Renewed Commitment to Public Access
Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr.

Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office

Before the Depository Library Council and
Federal Depository Conference
Monday, April 20, 1998
Arlington, VA

Good morning. I am pleased to be speaking to this large gathering of the depository community. Although I made some brief remarks at the Fall Depository Library Council meeting last October, I was not yet "official." This is, therefore, my "maiden" speech to the council as the Superintendent of Documents.

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to serve on and chair the Depository Library Council in the late 70's. What has struck me is that 20 years later, we are discussing many of the same issues; of course using different acronyms and some terms that were not in our vocabularies then, such as the Internet and World Wide Web. We were talking about cataloging, indexing, formats, mediums, and of course information policies. But what remains the overarching concern of the community is access to information -- to ensure that it is equitable and easily available, for no or low fee.

What I hope to bring to bear in my administration as Superintendent of Documents is my public service orientation and experience in actually finding or trying to find Government information to answer questions from the public. I consider the Superintendent of Documents role as one of the most visible and longstanding demonstrations of the U.S. Government's commitment to keeping the public informed. The mission of the GPO is to produce and procure information products for the Federal Government and to disseminate them to the public through several channels. I oversee a number of important programs as the Superintendent of Documents:

• The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), through which libraries receive Government information products at no cost in return for making them available to the public at no charge;

• The no-fee electronic Federal information service GPO Access <www.access.gpo.gov>;

• The nationwide Sales Program, that includes 24 bookstores, a central order service, and the Consumer Information Center in Pueblo, CO;

• The International Exchange Program (IES) through which we distribute U.S. Government information products to foreign national libraries, as designated by the Library of Congress, which in turn agree to send copies of their country's official publications to the Library on a reciprocal basis; and

• Distribution of publications on behalf of Federal agencies, which in turn reimburse GPO for warehousing and dissemination services.

My goal is to ensure that these programs operate efficiently, complement each other and are coordinated to provide effective public access to Government information in tangible and electronic mediums, on a current and long-term basis.

During my four months at GPO, I have found it a challenge to manage these areas not only from a policy perspective, but operationally as well. The size and scope of the programs is massive, and the complexities of operating the programs within the policies and procedures of GPO, the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) and the Government is a whole new world. It even has been a challenge to learn the organizational structure with its hundreds of good people to manage the various tasks involved in the acquisition, indexing, classification, and dissemination of Government information products.

I would like to comment briefly on some of the SuDocs programs, to give you an overview of the operations and the issues we face. They will be amplified by succeeding speakers.

In regard to the FDLP, some current statistics illustrate the range, scope and vitality of the program.

As of January 31, 1998, there were 1,365 libraries in the depository program. Of that number over 50% were four-year academic institutions, 20% were public libraries, and 11% were in accredited law school libraries. The remaining depositories are found in two-year community colleges, Federal agencies, state libraries, state courts, special libraries, Federal courts and military service academies.

In fiscal year 1997, 13.4 million copies of 44,820 tangible products were distributed to depository libraries and approximately 30,000 items were catalogued to produce the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.

The recently completed Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries found that the number of users being served by depositories each week averages 188,000 or nearly 10 million each year. We are serving many people well with access to Government information in tangible and electronic mediums. In addition, it indicated that over 89% of depository of depository libraries have a publicly accessible computer workstation for access to the Internet and another 4% of the remaining libraries have staff access.

We continue to be pleased with the success of GPO Access and the fact that it is one of the leading sites on the Internet. I know that T.C. Evans will provide more details, but I like to tout our good news. We are seeing an ever-increasing amount of use. Statistics for March show that more than 13.5 million documents were downloaded, up from 10.5 million documents in just several months.

In an effort to quantify the successful implementation of the electronic transition of the FDLP, we have developed statistics that show how much depository material is available electronically via GPO Access.

From 1994 to date we have a cumulative total of 65,342 titles on GPO servers. These include issues of the Congressional Record, Federal Register, CFR's, the Budget and many other titles. In addition, we provide links to another 44,204 titles on other Government agency servers through MoCat links, and partnership agreements. This totals over 109,000 titles.

GPO Access has drawn praise from a variety of sources, including the library community. In December 1996, in a guest column in Roll Call, representatives of the Congressional Accountability Project and the Heritage Foundation, each representing very different ends of the political spectrum, together called GPO Access "an enormous success." In January 1997, OMB Watch released a report on Government Information Locator Services (GILS) which noted that "GPO Access has become the largest single location for GILS services and records in the Federal Government," and that "GPO should be seen as an example to agencies that are struggling with their GILS implementation."

The March 23 Federal Computer Week had an article titled, "GPO's Web Site Muscles Up on Links to Federal Documents." It notes: "In a Web environment overrun by sites that are the equivalent of a Hollywood movie set where style takes precedence over substance, the GPO site stands out as an unassuming, information-rich offering." I hope that some of you had a chance to read the full article since it was mentioned in a number of GOVDOC-L messages last month. Needless to say, we have been quite pleased with this good press.

Through GPO Access, we are attempting to provide a comprehensive point of access to official Federal Government electronic information products for your libraries and the public.

We are also attempting to increase our efforts at outreach and public relations. When I was appointed, Mr. DiMario asked me to emphasize the role of spokesperson for public access to Government information. Since coming on board at GPO or to be factual, even before I was sworn in, I began to receive a number of invitations to speak and write about my new role as Superintendent of Documents. Prior to starting at GPO I was interviewed by Leonard Kniffel, editor of American Libraries for an article in their December 1997 issue. During my second week at the agency, I was interviewed by Susan Tulis, former documents librarian at the University of Virginia law library and currently one of "those" information consultants, for the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) newsletter, the Spectrum. That interview appeared in the March 1998 issue.

I have participated in our Congressional appropriations and oversight hearings this year; made presentations to the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) annual forum and the University of Connecticut InForm Colloquium; and was a guest lecturer at Syracuse University's Federal Information Policy Class here in DC. I have been interviewed for an upcoming issue of Library Journal and have submitted articles for publications of the Oregon and Ohio Library Associations as well as writing an "On My Mind" editorial for American Libraries. I have visited bookstores in Denver and Pueblo and toured the depository collections at Yale University and Law School Libraries.

In the next few months, I will be speaking to members of the Federal Publishers Committee, the Library of Congress Collection Development Committee, and the Ohio GODORT; attending the annual meetings of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and AALL and of course I will participate in the American Library Association (ALA) meeting that will be held in beautiful downtown Washington, DC in the height of summer. We want to expand our reach and visibility by attending and exhibiting at a wide array of information-related conferences.

GPO's display booth has made appearances this year at the ALA Mid-Winter meeting in New Orleans, the SLA Winter meeting and Computers in Libraries Conference as well as the Public Library Association in Kansas City this past March to demonstrate GPO Access as well as to distribute information about the depository and sales programs to a wider audience. We will be exhibiting at the upcoming Special Interest Group for CD-ROM applications and Technology (SIGCAT) in May; National Online Meeting in New York City in May; SLA in Indianapolis in June, ALA annual conference here in June, AALL in Anaheim in July, and Online World here in DC in October. Within the next few months GPO will have a larger booth so that there will be room for information about the many facets of the Superintendent of Documents program. In addition, when and where possible, staff from LPS and the Sales Program will work in the booth along with those from the Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS). We want to be able to showcase our sales products along with those we provide for free.

At the Fall Depository Library Council meeting, Jay Young talked about the Integrated Processing System or IPS, that has been in the works for several years to upgrade our Sales Program. IPS should greatly improve customer service and document delivery by using one central database for transactions; streamline the ordering process, utilize scanning and imaging technology to maintain records of orders, improve research, inventory management and forecasting tools, and have state-of-the-art warehouse management technology. We think this will enhance quality of service and marketing opportunities for the Sales Program.

It has taken longer than anticipated to develop the system and for us to prepare for implementation. We want to be very sure that "all systems are go" before we make such a major change to our Sales Program. We are hoping to have the system up in the summer.

Although IPS will initially focus on the central ordering process, we are evaluating its application to GPO bookstores and other areas. After implementation we will evaluate the possible integration of other existing legacy systems in Library Programs Service to move them off the mainframe and into an integrated client-server environment.

As a librarian taking over the Superintendent of Documents programs, I was very pleased that the development of a collection management plan for online information was already underway, thanks to the efforts of Duncan Aldrich during his tour of duty with GPO as an expert consultant last year. I would like to expand the scope of this collection concept to include the FDLP print and sales collections, but our initial plan will address the various electronic Government information products we make available to depository libraries and the public as a library-like collection.

You will be hearing about the plan in more detail from Gil Baldwin and George Barnum.

As many of you know, LPS staff has been working diligently to forge new partnerships to provide current and permanent public access to Government information products. A number of these partnerships will be showcased here this week.

One new, exciting venture will be "rolled out" by the Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) this week. Sandy Schwalb will provide more details about the project, but I wanted to recognize the Director of OSTI, Dr. Walter Warnick, for his hard work and great sense of cooperation to make this project happen. The DOE electronic dissemination vehicle, called "Information Bridge" will be made accessible via GPO Access. It will provide on-demand access to electronic versions of some 15,000 reports annually that were previously provided to depository libraries in microfiche until 1996. Actually, when Information Bridge opens to depositories this week, there will be more than 25,000 sci-tech documents in electronic format dating back to January 1996. Dr. Warnick, I want to thank you and your staff for your efforts to making this partnership a reality. Would you please stand and be recognized?

