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2000 Federal Depository Conference and
Fall Depository Library Council Meeting

The 2000 Federal Depository Conference and fall Depository Library Council meeting will be held October 22-25, 2000. Online registration is available at <http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/00conreg.html>. Please register by October 11, 2000.

The meeting hotel is the Holiday Inn Rosslyn Westpark at Key Bridge, 1900 North Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22209. To make a hotel reservation, dial toll-free 800-368-3408 or call the hotel directly at 703-807-2000. A block of rooms at $126 per night, single/double, is being held for Council/Conference attendees. The rate is good for the meeting dates as well as for 3 days before and after the meeting. To receive this rate, you must make your reservation no later than October 2, 2000. After that date, rooms will be subject to availability at the best available rate. Be sure to mention the code "DLC" when you make your reservation. Any cancellations must be made before 6:00 p.m. hotel time on day of arrival to avoid charges. Parking is free at the hotel for attendees.

The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is only minutes away from the Rosslyn Station Metro subway stop. The hotel is 1.5 blocks from the Metro station.

Avis has offered Conference/Council attendees special meeting rates for all of their vehicles. The rates range from $38.99 daily or $160.99 weekly for a subcompact, to $60.99 daily or $261.99 weekly for a mini van, sport utility or luxury car. Weekend rates per day are $20.99 for a subcompact to $28.99 for a full size 4-door car. Contact Avis at 800-331-1600 and provide the special Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) number J947660.

The Conference and Council meeting is free to everyone and there is no registration fee.

If you are unable to use the Web registration form, mail, fax, or e-mail the form below to:

Conference Registration Form

Revised Agenda
Fall 2000 Depository Library Council
And Federal Depository Library Conference

The Association of Public Data Users (APDU) is offering a workshop on Using Public Data in Libraries on Thursday, October 26, 2000. The workshop will be held at the Hyatt Arlington Hotel, 1325 Wilson Boulevard, (a couple of blocks from the Holiday Inn Rosslyn), from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is a $75 registration fee.

The full day workshop will focus on Basic Data Concepts and Statistical Literacy and Data Products. If you are interested in attending, please send an email message to <apdu@apdu.org> for more information.

STAT-USA Update

The National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) (C 1.88:, Item 0128-L) on CD-ROM will no longer be sent to libraries effective with the October 2000 disc. In August 1999, LPS entered into an Interagency Agreement with STAT-USA to provide funding for the new NTDB software directly to STAT-USA, with the understanding that FY 2000 was going to be the last year the NTDB was issued in a tangible format to Federal depository libraries. (See the Administrative Notes, vol. 20, no. 16, 10/25/99, p. 13) As part of this agreement, LPS and STAT-USA agreed to work toward increasing online access to the STAT-USA database. Effective October 1, 2000, depository libraries will have two free subscriptions to the STAT-USA online service.

Libraries will not need to register for the increased access to the STAT-USA service. The current passwords in use by libraries registered for this service will allow the extra user to access the database. Libraries that need to register for this service will find the registration form at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/coll-dev/statusar.html for the HTML version, and http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/coll-dev/statusar.pdf for the PDF version.. Libraries are reminded of the limitations of the service according to this agreement. The users must be in the library when accessing the database. The library must protect the passwords. Passwords should not be disclosed to faculty, students, or patrons. If you have trouble accessing the database using your password, please contact LPS by sending an askLPS request to <askLPS@gpo.gov> or by contacting Robin Haun-Mohamed at <rhaun-mohamed@gpo.gov>.

Another STAT-USA product is also being discontinued. USA Trade (C 1.88/3:, Item 0128-L-01) will no longer be distributed to libraries in CD-ROM format. The information in this title is also included in the monthly U.S. Imports of Merchandise (C 3.278/2: item 0154-D) and U.S. Exports of Merchandise (C 3.278/3:, item 0154-D) on CD-ROM. A new paid portion of the STAT-USA online database, USA Trade Online, with the detail level equivalent to the CD-ROM product is not included under the agreement for free depository access, however, an abbreviated 2-digit detail is available under your depository subscription to STAT-USA. When STAT-USA ends the free trial period for USA Trade Online, depository libraries wishing to access the detailed USA Trade Online on the STAT-USA website must pay for access under terms set by STAT-USA and the Census Bureau.

