annually print out each library's profile for the update cycle. Libraries can pull down this information from the Web site as needed throughout the year.

In January 1997, LPS began uploading shipping lists in DBF format to the Federal Bulletin Board. At the same time, in cooperation with the University of Texas-Arlington, and the State University of New York-Buffalo, all shipping lists are now available via the World Wide Web. Members of the depository community have long requested electronic shipping lists, and they are now available in both DBF and HTML formats.

An electronic version of all significant GPO-produced print publications about the depository program was added to the FDLP Web site, including ongoing issues of Administrative Notes and Administrative Notes Technical Supplement (with links to back issues kept on the site).

Pathway Services are available on the Internet via our GPO Access Web site at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces760.html. These services, which assist users in locating Government information products on the Internet, continued to expand during 1997.

The Pathway Indexer in 1997 was indexing as many as 150,000 pages at one point. However, the Indexer has been placed in maintenance mode awaiting the implementation of the Advanced Search Facility. The Advanced Search Facility, a software procurement funded by the Commerce Department, is expected to provide sophisticated Internet information discovery capabilities.

A "Search the Federal Government" page was created to supplement the Pathway Indexer by linking to GovBot and agency-specific search engines. The page is also linked to the Superintendent of Documents home page.

The Browse Topics page currently has 138 out of the 157 topics finished and updated regularly. Thirty-four of the completed topics have been prepared by 29 volunteers from the depository library community.

A Browse Federal Agencies page has come about through a service partnership with Louisiana State University. This site is based on the agency entries in the U.S. Government Manual and links users to agency Internet sites. This "service partnership" demonstrates how leveraging the skills of the depository library community can enhance FDLP services. The URL is http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/agencies.html

In a more electronic FDLP it is assumed that the FDLP will provide permanent public access to a remotely accessible electronic collection of Government information and will develop services that improve librarians' abilities to manage the electronic FDLP. In the broadest sense, there are two kinds of partnerships: content and service. They share the common element of being formalized through some type of agreement between GPO and the library or agency. Partner institutions in content partnerships host part of the FDLP Electronic Collection for free use by the public. Service partners offer services that assist documents librarians and GPO in the administration of the FDLP. GPO, as administrator of the FDLP, coordinates such partnerships.

The first example of the content partnership is the three-way effort with the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) and the Department of State. An agreement was reached between GPO, UIC and the Department of State to let UIC hold for permanent access electronic information products that migrate off the Department of State Web site (DOSFAN). This agreement ensures adequate access, security, and preservation for permanent access to the research collection.

In 1997, LPS worked with the Department of Energy/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (DOE/OSTI) to ensure that DOE/OSTI reports were made electronically accessible to depositories. An Interagency Agreement was negotiated between GPO and DOE/OSTI to allow depository libraries no-fee access to the 12,000 - 15,000 public domain reports produced annually by OSTI via a GPO Access link to the DOE/OSTI "Information Bridge" Web site. This service is expected to begin in Spring 1998.

Progress has been made on the Interagency Agreement with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Service (NCLIS) to conduct an "Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products." Staff from the National Research Council produced a draft Statement of Work (SOW) on behalf of NCLIS. Woody Horton, an information consultant, was given the task of creating a document, based on the SOW, to be used as a request for proposal in seeking a contractor to actually conduct the assessment. Final approval of the SOW by the Joint Committee on Printing is required before proceeding to the next phase of the project.

The University of North Texas and GPO have entered into an agreement for permanent access to the publications of the now-defunct Advisory Commission on InterGovernmental Relations (ACIR). The ACIR collection can be found at: http://www.library.unt.edu/gpo/acir/acir.html.

GPO, the University of Texas-Arlington, and the State University of New York at Buffalo have a partnership that enhances the shipping list service. The service enables users to perform a number of tasks such as viewing and printing shipping lists in item number, classification number, or title order and search shipping lists for title keywords, items and classification numbers.

GPO will be working with the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) on a pilot project that will enable depositories to have free online access to scientific and technical documents that are currently available in electronic format from the NTIS collection. After initially proposing some restrictions on redissemination of the information, NTIS has agreed to allow wider use of the materials, but has requested that it not be mounted on a Web site. While GPO would prefer no restrictions, this is acceptable in view of the benefits to the FDLP of having this information in the Program for the first time.