I hope you, in the audience, have an opportunity to hear Dr. Warnick discuss the project at a Federal Agency Update Session on Tuesday afternoon from 3:45 to 5:00 in the Decatur-Farragut Room. On Wednesday morning from 8:30 to 10:00 there will be a demonstration of the Information Bridge in the James Room. We look forward to continuing our good working relationship with you, Dr. Warnick.

We also are in the initial stages of a pilot project with the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) which will provide depositories with digital images of Federal Government scientific, technical, and business reports from the NTIS collection on demand and for free. We are pleased to be involved in this historical partnership. You will be hearing more about the project later this morning.

We are all too aware that there are many Government information products that fail to be included in the FDLP. Their absence from depository library collections impairs effective public access to a great deal of vital Government information. While many studies of the fugitive documents problem have been conducted, the exact amount of material outside of the FDLP has been difficult to isolate.

Four major factors have contributed to losses of key general interest publications for the FDLP:

1. electronic information dissemination via agency Web sites without notification to the FDLP;
2. decreasing compliance with statutory requirements for agencies to print through GPO or to provide copies of publications not printed through GPO to the FDLP;
3. the increasing trend for agencies to establish exclusive printing arrangements with private sector entities that place copyright or copyright-like restrictions on the products involved in such agreements; and
4. increasing use by agencies of language in 44 U.S.C. 1903 that permits publications to be excluded from the FDLP if they are "so-called cooperative publications which must necessarily be sold in order to be self-sustaining."

When an agency uses GPO for production or procurement of a publication (defined in section 1901 of Title 44 as "informational matter which is published as an individual document at Government expense, or as required by law"), GPO ensures that distribution to the libraries is made. If a publication is produced elsewhere than GPO, the publishing agency is required by section 1903 to supply the requisite number of copies to GPO, at its own expense, for dissemination to depositories.

Some agencies want more independent control of their printing and have challenged the requirements to use GPO, a legislative branch agency, under the separation of powers doctrine. Others, such as the Department of Defense/Defense Automated Printing Service (DAPS) are operating with economic motives. They have just announced a merger with the General Services Administration (GSA) to do general printing in regional defense printing plants to have a higher volume of business to support their operations. All of the examples of agency independent printing programs have been replete with fugitive documents not provided to the FDLP.

Another compliance issue involves publications in electronic formats. The Executive Branch has taken the position that Title 44 does not apply to Government information in electronic formats. OMB's Circular No. A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources," requires agencies to cooperate with GPO for print publications, but only "encourages" cooperation for publications in electronic formats and provides agencies with a rationale for exempting electronic information products from the FDLP based on cost.

We believe that the spirit and intent of the law since the founding of the FDLP has been to make information produced at taxpayer expense available to the public through depository libraries regardless of format. In 1990, GPO's General Counsel stated, "[i]t is our opinion that Congress did not intend to carve a distinction based upon the technology employed to disseminate the Government publication and that Title 44 U.S.C. Sec. 1903 governs regardless of whether the publication is in the traditional ink-on-paper format or some new medium." Congress itself created GPO Access in large part to provide for online dissemination of Government information to depositories. While we make every effort to work closely with agencies to ensure the inclusion of their information products in the FDLP in all formats, the continuing agency practice of not providing electronic products to the FDLP by many agencies, through ignorance or intent, is creating gaps in information availability to the public and creating potential problems for permanent public access to that Government information in the future.

In order to be proactive in regards to fugitive Government information products, within GPO, we are discussing a proposal for a team dedicated to getting more content into the FDLP. We have come to the understanding that we must reach out to the agencies to resolve the fugitive problem. The team will utilize notices that GPO staff receive from librarians when a Government information product is discovered to exist outside of the FDLP as well as lists of agency publications that will be checked for depository distribution. Such notices will act as a trigger for discussions between GPO and agencies to get the material into the FDLP, GPO Access or the Sales Program as appropriate. We certainly appreciate help from those of you in the depository community who advise us about fugitives.

As you can see, we are extremely busy at GPO, but a General Accounting Office (GAO) management audit, being conducted by Booz-Allen, Hamilton, will present us with more new challenges to work through.

The theme or perspective Booz-Allen indicated they would take in their evaluation of GPO was competitiveness with business, rather than evaluating us as a service. As it turns out there were many positive comments in their report about GPO's printing and procurement services, as well as the depository library program and GPO Access.

Among the recommendations for the FDLP are suggestions that we refine the goals of the program to include target dates for completing the transition to a more electronic program; to develop additional depository partnerships; to expand marketing efforts to all potential stakeholders; to pursue changes to Title 44 to require agencies to provide all documents, especially electronic documents, to the FDLP; and to hold an information campaign to make agencies aware of their compliance responsibilities. Most of these are already ongoing programs. Other recommendations were to consolidate functions in the library program and the sales program and to reduce staff; increase training; provide managers with more authority over personnel decisions; and institute a formalized quality control system for FDLP processing activities. A number of the recommendations have a textbook quality, but they will each need to be evaluated carefully and responses developed.

There were many more critical findings and recommendations regarding the sales program. Because Booz-Allen does not regard the sales program as an inherently Governmental activity, they suggested it could be outsourced or privatized. Although they recognized the imminent implementation of IPS, which "offers the potential for dramatic productivity improvements in order processing and inventory management," and which will involve a more efficient and more customer-friendly system with a new staffing pattern, they recommended a new staffing pattern, a more rigorous customer service program, and a complete overhaul of the retail sales central ordering processing operation. All of which are underway! They suggested a reorganization of the Superintendent of Documents organization, revamping the process for selecting, pricing, and promoting products; and being more proactive in seeking cooperative ventures to package, promote and sell publications. Again not much new, the report could be viewed positively or negatively. We prefer the former as you can tell from the news release.

In so many of the speeches I have made recently, I have said much about the depository program. But this is certainly the one place where I know I am "preaching to the converted" and that you understand so well how much the public and the Government benefit from the efficiencies afforded by this centralized indexing and distribution system that we call the FDLP. You have my assurance that GPO will continue working to develop and evolve our systems so that citizens--your users--will have permanent access to Federal Government information well into the next century.

New Perspectives in the Sales Program
Remarks by J.D. Young
Director, Documents Sales Service

Recent Happenings in the Depository Administration Branch
Remarks By Robin Haun-Mohamed
Chief, Depository Administration Branch

Good morning! On behalf of the staff of the Depository Administration Branch, I am pleased to be here to address Council and relate the activities of the Branch over the past 6 months. I would like to begin with service issues and then move to a short product summary.

On April 6, 1998, Library Programs Service inaugurated askLPS, a multi-faceted service located on GPO Access designed to expedite the submission of inquiries and enhance communication to appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is designed for use by depository staff and the general public. It represents a true cross-section of GPO talents as staff from the Depository Administration Branch, the Electronic Transition Staff, Depository Services, the office automation talents of the LPS Director’s Office, and GPO Production all cooperated maximally to produce what we think is a superior, interactive product. I thank Council for their assistance with askLPS, especially Julia Wallace who has given us feedback on the service from the beginning. The URL for askLPS is
< www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>.

There are five components to askLPS:

1. the Inquiry Form;
2. WEBTech Notes;
3. FAQs and News;
4. FDLP Contacts; and
5. Federal Depository Library Directory.

The inquiry form has two versions. One form is password protected for use exclusively by depository librarians. The alternate form is not password protected and is designed for use by members of the public. Inquiries submitted to askLPS will receive an automatic e-mail response acknowledging receipt of the inquiry. Priority will be given to inquiries received electronically over inquiries received via paper, fax or phone.

Another component of askLPS is WEBTech Notes, a searchable database containing postings to Administrative Notes and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, retrospective to 1991. WEBTech Notes is designed to be an interactive, online resource for depository librarians to query the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. WEBTech Notes consists of information from the four major columns, the Classification/Cataloging Update; the Update to the List of Classes, Miscellaneous; Update to the List of Classes, New Item Numbers; and Whatever Happened To… ? WEBTech Notes cumulates on a weekly basis. It provides access to information far in advance of the paper issuance of the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. DAB also provides a .dbf version of WEBTech Notes available for downloading on the Federal Bulletin Board at: <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/webtechn.htm>.

FAQs and News is a listing of answers to frequently asked questions from the depository community. It also includes an area for announcements that have been posted in the past on the GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly, or more frequently as needed.

The FDLP Contacts page is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general areas of responsibility. The e-mail links to LPS staff are imbedded in the page.

The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO directory of Federal depository libraries. This SGML database contains information from the PAMALA database (which is maintained by staff in Depository Services). Each library's Item Lister file is also linked to the library's directory information. Library staff are encouraged to make corrections to their directory entries via a password-protected form also located off this page.

Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQ & News weekly postings before submitting their inquiry form to askLPS, as the question may already have been researched and the response posted in the database. Because the information is loaded into the database on a weekly basis, the answer to the inquiry will be available via the WEBTech Notes several weeks before the printed Administrative Notes Technical Supplement is available in the libraries.

Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or regular mail. Fax inquiry forms will continue to be an important mechanism for providing additional information necessary for the completion of an inquiry (such as photocopies of title pages, introductory pages, etc.). LPS will attempt to answer the askLPS inquiries within ten business days. However, users may receive an intermediate answer pending receipt of additional information from other government agencies. By focusing on one route for inquiries, LPS expects that it should be able to track inquiries more effectively and alleviate the duplication of effort associated with inquiry research.

