GPO recalls of depository documents A review

Since the very early 1980s, various government agencies have increasingly issued requests to depository libraries directly or through the Government Printing Office (GPO) to destroy or return certain distributed documents. This article cites recalled documents and explores the reasons for their recall. Most recalls fall into one of five problem categories: military security, administrative and operational security, falsified data, outright censorship, and environmental security. Specific reasons for recall are seldom given and must be inferred by examining specific titles. Librarians have shown little published interest in the subject of recalls, but an informal survey indicated general compliance with the recall requests. The GPO also has said little except to ask agencies to direct the recalls through the federal Depository Library Program. It is concluded that the GPO should take a more active role in reviewing agencies' requests, since many recall requests have been of doubtful value, and that government documents librarians should assess recalls on a case-by-case basis.     

OCLC records for federal depository documents: A preliminary investigation

A representative sample of 300 printed monographs and analyzed serials distributed to depository libraries was searched in the OCLC online system to determine when, how, and by whom depository documents are likely to be cataloged. Particular attention was paid to differences between dates of distribution and cataloging for sales publications, for all titles cataloged by the Government Printing Office, and for those cataloged by the Library of Congress. Patterns relating to document distribution as well as to cataloging practices were discernible from survey results and are presented here. Major findings may be summarized as follows: 1) not all depository monographs are cataloged by the Government Printing Office; 2) sales publications are cataloged quickly, often before distribution by GPO; 3) the quality of cataloging records for depository documents available on OCLC is generally high; 4) the Library of Congress catalogs relatively few depository documents and is comparatively slow to do so; and 5) many different types of OCLC member libraries catalog federal depository documents, often before GPO does. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future changes in documents cataloging policies among depository libraries, and argues for greater inclusion of documents records in the many online, public-access catalogs currently being planned or used.     

A new order of things: The political future of documents librarians and a national system of federal depository libraries

This article places the efforts of documents librarians to reform the Federal Depository Library Program (DLP) in an historical and political perspective. As with many other earlier efforts of reform, the recent “Reinventing Access to Federal Government Information,” held in October 1993, would raise doubts, once again, about the public institutions and national information policy arrangements that support the Government Printing Office and its DLP. The specific reforms calling for centralized information should be abandoned. The depository library system's political power and public convictions were never fully expressed through the program's various national administrative incarnations. Its true community purpose flows from the local conditions and information needs of each depository library community. Democratic distribution of public information must begin and end within these local areas and regions.     

关于已公开现行文件资料收集工作的现状及思考

作者对南充市现行文件资料服务中心运行两年来存在的问题与如何强化已公开现行文件资料的收集工作提出了自己的看法。     

我馆地方文献的征集与管理

本文结合实际，阐述了本馆地方文献征集和管理工作的几点做法和体会，即：牢固树立地方文献意识；明确地方文献征集范围，重点内容；广开地方文献征集渠道，拓宽征集途径；对征集的地方文献进行科学规范的管理．     

图书馆应重视网络环境下非购入文献的收集

针对图书馆非购入文献的特点及非购入文献的特殊意义,指出了非购入文献收集中的难点、问题。提出了加强非购入文献工作的对策和开发新的来源渠道的方法。     

The road to service standards in a government documents collection: The methodology of surveying

According to U.S. Vice President Albert Gore’s From Red Tape to Results: Creating A Government That Works Better & Costs Less, the way to cut expenses in the United States government is to establish service standards for federal agencies that deal with customers. Surveying customers was one of the steps to reach this goal. With this in mind, MetroDocs, an organization of the metropolitan Oklahoma City depository libraries, formed a committee to establish service standards for the Oklahoma depository libraries. The libraries conducted a survey, the results of which revealed that customers were generally happy with the libraries’ services, but that there was still room for improvement. This survey inaugurated MetroDocs’ quest for service standards.     

Managing collection development in university libraries that utilize librarians with dual-responsibility assignments

Heavy work loads, lack of administrative support, and innate difficulties in the work of collection building, lead many collection development librarians who have part-time or dual-responsibility assignments to feel that something is inherently wrong with this way of organizing and staffing collection development. While there are many difficulties associated with part-time assignments, they can be corrected by developing effective organizations for collection development, selecting librarians who are suited to this kind of work, and improving the management of collection development. This paper examines these problems and discusses specific actions that will reduce or eliminate them.     

图书馆的联合国文献收藏工作概览

从地域分布的角度较为详细地对我国21所联合国文献托存图书馆的收藏工作进行了介绍,阐述了我国各托存图书馆现状,并对第一次中国联合国托存图书馆馆员培训研讨会作了简单介绍。     

The GPO and the depository library program as structured are needed: Views of a selective depository librarian

This article addresses issues previously discussed as perceived problems with the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the Government Printing Office (GPO) relative to a floundering program, electronic capabilities, costs to participating libraries, inept and inefficient service, and accountability requirements. The author believes that unfavorable images have resulted and been used by various advocacy groups in their arguments intended to bring the GPO, the FDLP and program libraries into a disadvantaged position. Such issues may have a bearing on whether the institution at which this writer is employed will continue to have the opportunity to participate as a depository library.     

Managing an INNOVACQ Conversion Project

This paper describes the planning and preparation that preceded the selection and installation of INNOVACQ at Yale Law Library.     

Managing an Academic Reference Department

Abstract

To be an effective academic head of reference in the 21st century will require many of the same characteristics and skills necessary in the 20th century. While the traditional ways of providing reference services are changing, the fundamental need to provide access to information remains, and effective utilization of staff and other resources is paramount. Balancing the increasing pressures from shrinking budgets, growing costs, proliferation of expensive electronic resources, and high expectations from faculty and students creates a greater need for strong management expertise. The head of reference must be both an exceptional manager and an exceptional librarian.