As increasing numbers of Government publications become available through the Federal Depository Library Program in electronic format only, some awkward breaks may occur in the transition. As noted in the July 15 issue of Administrative Notes (v. 21, #10, p. 15-16), it is rarely possible to order that the change from tangible production to electronic occur at a certain time or with a specific issue of a series.

Therefore, libraries may continue to receive tangible copies of some depository titles even after LPS has announced that the title will be available to depositories in electronic form only. This will occur when the tangible copies were ordered before the conversion decision was made. As long as the tangible copies are in the pipeline, LPS will ship them to depositories.

New Email Address for U.S. Fax Watch

US Fax Watch has a new email address. Please send any inquiries, comments or customer service issues to <usfaxwatch@gpo.gov>.

July 17, 2000

Dear Depository Librarian:

The Library Programs Service (LPS) was apprised by the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation that the FBI Personal Watercraft Identification Manual should not have been distributed to depository libraries. The FBI has advised us that the publication is for internal use only.

Descriptive information on this publication:

I am requesting that you immediately withdraw this publication and destroy it by any means to prevent disclosure of its contents. Both LPS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation deeply regret any inconvenience resulting from the shipment of this publication.

Sincerely,

It is a pleasure to have another opportunity to update the library community on the current and future state of GPO Access, as well as some current electronic government, or E-Gov initiatives. So much is taking place that it was necessary to be selective in the interest of time. It reminds me of a statement made by R.D. Laing, "We live in a moment in history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing."

As usual, I want to publicly thank all of the hardworking people at GPO who make GPO Access a reality, as well as all of you in the library community who assist us with your feedback. The time and effort you put into helping users find and use the resources of GPO Access and to let us know how to make it more useful are deeply appreciated.

GPO Access continues to grow, with over 1,500 official government databases offered through some 80 applications. At this time, over 182,000 electronic titles are available through the FDLP Electronic Collection, with more than 109,000 titles on GPO servers and slightly more than 73,000 titles linked to from GPO Access.

GPO Access usage continues to increase, even though we are in a seasonally slow period of the year. Over the past four months an average of approximately 26 million documents have been downloaded per month, with a high in March of close to 29 million retrievals. To place this March number in context, it means an average of 11 documents were downloaded from GPO Access every second of every day.

There is also an interesting transition beginning to emerge. The number of retrievals being downloaded directly from web pages compared to those extracted from the databases through normal search and retrieval methods is growing. While 70% are still retrieved through normal means recorded by the WAIS logs, some 30% are being downloaded directly through links on our web pages. At the beginning of this fiscal year those numbers were closer to 75% WAIS and 25% web pages.

System performance has improved and efforts to enhance system response time continues. The work necessary to increase the bandwidth available for GPO Access is nearing completion. Initially, this will more than double our capacity and provides the infrastructure for rapid expansion as need increases. In addition, our Production Department is determining whether additional servers should be added for key applications.

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

• All three of our easier to recognize and remember Web addresses are live:

• The interactive GPO Access CD-ROM has been completed and is in production. A copy will be sent to each depository, but I urge you to stop by Booth Number 1411 at the Convention Center for a preview.

• The Federal Register application has been updated so that any URLs published in notices are hot links to those addresses.

• The Code of Federal Regulations application now features a page from which users can place online orders for print copies. There are links to this page from both the search and browse portions of the CFR application.

• The recent report from the National Commission on Terrorism, titled "Countering the Changing Threat of International Terrorism" is now available.