There are two askLPS demonstrations being given by Joe Paskoski during this conference. The first is Tuesday, from 3:45-5:00 p.m., and the second is Wednesday morning from 10:30-12:00. Both will be held in the Rappahannock Room. If you haven't yet had the chance to use the askLPS service, please take a few moments to review the site listed on the DAB handout. LPS thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. Please send any suggestions for changes or improvement of the service to me, or use the new e-mail address, <asklps@gpo.gov>. We look forward to comments and suggestions on askLPS from the librarians in the Federal depository library community.

Another electronic service to assist in the operation of a Federal depository library is also now available. The Documents Data Miner is a collection management tool which features a field searchable List of Classes, a field searchable Discontinued Item List, complete depository profiles and union lists, and a searchable library directory. Documents Data Miner was developed through a service partnership between the University Libraries at Wichita State University (WSU) and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The Federal Depository Library Program is pleased to join with WSU and NIAR to offer access to the Documents Data Miner, which is available at <http://kronos.niar.twsu.edu/govdocs>.

Documents Data Miner is a very powerful tool. For example, I wanted to research materials selected by a specific depository. The Angelo M. Iacoboni Library in Lakewood, California, (where I worked in my first position in a library) continues to be dear to my heart. When I searched Documents Data Miner using their depository number and the word "Journal," the Data Miner returned a listing of ten records with item number, SuDocs class number, title, agency, format and frequency that are selected by Iacoboni. You can learn more about this exciting new service in "Collection Management Using the Documents Data Miner," one of the sessions this afternoon from 3:45 to 5:00 in the Farragut Room.

The Union List of Item Selections is now available for download in an ASCII comma delimited format on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). It is updated on a monthly basis on the same time frame as the List of Classes and Item Lister (the first Friday of each month). The location of the Union List file is also included on the DAB handout. For those wishing to learn more about the Federal Bulletin Board, its history, and how it works, please attend one of the two FBB sessions, "The FBB, Helpful Hints in Its Use." The first session will be held today from 2:00-3:15 and the second is scheduled for Wednesday, also from 2:00-3:15. Both will be held in Dewey III.

The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in Word Perfect 6.0 format. We are working with our shipping list partners at SUNY Buffalo, the University of Texas-Arlington, and the USGS to find a better way to post this information with a minimum amount of intervention. If you have any specific comments or suggestions on these files, please contact me directly. And again, the location of the shipping list files is given on the DAB handout.

Let me move to the FDLP product update. Copies of the 1997 World Factbook were distributed to libraries in paper format on Shipping List 98-0020-S, dated March 11, 1998. Copies of the 1997 CD-ROM were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0036-E, dated March 20, 1998. The instructions on the CD-ROM product were incomplete, but additional instructions have been posted on the askLPS FAQs and News site. And we will distribute the instructions in a printed format as soon as we receive them from the agency.

The House Commerce Committee has published Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to the Committee's Hearing on the Proposed Tobacco Settlement. Both the committee print in paper, and the supporting documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all libraries on Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998.

LPS has received copies of numbers 16 and 17 of the FBIS on CD-ROM series. They were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0043-E dated April 9, 1998. Disc number 18 has not yet been released from the agency, but it will be distributed to the libraries once we receive the copy for replication.

The CIA has recently declassified publications on the Bay of Pigs. The report, "Inspector General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation and Associated Documents" has been acquired for distribution through the FDLP. These publications were prepared in 1962. They have been classed under PREX 3.2: C 89/PT. 1 & 2, item 0856-A-02. LPS contacted the CIA to ask for paper copies, but we were unable to obtain sufficient copies for distribution to the libraries as very few were printed. The agency did provide a copy for conversion to microfiche format. They will be sent to the libraries in the very near future.

LPS and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring the NIMA products back into GPO for distribution on the lighted bin system. For several years we have been working with NIMA, the agency formerly known as the Defense Mapping Agency, to have the library sendings profile at the agency match the library item selection profile of the Depository Distribution Information System (DDIS). They have been unable to make the necessary programming changes and with the shift in distribution location to the Defense Logistics Agency, the time was right to bring the material back into GPO for distribution. By early May, libraries should begin to see the NIMA materials arrive from GPO in separates shipments and through the boxes.

Survey 98-001 closed March 30, 1998. We had a response rate of 94% to this first on-line only survey. I congratulate the depository community on this unprecedented response to a survey. Here are the survey numbers: 325 libraries elected to receive the Title Pages/Table of Contents for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. 359 libraries elected to receive the new CASSIS CDROM product. And 990 libraries have selected to receive the paper Periodical Supplement. Look forward to a new survey in the very near future for the GAP Analysis CD-ROM by USGS. Again, my congratulations to all on a job well done!

The 1998 Periodical Supplement has been distributed to libraries, but while it was listed correctly on the shipping list, it was not distributed under the new item number, but under the item number for the paper Monthly Catalog. There is a significant difference between these counts (350 vs. 990). Please bear with us while we obtain additional stock and redistribute the paper Periodical Supplement to all libraries responding to Survey 98-001.

Researching and acquiring fugitive documents continues to be a focus in DAB. Searching for a new product is very time intensive and often the results are less than satisfactory. One of the first problems we encounter is the definition of a government document. Case in point is the recent picture in the Washington Post showing the new CD-ROM tour of the White House. LPS staff verified this is not a government document and will not be distributed through the FDLP.

LPS was advised by a depository librarian, Dennis Ladd of Southwestern University Law Library, that many of the Tax Court Memos from the period 1983-1990 have not been received through the Program. LPS staff contacted the Tax Court, who provided LPS with copies of the Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (volumes 52-59) because the slips were no longer available. LPS in turn contacted the publisher of the bound volumes to obtain permission to convert this material to microfiche format for distribution to the libraries. Credit will be acknowledged with each volume with a permission statement from the publisher, Research Institute of America.

Yet another example is the FED LOG CD-ROM Basic. In this case the product, according to the agency, is "For Official Use Only " and is "classified and ‘self-sustaining’." Copies will not be coming through the FDLP.

In many ways, the remarkable people of the Depository Administration Branch interact with others in LPS, EIDS, and indeed, with all of GPO and others throughout the Federal government, to identify and acquire government information products for the libraries of the Federal Depository Library Program. As staff in the libraries have been transitioning to electronic resources, so have we in DAB. We have learned so much in a very short time. I am pleased to publicly acknowledge the progress of the DAB staff in not only taking on new duties, but also in working with all others of LPS, EIDS, and GPO Production to ensure government information is made available to the libraries.

In addition to classification and acquisition of tangible information products, DAB is also responsible for searching, identifying and classifying new on-line Internet sites. The assignment and maintenance of the PURLs for all new Browse Electronic Titles (BET) entries is also a DAB responsibility. DAB staff also perform the weekly maintenance of existing URLs on the Browse Electronic Titles pages: identifying dead links, locating the new URL for dead links, and modifying the BET pages accordingly. Coordination of the conversion of printed documents to microfiche format for the FDLP libraries and the International Exchange Service libraries falls under the authority of the Micrographics Control Section.

DAB staff are also responsible for many of the publications and tools depository librarians frequently use. Examples include everyday duties such as shipping list preparation (electronic and paper), update and maintenance of the List of Classes (electronic and paper), production of entries for the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement for paper production and updating of the WEBTech Notes on GPO Access. As you can see, the electronic transition of the FDLP has truly begun in services throughout LPS.

One further example is the item selection update process. This process, which used to take so much staff time, changed significantly in 1997 and it has been a change for the better from all perspectives. The process of updating the library’s item selection profile via the Web amendment form has allowed staff in DAB to focus on other duties. It of course would not be successful without the participation of the libraries’ staff in making these changes online. I am so pleased with the results of last year’s cycle and hope we have an equally successful update session this year.

I thank Council for this opportunity to review the activities in the Depository Administration Branch and for your attention this morning.

Recent Developments in the Cataloging Branch
Remarks by Thomas A. Downing
Chief, Cataloging Branch, Library Programs Service

I am pleased to report that we now have a PURLs application within the Library Programs Service (LPS). Persistent Uniform Resource Locators, or PURLS, are now associated with Browse Electronic Titles (BET) applications and with Catalog records at our Web site.

As Gil has indicated, PURLs are a critical element in our ability to provide cataloging and locating services and in managing the products in the FDLP Electronic Collection. This initiative has been an extensive multi-phase project that has involved the efforts of people within OCLC, GPO's Production Department, and the Library Programs Service.

PURLs provide a means for supporting efforts to provide continued access to electronic resources. As links change, new links will be substituted for old ones within our PURLs resolver and users who click on a PURL will be redirected to the current link. This application is of value to such LPS applications as BET and our Web Catalog and may be useful for other applications in the years ahead. I wish to thank Mike Clark for his persistent efforts during the most recent phase of this project. Mike has set up, tested, and initiated the first-time use of OCLC’s most recent PURLs release for LPS applications.

I also wish to thank OCLC for responding to our request for substantive changes to its PURLs resolver software. OCLC has improved its PURLs software to include an integrated URL checker application, the automatic assignment of sequential accession numbers as unique PURL identifiers, and a basic exception report module. The new release, which is freely available to everyone, is more amenable to large-scale applications than earlier versions. Our first PURLs were assigned to electronic titles for the week of March 30th. PURLs are built into BET entries and work behind the scenes to redirect users from older URLs associated with agency Web sites to the most current URL. PURLs are also now input into the 856 field of Web Catalog records that represent electronic titles on BET.

