Handling Misdirected Shipments

Your patience is appreciated as Potomac Business Center resolves the problem of misdirected shipments as well as other kinks that come with the start-up of a new contract.

A small number of depository libraries have received depository shipments belonging to other libraries through either the transposition of numbers (0586A input at 0568A), or database errors initially input into the processing system PBC uses to handle depository shipments.

PBC is actively working to correct these mistakes. However, GPO asks that libraries either refuse the incorrect shipment or forward the shipment to the rightful owner. Refused shipments are returned to PBC and are re-routed to the correct library.

To alleviate mailing costs charged to your library when forwarding shipment boxes to the rightful owner, please contact the GPO claims office on (202) 512-1024 to request a mailing label for the correct depository library. The label will be mailed to you via the US Postal Service.

Special Offer 1998-1

LPS has received complimentary copies of:

If your library would like a copy, please e-mail your request to: jbrungart@gpo.gov

Copies will be placed in your depository shipping boxes.

Request Your 1999 GPO Access Training or Demonstrations

The Government Printing Office (GPO) provides a variety of GPO Access support services to Federal depository libraries. GPO Access support includes the GPO Access User Support Team, print and online documentation such as user guides and training booklets, and GPO Access training classes and demonstrations.

While both demonstrations and training classes provide valuable information relating to the GPO Access services, their purpose, design and technological requirements are very different. As a result, you should consider each characteristic before deciding which support service or combination of services would be most beneficial to the intended audience.

Generally, attendees at GPO Access training sessions should be depository librarians and any staff members of depository libraries who assist users with access to Federal Government information or conduct research. However, demonstrations may be more appropriate for general audiences.

GPO Access training classes involve hands-on use of GPO Access by participants at individual computer workstations. The hands-on training provides an in-depth review of all facets of the GPO Access services, including GPO Access components, interfaces, methods of access, general searching strategies, Web interfaces, etc. Because of the large amount of information presented, a full-day class is recommended. (A full day class is approximately eight hours; six hours of actual hands-on training and two hours for breaks and lunch, however, adjustments can be made based on your individual needs.) In fact, over 80% of depository librarians who attended a four-hour class said they would rather have attended a full-day class. Appendix A contains the GPO Access Training Overview, detailing the information covered during a full-day session.

The hands-on and practical experience the training session provides will allow you to take full advantage of GPO Access services. The knowledge that you gain will prove invaluable, whether you are training another librarian, assisting a patron or conducting research. A checklist of the technological requirements for all GPO Access training classes starts on page 6.

GPO Access demonstrations do not provide for hands-on experience and as a result can cater to larger audiences than a training class. In a demonstration, the audience views the presentation on a screen or projection monitor. As a result, the technological guidelines for a demonstration are not as rigorous because only one terminal and a projection screen or large monitor are required.

The main purpose of a demonstration is to show the basic GPO Access features and functions. Demonstrations are usually two hours in duration, consisting of 90 minutes of lecture and a 30-minute question and answer period.

Due to the large number of requests for GPO Access Training/Demonstrations, the Library Programs Service (LPS) and the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS) have developed a checklist you should use when submitting your requests. Please fill out the checklist in its entirety. We will utilize these checklists when reviewing your request, when responding to your training requests and prioritizing the allocation of our resources.

Priority consideration will be given to:

• training, rather than demonstrations,
• groups of depository librarians,
• large audiences,
• events which may be combined with other official travel or appearances,
• events in states where GPO has not recently appeared.

For example, conducting GPO Access training in proximity to national or state library association conventions allows us to maximize the use of our travel funds and training personnel.

Direct requests for GPO Access training or demonstrations to:

In order to facilitate LPS and EIDS planning for 1999, LPS should receive your requests by January 1, 1999. If you are unable to meet the January 1, 1999 deadline for training requests you may still request training; however, requests will be considered on a first come, first served basis. Whenever possible, requests for GPO Access training or demonstrations should be received at GPO at least three months in advance of the planned event date.

GPO will respond to all requests upon final approval of our fiscal year training budget.

GPO will work with local event planners to ensure that all necessary arrangements are made as far in advance as possible. As a general rule, acceptance of travel expenses from an organization that is substantially affected by GPO policies and actions is a violation of GPO regulations, and is therefore not permitted.

Although GPO will make every effort to honor our GPO Access training or demonstration commitments, changing circumstances may require cancellation at the convenience of the U.S. Government.

GPO Access Training Session Overview
(Note: all times are approximate)

Note: If your available time and resources do not allow for the full-day class (as outlined above), it will be necessary to remove sufficient topics and independent practice time to fit the class within the available schedule. We will assist you in this elimination process, but would prefer that you make the final decision on what will be left out of the classes at your site. If there are any additional GPO Access topics that you would like to have added to the class, the same elimination procedure will be necessary in order to fit within the allotted class time.

If you are requesting less than a full-day class, please check off the GPO Access topics you would like to be covered:

Databases: Additional Web Applications:

Other GPO Access topics/databases you wish to be covered:

(Please submit this completed form along with your request)

All workstations in one continuous, self-contained training area, preferably a computer lab. The maximum number of people per workstation is two, with no more than 30 students per training session.

1. Date(s) and time(s) requested

___________________ ___________________ ___________________

___________________ ___________________ ___________________

2. Training Site Location (Full Address):

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

3. Number of workstations at your facility: __________

4. Type of platform: MAC _____ IBM Compatible _____

4a. If IBM compatible what type of operating system?

5. Do you have projection equipment (i.e. overhead projector/LCD unit)?

6. Is an instructor's workstation available? Yes ___ No ___

7. Approximate number of individuals expected to attend training sessions:

8. Will instructor have lab access one day prior to training? Yes ___ No ___

It is mandatory that each of the technical requirements listed below are met.

