GPO STAFF BJ: Bruce James: Public Printer of the United States: US Government Printing Office JR: Judith (Judy) Russell: Managing Director: Information Dissemination, US Government Printing Office MW: Mike Wash: Chief Technical Officer and co-Director of the Office of Innovation and New Technology. RD: Richard (Ric) Davis: Acting Director: Library Services and Content Management, US Government Printing Office DEPOSITORY LIBRARY COUNCIL AM: Ann Miller, Depository Library Council, Head, Public Documents and Maps Department, Perkins Library, Duke University DD: Denise M. Davis, Depository Library Council, Director, Office of Research and Statistics, American Library Association DS: Denise Stephens, Depository Library Council, Vice Provost for Information Services/CIO, University of Kansas EF: Evelyn Frangakis, Depository Library Council, Chief Librarian for Preservation, New York Public Library GS: Geoffrey Swindells, Depository Library Council, University of Missouri-Columbia, Government Documents Department KS: Katrina Stierholz, Depository Library Council, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis LS: Linda Saferite, Depository Library Council, CEO, Tulsa City-County Library MP: Marian Parker, Depository Library Council, Associate Dean for Information Services, Director of the Professional Center Library, Professor of Law, Wake Forest University, School of Law MS: Mark Sandler, Depository Library Council, Collection Development Officer, University of Michigan, University Library PH: Peter Hemphill, Depository Library Council RA: Richard Akeroyd, Depository Library Council, New Mexico State Library ST: Susan Tulis, Depository Library Council, Associate Dean for Information Services, Southern Illinois University TB: Tim Byrne, Depository Library Council, Government Publications Library, University of Colorado WS: William Sudduth, Depository Library Council, Head, Documents and Microforms Department, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina WW: Walter Warnick, Depository Library Council, Director, Office of Scientific & Technical Information, Department of Energy OTHER CT: Carol Tullo, Director, Controller, and Queen's Printer, Office of Public Sector Information, Her Majesty's Stationary Office Continue reading →

