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Digital #FDLP: Louisiana GODORT keynote address
[UPDATE 3/25/12: for those of you on ipads/iphones (which don't play well with flash), I've attached the PDF version below. JRJ] I just got back from Shreveport, LA (and boy are my arms tired :-)). I was honored to be invited as the keynote speaker at the Spring 2012 meeting of the Louisiana Government Documents Round Table (LA GODORT) during the 2012 LA Library Association annual conference. We had a great conversation about the future of government information and the FDLP -- and I reminded everyone to submit their FDLP library forecast survey!! I showed a few case studies describing ways that librarians could build digital govt documents collections (including Everyday Electronic Materials (EEMs), LOCKSS-USDOCS, and Archive-it). Thanks again to Miriam Childs, Stephanie Braunstein and the rest of the LA GODORTers for a wonderful time!
Public Printer names 2012 members of Depository Library Council #FDLP
Hot off the presses! Congratulations to Steve Beleu, Chris Brown, Marie Concannon, Rosemary LaSala, and Larry Romans who've just been named to Depository Library Council!. It's hard work, but, speaking as an outgoing Councilor (and outgoing Chair!), it's an extremely rewarding experience. Good luck new Councilors!! Acting Public Printer Names New Members to Depository Library Council
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 6, 2012 No. 12-15 MEDIA CONTACT: GARY SOMERSET 202.512.1957, 202.355.3997 cell gsomerset@gpo.gov ACTING PUBLIC PRINTER NAMES NEW MEMBERS TO DEPOSITORY LIBRARY COUNCIL WASHINGTON-Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks is pleased to announce the appointment of five new members to the Depository Library Council (DLC). The Council, composed of 15 members each of whom serve three year terms, advises the Public Printer on policy matters relating to the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The FDLP, which traces its roots to 1813, provides access across America to the published information of all three Branches of the United States Government through partnerships with more than 1,200 libraries ranging from public libraries to research universities. "I am very pleased to appoint these five librarians to the Depository Library Council. They are all proven leaders in the depository community and their experience and expertise will be invaluable as the Council advises me on the issues facing the Federal Depository Library Program," says Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. The five new DLC members for the June 1, 2012 - May 31, 2015 term are: Steve Beleu is one of Oklahoma's two Regional Librarians for U.S. Government Information, as well as the Director of the Oklahoma State Data Center Coordinating Agency. Since 2003, Beleu has conducted over 243 workshops on several topics for the library community in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri. These efforts helped his library earn the Depository Library of the Year award in 2009. Beleu is currently working with Oklahoma's four Tribal Colleges to introduce Federal Government Web sites to their faculty and staff. Christopher Brown is the Reference/Government Documents Librarian at University of Denver's Penrose Library. Brown has published and presented extensively about matters related to online Government information. His contributions to the FDLP include new ideas involving tracking online usage, adding URLs to older documents, and providing more granular statistics for PURL clickthroughs from local online public access catalogs and Web sites. Marie Concannon is the Government Documents Regional Coordinator at University of Missouri (Columbia)'s Elmer Ellis Library. Concannon is a strong advocate for promoting the FDLP and for preserving historic documents, both digital and tangible. Concannon is active in several national and local library organizations, including the American Library Association (ALA), the Missouri Library Association (MLA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT). Rosemary LaSala is the Reference/ Government Collections Librarian at St. John's University Rittenberg Law Library in Jamaica, New York. She is the current president of the Government Information Roundtable (GIRT), and a past chair of The Government Documents Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). LaSala was the recipient of the 2008 Mildred Lowe Award given by the New York Library Association Government Information Roundtable in recognition of her outstanding contributions to Government Documents Librarianship. Larry Romans is Head of Government Information and Media Services at Vanderbilt University's Central Library in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been a leader in the depository community for many years, contributing numerous presentations and publications to the field, and actively participating in many professional associations. Romans has been a member of ALA's governing Council since 1992, served on the ALA Executive Board from 2007-2010, and served as chair of ALA/GODORT. He won the 1995 ProQuest Documents to the People Award and the 2008 James Bennett Childs Award for lifetime and significant contribution to the field of documents librarianship.Continue reading
Who is Sprocket Man? the growing mystery surrounding a prominent public domain cultural icon
Recently while walking to the shuttle on Stanford campus, I saw a sign with the Superhero Sprocket Man, a much loved government document comic book character (Y 3.C 76/3:2 SP 8/994) -- it's listed on FGI's Best Titles Ever! page -- at a table being jointly run by Stanford Parking and Transportation Safety (P&TS) and the Stanford Medical School out promoting bike safety as they do every friday afternoon.
As a government information librarian at Green library, I was chuffed because Sprocket Man -- or so I thought -- comes from a 1994 government document published by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). However, the friendly folks at the table told me that Sprocket Man was actually drawn by a Stanford pre-med student named Louis Saekow in 1975 as was reported in the Stanford Report in 2002.
So now I'm wondering how a 1975 comic book copyrighted by Stanford becomes a 1994 government document? Did Mr Saekow give the comic to the CPSC? Did CPSC simply appropriate the comic for their own use without giving Mr Saekow credit? I'm intrigued because I've often seen public domain government information repackaged and sold, but this is the first instance I've seen of copyrighted content becoming a government document.
Check out both editions of Sprocket Man and see for yourself:
Help improve public access to Congressional/legislative information #FDLP
March 28, 2012 / Leave a comment
FGI just signed the letter below written by the Sunlight Foundation asking Congress to improve public access to legislative information by directing the Library of Congress to make their Thomas database accessible in bulk format. If you and/or your organization believe that free access to Congressional information is of critical importance, please please consider adding your name to the list of signatories on the letter. Daniel Schuman, Sunlight Foundation's policy counsel and director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency, requests that people sign on by COB on Monday April 2nd. Interested people may also email Daniel at dschuman@sunlightfoundation.com) with how they would like to be identified on the letter. Daniel thanks you and so do we!
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