Yes ___ No ___

It is imperative the contact person(s) be accessible during every event. In addition, the contact person(s) must be available the day before the event to meet with GPO personnel to visit all facilities and prepare for the following day.

Training Facility Coordinator Contact

Name: _________________________

E-mail: _________________________

Phone: _________________________

Technical Contact Person: (if same as above do not complete.)

Name: _________________________

E-mail: _________________________

Phone: _________________________

*In addition to completing this form, if your request is accepted you will be expected to complete and sign a GPO Access Training Agreement Form prior to the session.

LPS Progress Report
Remarks by Gil Baldwin
Chief, Library Division, Library Programs Service, GPO

Before the Federal Documents Task Force
Government Documents Round Table
American Library Association
Saturday, June 27, 1998
Washington, DC

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the new home of the Stanley Cup! Oh no, there’s goes my snappy lead-in, and we’re back to business as usual! So once again, welcome to summer in our Nation’s Capital. I appreciate the opportunity to come before you today, in the enviable position of being the last speaker before lunch! I’m here to bring you up to date on the activities of the Library Programs Service (LPS). I’ll be talking about both the transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and our activities with more traditional distributions. It’s only been about 9 weeks since our Federal Depository Conference, but we do have a few new developments to report on. Just for interest’s sake, how many of you were here in April for the Conference and the Spring Council meeting? OK, you all are excused to go get a latté.

We have quite a few members of our LPS team in the audience today, staffing the booth, or hanging out in the lobby. We invite you to get together with any of us, either in the meetings or at the GPO booth (number 2771-2773), if we can answers question or help you in any way. We also have several handouts from the different operating areas within LPS.

We have been putting a lot of effort into our family of cataloging and locator services. We have developed an integrated process for providing bibliographic control to Internet resources. Our various tools are working together in a consistent manner, and our use of PURLs, or Permanent Uniform Resource Locators, should reduce the record maintenance burden for libraries which include GPO’s cataloging records in their OPACs. LPS is using PURLs to assist with providing permanent access to Government electronic resources listed in our Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) Pathway service and then cataloged by LPS. 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. PURLs are of critical importance to efforts to provide continued access to electronic titles.

When we learn about a new Government product on the Internet, either from an announcement, an inquiry, or from our Web mining efforts, we assign that resource a PURL, and we announce it in our Browse Electronic Titles Pathway service. Then we catalog it and we include the PURL in the cataloging record. That means that wherever that GPO cataloging record is used, whether in our own Web catalog, or in your local OPAC, the user can click on the PURL and move directly to the content. And when the URL changes, we fix the problem for everybody by updating our PURL software. It’s like when you move, and you put in a change of address form with the Post Office. Your friends may not know your new address, but you still get your mail.

Our PURLs application means that the LPS cataloging staff, vendors, and libraries with OPACs avoid labor intensive work of changing URLs within bibliographic records, no matter where those records appear. When a resource changes its Internet address, we update our PURL resolver table, and no one has to touch the cataloging records or the Pathway services entries. So the bottom line for PURLs is--we do the work so you don’t have to. With LPS PURLs, libraries do 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.

Recently there was a lengthy thread of GOVDOC-L messages concerning LPS’ use of PURLs and what they are good for. There was an apparent misunderstanding of what our so-called Deadlinks page is and how this page is used. I’m going to engage in some risk-taking behavior and attempt to explain this without a safety net. When LPS' link-checking software is run, and errors are detected, LPS takes action to relocate the product. If we are unsuccessful, LPS attempts to identify a responsible party in the originating agency and we inquire about the location of the publication. If it is determined that the product is no longer available, a note is made on the Browse Electronic Titles page to the effect that the title is "No longer available." LPS hypertext links this to the Deadlinks page. The last known link for the title is left intact so users are still able to see the last known site of the product. The Deadlinks page also provides a way to contact LPS in case you have a lead on the whereabouts of the missing title.

The Deadlinks page is not a substitute for the URL for the missing title. But it provides an avenue to alert users to the fact that LPS is aware that a product is missing, that LPS has attempted to locate the title, and a point of contact if the user has any information about the title.

The Web edition of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications now contains nearly 101,000 records produced from 1994 through the present. More than 4,200 of these records contain URLs or, more recently, PURLs. When broken links are detected, we convert URL data to PURLs. When links cannot be re-established, we delete URL/PURL data from the cataloging record and add a note advising users that the resource is no longer available via the Internet. Records are updated in OCLC and in the GPO Web application. In addition, these updated records are provided to the Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) at the Library of Congress for distribution to commercial vendors. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise us using <askLPS@gpo.gov> or the contact listed on the Deadlinks page. Just one more note on cataloging, concerning our production. We expect to catalog some 4,000 more records this year than we did in FY 1997, as the two new catalogers we brought on board last year are really hitting their stride.

The Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress has distributed GPO cataloging data for the 1998 Periodicals Supplement and data corresponding to the January through May, 1998 issues. We expect that CDS will distribute cataloging data to vendors in a far more timely manner than has been evident in recent months. We have worked intensively with CDS and the various other units within GPO to resolve the problems which slowed the distribution of the cataloging data this spring. Selecting libraries have received January and February issues of paper and CD-ROM editions of the Monthly Catalog. More recent issues will be distributed in the near future, probably within several weeks of each other.

