ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES NEWSLETTER OF THE FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Vol. 19, no. 07 GP 3.16/3-2:19/07 May 15, 1998 [HANDOUT] DEPOSITORY ADMINISTRATION BRANCH UPDATE Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting April 20-23, 1998 ASKLPS On April 6, 1998, LPS inaugurated askLPS, a feature of GPO Access designed to expedite the submission of inquiries and enhance communication to appropriate LPS personnel. askLPS is an electronic service available via the World Wide Web and will be available to the public user as well as the depository community. The askLPS home page is located at , or you can e-mail your question to . There are five components to askLPS: * The Inquiry Form provides two versions of the inquiry form. 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 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, a searchable database containing postings to Administrative Notes and the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement (retrospective to 1991). There is also a version of this database available (in .dbf format) for downloading located on the Federal Bulletin Board at . * 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 previously posted on the GOVDOC-L listserv. Users can expect this to be updated weekly or more frequently as needed. * The FDLP Contacts is a "one-stop shopping" roster of LPS personnel and their general areas of responsibility. * The Federal Depository Library Directory is a searchable database of the official GPO directory of Federal depository libraries. Depository libraries may submit corrections to their directory entries via a password-protected form. LPS will attempt to answer inquiries within ten business days. However, users may experience situations in which an intermediate answer will be conveyed pending receipt of more information from other government agencies. Inquiries received via askLPS will be given priority over inquiries submitted via fax, phone, or regular mail. Fax 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.). 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. Users are encouraged to check WEBTech Notes and the FAQs & News weekly postings before submitting their inquiry, as the question may already have been researched and the response posted to the database. LPS thanks you in advance for your patience as we begin this new service. We look forward to comments and suggestions on askLPS from the librarians in the Federal depository library community. ELECTRONIC SERVICES The Documents Data Miner (DDM) is a collection management tool which supports the creation of in-house relational databases. It features a field searchable List of Classes, a field searchable Discontinued Item List, complete depository profiles and union lists, and a searchable library directory. DDM was developed through a partnership between 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 DDM at . 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. Location: The most recent additions to the electronic shipping list files available on the FBB are the USGS Automatic Sendings Lists. These are posted in WordPerfect 6.0 format as received from the USGS. They are located at . NEW PRODUCTS 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. Additional instructions have been posted on GOVDOC-L, in askLPS FAQs & News, and sent in shipment boxes. Committee Print 105-P, Documents Relating to the Committee's Hearing on the Proposed Tobacco Settlement: both paper print and documentation on CD-ROM were distributed to all libraries on Shipping List 98-0161-P, dated March 3, 1998.