Joy Weese Moll

9425 Government Publications, Professor Seavey

Fall 2004

Microsoft Word, 2002

@ your Federal Depository Library

The transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) continued to progress during FY 2003. The percentage of online titles in the FDLP increased to 65% in FY 2003. This Congressionally mandated transition should continue, with the percentage of online information expected to approach 95% by 2005.[1]

The time-honored engagements of Federal Depository Libraries have been to provide access to government documents along with expert assistance and archives. The availability of electronic documents transforms the method of access beyond recognition, but does not preclude a principal role for Federal Depository librarians who continue to take an active interest in the accessibility of government information. Electronic distribution does not reduce the need for the other two services provided by Federal Depository Libraries, expertise and preservation.

The libraries involved in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) can be considered a nation-wide consortium of libraries that specialize in government information. Cooperating as a consortium, rather than as individual libraries, Federal Depository Libraries have a louder voice to influence changes in access, a wider and deeper pool of experience to draw on for complex research questions, and a more broadly distributed base of locations for safely archiving material. The Federal Depository Library Program remains a productive and capable system for improving access to government information, providing assistance to find relevant government information, and archiving government information in both print and electronic forms.

Access

The means of access to government information has changed dramatically over the last decade, with a much-reduced role for Federal Depository Libraries. However, there are still ways that libraries and librarians in the FDLP can contribute to the quantity and quality of government information that can be accessed by citizens.

The traditional means of access to government information was to physically walk into a Federal Depository Library to read government documents. “Just 10 years ago, the FDLP distributed 100% of its items in tangible format (print, microfiche, and CD-ROMs).”[2] The wide geographic distribution of libraries in the FDLP was necessary so that relatively convenient access would be available to every citizen.

The World Wide Web has spectacularly increased the number of access points to government information. As more and more material becomes available on the Internet, every connected computer can be thought of as a depository of government information. Now the information seeker can remain in his or her home or office while the information is housed on computer servers anywhere in the country.

Search engines like Google Uncle Sam (http://www.google.com/unclesam) or FirstGov (http://www.firstgov.gov/) often take the user directly to the information they need.

This capacity of Web search engines to link Web users to government information, and the interest of federal agencies to maximize their presence in search engine indexes, definitely facilitates access to Web-based government information beyond the depository library documents department.[3]

Unfortunately, search engines sometimes fail to extract the relevant information from the morass of government material. A search engine may generate too many hits or retrieve information that has been superseded in later documents. A search engine does not provide controlled vocabulary subject tracings for further targeted research.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) has recognized the need for bibliographic control of government information in all formats in its intention to implement a National Bibliography as a comprehensive catalog.[4] With the National Bibliography, users will have a second option when search engines fail to deliver the required information. Libraries, whether or not they are in the FDLP, will be able to add selected records to their library catalogs so that, for example, a search on atomic energy policy produces government documents as well as the library’s holdings.

How can Federal Depository Libraries continue to play a role in the access of government information in an electronic information environment? They can provide feedback to GPO and other government agencies about the availability and organization of government information.

One mechanism is already in place for improving the comprehensiveness of GPO’s program of providing catalog records and Permanent URLs for web sites: the lost documents form at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/lostdocs.html. Using this facility was a major component of the recent pilot project that made the University of Arizona Library the first Virtual Depository. During the year-long pilot period, the University of Arizona “submitted 3,288 titles and non-working URLS,”[5] resulting “in several hundred electronic titles being added to the FDLP.”[6]

Federal Depository Libraries can also directly influence government agencies. As Julia Wallace reported to Congress on July 10, 2002, librarians at Federal Depository Libraries “provide feedback and expertise to Government agencies about how members of the public (who often are not the primary audience for agency publications) use government publications and assist agencies in developing information products, infrastructures, and policies for information in all formats.”[7] John Heintz argues that this does not need to be a combative process. “In fact, most government employees would prefer that information be shared, because they are proud of their work; dissemination is just not their top work priority.” Heintz goes on to provide several concrete suggestions for how librarians can proactively encourage government agencies to share information in ways that will be useful to the public, such as becoming familiar with an agency and its staff, applauding its information successes, and suggesting improvements.[8]

The FDLP, as a consortium of libraries with a commitment to government information, can encourage the inclusion of missing documents and influence agency information policies with more credibility, effectiveness, and coordination than individual libraries could as separate entities.