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[audio] 00:00:00 BS calls the conference to order 00:00:36 Council introduces themselves: ST, MS, DD, WW, EF, PH, MP, DS, AM, TB, GS. GPO: RD, JR, BJ 00:04:00 BJ, who will be stepping down, is introduced and delivers his address 00:05:22 My 8th opportunity to address this group. Who hasn't heard me speak before? [About 1/6th or so of the audience raised their hands.] Reminisces about earlier meetings. 00:06:46 Today we will have a special treat – Carol Tullo from London. BJ first met her at a dinner hosted by Archivist Alan Weinstein. I had previously gone to European nations to check out their documents programs. Carol heads Her Majesty's Stationary Office (HMSO) – which is the UK analogy to the US's GPO. They are merging structurally with the UK's national archives :) 00:10:09 CT addresses the audience about her office and where they’re going CT: I want to provide a brief flavor of how we’re all sharing the same vision. Despite our structural differences, the information functions appear similar – we even use the same language in meetings. Both organizations focus on safeguarding government information. HMSO was set up to promulgate official information and publishing. CT’s demesne is information and legislation. We have a coherent approach across the whole country, derived from the queen as head of state. Government publications are protected and covered by "crown copyright". We liberalize the use of this information for accessibility, sharing, and use. Over 10 years ago, the government decided printing assets should be delivered to the private sector, which left my office concerned with policy and management. 00:14:10 Unlocking the use and the value of public sector information. There is not the distinction at the user level between central and local government. There is a wealth of information important to the citizen. There should be a simplified method to access and reuse this information. 00:15:20 PSI Public sector information – a new concept in the UK 00:16:04 Public Access Schemes, including a subsidy to libraries 00:16:33 1995 – first official UK publications went online In the UK, the majority of access is online 00:17:06 Just producing material online is not enough – there need to be search tools, harvesters, linking – requires structural changes to explore and determine the best ways to deliver this information to citizens and taxpayers. 00:17:56 We have carried out extensive public investigations – surveys, consultation with users and delivery institutions. What are your preferences for appropriate packages? 00:18:33 2001 UK made available at no charge any official information on a government web site. This was a huge change. CT mentions the concept of reusing ("remixing" in FGI terms) government information. We have a responsibility to deliver official information to as wide an audience as we can find. 00:19:29 Official information – people should always have access to it. Shouldn’t simply change. This provides a significant challenge considering the volume of information. CT's office's website has gone from 15K to 25M users per month in 9 years. 00:20:55 The person who matters – the one trying to use this information. 00:21:35 Merger of HMSO and national archives happens at the end of this month. 00:22:02 “Free our data” movement... UK has a need and wish for authenticity of information to be recognized, hence the Crown Copyright. There are so many opportunities for users to be misled, we must do this. 00:24:25 BJ: We’re not the only country struggling to figure out how we’re moving into the 21st century. 00:24:44 BJ: combining local and federal information – our federal government is very reluctant to engage local issues because of their constitutional separation. BJ attended state printer association – they want to know how we can work in concert. I recommend bringing a group together to talk about this in Washington with appropriate Congress members, GPO, DLC. Even though we don’t have a legal structure, we can form an alliance that will strengthen delivering citizen services. This concept deserves to be explored even though I don’t see a clear path for it. 00:26:40 BJ: four years ago, I didn’t know how little I knew. I’ve learned a lot from you and from Congress. There were big questions in front of us – collectively and at the GPO. Could GPO be saved? We were broke. Questions about how we would make payroll. Should GPO be saved? The executive branch was saying “obsolete” – and encouraged agencies to bypass GPO for their publishing. What’s the purpose of GPO? Is “Printing” – our middle name – getting in the way? Where did we come from – what are our roots – has our purpose really gone away? Our 19th century purpose applies to the 21st century. Could we get consensus among all parties? Congress? Libraries? Printing/publishing industries? Our employees and their unions? 00:30:37 Could we redeploy GPO assets – from 19th century heavy metal culture to a 21st century digital one – especially the principal people assets? 00:31:17 Where would the money come from to obtain the vision? Congress had no intention for bundling money to send our way. 00:32:20 Four years later, we are in a different position. We are not out of the woods, but we have come a long way together. 00:32:48 We were successful in creating a strategic vision for the future. There had not been a clear vision – and I’m amazed that now, collectively, we’re [mostly] all on the same page. DLC as your representative has played one of the most important roles in doing this. We made our way back to 1813 – read what our founding fathers talked about in protecting the republic – their vision of an informed citizenry as the greatest protection of our government. The federal government had a responsibility to tell the citizens what it was up to. There was a day when the only way to do this was through the printed document. In 1861 Congress said we want to centralize this effort. In 1895 Congress was so concerned that they ordered that any appropriated funding for printing come through GPO, allowing for the cataloging and control of government documents. And then the FDLP, an incredible service that the libraries offered the people. 00:36:44 We came to understand that the library system protected the people FROM the federal government. Every citizen ought to have a gun to protect ourselves from the federal government – a metaphor for what's really going on here. Idi Amin started with a vision of how to help people, and ended up being one of the great villains of history. 00:38:18 Government is people – policy folks and bureaucrats. [Mentions the National Archives reclassification problem.] 00:39:21 We got the strategic vision, and then got finances under control. Most of the money we were spending was in people. We reduced the workforce by 30% in cooperation with Congress and our Unions. 65% were age-eligible to retire. That more than anything else led from red ink to black ink. 00:40:28 We also closed down stores and printing presses throughout the country. 00:40:48 We introduced metrics. We gave managers the information they needed to predict and measure results. If you give people the information they need to make intelligent decisions, they generally do. 00:41:43 We are generating a profit. We are using the funds that we are generating to reinvest in GPO and our people. We have added new 300 people to the organization. They have interesting backgrounds – physicists, chemists, mathematicians, computer scientists, a range of 21st century skills - the people we need to be successful in a digital world. 2200 traditional GPO people with the right attitude, the hunger to change, and we added 300 to work alongside them. I’m amazed at how well they’ve come together to work side by side. We have the beginnings of a true 21st century workforce. 00:44:26 There are 23 unions at GPO. I had never worked in a union environment. Unequivocally – some of the best leadership at GPO is in the unions – they didn’t obstruct us, they encouraged us to move faster. GPO is a 150-year-old organization that has been through many technological changes – each of which made us stronger. The unions embrace technology for this reason. 