• The first page of the U.S. Government Online Bookstore page has been updated to make it easier to begin a catalog search or to locate a browseable subject bibliography. This is just one of many enhancements that are on the way including:

• A user-managed e-mail notification application which will allow users to sign up to receive e-mail notification when titles of interest are added to our sales offerings.

• Improved system integration to provide the most up-to-date information and to allow for the fastest possible processing of customer orders.

• A detailed transaction receipt to be provided to the customer when they place an order, including a unique order number to facilitate follow-up inquiries.

• The ability for customers to select special shipping options, such as Federal Express.

• The capability for foreign customers to operate in a manner that will enable them to see all price differentials as they prepare their orders.

• The latest documents released as part of the Microsoft case, including the Final Judgement released June 7, 2000.

• Volume I of the 1998 Public Papers of the President.

• The 2000 Unified Agenda.

• Our GILS pages have been designed to improve use and the unnecessary pathway records removed.

• An update of our ongoing comparison of GPO Access legislative resources and those offered by other agencies and the private sector has been completed. Once again, it showed that GPO Access has the most comprehensive set of legislative resources. The report is available on the Federal Bulletin Board.

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:

• A browseable list of all Congressional Hearings on GPO Access.

• A Statutes at Large application.

• The daily version of the CFR, known as the e-CFR is targeted for completion by January 2001.

• An agreement with the Department of Labor to put the Davis-Bacon Wage Determination materials on GPO Access has been reached and a written memorandum of understanding has been delivered for signature. The application has been built and reviewed by Labor so a mutually agreeable release date should be agreed upon in the near future.

A project is currently underway to examine the state of the current Pathway Indexer software. The project team was nearing completion of a draft outlining the options and recommending a course of action when the recent announcement about FirstGov was made. They are now attempting to get sufficient information to determine what the FirstGov effort will mean and to factor that into their analysis.

In conjunction with the Defense Technical Information Center and the Energy Information Administration, GPO has contracted with a group led by Dr. Chuck McClure of Florida State University to determine an appropriate performance measure for government web sites. The group has completed detailed site visits with the participating agencies, reviewed a wide variety of additional materials provided, and examined current Government information policy as it pertains to web sites. In an initial draft of the results of these efforts, GPO Access was given indications of some areas that need examination, but was held up to the other participants as an example to be followed.

A set of basic evaluation criteria that could be applied to any government web sites seems to be emerging. They include:

• Legal Mandate - Does the site have a legal mandate? Is there some legislative or other authoritative basis for its existence?

• Goals and Objectives - Are there articulated goals and objectives tied to carrying out the mission provided by the site’s mandate or authorization?

• Infrastructure - Does it possess the infrastructure to be sustainable? This includes funding, staff, hardware, software, bandwidth, etc.

• Site Content - Does the content offered meet essential criteria, including being authentic, official, and timely? Does the site contain all of the content it could contain? Is there a commitment to permanent public access for this content?

• Site Design - Have issues such as ADA compliance, privacy, security, consistent site design, and a children's area been addressed in the construction of the site?

• No-Fee Access - Is the content available without charge?

• Reuse Restrictions - Can the content be freely reused without restriction?

• User Support - Is there a human interface available for supporting use of the site as well as self-help tools?

• Awareness - Has the appropriate effort been undertaken to ensure that the site is reachable by the intended audience? For instance, has any effort been put into assuring visibility through search engines and portals?

• Usage Metrics - Are useful statistical measurements of the site's usage being maintained and reported? Is that coverage appropriate and consistent?

• Customer Satisfaction - Are there mechanisms in place to measure customer satisfaction and to make use of feedback received?

• Performance Evaluation - Is there an ongoing effort to evaluate the site's performance and incorporate what is learned in the further development of the site?

The fourth installment of our ongoing effort to improve the accessibility of GPO Access resources through popular search engines has been completed. A brief overview follows.