Discontinuing certain titles when reliable electronic alternatives are available was one of the transition alternatives identified in the 1996 "Study." There are several factors resulting in electronic information being assimilated into the FDLP. For example, many of the reductions in the number of tangible products in the FDLP are the result of publishing agencies changing their production or information dissemination practices. For a number of years, the most practical solution to the problem of "fugitive documents" was to obtain a single copy of a publication and convert it to microfiche. Today, the availability of many information products from Government Internet sites offers another solution. LPS will mine the Internet to determine if an electronic alternative is available for publications that we might have previously converted to microfiche.

In the October 15, 1997 issue of the Administrative Notes, the Library Programs Service (LPS) announced a list of titles currently distributed in microfiche format for which an online electronic source has been identified. LPS prepared this list to solicit comments prior to discontinuing distribution of these titles in microfiche format.

After discussion at the fall 1997 meeting of the Depository Library Council in Clearwater Beach, Florida, LPS has decided to postpone acting on this proposal until the criteria for identifying appropriate tangible product titles has been more fully developed and publicized. When considering online resources for distribution to the depository libraries solely in electronic online format, LPS staff look for resources that meet the following specific criteria. The title must be available on a Government web site that has a significant amount of content, including both current and back issues. The title cannot be a reference aid. In evaluating titles for online electronic delivery only, we consider the number of libraries selecting a title. Generally, only titles selected by 500 or less libraries are considered. If an online resource has a value associated with timely delivery, such as newsletters and announcements of hearings, online is very likely more timely than distribution of the material in microfiche format. LPS will continue to work in consultation with Council on this issue.

LPS staff continues to identify titles available on the Internet, and for some of these titles, the online version will eventually replace the current distribution of physical products. For those materials that are replaced, the delivery of the physical products will not be discontinued until a volume year is complete. If the title lacks volume numbers, the change will be made at the beginning of the calendar year. LPS with continue to notify libraries via the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement when a title is available online.

Identifying and reviewing products available from Government Internet sites has expanded traditional acquisitions duties. By September 1997, the Browse Electronic Titles page had over 2,100 electronic product titles listed on the page. These products are classified and the information is sent to the Cataloging Branch, which provides cataloging records for these products in the Monthly Catalog. Weekly updates, performed each Monday, add an average of over 30 titles a week to the Browse Electronics Title page.

LPS negotiated with National Imagery and Mapping Administration (NIMA, formerly the Defense Mapping Agency, DMA) to revise the existing Interagency Agreement to bring the NIMA products back into GPO for distribution directly from LPS. This was undertaken because of a shift in distribution facilities from NIMA to the Defense Logistics Agency in Richmond, VA. For several years, programming changes have been needed so that NIMA's system could accept the distribution information from the latest Item Selection Update Cycle. Bringing the material back into GPO for distribution to the libraries will eliminate this problem. And it should also allow LPS to have accurate statistics for the number of NIMA products being sent to the depository libraries.

The number of tangible electronic products, a category that is virtually all CD-ROM titles, continues to grow in the FDLP. By the end of FY 1997 we expect to have shipped 735 CD-ROM titles. New CD-ROM products include USAPat Facsimile Images of United States Patents, FBIS on CD-ROM, the Federal Acquisition Regulation CD-ROM, and the World FactBook on CD-ROM. LPS is still working with Production to produce a version of the TSCA Inventory provided on three floppy diskettes from staff at the EPA. It will be distributed to the libraries in CD-ROM format.

Two online services continue to be quite popular with the Federal depository libraries. 812 libraries are currently registered to access the STAT-USA databases via the World Wide Web. And a new online service, CenStats, also became available for depository access at no charge to the library. Beginning in March, patrons are able to access the paid CenStats database from workstations in the depository libraries. Census did not limit access to the database to one user at a time, but allows multiple users as long as the patron is located in the library when accessing the database.

In December 1996, LPS was advised that the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) would no longer be available to GPO for the Sales Program or the FDLP. Under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between Oxford University Press and the National Cancer Institute, the JNCI was to be privatized over a five-year period. With assistance from the Joint Committee on Printing, the Public Printer, the Superintendent of Documents, the National Cancer Institute and Oxford University Press, LPS once again distributed this title to the Federal depository libraries, beginning with the September 3, 1997 issue. Oxford University Press has also made a commitment to provide sufficient copies of all issues of the JNCI, from January 1997 to the September 3 issue, to ensure libraries do not have a gap in their collections.

During FY 1997 the Cataloging Branch received more than 34,000 pieces of work and processed more than 31,000 pieces. During CONSER's FY 1997, which concluded at the end of June 1997, catalogers authenticated 149 original records and 118 existing records, and maintained 1,487 records.