00:45:55 We flattened the organization. 39 people originally reported to me, which guaranteed that nothing would get done. I moved to push decision-making down to the lowest level possible. That’s easy to say, but it took us a while to get these new decision-makers the good information they needed to work. Example of capital investments… 00:48:35 Because GPO was losing money – we had stopped spending money on training before I walked in the door. In general, we should spend 3-5% of payroll on training. We were spending 27K when we should have been at least 3 million. We didn’t know what was going on [in the industry]. We had no partnerships with industry or universities. We created the Office of Innovation and New Technology. Chaired by GPO Scott Stovall and we looked for an outsider to co-chair. Sixth months later, Mike Wash joined in that position. 00:51:00 Mike brought a career of innovation in technology from the private sector – US Inventor of the Year in 1996. One of the few people who ever designed a large scale digital system that worked. 00:52:17 FDSys will roll out next year – most sophisticated system in the world for managing government information. 00:53:12 Because of efficiencies that we gained by developing metrics and proper management, we didn’t need as much in appropriations. 00:54:00 This will be the last time I address you as the Public Printer. 00:54:28 Things you will need to think about, and places GPO will need your help: 00:54:42 1. FDLP has been a one-way street in terms of moving information from the government to you. We discovered that many FDLP libraries have a treasure trove of government information created for local purposes. There’s more information out there than we have. How do we get the information that you have back into the FDLP system? We need to build a more two-way system of information. 00:55:56 2. I’m coming to the point where I see the realities of the political situation. "Congress" is apprehensive about GPO’s retrospective digitization plan. We need to work with Google or another private company and help them – or at least address this question – would it be enough to get started? 00:57:17 3. Centralization vs. diffusion – I thought this was the dumbest question I had ever heard from a business standpoint. However, I came to understand that this is a real question. Printing is going away. GPO can make sure we don’t lose information, but it will be under the control of the federal government. Is that good enough? 00:58:52 4. At some point in the future, all government information will be produced and distributed digitally. I don’t know when, but we need to start planning for what the heck that means. What’s this going to look like? I don’t think GPO should decide when to stop printing – I think you should. We should come to a consensus about what titles – until we come to trust the digital formats – do we need to continue in printed format. There are opportunities to do this in different ways than you’ve done them before. 01:02:00 5. Financial viability of GPO. I am blessed to receive wonderful letters from the library associations to take with me to Congress for appropriations requests. If you really support the GPO, support redeveloping the GPO facility and building new facilities elsewhere. Educate your representatives and their staffs. This is the single most important thing you can do to ensure the future of the FDLP. 01:04:45 BJ: thanks BS for chairing the DLC, and the DLC for their work. [applause] [Etc.] 01:07:15 QUESTIONS FROM COUNCIL 01:07:17 MS: You said we should reassess relationships with Google/Yahoo in digital projects – how has thinking on this evolved over the past years? BJ: It boils down to political reality. Easiest part of my job was the business and technology parts. Doing it in a political environment is complex. What can I practically get done vs. what would be the best business decision. I could spend my entire tenure on renaming the GPO. Instead, we changed the logo. From a business/technical standpoint, retrospective digitization is within our capacity. Congress however has slowed us to a demonstration project. For whatever reason they are reluctant to go forward. To get this done, we have to throw our hat in with private vendors. WE ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE AWAY ANY EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO ANYTHING. On the down side, when we partner with vendors, we cut down our chances of being able to do it really right in the future. 01:12:35 PH: How the private sector handles retrospective collections – if you have just the current information and move forward – it’s like ripping pages out of the dictionary – you have to go back to the paper anyway, and this generates inefficiencies. We created partnerships to provide historic information. 01:14:35 [slight confusion as a question comes in from the audience] 01:14:45 GS: I welcome this conversation – the one thing I’d like added is to include our nonprofit partners, e.g., the Federal Reserve, universities, etc. 01:15:43 BS: if your successor asks for three contacts to talk to outside GPO, who would they be? BJ: I will turn over quite a bit of information – I will share the names of helpful people, but I don’t want to limit my successor. 01:16:55 QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE 01:16:56 Cathy Hale, PA State Library: BJ is wrong in his description of the one-way street on government information. The library community has been very clear about communicating what we want. BJ: Cathy, you weren’t listening to me. What I’m saying is there is a partnership – in which the federal government has gotten more than they invested – but I’m talking about the publications themselves. Local libraries have collections we don’t. GPO has not addressed that yet. Cathy Hale: I know we have treasure troves, fugitive documents, etc. GPO has not had the vehicle to accept these. Get on the stick and start accepting our offers. BJ: I’ve been surprised by the amount of information out there. Most is local or regional in character. It would be helpful to researchers and citizens. 10 years ago, the Federal Register had 35K paid subscribers. Now we have 1M daily downloaders. 01:20:38 Cass Hartnett, U Washington, Seattle: what did you discuss with the Supreme Court Chief Justice? BJ: GPO's PR person just collapsed :) I met with the Chief Justice. I found him to be even more charming in person than he appears to be in the media. We brought up changes in the way citizens are using information – and that the federal courts should look at this. He mentioned there was a management change going on at the Administrative offices of the US courts, and that's the way we should do it. The Courts are quite conservative. GPO has established relationships with certain circuits. We manage the SCOTUS web site. We are pursuing providing access to court information to the level we do legislation. There are private organizations whose livelihood depends on the courts, but there should be a way for GPO to improve access without threatening them. 01:24:30 Michelle McKnelly, U Wisconsin, River Falls: Your legacy will be the FDSys. When will we get a better name for it? BJ: We were talking about running a contest... but it looked like a nightmare. All of us have a favorite name – MW favors “The Wash System.” We need a better name, and it should evolve. Michelle McKnelly: we need a better name to help us educate Congress :) 01:27:59 Thomas Lindsey – U Texas, Arlington : What’s the holdup for the new building? BJ: A senator told me that GPO couldn’t move out of town, because they need the congressional record and federal register every morning – and not get stuck in traffic. We have done site investigation – 23 sites are available in the metro region, more than half of these in DC – we’ve got the opportunities for space, and in a way that won’t cost taxpayers a dime. 01:31:00 [standing ovation] Continue reading →

