Depository Library Council to the Public Printer
Monday April 12, 1999 Sheila McGarr opened the session with remarks about attendance, and welcomed attendees to Bethesda. Sheila noted the color codes applied to attendee's badges are to help in networking. Some interesting information regarding attendance includes: 500+ attendees 80% of hotel guests are associated with the conference 27 of 82 speakers from depositories 477 pre-registered 292 academic 42 public 66 law 117 first conference 75 new document' librarians and first-time attendees Tom Andersen, Chair of Council, California State Library, called the meeting to order and opened the Plenary Session asking Council members to introduce themselves. Present were: Donna Koepp, University of Kansas Mary Alice Baish, Georgetown University Law Library Julia Wallace, University of Minnesota Maggie Farrell, Montana State University Duncan Aldrich, University of Nevada Reno Denise Davis, The Gale Group Greg Lawrence, Cornell University Fred Wood, National Library of Medicine GladysAnn Wells, Department of Library, Archives and Public Records, Arizona Diane Eidelman, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Long Island, NY Carol Bednar, California State University, Fullerton Paula Kaczmarek, Detroit Public Library Peggy Walker, Citizen Diane Garner, Harvard University Tom Anderson asked the attendees to indicate by a show of hands where they were from. Also, Tom asked attendees to applaud Ridley Kessler for speaking at a hearing on Title 44, and Council Chair recognized him for his testimony and contribution. The more than 18 GPO staff attending were asked to come to the front of the room and introduce themselves. Tom Andersen mentioned his change in employment, to oversee funding and support to the California State Library Board. In this role he coordinates programs and meetings, and has new and enhanced appreciation for the efforts of GPO. Carol Bednar gave a brief overview of the Cataloging Locator committee meeting and Duncan Aldrich gave a brief overview of the Electronic Transition committee. Both of these committees meet Tuesday afternoon during Council working time. On Wednesday morning, Council will discuss the Draft Specifications for Workspace and Draft Biennial Survey. The remainder of the Council time will be spent working (e.g., discussing and writing recommendations). Attendees with suggestions for Council and GPO should feel free to put notes in the newly created "suggestion ice bucket." Tom Andersen introduced Michael DiMario, Public Printer of the United States. Mr. DiMario opened the spring 1999 Depository Library Council and Federal Depository Conference and thanked everyone for attending. He announced that Superintendent of Documents Fran Buckley would not be present due to the death of his mother. Gil Baldwin will present Fran’s remarks. Mr. DiMario described the Federal Depository Library Program as a partnership between Depository Librarians, your institutions, and the Federal Government. It is important to recognize that depository librarians own the program and their contributions are appreciated. The Federal Depository Conference is a valuable venue for networking with other depository colleagues and sharing ideas with GPO staff. In keeping with ribbons to identify attendees, it may be appropriate to develop campaign ribbons for those who have been to Conferences over the years and survived the battles of keeping the program alive and prospering. Council meetings are events where we can share ideas to improve the Depository Program. This year there is a new Congress, which impacts how GPO and the Depository Program operate. A great deal of time is being spent educating old groups with new people, and new committees in Congress. The Joint Committee on Printing is a product of two other committees, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the House Oversight Committee (now the House Administration Committee). JCP has appointed members to a new committee, in spite of no funding, but they have not yet had their organizational meeting. Members of the JCP committee include Chair Bill Thomas of CA, from the House of Representatives side, and Ranking Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, MD. Both Thomas and Hoyer are well versed in issues of the Depository Program. On the Senate side, advocates include the Vice-Chairman, Mitch McConnell from KY, and Chris Dodd from CT. This is the oversight group for GPO and the Depository Program. GPO has moved forward on appropriations. The House Appropriations hearing was chaired by Charles Taylor of NC. Ridley Kessler provided testimony during this important hearing. Ed Pastor of AZ is new to the committee, and is important to GPO and the library community. He seems sympathetic to the program. At the Appropriations hearing, GPO requested $31.2 million for the Federal Depository Library Program. GPO’s total request was in excess of $80M. An additional $1 million was requested for the Library Program. There were indications that consideration is being given