Comparison of services for the monthly catalog of United States government publications

The following chart offers a detailed comparison of five services that offer valueadded enhancements to the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications. The fourteen points of comparison provide a preliminary assessment of these services. This information, combined with the evaluation from libraries subscribing to one or more of these services or from a preview of these services, should assist libraries in deciding which, if any, service to take.     

U.S. government (depository items)

The new frontier of electronic access was fully explored in the past year. Government agency “gophers” proliferated on the Internet, featuring a wide variety of government information previously only available in print. Likewise, many gophers at academic institutions posted significant new government reports in a timely manner. A good example is the National Performance Review's From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government that Works Better & Costs Less, which was posted on the Internet well before many depositories received their print copies. The one constant is that GPO (Government Printing Office) continues to issue publications containing valuable information. In addition to the National Performance Review, many other important reports were published by GPO this year, including those of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, the National Commission on AIDS, and the ATF Investigation of the David Koresh/Waco incident. This list does not even mention the Clinton Administration's Health Security Act and the full depository release of the Clarence Thomas Hearings. It has been a full year. The documents included in this Notable Documents issue were received by depository libraries from midyear 1993 to midyear 1994. They were selected for their general interest, lasting value, research significance, or timeliness. Most of the documents are available from the Superintendent or from one of the GPO bookstores around the country (see Monthly Catalog for a listing). Those documents that do not list a stock number or price may be available in limited quantities from the issuing agency.     

GIQ: A snapshot of the first fourteen volumes

The Discussion Forum, in the first issue (volume 1, number 1) of Government Information Quarterly (GIQ) pointed to the need for a new, high-quality, peer-reviewed journal devoted to government information policies, resources, services, and practices that would be interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary and that would attract a diverse readership and pool of contributors. That need for coverage of all levels of government, in the United States and elsewhere, has not altered since the editors of GIQ made that declaration in 1984. The journal remains committed to serving as a forum for policy and other analyses; the presentation of research findings, their implications and their practical applications; and a discussion of current policies and practices, as well as new developments.The purpose of this essay is to provide a summary profile of the contents of the first fourteen volumes. Subsequent essays in the Discussion Forum will chart future directions and the types of papers that we hope to attract and publish. For now, let me summarize GIQ's accomplishments through 14 volumes.     

The U.S. monthly catalog and the publications reference file as collection development tools

The 1991 Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications was examined using a random sample of 668 publications in order to determine what percentage of materials produced at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) were available through the depository library system, and how many of those were offered through the Sales Division via the Publications Reference File (PRF). It was found that 98 percent of publications (655 titles) in the Monthly Catalog were depository items. The remaining two percent (13 titles) are discussed as an indicator of what was not available through the depository system. It was also found that only nine percent of the publications (62 titles) in the Monthly Catalog were listed as available through the Sales Division. Of that nine percent, only 60 percent (37 titles), were listed in the PRF after one year. The nature of these publications and their average prices are examined. Also discussed are the publications dropped from the PRF. A total of 293 publications were identified as available through either GPO or agency distribution, representing 44 percent of the original sample.     

Age of Aquarius—The FDLP in the 21st century

With the appointment of Bruce James as Public Printer of the United States in 2002 (confirmed by the Senate on November 20, 2002),¹ the Government Printing Office (GPO) began to forecast and plan for its future in the age of the Internet. During the spring of 2005, the Depository Library Council (DLC), an advisory body to the Public Printer, concluded it was time for depository librarians to play a more active part in envisioning the future of government information. Toward that end, DLC wrote a discussion paper, Knowledge Will Forever Govern: A Vision Statement for Federal Depository Libraries in the 21st Century, ² and with the GPO's support devoted the 2005 Fall Depository Library Council meeting to discussing and refining a vision for the future of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).     

Access to Australian Government information: A decade of change 1997–2007

Australia has a well-established history of access to government information and publications by citizens, much of it through libraries. The changes in the 1990s and 2000s with the move to electronic publishing and Internet access have led to significant changes in the accessibility of information. In 1997, the Australian Government framework for electronic delivery of information service was established by the report Management of Government Information as a National Strategic Resource. Since this report, there has been a rapid increase in the availability of government information, including government publications. There has also been an increased demand for public libraries to support access. The paper reviews establishment of the initial framework and changes in the past decade. Trends in production of government information, citizens' use of electronic Australian Government publications, satisfaction with online government services, and implications for libraries are analyzed.     

