ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES NEWSLETTER OF THE FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Vol. 19, no. 07 GP 3.16/3-2:19/07 May 15, 1998 RECENT HAPPENINGS IN THE DEPOSITORY ADMINISTRATION BRANCH REMARKS BY ROBIN HAUN-MOHAMED Chief, Depository Administration Branch Before the Depository Library Council and Federal Depository Conference Monday, April 20, 1998 Arlington, VA Good morning! On behalf of the staff of the Depository Administration Branch, I am pleased to be here to address Council and relate the activities of the Branch over the past 6 months. I would like to begin with service issues and then move to a short product summary. askLPS On April 6, 1998, Library Programs Service inaugurated askLPS, a multi-faceted service located on GPO Access designed to expedite the submission of inquiries and enhance communication to appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is designed for use by depository staff and the general public. It represents a true cross-section of GPO talents as staff from the Depository Administration Branch, the Electronic Transition Staff, Depository Services, the office automation talents of the LPS Director's Office, and GPO Production all cooperated maximally to produce what we think is a superior, interactive product. I thank Council for their assistance with askLPS, especially Julia Wallace who has given us feedback on the service from the beginning. The URL for askLPS is . There are five components to askLPS: 1) the Inquiry Form; 2) WEBTech Notes; 3) FAQs and News; 4) FDLP Contacts; and 5) Federal Depository Library Directory. The inquiry form has two versions. One form is password protected for use exclusively by depository librarians. The alternate form is not password protected and is designed for use by members of the public. Inquiries submitted to askLPS will receive an automatic e-mail response acknowledging receipt of the inquiry. Priority will be given to inquiries received electronically over inquiries received via paper, fax or phone. WEBTech Notes Another component of askLPS is WEBTech Notes, a searchable database containing postings to Administrative Notes and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, retrospective to 1991. WEBTech Notes is designed to be an interactive, online resource for depository librarians to query the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. WEBTech Notes consists of information from the four major columns, the Classification/Cataloging Update; the Update to the List of Classes, Miscellaneous; Update to the List of Classes, New Item Numbers; and Whatever Happened To... ? WEBTech Notes cumulates on a weekly basis. It provides access to information far in advance of the paper issuance of the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement. DAB also provides a .dbf version of WEBTech Notes available for downloading on the Federal Bulletin Board at: . FAQs and News FAQs and News is a listing of answers to frequently asked questions from the depository community. It also includes an area for announcements that have been posted in the past on the GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly, or more frequently as needed. FDLP Contacts The FDLP Contacts page is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general areas of responsibility. The e-mail links to LPS staff are imbedded in the page. Federal Depository Library Directory The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO directory of Federal depository libraries. This SGML database contains information from the PAMALA database (which is maintained by staff in Depository Services). Each library's Item Lister file is also linked to the library's directory information. Library staff are encouraged to make corrections to their directory entries via a password-protected form also located off this page. Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQ & News weekly postings before submitting their inquiry form to askLPS, as the question may already have been researched and the response posted in the database. Because the information is loaded into the database on a weekly basis, the answer to the inquiry will be available via the WEBTech Notes several weeks before the printed Administrative Notes Technical Supplement is available in the libraries. Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or regular mail. Fax inquiry forms will continue to be an important mechanism for providing additional information necessary for the completion of an inquiry (such as photocopies of title pages, introductory pages, etc.). LPS will attempt to answer the askLPS inquiries within ten business days. However, users may receive an intermediate answer pending receipt of additional information from other government agencies. By focusing on one route for inquiries, LPS expects that it should be able to track inquiries more effectively and alleviate the duplication of effort associated with inquiry research. There are two askLPS demonstrations being given by Joe Paskoski during this conference. The first is Tuesday, from 3:45-5:00 p.m., and the second is Wednesday morning from 10:30-12:00. Both will be held in the Rappahannock Room. If you haven't yet had the chance to