to the request, but Mr. DiMario is not optimistic. Included in the request was funding for infrastructure, new elevators, staffing, and support for anticipated increased volume of work. This is the largest increase of any Legislative Branch agency, but is based on record data and is appropriate. The Senate Hearing dealt largely with Y2K issues. Regarding Y2K preparedness, GPO is very close to completing work to meet Federal requirements for compliance. It is expected that remaining issues with the Senate on Y2K compliance will be resolved by late spring 1999. The concerns are largely with the new mainframe at GPO. The new order processing system, IPS, remains to be tested. In addition, the Lighted Bin System will be replaced by the Automated Depository Distribution System (ADDS), which will be Y2K compliant. Mr. DiMario mentioned Council members ending their appointment terms in September 1999: Tom Andersen, Carol Bednar, Denise Davis, Diane Eidelman, Peggy Walker. Newly appointed Council members are: Linda Fredericks, King County Library, WA; Robert Hinton, Indiana University Purdue, IN; Sharon Hogan, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL; Mary Redman, New York State Library, NY; Andrea Sevetson, University of California, Berkeley. As a final note, Mr. DiMario spoke about legislation, especially Title 44 and S2288. Senators Warner (VA) and Ford (KY) were advocates for Title 44 Reform. The key was to improve access to Government information and bring fugitive documents into traditional channels of dissemination. The bill was an omnibus bill, working with the Interagency Working Group, and failed although favorably discussed. Senator Warner is no longer on the committee and Senator Ford has retired. A champion is needed to get the word out about the Federal Depository Library Program. In addition, depository librarians have a role in keeping their legislators informed regarding non-compliance with Title 44 and the need to curtail deviations from the program, especially the creation of fugitive documents. To assist with this effort, Mr. DiMario has brought a staff member from JCP, Mary Beth Lawlor, to work on GPO’s behalf to keep Congress informed of the issues and the work of GPO and the Federal Depository Library Program. Mr. DiMario indicated that future work on Title 44 will not include an omnibus bill, but future legislation will be specific and corrective to deal with important issues. Council has been asked to advise GPO on matters that need attention and GPO will try to identify a sponsor. Mr. DiMario thanked attendees for coming, wished them an informative and fun conference, and anticipated better weather. Tom Andersen, Chair of Council, noted that Duncan Aldrich is the chair-elect of Council (1999-2000), and he then introduced Gil Baldwin.
GPO Update Gil Baldwin, Director, LPS, GPO T.C. Evans, Assistant Director, Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS), GPO Gil Baldwin, Director, Library Programs Services, GPO Robin Haun-Mohamed, Chief, Depository Administration Branch, LPS, GPO Thomas A. Downing, Chief, Cataloging Branch, LPS, GPO George D. Barnum, Electronic Transition Specialist, LPS, GPO
Tom Andersen, Council Chair, thanked all the speakers from GPO and opened the floor to questions, first from Council, then from the audience. Questions and Answers Fred Wood, Council member, asked a follow-up question to T.C. Evans regarding increase in usage of the GPO Access site and any explanation for the increase in use. T.C. responded that GPO Access has been used increasingly as the site is improved. T.C. knew that performance was an issue as a result of wear-and-tear on the old equipment. Equipment improvements and the addition of new materials, including the Starr Report, have positively affected the use and visibility of GPO Access. Fred Wood asked again if GPO was confident in its assessment of a 100% increase in traffic and T.C. Evans responded affirmatively. Julia Wallace, Council member, asked about the binding issues regarding the Congressional Record and presumed the quality would improve with future editions. Robin Haun-Mohamed is aware of the poor quality of binding. GPO is working to rebind or reproduce the volumes in question. Duncan Aldrich, Council member, asked about the status of the memorandum regarding acceptable replacement of print and fiche products with electronic. Sheila McGarr responded that the General Counsel has approved the draft. Sheila emphasized that attendees should not return to their libraries and begin discarding print/tangible documents. She reiterated that the intent is for depository libraries to work with their regional in coordinating such discarding. The final policy statement would be printed in the May 15th Administrative Notes [v. 20, # 9] <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ad051599.html >. Diane Garner, Council member, asked about the revision or replacement of the List of Classes and what the List means in the current environment. Robin Haun-Mohammed responded that the print product is about