Newsgroups: alt.etext From: dell@wiretap.spies.com (Thomas Dell) Subject: [GOVDOC-L] GODORT Midwinter Summary Message-ID: Organization: The Internet Wiretap Date: Fri, 5 Feb 1993 21:50:52 GMT Newsgroups: bit.listserv.govdoc-l From: "Susan E. Tulis" Subject: GODORT Midwinter Summary Message-ID: <9302012052.AA27384@uva.pcmail.Virginia.EDU> Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 16:31:43 CST Sender: Discussion of Government Document Issues Lines: 458 ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Here is my version of what took place at ALA in Denver, biased I will admit. I have also included Melissa Lamont's summary of the Federal Agency Update. Yes, it is long, good bedtime reading! GPO BUDGET CUTS DOMINATE ALA/GODORT MIDWINTER MEETING The 1993 Midwinter meeting in Denver, CO was a hectic one as GODORT members dealt with the budget problem at GPO and GPO's solutions to this problem. As most of you know, Superintendent of Documents, Wayne Kelley, mailed a letter to all depositories dated November 18, 1992, in which he outlined the problem and GPO's proposals for staying within their appropriated budget. In addition to giving the attendees a demonstration of the United States Code on CD-ROM, Judy Russell gave an update on GPO's budget situation. The Nov. 18th survey resulted in a potential savings of $243,000 due to voluntary migration to less expensive distribution formats. Other proposals that will be implemented include: 1) GPO will be more stringent about what publications they will go back to press on. 2) Changing their policy on claims fulfillment, that is, only allowing paper claims for a core list of items. (As an aside, GPO still wants suggestions for what should be on this core list). 3) Beginning Feb. 1st, no new microfiche claims for selective libraries. GPO is gradually moving towards all microfiche contracts being done as full-service contracts, meaning you will claim from the contractor, not GPO. GPO is planning on filling back microfiche claims, but on an ad hoc basis, doing recent titles first. 4) In terms of the Serial Set, GPO will distribute the bound set only to regional depositories, beginning with the 102nd Congress, 1st session. Since the signatures for the 102nd Congress have already been printed, GPO is looking into collating, shrink-wrapping, and distributing them to selective libraries that request them so the libraries themselves may bind them. Those libraries who select microfiche slip reports and paper bound volumes will be resurveyed to see if they want paper slip reports which would allow them to bind them themselves. LPS is also talking with GPO Sales about getting cost estimates for bound volumes, in case you wish to purchase them. 5) GPO will not produce a prototype CD-ROM product for the Monthly Catalog cumulative index for 1986-1990. 6) The bound TIAS will only go to regionals; slip treaties will continue in paper. Bound volumes of TIAS are available for sale. 7) Army Technical Manuals, the House and Senate Calendars, and the committee calendars will be converted to microfiche. Some other proposals mentioned in the Nov. 18th letter have been put on hold. At this point, distribution of the NASA and DOE microfiche to all libraries which select them will continue. U.S. Reports, Official Gazette, slip Supreme Court opinions will continue to be available to all libraries which select them. GPO has not determined whether they will implement the voluntary deselections made by Regionals. The costs associated with allowing the regionals to have selectivity may be greater than the projected printing and distribution cost savings. Other announcements that Judy made include: 1) GPO has a strategic draft plan on electronic information, entitled "GPO Moving Forward in the Electronic Age: A Strategic Outlook"; 2) GPO has asked for money in the FY 94 appropriation to contract out the cataloging backlog; 3) biennial survey is being updated and may be delayed this year; 4) GPO will delay Depository Library Council appointments until they see what happens in terms of a new Public Printer or an acting Public Printer; 5) all of the electronic pilot project reports are due out by summer; and 6) GPO is requesting $33.7 million for FY 94, which includes resumption of the bound Serial Set beginning with the 103rd Congress, 2nd session. Shirley Woodrow, Joint Committee on Printing, delivered Congressman Charlie Rose's request that the GODORT membership select a blue ribbon committee of about six people from the various types of depository libraries to work with GPO on site in Washington. Rose asked that the members of such a focus group be given the authority to speak for their constituencies as a whole in identifying priorities and acceptable means of economizing. This group will need to meet quickly and act decisively. As a result of this request from Congressman Rose, much of the rest of the Midwinter meeting was spent in discussing how to respond to this request. A fact sheet was presented at the FDTF Business Meeting which outlined 3 possible GODORT responses to this request, with pros and cons for each response. The possible responses are as follows: 1) Send representatives to Washington to consult with GPO as another focus group with full authority to recommend modifications to the Depository Library Program. 2) Send representatives to Washington to consult with GPO as another focus group without authority to represent the depository library community with regards to potential modifications to the Depository Library Program. 