Government Publications Librarians of New England
Minutes
Meeting of October 3, 2003
W.E.B. Du Bois Library
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Mass.
The meeting came to order at 10:00am. Len Adams introduced Margo Crist, Library Director, who offered welcoming comments to those in attendance. Len then introduced Judith Russell, Superintendent of Documents.
Judy covered many issues that will be affecting and changing the depository system and our lives as documents librarians. She stated that in three years 95% of government documents will be online. All microfiche documents are being phased out as the contracts expire. GPO will be working to digitize documents that would have been distributed in microfiche.
Currently less than 50% of what is being printed in government is going through GPO. Agencies are publishing more electronically and feel their responsibility ends there.
The Sales Program is in rapid decline. 24 million documents were sold in 1993. However, in 2002 only 4.4 million were sold. All bookstores except the main one in Washington were closed. One idea is to develop a program of documents on demand. Each library would have an allowance to obtain what they want in print, beyond the essential titles. Printers will be paid when copies are made and not before. GPO is working with the Dept. of Labor on a pilot project where they provide GPO with an electronic version of their documents and two paper copies. Along with OMB they are trying to develop a better enforcement mechanism for GPO in obtaining documents from agencies. If this pilot project works it will be expanded to other agencies along with an attempt to revise Title 44. Many parts of Title 44 are outdated and new sections need to be included to deal with electronic publications.
She also talked about changing the rules for keeping items 5 years. Cooperative collection arrangement could be made between regionals and selectives so that regionals would not be required to receive everything from GPO.
There is also talk of revamping the inspection system. GPO wants to replace inspectors with consultants, who would be hired from the depository community and would work with depositories in a region to aid and guide them in developing programs and instruct in areas such as web development, and outreach programs.
A question period followed.
After a short break, Len gave a short introduction to Bill Thompson, who was being honored for 30 years of service to government documents librarianship and for being one of the founding members of GPLNE. Bill spoke about his experiences during his 30 year tenure and how the profession and government documents had changed over the years. He also spoke about the history and evolution of GPLNE.
Al Palko, who was also to be honored, was not able to attend due to illness. Members in attendance agreed that Al should be honored at a later GPLNE meeting that he would be able to attend.
Kathy Berry called the business meeting to order.
Pam Hays gave the Treasurer’s report: the savings account for current expenses is $436.41. We have $1,000 in a CD that will come due in June 2004.
Mark Scott, the GPLNE Chair for 2003/2004, has left for Arizona so Kathy Berry, the Vice Chair, has become the Chair. To fill the vacant Vice Chair position, Kathy asked for volunteers from the floor. There being none, Kathy would appoint two members to find someone willing to take the position.
Betty Febo gave an update about where we are with our investigation into possibly affiliating with some other group than NELINET or going our own way as a nonprofit institution. A workgroup made up of Betty Febo, Kathy Berry, Pam Hays, and Len Adams are working to develop a mission statement for GPLNE that may help guide our decision making process.
John Fobert, Roger Williams College, has been having problems maintaining the GPLNE web page because of a change in servers at Roger Williams. He has asked that some other location take over the web page. It was agreed that a volunteer would be sought to take over the web site.
The next meeting will be on December 5, 2003 at Boston College. We will be celebrating the anniversaries of Boston College and Wellesley as depository libraries and U.S. Representative Barney Frank will be the featured speaker.
The following meeting will be on March 26 at Wesleyan College, The program will include a demonstration of the Massachusetts Institute of Social and Economic Research’s (MISER) new database for foreign trade statistics by Carla Miller from MISER.
The last meeting of the year will take place at Colby College in May with the date and topic to be determined.
Attendees:
Leonard Adams University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Deborah Angelo Providence College
Kathy Berry Boston College
Claudia Blauvelt Worcester Public Library
Bobbie Brooke UMass Medical School, Worcester
Mary Cocorochio Worcester Public Library
Cathy Dwyer University of Albany
Susan Edelberg Edwards Amherst College
Betty Febo Wellesley College
Kate Flynn Hampden Law Library
Greg Frazier Providence Public Library
William Gamzon Eastern Connecticut State University
Vincent Golden American Antiquarian Society
Jenny Groome Trinity College
Pam Hays Harvard University
Tim Hays Corps of Engineers, New England
Miriam Johnson St. Anselm College
John Lewis Salve Regina University
Jim MacDonald Connecticut College
Deborah Mongeau University of Rhode Island
Barbara Norelli Skidmore College
Roxanne Palmatier Northeastern University
Martha A. Penzer Simmons College
Beverly Presley Clark University
Connie Reik Tufts University
Bette Siegel State Library of Massachusetts
Ruth Sweet Troy Public Library, New York
Ralph Szymczak Brandeis University
Jeffrey Tenenbaum University of Massachusetts Amherst
Julia Tryon Providence College
Susan Wells Hampden Law Library