Managing Land Use and Institutional Controls with GIS

ABSTRACT

Between 1992 and 2005, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) carried out a comprehensive environmental cleanup of thirty contaminated areas and facilities. Because some of the cleanup efforts involved isolation of contamination in permanent storage (e.g., safe-storage of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or any third party's use or the results of such use of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof or its contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. of reactor components), residual low-level soil contamination, or long-term groundwater treatment to achieve cleanup goals, land use restrictions are needed to prevent human and environmental exposure to remaining contaminants that are above levels that allow unrestricted use. BNL uses a web-based geographic information system (GIS) to integrate and overlay information from databases, electronic documents and paper reports that are distributed throughout the BNL site, and to convey this information to stewards and stakeholders.     

A comparison of manual and online searching of government document indexes

The online and printed equivalents of the GPO's Monthly Catalog, the National Technical Information Service's Government Reports Announcements & Index, and Congressional Information Service's CIS Index have been examined to compare the recall, precision, overlap, and cost-effectiveness of online and manual searching. The online searches were less labor intensive and retrieved more relevant citations than the manual searches. However, a large number of citations retrieved were not duplicated in equivalent printed and online indexes.     

Electronic Government Information Dissemination

SUMMARY

The federal government, “the largest single producer, consumer, collector, and disseminator of information in the United States,”¹ has begun to disseminate most of that information electronically. Legislation and more economic production and dissemination of government information have produced changes in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and federal agency dissemination. This chapter examines the dissemination of electronic government information from the Government Printing Office (GPO) through the FDLP and executive branch agencies and discusses the impact that this has on users, libraries, and government information specialists.     

Educating Students About Global Media Regulation

As Mexico's government undertook neoliberal reforms to join the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, a number of scholars questioned the cultural consequences of closer media ties to the United States and Canada. Government officials countered that Mexico's strong identity needed no protection. This study situates the disagreement within cultural policy traditions, and examines how Mexican television broadcasting changed under globalization forces—including domestic competition, international market expansion, and new technology development—during the 1990s and early 2000s.Thestudy concludes that insufficient attention was given NAFTA's impact on Mexico's own television industry, which strongly influences culture.     

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.     

Statutory reform of the U.S. Government printing office A view from the GPO

Legislation has been introduced in the 104th Congress that would make sweeping changes to Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the authorizing laws for the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). An analysis of this legislation, which was originally provided to Congress in August 1995 during hearings before the Committee on House Oversight, shows that it would have a substantially negative impact on government printing and distribution, in terms of increasing costs and reducing public access to government information. GPO today faces three major challenges: cutting costs, expanding the dissemination of government information in electronic formats, and combatting the decentralization of federal printing and distribution activities, which increases costs and impairs public access to government information through GPO's Federal Depository Library Program. The question is whether a complete overhaul of Title 44 would be more likely to place at risk a system of cost-effective, comprehensive, and equitable public access to government information that currently serves the nation well. This article suggests that the alternative is to continue with the program of downsizing and technological innovation and to seek statutory changes that would be consistent with GPO's strategic direction and that would recognize GPO's role in the emergent information age.     

Recent literature on government information

This column was prepared from a manual scan of library and information science journals, and manual or automated searches of sources including ERIC, PAIS International in Print, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, R. R. Bowker's Books in Print, Library Literature, Current Contents: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Government Reports Announcements & Index, EPIC, and the electronic discussion group GOVDOC-L. Citations are to items published or indexed from November 1994 through April 1995, including articles, books, reports, government publications, and chapters or essays in collected works. Reviews and short news articles are omitted. Each publication is cited once under its primary topic, and annotated if the content cannot be adequately determined from the title.     

