September 2005

 

GODORT's purpose is to provide a forum for librarians to communicate and share ideas related to government publications, resources and services, both state and federal. 

 

GODORT held its Annual Meeting at WVU on May 20, 2005.  Refreshments and lunch were provided courtesy of WVLA and were enjoyed and appreciated by all attendees.  This meeting gave us the opportunity to hear Christine Chang, our Regional Librarian, report in-depth upon the Spring Depository Library Council meeting. 

 

The Government Printing Office (GPO) is undergoing a massive restructuring in order to adapt to the needs of the digital environment. 

 

·        GPO conducted a "Survey to Identify Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper or Other Tangible Format," which all West Virginia GODORT members filled out.  Members are concerned that GPO publications with high professional value, such as LCSH and L.C. Classification tables, may no longer be freely available in print form through the FDLP. 

 

·        Authentication of GPO Access files will soon be possible with digital signing tools.  This is of great interest to the patrons of legal libraries. 

 

·        The name of the Collection of Last Resort is changed to the National Collection.  There will be one in the eastern U.S. and one in the west.

 

·        The State Library of Ohio has requested the West Virginia join them in a depository consortium.  According to GPO's "A Strategic Vision for the 21^st Century," this will move us "from the traditional inspection process to a proactive model of regional consultation and education."  WV GODORT has been anxiously awaiting firm news of future inspections.   This latest news suggests that we will not be undergoing any more, at least not in the traditional sense.  

 

·        GPO is revising our holding period requirements for selective depositories away from the rigid five year rule to something more flexible.  GODORT welcomes this initiative.

 

Although FDLP was created as a way to disseminate government information to the citizens of our country, in West Virginia we see new barriers to access with the change to electronic materials. 

 

·        Not all of us have library catalogs that accommodate hot links to GPO publications in the 856 field. 

 

·        Providing catalog records for 100% of our selections is a challenge even for those of us with web-based catalogs.  As we move away from locally controlled catalogs and join large consortiums, regularly downloading batches of document records by item number is no longer feasible, as it inserts too many unattached records into the shared catalog. 

 

·        Local government documents librarians continue to do more with less.  We adjust to unfilled staff openings, to smaller budgets, to increased responsibilities and note that our federal librarian counterparts struggle with the same.    

 

·        How can we continue to make documents meaningful to the lives of our users?  Easy-to-find entertainment sites distract some users from seeking and finding substantive government sites online.  Others still lack computer skills.  Who else is being left behind? 

 

Our role as documents librarian is becoming increasingly educational as we show patrons how to find information by means other than familiar web browsers and popular electronic indexes.  We are fortunate to have roundtable members willing to share their knowledge so that we can better serve our public.  These include:

                       

·        Majed Khader, Marshall University, who presented a program on "Disaster Relief Websites" at Spring Fling.

 

·        David Schau, Kanawha County Public Library,  and Joy Humphries, W.V.U. Tech, who will present a program on "Government Web sites for Small Libraries" at the 2005 WVLA Annual Conference.  

·         Christine Chang, Regional Librarian at WVU, who organized a full-day hands-on workshop on STAT-USA at the Downtown Campus Library on Monday December 6, 2004 and invited GODORT members to attend. 

 

In other business, WV GODORT said good bye to Virginia Rubinstein, Documents Librarian and Cataloger at Concord University.  Virginia had plenty of expertise and generously shared it with her younger colleagues.  She could see humor in most situations, especially those involving new work challenges, and was dead-on accurate in her observations about higher education administration.   We will miss her and we wish her the best in her retirement.

 

Ann Henriksson, Shepherd University, was elected Chair for 2006. 

 

Peggy Turnbull

Bluefield State College

GODORT Chair, 2005