3) Communicate with Congressman Rose, thanking him for the opportunity for input, offering alternative methods for depository library input into possible modifications to the Depository Library Program, and communicating principles that should be followed whenever modifications are made. At the same time, reiterate GODORT's commitment to assist in the current and long-range planning process for the Program. The upshot of all of this discussion was that GODORT adopted the following motions: 1) Move that GODORT endorse the "GODORT Statement on the GPO Budget" (January 25, 1993, as amended) (see below). 2) Move that GODORT endorse the work and recommendations of the first focus group. 3) Move that GODORT empower the Chair of GODORT to communicate with Congressman Rose, thanking him for the opportunity for input, clarifying the charge communicated to the Chair of GODORT, and at her pleasure, in consultation with and after polling the GODORT Steering Committee, appoint a six member committee to go to Washington, DC, as representatives of GODORT and following the "GODORT Statement on the GPO Budget," as amended 1/25/93, hold hearings with GPO officials, and also, at the same time, reiterate GODORT's commitment to assist in the current and long-range planning process for the Depository Library Program. 4) Move that the Chair of GODORT, in the same communication, point out the need for organized, ongoing, and informed input from depository librarians on operational matters of the Depository Library Program, and urge Congressman Rose to support any recommendation for the establishment of an ongoing representative advisory group on operational issues. Other action items that came out of the FDTF - asked the Chair of GODORT to 1) communicate to the Director of LPS the operational problems experienced in the depository community and seek resolution of those problems; 2) send a letter to the Hon. William Clay (MO), the Chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials, on GODORT's concerns about the status of LC information products in the Depository Library Program; and 3) create an ad-hoc committee to plan and carry out a GODORT-sponsored celebration in 1995 of the centennial of the Printing Act of 1895. Gary Cornwell, Chair of the Depository Library Council (DLC), gave a very thought provoking talk about the recent changes in and the future of the Council. (The full text of his talk will appear in an upcoming issue of Administrative Notes.) In a nutshell, Gary challenged the depository library community to move ahead in a spirit of cooperation, admit the problems we have within the program, and find solutions to them. One suggestion that Gary made which caused the group to think was that maybe the time had come for the development of an independent group to represent depository libraries - such as, a Friends of Depository Libraries or the Depository Library Association. The development of such a group will be discussed at both the Regional Depository Librarians Meeting and the Council Open Forum at the Federal Depository Conference. I strongly suggest you consider this idea and bring your comments to the April meeting. Most people are well aware that with the reorganization of Council there has been concern about how do deal with operational issues. An independent group mentioned in the previous paragraph could deal with them. But until such a group is formed, other avenues must be explored. A Communications Committee of Council was formed last Fall to develop recommendations that will bring about more effective communications among the GPO, the Federal Depository Library community, the DLC and Federal publishing agencies. The committee has identified 4 major areas of concern and will be seeking input on the following questions during the Federal Depository Conference, Thursday, April 22, 5-7 pm. The questions are: 1) How can the GPO and the depository library community communicate efficiently on operation issues and problems affecting depository libraries? 2) How can the DLC and the depository library community best communicate? 3) Is there a mechanism for the depository library community to have input to the agendas and lists of discussion issues for the Federal Depository Conference and the Inter-Agency Depository Seminar? 4) Is there a systematic way for agencies and the depository community to communicate with one another? Again, please plan on attending this meeting and expressing your thoughts. If you are not attending the Federal Depository Conference, please forward your thoughts to any DLC member. Six FDTF work groups were formed to discuss the following topics: Federal Depository Operations, Restructuring of the Federal Depository System, the Agency Liaison Program, the FDTF White Papers, LC products and publications, and ALA/Public Awareness Program. I attended the Depository Operations Work Group where various operational problems where raised and Judy Russell agreed to look into them. The restructuring discussion centered around 2 areas, those which do not require changes to Title 44 and those which would require legislative change. A "brainstorming" technique was used to gather a broad array of ideas. The merits of individual ideas were not discussed. (Contact me if you want a copy of the various ideas identified.) IDTF has asked the Chair of GODORT to write a letter to the ALA President requesting