I’ve appeared before this group several times to talk about the "collection management" concept and the FDLP Electronic Collection. A vast amount of electronic Government information is in scope for the FDLP and it is a critical part of our public access mission. We are developing strategies to ensure permanent public access to electronic Government information products, whether those products are shipped to depository libraries or made accessible via the Web. In our policy and planning discussions we have taken 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. As I’ve said, we’re working hard to develop a comprehensive set of cataloging and locator services for the FDLP Electronic Collection. For several months we have been working on a paper called Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document. I’m pleased to tell you that GPO’s internal review of this paper has been completed, and the paper has been forwarded to Depository Library Council for review and comment. We’re getting a number of positive and useful comments from Council, and we expect that a refined version of the paper will be available on GPO Access for wider review and discussion later this summer. We will also be sharing this paper with the National Archives and other interested agencies and institutions. We are also working closely with other GPO organizations to identify the resource implications of our permanent access commitment, so we can include these items in our FY 2000 budget request.

One of our first collections web pages was the "Core Documents of U.S. Democracy: An Electronic Collection," which we created over a year ago. CoreDocs of Democracy is one of only two Internet resources included in the May 1998 Library Journal/ALA Notable Government Documents list. CoreDocs is also included in a site compiled by the G7 Group of Industrialized Nations that includes information about the U.S. and other democracies. But we’re also breaking into the K through 6 community. An obviously progressive elementary school near Nashville, TN, includes CoreDocs in their cool site links, right in there with Worm World.

A new series of pages will bring the FDLP Electronic Collection to the Web. Developed by Cynthia Etkin of the Depository Services staff, the site is "FDLP Electronic Collection: Bringing Government Information to You," and is based on components of the Collection. The new pages include full text resources from GPO, FDLP partner sites, and other Government agencies. A collection of finding tools will assist users in locating tangible electronic products in depository libraries, as well as products published on other agency Internet sites. There’s a handout here showing the FDLP Electronic Collections home page and the "About" page. The URL is: www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ec.

Of course a major electronic collection is the "DOE Information Bridge," developed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and rolled out during the April depository conference. This gateway provides a public view to the more than 15,000 reports processed by DOE/OSTI annually, with coverage beginning with January 1996. During its first month, Information Bridge was a "Pick of the Week" from Yahoo!, the Web navigation and indexing site. This project is a model of outstanding cooperation to expand public access, and I want to thank Dr. Warnick and the OSTI staff for all of their efforts. I’ve worked with the OSTI folks on depository projects since 1984 and they’re great!

The initial libraries in the FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project have received their authorizations and passwords and are ready to make public domain ERIC reports available free via the OCLC FirstSearch interface. Reports from January 1997 forward previously provided to the FDLP in microfiche 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 remaining libraries in the pilot group of approximately 300 will be online in July. We are talking with the National Library of Education and OCLC about expanding the number of participating libraries, so we can get broader participation in the project. You can see a demonstration of this project at the OCLC booth.

You’ve been hearing progress reports for some time on the agreement between GPO and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) to conduct an "assessment of electronic government information products." The assessment should be very useful in identifying medium and format standards that are the most appropriate for permanent public access.

The negotiations have been lengthy, but NCLIS has now contracted with Westat, Inc., to undertake research and data collection from a select number of Federal agencies in all three branches as well as solicit opinions from selected knowledgeable experts. We have established a firm project time line, and expect to have a preliminary report of findings presented at the October Council meeting. I appreciate the efforts many of you made to recommend agency information products to be included in the data gathering phase of this project. This effort was very helpful in establishing which agencies will be the focus of the Assessment, and in developing our initial list of products to be examined in depth. We will meet with the key individuals in the target agencies later this summer, and data collection will take place in the early fall. We plan to include an update and preliminary report on this study at the October Council meeting.

In October 1998, depository librarians and their directors whose depository operations were last inspected in 1993 will be requested to prepare and submit a mandatory self-study. The states include California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. The due date for the self-studies will be January 15, 1999. Based on the evaluations from the spring Conference, we plan to include self-study workshops in upcoming events. The next one will be held at the fall Council meeting in San Diego.

The Depository Library Council’s Statistical Measurement Committee has identified two tasks. One sub-committee will develop questions to elicit basic cost data of being a depository including salaries, computer equipment, storage cabinets, purchases of supplementary indexes, databases, cataloging and shipping list services, etc. LPS anticipates these cost-related questions being incorporated into the 1999 Biennial Survey. A second sub-committee will recommend changes in the other questions for the 1999 Biennial Survey. Volunteers from the depository community will be working with Council members and GPO on these issues. Preliminary reports will be presented at the fall Depository Library Council meeting in San Diego. We hope to get a draft Biennial Survey out to you late this year, so you’ll have advance notice of any new data collection requirements.

The 1999 Item Selection Update Cycle is being conducted electronically on the Web. So far fewer than 300 depositories have used this service. Libraries should enter their amendments to selections using the Web site "Amendment to Item Selections" on the FDLP Administration page.

This Web site has been redesigned to make your item selection changes as easy and simple as possible. You will need your depository library number and your new FDLP internal password to submit your additions or deletions. All submissions for additions must be made during the Update Cycle, which is open through July 31. Remember, your new item selection additions do not become effective until October 1, 1998. But deletions can be made at any time, and take effect immediately.

If your library does not have Web access, please contact Laurie Hall or Yvonne Washington at LPS, using the e-mail or phone number in the handout, to put yourself on report.

Each library has been assigned a new, unique password for internal FDLP administrative functions. The new internal password was mailed to each library in late May as part of the 1999 Update Cycle information packet. If you have lost your password, or did not receive the new password, please contact us. Your previously assigned password is not valid for the "Amendments to Item Selections" process. But do not destroy the old password. This is now your library’s external password, to be used to access databases and services provided by agencies and FDLP partnerships.

We have gone to the two-password system to address concerns about using the same password for public service applications and FDLP administrative activities.