three months behind schedule. There are monthly updates to the online version of the List of Classes. The print will continue to be distributed twice each year. Robin mentioned that GPO followed Council’s recommendation on this matter, but are looking at additional options. Mary Alice Baish, Council member, asked about the NAL framework for public access document and asked if it was available anywhere. Greg Lawrence is the conduit for getting that framework and provided his e-mail address <GWL1@cornell.edu>. Greg will get copies to Council. George Barnum suggested that it might also be on the NAL preservation Web site. He will check and get back with Council. Mary Alice Baish elaborated on Ridley Kessler’s testimony, mentioned earlier by Mr. DiMario, before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislation for Title 44 and asked Ridley to share his experience with the group. Ridley remarked that this was his second testimony before Congress. He found the experience very valuable and thought Steny Hoyer’s (MD) contribution required many thanks, as will the future contributions of Ed Pastor (AZ). Ridley noted that though he has spent almost 20 years promoting GPO and the Federal Depository Program, that is nothing compared with the work of Mary Alice Baish, the American Association of Law Libraries, and Pru Adler of ARL, who work tirelessly on behalf of access to Government information. Mary Alice Baish added that testimony was very important this year and encouraged depository librarians to write their representatives. Important background information is available at <www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash>. Click on Testimony to review Ridley’s and other testimony on the Washington Affairs Web site. Julia Wallace echoed the need for outreach to legislators, emphasizing how the FDLP benefits their staff and their constituents. This includes linking legislator's pages to your local Web site and through to GPO Access and other Federal Web sites. Fred Wood commended GPO staff for getting out there and staying competitive in the electronic information marketplace. Tom Andersen asked for questions from the floor. Dan Barkley, University of New Mexico, asked about the FBIS CD-ROM, which under the new Folio software restricts output (printing and downloading). Robin Haun-Mohamed commented that the licensing agreement prevents printing and downloading due to copyright restrictions, but that the data is also available on the NTIS World News Connection Web site. Dan remarked that the restrictions have been an ongoing and longstanding problem. Access to the information is wonderful, but is significantly diminished when printing or downloading is prohibited. Robin reiterated that GPO must abide by the license agreement, restricting output options, or not make the information available at all. Andrea Sevetson, University of California Berkeley, asked a follow-up question. It is an issue of copyright clearance and material on the FBIS CD which may appear on the NTIS World News Connection Web site, but it is not clear whether either source is complete. Cost is an issue, and it is unclear how to be sure complete information is available to the public. Another small point, because the online Administrative Notes is only in HTML it cannot be easily printed, as it could be if available in PDF. Without a searchable table of contents, it is of limited value. Diane Garner, Council member, revisited the FBIS issue, reiterating that the copyright extends back to the original publishers of the articles. It would seem the access issues are out of the hands of both GPO and NTIS to resolve. Theresa McGurty, NTIS, stated that it is difficult even for NTIS and other agencies to get their own documents. Afternoon Session Tom Andersen, Council Chair, began the afternoon session with an overview of Council committees and a status report from committee chairs, then a review of the agenda. Electronic Transition Committee, chaired by Duncan Aldrich, with members Peggy Walker, Gregg Lawrence, Diane Eidelman, Diane Garner, Paula Kaczmarek, Fred Wood, Gil Baldwin, and T.C. Evans. Standing Committee, FDLP Electronic Transition Duncan Aldrich indicated that a summary of the status of the transition to a more electronic FDLP was available <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ad050199.html>. The discard format issue will be discussed at Tuesday's meeting along with a review the progress report, outreach to Federal agencies, etc., and recommendations will be prepared. Partnerships Work Group of the Electronic Transition and Archiving Issues Committee, a standing committee of Council to look at archiving and preservation issues of the FDLP, is chaired by Gregg Lawrence, with members Tom Andersen, Donna Koepp, Duncan Aldrich, T.C. Evans, and Gil Baldwin. Gregg indicated the group had not yet met, but planned to do so at this conference, and to make suggestions to Gil Baldwin and T.C. Evans of GPO. Tom Andersen asked Donna Koepp, chair of the Partnerships Work Group within this committee, to