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Library Programs Service FY 2000 Annual Report
Summary
The pace of change in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) accelerated dramatically in FY 2000, caused by a combination of emerging technologies used by Federal publishing agencies and funding constraints imposed on the Government Printing Office (GPO).
In the emerging Electronic FDLP, the Library Programs Service (LPS) is increasingly engaged in managing an Electronic Collection (EC). This is done through updated versions of several of our traditional functions: to identify, evaluate, select, organize, and catalog Government information products in all formats, and assure that they remain permanently accessible to the public. These services will continue, and are critical elements of our Electronic Collection management activities.
In the last fiscal year, more business was conducted with depositories via the Internet. Although some libraries are finding it expedient to leave the depository program, there is still strong commitment to public service among the more than 1,300 libraries that remain part of the FDLP. Indeed, depository libraries are helping to build and use the FDLP Electronic Collection; 95% meet minimum technical requirements and more than 1000 have web-based catalogs.
However, there is still a significant tangible products component in the FDLP, and a large amount of LPS’ resources remain devoted to the acquisition, classification, format conversion, cataloging, and distribution of tangible products. Reshaping the organization remains a key challenge for LPS as major elements of the work evolve.
LPS Highlights for 2000 include:
- Rapid growth of online electronic content delivery
- Reduced distribution of tangible products
- Electronic archive
- Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government Information
- New content partnerships
- FDLP Desktop
- Permanent Public Access Website
- Digital archiving project with OCLC
Moving Toward the Electronic FDLP
FY 2000 expenses for the four Salaries & Expenses programs (FDLP, Cataloging & Indexing, By-Law, and International Exchange) are expected to use all of the available appropriated funds, or $29.9 million. But for FY 2001, these same programs will have $2 million less, as well as significant additional expenses, including $1.6 million for the 2000 edition of the bound U.S. Code.
Two of our biggest expense categories are printing and shipping costs, so we must realize savings in those areas. LPS staff are searching for print products that are also available electronically and changing them to online electronic dissemination. The program is simply not being funded at a level that permits us to continue to make dual format distribution on a routine basis.
There are two major reasons for speeding up the transition to the EFDLP:
- The $2 million funding reduction to $27.9 million in FY 2001.
- Both the House and the Senate have told GPO to emphasize electronic dissemination. This was articulated most recently in the Conference report [House report 106-796], which said "[e]mphasis should be on streamlining the distribution of traditional paper copies of publications which may include providing online access and less expensive electronic formats."
LPS is implementing a policy on distribution to Federal depository libraries that will accelerate the transition to a primarily electronic program. As an operational guideline, U.S. Government publications will be furnished to Federal depository libraries solely in online electronic format unless certain criteria or circumstances exist.
Many format changes are already underway. LPS has established the requirements for depository copies for many products that will be printed under GPO term contracts beginning in FY 2001. LPS reviews each term contract annually, and typically the quantity requested for the FDLP rises or falls only slightly. But this year, in order to save printing and shipping expenses, we are checking each term contract to see if that title or set of products is available online. If it is, and it does not fall into one of the exception categories, LPS is changing the depository dissemination to electronic only. Recently LPS reviewed about 700 annual term contracts, and decided to change about 25% of them to solely electronic dissemination. Many of these term contracts cover multiple products or titles. Announcements that products formerly available in a tangible format are changing to solely online dissemination are listed in WEBTech Notes at <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/webtech.html>.
Electronic Content Partnerships
A critical element of the FDLP Electronic Collection is permanent public access to distributed content at FDLP partner sites.
GPO and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) have reached an agreement that assures permanent public access to many of NLM’s most popular and important titles. Included in the agreement are PubMed and NLM Locator Plus, online resources that will take the place of at least eight titles formerly represented in the FDLP in paper or microfiche. The agreement is actually the result of a depository librarian query to both LPS and NLM, and the outcome is very positive for the Electronic Collection.
