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          Everyone has probably seen announcements for the National
          Geo Data Policy Forum (May 10-12), at the Sheraton Premiere
          at Tysons Corner, D.C. Will map librarians/libraries be
          represented?  By the Cartographic Users Advisory Committee
          (CUAC)?
 
          At GIS/LIS in San Jose, the Geo Data Policy theme was
          meta-data standards (i.e. database records). Gary
          Fitzpatrick, Library of Congress liason to the Federal
          Geographic Data Committee, voluntered MARC as an existing
          Federal (FIPS) standard suitable for this application, "with
          the infrastructure already in place, practicioners trained
          and a national utility of map and computer records on-line."
          Convenors were surprised, to say the least.
 
          Judging from the advertisment for this May's meeting, the
          meta data issue is resolved. Now, access and freedom of
          information are prominant. We've been down this road before
          with Landsat, Tiger, USGS doling out GNIS cd's to state
          affiliates only, etc.  NGDC needs to get public domain
          principles right from the start.  If a map librarian from
          the east can attend, you could do good disproportionate
          to your number; if you would be willing to file a report,
          I'll see about a press pass for you..
 
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