that ALA revisit U.S. membership in UNESCO. Despite differences in needs between depository and non- depository libraries, the idea for a formal liaison program to IGOs was endorsed. Concerns of the demise of International Bibliography were discussed as well as the interest expressed by CIS to provide additional indexing to international materials. CIS will continue to explore the feasibility of the project. Lastly, concerns over the status of the EC depository program were discussed, particularly the problem with restrictions on distribution of EUROSTAT publications and recent institution of charges for EUROBASES access. Letters will be written to Peter Doyle, again, expressing concerns, especially in light of EUROBASES charges; and to the US Embassador to the EC, and the VPs of the European Parliament regarding EUROSTAT and pointing out conflicting information regarding availability of EUROBASES to EC depositories. SLDTF discussed the first draft of the Center for Research Libraries' (CRL) "Scope of the Collection" for its U.S. State Documents Collection. At the present time CRL is not accepting materials for this collection. The Center wants to make clear that they are not limiting the material, but they must set some guidelines for the collection, which for the foreseeable future, will remain uncataloged. Copies of the Documents on Documents will be sent to GODORT Steering Committee members, each state library and 24 library schools. Cataloging Committee reported that Karen Holloway, NASA, is investigating the problem of missing technical report documentation pages. This page is needed in the report so that the technical report number will appear in the 027 field. The pre-1976 cataloging project continues. David Nelson, Texas A & M, is writing a grant under Title II-C with a Fall 1993 deadline. It is anticipated that the project will produce a tape of catalog records. There will be a cataloging preconference on online processing of government publications in New Orleans this summer. Edward Swanson volunteered to be the editor for the revision of the 1984 publication, Cataloging Government Documents. The Committee is interested in establishing a more formal mechanism for fielding questions about cataloging government publications. Questions about GPO cataloging predominate. The demise of the GPO Classification Hotline and the absence of a representative from GPO at the Cataloging meeting have not helped the situation. The Committee will request that someone from GPO attend the 1993 annual conference, thereby setting up a mechanism where the Cataloging Committee could act as a clearinghouse - getting the answer and sharing the information with the cataloging and depository community. GPO notified Marcive that beginning Feb 1, 1993, GPO will begin using multiple 074 fields instead of stringing multiple item numbers in a single 074 field. There were many questions about this new procedure but there wasn't anyone there who could respond. Joan Chapa will call GPO and post the explanation on Govdoc-L. Education Committee will continue the disk exchange in New Orleans. The focus of this year's exchange is training materials ("how-to's"), as well as anything supporting the 2 GODORT programs (IGOs and the Environment, and Documenting Diversity). Betsy Richmond is working on a project to determine how to get useful information on a government survey and how to create a user survey. The Mentor program continues to exist, but volunteers for the programs are badly needed. Revision of "Supporting School Curriculum with U.S. Government Documents" has been dropped since the committee couldn't obtain copyright permission. Government Information Technology Committee (GITCO) will contact the Census Bureau with feedback regarding the Extract software. GITCO requested that the Chair of GODORT ask LPS for clarification on the minimum requirements for computer workstations and their role in depository inspection evaluations. The Committee also requested that GPO be asked to continue to publish and update in Admin Notes, the list describing which electronic files are superseded and/or should be retained. Legislation Committee asked for GODORT endorsement and/or passage of the following resolutions: 1) Resolution on the Possible Closing of the Natural Resources Library of the Department of the Interior. 2) Resolution on GPO Appropriations. 3) Resolution on the Right to Federal Government Information. Another resolution which asked for Round Table representation on ALA Council was, unfortunately pulled from ALA Council at the last minute. Guess we will try again this summer. A draft proposal for reorganization of GODORT was put forward at the 2nd Steering Committee meeting. The Ad Hoc Committee on GODORT Organization recommended that it be charged with the further development of this proposal and hopes that the proposal can be finalized and discussed in New Orleans. GODORT Statement on the GPO Budget (January 25, 1993, as amended) The American Library Association is on record as affirming the public's right to equal and ready access to government information. The historic and continuing role of the Depository Library Program as a guaranteed channel of no-fee access for the public to government information are fundamental to this concept. The Government Documents Round Table reaffirms its commitment to these principles while acknowledging the need for cost efficiencies in the Program. When modifications to the Program are needed to achieve cost effectiveness, the following principles must be adhered to: 1) Equitable and no-fee access to federal government information through the Depository Library Program must be preserved. 