Daniel’s Take: Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment
The comments below reference the Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment of the September 2005 Depository Library Council publication The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper My general comments on this paper appeared in another blog posting. As I work through each section of the discussion paper, I'll start out with positive aspects and then move onto what I view are problems with the DLC paper. I strongly believe in finding common ground whenever possible. We shouldn't turn this discussion into a "us vs. them" dynamic. The DLC rightly points out that the government information environment is much more diverse than in the past. They also point out correctly in my view that most people's first approach to locating government information is trying the web. The authors also sensibly ask what it means to be a depository library when so much government information is available on the web. Continue reading
Daniel’s take on DLC Vision – General Comments
Today the Depository Library Council (DLC) released this discussion paper: The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper Prepared by the Depository Library Council September 2005 This paper is an effort to provide a guiding vision for the access, description and preservation of government information and how libraries might fit into this process. I'm sure it was hard work for the DLC, because they had to listen and integrate a chorus of disjointed voices from the depository community. They deserve some praise simply for coming up with anything at all! Whether or not you work in a library, this paper is worth reading. Today I'd like to offer some general comments on this paper. In the coming days, I'll have some comments focused on the main sections of the discussion paper: 1) Library roles in the non-exclusive environment; 2) Adding value; 3)Managing collections and delivering content ; and 4) Deploying expertise. Continue reading
Arizona Gets It
Recently, GladysAnn Wells and Richard Pearce-Moses of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records presented From Bibliographer to Curator: Archival Strategies for Capturing Web Publications at the August 2005 IFLA Conference in Oslo Norway. This paper is a ringing call to action to libraries and archives across the globe to take a leading role in preserving government information. To those who say that we don't have the capabilities or we have to wait for outside agencies and webmasters to save us, Wells and Pearce-Moses say [bolding mine]:
A fundamental tenet of the work we have done in Arizona, through our three professions, has led to what is now called the Arizona Model. The Arizona Model, which will be discussed later in this paper, recognizes that our success cannot be predicated on someone outside our own organization. We cannot expect web masters (or others) to send us documents, to remember our job when they are caught up doing their own. We cannot expect them to embed metadata to empower us to serve users they may never meet or report Continue reading
16 Government podcasts from the President on down
With the addition of podcasts from President Bush, Mayor Anthony Williams of Washington DC, and the US Air Force, FGI's Directory of government podcasts has hit 16 entries. Do you know of a government podcast not on this list? Let FGI know by sending the URL or RSS feed of the podcast to dnlcornwall@alaska.net! Continue reading
Daniel’s Take: Adding Value
September 8, 2005 / Leave a comment
The comments below reference the Adding Value section of the September 2005 Depository Library Council publication The Federal Government Information Environment of the 21st Century: Towards a Vision Statement and Plan of Action for Federal Depository Libraries. Discussion Paper Prior Comments on this discussion paper:
- General comments
- Library Roles in the Non-Exclusive Environment
I find "Adding Value" to be the strongest part of this paper. The Depository Library Council (DLC) recognizes that all government information professionals and institutions have an obligation to serve people where they are. They offer suggestions about where our users are including: popular web sites (Google, Yahoo, other search engines); FirstGov, agency web sites, etc. The authors of the paper also point to the promotion of the virtual reference Government Information Online project as an example of the value that we can add. No argument there. Continue reading →Continue Reading →