Several things were different in the fourth evaluation:

• Yep was taken out of the list of search engines (needed to subscribe to their counter device to gain entry to the index);

• Directory trees were examined in an attempt to locate GPO Access pages; and

• The engines were divided up into two groups: one that used primarily human-compiled indices and one that used computer 'spidered' or 'crawled' indices.

Building upon the excellent user feedback generated in the Open Forum at the spring Depository Library Council Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, we:

• Examined the keyword and title metatags of GPO Access source pages; and

• Made the changes suggested by the user community in an attempt to make the tags more likely to be terms input by a real-life user. This was finished by July 3, 2000, although the timing means the net effect of this effort will be felt in the 5th installment.

The fourth evaluation results:

• Overall, there was a 4% decrease in the number of returns of GPO Access pages;

• The Open Directory Project and Snap went from being two of the better performing engines in evaluation 3 to two of the worst in evaluation 4 concerning the frequency of returning our pages, falling 49% and 37% respectively;

• The About and Excite engines exhibited the largest positive change, increasing by 37% and 20% respectively in the fourth evaluation;

• The pages were returned with an 8% higher frequency in search engines utilizing computer robot created (rather than human-compiled) indices;

• A GPO web page was present in the top thirty entries under the Legislative Branch heading in 85% (or 11 out of 13) of the directory trees examined; and

• It is becoming increasingly difficult to contact the search engines regarding this project and the submission of the GPO Access pages.

Our experience shows that we must:

• Continue to try to discover and understand how users actually search on search engines;

• Tailor the metatags of our source pages to insure that our pages will appear in the results lists for queries that we have relevant information for; and

• Continue to attempt to gather a full understanding of how search engines work in the creation and the updating of their indices. Hopefully, this will enable us to determine why the backsliding has occurred.

Electronic Government, or E-Gov, is definitely the hot topic of the moment. No one knows exactly what will happen or when, but it is sure to be exciting. So many things are happening that I could not possibly mention them all here today. I have selected some of the more significant.

• E-Gov Conference in Washington, July 10 - 13, 2000 is bringing together key players from Government and the private sector to discuss topics related to E-Gov.

• The Government Paperwork Elimination Act (P.L. 105-277, or GPEA) will be a prime mover in realizing E-Gov. It has placed a transactional focus on E-Gov that could pose challenges for dissemination.

• GPEA directs agencies to provide public access to Government services online by 2003 and to give the public the option of submitting information to the Government electronically.

• Agency implementation plans for complying with GPEA are due to OMB by October 2000.

• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 and the Federal IT Accessibility Initiative (FITAI) works toward:

• Privacy is a topic that is increasing in importance every day and much is taking place. Of recent note was the June 22, 2000 memorandum to agency heads from the Director of OMB stating that agencies should not use cookies to collect information about their online users. An agency would have to demonstrate a unique need to utilize cookies and even then would have to disclose publicly how they would safeguard the information collected.

• The Digital Divide of those who can and cannot use the Internet becomes vital in a discussion of E-Gov. In reporting the results of a recent survey, The Economist reported that more than 50% of the population still does not have an Internet connection at home.

• The e-Government Project web site sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Thompson is an interesting experiment in receiving citizen participation in the legislative process electronically. Users can weigh in on a wide variety of E-Gov topics as well as read what others have to say.

• E-Sign Bill (S761) - Gives electronic signatures the statutory weight of their handwritten counterparts.

• Efforts to create the post of Government-Wide Chief Information Officer are interesting.

• The Chief Information Officer of the United States Act (HR 4670) would create a centralized post to set standards and facilitate cross-agency efforts in E-Gov, with the exception of national security systems.

• The Preparedness Against Terrorism Act of 2000 (HR 4210) would give such responsibility for national security systems to the agency security officer.

Thank you for your attention and I urge you to stop by Booth Number 1411 and see the additions and changes to GPO Access. As always, I want to thank you for your feedback and I look forward to discussing your ideas for a better GPO Access during the conference.

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