Ohio Regional Depositories: Moving from Warehousing Separate Collections to Servicing Shared Collections

In Ohio, the space needs of campus libraries are changing just as book depositories are filling up. In response to this situation, the university libraries are re-examining the depositories to see if the space can be used even more efficiently, the funding distributed more predictably, and the services standardized and expanded. The Northeastern Ohio Cooperative Regional Library Depository has a plan to rethink the space in the depository, redefine the collection housed there in terms of ownership and access, and to repurpose the depository from a warehouse model to a service-centered model. The Northeastern Ohio Regional Library Depository plan and its anticipated role in changing the way that contributing libraries statewide assess depository collections and provide for access to those collections is the focus of this paper.     

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).     

The NEOUCOM Cooperative Cataloging Service: development and review of the first four years

The Basic Medical Sciences Library of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) provided a Cooperative Cataloging Service to fourteen of its affiliated hospitals' libraries since March 1978, using the OCLC system. Analysis of the first four years of service showed that the hospital libraries spent almost $30,000 to catalog more than 18,000 titles. Personnel expenses and other costs eclipsed the savings from a 31.3% duplication rate. Centralized bibliographic control control and the principal by-product of the service, a uniform, machine-related data base, provided the foundation for an on-line integrated library system to serve the consortium. The hospital libraries contributed 44% of the unique titles in this data base, which emphasis the need to share resources and continue cooperation.     

Whose vision fulfilled? toward a rightful ideological progenitor for the u.s. federal depository library program

This article addresses the assertion, advanced by the Depository Library Council (DLC) to the Public Printer, that James Madison's political writings serve as the ideological underpinning for the Federal Depository Library Program. In ascertaining the validity of the DLC's claim, this article reviews the evolution of Anglo-American thought regarding the concept of an informed citizenry, and concludes by suggesting persons who may rightfully be considered the harbingers of a federal depository library program.     

U.S. Depository librarians in reality and myth: A framework for a future government information program

How do the librarians in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) plan to perform a role in the electronic environment? Depository librarians must meet the challenge of changing how they think about government information libraries and their mission in order to provide citizen access services in an electronic environment. The new mission is to connect the user with information at the time of need, to instruct citizens in gaining access to government information, and to develop networking applications and programs that will help to put valuable content in the information infrastructure. If the FDLP and depository libraries are to prepare to perform that role, librarians need to take stock of their technological environment, deal with the political realities, and be critical of FDLP ideals that have taken on mythological proportions. A framework for the future of the FDLP can be built if depository librarians take advantage of the new communication technology. Depository librarians can use this technology to develop partnerships and networks of depository libraries, government agencies, commercial publishers, organizations of information professionals, and citizens. In turn, depository librarians could form the virtual associations needed to develop new dissemination programs; create user interface software; consolidate lobbying efforts to develop a nationwide electronic information policy; and provide community information networks with national links. Finally, communications technology could enable depository librarians to form a consortium of depository libraries to manage a government information dissemination library program.     

Electronic initiatives of the federal depository library program

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is in a period of transition from dissemination of primarily print government publications, to an expanded program including distribution of and access to electronic government information. In an electronic FDLP, the traditional roles of producing, acquiring, and disseminating government publications are expanded with additional roles of providing ongoing, long-term access to selected documents, and increasing the level of services to depository libraries. FDLP has already undertaken the transition with electronic initiatives. Additional projects are being developed which will facilitate access to electronic government documents. A more electronic FDLP implies significant changes for Library Programs Service and depository libraries. The goal of the transition is to improve the depository library program and continue to support public access to government publications.     

The dissemination of federal government information: Prospects for the immediate future

The Government Printing Office is currently undertaking a study to “Identify Measures Necessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program.” With an anticipated date of 1998 for the implementation of an “electronic depository library program” this GPO study will become the blueprint for restructuring the FDLP. The ability of GPO to secure agency dissemination of electronic information through the FDLP as well as the willingness of depository libraries to remain in the Program will ultimately determine the long-term viability of the FDLP.     

联邦寄存图书馆计划面临的挑战及其对我国政府信息寄存工作的启示

政府信息寄存工作在我国刚刚兴起,但在发达国家或地区已较为完善,如美国的联邦寄存图书馆计划(FDLP)。在网络技术和数字技术飞速发展的时代,政府信息寄存工作面临着巨大的生存挑战。FDLP面临的困境对我国开展政府信息寄存工作有所启发,我国政府信息寄存工作应以政府为主导,全国共建共享政府信息数据库,发挥公共图书馆和档案馆的固有职能,以此顺应数字信息存取和网络服务的发展趋势。     

A brief history of the Federal Depository Library Program: A personal perspective

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) has served as a major public access point for government information for well over 130 years. Recent budget cuts to the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) appropriations and an increased use of electronic formats for dissemination purposes have created many changes and problems for the system and the depository libraries that serve it. This article discusses the history of the FDLP and the impact of new formats in the last 25 years—especially electronic information. It also discusses the future of the FDLP and some of the problems that electronic information has brought to depository libraries and the need of depository librarians to accept and manage these new formats.     