Expertise

While government information is more accessible than in the pre-Internet days, it is not less complicated. Patrons (and many librarians) who were afraid of the SuDoc classification scheme in the past are going to be no more adept at navigating the labyrinth of government agency, department, and branch web sites. What will an information seeker do when Google returns five thousand hits? What will the librarian assisting that user do when the National Bibliography catalog returns zero hits? They will look for a map, in the form of a subject directory at a Federal Depository Library web site, or a guide, in the form of a government information librarian at a Federal Depository Library. “Perhaps the strongest argument GPO is able to make for preserving the FDLP is that the expertise provided to citizens by expert depository personnel is a vital asset.”[9]

“Over the past several years documents librarians have created a multitude of library-based Web pages in efforts to extend their reference expertise and knowledge of information management to assist patrons in finding government information on the Web.”[10] One of the most ambitious of these sites is the Documents Center at the University of Michigan (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/). Grace York, the developer of this site, noted that while the number of hits on her site went up, the number of reference questions received by her department went down. At the same time, the remaining reference questions took longer to answer. “People who have access to the Internet are using the Internet for an initial information search but coming to the library for more complex research.”[11]

Documents librarians also serve as guides when they provide user instruction in this electronic environment where users expect to do most of their research independently. As Bert Chapman said during a panel discussion at the 2000 Federal Depository Library conference, “user instruction is probably the most important aspect of reference services in a depository library. It serves to educate users about our presence, teaches them what resources are available, and builds up a clientele of users who better understand the role of the library preserving and providing access to government information.”[12]

Besides instructing the end user, documents librarians can also train non-depository librarians. As every library becomes a depository library, by virtue of its access to government information on the Internet, all librarians have a greater need to navigate government information web sites with competence and confidence. Charles Seavey expressed this need for current government documents librarians to train other librarians at a meeting of depository librarians in the Southwest:

It is up to you, the old guard, to pass on to the rest of the newly empowered library community the knowledge and expertise that you have so carefully learned over the years. If we let your experience slip away without being passed on to others then the long time goal of documents to the people will be no closer to being realized.[13]

If depository librarians are to teach others, they will need to keep up with the rapidly changing world of government information. GPO can continue to develop the expertise of government information librarians at Federal Depository Libraries through training. The spring and fall Depository Council meeting and conference provide an infrastructure for librarians to keep abreast of changes at GPO. The annual Interagency Depository Seminar allows government information librarians to learn about information products directly from the agencies that created them.[14] Government documents librarians are committed to learning from each other by presenting and attending sessions at ALA and smaller conferences and by sharing problems and solutions on the email list server, Govdoc-L. A cadre of trained government information specialists in a visible consortium of Federal Depository Libraries is a strong force to apply for a citizen faced with a complex web of government information sources.

Archives

For over a hundred years, Federal Depository Libraries have housed government publications in many locations across the country. While generally not kept in archival settings, the majority of documents remain in usable condition. If a volume of the Serial Set disappeared from one library, other libraries would still have their copies. Even a disaster that wiped out a collection at one library would not mean a total loss of government information.

GPO’s current plans for a fully electronic Federal Depository Library Program do not include archiving roles for all libraries in the system. According to the most recent draft of Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection, “archival servers are operated by GPO, by GPO partners, and by third parties operating under contractual agreements.”[15] However, distributed archives of government information continue to be necessary in the digital era. Computer servers can be washed away in flash floods.[16] Computer hackers or cyber-terrorists may target highly visible government web sites. These disasters and more could destroy files on agency web sites, access points to government networks, and the disk drives of backup data.

