ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES NEWSLETTER OF THE FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM Vol. 19, no. 07 GP 3.16/3-2:19/07 May 15, 1998 [HANDOUT] ELECTRONIC TRANSITION STAFF UPDATE Spring 1998 Depository Library Council Meeting April 20-23, 1998 LPS VIRTUAL TOUR For those who have never had an opportunity to visit GPO or would like to learn more about the operations of LPS, you can now "visit" a new Web site linked from the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Administration page. A virtual tour, in words and photos, follows the order in which tangible government information products are processed in preparation for dissemination to depository libraries: depository distribution area; lighted bins; mail manifest; acquisitions and classification; micrographics; cataloging; and depository services. In addition, there is information about the mission and operations of the Electronic Transition Staff (ETS). BROWSE TOPICS http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/dpos/pathbrws.html The initial collection of sites for almost all 160 Topics in the Subject Bibliography-based Browse Topic list is now complete. Currently there are 33 topics being maintained by volunteers in the depository and information communities. Links have been created from Topics to relevant Subject Bibliographies. Our goal is to update all Topics on at least a quarterly basis. PATHWAY INDEXER http://gather.access.gpo.gov/Harvest/brokers/Pathway/query.html We are currently maintaining our Pathway Indexer search engine of online government information using the freeware product Harvest and will continue this effort until the government-mandated Advanced Search Facility is online. This service indexes well over 160,000 Web pages from over 1380 different servers. New sites are added to the list on a daily basis. GATEWAYS Several institutions have expressed interest in Gateway status. An article in the April 15, 1998 Administrative Notes outlines GPO's objectives for the Gateways initiative and gives a step-by-step view of how to proceed. Input from the existing Gateways assisted in developing this document and redefining the Gateways initiative. WEB ACTIVITIES ETS continues to work with other staff from LPS, Electronic Information Dissemination Service (EIDS) and GPO's Production Department on a number of Web projects. They include: the completed Web Biennial Survey, the just concluded Web item selection Survey, and askLPS, a Web-based inquiry and answer module for the depository community to communicate with LPS staff. FDLP ELECTRONIC COLLECTIONS LPS continues to monitor and provide feedback on an effort by the U.S. Information Agency and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives to create a Foreign Affairs Documentation Center that would collect online foreign affairs documents on a government-wide basis and provide both access (through permanent resource locators) and authentication (through digital signatures) to those documents. The Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) will roll out a depository library version of its electronic dissemination system, "Information Bridge," during the April depository conference. This gateway will provide a public view to the more than 15,000 reports produced by DOE/OSTI annually. The FDLP/ERIC Digital Library Pilot Project will be rolled out at the April conference and make public domain reports available from ERIC to depositories. Previously provided to the FDLP in microfiche, reports from January 1997 forward will be converted to TIFF image format and stored at OCLC. This pilot will provide the project participants with useful information on managing a large, high-demand electronic collection. The full pilot group of 300 libraries should have access to the products by July. There is an addition to GPO's Core Documents of Democracy. Titled, "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873," it is from the Library of Congress Web site and can be found at: . PARTNERSHIPS Wichita State University has joined GPO in a service partnership with their Documents Data Miner product that brings together data from various Library Programs Service administrative databases to create a searchable List of Classes, directory of depositories, and other features. Discussions continue with several agencies and institutions for new content partnerships. Staff from LPS will be meeting with representatives from U. S. Geological Survey and the Cartographic Users Advisory Council during the April conference with an eye toward possible partnerships.