A move to, and again from, a temporary work site while new carpeting and the GPO LAN were installed in the permanent work site accounted for an estimated decrease in production of approximately 1,000 Monthly Catalog records. Cataloging Branch workstations are now part of a LAN environment and will soon have network access to such useful tools as LC's "Cataloger's Desktop." Catalogers now have workstation access to ACSIS and DDIS and are able to obtain specialized locally produced information needed for cataloging records. We expect that long term benefits of a networked environment will far exceed the temporary decrease in production that resulted from the move.

As of October 1, the cataloging backlog consists of approximately 3,100 pieces of work. Most of this work relates to microfiche, particularly individual issues of serials. Other work includes approximately 70 titles in CD-ROM and approximately 150 Internet related monographs. At the present time, most work published in paper, CD-ROM, and made available via Internet access is processed within approximately two weeks of receipt or notification. Titles in microfiche are processed within approximately three weeks of receipt.

Two people have joined the Cataloging staff. These new personnel will devote much of their effort to cataloging Internet resources and other locator service initiatives.

Significant attention has been focused on Internet-related cataloging initiatives of the Cataloging and Indexing Program. GPO's recently published cataloging policies for remote access, its Internet-related cataloging practices, and its use of CONSER's "single record" option for transcribing URL related data in records for physical form versions, were praised by several members of the CONSER Operations Committee during meetings at the University of Michigan. Several catalogers and Cataloging Branch management participated in Internet cataloging-related programs during the ALA Mid-Winter meeting of the GODORT Cataloging Committee and the spring 1997 Depository Library Conference. In response to invitations from the Indiana Library Federation and the National Serials Interest Group (NASIG), the Chief, Cataloging Branch addressed members of these organizations with regard to GPO Internet-related cataloging initiatives.

At the present time, the GPO Web site edition of the Monthly Catalog contains approximately 87,000 records that represent titles cataloged since 1994. Approximately 2,300 of these records contain URL-related data. Most GPO Monthly Catalog Web site records with URLs provide hot-linked access to publications.

Interest in initiating services to provide continued electronic access to titles represented by Internet-related Monthly Catalog records has produced a sustained and increasingly thorough consideration of the use of Persistent Uniform Resource Locators (PURLs) in Monthly Catalog records to support such services. Discussions with OCLC regarding the use of its PURL resolver software have reached a phase of detailed and substantive consideration. Such consideration includes testing current PURLs software in GPO's environment for GPO applications and continued consultation with OCLC as its considers development of a basic links checking function for potential integration with its freely available PURLs resolver software. Once available, we anticipate using enhanced PURLs resolver software as part of our cataloging and locator services.

Improvements to data processing within GPO resulted in achieving the goal of publishing GPO web site Monthly Catalog records within 24 hours after production in OCLC. The GPO web site edition of the Monthly Catalog now represents a "daily catalog" of bibliographic records.

Each issue of the CD-ROM edition of the Monthly Catalog now contains approximately 30,000 records cumulated since 1996 and includes the Periodicals Supplements for 1996 and 1997. This version of the Monthly Catalog has been enhanced by a new interface that makes the product more user friendly and by features that enable users to simultaneously search more databases than had been possible with the original software.

In FY 1997, Depository Services Staff (DSS) conducted on-site inspections in 55 depository libraries. In addition, self-studies submitted by 140 depositories were evaluated and brief reports summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of the depository operation were mailed. The number of depositories examined in 1997 is down because only one Inspector instead of the full complement of four conducted the on-site evaluations. Two additional inspectors have been selected from the 30 who initially applied. Thomas Oertel, from the University of Utah Law Library, and Cynthia Etkin, from Western Kentucky University, joined GPO in September 1997. The remaining inspector is serving on the Electronic Transition Staff.

Two libraries were designated depositories in FY 1997. Twelve libraries voluntarily relinquished their depository status, a decrease of two over FY 1996. Only two libraries cited lack of electronic equipment as the reason for terminating status. At year's end there were 1,366 libraries in the FDLP, a reduction of twelve from a year earlier. One library was placed on probation as a result of deficiencies discovered during inspections, while two others were removed from probationary status based on improvements in compliance which were observed during the re-inspection.

The depository library self-study was used during 1997 and began with 175 libraries that were last inspected in 1989 and 1990. Throughout 1997, these reports were evaluated to determine whether an on-site inspection was required. In July 1997, 150 libraries last inspected in 1990 and 1991 were notified to submit the mandatory self-study by October 15, 1997. After analysis, a portion of the depository operations will be inspected in 1998. With the adoption of the self-study as an evaluation tool, the basis for inspections became 44 U.S.C. section 1909, i.e., "the Superintendent of Documents shall make firsthand investigation of conditions [in depository libraries] for which need is indicated..." This method of evaluation has permitted some resources devoted to periodic inspections to be reallocated to FDLP system support and related services for depository libraries.