We plan to publish a new depository library directory this fall, so it’s important that you advise us of any changes in address, personnel, and telephone and fax numbers, no matter how small. When address information on shipment labels is unclear, the package delivery service charges an additional fee per package to verify the correct street address before the shipment can be delivered. When telephone area codes change, it is difficult for patrons using the "Locate Libraries" function on GPO’s Web site, or other resources such as U.S. Fax Watch and Federal Depository Library Directory, to contact the depository library.

Using their new internal password, depository libraries may update their directory information using the Library Directory module from the FDLP Administration Web page.

I hope that you all know about and are using askLPS, our Web-based inquiries and announcements service. In April LPS began accepting inquiries and questions from depository librarians and the public via askLPS. askLPS is an automated inquiry service to make filing of inquiries and directing e-mail to the appropriate LPS staff member easier. There is an askLPS Web page or you can e-mail your question to asklps@gpo.gov.

Users are encouraged to check the WEBTech Notes and the FAQ & News sections before submitting a question to askLPS, as the question may already have been researched and the answer posted to the database. Remember to always include your name, your library’s name and depository number on your inquiries, whether they are sent via askLPS, telephone, fax, or mail.

For the months of April and May, LPS received 5838 inquiries and responded to 5288, leaving a balance of 645 inquiries. Although LPS strives to answer all askLPS inquiries within ten days, it is a challenge to research fugitive documents inquiries within this time frame. Of the 645 inquiries still on hand, 517 are fax inquiries, most related to questions concerning item numbers for documents not received in several years. Some of the fugitive documents inquiries are quite old, so we must devote our first attention to the more recent products, where there is still a reasonable opportunity to obtain the product for the FDLP. We are moving through all of these inquiries systematically and posting information in the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement.

As you no doubt know by now, our distribution work is now being handled by a small startup company called Potomac Business Center, or PBC. PBC uses United Parcel Service (UPS) as a subcontractor, so nearly all depository shipments should be arriving in the familiar brown trucks. We are working closely with GPO’s contracting office and PBC to iron out the typical kinks that occur during the startup period of any new contract. But if you continue to experience any kind of shipment difficulties, missing shipments, obscured labels, etc., please contact us via askLPS or call Vicki Barber directly.

In late May through early June most of the services associated with the label program of the Enhanced Shipping List Service were unavailable for use because of a computer virus on a University of Texas--Arlington computer. The service again became available, on June 15, 1998. LPS continues to work with the State University of New York, Buffalo and the University of Texas--Arlington to improve the processes for this extremely helpful and popular service. This service was the first service partnership, and as such wasn’t created using the more rigorous contractual partnership agreement we use today. We will be taking the necessary steps to establish a formal partnership agreement for the shipping list service.

LPS has 15 full-service microfiche contracts. Five different companies provide service under these contracts. During the first eight months of FY 1998, LPS has distributed over 16,800 microfiche titles, which is more than were distributed during all of FY 1997. There is no backlog of paper documents awaiting conversion to microfiche format at this time, and we are on a pace to distribute more than 25,000 microfiche titles this year. However, we do see a continuing slight decline in paper titles, and expect to finish the fiscal year about 600 titles short of last year’s 13,200 paper titles.

It’s hot and humid here, and no doubt your days are full. So I invite you to relax, stay cool, and when you get home, and take the LPS Virtual Tour at our Web site.

Thank you for coming today!

GPO Access: Current and Future
Remarks by T.C. Evans
Assistant Director, Office of Electronic Information Dissemination, GPO

Before the Federal Documents Task Force
Government Documents Round Table
American Library Association
Saturday, June 27, 1998
Washington, DC

It is a pleasure to have another opportunity to update the library community on the current and future state of GPO Access. As always, I want to thank you for the quality feedback that plays a vital role in the continuing development of GPO Access. I also want to express my appreciation to our Production Department for their hard work in implementing these improvements.

These efforts are paying off both in terms of utility to our users and attention for the site. GPO Access was selected as one of the "Best Feds on the Web" by Government Executive Magazine. This award was followed by a letter from Vice President Gore congratulating GPO "for the excellent customer service you are providing through your Web site."

There are now more than 800 official Government databases available on GPO Access. These databases contain over 81 gigabytes of data and the total is growing daily. In addition, thousands of other Government information products are accessible through GPO Access. In fact, a recent count designed to equate titles available electronically to paper titles distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program revealed a very interesting number. More than 114,000 electronic titles are available through the FDLP Electronic Collection. These titles include all of the products and services available on and linked to from GPO Access.

This total is dramatic evidence of the transition to a more electronic FDLP. The number of electronic titles has grown by more than 31,000 so far this year and will continue to expand as more content is added to our servers, additional partnerships are achieved, and more titles on other sites are bibliographically controlled and linked from our site.

GPO Access usage continues to be high, even though we are entering the traditionally slowest time of the year. Over 153 million documents have been downloaded from GPO Access since it began operation in 1994, with more than 80.5 million downloaded in FY 1998 through May. At the current rate, almost 127 million documents will be downloaded in FY 1998, compared to about 46 million for FY 1997.

User support contacts have continued to be strong as well. The GPO Access User Support Team is now fully staffed, with eight specialists ready to answer your questions, and planning is underway to add more specialists as workload warrants. In mid-May our support hours expanded, running from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST. While this increase has proven to be beneficial to our users, volume during the extra half-hour has been light. This volume may increase as more users find our about the extension and we will continue to monitor these reports to see if additional time is needed.

There are a number of recent changes to GPO Access that should be noted. The most important are:

• A new shopping cart feature has been added to the Sales Product Catalog (SPC) application. With this feature you can order up to 20 Sales products on a single order. These products can be selected from either a single search or from multiple searches. There is also an opportunity for you to edit your order before submitting it to GPO. These improvements to the SPC are just the start of many improvements that are planned to assist you in locating and purchasing sales products from GPO.

