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Free Government Information (FGI) is a place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information. FGI promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research.

Help GPO distribute library catalog records

A GPO staffer has asked that I post the notice below about a pilot MARC record distribution project to “ensure the automatic dissemination of bibliographic records to FDLP libraries.” I hope libraries will volunteer to help out with this project as it seems like a significant step for gpo to take. We’ve talked for a while about collaborative cataloging of govt information; while this is primarily a “push” project, perhaps it could be the first step toward GPO opening up the cataloging workflow to depository libraries (many hands make light work right?!) and lead to other data sharing opportunities (XML, OAI, RSS, APIs etc.) both within the FDLP and with the public. This could be a significant piece of the FDLP ecosystem.


Calling all depositories! FREE Records! FREE Records!

GPO is looking for libraries who wish to take part in the Cataloging Record Distribution Pilot. Applications are being accepted now through January 11, 2010.

Federal depository libraries will be chosen to participate in this pilot program in which GPO bibliographic records will be distributed from GPO’s Integrated Library System (ILS) to these libraries. GPO will be accepting a group of 30 – 35 FDLP libraries to participate.

GPO is looking for a mixture of different library sizes and types. Of that group, GPO would like some current MARCIVE subscribers, as well as some non-subscribers. GPO is also aiming to select a variety of libraries that use a diverse group of ILS vendors.

Visit the Cataloging Record Distribution Pilot Web page for more information on the project, including details on how to apply and an informational FAQ sheet on the details of the project.

How Long Does It Take to Catalog a Fugitive?

We started the LostDocs blog back in September 2009 to collect e-mail receipts for items that were reported to GPO as “fugitive documents” — agency documents that should have made it into the Federal Depository Library Program and/or the Catalog of Government Publications.

In the process of running this blog, we have identified 40 documents reported since April 2008 that were cataloged by GPO after being reported as “fugitive documents.” These fall into the “found documents” category of our blog.

You can find our list of 40 (and counting) cataloged fugitives here. This spreadsheet will be updated whenever we identify new GPO cataloging for items that had been reported as fugitive documents.

The results are interesting and somewhat disturbing, but not definitive.

The 40 items were cataloged in times varying from three days to 524 days. The mean cataloging time was 213 days. The median cataloging time was 184 days or about six months.

If the cataloging times above were typical of all documents reported through the LostDocs process, we think this would be a major problem for GPO that would require some serious soul searching and dialog about how this result could be changed and what tradeoffs and/or extra community involvement would be required as a result.

We are NOT making the claim that these cataloging times are typical for reported fugitive documents. We honestly do not know what is typical. Jim Jacobs, FGI’s resident data librarian, had this to say about our sample of cataloged documents:

As for sample size and relevance: the number of items in the sample can’t tell us the significance or accuracy of the results. We’d have to know two other things: the size of the universe (of all reported lost docs), and the accuracy of the sample. Since the sample was self- selected (by those reporting) rather than random, and since we don’t know if the sample is 1% or 85% of all submitted lostdocs, we can’t claim that the findings necessarily reflect the status of the whole universe. (does that make sense? If only people w/ long waits reported to us, our sample does not accurately reflect all lostdocs.)

When we first thought about making lostdocs reports available to the community at large, we first approached GPO with a partnering opportunity. We would maintain the blog, and offer them the opportunity to comment on the blog whether something was out of scope for CGP or already in the catalog. In return, we asked them to modify their LostDocs form so that when they received a report, the blog would automatically get a copy. If this partnership had been accepted, then we would know the two facts Jim cited above that are needed to tell us whether we have typical results or not. GPO declined to accept our partnership agreement, citing their workload. We’re not questioning that they are overworked.

We do feel that the results above deserve further investigation. Perhaps GPO could prepare a report on documents cataloged as a result of fugitive reports over the past few years. Unless they’ve discarded the e-mail receipts (which would be defensible), they have the dates of when documents were reported. The CGP lists when an item was first added to the CGP. They could have an intern make a semester project of putting the two together and then posting the results to fdlp.gov.

If they have tossed previous e-mail receipts, they could start saving them for a year starting in January 2010 and do the analysis we propose above in 2011. But in either case we feel the analysis should be done. If it confirms our results then it will be good ammunition in Congress to procure more cataloging staff or to start cataloging collaborations with FDLP members. If the GPO analysis concludes that items reported to lost docs are in fact cataloged in a timely manner, then that will help build trust with the documents community and motivate more people to report fugitive documents. Either way it is a win-win for GPO.

Not the impact I hoped for

My apologies for anyone who relied on my post “Catloging Gets Results in Alaska.” Revised data has forced me to retract my claim. Please see details at http://freegovinfo.info/node/1940.

But don’t be afraid to share information and new ideas. Sometimes we’re going to be wrong. That’s just the nature of the game. But we as a community are stronger when we share information and admit our mistakes as well as celebrate our successes.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications Enhancements Coming

Library Services and Content Management is continually working to improve the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and the services it provides. One of the upcoming services that we are excited about is the creation of a login page for depository libraries that will enable them to take advantage of a range of authenticated services not otherwise available. These include:

  • Selective dissemination of information. This will give depositories the ability to direct the system to send emails when resources in a particular area of interest are cataloged. Depository libraries will be able to set up notifications by item number or by SuDocs stem, for example;
  • “Save records to local pc”. Currently the options are to email records to a defined email address up to twenty at a time, or to search, retrieve, and download up to one thousand records from the CGP per session.
  • RSS feeds;
  • Retained preferences that will persist across sessions;
  • Links to FDLP-related pages including the FDLP Desktop and the Federal Depository Library Directory.

We are anticipating a demonstration of the FDLP login page at the Fall Conference and a subsequent December release of this functionality.

Also on the agenda is an enhanced Federal Depository Library Directory. We would like to ask for input from users for improvements we could make to the FDLD to enhance the user experience. Please submit suggestions through AskGPO at http://gpo.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/gpo.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php. Use the category Federal Depository Libraries, subcategory Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, then CGP Enhancements/Suggestions.

Discovering the Library With Google Earth

Discovering the Library With Google Earth, by Michaela Brenner and Peter Klein, Information Technology & Libraries, Volume 27, Number 2 June 2008 (re-posted at redOrbit).

Libraries need to provide attractive and exciting discovery tools to draw patrons to the valuable resources in their catalogs. The authors conducted a pilot project to explore the free version of Google Earth as such a discover tool for Portland State Library’s digital collection of urban planning documents. They created eye- catching placemarks with links to parts of this collection, as well as to other pertinent materials like books, images, and historical background information. The detailed how-to-do part of this article is preceded by a discussion about discovery of library materials and followed by possible applications of this Google Earth project. In Calhoun’s report to the Library of Congress, it becomes clear that staff time and resources will need to move from cataloging traditional formats, like books, to cataloging unique primary sources, and then providing access to these sources from many different angles. “Organize, digitize, expose unique special collections” (Calhoun 2006).

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