Similar agreements are under review with the Census Bureau, General Accounting Office, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In October, 1999, GPO and the Department of Energy (DOE) launched PubSCIENCE, an electronic system that provides public access to a DOE database of scientific and technical literature. The PubSCIENCE database contains bibliographic records from approximately 1,000 peer-reviewed journals provided by more than 20 publishers with a focus on the physical sciences and energy-related disciplines. PubSCIENCE enables users to identify journal articles, view bibliographic citations, and hyperlink to the publisher's site for full retrieval (if unrestricted), or through a site license, an electronic subscription, or pay-per-view access.
GPO and DOE are also involved in two new services that significantly expand public access to Federal Government scientific and technical research information. Developed by DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), the GrayLIT Network <www.osti.gov/graylit> and Federal R&D Project Summaries <www.osti.gov/fedrnd> allow users to search with a single query across multiple databases. The general public as well as users of the FDLP can link to these services through GPO Access.
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has become a partner with LPS to bring additional completely Internet based publications into the FDLP Electronic Collection. A group of USIP "born digital" publications is serving as a testbed for improving metatagging and new cataloging practices. The project is expected to continue for the next several months, and a progress report is anticipated at the Federal Depository Conference in October.
Digital Archiving
LPS and OCLC, Inc. have developed high-level user requirements for a system to locate, identify, process, describe, catalog, and archive electronic publications. The proposed system will incorporate a mix of new and existing solutions in an effort to refine and integrate LPS workflow and routines for processing and storing e-titles for the long term.
GPO is a full partner in this project, and staff have worked closely with OCLC, providing
input in the development process. The initial application of the project will be based on the CORC interface, with an archiving option added. In the initial version that archiving function will likely direct the captured files to GPO's e-archive.
LPS’ own archive of electronic publications continues to evolve and grow. The highest priority candidates for this "in-house" solution remain agency publications that are primarily textual or images of text, and which have no tangible counterpart in the FDLP. Information about the operation of the FDLP/EC Archive can be found at <www.gpo.gov/ppa/resources.html>.
LPS Web Applications and Tools
The FDLP Desktop was unveiled in July 2000. Comprised of more than 700 pages, the "desktop" is an enhanced version of the Website formerly called "FDLP Administration." It is now available at <www.gpo.gov/fdlpdesktop>. The FDLP Desktop provides an improved structure and better navigation tools, information about the FDLP, glossary, site index and more resources available for use by depository library staff. The site also contains the most frequently used services in a more convenient location on the page.
A new service, New Electronic Titles (NET), located at <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/net>, was inaugurated in July 2000. The NET is a weekly "new accessions list" of Federal Government online products that are new to the FDLP. The new accessions listed in NET represent products not previously included in the FDLP Electronic Collection. An NET listing is linked to the online resource by a PURL (Persistent Uniform Resource Locator) or a URL. PURLs are assigned as part of the archiving process, and most NET listings will contain a PURL. NET replaces the old Browse Electronic Titles (BET) locator service.
Full bibliographic information for the new titles and former BET entries is available in the online Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) <www.gpo.gov/catalog>. The CGP is the prime resource for identifying, locating, and accessing both tangible and online U.S. Government information products.
The other locators, including Browse Topics and Federal Agency Internet Sites, have also undergone facelifts to match the look and feel of GPO Access. All the locator services are accessible from the "Findings Aids" page at <www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/tools.html>.
Ben’s Guide to Government Information
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids is a Website designed for students, parents, and teachers. Found at <http://bensguide.gpo.gov>, it provides a fun and educational introduction to how the U.S. Government works based on information resources available through GPO Access.
Produced by a team from LPS and the Office of Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS), Ben's Guide has been received positively by the library and education communities. A prototype of Ben's Guide was critiqued at the American Association of School Librarians conference in November 1999, where it received excellent reviews. The Newsletter of the Documents Interest Group of Oregon (December 1999) described Ben's Guide as a "well-designed children's Website" that "could be useful for reference questions as well," and characterized it has having "an attention to detail and to readability that is exemplary in web design."