update the group. This work group is planning to meet at the conference, and Donna will provide a summary of their discussion to Council. Tom commented that many of the work groups have not reached the stage to adequately report. The Cataloging and Locator Services Work Group, within the GPO Operations Committee, is chaired by Carol Bednar with members Maggie Farrell, Diane Eidelman, and Tadd Downing. Andrea Sevetson, and Tim Byrne are also participants in discussions. Carol Bednar discussed short and long-term issues, including retention of the URL when a PURL has been created, availability records, and replacing the Periodicals Supplement. The long-term issue is the suite of Pathway services, including the function the service performs and how the services are presented. Carol encouraged committee members to attend the PURL presentation Tuesday. Julie Wallace, chair of the Operations Committee, commented that there have been regular communications with Carol's work group, and with GPO staff on operational issues. The Information Exchange Committee, chaired by Tom Andersen, has a subcommittee on the NCLIS Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products. Mary Alice Baish, Paula Kaczmarek and Tom Andersen are on the subcommittee. Mary Alice updated the group on the status of the assessment. GPO has been interested in doing an assessment of Government agencies providing electronic information through the FDLP. It was not until 1998 that GPO was able to fund such a survey, working with NCLIS and Westat. The recently completed assessment is the first of its kind. As a seminal study, the assessment sets the groundwork for additional work by GPO and participating agencies. Mary Alice reiterated Gil's comments from earlier in the day that this assessment puts on record issues that GPO has raised in the past. The assessment may be the document that gives GPO the evidence needed to improve standardization of platform, distribution, and preservation of Federal Government information. The assessment is available through the FDLP and should be arriving in your libraries very soon. Tom Andersen mentioned two action items from the prior Council meeting:
Tom Andersen plans to keep the membership of the committees as they are. Duncan Aldrich, incoming Council chair, may want to change the membership in the fall, 1999. Fred Wood commented that GPO Access should be the premier site for access to Congressional information, even if other sites are also hosting this information. T.C. Evans commented that linking to official sites is the mechanism to make that happen and this has been achieved. Tom Andersen reviewed the agenda for the week to determine which presentations Council members would be attending and to outline their work for the week. Presentations highlighted included GIS, USDA digital preservation, partnerships panel discussion on Wednesday, and Atlas of Understanding session. Peggy Walker gave a quick update on another committee, Historical Publications Committee, with members Paula Kaczmarek, Maggie Farrell, Markie Powell, Bill Sleeman, Ridley Kessler, John Grant, George Barnum, and other GPO staff. The group has been corresponding via e-mail and GPO has provided them with various drafts of reports on this issue. The committee will meet on Wednesday and Peggy will report on their work. Council Discussion – working session Significant discussion occurred with each of the recommendations, especially measurement of use and GPO Access performance, search engines, PURLs, the NCLIS assessment of electronic Government information products, and the Biennial Survey.
Duncan Aldrich asked if filling the Collection Manager position at GPO is dependent upon FY2000 funding. Gil Baldwin responded no, the position is not reliant upon new funding. Julia Wallace noted that no commendations have been raised yet. Mary Alice Baish commented on GPO's exhibit and marketing efforts at various conferences, not just libraries, and felt this needed recognition.
Tuesday, April 13, 1999 Plenary Session: 8:30-9:30 a.m. Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products: Final Report Woody Horton, consultant to the National Commission on Library and Information Science for this survey, presented the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products: Final Report. A copy of the report is available at the following Web sites: <www.nclis.gov/news/news.html> and <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/nclisassessment/report.html >. 9:30-10:30 a.m. DOE Virtual Library Energy, Science, and Technology Dr. Walter L. Warnick, Director, Office of Scientific & Technical Information, US Department of Energy. The presentation was printed and made available to attendees. [It will also be published in the conference Proceedings.] 11:00-noon Building the FDLP Electronic Collection Judy Andrews, Electronic Transition Specialist, LPS, GPO Laurie B. Hall, Program Analyst, LPS, GPO The presentation was printed and made available to attendees. [It will also be published in the conference Proceedings.]