At present, more than 360 Catalog records representing titles posted from January, 1998 through the present now include PURLS in records produced in OCLC. We anticipate that most of these PURLs will be visible in our Web site records by May of this year.

Links for BET applications and for records within our PURLs server are checked each week. When Mike Clark identifies broken links, he very often is able to locate new URLs so that access can be restored.

We are selectively converting URLs to PURLs in the more than 3,800 Catalog records that contain URLs. As we learn of new URLs for these old records, we will substitute PURLs for URLs on a record by record basis. In this way, we expect to gradually convert most URLs to PURLs in the months ahead. We hope that those of you who know of new URLs for electronic titles with broken links will advise us of this information via askLPS.

The LPS PURLs application is significantly useful for the many library catalogs that contain URLs. With LPS PURLs, libraries will not need to update records locally when URLs change. PURLs are an essential component of our efforts to bring bibliographic control to products in the FDLP Electronic Collection.

Effective this March, catalogers now apply a collection level cataloging policy to electronic titles when such entries take users to collected works associated with an electronic title. This new policy has been posted at the publications portion of the FDLP Administration Web page. This policy was endorsed in principle during Midwinter ALA by the GODORT Cataloging Committee of the American Library Association.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Arlene Weible, chair of the committee, and the committee members for their continued interest, advice, and support of our efforts to establish a satisfactory level of bibliographic control for many Internet related works. We appreciate the involvement of the committee in developing cataloging initiatives and have benefited from its good counsel.

This collection level record policy is an important new initiative that establishes, for the first time, a one-to-one correspondence between each electronic title and a single cataloging record. Collection level records provide users with access to collected works associated with a major topic that are often further identified at a site via a clickable index or search window. Our new policy has been approved by the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is consistent with AACR2 practice, and is consistent with the realities that face users when they encounter multiple resources that are accessible via a single electronic title. A one-to-one correspondence between Catalog records and each new electronic title also sets the stage for the assignment and use of the same unique PURL for each electronic title and its related Catalog record.

This collection level record cataloging policy joins two other electronic related cataloging initiatives available at the Web site. These earlier initiatives include policies on computer files and linking records.

We are involved in the effort to revise ALA's 1984 edition of Cataloging Government Documents: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2. Rhonda Marker, Head, Cataloging Department, Rutgers University, and a member of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is editing this publication and has welcomed our interest in participating in the revision process. We look forward, in particular, to working with people on chapters associated with maps and electronic resources.

As of March 30th, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,728 BET entries. As of the week of March 30th, all but 192 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 192 titles in the BET backlog, 67 were monographs and 125 were serials. With our new collection level record policy, we expect that, as of April 20th, most of the monographs in the backlog will have been cataloged and that many, but not all, of the serials will have been cataloged by this date. As of the present time, electronic titles are cataloged within one week after posting.

From October, 1997 through the end of March, 1998, the Cataloging Branch received 16,818 pieces of work. To date, we have processed 13,287 pieces. We have also cataloged, from the inception of BET until the end of March, 2,536 BET entries.

A recent inventory of uncataloged physical format and BET entry related works indicates a backlog of 6,858 pieces of work to be cataloged. This figure includes uncataloged BET entries. Most of our backlog is associated with serials, very large numbers of which have been received from contractors within the last few weeks. With the exception of serials, BET entries and works in paper are processed within one week. Works in microfiche are usually processed within two weeks.

Many of you are aware that GPO Cataloging Tapes made available by the Cataloging and Distribution Service (CDS), Library of Congress, have not been issued since November, 1997. CDS staff have experienced technical difficulties with the tapes for December, 1997 and for the months of January and February of 1998. We have recently re-issued tapes to CDS for these months and are engaged in ongoing discussion with CDS about how this service might be improved. Based on discussions, we expect that CDS will soon provide these tapes to customers. We also expect that CDS will soon issue tapes for March and April and that tape-related services will soon be on track.

We also have experienced a delay in producing the January, February, and March 1998 issues of the CD-ROM and paper editions of the Monthly Catalog. This delay has been caused by shifting work priorities within the organization that processes our data, provides file conversion to support the Documents Sales Service Integrated Processing System (IPS), and works to assure compliance with Year 2000 requirements. Data processing components are working to produce data for our products. We expect that the January issue for the CD-ROM Monthly Catalog will be distributed in the middle of May and the subsequent issues will be available soon after.

In the meantime, we hope that people will use our Catalog Web site application as a useful alternative. The Catalog application has the advantage of including records that have been produced in OCLC as recently as one day before posting.

We regret delays associated with the GPO Cataloging tapes and CD-ROM and paper editions of the Monthly Catalog. Unfortunately, given shifting priorities for data processing support staff, such delays may become increasingly common. Given this situation, we see a need to develop long range data processing alternatives for supporting Monthly Catalog related products and applications. We would welcome advice concerning available options and expect to devote staff resources and time to seeking suitable solutions.

Our Web Catalog edition of the Monthly Catalog now contains more than 98,027 records produced from 1994 through the present. As stated previously, more than 3,833 of these records contain URL data. When broken links are detected we convert URL data to PURLs. When links cannot be re-established, we delete URL/PURL data from records and add a note advising users that the resource is no longer available via the Internet. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise us by using <asklps@gpo.gov>.

Council has recommended that a more user friendly labeled data element default display be added to the Web edition of the Catalog. We appreciate the usefulness of Council's recommendation and have made available a handout for a proposed "user friendly" display for your consideration. This proposed display achieves the goal of presenting information in a more easily understood manner than is possible with the numeric MARC tagged display.

We do not propose development of a compressed printed "card catalog" display similar to records within the old paper Monthly Catalog. While some nostalgia is associated with such a display, the value of this type of display is outweighed by the costs and time involved in creating it. A line by line name labeled display of bibliographic elements such as we propose is a common standard used in many libraries today.

Under our proposal, users wishing to see all data elements associated with a record may choose to view the MARC numeric tagged display. We anticipate making some improvements to the MARC "Catalogers" display and hope to improve this application in the near future.

I would like to conclude my remarks by adding that a product with popular appeal has made its way back in print as a paper edition. The Periodicals Supplement for 1998 is being distributed to depository libraries. We ceased publishing a paper edition in 1995 as a consequence of our need to fund the costs of developing Web and CD-ROM editions. With Web and CD-ROM editions now established products, the costs saved from producing an abridged paper edition of the Monthly Catalog may be applied to resume publishing the Periodicals Supplement in paper. This is a very popular title. Nine hundred ninety libraries chose this title under item number 0557-D-01.

We hope that people are pleased by the re-appearance of this title in paper. We intend to publish a paper edition of the Periodicals Supplement from this time forward. The Periodicals Supplement will continue to be part of each CD-ROM issue of the Monthly Catalog.

The Periodicals Supplement paper edition also is expected to be available for sale in the near future.

This ends my formal presentation. As always, it is a pleasure to be here to answer questions and to meet with you. I look forward to our meetings and thank you for being here.

The Transition: Real and Virtual
Remarks by Sandy Schwalb
Management Analyst, Library Programs Service

Good morning. And yes, it is a pleasure to be here. Seems like only 5 years ago, well, it was actually, that I received my certificate of appreciation from GPO for my three long years of service on the Depository Library Council. Ah, they thought they were rid of me then. It didn't work. I came back to haunt GPO in August 1996, when I came on board as a member of the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) to work as, I love this title, an "Expert Consultant." Then last August I was reappointed for another year and lo and behold a little over a month ago--on the Ides of March--I crossed the "t's" and dotted the "i's" and signed on as a permanent staffer in the Library Programs Service. Phew. Who said, "what a long strange trip it was?" And although this is not an awards show, I would like to thank the folks I have been working with for these 18 months for all of their help in getting me settled into ETS, LPS and GPO, especially Jay Young, who brought me on board and Gil Baldwin, who worked to keep me on board.

Despite the fact I am no longer an official member of ETS, it will always be in my heart and for the next few minutes, up here as well.

As you probably know, ETS is comprised of seasoned GPO veterans, Lee Morey and Joe Paskoski and those pesky expert consultants, who come from the "outside" and work on making the electronic transition of the depository program a reality. Lee continues to fine-tune the many facets of the suite of Pathway services available on GPO Access. Joe has been an integral part of ETS from its inception in the fall of 1995 and is the ETS and LPS "Web-meister."

Currently George Barnum from Case Western Reserve University is the ETS expert consultant. George, who has been part of ETS since last July, has worked on forging new partnerships (acting oftentimes as a marriage broker) as well as managing the FDLP Electronic Collection and issues relating to Gateways.

Many of the topics I will be discussing here are summarized on a real piece of paper found in the back of this room. This update will also appear in an upcoming paper and electronic issue of Administrative Notes. The paper and electronic versions include Web addresses for most of the sites I will be mentioning.