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Before I move on to highlight any of the spiffy online resources of today, I’d like to take a brief trip down memory lane. Come with me now as we travel back through the dim recesses of time to those simple days before e-mail and the Internet...1987. In 1987 I began work in the Documents Department at St. Louis Public Library’s main branch. I was the State Documents Specialist, but I also worked with the federal documents. For those who may not have personal recollections of how the FDLP worked in those days, here’s what I recall: * We had two very important sets of cards—our shelflist, and our item selection cards. When we processed a shipment of documents we checked in serials on a serials check-in card and typed a new card to represent each new monograph. There was much pulling and re-filing of shelflist cards to be done each day. The item selection cards were divided into two sections—items selected, and items not selected. Those cards got updated each time an item number was created or discontinued, and when we changed our selections in the annual selection update. * At the beginning of the selection update we’d get a printout from GPO that listed all the active item numbers. Things we selected were marked with a “Y” and those we didn’t select were marked with an “N.” We went through the list and highlighted the Ys. We then went through a copy of the List of Classes and highlighted our selections there. That allowed us to do our “zero-based” analysis and decide which items to add or drop. It seemed to take forever each time we went through the process. * The Administrative Notes newsletter was our only way to get news from GPO. We devoured each new issue when it came in. Before the creation of the Administrative Notes Technical Supplement, we received pink “corrections” sheets in our shipment boxes that listed call number errors and so on. * We lived in fear of the periodic onsite inspections that GPO would do. God forbid they should find a paper clip in your stacks or a rubber band in your microfiche. * Microfiche was the most cutting-edge format in our collection. By the time I left St. Louis in 1991, we’d experimented with the Electronic Bulletin Board (where you could get CPI statistics on the same day they were released!), had mastered the art of loading CD-ROMs along with their floppies of accompanying software, and had heard that there was something out there called GOVDOC-L that was proving to be a very useful tool. Since then I’ve seen the birth and death of technological tools like Vax terminals, DOS commands, CD-ROM caddies, Gopher, Archie, Veronica, Mosaic, etc., etc. It seems I may within my lifetime see the end of documents on paper. It’s been a long strange trip thus far, and I think we’re cresting a hill and preparing to pick up even more speed. From here on out I advise that we hang on for dear life and try to enjoy the ride. Continue reading →

