GPLNE/GODIG Joint October Meeting Agenda
University of New Hampshire
Dimond Library
Friday, October 26, 2007
GPLNE/GODIG Joint October Meeting
University of New Hampshire
Dimond Library
Friday, October 26, 2007
Attendance
Len Adams, UMass/Amherst
Naomi Allen, State Lib/MA
Deborah Angelo, Providence College
Claudia Bissett, St. Anselm College
Raymond Brior, Johnson State College
Diane Callahan, NH State Library
Paul Donovan, VT Dept. of Libraries
Betty Febo, Wellesley College
Sally Field, St. Anselm College
Gale Fithian, BPL
Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, Wellesley College
Nancy Godleski, LexisNexis
Jenease Grieco, Franklin Pierce Law Center
Simone Henderson, NH State Library
Katherine Horrigan, UNH
Linda Jayes, NH State Library
Linda Johnson, UNH
Yvonne Loomis, Manchester City Library
Deborah Mongeau, URI
Nancy Peluso, CT State Library
Hans Raum, Middlebury
Connie Reik, Tufts
Scott Schaffer, UVT
Mary Searles, NH Law Library
Bette Siegel, State Lib/MA
Thelma Thompson, UNH
Julia Tryon, Providence College
Jim Walsh, Readex
Frank Wihbey, UME
The GPLNE/GODIG Joint October Meeting was held in the Special Collections Room of the Dimond Library at the University of New Hampshire on Friday, October 26, 2007. The meeting was well-attended by twenty-five members of GPLNE and GODIG, as well as Jim Walsh, from Readex, and Nancy Godleski, from LexisNexis.
We were welcomed by Diane Tebbetts, UNH's Interim Library Dean, congratulating Linda Johnson and Thelma Thompson for the 100th anniversary of the university's participation in the GPO Depository Program.
Linda Johnson then introduced Robin Haun-Mohamed, the Director of Collection Management & Preservation at the Government Printing Office. She spoke briefly about the land-grant institutions, like UNH, who have been long-term members of the depository system, and then took a few questions from the floor.
Julia Tryon, the GPLNE Treasurer, informed the group that $400.00 was raised from the STAT USA Program held in May 2007 at Roger Williams College. Our Sovereign bank account has a total of $675.22.
Connie Reik, our current President, announced the group's next meeting, which will be held at the Connecticut State Library on November 30, 2007. She is hoping to invite speakers from each of the New England states to discuss their holdings of State Documents and future plans for those holdings.
Connie then began a Round Robin discussion, asking for comments from those who had attended the recent GPO Annual Conference in Washington, DC, held during October 15-17.
Simone Henderson, from the New Hampshire State Library, wondered if any members had had a chance to look at the new HANDLEs site. No one had yet done so.
Debbie Mongeau, from the University of Rhode Island, felt the new Public Printer of GPO, Robert Tapella, had a realistic view of what can be done in that organization with the available resources. After viewing a number of new products at the conference, she stands by her assessment of these materials --- "If the product is not easy to use, it is not a good product." There were many assenting voices to that statement.
Debbie added a few thoughts on the change-over from PURLs to HANDLEs, and Robin offered some insight into the new program. With the new system, a string of numbers will be used as identifiers, speed of access and volume will be improved because there will be multiple servers, not just one, as we currently have for PURLs. The good additional news is that the PURL addresses will not have to be done by each institution. The necessary changes will be made by GPO.
Frank Wihbey, from the University of Maine, inquired about the availability of statistical information with the HANDLEs system. Robin stated that Jim Mauldin and Mike Clark were working on the alpha and beta tests for HANDLEs.
Though Debbie and others agreed that the FDLP Desktop Meeting was well done, it could have been longer. Creating an avatar was brought up. We were informed that we could subscribe to receive more information about this picture profile and its more customized features. The service will be open to coordinators first. Any comments --- positive or negative --- should be sent to Rick Davis, the GPO Director of Library Services & Content Management (rdavis@gpo.gov). Rick has been the acting Superintendent of Documents, as well, but the new Superintendent should be in place by mid-November.
Attendees at the Conference were in agreement about the good program on Official Legal Resources. Debbie and many others were struck by the vehemence of the legal experts on the panel. They still strongly supported the print version as the legal version, because the electronic version can be tampered with. The AALL wants to write a model law on the official version issue. Debbie told the group she still keeps the print versions at URI. Besides the tampering issue, she feels it is easier to see the relationships between rulings and the various chapters if one uses the print version. She added that the electronic software has not been as stable as many had hoped, but, at some future point, "... technology and the legal community will intersect."
Towards the end of the meeting, Debbie wondered what depositories and libraries will be like in the future. She feels young depository and library employees have very different viewpoints from many currently in charge of our collections.
Betty Febo said she was also impressed with Tapella. Though there were fewer agency updates at this year's conference, she thought the Public Access Assessment presentation was very good. The Biennial Surveys, due by October 31, 2007, were mentioned. After they have been thoroughly examined, a more formal process for surveys may be put in place in 2008-2009. Robin stated that the current assessment process if similar to the old re-accreditation process. However, it is more focused on access to tangible and electronic collections.
The question of filters on public computers was brought up. In Rhode Island, for instance, their law states that filters must be on ALL public computers. This is in direct opposition to our federal law. How will a problem like this be resolved?
Betty thought the thumb drive in our GPO bags was a neat gift. She wondered aloud if future conference presentations could be loaded on a thumb drive before the annual conference takes place. The group did not seem to think this would occur.
Robin spoke briefly about FDLP Express. Once it is in place, AdNotes will be discontinued. She urged directors to answer and send in their Biennial Surveys. She also discussed the Dark Archive & Digitization Projects. Bruce James had wanted both projects finished by the end of 2007. Robin stated emphatically that there is no way this will happen. At this point there are only nine full-time staffers at GPO and
only 25% of the tangible records are in NARA. Robin would like more feedback from librarians. She feels the GPO role will be more of a coordinator in the future with these digitization projects, and there will be a new deadline for the Digitization Legacy.
Bids have come in for handling a chunk of the Shelflist Digitization Project. The EPA is testing some of the products. Some of the miscellaneous monograph publications have been chosen to be digitized. There is still the question --- how far back will the Shelf List go?
Frank Wihbey mentioned their '76 holdings on microfilm. Robin said that GPO is aware of the University of Maine resource, but conversion from microfilm will not be easy.
Linda Johnson spoke briefly about the Light Archives Meeting and then discussed sharing among the regionals. If items are moved or removed, she feels there should be explanatory information in an institution's Catalog record. New Hampshire does not have a regional. Kansas and Nebraska have tried merging their collections, but this coupling from 2000 forward is being reviewed by our Senators. Oregon is looking at an interstate plan with four neighboring institutions. Other areas like Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, DC are examining this shared regional concept, but there can be statutory problems. Since the Senate designated the original regionals, many of them do not want to lose authority over these institutions. Robin stated flatly, "I am not sure some of these regional plans will fly."
Debbie further questioned whether it is a good idea to concentrate more and more materials to fewer and fewer libraries. What happens when these remaining locations experience a natural disaster like Boston Public, the University of Hawaii, Tulane, Dillard?
Before breaking for lunch and the cake cutting for the six New England States celebration, Linda invited any in attendance to join her for a tour of the newly shared IT/Reference/Government Documents area at Dimond Library. A number of attendees did take the tour.
After our lunch break, the regional directors in attendance continued with a two o'clock meeting on the shared regional idea in Special Collections.
Submitted by Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, GPLNE Secretary