• A browseable Table of Contents for the Federal Register, with links to the individual documents, is now available and has been receiving a heavy volume of use. User response indicates that this was a very useful modification to the application.

• A new GPO Access Training Manual has been published and will be shipped to depository libraries in the near future. A limited number of evaluation copies are also available at our booth in the Convention Center.

• Two new promotional posters for GPO Access have been created. While copies will be shipped to depository libraries around the first week in July, copies are also available at our booth in the Convention Center.

• Ways and Means Committee Print 105-7, known as the 1998 Green Book, containing background material and data on programs within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means, is now available on GPO Access. It is accessible through the Ways and Means Committee database.

As always, work is under way to add more content to GPO Access and to refine access to the materials already provided. Some key examples of current efforts are:

• Building upon the popular success of the new Federal Register browseable table of contents, browseable versions of the tables of contents for the individual parts and subparts of the Code of Federal Regulations is under development.

• A cooperative project is underway to enhance CBDNet. GPO is working with Commerce, GSA, and NASA to enhance CBDNet to provide the single face for Government procurement called for in the FY 1998 Defense Appropriation Act. These enhancements include adding links in notices that will take users directly to all documentation related to a given procurement, and enabling users to establish e-mail profiles so that notices matching that profile will be sent to them as soon as they are entered into the system. In the future, businesses will also have the ability to directly submit their bids to Government through the system. Starting with the e-mail profiles, these enhancements should become available in the near future.

• New databases for the House and Senate Journals are under development. These journals contain the official minutes of the House and Senate. They record in summary the activities of each legislative day and official acts of Congress, broken down into paragraphs. The Journals are different from the Congressional Record in that they summarize the events of a session as opposed to capturing the debate verbatim. The Journals for 1991 on will be included in this application when it is finished.

• An increasing number of congressional committees are requesting that their hearings be posted on GPO Access. The number of Senate committees asking that their hearings be posted on GPO Access is growing, while only a few House committees have made their materials available to date. A study is underway to determine the best user interface to provide a central means of accessing these important documents.

• A site search application for the GPO Access Web site is still under development. When ready, it will be prominently displayed on the GPO Access home page.

• Based on feedback received from focus groups conducted at the Federal Depository Library Conference in April, a new GPO Access home page is under development. It can be viewed at our booth in the Convention Center.

I urge you to stop by Booth Number 2771-2773 and see this and other new GPO Access offerings. We will be happy to demonstrate any part of GPO Access. We can also provide you with promotional materials on what is available in the Sales Program, and as an added bonus, LPS personnel will be available to answer questions related to the Federal Depository Library Program.

[Handout]

LPS has established persistent uniform resource locators (PURLs) as a service to assist with providing permanent access to the electronic resources listed in Browse Electronic Titles (BETs) 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.

With a PURLs server environment, which provides for easy maintenance of URLs for association with PURLs, we avoid labor intensive work associated with maintaining URLs within bibliographic records in both OCLC and our Catalog application on the Web. With PURLs, our catalogers spend most of their time producing cataloging records. Without PURLs, our catalogers would spend less time in producing records and more time in updating bibliographic records in both OCLC and our Web site.

The 856 field of most records in the Web edition of The Catalog of United States Government Publications representing electronic titles posted from January 1998 through the present now contain PURLs. PURLs embedded in entries for electronic titles 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 record cataloging policy to provide access to resources through the Browse Electronic Titles Web 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 electronic title.

With this policy, we now have a one-to-one correspondence between an electronic title 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 modes of access and linking fields.

As of June 8, 1998, the Depository Administration Branch has posted 2,959 entries in the Browse Electronic Titles application. As of the week of June 1, 1998, 2,792 of these entries had been cataloged. Of the 167 titles in the backlog, 70 are monographs and 97 are serials. Application of our new collection level record policy is a significant factor in our ability to establish a pace of cataloging that closely matches the rate at which entries are posted. With the exception of some serials, most electronic titles are cataloged within one week of posting.

The Web edition of the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications now contains more than 100,645 records produced from 1994 through the present. More than 4,202 of these records contain URL or PURL 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. Records are updated in OCLC and in the GPO Web application. In addition, these updated records are provided to the Cataloging and Distribution Service (CDS) at the Library of Congress for distribution to commercial vendors. Librarians encountering records with bad links should advise us using <askLPS@gpo.gov>.

The Cataloging and Distribution Service of the Library of Congress has distributed GPO cataloging data for the 1998 Periodicals Supplement and data for the months of January through May, 1998. We expect that CDS will distribute cataloging data to vendors in a far more timely manner than has been evident in recent months.

As of the end of June, selecting libraries have received January and February issues of paper and CD-ROM editions of the Monthly Catalog. More recent issues will be distributed in the near future, probably within several weeks of each other.

[Handout]

The 1999 Item Selection Update Cycle is being conducted electronically on the Web. Depository libraries should enter their amendments to selections using the Web site "Amendment to Item Selections" on the FDLP Administration page at: <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/amendment.html>.

This Web site has been redesigned to make item selection changes as easy and simple as possible. Each library will need its depository library number and NEW FDLP INTERNAL PASSWORD to submit additions or deletions. All submissions for additions must be made during the Update Cycle, open from June 1, 1998 through July 31, 1998. New item selection additions become effective October 1, 1998. Deletions may be submitted at any time.

Libraries without Web access should contact Laurie Hall <lhall@gpo.gov> or Yvonne Washington <ywashington@gpo.gov> at (202) 512-1131 or fax (202) 512-0877.