As Gil mentioned earlier, for those who have never had an opportunity to visit GPO or would like to learn more about the operations of LPS, you can now "visit" a new Web site linked from the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Administration Page. This virtual tour, in words and photos, follows the order in which tangible government information products are processed in preparation for dissemination to depository libraries: depository distribution area; lighted bins--yes, photos of the infamous lighted bins; mail manifest; acquisitions and classification; micrographics; cataloging; and depository services. In addition, there is information--everything you could possibly want to know or not--about the mission and operations of ETS. You can take a look at the site while here, but if you can't, we hope you have a chance to "visit" it when you get back home! Or even if you actually take the physical tour, you could look at it virtually and see how it compares!

Just as Gil stole some of Robin's thunder, so she did the same to me! As I was preparing my remarks last week I noticed that we were being upstaged by the White House! As already noted, Mrs. Clinton unveiled, at the main branch of the DC Public Library no less, a CD-ROM White House tour. I was wondering when I saw the newspaper article, whether it is in fact a government document. You just heard that the answer is no, or at least it is not being distributed as such. But, ah, do THEY have lighted bins?

Lee, with input from other GPO colleagues has put together DRAFT recommended specifications to assist you and others in the depository community who are planning purchases of new personal computers for public use in the libraries. A hard copy of these specs can be found with the other handouts. It will be available electronically following this conference, incorporating any comments/ideas put forth here. The deadline for final comments is May 15.

These specifications are intended to "assist" depository staff in making informed purchases that will best achieve the goal of providing public access to Federal government information products in a variety of electronic formats. Given the large variation in the sizes of the depositories and the numbers of users served, LPS cannot recommend one universal standard for the number of public access workstations in any given library. Other related issues and considerations can be found on the draft we have available here. We look forward to your comments and suggestions.

The initial collection of sites for almost all 160 Topics in the Subject Bibliography-based Browse Topic list is now complete. Currently there are 33 topics being maintained by volunteers in the depository and information communities. Links have been created from Topics to relevant Subject Bibliographies. Our goal is to update all Topics on at least a quarterly basis. Lee wanted me to mention that more volunteers will be needed for Browse Topics. There will be announcement on GOVDOC-L in the next few weeks describing the work to be done by volunteers. And for those of you who have participated in the project and provided GPO with information, we want to thank you for your time and interest.

We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online government information using the freeware product Harvest and will continue this effort until the Advanced Search Facility is online. This service indexes well over 160,000 Web pages from over 1380 different servers with new sites added to the list daily.

Several institutions have expressed interest in Gateway status. An article in the April 15 Administrative Notes outlines GPO's objectives for the Gateways initiative and gives a step-by-step view of how to proceed. Input from the existing Gateways assisted in developing this document and redefining the Gateways initiative. George wanted to be sure that I expressed the gratitude of the staff to those who provided input and spent considerable time and effort on formulating this information.

ETS, in the guise of Joe Paskoski, continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of Web projects. They include both the recently-completed Web Biennial Survey, and Web item selection survey. Another team project about which you have heard a great deal is askLPS, the Web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to communicate with LPS staff that was rolled out just last week.

The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will roll out a depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge," this week. This gateway will provide a public view to the more than 25,000 reports that have been produced by DOE/OSTI since January 1996.

As many of you know, this project has been in the works since DOE ceased its distribution of microfiche to depositories in October, 1996. When the announcement about the microfiche program appeared in the September 15, 1996 Administrative Notes, it said that "LPS' Electronic Transition Staff is investigating how this electronic information can most effectively be used and incorporated into the FDLP. OSTI has assured us that no lapse in coverage will occur..." It is ironic that on the same page on which that announcement appeared there was also a blurb about my then-new position with ETS. So my career at GPO has been closely intertwined with the DOE/OSTI project. We are quite pleased with the cooperation we have had with the folks down in OSTI as they worked to ensure that the Information Bridge would be both depository and public friendly. Many of my ETS colleagues were communicating in every possible form with the OSTI staff to make sure Information Bridge was up and running and could be ready to showcase here this week.

As an another facet of LPS' outreach efforts, George will be speaking at an upcoming OSTI-sponsored conference, Inforum, to be held in Oak Ridge, TN in early May. He will be discussing "Libraries, Partnership, and Access to Government Information: GPO's Electronic Collection Model."

The FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will be rolled out this summer and make public domain reports available from ERIC to depositories. Previously provided to the FDLP in microfiche, reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and stored at OCLC. This pilot will provide the project participants with useful information on managing a large, high-demand electronic collection. The full pilot group of 300 libraries should have access to the products by July and access for all depositories by late 1998.

Gil discussed GPO's Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection. There is a recent addition to the collection that we wanted to mention, titled, "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873." It is from the Library of Congress Web site and the URL can be found on the ETS handout.

Another project with which I have been closely involved for many months is now officially underway as a pilot with the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). I hope that you have seen the announcement we recently posted to GOVDOC-L asking for volunteers to participate in this pilot project. At the moment, we have 24 institutions that have offered to be part of this pilot. We hope that those of you with questions or who are interested in participating will be able to attend the session on the project to be held on Wednesday from 2:00-3:15 p.m. in the James Room. I, along with Kris Vajs from NTIS, Linda Kennedy, University of California-Davis and Duncan Aldrich, University of Nevada at Reno will be on the panel.

LPS continues to monitor and provide feedback on an effort by the U.S. Information Agency and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives to create a Foreign Affairs Documentation Center that would collect online foreign affairs documents on a government-wide basis and provide both access and authentication to those documents.

Discussions continue with several agencies and institutions for new content partnerships. Staff from LPS will be meeting with representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Cartographic Users Advisory Council during this conference with an eye toward possible partnerships.

Your suggestions for new partnerships are always welcome. George is the point person on the partnership activities, but feel free to contact any members of ETS with your ideas. You are the experts out there in the libraries, knowing what information you and your users need and we can certainly help to act as the conduit or marriage broker in seeing that all the parts can work together to ensure permanent public access to government information products.

So, in conclusion, that is a very brief overview of the what ETS has been working on. As you can see there is much collaboration between ETS and the other units within LPS--all of which is focused on moving the FDLP to a more electronically based program. As I mentioned, the current members of ETS will be here this week. We all look forward to hearing from you.

Recommendations and Commendations of the
Depository Library Council to the Public Printer
October 20-23, 1997
Clearwater Beach, Florida

1. RECOMMENDATION: SERIAL SET

Council recommends that the Government Printing Office distribute those documents and reports that comprise the Serial Set in acid free paper with margins wide enough to enable binding of these important publications. Since CD-ROM has not yet been proven to be an archival medium, Council further recommends that Federal depository libraries be permitted to select this important historical title in dual formats -- CD-ROM and either microfiche or paper.

Rationale: Congress has mandated that only one copy of the bound Serial Set be distributed to each regional depository and one to each state without a regional depository. Many Federal depository libraries recognize the historical importance of the Serial Set for the legal and research communities, and are concerned that their Serial Set documents will deteriorate or disappear over time. Allowing depository libraries to select the Serial Set in both CD-ROM and an archival medium would solve the issue of permanent access to this historical collection and respond to objections to duplicative paper distribution.

RESPONSE:

The Library Programs Service (LPS) recognizes the historical significance of the documents and reports that comprise the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. House and Senate Documents and Reports have been distributed to libraries on acid free paper for the last four years. In March 1998 depository libraries were surveyed to select the Serial Set Title Pages and/or Tables of Contents pages for those libraries wishing to bind their own Serial Set volumes. Libraries will be supplied with the Title Pages, also on acid free paper, as soon as possible after the completion of a Session of Congress, beginning with the 105^th Congress, 2^nd Session.

Concerning a CD-ROM Serial Set, it is not possible at this time to create a complete electronic Serial Set, since many documents and reports are not currently available in electronic format and are too graphically intense to convert to an electronic format. We will work with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, as well as continue ongoing efforts with the information systems planners in both Chambers, toward the eventual production of a complete electronic Serial Set.

2. RECOMMENDATION: askLPS

Council applauds the development of the askLPS feature on the FDLP Administration World Wide Web page, as a significant step forward in efficient communication between LPS and all depository libraries. Council recommends that askLPS and the existing Administrative Notes Technical Supplement be examined together in order to provide continuing and cumulative information for depositories on the status of depository publications. Council would like to be actively involved with the development team, and encourages LPS to move forward to implement askLPS as soon as possible.

Rationale: Changes in the formats and the SuDocs numbers of depository publications are appearing at a rapid rate as more materials migrate to electronic formats. In addition, titles are moving out of (and sometimes back into) the program in great numbers. The current procedure for announcing each change in the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement is useful, but makes it difficult for librarians to keep track of the many changes and retrieve them when needed. Announcing such changes on a non-official discussion list such as GOVDOC-L also provides a useful service but does not assure that information will be at hand at the time a particular library needs it. A GPO electronic service, which provides a method for asking depository questions, and also a way for sharing answers and information from LPS, will be a service to depositories and will also save LPS staff from answering the same question many times. It will provide a communication channel between LPS and depositories which is more efficient than paper and more official than a privately sponsored discussion list. The service will be most useful if the information posted can be cumulated by subject and searchable by number and title. If askLPS is carefully developed with the needs of the depository libraries in mind, it might be possible to stop the publication of the paper Administrative Notes Technical Supplement altogether, providing savings in time and money. Council would like to advise GPO staff on the initial development and future enhancements of askLPS, to assure the most effective organization and features which would fulfill the needs of depositories.

RESPONSE:

In April 1998 LPS began accepting inquiries and questions from depository librarians and the public via the askLPS service. LPS appreciates the advice and active participation of Council member Julia Wallace in the testing and development of this new service.

