The Government Printing Office has produced a draft marketing plan for the Federal Depository Library Program. The 22 page plan and a survey link can be found at http://www.fdlp.gov/promotion/marketingplan.html.

Depositories have been asking for marketing/promotion assistance for awhile and this plan seems to be in response to these requests. It's also quite good that it is a draft plan and that input is being solicited before being rolled out. It suggests a willingness to collaborate that is appreciated. It is our hope at FGI that GPO will get a good response rate to their call for comments because this will become a major way of marketing for the community. Better that stakeholders have input and suggestions BEFOREHAND instead of complaining about it afterwards.

The proposed slogan for the marketing campaign has stuck in my head every since I read it off the executive summary of the plan -- "As Easy as FDL - Free (information), Dedicated (service), Limitless (possibilities)" As slogans go I think that this is an excellent encapsulation of everyone's vision for the FDLP. I think it might even serve as a rough approximation for what the program is now.

Whether this slogan will strengthen an improving reality or degenerate into mere lip service depends greatly on how the electronic era will be implemented. If it becomes a centralized model with digital rights restrictions that means that info is only free within depository walls, then it won't be as easy as FDL. But if librarians successfully adapt the century old model of decentralized, freely reusable information to the electronic era, it will be as easy as FDL.

As you should know by now, Free Government Information maintains a listing of video spots promoting government documents and government information. Most of these videos are available at YouTube and the Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network.

But we recognize that a number of organizations ban "commercial/consumer video" sites like YouTube. So I have posted the videos on the list that I personally created over at the Internet Archive, which most filters seem to treat as an educational site and often left unblocked:

• Air Force at Your Library (3 min) - US Air Force documents and other resources set to the official Air Force Song.
• Army at Your Library (1 min) - Selection of Army resources set to Army Song.
• Best Titles Ever! The Video - 13 titles from FGI's Best Titles Ever page set to electronic music.
• Documents on Parade: Criminal Edition - Web sites and Dept of Justice documents set to music familiar to boomers.
• FDLP - The Final Frontier (Approx 2 min) - Space. The final frontier. Available at your Federal Depository Library since the dawn of the space age. Music by Victor Stellar courtesy of Podsafe Audio. 
• Marines Get Around! (approximately 1 min, posted 12/24/2006) - Roundup of documents showing how active Marines have been in our nation's history.
• Navy at Your Library (39 seconds) - Sampling of Navy documents and web sites set to music.
• Shield of Freedom (2 min, posted 12/30/2006) - USCG documents set to the tune Coast Guard's Chief Petty Officers March.

Placing these videos in the Internet Archive has another virtue. They can be downloaded, burned onto CD/DVD, remixed, whatever. These videos are under a noncommerical Creative Commons license, so free to use them in your own promotional materials. And if you create your own videos, we at FGI encourage you to upload them to the Internet Archive now that the IA has simplified the upload process. If you need a walkthrough or have other questions, just drop me a line at dnlcornwall AT alaska DOT net or leave a message here in comments.

A coworker tipped me off to a law-lib posting by Brent Johnson about a panel at the American Association of Law Librarians annual meeting that sounds like it was a riot:

GD-SIS Program: Tough Librarians Rise to the Challenge with Tough Government Documents

Andrew P. Evans gave a talk on Combative and Military Government Documents that offered these citizen benefits to reading military docs:

• The military’s ability to evolve combat techniques.
• Real world application
• Gun and knife safety.
• Question the techniques- it’s your civic duty

He illustrates the last point with a number of critiques on a hand-to-hand combat manual from civilian martial arts experts. Their advice - some things shouldn't be tried on the battlefield, much less at home!

SaraJean Petite shared on Dangers of Open Water Swimming that One Can Avoid, which among other things offered advice to people who row themselves to work as a friend of mine does.

Brent Johnson himself presented on National and State Park Government Documents, which he suggested could be of interest to the "Sierra Club, hiking clubs, mountain bikers, rafting groups, and anyone looking for “active rest.”"

His presentation started off with finding a park, mapping it, and then showing the different things you can do at a park with each use illustrated with a presumably public domain park photo.

What all three presentations had in common is that they brought government documents within the sphere of everyday interest. People these days want to defend themselves, often swim, and usually need somewhere to get away from it all. All three of the librarians figured out to take the eye-glazing subject of govdocs and make it relevant to an audience. Let's give them a hand and think about how we can do the same. Because if we can't make documents relevant, no one will care.