Wednesday, April 14, 1999 Tom Andersen opened Council discussion. Council needs to talk about the Biennial Survey and the Draft Equipment Specification. Tom reported that attendees are pleased with the program and feel Council is on-track with their work. There are a few suggestions from attendees that Tom will bring up later in discussions. For some issues, Council may need to vote on the recommendations. Mike DiMario will be first on Thursday’s agenda, rather than at the end before open discussion of Council recommendations and commendations.
Discussion
Tom commended GPO on their attention to "related issues and considerations" of equipment specifications.
Diane Garner began discussion with the need for consistency over time and the value of the survey helping inspectors, but not providing information valuable to libraries. There are many questions about policies, but no results questions (i.e., do you do binding? If yes, how much?). Tom asked if the survey satisfies the needs of GPO. Gil Baldwin commented that the Biennial Survey is a management tool for GPO. The Biennial Survey was never intended to be a research tool for longitudinal research purposes. Julia asked about the presence of a cover sheet and felt that further explanation would be required for new depository librarians. Cindy Etkin mentioned that institutional data could be made available to researchers. Gil noted that the data is available on the GPO bulletin board. Maggie Farrell and other Council members expressed concerns about the survey as a tool to describe what depository libraries are doing. The Self Study is a more effective tool. As long as GPO is comfortable with this distinction, and recognizes the inconsistency of the data, the new Biennial survey approach is acceptable. Specific Biennial Survey questions discussed by Council included:
Suggestions to Council from attendees
As pointed out in the opening session, an electronic version of Administrative Notes in HTML does not match the pagination in the index. While an electronic index is possible, it would be complicated and labor intensive to produce this in HTML with hot links. The HTML version of Technical Supplement is unsatisfactory when printed. Entries are sent off the bottoms of pages and by frames, making them unreliable. If electronic versions are contemplated, use text searchable PDF files, not mere image files, with thumbnails included. This would allow accurate reproduction of copies for routing and work within FDLP libraries. Searchable PDF files have many advantages for searching within issues and can be generated from many electronic formats. (forwarded to Gil Baldwin at GPO)
Purpose of Locator Tools
In a working session yesterday someone mentioned briefly the issue of what it means to be a depository library in the electronic age. This issue needs to be given serious attention, and the sooner the better. I run a small selective depository, and I need guidelines to follow in handling the electronic (Web-based) publications which have been assigned item numbers that we select. Are we required to have a record in the OPAC for these publications? Do we have to keep a record in the OPAC for five years for these publications? How do I find out what these publications are if I don't get records from Marcive or a similar source? (I do, but what if I didn't?) Etc. Depositories know what to do with things in tangible formats. Property stamp, label with SuDocs, record in shelflist, keep five years, etc. What are we responsible for doing with Web-based publications, beyond providing computers so patrons can search the Web? Do we have any further responsibilities? Someone needs to decide these things and let us know. Those among us who are worried about these issues would really appreciate some guidance.