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Immigration and Federal Depository Libraries

Alfonso Aguilar, Chief, Office of Citizenship, Homeland Security

Focusing on the specialized information and services provided to immigrants by the Office of Citizenship, the presenter will also discuss the President’s Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to coordinate Federal resources to promote the integration of legal immigrants. Under the auspices of the Task Force, the Office of Citizenship plans to offer a Citizenship and Civics toolkit for immigrants to libraries nationwide, including the Federal Depository Libraries.

Explain the debate on immigration of the day. Numbers

Why is this important now?

• U.S. is facing record levels of legal migration

1. 1 in 9 U.S. residents are foreign-born
2. 3.84 million new LPRs from 2002 to 2005
3. 2.18 million new citizens naturalized, from 2002-2005

• Over 80 percent of immigrants from outside of Europe

1. Top 5 birth countries of new American citizens, 2005: Mexico, Philippines, India, Vietnam, China, Africa, Asia, South America

Immigrants increasingly settle in “New Gateways”, i.e. North Carolina, Nevada, Georgia. In the 90s, New York, Houston, LA. Some states haven’t seen a wave of immigration. So that is a great challenge. Proportionately, it isn’t as large as the 20^th century, but still very impressive. Challenge of undocumented immigrants. 9/11 also created a problem, how can we be an open welcoming nation with 9/11. The immigration situation is broken and needs to be fixed. We need security and border control, but we also need a guest worker program. Our native born work force is shrinking.

Bush asks how are we to assimilate immigrants into our country. If we have an open legal immigration policy, what are we doing to help them become part of the American community. Bush is the first President to talk about immigration as part of his policy and legacy.

Our national identity is based on ideals rather than religious or ethnic issues. We need a common set of values so we can preserve our common national identity.

Most people believe that immigration assimilation and integration patterns aren’t handled, we will have social issues to deal with in 20 years or so.

1924 to 1965 we didn’t have immigrants within the American culture because there was a moratorium. Since 1965 we have had a comprehensive immigration reform program, with legal immigration. We need to strengthen out program. We will have a nation of minorities in a few decades. But it is also a challenge. If your nation is composed of diverse peoples, having different cultures, it becomes a real challenge to bring them in to the culture. Look at France from this past summer. And the U.K. where some of the terrorists felt they were not part of that community or the murder of Nederland’s photographer who produced a movie on Islam.

