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THE DOCKET

Newsletter of the Documents Section of the North Carolina Library Association

Volume 29 Number 1

Spring 2002

Following Grace York's presentation at the NCLA Biennial Conference Documents Section meeting on October 3, 2001, Laura West of Elon University was elected Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of the Section. The Documents Section Chair and Chair-Elect are one year terms each.

Spring 2002 Documents Workshop

Please plan to attend the Spring Documents Section Workshop on Friday, May 17, 2002 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Our topic will be the Virtual Depository Library. What changes are we already seeing in our item selections and our services? What belongs on our electronic reference shelf? What might depository status mean when the collection is online? The schedule is in the planning stages, so if you have areas you'd like to see addressed, or if you're already on the way to forming your own virtual depository, please email laura.west@elon.edu with your ideas.

“The Web Came True: What Do WE DO?”

Synopsis of a Presentation by Grace York of the University of Michigan - North Carolina Library Association Biennial Conference, October 3, 2001

Grace York, of the University of Michigan presented an informative and thought-provoking session on the challenges facing documents librarians today and the changes we will need to make to be effective in the 21st Century. She began with a look at changes in document distribution, access, and user behavior over the last ten years that have had an impact on the work and roles of librarians. She then offered suggestions for the many new roles librarians can and will play in this new age of electronic information.

Ms. York put forward four realities of the 21st Century that create uncertainties for librarians and libraries. These realities are: government distribution of information online, changes in user behavior, library government documents departments disappearing, and library school programs without the "library." To further illustrate the state of affairs, she provided the following statistics.

Ms. York shared her own experience at the Documents Center at the University of Michigan Library to show how changes in student behavior and electronic distribution of documents have altered the roles and priorities of the documents librarians.

In 1992, the norm was individual study on campus involving library research. By 2000, group study using Internet research, communications and library web pages on campus and from remote sites was the preferred means of study. Needless to say, this shift has had significant impact on library reference work. Reference librarians have moved from desk schedules, bibliographic instruction, and book selection to e-mail extended reference, bibliographic instruction, contract negotiations with online information providers, computer troubleshooting, data set preparation, Web page production, and advocating for preservation and continued access to electronic documents.

GPO's distribution of Federal documents in electronic format has also had an impact on Documents Libraries. Electronic distribution offers a number of advantages. Every library becomes a depository and everyone with a computer has access to government documents. Equal access promotes democracy. Furthermore, a reduction in printing can help reduce the Federal deficit. This reduction in printed publications, however, creates problems for depository libraries.

Selective depositories must now pay a hefty price for paper copies of such items as the Congressional Record and the Serial Set. Most libraries do not have budgets for these materials. Other disadvantages of electronic distribution are that documents are disappearing, some files that are too large to download, Internet access is often slow, government shut-downs can prohibit access to files, and the availability of Internet documents 100 years from now is questionable.

According to Ms. York, librarians' roles and approaches to their work must change to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. She summarized her ideas in a list called "The New Documents Librarian."

The New Documents Librarian, "Munificent" Spender - Librarians must spend time and money on

collection development. Librarians in selective depositories will now have to spend big money to purchase

paper/tangible government documents that make the depository a reliable source of government information.

Publisher - Librarians must engage in proactive collection development that will involve downloading

electronic documents to library computers. They may burn CDs of non-copyrighted government documents,

print reports on acid-free paper and bind, or add material to their own server and possibly reformat to ensure

access to government information. Self-publishing, however, requires hours of work and new skills for

librarians. Knowledge of new and changing technologies is essential. There are, however, already some

endemic problems with saving documents to CDs and library servers. Operating systems change, CDs wear

out, software on the CDs is copyrighted even if the government information content is not, and government

and commercial entities are likely not to write new software. When saving documents to servers or

computers in the library, the librarian must know and remember which computer the files are on, determine

how to catalog the documents, and deal with the ever increasing need for disk space.

Lobbyist/Collaborator - Librarians need to concentrate on the preservation of current information and help

shape government policies concerning preservation of electronic information. They can do so by providing

direct input to government agencies, speaking at conferences, posting messages on GOVDOC-L, or serving

Subject Specialist - Reference questions for Documents Librarians are getting longer and tougher as more

people use the Web for the easy questions. Librarians need to be more of a specialist for government

Life-long Learner/Student - Librarians can continue to learn new things by taking classes in new areas,

doing extended reference work in government information, teaching classes, writing guides for obtaining

government information and becoming Webmasters who create pages for reference and bibliographic

In conclusion, Ms. York pointed out that we can and should be proactive in defining our roles and the library's role in this new world of electronic documents and information. We have the opportunity to apply our expertise in collecting, organizing, and accessing government information to the digital environment. In doing so, we will help ensure continued access to this information regardless of medium or format.