use the askLPS service, please take a few moments to review the site listed on the DAB handout. LPS thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. Please send any suggestions for changes or improvement of the service to me, or use the new e-mail address, . We look forward to comments and suggestions on askLPS from the librarians in the Federal depository library community. Documents Data Miner Another electronic service to assist in the operation of a Federal depository library is also now available. The Documents Data Miner is a collection management tool which features a field searchable List of Classes, a field searchable Discontinued Item List, complete depository profiles and union lists, and a searchable library directory. Documents Data Miner was developed through a service partnership between the University Libraries at Wichita State University (WSU) and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The Federal Depository Library Program is pleased to join with WSU and NIAR to offer access to the Documents Data Miner, which is available at . Documents Data Miner is a very powerful tool. For example, I wanted to research materials selected by a specific depository. The Angelo M. Iacoboni Library in Lakewood, California, (where I worked in my first position in a library) continues to be dear to my heart. When I searched Documents Data Miner using their depository number and the word "Journal," the Data Miner returned a listing of ten records with item number, SuDocs class number, title, agency, format and frequency that are selected by Iacoboni. You can learn more about this exciting new service in "Collection Management Using the Documents Data Miner," one of the sessions this afternoon from 3:45 to 5:00 in the Farragut Room. Union List of Item Selections The Union List of Item Selections is now available for download in an ASCII comma delimited format on the Federal Bulletin Board (FBB). It is updated on a monthly basis on the same time frame as the List of Classes and Item Lister (the first Friday of each month). The location of the Union List file is also included on the DAB handout. For those wishing to learn more about the Federal Bulletin Board, its history, and how it works, please attend one of the two FBB sessions, "The FBB, Helpful Hints in Its Use." The first session will be held today from 2:00-3:15 and the second is scheduled for Wednesday, also from 2:00-3:15. Both will be held in Dewey III. USGS Automatic Sendings Lists The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in Word Perfect 6.0 format. We are working with our shipping list partners at SUNY Buffalo, the University of Texas-Arlington, and the USGS to find a better way to post this information with a minimum amount of intervention. If you have any specific comments or suggestions on these files, please contact me directly. And again, the location of the shipping list files is given on the DAB handout. FDLP products Let me move to the FDLP product update. Copies of the 1997 World Factbook were distributed to libraries in paper format on Shipping List 98-0020-S, dated March 11, 1998. Copies of the 1997 CD-ROM were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0036-E, dated March 20, 1998. The instructions on the CD-ROM product were incomplete, but additional instructions have been posted on the askLPS FAQs and News site. And we will distribute the instructions in a printed format as soon as we receive them from the agency. The House Commerce Committee has published Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to the Committee's Hearing on the Proposed Tobacco Settlement. Both the committee print in paper, and the supporting documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all libraries on Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998. LPS has received copies of numbers 16 and 17 of the FBIS on CD-ROM series. They were distributed to libraries on Shipping List 98-0043-E dated April 9, 1998. Disc number 18 has not yet been released from the agency, but it will be distributed to the libraries once we receive the copy for replication. The CIA has recently declassified publications on the Bay of Pigs. The report, "Inspector General's Survey of the Cuban Operation and Associated Documents" has been acquired for distribution through the FDLP. These publications were prepared in 1962. They have been classed under PREX 3.2: C 89/PT. 1 & 2, item 0856-A-02. LPS contacted the CIA to ask for paper copies, but we were unable to obtain sufficient copies for distribution to the libraries as very few were printed. The agency did provide a copy for conversion to microfiche format. They will be sent to the libraries in the very near future. LPS and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring the NIMA products back into GPO for distribution on the lighted bin system. For several years we have been working with NIMA, the agency formerly known as the Defense Mapping Agency, to have the library sendings profile at the agency match the library item selection profile of the Depository Distribution Information System (DDIS). They have been unable to make the necessary programming changes and with the shift in distribution location to the Defense Logistics Agency, the time was right to bring the material back into GPO for distribution. By early May, libraries should begin to see the NIMA materials arrive from GPO in separates shipments and through the boxes. Survey 98-001 closed March 30, 1998. We had a response rate of 94% to this first on-line only survey. I congratulate the depository community on this unprecedented response to a survey. Here are the survey numbers: 325 libraries elected to receive the Title Pages/Table of Contents for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. 