Changing partnerships? Government documents departments at the turn of the millennium

During the 1990s the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) has undergone a transition from collections comprised exclusively of tangible print on paper or fiche publications to a mix of print and electronic materials. This article examines the impact of this transition on depository library operations—both collections and services—at the turn of the millennium. The discussion of reference service on depository materials is considered within the context of G. K. Zipf’s law, that is, people will tend to seek the path of least effort in gathering information. Given this tendency, the extensive use of the Web to deliver electronic depository materials redirects depository library users away from depository shelves to Web workstations, and leads depository librarians to build Web pages to direct their patrons. The conclusion is that for depository libraries the new collection mix poses a management paradox—the FDLP receives thousands of tangible documents each year, yet it must maintain new services for patrons turning increasingly to Web-based resources.     

Benefits of Batch Reclamation: The Kent State University Libraries Experience

Bibliographic records in the Innovative library catalog at Kent State University Libraries had fallen out of synchronization with the Libraries’ holdings represented on OCLC's WorldCat database. The Libraries made a decision to undertake a batch reclamation project with OCLC to re-synch their holdings on WorldCat. This project was beneficial for both parties. OCLC received a clean copy of the Libraries’ database, while the Libraries were able to improve the quality of their local bibliographic data and address problem areas in the catalog. This case study is intended to provide a reference for other libraries considering OCLC batch reclamation projects.     

State and regional service strategies for an electronic Federal Depository Library Program

As the Federal Depository Library Program moves toward the increased utilization of electronic technologies to meet the government information needs of the public, libraries must plan how to best take advantage of local, state, and regional resources to make this transition successful. This paper suggests that depository libraries should begin immediately a planning process to develop state or regional service strategies for electronic government information and outlines the steps to develop such plans.     

Integrating and Advertising Government Publications Internally and Externally: A Guide for Documents Librarians

ABSTRACT

Government publications contain a wealth of information. In an effort to increase the usage of these important publications, the staff at Bierce Library, University of Akron, use the following strategies to integrate and advertise government publications into the library activities and the community: (1) cataloging the publications so they appear on the local online catalog as well as the statewide catalog, (2) integrating them into the bibliographic instruction program, (3) listing them in pathfinders as sources on various topics, (4) making them a focus of “hot topics” such as health care reform, (5) presenting and promoting special workshops on specialized government databases such as the National Trade Data Bank and GPO Access (using the flyer approach), (6) visiting your Congressional Representative's Office to increase awareness of the information available in Depository Libraries to his/her constituents, (7) discussing these avenues at state groups, (8) including these methods in conferences, and (9) joining forces with other Documents Librarians in the area to create a depository brochure announcing hours, services, and highlights of each depository collection, and making this information available on a web page. The above strategies are generic enough that libraries can easily implement them into their programs.

The effect of these strategies is measured by an increased use of government publications. This can be monitored with circulation statistics and use of electronic products. The results are inconclusive if only circulation statistics are used.     

Love It or Leave It

The benefits of participating in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) have recently been called into question by academic law librarians. This article discusses the arguments given by law librarians in support of remaining in the FDLP and the reasons given by librarians who have considered dropping out of the FDLP. It also outlines the process of withdrawing from the depository program. Alternatives to withdrawal are discussed, as well as some suggestions on regaining both faith in the usefulness of the depository program and a sense of perspective about what participating in the FDLP means day-by-day and shipment-by-shipment.     

Cataloging from the Center: Improving e-Book Cataloging on a Consortial Level

In 2014, the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) overhauled its consortial cataloging workflows by switching to what has been termed a model of “cataloging from the center.” For more than 20 years, the Ohio academic library consortium relied on volunteers from its member institutions to catalog consortially purchased materials. Consolidating the consortial cataloging into the OhioLINK office allowed for revising the various workflows. Since 2014, the cataloging workflows for these shared electronic resources have improved efficiencies, allowing records to be provided to members in a more timely manner.     

Student workers wave goodbye to the government documents default list

Many libraries with federal depository collections have relied on loading large files of MARC records to add catalog records into their online systems. The addition of tens of thousands of MARC records created a catalog maintenance problem for the Sterling C. Evans Library of Texas A&M University. This paper discusses the use of student workers to clean the catalog of these problem records, describing lessons learned and procedures developed.     

The Ohio Library and Information Network: Resource Sharing at Its Best

The article describes the development and implementation of the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) shared catalog and patron-initiated online borrowing process. Procedures for providing materials to patrons along with OhioLINK's experience with missing and lost materials are detailed, including lessons learned regarding lost materials and billing. Details of the usage of OhioLINK services and the growth into electronic resources are included. The article summarizes the success of this unmediated borrowing process.     

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.     

Selective Cataloging of Federal Documents:

To increase access to federal depository documents, the University of Southern Colorado Library has cataloged selectively approximately one percent of incoming publications, as well as frequently used older ones. Using the OCLC Prism Service, we download bibliographic records to the hard drive of a PC, then transfer records into the on-line catalog. This article describes the specific processing steps developed, the expenses encountered, and the criteria used for selecting documents to catalog.