Mass Communications

“Popular Culture in America” edited by David Manning White with help from Ray Browne, Marshall Fishwick, and Russel B. Nye

Marshall Fishwick, is author of his latest, a collection of his own essays entitled Parameters of Popular Culture (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1974—cost not known, but available in cloth and paper)

J. Meredith Neil to assemble Popular Architecture (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green Popular Press, n.d., but , 1974—price not given, paper)

James Philip Danky's UndergroundS; A Union List of Alternative Periodicals in Libraries of the United States and Canada (Madison: State Historical Society of'Wisconsin, 1974—$12.95, paper)

George D. Brightbill and Wayne C. Maxon's Citation Manual for United States Government Publications (Philadelphia: Temple University's Center for the Study of Federalism, 1974—75¢, paper)     

The message of the medium: The risks and opportunities of migrating pre-electronic government information products to the Internet

During the mid-1997 to early 1999 period, a major study was undertaken by the United States National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), at the request of the Government Printing Office (GPO), entitled “Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products.” A contractor specializing in survey research, Westat, of Rockville, MD, was engaged to assist the government in the detailed data collection, interviewing, background research, and related tasks. The contractor delivered a final report to the government on March 30, 1999. On behalf of the government, NCLIS accepted the findings and recommendations, and delivered the report to all three branches of government. A limited number of hard copies are available from NCLIS. This article highlights the study's major findings, conclusions, and recommendations, their significance, and speculates on possible future actions the government could take. The major conclusion of the study was that there is a need to pinpoint overall responsibility for public information dissemination and electronic publishing at the top agency level. Presently authorities and responsibilities are unclear, uncoordinated, fragmented, and overlapping among many different agency line and staff units.     

The U.S. Government Manual in XML: A Case Study of a Data.gov Open Data Set

ABSTRACT

A central tenet of the open data movement is that, to the extent permitted by law, data—especially data collected or produced by government agencies—should be published without restrictions on access or reuse. Proponents of open data believe that unrestricted access to raw data yields many benefits to society, including increased organizational transparency, accountability, public engagement with democratic processes, and economic growth. This article presents a case study based on one of the data sets created under the federal government's open data program, an XML version of the United States Government Manual published by the Office of the Federal Register. Working with the Government Manual data set uncovered various quality issues that presented technical barriers to data reuse, despite its compliance with open data principles of formatting and licensing. This experience raises questions about the purported link between open data and its promised benefits, which I discuss within the wider context of critiques of open data.     

Information on Native Americans in U.S. Government Publications

Abstract

This article is a selective annotated list of print and electronic sources that provide information on Native Americans and the United States Government. While most of these are issued by the federal agencies, there are also some commercially published works that cover government resources or describe and interpret federal activities. The bibliography is arranged in broad subject areas; headings include finding tools, federal policy, federal laws and regulations, treaties, statistics, history and culture, and contemporary issues.     

Implications of harmonizing the future of the federal depository library program within e-government principles and policies

For more than 150 years, the United States Government Printing Office (GPO), along with its Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), has supported an informed citizenry and democracy by ensuring access and preservation to a broad swath of federal government information. This collaborative national public information program between local libraries and the national government, if it is to survive beyond its second century of service, must overcome profound challenges within a rapidly evolving complex of e-government policies and principles. The FDLP can (and must) find a way to serve its traditional values – permanent and public access to government information – that allows for growth and change within the demands of a dynamic electronic environment between the governors and the governed.     

信息资源管理研究的多重视角及其共同体的形成（Ⅰ）——政府IRM研究图景

多领域介入和多视角展开是信息资源管理研究的特点之一。政府、企业和情报学界分别代表了其三种主要研究视角。在政府研究领域,美国《文书削减法》及A-130号通报相辅相成,贯穿于美国政府信息资源管理发展之中。政府战略IRM和电子政府是政府IRM演化的两大方向。政府IBM具有三方面的特点。     

How the GPO Got Its Groove Back

Abstract

In the last decade, the Government Printing Office has dealt with two major problems of this revolution. First, GPO has had to master the various aspects of the electronic age. Second, they have had to deal with the “under-the-gun” mentality of a government totally enamored of the “apparent” efficiency and accuracy of electronic information. GPO's struggle with these problems has been neither easy nor comfortable. From top to bottom in the government documents world nearly everyone has some degree of apprehension, misgiving, or outright suspicion concerning the future of the accessibility of government information. Despite these difficulties GPO has made important strides toward implementing the apparatus of electronic information, while at the same time striving to ensure the quality and coherency of the end product available to the nation's citizens.