The askLPS e-mail address is <asklps@gpo.gov> and the web site address is <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>. AskLPS is an automated inquiry service that makes filing inquiries and directing e-mail to the appropriate LPS contact easier for those in the depository community. There are five components to askLPS:

• An electronic inquiry form;
• WEBTech Notes, a searchable database for postings made in the Administrative Notes and Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, dating back to 1991;
• FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and News;
• FDLP Contacts Page; and
• The Federal Depository Library Directory.

All askLPS inquiries receive an immediate response acknowledging the receipt of the inquiry. LPS’s goal is to respond to each inquiry sent to askLPS within 10 working days. Occasionally the first response may be an interim answer when responding to the question requires information from another agency. Inquiries received via askLPS are being given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, telephone, or regular mail. Focusing on this one channel for inquiries should help LPS to track the inquiries as they arrive, and should also minimize the duplication of effort to research inquiries by staff throughout LPS. If an inquiry submitted via fax, telephone, or regular mail is on a matter of general concern to the depository community the response will be incorporated into one of the askLPS applications. Depending upon the subject matter of the inquiry, in addition to a direct reply to the person making the inquiry, the response may appear in the WEBTech Notes, the FAQs, or the News area of askLPS. Although LPS is giving priority to inquiries sent electronically, fax inquiry forms will continue to be a useful mechanism when additional information must accompany the inquiry (e.g. photocopies of title pages, introductory pages, etc.).

3. RECOMMENDATION: MANAGING GPO’s ELECTRONIC COLLECTION

The Depository Library Council is encouraged that the Government Printing Office has produced the white paper, "Managing the GPO Access Collection," and that GPO is drafting a collection plan with which to manage GPO Access databases and other electronic Federal Government publications made available through the FDLP. To ensure the effective management and permanency of the electronic collection, Council recommends that in preparing the collection plan GPO develop policies and procedures to ensure that permanent access to remotely available electronic publications, including necessary redundancy, will be provided. In particular, Council recommends that GPO:

1. Ensure that the responsibility for dissemination and preservation of electronic Government information remains with the Federal Government, and that the Superintendent of Documents, as coordinator of the FDLP, is responsible for the dissemination and preservation of publications in the Electronic Collection, whether located at GPO or at FDLP partner institutions.

Rationale: In the Electronic Collection session held at the Depository Library Council meeting in October 1997, significant concern was expressed that in managing remotely accessible electronic materials GPO take special care in addressing the issues identified above. Council is concerned that levels of public access to remotely available electronic publications maintained by GPO and FDLP partners continue at levels equal to or greater than has been provided to print materials traditionally distributed to FDLP libraries.

RESPONSE:

GPO has prepared a document entitled Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection, which we intend to share with the Council and the depository library community in the near future. This policy and planning document (Plan) incorporates the concepts enumerated in Council’s recommendation. It is based on the overall vision for the FDLP, which is to ensure current and permanent public access to all Government information products, regardless of format or medium, which are of public interest or educational value, except for those products which are for strictly administrative or operational purposes, classified for reasons of national security, or the use of which is constrained by privacy considerations. The draft Plan defines parameters and requirements for the electronic products and services that constitute the Collection, and establishes a policy framework on which specific procedures for the development and maintenance of the Collection will be built. Managing the Government electronic information products in the FDLP Electronic Collection as a library-like collection will facilitate the accomplishment of the FDLP responsibility to provide permanent public access to these products, as well as other products which meet the definition for Government information set forth in the Plan.

The FDLP Electronic Collection consists of four elements:

• Core legislative and regulatory GPO Access products which will reside permanently on Government Printing Office (GPO) servers;

• Other remotely accessible products managed by GPO or other institutions with which GPO has established formal agreements;

• Tangible electronic Government information products distributed to Federal depository libraries; and

• Remotely accessible electronic Government information products that GPO identifies, describes, and links to but which remain under the control of the originating agencies.

4. RECOMMENDATION: MONTHLY CATALOG DISPLAY ON GPO ACCESS

Council recommends that GPO modify the public display of entries in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications to a more user-friendly, labeled format. The underlying MARC tags should remain available as an alternate display format.

Rationale: The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on GPO Access is clearly intended to provide the public with information about collections in depository libraries. A display that uses MARC tags is not easily understood by the public, and a simple labeled display indicating author, title, subjects, and appropriate descriptive information, will more easily lead the public to publications. The necessary labels are embedded in the existing MARC tags. The full MARC record should remain as the underlying database, with the MARC format available to librarians as an alternative format.

RESPONSE:

LPS is redesigning the public user display for the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on GPO Access. The default display will feature descriptive labels for the cataloging record data elements instead of the numeric MARC tags. The MARC-tagged display will remain available as a user-invoked display option. Sample displays will be available for review and discussion at the spring 1998 Council meeting.

5. RECOMMENDATION: OPENTEXT Z39.50

Council recommends that GPO provide the Z39.50 search interface for the OpenText software.

Rationale: Council appreciates the progress being made in GPO production in migrating toward SGML as the common representation for documents. However, having a common markup language does not by itself provide for common searching across sets of documents. Adding the Z39.50 search interface to OpenText would make the production documents sets interoperable with the WAIS databases as well as the thousands of other relevant government and library resources accessible through Z39.50. Also, the Z39.50 search interface will allow for a variety of user interfaces and Web gateways in addition to those provided by OpenText.

6. RECOMMENDATION: GILS COMPLIANCE

Council recommends GPO install GILS-compliant software for all of the WAIS databases and assist libraries in obtaining GILS-aware client software.

Rationale: There are nearly 100 WAIS databases accessible at GPO Internet servers. In addition to the GPO Access Web interface, these are to be searchable through both the WAIS protocol and Z39.50/GILS. However, the Z39.50/GILS search is currently broken and requires installation of an available fix to the commercial WAIS software. Current FDLP requirements include provision of GILS-aware client software for public access to government information. However, GPO has been distributing only the WinWAIS software, which is not GILS-aware. GPO could enhance the WinWAIS or other Z39.50 client software to be GILS-aware, or encourage libraries to use available GILS-aware client software such as BookWhere, SIRSI Vizion, Znavigator, etc.

RESPONSE to RECOMMENDATIONS 5 and 6:

GPO recognizes the value of full GILS and Z39.50 compliance for our online services. However, the lack of current support for the WAIS server software has stymied our efforts to add the Z39.50 capabilities to WAIS necessary for full GILS compliance. Therefore we have investigated what resources would be required to incorporate a Z39.50 interface upgrade into the OpenText software. Based on our discussions with Open Text and another software vendor it appears that this enhancement will be a resource-intensive proposition, of a magnitude that will require a lengthy approval and procurement process. Since GPO’s five-year contract with OpenText will expire in FY 2000, we do not believe that modifying GPO’s older release of the OpenText software represents the best use of our program funds. Instead, we will concentrate upon the next generation of GPO Access software. As GPO plans the future evolution of GPO Access we will emphasize:

• Full compliance with all applicable standards, such as Z39.50;

• Interoperability with a variety of source databases and tagging schemes, including SGML;

• Robust search and retrieval capabilities using standard Web browsers; and

• Recognition of the importance of our GILS application.

Council and the depository library community will be involved in the future development of GPO Access through a variety of mechanisms, including the focus group discussions held in conjunction with Council meetings. Topics such as Z39.50 compliance and client software will be discussed at the April 1998 focus group, and we expect to receive valuable input for future planning efforts.

However, as an interim measure we are investigating obtaining software to bring the GPO Access GILS application into full Z39.50 compliance. This is expected to be attainable at a reasonable cost, and will improve access to the agency GILS records that are hosted on GPO Access.

In the years since the effort that resulted in GPO’s procurement of the OpenText software there have been significant changes in network information discovery and retrieval. While separate client software was once the norm, the explosive growth of the Web has resulted in Web browsers becoming the de facto standard method of access for the vast majority of users. Therefore, in order to promote the widest possible use of GPO Access we are designing for optimal use with industry-standard Web browsers, rather than with application-specific client software. Additionally, in light of the changes brought about by the Web technology, we are considering eliminating the recommendation for separate client software for depository library computer work stations in the upcoming 1998 Recommended Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries. We believe that the best approach to providing full functionality of the products and services of GPO Access is to include Z39.50 capabilities in industry-standard Web browsers. This approach could ultimately result in benefiting the largest number of users, both in depository libraries and among the general public.

7. RECOMMENDATION: MIGRATION OF MICROFICHE PUBLICATIONS TO ONLINE FORMAT

Council recommends that GPO develop, in consultation with Council, selection criteria and a plan for permanent access to microfiche publications migrating to an online format only.

Rationale: In the October 15, 1997, Administrative Notes, LPS published a list of tangible products that they intend to eliminate in microfiche and convert to online format. Council believes that explicit criteria for elimination of tangible media must be established first. Council also believes that certain categories of depository publications must remain in a tangible format. Council would be pleased to work with GPO in establishing these criteria. This plan should be coordinated with the collection plan for the GPO Access Collection.

RESPONSE:

LPS has developed and publicized criteria for identifying and evaluating candidate publications that are currently distributed in microfiche format, and that the originating agency also makes available to the public online. As part of the transition to a more electronic FDLP, LPS proposed to discontinue distribution of the microfiche and point to the online version for use by depository libraries and the public. (See Administrative Notes, vol.18, no.14, 11/15/97; vol. 18, no.13, 10/15/97; and vol. 18, no. 10, 7/15/97).