359 libraries elected to receive the new CASSIS CDROM product. And 990 libraries have selected to receive the paper Periodical Supplement. Look forward to a new survey in the very near future for the GAP Analysis CD-ROM by USGS. Again, my congratulations to all on a job well done! The 1998 Periodical Supplement has been distributed to libraries, but while it was listed correctly on the shipping list, it was not distributed under the new item number, but under the item number for the paper Monthly Catalog. There is a significant difference between these counts (350 vs. 990). Please bear with us while we obtain additional stock and redistribute the paper Periodical Supplement to all libraries responding to Survey 98-001. Fugitive Documents Researching and acquiring fugitive documents continues to be a focus in DAB. Searching for a new product is very time intensive and often the results are less than satisfactory. One of the first problems we encounter is the definition of a government document. Case in point is the recent picture in the Washington Post showing the new CD-ROM tour of the White House. LPS staff verified this is not a government document and will not be distributed through the FDLP. LPS was advised by a depository librarian, Dennis Ladd of Southwestern University Law Library, that many of the Tax Court Memos from the period 1983-1990 have not been received through the Program. LPS staff contacted the Tax Court, who provided LPS with copies of the Tax Court Memorandum Decisions (volumes 52-59) because the slips were no longer available. LPS in turn contacted the publisher of the bound volumes to obtain permission to convert this material to microfiche format for distribution to the libraries. Credit will be acknowledged with each volume with a permission statement from the publisher, Research Institute of America. Yet another example is the FED LOG CD-ROM Basic. In this case the product, according to the agency, is "For Official Use Only " and is "classified and 'self-sustaining'." Copies will not be coming through the FDLP. DAB Role in Transition In many ways, the remarkable people of the Depository Administration Branch interact with others in LPS, EIDS, and indeed, with all of GPO and others throughout the Federal government, to identify and acquire government information products for the libraries of the Federal Depository Library Program. As staff in the libraries have been transitioning to electronic resources, so have we in DAB. We have learned so much in a very short time. I am pleased to publicly acknowledge the progress of the DAB staff in not only taking on new duties, but also in working with all others of LPS, EIDS, and GPO Production to ensure government information is made available to the libraries. In addition to classification and acquisition of tangible information products, DAB is also responsible for searching, identifying and classifying new on-line Internet sites. The assignment and maintenance of the PURLs for all new Browse Electronic Titles (BET) entries is also a DAB responsibility. DAB staff also perform the weekly maintenance of existing URLs on the Browse Electronic Titles pages: identifying dead links, locating the new URL for dead links, and modifying the BET pages accordingly. Coordination of the conversion of printed documents to microfiche format for the FDLP libraries and the International Exchange Service libraries falls under the authority of the Micrographics Control Section. DAB staff are also responsible for many of the publications and tools depository librarians frequently use. Examples include everyday duties such as shipping list preparation (electronic and paper), update and maintenance of the List of Classes (electronic and paper), production of entries for the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement for paper production and updating of the WEBTech Notes on GPO Access. As you can see, the electronic transition of the FDLP has truly begun in services throughout LPS. One further example is the item selection update process. This process, which used to take so much staff time, changed significantly in 1997 and it has been a change for the better from all perspectives. The process of updating the library's item selection profile via the Web amendment form has allowed staff in DAB to focus on other duties. It of course would not be successful without the participation of the libraries' staff in making these changes online. I am so pleased with the results of last year's cycle and hope we have an equally successful update session this year. I thank Council for this opportunity to review the activities in the Depository Administration Branch and for your attention this morning.