2) Emphasis must be placed on preserving content rather than format options. 3) Usability and timeliness, as well as cost must be considered when determining format options for depository material. 4) Information distributed through the Depository Library Program must be available for selection by all depository libraries. 5) Modifications to the Depository Library Program should benefit GPO in the transition to distribution of electronic products and services. 6) Adequate GPO staff must be available to fulfill the mission of the Depository Library Program. Susan E. Tulis University of Virginia Law School Library FEDERAL AGENCY UPDATE The Federal Documents Task Force Federal Agency Update followed the GPO update on Saturday January 23rd. Agencies represented included: the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), the Library of Congress, the Energy Information Administration, the Bureau of the Census, and the Geological Survey (USGS). Thomas Walker noted that the NTIS is in the midst of a change. A transition management team will look to make NTIS self supporting, keep prices more in line with inflation and expand markets. He was especially enthusiastic about FedWorld, a new dial-up bulletin board operated by NTIS. The only charge is for telephone time. FedWorld allows you to access more than 50 computer bulletin board systems operated by the US government through the FedWorld Gateway. Among the databases of broad interest to the library community are: ALIX (LC's Automated Library Information Exchange) CIC-BBS (Consumer Information Center) EBB (Commerce's economic bulletin board) EPUB (Energy information and data) SBA ONLINE (Small business information and data) USGS BBS (US Geological Survey) To connect to FedWorld, all you need is a personal computer and a modem. Use your communications software package to dial FedWorld at 703/321-8020. Set your parity to NONE, Data Bits to 8 and Stop Bit to 1 (N,8,1). Set your terminal emulation to ANSI or VT-100. After you have connected, the first screen will ask new users to sign in. Type "new" at the prompt. If you have problems or questions, call 703/487-4608 weekdays, 10am to 4pm. Representatives from the Library of Congress, Susan Veccia and Daniel Mulhollan spoke about American Memory. The goal of the project is to gather and catalog primary source materials such as papers and letters; film and music, and more. The result will be a multi media collection documenting and preserving history. Documents librarians expressed concern over the number of LC publications not reaching the Depository Library Program including Congressional Research Service reports. Lars Johanson, from Census, announced that STF3B data will be coming out in the next few months. He also noted that no microfiche will be produced for STF1A, 1B, 3A, or the Equal Employment Opportunity data. Census will release a 1992 version of the TIGER Line Files which will include school and congressional districts. This time they will also include Marplot, a viewing program. As for other census mapping, a CD-ROM with tract and block numbering areas should be available sometime this spring. It will also include viewing software. Mr. Johanson had no further information on the proposed block maps on CD-ROM. The Statistical Abstract on CD-ROM has been produced by a private publisher and should be ready soon. The electronic version will contain more historical and geographic data than the printed product. Likewise, future editions of the USA Counties disk will include more 1990 Census data and historical information. Gary North of the US Geologic Survey was last on the program. He emphasized that although the Mapping division was reorganizing libraries should notice no significant changes. Mr. North also announced that Kent Swanyard will take over in the Earth Science Operations Branch. This was the position held by Wendy Hassibe and filled in the interim by Bruce Hubbard. The national digital orthophoto quadrangle program appears to be moving ahead. They anticipate that it will take four years to cover the entire country. Coverage at this scale will also require a large number of CD-ROMs. The Global Land Information System is a computer system developed by USGS to aid researchers in finding Earth science data. GLIS mostly contains descriptive information, availability and ordering instructions. But, some actual data is located on the GLIS, as well. For further information call 1-800-252-GLIS. A prototype of the Geographic Names Information System has been received at USGS. The software is proprietary and pricing information is not yet available. The USGS now distributes Defense Mapping Agency topographic products. Look for a new DMA/USGS catalog soon. Also, the USGS plans to issue new one page indexes for its own topographic products. Finally, a new exhibition, Visual Geography, will begin touring in March. The exhibit features the history of maps in various fields such as transportation and health care. For scheduling information call 202-783-7200. Melissa Lamont University of Virginia Susan E. Tulis Phone 804/924-3504 University of VA, Law Library Fax 804/982-2232 580 Massie Road Internet set7c@virginia.edu Charlottesville, VA 22903-1789 Bitnet set7c@virginia.bitnet