During the discussions at the October 1997 Council meeting, concerns were raised about the provision of permanent access to such titles. In the policy and planning document Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection, we set forth the position that GPO’s permanent access responsibility extends to electronic Government information products that we bring under bibliographic control through our cataloging and locator services, but which remain on their originating agencies’ servers. Inasmuch as we are still developing a comprehensive approach to ensuring permanent access to this category of electronic products it is premature to proceed at this time with eliminating related tangible information products from the FDLP. However, we are working to develop content partnerships, notification procedures, and other mechanisms to ensure permanent public access to agency electronic information products. Once these mechanisms are in place LPS will proceed with identifying candidate tangible products to be replaced by reliable, official electronic versions.

8. RECOMMENDATION: SUPREME COURT OPINIONS ON GPO ACCESS

Council recommends that GPO give a high priority to making the Hermes collection of Supreme Court opinions available as a searchable database on GPO Access.

Rationale: Since the Supreme Court has made the decision to provide Hermes subscribers with court opinions in PDF and tagged ASCII file formats, Council believes it is imperative that the GPO take full advantage of these enhancements without delay. Timely, ready and easy access to this important body of case law through GPO Access will greatly benefit the American public. Users will be pleased with the improved search capabilities as well as the ability to download and print Supreme Court opinions in an official format.

RESPONSE:

We are taking steps to improve access to Supreme Court opinions from the Project Hermes collection through the development of an OpenText database. Considerable work has been accomplished to develop a full-text searchable database that will offer users multiple field searching capabilities. Completion of this initiative by Production Services has been delayed by other priorities, but it is our goal to roll out the enhanced Supreme Court opinions application in the near future. We have received some valuable comments from individuals who tested this application, and we are incorporating their feedback into the service prior to the formal rollout.

9. RECOMMENDATION: REGIONAL LIBRARIES CONFERENCE

Council commends the Public Printer for sponsoring the Regional Libraries Conference held in August 1997. Council recommends that the Government Printing Office request funding to sponsor additional regional library conferences in the future.

Rationale: The August 1997 Conference was extremely successful in providing regional depositories the opportunity to discuss and assess the services and responsibilities that are unique to regionals, as well as to identify new areas for service to selective depositories, particularly in light of the ongoing transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program. Council is aware that the August 1997 conference was planned as a one-time event, but, given the complicated issues entailed in shifting to a more electronic FDLP, considerably more focused interaction will be required to further the dialog initiated in August 1997. A follow-up conference in the near future would serve as an appropriate forum for this continuing dialog.

RESPONSE:

GPO appreciates Council's compliments on the successful Regional Libraries Conference held in August 1997. In GPO's FY 1997 appropriation Congress granted GPO’s request for an increase in the statutory limitation on travel funded by the Salaries and Expenses appropriation. The request was for the specific purpose of funding this Conference, and was made with the understanding that this was a one-time event intended to strengthen the abilities of the regional librarians to assist their selective depositories in the transition to a more electronic FDLP.

To continue the work begun at the August 1997 Conference GPO scheduled a ½-day program for regional librarians at the fall 1997 Council meeting. In April 1998, a special one-day Regional Librarians’ Meeting is being held at the University of Maryland. GPO intends to continue programs specifically by and for regional librarians, but these programs will be held in conjunction with future fall Council meetings and spring Federal Depository Conferences rather than being independent events.

Council commends the Public Printer on his appointments of Robert T. Mansker as Deputy Public Printer, Andrew M. Sherman as Director of Congressional, Legislative and Public Affairs, as well as his intention to appoint Francis J. Buckley, Jr. as Superintendent of Documents. Council is gratified by the speed with which the Public Printer made these appointments and impressed with the admirable qualifications of all three individuals. The appointment of Francis J. Buckley, Jr. to be the new Superintendent of Documents is especially significant. Mr. Buckley, a public library director and former depository librarian, has long been a champion of public access and the depository library program. Furthermore, Council believes that these appointments send a very positive message to Congress and the depository community on the future direction of the depository library program.

Council commends former Council member Susan Dow and Joseph Paskoski of GPO’s Electronic Transition Staff for their extraordinary efforts in developing and maintaining the Depository Library Council's home page. Its well-organized and user-friendly arrangement leads visitors to a very comprehensive wealth of information about Council activities, both current and past. Council believes that its home page will become a valuable resource for librarians and others interested in the depository library program, and is very grateful to Susan and Joe for their efforts to create a truly outstanding information resource.

Council commends the Library Programs Service for resuming the in-house fulfillment of paper claims, discontinuing the use of an outside contractor. The prompt fulfillment of claims is important to depositories, and the Government Printing Office will be able to provide more efficient service, and to monitor problems more accurately by managing this service in-house.

Council commends the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS) for the role they have played in implementing goals outlined in Federal Depository Library Program: Information Dissemination and Access Strategic Plan FY 1996 - FY 2001. Council recognizes that ETS was directly responsible for the Pathway Indexer and the FDLP Administration pages, and has been significantly involved in the development of various other electronic products on the Superintendent of Documents Web site. Council also recognizes the important role ETS has played in establishing content and service partnerships with FDLP libraries and with Federal agencies, and in supporting efforts with NCLIS to initiate the Assessment of Standards.

The Depository Library Council commends the Government Printing Office for making significant progress in providing GPO Access training for depository librarians and others. The high-quality training sessions conducted by the staff of the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Service, with scheduling coordinated by the Depository Services Staff, have been highly praised by participants. The successful completion of the first cooperative "train the trainers" workshop will also lead to a broadening of efforts, which will benefit even more end users.

Council commends Wayne P. Kelley, former Superintendent of Documents, for his professional and personal commitment to the Federal Depository Library Program and the GPO Sales Program. Since his appointment as Superintendent of Documents in 1991, Mr. Kelley has provided strong leadership within the Government Printing Office and the depository library community in championing broad public access to Federal Government information. Council appreciates his substantial role in the development of and enhancements to the highly acclaimed GPO Access system, the establishment of its User Support team, and the creation of the Superintendent of Documents home page. Mr. Kelley's commitment to the broad principles of public access to Government information are further evidenced by his chairmanship of the GPO Study group and his willingness to bring all interested constituencies, including the library community, into the process. We especially commend Mr. Kelley for his dedication and firm resolve to keeping Government information in all formats in the public domain. This is perhaps best exemplified in his eloquent speech regarding the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that so impressed Sen. John Warner that it was attached to the Senator's remarks in the Congressional Record this past February.

Cataloging Branch Update
Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting
April 20-23, 1998

LPS has established Persistent Uniform Resource Locators (PURLs) as a service to help assure permanent access to the electronic resources listed in Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) posted by the Depository Administration Branch via cataloging records produced by the Cataloging Branch. Our use of PURLs is made possible by OCLC's recent release of enhanced PURL software that includes an integrated URL checker application, the ability to machine generate unique, consecutively assigned accession numbers, and a basic exceptions report module that identifies broken links.

Working with OCLC, we have participated in the development of a freely available new release of OCLC's PURL software that contains features that are essential for large scale use of PURLs. PURLs provides an effective environment for updating broken URLs by providing a seamless interface between the user, via a PURL, and the most recent URL. PURLs are of critical importance to our efforts to provide continued access to electronic titles. The 856 field of most Web site records of the Catalog of United States Government Publications (Catalog) for BETs posted from January 1998 through the present now contain PURLs rather than URLs. PURLs embedded in BET entries provide the redirect function for this application.

LPS' PURLs application is significant for the many library catalogs that contain URLs. With LPS PURLs, libraries will not need to update records locally when URLs change. PURLs are an essential component of our efforts to bring bibliographic control to products in the FDLP Electronic Collection.

We have established a collection level records cataloging policy to provide access to resources through the Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) Web site application. This policy has been approved by the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is consistent with AACR2 practice, and is consistent with the realities that face users when they encounter multiple resources accessible via one BET.

With this policy, we now have a one-to-one correspondence between a BET and a catalog record and now have a single PURL associated with both applications. This policy is the most recent of our Internet-related cataloging policies and will soon be posted at the Publications portion of the FDLP Administration page on GPO Access. Other cataloging policies available at this site include policies on computer files and linking fields.

We are involved in the effort to revise ALA's 1984 edition of Cataloging Government Documents: A Manual of Interpretation for AACR2. Rhonda Marker, Head, Cataloging Department, Rutgers University, and a member of the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee, is editing the manual and has welcomed our interest in participating in the revision process. We look forward, in particular, to working with people on chapters associated with maps and electronic resources.

As of March 30, 1998, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,728 BET entries. As of the week of March 30, all but 192 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 192 BETs in the backlog, 67 were monographs and 125 were serials. With our new collection level record policy, we expect that, as of April 20th, all of the monographs in the backlog will have been cataloged and that many, but not all, of the serials will have been cataloged. BETs are currently cataloged within one week after posting.

The Web edition of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications now contains more than 98,027 records produced from 1994 through the present. More than 3,833 of these records contain URL data. When broken links are detected, we convert URL data to PURLs. When links cannot be re-established, we delete URL/PURL data from records and add a note advising users that the resource is no longer available via the Internet. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise us using <asklps@gpo.gov>.

We appreciate Council's recommendation that we establish a default user-friendly display for our Web application. Handouts showing our proposed labelled display are available for review and comment. The MARC tagged display will remain an option for selection.

[Handout]

Depository Administration Branch Update
Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting
April 20-23, 1998

On April 6, 1998, LPS inaugurated askLPS, a feature of GPO Access designed to expedite the submission of inquiries and enhance communication to appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is an electronic service available via the World Wide Web and will be available to the public user as well as the depository community. The askLPS home page is located at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/asklps.html>, or you can e-mail your question to <asklps@gpo.gov>.

There are five components to askLPS:

• The Inquiry Form provides two versions of the inquiry form. One form is password protected for use exclusively by depository librarians. The alternate form is *not* password protected and is designed for use by members of the public. Inquiries submitted to askLPS will receive an e-mail response acknowledging receipt of the inquiry. Priority will be given to inquiries received electronically over inquiries received via paper, fax or phone.

• WEBTech Notes, a searchable database containing postings to Administrative Notes and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement (retrospective to 1991). There is also a version of this database available (in .dbf format) for downloading located on the Federal Bulletin Board at <fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/webtechn.htm>.

• FAQs and News is a listing of answers to frequently asked questions from the depository community. It also includes an area for announcements that have been previously posted on the GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly or more frequently as needed.

• The FDLP Contacts is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general areas of responsibility.

• The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO directory of Federal depository libraries. Depository libraries may submit corrections to their directory entries via a password-protected form.

LPS will attempt to answer inquiries within ten business days. However, users may experience situations in which an intermediate answer will be conveyed pending receipt of more information from other government agencies.

Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or regular mail. Fax will continue to be an important mechanism for providing additional information necessary for the completion of an inquiry (such as photocopies of title pages, introductory pages, etc.). By focusing on one route for inquiries, LPS expects that it should be able to track inquiries more effectively and alleviate the duplication of effort associated with inquiry research.

Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQs & News weekly postings before submitting their inquiry, as the question may already have been researched and the response posted to the database.

LPS thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. We look forward to comments and suggestions on askLPS from the librarians in the Federal depository library community.

The Documents Data Miner (DDM) is a collection management tool which supports the creation of in-house relational databases. It features a field searchable List of Classes, a field searchable Discontinued Item List, complete depository profiles and union lists, and a searchable library directory. DDM was developed through a partnership between University Libraries at Wichita State University (WSU) and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The Federal Depository Library Program is pleased to join with WSU and NIAR to offer access to the DDM at <http://kronos.niar.twsu.edu/govdocs/ >.

The Union List of Item Selections is now available for download in an ASCII comma delimited format on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). It is updated on a monthly basis on the same time frame as the List of Classes and Item Lister, the first Friday of each month. Location: <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/unionl.htm>

The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in WordPerfect 6.0 format as received from the USGS. They are located at <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/usgssl.htm.>.

Copies of the 1997 World Factbook were distributed to libraries in paper format on Shipping List 98-0020-S, dated March 11, 1998. Copies of the 1997 CD-ROM were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0036-E, dated March 20, 1998. The instructions on the CD-ROM product were incomplete. Additional instructions have been posted on GOVDOC-L, in askLPS FAQs & News, and sent in shipment boxes.

Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to the Committee’s Hearing on the Proposed Tobacco Settlement: both paper print and documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all libraries on Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998.

Depository Services Update
Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting
April 20-23, 1998

The depository Library Directory is a new feature available from the FDLP Administration Web page <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ldirect.html>. Depository libraries can view Directory and Item Lister data on any library by keying in a combination of data elements, e.g., depository number, size and type of library, state, etc. Depository librarian e-mail addresses and item selections are also hot-linked. Directory changes can be made only by using a library’s password. Directory 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 printed Federal Depository Library Directory.

In mid-March 1998, 233 documents librarians and their directors whose depository operations were last inspected in 1992 were notified to submit a mandatory self-study. The states include California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The due date for these self-studies is June 15.

The raw data from the 1997 Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries is available for downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). The files include the text of the Biennial Survey, data conversion table, and the answers from each depository in comma-delimited format. Depository librarians can use the data to compare their depository operations with others in their peer group or within their state or region.

The FBB can be reached by dial-in on (202) 512-1387; by telnet to <fedbbs.access.gpo.gov>; FTP to <ftp://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov>; or URL <http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/libs/lps_info.htm>

• 1,213 or 89.3% of the libraries report having Internet tools available at public access work stations, 57 or 4.2% plan to have Internet available within six months and 57 or 4.2% in one year.

• 1227 or 90.3% provide GPO Access to the public through the WWW, 386 or 28.4% through another institution’s gateway; and 91 or 6.7% do not provide it. 10.7% lack Internet at public access work stations.

• Of the 1,359 libraries responding, 695 or 51.1% have an adequate budget for computer hardware and software replacement. 517 or 38% report an inadequate budget and 147 or 10.8% report no budget for this equipment.

• Of the 1,269 or 93.4% of the libraries having an on-line catalog, 1,034 or 81.5% are accessible from the Internet.

• Only 194 or 14.3% of the libraries report "hot linking" current bibliographic records for "Internet only" documents in the library’s on-line catalog. 709 or 52.1% of the libraries plan to do so in the future.

• 94.6% of the depositories have CD-ROM capability. Of the remaining 5.4%, 43 or 3.1% of the libraries have CD-ROM capability but do not select CD’s; 23 or 1.7% select CD-ROMs but do not have CD-ROM capability; and seven or .05% do not have CD-ROM capability nor select any CD’s.

• Only 271 or 19.9% of the libraries report active, ongoing promotion of the depository to the general public; 862 or 63.4% infrequent promotion, and 226 or 16.6% no promotion to the public.

• 441 or 32.4% of the libraries charge a fee for printer paper, 388 or 28.5% for formatted floppy diskettes, 312 or 22.9% for fax services, and 657 or 48.3% do not charge at all for these services.

The 7th annual Federal Depository Library Conference and Spring meeting of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer occurred on April 20-23 in Arlington, VA. Nearly 500 people had preregistered by the deadline. A one-day meeting for Regional librarians was held on April 19 at the University of Maryland. For the third year in a row, the conference hotel was the Washington National Airport Hilton in Arlington, VA. Registration by Web was provided and used by a majority of participants.

The 11th annual Interagency Depository Seminar is scheduled for May 27-June 3, 1998 in Washington, DC. Fifty documents staff members have registered for the seminar. In addition to GPO, other agency sponsors include Office of the Federal Register, GAO, USGS, NOAA, Bureau of the Census, Patent and Trademark Office, and several offices in the Library of Congress.

[Handout]

Electronic Transition Staff Update
Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting
April 20-23, 1998

LPS Virtual Tour <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/lpstour.html>

For those who have never had an opportunity to visit GPO or would like to learn more about the operations of LPS, you can now "visit" a new Web site linked from the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Administration page. A virtual tour, in words and photos, follows the order in which tangible government information products are processed in preparation for dissemination to depository libraries: depository distribution area; lighted bins; mail manifest; acquisitions and classification; micrographics; cataloging; and depository services. In addition, there is information about the mission and operations of the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS).

Browse Topics http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/pathbrws.html

The initial collection of sites for almost all 160 Topics in the Subject Bibliography-based Browse Topic list is now complete. Currently there are 33 topics being maintained by volunteers in the depository and information communities. Links have been created from Topics to relevant Subject Bibliographies. Our goal is to update all Topics on at least a quarterly basis.

Pathway Indexer http://gather.access.gpo.gov/Harvest/brokers/Pathway/query.html

We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online government information using the freeware product Harvest and will continue this effort until the government-mandated Advanced Search Facility is online. This service indexes well over 160,000 Web pages from over 1380 different servers. New sites are added to the list on a daily basis.

Several institutions have expressed interest in Gateway status. An article in the April 15, 1998 Administrative Notes outlines GPO's objectives for the Gateways initiative and gives a step-by-step view of how to proceed. Input from the existing Gateways assisted in developing this document and redefining the Gateways initiative.

ETS continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of Web projects. They include: the completed Web Biennial Survey, the just concluded Web item selection Survey, and askLPS, a Web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to communicate with LPS staff.

LPS continues to monitor and provide feedback on an effort by the U.S. Information Agency and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives to create a Foreign Affairs Documentation Center that would collect online foreign affairs documents on a government-wide basis and provide both access (through permanent resource locators) and authentication (through digital signatures) to those documents.

The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will roll out a depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge," during the April depository conference. This gateway will provide a public view to the more than 15,000 reports produced by DOE/OSTI annually.

The FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will be rolled out at the April conference and make public domain reports available from ERIC to depositories. Previously provided to the FDLP in microfiche, reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and stored at OCLC. This pilot will provide the project participants with useful information on managing a large, high-demand electronic collection. The full pilot group of 300 libraries should have access to the products by July.

There is an addition to GPO's Core Documents of Democracy. Titled, "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873," it is from the Library of Congress Web site and can be found at: <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/coredocs.html>.

Wichita State University has joined GPO in a service partnership with their Documents Data Miner product that brings together data from various Library Programs Service administrative databases to create a searchable List of Classes, directory of depositories, and other features.

Discussions continue with several agencies and institutions for new content partnerships. Staff from LPS will be meeting with representatives from U. S. Geological Survey and the Cartographic Users Advisory Council during the April conference with an eye toward possible partnerships.