Each library has been assigned a new, unique password for internal FDLP administrative functions. The new internal password was mailed to each library in late May as part of the 1999 Update Cycle information packet. If a library did not receive a new password or has lost it, please contact the Information Processing Unit, via e-mail: <ywashington@gpo.gov>, fax (202) 512-0877, or phone (202) 512-1131.

A library’s previously assigned password is not valid for the "Amendments to Item Selections" process. Do not destroy the old password! This is now the library’s external password, to be used to access databases and services provided by agencies and FDLP partnerships. For example, this password is used to access the Environmental Health Information Service database at <http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov/>.

On April 6, 1998, LPS began accepting questions from depository library staff and from the public via the askLPS service. askLPS is an automated inquiry service to make filing of inquiries and directing e-mail to the appropriate LPS staff member easier. The askLPS home page is located at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/asklps.html>. Questions may also be e-mailed to <asklps@gpo.gov>.

Users are encouraged to check the WEBTech Notes and the FAQ & News sections before submitting a question to askLPS as the question may already have been researched and the answer posted to the database. Inquiries should always include the inquirer’s name, the library’s name, and the depository library number, whether they are sent via askLPS, telephone, fax, or mail.

For the months of April and May, LPS received 5838 inquiries and responded to 5288, leaving a balance of 645 inquiries. Although LPS staff strive to answer all askLPS inquiries within ten days, it is a challenge to research fugitive documents inquiries within this time frame. Of the 645 inquiries still on hand, 517 are fax inquiries, most related to questions concerning item numbers for documents not received in several years. DAB staff are moving through these systematically and posting information in the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement and on WEBTech Notes.

In late May through early June most of the services associated with the label program of the Enhanced Shipping List Service were unavailable for use because of a computer virus on a University of Texas-Arlington computer. The service again became available on June 15, 1998. LPS continues to work with the State University of New York, Buffalo and the University of Texas-Arlington to improve the processes for this extremely helpful and popular service.

LPS has 15 full-service microfiche contracts. Five different companies provide service under these contracts. During the first eight months of FY 1998, LPS has distributed over 16,800 microfiche titles, which is more than the total distributed during all of FY 1997. There is no backlog of paper documents awaiting conversion to microfiche format at this time.

LPS does have a number of GAO agency-supplied microfiche awaiting duplication and distribution to depository libraries. We are working with GAO to determine why so many duplicate GAO fiche have been sent for replication and distribution through theFDLP.

A two disc CD-ROM set will be sent to libraries later this summer to replace volumes 1-81 of the Federal Energy Guidelines, FERC Reports (SuDocs E 2.17:, item 0438-C). Libraries will continue to receive the FERC Reports in paper format mailed directly from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s contractor, CCH. The retrospective 2-disc CD-ROM set will supersede the paper volumes.

The American Community Survey, 1996 in CD-ROM format will be distributed to libraries this June under SuDocs class C 3.297:, item 0154-B-14. Survey data on this CD-ROM includes easy-to-read profiles of communities and population groups, Summary Tables similar to the decennial census Summary Tape Files, and Public Use Microdata for researchers to create their own custom tables.

The TIGER/Line 1997 CD-ROM has been received at GPO. It will be distributed under SuDocs C 3.279:, to libraries selecting 0154-E. The last edition of the TIGER/Line was distributed under the Department of Transportation, SuDocs TD 1.56/6:, 0982-L-06.

[Handout]

The Fall Depository Library Council meeting will be held in San Diego, California from Monday, October 19 through Thursday morning, October 22, 1998. The Handlery Hotel, 950 Hotel Circle North, San Diego, California 92108 is the site in Mission Valley. A limited number of rooms at a special rate of $93.00 per night (single/double) are available to those making reservations through September 18. Reserve early by telephoning the hotel on (800) 676-6567 or (619) 298-0511. Please specify the Government Printing Office when contacting the hotel. The Handlery Hotel will provide complimentary transportation to and from the airport via Cloud 9 Shuttle Service. The preliminary agenda will be announced in the August 15, 1998 Administrative Notes. The online registration form for the Council meeting is located at URL: <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/counreg.html>.

The 8th annual Federal Depository Library Conference and Depository Library Council meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 12-15, 1999 in the Washington, DC metro area. The Regional Librarians meeting is planned for April 11. GPO’s Materials Management staff is working on the invitations to bid to area hotels. The preliminary agenda will be announced in the December 15, 1998 Administrative Notes.

The 12th annual Interagency Depository Seminar is scheduled for June 2-9, 1999 in Washington, DC. The preliminary agenda will be announced in the October 15, 1998 Administrative Notes.

Depository libraries should advise LPS of any changes in address, personnel, and telephone and fax numbers, no matter how small. When the address information is unclear on depository shipment labels, the package delivery service charges an additional fee per package to verify the correct street address before the shipment can be delivered. When telephone area codes change, it is difficult for patrons using the Locate Libraries function on GPO’s Web site, or other resources such as U.S. Fax Watch and Federal Depository Library Directory, to contact the depository library.

Using their new internal password, depository libraries may update their directory information using the Library Directory module from the FDLP Administration Web page at URL: www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ldirect.html

In October 1998, depository librarians and their directors whose depository operations were last inspected in 1993 will be notified to submit a mandatory self-study. The states include California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. The due date for the self-studies will be January 15, 1999.

The "Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Products," recently adopted by the Depository Library Council, will be published in the July 15, 1998 Administrative Notes. It will also be available in the "Publications" area of the FDLP Administration Web page.

The Depository Library Council’s Statistical Measurement Committee has two tasks. One sub-committee will develop questions to elicit basic cost data of being a depository including salaries, computer equipment, storage cabinets, purchases of supplementary indexes, databases, cataloging and shipping list services, etc. LPS anticipates these cost-related questions being incorporated into the 1999 Biennial Survey. A second sub-committee will recommend changes in content for the 1999 Biennial Survey. Volunteers from the depository community will be working with Council members and GPO on these issues. Preliminary reports will be presented at the fall Depository Library Council meeting in San Diego.