The North Carolina State Documents Clearinghouse continues to disseminate items of interest both to state employees and, through the depository libraries, to the public. Some newly cataloged titles follow:

The "Guide to North Carolina Highway Historical Markers," published by the Dept. of Cultural Resources, lists over 1400 events from North Carolina's history that are commemorated with a highway historical marker, by county and city, providing background, photos, and maps for each event.

The ECU Survey Research Laboratory does research, consisting mostly of survey analysis on topics of importance to North Carolinians. Interesting recent studies include: "The Impact of Hurricane Floyd on Pitt County: One Year Later," "Conducting Successful Telephone Interviews with Breast Cancer Survivors," and "The Economic Impact of Biomedical Research on Companies in North Carolina." One new study, "Bluesky: A Survey of North Carolina Residents About the Safe Room and Fortified Home Concept," investigates whether residents had, or wished to have, available a safe place in their homes in case of severe weather. Another study, "Survey of Citizen Opinion, Currituck County, N.C.," looks at Currituck County citizens' views concerning the quality of life that they experience.

DENR has recently put out documents designed to alert citizens to air and water quality issues. They are: "You Can Help Prevent Water Pollution," and "Western North Carolina and Surrounding Area Air Quality Annual Trends Supplement."

Several publications have recently come through the Clearinghouse of interest to mine operators, specifically, "The North Carolina Mining Act and How It Affects the Mine Operator," published by DENR, as well as "Explosives Safety Course" and "Mine Safety Compliance Information," published by the Dept. of Labor's Mine and Quarry Bureau.

The North Carolina General Assembly has published the "Commission on Smart Growth, Growth Management, and Development: Findings and Recommendations." This document is meant to support reasonable and fiscally responsible development in North Carolina, without encouraging excessive urbanization in our state or promoting the decline of North Carolina's rural areas and rich natural beauty. The North Carolina General Assembly's Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse has published three current items of interest to practitioners in those areas. They are: "Report from the Subcommittee on Services," "Progress Report on Governance," and "Study of Mental Health/Substance Abuse Facilities and Their Role in North Carolina's System of Care."

Public health officials and oncologists may find interesting "The North Carolina Cancer Control Plan, 2001-2006," while public health officials and pediatricians may be interested in "An Investigation of the Characteristics of Mothers and Their Very Low Birth Weight Babies Referred to North Carolina's Infant Toddler Program" by Harry Herrick. Both were published by the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is creating quite a few provocative documents. The UNC Highway Safety Research Center has produced the "Preliminary Evaluation of the North Carolina Graduated Driver Licensing System Effects on Young Driver Crashes" which may be of interest to highway patrol officers, public health officials, drivers educators, and young drivers and their parents. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has recently published "Health Care for Pregnant Adolescents: a Legal Guide" by Anne Dellinger and Arlene M. Davis, which outlines teens' rights to contraception, abortion, custody, etc.

A current publication of the Dept. of Commerce, "E-government: Using Technology to Transform North Carolina's Governmental Services and Operations in the Digital Age: Report for the General Assembly," may be of some interest to anyone watching North Carolina's operational progression in the Digital Age. "Youth Rights and Responsibilities: a Handbook for North Carolina's Youth" by the Dept. of Administration, outlines the laws and privileges applicable to youths of various ages in the state.

The Dept. of Labor's Division of Occupational Safety and Health has revised two of their safety manuals, "A Guide to the Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)" and "A Guide to Machine Safeguarding" which may be of interest to those in industry.

The Dept. of Public Instruction has published "Instructional Strategies for Second Language Teachers: Exit Exam 2001." This secondary level foreign language curriculum guide provides excellent examples of lesson plans for second language teachers. "North Carolina Standard Course of Study Strategies for Mathematics: Kindergarten" provides an in-depth multifaceted combination of lesson plans, daily exercises, and workforms for Kindergarten mathematics students. It is also a product of the Dept. of Public Instruction.

All of these publications, as well as many others of current interest, may be found at the State Library of North Carolina or at selected state depositories.

--Karen O’Keefe, State Library of North Carolina, Secretary/Treasurer, Documents Section

Bob Gaines, Head of the Documents/Microforms Department of Jackson Library, UNC Greensboro, was one of the presenters for the Fall FDLP Conference in Alexandria, VA in October, 2001. His presentation was entitled "Depository Promotion: You Can Do It!" and is available at http://library.uncg.edu/depts/docs/us/gpopromo.html.

The invitation for this presentation was in recognition of award-winning government information web sites, such as the "Sexual Harassment Resources" site at http://library.uncg.edu/depts/docs/us/harass.html. This site was recognized for excellence by "USA Today" in February 2001 in both web and paper editions. See the paper edition of "USA Today" for Feb. 15, 2001, p. 3D, and http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/2001-02-08-hotsites.htm for the HotSites web edition. As a result of this and other sites being recognized, Gaines was invited to write a brief article for "Administrative Notes, the Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program," of the United States GPO. That article was entitled, "Recognition for Your GovDocs Web Sites" (April 15, 2001 edition, v. 22, n.6) and may be found at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/adnotes/ad041501.html.