You cannot have political and social cohesion if people don’t share values in a country. Perhaps (in France) the multinational plan doesn’t work. In U.S. we have built our nation on civic ideals. But we may have similar problems like Europe is having now.

Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were champions of this idea. Even libraries were part of the assimilation movement in the 20^th century. We want to make sure they do assimilate. You can respect your heritage but still be part of the American culture.

Introduction

The office was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Office of Citizenship. Mandate to help immigrants to use the resources to help them assimilate.

• Promotes instruction and training on citizenship rights and responsibilities, and
• provides immigrants with information and tools necessary to successfully integrate into American civic culture

Products and Publications

Promoting Civic Literacy in the Community

Through the development of educational materials for permanent residents to sue as study tools and educators to use in the classroom, the Office of Citizenship is assisting the immigrant community learn more about American History and Government.

The community we are targeting are the permanent residents, those who are making America their home. How to settle in the U.S., learn English, etc. the guides are in 10 different languages because they are just beginning the process of assimilation.

We are developing a citizenship questions and answers to pass the citizenship test. In 2008 we are developing a standard class on citizenship and our national identity. This is just a beginning in terms of the work. The President signed the:

Task Force on New Americans is looking at different initiatives.

• Established by Executive Order. Essential component of the President’s comprehensive immigration reform proposal.
• Develop educational initiatives to help legal immigrants embrace the common core of American civic culture, learn English, and fully become American
• Prevent marginalization of the foreign-born – which can lead to social problems, radicalization – via successful integration

New Americans Library Initiative

• Description: Expand access to citizenship and civics materials and educational programming at public libraries
• Approach:

1. Distribute a toolkit with citizenship and civic publications to libraries nationwide, they also have English/ Spanish software and English classes
2. Partner with GPO, Institute of Museum and Library Services (MLS), and state libraries
3. Use libraries as venues to deliver Civic Orientation sessions developed with National Constitution Center. The federal assistants are willing to go to libraries to promote assimilation to immigrants. Many college libraries have developed programs with the community in mind to help them assimilate.
4. Develop educational products with other federal agencies

POC: Carlos Muñoz, 202-272-1304, Carlos.munoz@dhs.gov

This is the basic concept we have developed and want to share with you. It would be interesting to partner with the depository libraries. Issue of funding. As we develop this effort, we will hold round tables and see how we can leverage funding for the program. Grants to libraries and the private sector. In general that is what I have to share with you. This will garner more attention in the next year. I truly believe libraries can play a pivotal role. Materials and resources and build capabilities to deal with these communities and provide funding for these programs.

Thank you. (applause)

Q. Have you done market surveys to find out how these customers have received this information in the past.

A. Little research on this topic. Immigrants using libraries, there is very little information. Did set up a focus group with groups that had integration programs. Uscis.gov has the report. When they heard from libraries and churches there is lack of information. Those libraries who reach out to immigrants, their libraries are used. Some libraries don’t have the resources so there are challenges. In some of the district offices there is online assistance, to get their appointments. But libraries didn’t have the services necessary to help them. The toolkit is on their web site for the immigrant to use. He feels they need to develop an initiative and then do the research. Something needs to be done now, because immigrants are in our community now. Start a program and then do the research to see if it is working. This needs to be done now. Feedback they have gotten is extremely valuable.

Q. Never heard of his office. Federal funding agency. Every state manages those funds and some funds actually make their way to those programs. ALA has already done a lot of research on these communities so he needs access to those reports. The public libraries do work to help the immigrant and serve this population. What would be useful would be information for library staff to bridge the gap between American library culture and their own. Example, many cultures don’t understand the idea of checking out a book and then bringing it back.

A. This is a comprehensive approach, that is part of a larger effort. To encourage Americans with in the program to teach English to foreigners. Also there is a problem because they can’t take English classes because they work two jobs. Churches also help immigrants to assimilate. We need volunteers to help move the program forward. Something we have to look at. Separate from other funding streams. Private sector for funds. Libraries are another resource to go to get their information.

