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Greetings:
 
Those of you who were present at the Depository Library
Council meeting as well as those of you who read the
remarks of Acting Public Printer Mike DiMario that were
posted earlier this week, know that a new tone and sense of
direction for the Council were established this Spring.
Toward that end, Council made 17 recommendations to the
Acting Public Printer regarding the future of Council and the
DLP.  Those recommendations will be posted to the various
lists with all due haste...unfortunately having been out of the
recommendation business for the past 3 years we were a
little rusty with our word-smithing skills and approved the
recommendations in concept rather than in final form.
However, the following is offered to provide you with a sense
of the meeting.  You can except a summary of the meeting
and a complete list of the recommendations ASAP.
 
With regard to the future of DLC, Council echoed the
remarks made by Mr. DiMario and urged that beginning with
the Fall 1993 meeting of Council, that the Fall meeting be
held in different cities throughout the U.S.  We saw value to
continuing to hold the Spring meeting in Washington D.C.
and to coordinate that meeting with the Federal Depository
Conference and Library Legislative Day.  We also applauded
the Acting Public Printer's resolve to appoint more practicing
documents librarians to Council, but at the same time
cautioned that a balance must continue to exist between
documents librarians and other interested persons on the
DLC.  It was also felt that future Council meetings should be
at least a day longer and that some type of directed open
forum discussion should be a part of all Council meetings.
In addition, we will attempt to teleconference the next
meeting in an effort to generate wider input and better
communication between Council, GPO and the information
community.
 
Regarding operational issues affecting the DLP, Council
supports the idea of an Operational Committee of Council to
work with the GODORT Depository Operations Work Group
(and other appropriate groups) to serve as a single access
point that depository librarians may contact for help with
operational issues.  We also encouraged that depository
library inspectors take on more of an education/training role
and that inspectors serve as ombudsman for helping resolve
operational problems.  Council will also begin a "Council's
Corner" column in Admin Notes as a mechanism to better
communicate with the community.  Toward that end,
Council's Communications Committee will remain as a
standing Committee and Beth Duston will appoint a new
Chair of that committee this Fall.
 
Much of the Council meeting was spent discussing the
future structure of the DLP and although no specific
recommendations were made in terms of a final model,
several interim steps were  identified.  First, it was
recommended that depository libraries be surveyed to see if
there is any interest in the idea of "Basic Service Center"
libraries that would receive a core collection of material and
also in the idea of shared Regionals or Regional
Consortiums.  Assuming that this recommendation is
approved, we will work with appropriate library groups to
develop the surveys and to get them out to libraries as
quickly as possible.  Council also recommended a
moratorium on the establishment of new depository libraries
and the establishment of minimum technical requirements
for existing libraries.
 
There was a strong feeling among Council that GPO should,
at a minimum, move into the electronic dissemination of
government information as defined in the "Access" bill,
whether or not that bill passes.  Council was also impressed
with the software we saw demonstrated as a prototype for an
online Congressional Record and viewed this as the
appropriate level software to accompany electronic products.
Council also recommended that GPO explore the possibility
of distributing hardware to depository libraries for using
electronic publications.  It was also recommended that GPO
make the bound Serial Set available to all libraries wishing
to select it and that Council would gladly work with GPO in
helping to identify more economically viable alternatives for
producing the Serial Set.
 
Finally, there seemed to be growing support, from everyone
present, for a stakeholders meeting on the future of the DLP.
In that light, it was recommended that GPO be an active
participant in such a conference.
 
 
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GARY CORNWELL                      PHONE:     (904) 392-0366
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES    FAX:       (904) 392-7251
DOCUMENTS DEPARTMENT               BITNET:    GARCORN@NERVM
LIBRARY WEST                       INTERNET:  [log in to unmask]
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA  32611