Committee Updates to Council Duncan Aldrich and Carol Bednar updated Council on changes in various committees due to ends of terms. Carol noted that the Cataloging and Locator Service Committee (CLS) is currently made up of Julia Wallace, Maggie Farrell, and Andrea Sevetson (community representative). There was discussion of creating a working group to handle future discussions, including operations issues. Julia Wallace will chair this group. New members to CLS will include Tim Byrne and Arlene Weible, and Carol Bednar will remain on the committee after she leaves Council. The Electronic Transition Committee will be chaired by Maggie Farrell. Diane Eidelman will remain on the committee even though she is leaving Council, and Mary Alice Baish will be a member. Duncan asked interested parties to come forward and those who want to switch committees to come forward. The Council Handbook needs to be updated. Diane Eidelman agreed to update the Handbook over the summer. Diane will post her update to a Web site at GPO available only to Council. Council made a final review of all items raised as recommendations, confirming the status of each and clarifying whether the item was a recommendation, commendation, or action item. Gregg Lawrence later reported the Electronic Preservation and Archiving Issues Committee met informally on Tuesday afternoon. The Committee set out four action items to be completed before the next Council meeting. These items are: investigate issues associated with the preservation of digital information, hold regular discussions with Gil and T.C. Evens, recruit a new Committee member from the incoming class of 2002, and organize a plenary session at the next Council meeting. Suggestions for new recommendations from Council included:
The following items were held for further Council discussion: Self Study Process Council recommends that GPO establish a Self-Study schedule each year which will result in a reasonable turn-around time for responses, and that GPO communicate with all libraries that submit self-studies to keep them apprised of the review schedule in GPO. Following continuing discussion with GPO staff, it was agreed to handle this through strong communication with GPO staff, not a recommendation. Council made it clear that the many pressures on GPO staff are well understood, but that delays of over a year in communicating with libraries which have worked hard to submit self-studies are not acceptable. GPO was asked to work toward a realistic schedule which will give timely feedback to every library which submits a self-study, and to request only the number of self-studies which staff can manage in a reasonable time. General communications about the process and the status of reports to the FDLP community would also help. The draft recommendation was withdrawn. Census 2000 Council recommends that GPO continue in its outreach with agencies providing significant electronic information, and that specific concentrated efforts be devoted to insuring that Census 2000 products be available through the FDLP. As the Bureau is arriving at final decisions of the distribution of its products, the rights of the public to no-fee access to the information in the next decennial Census of Population and Housing must be protected.
Rationale: There may be less opportunity to address the issue of Permanent Pubic Access for products not in the FDLP. Thursday, April 15, 1999 Sheila McGarr made some housekeeping announcements, including the location of the spring 2000 meeting in Rhode Island. Tom Andersen, Council chair, welcomed attendees and thanked everyone for staying through the week. Council has 13 recommendations, 7 action items, and 2 commendations for review after the program. The schedule is changed to permit the Public Printer to make his closing remarks first in order to leave for another engagement. Mr. DiMario thanked everyone for attending and reiterated that this is a partnership in sharing ideas between depository libraries and GPO in order for GPO to carry out the needs of depository libraries. Mr. DiMario remarked that he has not had an opportunity to review the Spring 1999 Recommendations, and thanked Council for their work in crafting the recommendations for his office. Mr. DiMario thanked the outgoing Council members for their contributions and presented them with certificates of appreciation. Outgoing were Peggy Walker, Diane Eidelman, Denise Davis, Carol Bednar, and Tom Andersen. Mr. DiMario especially thanked Tom for his work as Council chair. Tom Andersen introduced Duncan Aldrich, first speaker in the morning’s presentation on Electronic Transition and Partnerships. Duncan Aldrich, Partnership on the Web: Partnering to Provide Access to Electronic Resources When Duncan began as a documents librarian very little was automated. Duncan shared a brief outline of the transition to more electronic distribution of depository information from 1988 forward. Duncan commented on the increase in funds spent by the Federal Government to create and disseminate Government information; interpretation of Title 44 and coordination of public access to Government information in non-tangible formats; the work of GPO to evaluate the feasibility of distributing more electronic information; implementation of the study findings and the strategic plan. Partnership activities at GPO were facilitated through a variety of staff positions which Duncan Aldrich and others have filled since 1997/1998. A great deal of work was done to identify partners within the Federal Government and higher education such as USDA/NAL and Cornell University, distribution offices such as NTIS, and the efforts of the Interassociation Working Group to evaluate amendments to Title 44. Duncan stressed the importance of protecting access to Government information that is being removed by Government agencies. Duncan felt his work with partnership efforts at GPO was modest compared with the work ahead. The greatest challenges facing GPO and depository libraries include:
Duncan reiterated that GPO takes the lead as matchmaker between libraries and agencies to facilitate the flow of Government information into the FDLP. George Barnum, GPO and FDLP Partnerships: Coordinator's Perspectives Key Issues:
Models used for partnering with agencies
Questions to be asked: Is the single agency/single host the only or best model? Is a topical approach to hosting information a viable model for partnership growth? What about partners for scanning historical documents? What does GPO do when a library approaches them with a "really good idea"? GPO continues to search for a set of models that will work best to facilitate the partnership efforts. Although there may be some interest in permanent access among agencies, there is little funding and interest on the part of agencies to make this happen. Partnerships become more important to ensure PPA occurs. Initiatives such as that with the University of North Texas is a good example of partnerships that protect access to "dead agency" information. There is a growing critical mass of agencies that understand the partnership efforts and PPA issues. Depository libraries need to recognize that this is a process and our patience has paid off. The progress is very real, as demonstrated in Gil Baldwin’s comments earlier in the Conference. The effort toward PPA is not unlike other efforts at ETS – a strong start and persistence over time to ensure the success of the partnership initiative. Donna Koepp, Constructing a Partnership: Nuts and Bolts Perspective Donna shared her partnership experience with the group and reiterated this is not a "one size fits all" process. Partnership includes cartographic and spatial data. Two concerns drove Donna to embark on a partnership:
The data isn’t the important message to take away from Donna’s remarks, but rather the process she has gone through to become a partner with GPO and Government agencies. Donna’s membership on the Cartographic Users Advisory Council and her liaison with a few agencies inspired her to initiate a partnership. USGS and Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) were agencies that Donna liaisons with. USGS was withdrawing DOQ’s from the FDLP. Production and support costs were high and usage was low. USGS was going to produce the DOQ’s on demand and for a fee to GPO. USGS could not afford to continue to send them to libraries as part of the FDLP. If USGS does not distribute the data electronically, libraries do not have access to this information. Microsoft has facilitated access to a site hosting older DOQ’s (Terra server), although only images are available (no data behind the images). There is an extraordinary quantity of map data produced by other agencies that is not included in the FDLP. It is likely this data is not being preserved in any way. Another agency, Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), was willing to work with CUAC and precipitated Donna’s interest in pursuing a partnership around DOQ’s and cartographic data among agencies. A consortium of FDL's will be established to work with agencies and GPO. Agencies would provide one set of data to consortia, and the FDLP consortia would make the data available in a user-friendly way. It is not yet clear who would participate, or the extent of internal partnerships with geography or other academic departments. Storage issues would need to be determined depending upon the data. Consortia-contributed resources are not enough to make this happen. Donna is investigating grant funds to assist. Key points:
Summary: John Shuler: DOSFAN: Launching the Partnership System After 6 years of work a partnership is finally launched. The partnership process is a love-hate relationship – how can we love you if you don’t go away? What the DOSFAN partnership has built is the invention of a shared electronic space between the U.S. Department of State, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Library, and GPO. UIC committed resources, $60,000 and 4 staff, and is preserving U.S. Department of State through the Electronic Research Collection (ERC). The ERC will be re-launched at ALA Annual, New Orleans. There will be a Web site that provides access to State Department documents (living and dead), citizen reference questions, other foreign policy information, Hall of the Secretaries (Secretaries of State), digitizing correspondence and documents, and more. There are things that GPO must embrace, including ownership of permanent access. This is a legislative, even congressional, struggle over ownership of the information. Although the DOSFAN partnership was born of the GODORT Adopt an Agency initiative, the agencies need help and are seeking help. There is significant opportunity to collaborate with other Government agencies. Questions from Council and attendees: Approximate cost of setting up DOSFAN? What happened to support of the rest of the UIC documents collection. $60,000 each year from Dept. of State. This covers equipment and some salaries. Additional funding comes from grants and library