A Depository Library Council (DLC) Working Group on Statistical Measurement worked with DSS to develop the 1997 Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries questionnaire. In August and September, a Web application was developed and tested. The new application replaced the Teleform fax software used for tabulating the 1995 survey data. The Biennial Survey will be distributed to depository libraries in October with a December 1 due date for responses. As part of the Biennial Survey, depository librarians will be able to review and submit updates to their depository PROFILE information.

Within LPS, the DSS takes the lead in organizing continuing education efforts for documents librarians. The two premier events are the annual Federal Depository Conference, which is conducted in conjunction with the spring DLC meeting, and the annual Interagency Depository Seminar. DSS also serves on the DLC Working Group to develop Service Guidelines for the Provision of Electronic Government Information to the Public. The committee will present a progress report at the fall Council meeting in Clearwater, FL. Other speaking engagements in FY 1997 included ALA midwinter meeting, ERIC Clearinghouse Directors, FLICC Acquisitions Institute, and the AALL annual meeting. The planning and organization of these events, as well as the coordination of GPO Access training and demonstrations with EIDS, has taken an increasing proportion of staff time in DSS.

The 6th annual Federal Depository Library Conference, held from April 14-17, was an overwhelming success, with over 550 attendees and 50 speakers. This total was down slightly from the previous year as some academic librarians attended the Association of College and Research Libraries triennial conference from April 10-14. The Conference was held again at the Washington National Airport Hilton in Arlington, VA. As in previous years, the agenda allowed the attendees to choose among a selection of simultaneous sessions in addition to the plenary sessions.

The Proceedings of the 6th Annual Federal Depository Library Conference will be available electronically on the FDLP Administration Web page in September, and available for shipment to all depositories in paper format in October. The Superseded List, distributed to all depositories in October 1996, was also available electronically via the Federal Bulletin Board and the FDLP Administration page.

DSS also coordinated the weeklong 10th Annual Interagency Depository Seminar held May 28-June 4, 1997. Sixty-five librarians with three or fewer years' experience as documents librarians attended the seminar. This seminar is designed as "basic training" for new documents librarians. It was presented by GPO, Library of Congress, Patent & Trademark Office, Copyright Office, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, General Accounting Office, Department of Energy, Office of the Federal Register, and the Bureau of the Census.

The Regional Librarians Conference held August 11-13 in Minneapolis, MN, was a great success. GPO brought together regional librarians and one representative from each state without a regional within its border to this one-time program at SOD expense. The topics, conducted by regional librarians, focused on "best practices," including state plans, establishing in-state listservs, producing results with little money, and GIS management. The conference strengthened the ability of regionals to provide services to their selectives and to improve their own performance.

LPS' Depository Distribution Division (DDD) is responsible for the receipt, shipment preparation, and physical distribution of the tangible Government information products that LPS distributes to the depository libraries.

LPS' FY 1997 distribution of tangible products, by format, was:

The beginning of FY 1997 marked the end of the distribution of the DOE reports in microfiche, as DOE/OSTI terminated its microfiche operations and began its own transition to an electronic information management system. As noted previously, DOE/OSTI and GPO have worked together to develop an electronic replacement which will keep this content available to depository libraries.

Under an agreement with LPS, the U.S. Geological Survey distributes maps directly to depository libraries, and 295,493 maps were distributed in FY 1997.

Nearly all depository shipments continue to be delivered by commercial carriers. GPO awarded a new delivery contract to Roadway Package Service (RPS), which now delivers nearly all depository shipments from LPS. Delivery by the U.S. Postal Service still accounts for less than 10% of all depository shipments. Even though RPS is our commercial carrier, depository libraries felt the impact of the United Parcel Service (UPS) strike. Anticipating an increase in volume from the UPS customers, two weeks prior to the strike began RPS limited LPS to only 600 packages per day, an allocation that was not lifted until September 17. The effect of this situation was to slow the delivery of shipments to depository libraries.

The enhancements to the Lighted Bin System (LBS) performed during 1996 have allowed LPS to update the LBS with a daily download from GPO's mainframe of item selection files from DDIS (the Depository Distribution Information System). In addition, during 1997 the LBS has experienced less downtime due to the hardware and software enhancements added to each throwing zone during 1996. These upgrades have reduced the annual maintenance contract for the LBS by 50%.