[Handout]

GPO’s internal review of "Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document" has been completed, and the paper has been forwarded to the Depository Library Council for review and comment. We expect that it will be available on GPO Access for wider review and discussion later this summer.

www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locate.html

The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) introduced the depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge," during the April Federal Depository Conference. This gateway will provide a public view to the more than 15,000 reports produced by DOE/OSTI annually, with coverage beginning with January 1996. During its first month, Information Bridge was a "Pick of the Week" from Yahoo!, the Web navigation and indexing site.

The initial libraries in the FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project have received their authorizations and passwords and are ready to make public domain ERIC reports available free via the OCLC First Search interface. Reports from January 1997 forward, previously provided to the FDLP in microfiche, 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 remaining libraries in the pilot group of approximately 300 will be online in July.

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/coredocs.html

GPO's Core Documents of Democracy is one of only two Internet resources included in the May 1998 Library Journal/ALA Notable Government Documents list. Core Documents is included in a site compiled by the G7 (Group of 7 Industrialized Nations) that includes information about the U.S. and other democracies.

www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/ec/

A new series of pages will bring the FDLP Electronic Collection to the Web. Developed by Cynthia Etkin of the Depository Services staff, the site is "Bringing Government Information to You," and is based on components of the Collection. The new pages include full text resources from GPO, FDLP partner sites, and other Federal Government agencies. A collection of finding tools will assist users in locating tangible electronic products in depository libraries, as well as products on other agency sites which GPO identifies, describes, and links. We look forward to your comments and suggestions on these new pages.

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 Topics list is now complete. Currently 56 topics are being maintained by volunteers from 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.

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

We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online Federal 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 200,000 Web pages from over 1524 different servers. New sites are added to the list on a daily basis.

www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/mintech.html

The 1998 revision of the recommended specifications for new public access workstations in depository libraries is now available in Administrative Notes and on the FDLP Administration page.

ETS continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of Web projects. One project is exploring Web claiming and the related issue of electronic shipping lists. The Depository Web Site URL Survey (deadline July 31, 1998) has been issued. We will add these URLs to our Web directories of depository library information. askLPS, a Web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to communicate with LPS staff was implemented in April, and so far is proving a success.

Take the LPS Virtual Tour at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/lpstour.html.

1. Service Guidelines

Council recommends that GPO adopt the "Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Formats" as amended at the spring 1998 Depository Library Conference. Council understands that GPO may need to make certain technical amendments.

Rationale:

The eighteen-month process of creating the Draft Guidelines has provided the entire depository library community with adequate time to comment, recommend changes, and dialog with one another. These comments and recommendations, as well as those from GPO, resulted in many changes to the original draft. It is now time to move forward and finalize the Guidelines.

2. Biennial Survey

Council recommends that:

• GPO formalize and standardize the Biennial Survey;
• The core elements of the Biennial Survey remain consistent over time;
• The core elements of the Biennial Survey be compatible with other major
• Data surveys (e.g., ARL, IPEDS, Public Libraries Data Survey) wherever possible;Council and FDLP libraries be consulted on the content of the survey
• instrument;
• Experts in survey research be consulted on the methodology of the survey
• instrument;
• Council and GPO review the instrument in the intervening years between surveys;
• New questions to survey be announced with sufficient notice; and,
• If the Biennial Survey must be used to gather data needed on an occasional or emergency basis, those questions be relegated to a special section.

Rationale:

Although the Biennial Survey, as it currently exists, has yielded useful information for the GPO, the process could also be made useful to depository libraries if the data were tracked over time and made compatible with other data collection instruments. The data that are gathered should meet the needs of GPO and the FDLP libraries: for FDLP management; for FDLP advocacy; for reporting to Congress; for depository library management; for depository library advocacy; and for satisfying the requirements of the law. We need to begin to gather data on a consistent and methodologically sound basis. Each data element should be sufficiently defined so that FDLP libraries can complete the survey instrument with accuracy and consistency. FDLP libraries should have sufficient notice of new data or definitions to allow them to prepare; e.g., if annual data are required, the libraries should know at least a year in advance.

3. Training

Council recommends that the Public Printer allocate appropriate resources for GPO Access training and user support and asks the Public Printer to provide a progress report to Council on the GPO Access Learning Center. In addition Council recommends that GPO expand its GPO Access hands-on training efforts.

Rationale:

The remarkable success of GPO Access as evidenced by the phenomenal growth in its use as well as the positive publicity that has appeared in the professional literature demonstrate the need for expanding training opportunities. Despite the reality of constrained funding, Council reiterates the importance of training and user support in the continuing transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program. The entire GPO Access user community continues to benefit from the training efforts at conferences as well as on-site training and user support.

4. Processing of Monthly Catalog Tapes

Council recommends that GPO resolve problems related to the processing of cataloging records so that these records are available in a timely manner for the production of GPO's own products and for use by libraries. Specifically, Council urges GPO to:

1. In the short term, intensify the current analysis of tape processing problems within GPO and with the Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress, to ensure that a usable product is available promptly each month;
2. In the longer term, work toward a solution based on modernizing the entire technological infrastructure;
3. Keep the depository library community informed of developments because of the importance of these records to the libraries and their users.

Rationale:

Cataloging of depository information is an essential function of GPO. In addition, many libraries depend on tapes of GPO records for their online catalogs. Delays in the production and distribution of these tapes cause serious problems for libraries.

5. Frequency of Updating the Superseded List

Council recommends more frequent updating of the online Superseded List. Council and GPO should establish an ongoing committee of depository librarians to evaluate new items for retention decisions, with special emphasis on tangible electronic products.