Geographic distribution of computer data and servers is an expensive mainstay of disaster planning.[17] Fortunately, the United States has, in place, a geographically distributed system for archiving publicly accessible government information—the Federal Depository Library Program. Every library in the program could participate in one or more of three ways, two that have been proposed by GPO and one that has not.

The first way that some Federal Depository Libraries could participate in archiving of government information is by preserving the legacy print collection in a “light archive.” A light archive is “a collection of tangible materials preserved under optimal conditions, designed to safeguard the integrity and important artifactual characteristics of the archived materials while supporting ongoing permitted use of those materials by designated constituents of the archives.”[18] Although GPO intends to digitize the legacy collection,[19] there are occasional reasons when a researcher needs the tangible artifact. Light archives would provide that access.

The second way some libraries could contribute to archiving is by becoming an active partner with GPO and/or specific government agencies. As Shuler points out, “the two concepts public agencies consistently fail to grasp as they build their new electronic files are the two librarians understand the best: organization and preservation.”[20] Librarians can provide this expertise following the examples of current GPO library partners, including “the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of North Texas to catalog and to provide access to State Department and defunct agency publications respectively.”[21]

How can a library take part in archiving government information if it does not have the physical facility to provide a light archive or the web expertise to offer an active partnership? Just as a Federal Depository Library provided shelf storage space in the past, it can now provide disk storage space for government information. Copies of government web sites and other on-line information can be stored in a system like Stanford’s LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe). With LOCKSS, a library’s server can hold a back-up copy of a web site in a cache. The users continue to be directed to the official copy at GPO Access, for example, unless that site is unavailable for some reason, in which case the LOCKSS copy will seamlessly appear. If the official site were destroyed by accident, malice, disaster, or an ill-considered desire for secrecy, the data could be recovered from one of the LOCKSS servers.[22]

Federal Depository Libraries can and should continue to perform a vital function in the archiving of the nation’s information. If events conspire to create a difficult environment for information access or distribution, government officials and ordinary citizens can count on the network of Federal Depository Libraries to contain necessary government material.

Visibility

A higher profile for the FDLP would improve its effectiveness in all three of the roles of access, expertise, and archives. Government agencies will be more responsive to librarian requests for improved access to information if they are aware of how Federal Depository Libraries contribute to the effective flow of information to the people. If Federal Depository Libraries were widely known as the habitat of government information specialists with a mission to assist the public, information seekers would know where to find guidance. Increased visibility of the archival role would mean that government officials and ordinary citizens would know to turn to a Federal Depository Library as a source for government information in an emergency.

“Federal Depository Library,” while not a household term, is a long-standing and respected brand. Like most brands, it would benefit from some effective marketing. ALA could produce a series of READ posters featuring prominent government officials with print or electronic government documents and the tagline “Find government information @ your Federal Depository Library.” Federal Depository Libraries could stamp these posters with contact information and send them to nearby libraries of all types. Government agencies could help by including a link to the GPO page for finding Federal Depository Libraries (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html) on help pages and on the results pages of all searches. Perhaps, Google could be convinced that it would be a patriotic act to add the same link to the results page of Google Uncle Sam. Each Federal Depository Library could raise its own profile by providing training for other librarians in the region and hosting instruction workshops for end users.

A more visible Federal Depository Library Program would benefit everyone involved. First and foremost, the citizens of the United States would know where to turn when they have government information needs. Second, government agencies would be saved from having to deal with every information need directly—they could count on the skillful intervention of trained librarians to handle all but the most specific and unanticipated questions. Finally, the institutions that host Federal Depository Libraries would benefit from the status of being known as providers of a widely used and respected service.

The Federal Depository Library Program is well positioned to meet the government information needs of 21^st century Americans. In order to fulfill its promise, the FDLP, and the consortium of libraries that form it, must continue to be adaptable in the changing information environment. By focusing on the core missions of access, expertise, and archives, Federal Depository Libraries can change in ways that keep them relevant and visible to the citizens of the United States. Where does a person find government information specialists who advocate for access, provide expertise, and store archives? “@ your Federal Depository Library.”