support. The estimated annual costs are $250,000 per year. Regular operations continue uninterrupted. NTIS - What efforts are being made to maintain partnerships over time? John Shuler responded that he could not control it. Just keep moving and keep it going. Donna Koepp reiterated this is a commitment of the institution and is serious. It is just as important as the FDLP agreement. George Barnum emphasized the durability of the MOU between the agency and the partner/host institution. Bert Chapman, Purdue University Concrete benefits that the partnership provides, beyond prestige? Having this relationship proves to the institution that funding is coming from the agency to support the partnership. The funding helps your boss make the pitch to her boss. Also, there has to be a fruitful relationship between the library and the computing community. Mary Alice Baish mentioned that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) offers leadership grants and funds these types of partnerships. What do the three other UIC staff do, what departments do they work in, etc? They are all Documents staff, with one member doing half time in systems and Documents. They are all documents librarians, providing support to Web pages, questions from users, and systems. John is doing the "Web work," moving pages around, collaborating with State Department staff to design the pages. Council chair, Tom Andersen, thanked the speakers. Tom next mentioned that Council received many suggestions in the "suggestion bucket" and they have been recorded and passed along to the appropriate GPO staff. He asked attendees to review the Council Recommendations during the break. Council chair reminded attendees not to put the draft recommendations on any state discussion lists. Each recommendation was reviewed and encouraged questions from attendees. Attendees were reminded to speak into the microphones provided on the floor and to state their name before asking their question. Review of Draft Recommendations, Action Items, and Commendations
Carol Bednar, Council member, reiterated that this was a resource allocation issue at GPO. No discussion. No discussion. Questions and comments from floor. Incredibly excellent idea. Clarification from Council that you would know when to expect the next issue. Confirmation from the floor that this is a great idea. Comment from floor: Get private letter ruling from the IRS into the program. No comments. No comments. Diane Garner, Council member, commented that the recommendation refers primarily to products that GPO might be choosing between microfiche or online distribution. There are concerns about the policies. No comments. No comments. No comments. No comments. No comments. Comment: This could be a GODORT task for State Libraries interested in setting up national meetings to share ideas and fundraising concepts. No comments. Action Items:
Diane Smith, Congressional Research Service Kathy Tezla, Emory University Kathy Tezla mentioned that it was important not to repeat the process, and asked if there would be an opportunity for FDL’s to make additional contributions. Duncan Aldrich, Council member, mentioned that Maggie Farrell has agreed to chair the ETS committee. Kathy Tezla commented that GODORT stands ready to help. Reading of Commendations by Maggie Farrell and Julia Wallace Commendations:
Nan Myers remarked that this is an honor and thanked staff who made this possible. When documents librarians lessen their load, they have more time to spend with users. Gil Baldwin, on behalf of the Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents, thanked Council for its advice. Thanks were extended to attendees and they were asked to complete the evaluation form provided in their packets. GPO values the input for planning future meetings. Gil thanked outgoing Council members for their contribution to GPO and the Depository Program. Tom Andersen commented that this is the part where we get all sappy and sentimental. Everyone at GPO works very hard to make this conference happen. There are three in particular, Sheila McGarr, Willie Thompson and John Tate. Tom was pleased that no one fell off the platform this year and remarked that it had been a pleasure working with the Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents. It is especially nice to have worked with Gil Baldwin. GPO administration made a wonderful decision to promote Gil. Tom regrets this may be his last FDLP Conference due to his recent job change. Tom introduced Duncan Aldrich, Council chair, and handed him the gavel. Duncan Aldrich commented that he is pleased to chair Council for the coming year and expressed appreciation for Tom’s excellent work. Duncan Aldrich next announced committee chairs for the coming year and encouraged attendee participation in meetings: Electronic Transition Committee – Maggie Farrell Duncan announced Donna Koepp as Council Secretary for next year. Tom Andersen returned to the podium to thank Peggy Walker for the "Council Road Tour" tee shirts. Duncan welcomed the incoming class and hoped current Council members would provide assistance. The spring 1999 Depository Council Meeting and Federal Library Conference was adjourned at 11:28 a.m. by Duncan Aldrich.
Submitted by: Denise M. Davis |
A service of the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. Questions or comments | ||||
Last updated: May 13, 2002 Page Name: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/council/msp99.html | ||||
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