Rationale:

The Superseded List is heavily used in depository libraries as a collection management tool. More expeditious updating of the list for new information products would greatly assist these libraries in the management of their collections. Information about agency policies relating to retention of electronic products is especially necessary, since it may be more difficult to ascertain from the product in hand. Council believes that GPO is in the best position to determine from the publishing agencies their policies and recommendations regarding retention. Regional libraries as a group should be encouraged to evaluate new items, in particular new tangible electronic products, to make recommendations on retention by some or all Regionals.

6. Guidance on Retention of Tangible Products

Council recommends that GPO provide the FDLP community with guidance on retention of tangible products that are available in the FDLP Electronic Collection

Rationale:

GPO is now providing permanent public access to many Congressional and administrative publications through GPO Access. GPO is also developing plans for the FDLP Electronic Collection. In light of these developments, depositories are asking whether they may withdraw a tangible product and rely on the electronic version as their official depository copy. While the electronic collection plan is still under development, it is time to begin the deliberations about this complex policy issue. Council will want to work with GPO and regional libraries as the requirements of the law are clarified and appropriate guidelines are developed.

7. Hearings

Council recommends that GPO work with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House to encourage more Congressional committees to create electronic files of hearings transcripts, and that these be made available through the GPO Access database of Congressional hearings.

Rationale:GPO Access provides online access to important Congressional resources, including the Congressional Record, bills, House and Senate Reports and Documents, and other valuable Congressional materials. Council applauds efforts by GPO to enhance the GPO Access system by creating a database of selected hearings from the 105th Congress (1997) forward and encourages further efforts to develop this into a more comprehensive database.

8. Congressional Research Service

Congress is currently considering legislation (S. 1578 and H.R. 3131) that would provide no-fee public access through the Internet to issue briefs and reports of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). If this legislation is enacted, Council recommends that GPO pursue making these important Congressional materials available through GPO Access.

Rationale:

CRS Issue Briefs and Reports are an important part of the Congressional decision-making process. Council believes that, if this legislation is enacted, these important materials should be available to the public through GPO Access.

9. Z39.50/GILS

Council recommends that GPO continue to provide an update at Council meetings on its progress in implementing Z39.50/GILS compliance for the databases GPO maintains. Rationale:Council reiterates its concern, expressed in recommendations of October 1997, that GPO remain committed to the interoperability of its online services using the ISO 23950 (ANSI Z39.50) international search standard and GILS Profile. This particular interface is essential to GPO's ability to keep pace with technology evolution in its own information systems, as well as to GPO's ability to enable access to information throughout government.

10. Information Architecture Committee

Council recommends the formation of a committee to provide expert advice to GPO and Council on issues of information architecture in systems operated in support of the FDLP. Rationale:The complexity of systems supporting the FDLP would be a design challenge under any circumstances. The pace of change in information technologies compounds the challenge and makes it even more critical to attend to the basics of information architecture, such as the interfaces between central and distributed databases or facilities for networked information discovery and retrieval. Council and GPO could benefit greatly from an ongoing source of architectural advice focused specifically on the FDLP. Council believes such advice could be obtained directly from information architecture expertise available among institutions participating in the FDLP. The work of such a committee might also generate a greater awareness of the FDLP among computer science and networking leaders.

Commendations

Electronic Service Guidelines

Council commends Dan Barkley and Ridley Kessler for their extraordinary efforts in the writing of the "Draft Depository Library Public Service Guidelines for Government Information in Electronic Formats". Their commitment to work on this project with the entire depository community and GPO is greatly appreciated.

Persistent Names for Internet Resources

Council commends GPO for its active and positive role in assigning and maintaining persistent names for cataloged Internet resources. In addition to the challenges of tackling a complex technical problem, GPO has demonstrated leadership in accepting the risks associated with choosing among competing technologies such as PURLs and DOIs. Council looks forward to GPO's continued leadership in this critical area. Biennial Survey Data

Council commends GPO for making the raw data from the 1997 Biennial Survey available for downloading from the Federal Bulletin Board.Needs & Offers List

Council commends Kevin Reynolds of the University of the South for his implementation and maintenance of the online "Needs and Offers List." This service provides a rich opportunity to Federal Depository Libraries to exchange depository publications

"User-Friendly" Web Site Display Of Catalog Records

Council commends GPO for developing a new user-friendly default public display of entries in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, while retaining the MARC display as an option. Council believes that the public will more easily understand this descriptive-label display.

Periodicals Supplement to the Monthly Catalog

Council commends GPO for resuming publication of the Periodicals Supplement to the Monthly Catalog. The recent selection of this title by 990 depository libraries is a clear indication of continuing need for this product.

Department of Energy Information Bridge

Council commends the GPO and the Department of Energy for providing no-fee public access to the Office of Scientific and Technical Information's "Information Bridge" through GPO Access. This partnership between a major technical agency and GPO provides a convenient and cost-effective successor to the DoE depository microfiche collection.

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WEBTech Notes
On askLPS

 

www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/webtech.html

 

• Cumulative from 1991
• Searchable by item, class,
  keyword, date
  
• Updated weekly

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Administrative Notes is published in Washington, DC by the Superintendent of Documents, Library Programs Service, Government Printing Office, for the staffs of U.S. Federal Depository Libraries. It is published monthly, on the 15th day of each month; some months may have additional issues. Postmaster send address changes to: The Editor Administrative Notes U.S. Government Printing Office Library Programs Service, SLLD Washington, DC 20401 Internet access at URL: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/pubs/adnotes/index.html Editor: Marian W. MacGilvray (202) 512-1119 mmacgilvray@gpo.gov