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[1]. “Information Dissemination Annual Report: Fiscal Year 2003,” Administrative Notes, 15 October 2003, 5.

[2]. David Durant, “The Federal Depository Library Program: Anachronism or Necessity?” North Carolina Libraries 62, no. 1 (2004): 30.

[3]. Duncan M. Aldrich, Gary Cornwell, and Daniel Barkley, “Changing Partnerships? Government Documents Departments at the Turn of the Millennium,” Government Information Quarterly 17, no. 3 (2000): 285.

[4]. U.S. Government Printing Office. The National Bibliography of U.S. Government Publications: Initial Planning Statement (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2004), 3.

[5]. Atifa Rawan, “Virtual Depository: Arizona Project, Final Report and Recommendations,” in Proceedings of the 12^th Annual Federal Depository Library Conference, October 19-22, 2003, by the Government Printing Office (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2003) available from http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/proceedings/03pro_rawan.txt; Internet; accessed 3 November 2004.

[6]. U.S. Government Printing Office. Information Dissemination Pilot Projects Update – October 2003 (Washington D.C.: GPO, 2003), 2.

[7]. Congress, Joint Committee on Printing. Federal Government Printing and Public Access to Government Documents, 107^th Cong., 2^nd sess., 10 July 2002; available from http://jcp.senate.gov/jcp_testimony_wallace.htm; Internet; accessed 27 October 2004.

[8]. John P. Heintz, “Migration of Government Information Products to the Internet,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 3, no. 3 (2003): 490.

[9]. George Barnum, “Availability, Access, Authenticity, and Persistence: Creating the Environment for Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information,” Government Information Quarterly 19, no. 1 (2002): 38.

[10]. Aldrich, 286.

[11]. Grace Ann York, “Out of the Basement, the Internet and Document Public Services,” in Proceedings of the 7^th Annual Federal Depository Library Conference, April 20-23, 1998, by the Government Printing Office (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1998) available from http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/proceedings/98pro45.html; Internet; accessed 14 November 2004.

[12]. Cheney, Debora, “Government Information Reference Service: New Roles and Models for the Post-Depository Era,” DttP: Documents to the People 32, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 35.

[13]. Charles A. Seavey, “Ok, Now What: Musings on the Past and Future of Government Information” (speech presented at the Five States Government Documents Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 6 August 2004).

[14]. “16^th Annual Interagency Depository Seminar Announced for May-June 2003,” FDLP Desktop (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2003); available from http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/s2003int.html; Internet; accessed 14 November 2004.

[15]. U.S. Government Printing Office. Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection: A Policy and Planning Document, Second Edition (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2004), 10.

[16]. Mike Leidemann, “Librarians Rush to Salvage Flood-Damaged Items,” Honolulu Advertiser, 2 November 2004; available from http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/02/ln/ln29p.html; Internet; accessed 14 November 2004.

[17]. John Watkins, “Justifying the Contingency Plan,” Disaster Recovery Journal (St. Louis: Systems Support Inc., 1997); available from http://www.drj.com/new2dr/w2_011.htm; Internet; accessed 15 November 2004.

[18]. U.S. Government Printing Office. Decision Framework for Federal Document Repositories (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2004), 1.

[19]. U.S. Government Printing Office. Depository Library Council Meeting Update: October 2004 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2004), 2.

[20]. John A. Shuler, “Libraries and government information: the past is not necessarily prologue,” Government Information Quarterly 19, no. 1 (2002): 6.

[21]. Heintz, 488.

[22]. “Permanent Publishing: Local Control of Content Delivered Via the Web,” LOCKSS_TM Project Descriptions (Palo Alto: Stanford University, 2004); available from http://lockss.stanford.edu/projectdescbrief.htm; Internet; accessed 3 November 2004.