North Carolina has been and is well represented on ALA's GODORT. Mary Horton, Wake Forest University, is currently GODORT Secretary. Ann Miller, Duke University, is Past Chair.

Others also serving on GODORT committees, task forces, etc., are: Nancy Kolenbrander, Western Carolina University, State & Local Documents Task Force representative to the Program Committee; Christof Galli, Duke University, GODORT Web Administrator and on the Publications Committee; Catherine Shreve, Duke University, International Selector for the Notable Documents Panel; Winston Atkins, North Carolina State University, Liaison to the Rare & Endangered Government Publications Committee from ALCTS/PARS; and Barbara Levergood, UNC Chapel Hill, on the Ad Hoc Digitization of Government Information Committee.

If I have missed anyone serving GODORT in some way, let me know. That information can be added in the next issue. And if anyone is serving on other ALA committees, task forces, etc., let me know that also.

Personnel in the Periodicals/Government Documents Department at Forsyth County Public Library, some of whom are new, are:

Billy King, Librarian Supervisor/Department Head, kingbh@co.forsyth.nc.us - new as of August 2001.

The Periodicals/Government Documents Department at Forsyth County Public Library can be reached at 336-727-2220, then press "8".

At J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, Tricia Kent has been promoted to Library Technical Assistant I in the Documents Section of Technical Services. Jacqui Celecia will join the Documents Section on March 1, 2002, as a Library Assistant. Joan Foley is a Documents Assistant, and Kevin Faircloth is in a temporary position. Rounding out the Documents Section and the person who keeps everything working smoothly is Alison Wilson, Documents Supervisor.

This is Big News to us, but it won't be reported on CNN: on February 28, Linda Lloyd, Federal Documents Coordinator at UNC Chapel Hill, will retire. Linda has worked in Documents since 1989; she has been the Coordinator since 1995.

Linda supervised a small staff - one full-time assistant plus five student assistants - who perform all the technical processes necessary to maintain the Regional Depository. She is an excellent, knowledgeable supervisor who believes in extensive training then offers encouragement through daily supervision. When Linda gives her rallying call: "We're going to get rid of this mess," the staff is ready to go. She has great rapport with student assistants; many of them have worked here during their entire four years at Carolina. And they are enthusiastic about their work - from correcting records on the computer to the mind-numbing task of filing microfiche.

Linda could walk through the documents stacks in the basement and come away with a long list of projects for the coming year. In fact, she is leaving us with six months' worth of projects to work on after she's gone.

She provided thorough training to Reference staff and students. Linda has a commanding knowledge of documents reference and is always a dependable resource person for the "problem" documents.

Late in her career here, the library purchased the Marcive tapes of federal document records. The Documents staff had the responsibility of adding holdings to records, barcodes and making corrections. As in everything else she has done here, Linda took a great deal of interest in this project, attended training classes and set up the technical aspects of the project.

Linda is well known to documents depository workers in North Carolina. She has answered hundreds of reference questions, has visited depositories and has acted as hostess for visitors to UNC.

She was the chief party organizer in the Reference Department. She organized numerous appreciation lunches that the staff gave to student assistants. These are very popular with staff and students. Some of us feared she would leave us to start her own business.

On a personal level, Linda is warm, friendly, enthusiastic, has a good sense of humor and a solid appreciation for what's important.

In retirement, Linda plans to spend a lot of time with her grandchildren and looks forward to weekends at the Lloyd home on the lake.

It's difficult to adequately express our appreciation to Linda for all she has done here and for all she means to us. We wish her well; we will miss her.

Michael Van Fossen

I am looking for someone who would be willing to take over editing The Docket. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, Pat Langelier has already stepped down as the production person. According to the copies I have of The Docket, Pat started working with the newsletter in Summer 1992. I started as editor in the spring of 1994, and it's time for someone to come in with some new energy and some new ideas for The Docket.

It's a perfect time for the group to look at The Docket and decide if they would like to have a newsletter that is smaller and more frequent. Someone with some new ideas of materials to feature or approaches to the whole publication could be a real advantage. I know everyone is busy. But I want you to think about what you want The Docket to be. It's a good newsletter - but there is plenty of room for improvement and change. Who will take the challenge?

The Docket (ISSN 0198-1048) is the official newsletter of the Documents Section of the North Carolina Library Association. Published twice a year in February and August, the deadline for contributions is the first day of the month of publication. Permission to copy is granted provided appropriate credit is given to The Docket and individual authors.

Address all editorial correspondence to Marilyn Schuster, Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223-0001; 704/687-3983; fax 704/687-2232; email: mbschust@email.uncc.edu.

Address other mail to Karen O’Keefe, State Library of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, 919-733-3683; kokeefe@library.dcr.state.nc.us.

Spring 2002 Documents Workshop

“The Web Came True: What Do WE DO?”

Michael Van Fossen