ALA one of the first places was ALA. Initially, one of the problems was a suspicion because we are part of the homeland security department.

Q. Most of the immigrants can’t use the computer to make appointments so they want the librarian to fill out the forms for them. The lottery program came out this month but it isn’t in Spanish, only in English and it is an online form. They need a picture to be uploaded with the application. There isn’t enough staff to handle all these questions.

A. This is mainly about providing material but not specifically about filling out forms. Each district office has its own way of handling problems. Obviously, this isn’t the best way to handle things.

Q. Sometimes the immigrant doesn’t know what a web address is.

A. We are aware of this. Absolutely, but this is not something that can be addressed from our office. but we will take it into account. We don’t want to recommend they go somewhere where they can’t get the information they need. We are also looking at non-mandating online filing.

Q. I am not a librarian but I am a technologist. Librarians feel they are taking the overflow from the offices. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to develop a program with libraries in their own languages? It’s going to take some work. Libraries are places to exchange information.

A. We are already working with some libraries who are targeting orientation sessions with the Office of Citizenship.

Libraries are going to have funding issues to provide services to community members and immigrants. It is a very complex issue and it isn’t going to change. We need to address those needs. Are we going to have adequate funding? Probably not. We need to have more funding for libraries.

Q. Recommend he write a letter of what is needed to address and help the immigrant populations.

A. He doesn’t want to make this another unfunded mandate, he wants to make this a partnership. He wants to start little by little with those libraries who can help fund this on their own first. Then look at grant monies.

Q. Ami Quinn. There is a big disconnect with immigrants and librarians in filling out forms. The Univ. ILL has been working to help with this already. There needs to be a national strategy on how to work with this. That includes the libraries and churches. There needs to be a meeting at least once a year to update the changes with the immigration law.

A. The government is working on this initiative. They are interested in helping immigrants come together to get the information they need. Congressmen have been holding classes in their offices in English. Chicago area to provide adequate information. We need to think smart to work with different groups to get the message out. We have immigration meetings.

Q. Seattle pub lib what about podcasting? It might be a way to spread out the information. If we do that as a .government, she can certainly work with people to see that immigrants can have access to computers at her library.

A. They are working on it. Government site in language, that has web casting. Interesting idea. In California they have a great program but only a small portion use the libraries. We need to look creatively.

Q. Massachusetts. We have an Immigrant Services Librarian. Users want them to do things and public libraries want to help but they don’t have the funds to do everything, They just had to cut back on the English classes. Work with ALA and help librarians find what is available. What might be a better use of funds would be orientation for librarians.

A. What I am hearing here today, task force will be working with the library community to hear your ideas. Certainly don’t want to impose an unfunded mandate. But he truly believes that you need to start building on something to get the attention of the policy makers.

Q. To the task force members list available on the web site?

A. There are about 10 cabinet level agencies.

Q. Closed libraries in the west. We need advice and how to reach the members of our communities to help them. We need help with marketing ourselves.

A. We have a very nice flash presentation. We could train the trainer. With immigrants, you wouldn’t have the knowledge to answer some of their questions and you shouldn’t answer them.

Q. Hispanic in Arizona, there is a huge mistrust of government sites, so they don’t go there. They won’t come even if we have the marketing available. These sessions can’t be labeled immigration in any way.

A. The old IMS has been disbanded. We have information for documented immigrants, not undocumented. This initiative is targeting those who are in the country legally. They shouldn’t have a problem using a government web site. Until we have a comprehensive immigration reform, we will have problems with this area. Many of the customers in your library will be in the target population.

He avoids answering some questions because of the problems. Immigration law is more complex than tax law. He is a lawyer.

Make sure you refer people to accredited immigration lawyers. You can provide basic orientation, but don’t answer immigration questions. And make sure they are referred to the correct people.

If your library decides to provide a citizenship program, they will have materials on their web site to help them.

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