It has been featured on <http://homeworkspot.com>, selected as a Notable Children’s Website for the year 2000 by the American Library Association, was included in the Scout Report and was a "Hot Site" in <usatoday.com>. Other kudos have come from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Access America, an electronic newsletter of the National Partnership for Re-Inventing Government, which called Ben’s Guide "exciting" and a "powerful resource."
Cataloging Operations
The LPS Cataloging Branch processed more than 27,000 publications, including materials distributed to depository libraries in paper, microfiche, and CD-ROM. The Cataloging Branch also processed thousands of online resources made available to the public via GPO Access.
There are more than 11,000 online titles accessible via the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, located at <www.gpo.gov/catalog>. More than 6,000 PURLs have been assigned to these resources. The online Catalog provides the public with access to more than 140,000 bibliographic records that represent recent holdings in all formats in the FDLP.
The quality of the work produced by GPO catalogers was recognized during this past fiscal year. The Library of Congress invited GPO to become a member of BIBCO (Bibliographic Cooperative Program), one of several national cooperative cataloging programs. This now makes GPO a member of all the national cooperative cataloging programs and recognizes that GPO produced bibliographic records meet all national cataloging standards administered by the Program for Cooperative Cataloging.
GPO catalogers were granted National Enhanced Status by OCLC. This authorizes GPO catalogers to modify all OCLC records, including those produced by the Library of Congress and the other national libraries.
GPO catalogers advised OCLC on the development of its CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) application. GPO was an early contributor to this application and staff continue to advise OCLC personnel on the development of data collection and cataloging applications software that are expected to assist GPO personnel in cataloging online resources selected for the FDLP Electronic Collection.
Permanent Public Access
The Public Printer and the Superintendent of Documents have hosted a series of meetings to discuss permanent public access to Federal Government information. The participants represent U.S. Federal agencies, the national libraries, Congressional committees, public interest groups, and other organizations interested in issues regarding the preservation of, and access to, Government information published electronically.
In FY 2000, the meetings were held quarterly. In March staff from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) gave a presentation about their Electronic Records Archives Program – Building the Archives of the Future. George Barnum and Steve Kerchoff from LPS provided an update on the implementation of GPO’s Electronic Collection Plan and our digital archive.
The June roundtable discussion brought some new perspectives to the discussion. Participants included a mix of people from both within and outside of the government, including staff from the Digital Library Future Federation and John Stevenson, a new member of the Depository Library Council.
Staff from LPS and EIDS, in conjunction with GPO’s Production Department, set up a public Website on GPO Access that includes information about the Permanent Public Access group and its members, its goals, and links to resources relevant to the topic. It can be found at <www.gpo.gov/ppa>. The activities related to the permanent public access meetings and creation of the Website increase GPO’s visibility in this area.
New Hope for Fugitive Documents
GPO has developed a new streamlined printing procurement process for use by Federal agencies. This process, called "SPA", or the "simplified purchase agreement," provides streamlined procurement procedures for Federal agencies to acquire printing and information products and services up to $2,500 in value from local commercial sources. Agencies using simplified purchase agreements cut their administrative costs and expand procurement opportunities for local small businesses. The process began with GPO working with the Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Operations Office as a partner to finalize the criteria for the new procedure. Agency use of simplified purchase agreements help to combat the problem of "fugitive documents" by ensuring that products ordered under the agreement are included in the FDLP, unless agencies indicate the products are only for internal administrative use or have no public or educational value. In September we received 42 notifications from GPO’s SPA partners.
FDLP Distribution
The distribution of tangible products through the FDLP continues to decrease, with a particularly sharp decline in the number of microfiche titles. The only category of FDLP titles that increased was titles that GPO links to at other agency sites, which rose by over 45% compared to FY 1999. Overall, 53% of the titles disseminated this year were online. The estimated distribution of products in the FDLP in FY 2000 is: