ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program Vol. 18, no. 09 GP 3.16/3-2:18/09 June 15, 1997 Readers Exchange Reaching Out: To Other Depositories, Your Community, Your Congress by Irene Herold Hewes Library Monmouth College Monmouth, Illinois [This is an edited and updated version of an article that first appeared in the March 1996, Volume 24, No. 1, Documents to the People, titled "A Congressional District Level Documents Group: Empowerment at the Grassroots," by Irene Herold, Robert Conklin, Charlet Key, Tiina Kurman and Sheila Nollen.] You might ask yourself, what do a public library, a community college, a private four-year liberal arts college and a mid-sized public university have in common? They are all members of the 17th U.S. Congressional District in the State of Illinois, and they are all Federal depository libraries. These widely different libraries have found common ground through group meetings, helping each other through recent depository library inspections, teaching each other about emerging technologies and resources in the Federal Depository Library Program, assisting patrons better through understanding the individual institutions' collections and services, and garnering the attention of our local Member of Congress and his staff. In the fall of 1993, Irene Herold, a second-year public services librarian in charge of Federal documents at Monmouth College, contacted Sheila Nollen, head of government publications at Western Illinois University in Macomb, about arranging for a site visit. Ms. Nollen suggested including the documents librarian, Robert Conklin, from Galesburg Public Library in Galesburg. This first gathering proved very informative and useful for the attendees. They toured the government publications floor, discussed common concerns, especially an upcoming, but yet-to-be-scheduled Federal depository library inspection, and what that would mean in terms of preparation, and decided to create a Union List of documents for the three depositories. They discussed having a meeting every quarter with the site rotating among the libraries, and inviting Charlet Key from Black Hawk College, in Moline, to the next meeting, so all of the Federal depository libraries from the 17th Illinois U.S. Congressional District would be present. Thus started the 17th U.S. Congressional District Federal Depository Librarians Group, or the Group for short. During the next few years, the Group started preparing for Federal depository library inspections and then completed them. The Group co-wrote brochures about depository materials on the topics of history, education, business, tax, statistics, travel, nutrition and consumer information, besides one on what is a depository in general. Several group members distributed these brochures in the community. Ms. Herold spoke at a local junior high about the depository, using the brochures as visual aids, while Ms. Nollen used them with the League of Women Voters and Business and Professional Women. When visiting each library during the course of the year, demonstrations were given of electronic depository products and Internet access--first, telnet and gopher sites, later of Web sites. Each library has had slightly different Internet access, and being able to see what could be done encouraged other libraries to utilize available resources. Cooperative housing agreements were made between the group members, and nondepository products that index depository information have been demonstrated. When Ms. Herold went on an unexpected leave two months before Monmouth's Federal depository library inspection in May of 1995, the interim library director attended the Group. Because of the cooperation and collaboration of the previous year and a half, the other Group members were able to assist him in completing the draft self-study in preparation for the inspection. As part of their outreach, the Group decided to inform, by sending meeting minutes, and invite the 17th U.S. Congressional District Representative and his staff to the meetings. After a year of invitations, two staff from the Member of Congress local office now attend the meetings, usually at a rate of one or two a year. The Group has discussed with these staff what depository libraries are and can provide in the way of printed and electronic materials. The staff members were impressed with the Internet access, and expressed that they had not realized how much information was available through the World Wide Web. Staff members in later meetings have also expressed their appreciation about knowing what is available in the depository libraries in their district so they can redirect constituents appropriately. They have stated that being at the Group's meeting has been useful to them. Lane Evans, the 17th U.S. Congressional District Representative, visited Monmouth College in August of 1996, toured the depository operation and held a joint press conference with Ms. Herold to discuss the impact of a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program. This press conference was covered by three local newspapers and two local radio stations. Others who have attended the Group's meetings include the documents coordinator from the regional at the Illinois State Library. The Group has decided that it has been very useful to meet and that they will continue the quarterly meetings, even though the next depository library inspection, which was a driving force in the creation of the Group, will be far in the future. There have been many benefits to the individual librarians and libraries that constitute the Group. For further information about starting your own group, please contact Irene Herold at Irene@wpoff.monm.edu.