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Larry Jellen Joins SuDocs

Larry Jellen joined the Superintendent of Documents organization effective September 6, 2003. He is serving as expert consultant in the New Business Development and Library and Customer Relations areas. This assignment will be involved with all components of Library and Customer Relations, as well as the development of new business initiatives and partnerships. He will also be responsible for developing business plans and financial models for new products and services.

Mr. Jellen's prior professional positions include President of Time Life Direct and Time Life Books. He has had numerous marketing management assignments at Time Life, AMA, Sears Communications, and IBM. He was also the managing director of Brand EQC, a brand consulting company in Chicago. Larry has been responsible for the development of new business areas in all of his previous assignments.

2003 Biennial Survey Almost Completed

Many thanks to all those libraries that completed the 2003 Biennial Survey by the deadline of December 5. The survey is required by law and provides valuable data on depository libraries and on the Federal Depository Library Program.

Any libraries that have not yet submitted their Biennial Survey should do so as soon as possible, at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/bisurvey/03survin.html.

December 31 is the last date for filing to be considered in compliance with GPO regulations.

Beth Deahl has recently joined the Cataloging Branch as a monographic cataloger. She comes to the Washington area from Southern California, where she lived and worked for ten years, most recently as a cataloger at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. She also worked at the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University, and was self-employed as a researcher and information services consultant for several years. She has an M.S. degree in Library and Information Science from Drexel University, Philadelphia, and an undergraduate degree in Art History from the University of Delaware.

Another recent appointee is Violet Lee, who is currently cataloging monographs and maps at GPO. She graduated from the National Chung-Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan, majoring in Western Language and Literature. She received her MLS degree from the Alabama A&M University in 1980. During 1981-1984, she taught in the Department of Library & Education Information Science, Tamkung University, Taiwan, as an Instructor. Returning to the U.S. in 1985, she worked as a cataloger, most recently serving as Head of the Cataloging Department at the Howard University Library.

New Documents Staff: Plan Now to Attend the 2004 Interagency Seminar

For agenda, see Administrative Notes, v. 24, # 13 (11/15/03).

Federal Depository Library of the Year:
A Long Journey Worth the Effort

Suzanne Sears
Government Documents Librarian
Tulsa City County Library

In March 2003 I gave a tour of the Tulsa City-County Library documents collection to a colleague, Sharon Bish, from the Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She had recently been given the task of overseeing reference in the Metropolitan depository collection and wanted to see how we handle things in Tulsa. Around the same time, GPO announced they were accepting nominations for Federal Depository Library of the Year. In a thank you email Sharon suggested I nominate my library for the award. My first reaction was pride that she thought so well of our system. My second thought was that there was no way my small selective with a staff of 1.5 FTE could compete against the other fabulous depositories and so it wouldn’t be worth my time to turn in a nomination. I put her email in my files and went back to work.

In April 2003 I attended the Depository Library Council Spring Conference in Reno where I learned a little more about the award; it seemed GPO would take into account the size of the depository collection when determining whom to select. Maybe I did have a chance. I had several long discussions with my regional librarian, John Phillips from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, and finally decided it was worth a shot. After all, what harm would it do to send in the nomination?

The problem was then what to send in as a nomination. This was a new award so there were no examples of acceptable submissions. I reread the original GPO announcement. Did my library fit all the criteria? In my opinion it did!

I decided to write my nomination in narrative form addressing each of the criteria. For each qualification I composed one or two paragraphs to answer how our library met that qualification and included statistics from the last two years to show growth in use of the collection. I then considered other items I could submit to support my nomination letter.

I added thank you letters from customers to document the value of the collection to our users, examples of flyers and handouts from recent presentations, and a copy of my library’s depository collection development policy. Part of my job includes working with GIS software to provide customers with census data in tabular and graphical formats for user-defined areas – I included an example of this service to show enhanced access to Federal information.

In August, I received a phone call from Judy Russell telling me we had been selected. I couldn’t believe my ears; I was in total shock. I emailed Judy later to ask for more details because my brain must have shut down when she told me we had won. One condition from the GPO was that our achievement had to be kept a secret until the Fall FDLP Conference. This was very hard to do! Luckily, my regional was informed, so I could share the news and my excitement with him.

GPO went all out providing my library director, Linda Saferite, and me with an all expense paid trip to the fall conference. The staff at GPO were efficient, pleasant, and always available to solve any problems we encountered and answer even the silliest of questions we had. Linda and I took time off from the conference on Monday to pay personal visits to the two Senators from Oklahoma and to invite them to the Tuesday evening reception. This visit resulted in a picture opportunity with the Senior Senator from Oklahoma, Don Nickles. Judy Russell very kindly met Linda and me at Senator Nickles’ office for a group picture with the award.

Tuesday morning our library was announced as the winner of the award. Linda and I were introduced and received a framed certificate proclaiming the Tulsa City-County Library as the Federal Depository of the Year. The secret was finally out and everyone was invited to a reception that evening in our honor.

Tuesday evening was a wonderful night. Refreshments were provided by GPO and the accolades from colleagues and government officials were so rewarding. Linda and I received another award from GPO at the reception – a beautiful crystal statue recognizing our library as Federal Depository Library of the Year. The Mayor of Tulsa even proclaimed November 2003 as Government Information Month in the City of Tulsa.

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone at GPO for this recognition; TCCL is honored to be recognized as the first Federal Depository Library of the Year. I would also like to thank my wonderful regional librarian John Phillips, Oklahoma State University. John is there whenever I need him for support and advice; he is a supreme example of an effective regional librarian. Without his guidance, none of this would have been possible.

I encourage every FDLP member to submit a nomination next year. Let’s raise the bar, celebrate our successes, and honor the work we do!

Suzanne Sears
Government Documents Librarian
Tulsa City County Library
2003 Federal Depository Library of the Year

Director Linda Saferite, Suzanne Sears, and Public Printer Bruce James

Best Wishes