ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program Vol. 18, no. 08 GP 3.16/3-2:18/08 May 15, 1997 Eight Short Weeks at LPS Remarks by Gil Baldwin Chief, Library Division Library Programs Service U.S. Government Printing Office Depository Library Council Federal Depository Conference Monday, April 14, 1997 Arlington, VA Introduction Good morning, everyone. This morning we have seven GPO speakers in a rather limited period of time, so we will concentrate on what has happened in the eight short weeks since we last presented GPO updates at the midwinter ALA meeting. I hope that those of you who couldn't be at ALA have had an opportunity to read our presentations on GPO Access or in the pages of Administrative Notes. For these sessions, where there is so much to cover, we look to Administrative Notes, GPO Access, and GOVDOC-L as our own "Extension of Remarks" section. LPS Renovations If you come to visit the Library Programs Service this week, you will catch us in the midst of our office renovation. Our space in the main GPO building, which was so bright and shiny when we moved from our Virginia location in 1985, has become rather soiled and tattered. So we're getting new carpet and a new paint job, and even some new office partitions. More important from a functional point of view, we've been getting wired. Network cable is being installed to connect us to the GPO network, and give us fast connections to the Internet. We're also getting an updated telephone system, with voice mail. Of course this means changes, not just for our staff, but for you as well. Our e-mail addresses will change from the "access-dot-digex- dot-net" you're familiar with to the "gpo-dot-gov" domain. This transfer will take place over a period of months, and we'll announce the changes as we proceed. If you've ever tried to renovate your libraries while you're still in place and operating, you know what we've been facing. We've had to find alternate locations for our staffs, while doing our best to keep the work moving. In the next few months, all of the cataloging staff and the several of our managers will be relocating to temporary quarters on another floor while the recarpeting and rewiring is done. Electronic Transition Staff Much of our progress in the electronic area has come thanks to our Electronic Transition Staff, or ETS. In a few minutes Sandy Schwalb of ETS will update you on some developments in that area, but right now I'd like Lee Morey and Joe Paskoski to stand and be recognized. Joe is the spiritual father of the "FDLP Administration Page" on our Web site, and Lee will doing a Pathway services demonstrations three times this week, and I hope you'll take the time to attend one of her sessions. Lee has also been managing the recruitment of volunteers to work with us to develop the "Pathway Topics" pages. This has been going very well, and we now have at least 17 volunteers working on 18 topics. At least six of the topics are up and running, with appropriate kudos to the authors, and Lee will show you some during the demonstrations. Unfortunately, our visiting ETS experts, Duncan Aldrich and Sandy can only stay with us one year, and the clock is running. So we're looking for two people to fill one-year appointments as Electronic Transition Specialists to work on projects pertaining to GPO's ongoing transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The two specialists will work on projects directly involved in the creation, dissemination, bibliographic control, use, or permanent public accessibility of electronic Government information products. Some of these projects are continuing efforts, and some will be new ones initiated in response to emerging opportunities. During the next year we expect the focus of these two positions to be on: * outreach and liaison activities, both with Federal publishing agencies and depository libraries, for the purpose of establishing partnerships to bring additional electronic products into the FDLP. * an intensive review of LPS' cataloging program and operations, in order to function more effectively in the Internet/World Wide Web environment, and to determine if a commercial, off-the-shelf local cataloging system software can support the LPS cataloging operation, * acting as the principal point of contact for the "Assessment of Standards" project now underway with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), and to * continue efforts with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to advance the permanent access initiatives authorized by the "storage facility" component of the GPO Access Act. NARA Issues We are continuing our talks with NARA on several issues, among them how GPO could work with them to provide permanent access to Government information products. The essence of our questions concern how our plans to provide library-like access to a growing remote electronic collection might complement NARA's plans to preserve electronic information in the National Archives of the United States. For more insight into these topics, I invite you to attend the session on Thursday morning at 8:30 on "Preservation Planning for Permanent Access" with staff from the Library of Congress and NARA. Some other issues which we are discussing with NARA involve standards for the long-term preservation of electronic content, and the possible recognition of GPO as a NARA "affiliated archive" for electronic content on GPO Access. I believe these are critical issues for our Program, and clearly this is a topic on many minds. Indeed, the de facto theme of this Conference appears to be permanent access. Revising Workstation Specifications Lee Morey has also been working on revising the "Recommended Minimum Specifications for Public Access Work Stations in Federal Depository Libraries," which was last updated about a year ago. We have gotten a number of comments on the draft, and I'm sure you've seen some of the discussion on GOVDOC-L. There are two main issues which have emerged. The first is that the draft specifications are raising the bar pretty high. Some felt that the draft specifications are far more than "minimum." On the other hand, they are still not optimum or state-of-the-art, either. What we are trying to do is to fall somewhere in the middle, providing a recommendation for a solid investment in computer equipment which will serve your library for several years before obsolescence. When we finalize the specifications, we plan to drop the descriptor "minimum." We have the draft specifications here on a handout for your review and comments, and we're keeping the comment period open through the end of April. Electronic Service Requirement The other issue concerns the distinction between the workstation specifications, which are only an evolving set of recommendations, versus the electronic service requirement, which continues unchanged. To recap the service requirement, every depository is expected to be able to offer public access to electronic information made available through the FDLP. As stated in the "Guidelines for the Federal Depository Library Program:" Appropriate hardware and software must be provided for public users accessing electronic information available through the Federal Depository Library Program (e.g. CD-ROMs, on-line databases, etc.). This hardware and software should include computer work stations capable of providing Internet (read Web) access that requires GILS-aware software, CD-ROM readers, and printers. This functional statement regarding electronic information access became a FDLP requirement effective October 1, 1996. During a depository library inspection, or during the self-study process, a functional approach should be used to determine compliance with this requirement. We must focus on the depository library's ability to provide public access to electronic FDLP information. The method, including the computer hardware, selected by the depository library to meet this public access requirement is a local determination. For example, public access to Government information provided via the Internet may be provided either through mediated searches, or by allowing members of the public to use depository library work stations on their own. In making such decisions, depository librarians should bear in mind the "rule of thumb" that services associated with FDLP information products should be at the same level as those accorded to products which are purchased for the library's collection. "Core Documents of Democracy" on GPO Access A new project that we've been scoping out is called "Core Documents of Democracy;" a basic electronic depository collection, one which will provide American citizens direct online access to the essential Federal Government documents that define our democratic society. The core documents collection will provide ready access from any school, home, or office desktop to the basic documentation of the United States, at no cost to the user. It should include documents currently produced in digital formats as well as important older materials that will need to be digitized. Where appropriate, the core documents collection will point to content at other official Government sites, for example at the National Archives' Web site. A basic assumption of this proposal is that development and implementation of the collection will take several years. The proposal is inherently open-ended, and the time frame will be governed by the availability of resources, both human and financial. LPS has developed a provisional collection from lists of major FDLP products compiled in several previous projects, such as the list of core documents which appeared in the 1996 Strategic Plan. We've put together a Web page mockup to give you an idea of what might be included as a starting point, and we welcome your thoughts on either the concept or the specifics. I welcome Council's consideration of this proposal, and your advice on its overall desirability. Once a decision on the proposal is finalized, both the Council and ALA/GODORT will be consulted for input on refining the provisional list of titles. This input could also assist in setting priorities for the order in which titles will be added to the core documents collection. Conclusion Thank you for coming this morning. Please feel free to ask any of us any questions which are on your mind - we'll be around all week. At this point, I'll turn it over to Robin Haun-Mohamed, Chief of our Depository Administration Branch.