Message from the Chair.
Our new section name.
New officers elected.
Seeking candidate for Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Maps Conference.
Alerts from Science.gov.
Government information chat.
September program at the NCLA Conference
Fall Depository Library Conference in Washington, D.C.
People and events.
Executive Board, 2005.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Judging from the attendance of 32 (not including 2 non-affiliated speakers and
2 guests) and the evaluations, the Spring NCLA Government Resources Section
(GRS) Spring Workshop was a success. The informative presentations on GIS,
the American Community Survey, and Marketing are available to you on the NCLA
Government Resources Section page.
Please check them out.
Please see the notes below on the three programs that GRS is "sponsoring" or directly putting on at the September NCLA Conference in Winston-Salem.
As I get ready to completely turn over the mantle of NCLA GRS Chair to Beth Kaylor, I am surprised to note that the two years have gone by fast. We have formally changed our name, refined our by-laws, enjoyed good company and excellent workshops, said goodbye to familiar faces and welcomed new ones. I don't know about you but I am excited (and yes a wee bit tired but thrilled nonetheless) to be in the midst of so much change on so many different levels. Documents, patron expectations, libraries - everything is changing all at once for many if not all of us. BUT in the midst of all that change is the irrevocable fact that Government Documents continue to have an important place in all of these arenas.
To that end, please continue or start participating and communicating with one another to whatever extent possible. Use the listserv, contact each other directly, come to the workshops, contact me or all the above. Only by sharing what we don't yet know or understand, what we do know or have learned, how things are working or not in our respective shops can we make sense of the changes and protect the role of government documents in our lives, the lives of our patrons and for all citizens - especially those in North Carolina.
Thank you for letting me serve. While I step aside, encourage others or step
up yourself. We need you. BLR.
--Beth L. Rowe, Federal Regional Documents Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill.
OUR NEW SECTION NAME
After the vote at the end of the Annual Business Meeting, Nov 12, 2004, the Documents Section
officially became the Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association.
According to Past President, Bryna Coonin, "For some time we have discussed as a section the
possibility of changing our section name to better reflect the nature of documents work in the
current environment." The name change was approved by the NCLA Executive Board in April 2004
and approved by the Section Members at the Annual Business Meeting, Nov. 2004.
NEW OFFICERS ELECTED
Congratulations to the following officers who were elected at the Annual Business Meeting, November 12, 2004.
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Beth Kaylor, UNC-Wilmington.
Secretary/Treasurer: Dianne Ford, Elon University.
SEEKING CANDIDATE FOR VICE CHAIR/CHAIR-ELECT
The time has come to elect a new Vice-Chair/Chair Elect. Currently, this position covers two years - one year
as the Vice Chair/ Chair Elect and one year as the Chair. As Vice-Chair, you are in charge of the workshop/conference
programming for the Government Resources Section. However, do not think you are alone with this charge; typically,
current and previous officers stand ready to and do assist the Vice-Chair/Chair Elect with the programming ideas and
logistics. If you are interested in serving yourself, or you know an excellent candidate, please let your
Government Resources Section officers know (Beth L. Rowe, Chair at blr@unc.edu, Beth Kaylor at kaylorj@uncw.edu,
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect at and/or Dianne Ford, Treasurer at dford@elon.edu).
We will elect the new officer during the Business Meeting, which comes at the end of the Government Resources
Section main program on Thursday, September 22nd. Please send in your nominations now and plan to come vote in
September.
--Beth L. Rowe, Federal Regional Documents Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill.
MAPS CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON DC, MAY 2005
Map and document librarians, vendors of maps and geographic data and software, and GIS specialists
gathered at the Library of Congress (LC) to assess the impact of map and geographic
information moving into digital format. Important themes included standards and archiving
for GIS (Geographic Information Systems) data and maps, standards for the digitization of
paper map collections, cooperative digitizing projects, and providing GIS services in libraries.
The LC Geography and Map Division supported and co-hosted both the International Federation of Library Association's "IFLA Workshop on Paper Maps" on Wednesday and the Cartographic Users Advisory Council's (CUAC) "Map and Geographic Information Collections in Transition" on Thursday and Friday.
In addition to many excellent sessions, we had the added excitement of participating in the Capitol Hill emergency evacuation during the "errant small plane" incident on Wed.!
Abstracts for all presentations are available on the CUAC conference website (http://cuac.wustl.edu/AbstractsforPresentations.htm). To briefly summarize, the IFLA workshop included the following topics:
James Boxall (Dalhousie U., Nova Scotia) on "The Rise of Digital Earth as the Map Collection"; William Sudduth III (U. of SC) on "A Government Information Librarian's View of Maps"; David Cobb, Harvard College Library, on "Bridging the Digital Divide and Legacy Collections"; Kent Lee, East View Cartographic, on "Commercial Distribution of Paper and Digital Maps: The Future for the Paper Map and the Future for the Map Library";
Christopher Baruth, American Geographical Society Library, UW-Milwaukee, on "The Old Maps in Our Libraries and the Challenges that Await Us"; and John Herbert, Geography and Map Division, LC, on "Paper Maps and the Library of Congress." (Gary Fitzpatrick's "Maps and the Muddy Waters of Manoa: An Update on the U. of Hawaii Map Collection Flood" was interrupted by the emergency building evacuation)
A look at the websites of many of these organizations will illustrate GIS initiatives and initiatives in preservation, cataloging, and access for older map collections. Other important websites mentioned include "Digital Earth" at http://www.digitalearth.gov/ and the Rand report on "Mapping the Risks: Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly vailable Geospatial Information" at http://www.rand.org/publications/MG/MG142/.
During day one of the CUAC conference, presentations were grouped under broad headings. Presentations on THE FUTURE OF THE PAPER MAP were: "The Future of the Paper Map from the USGS Perspective" (Dr. Pierce, USGS; see The National Atlas at http://www.nationalatlas.gov/ and The National Map at http://nationalmap.gov/ ); "A Commercial View on the Future of Paper Maps" (Russell Guy, Omni Resources); and "Role of the Paper Map in Libraries" (David McQuillan, U. of SC).
Presentations on DEVELOPING DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS were: "Can Librarians Make a Difference in the Geoworld? The Story of INSIDE Idaho" (Lily Wai and Bruce Godfrey, U. of Idaho; see http://inside.uidaho.edu/about.htm); "Collection Development Policies for Maps and Geospatial Information" (T. Wangyal Shawa, Princeton U.); and "Cooperative Collection Development and Scanning of Cartographic Materials" (Julie Sweetkind-Singer, Stanford U.).
Presentations on DISTRIBUTION AND ARCHIVING OF DIGITAL SPATIAL INFORMATION were: "Data Archiving at the National Archives" (Robert Chadduck, NARA); "Government Printing Office Policies and Plans for Spatial Information Distribution" (Judy Russell, Superintendent of Documents, GPO); and "Archiving Geospatial Data at EROS Data Center" (John Faundeen, EROS).
Again, websites for all of these organizations are very informative. Extended lunchtime breakout sessions
allowed smaller-group discussion of: Increasing Awareness of Map and Spatial Data Collections;
Needs of Spatial Information Collections; Future Role of Map Library Organizations; and Offering
GIS Services in Libraries.
During day two of the CUAC conference, presentations on the FUTURE OF CARTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COLLECTIONS were: "The Role of GIS in Libraries for Geographic Information Management" (Clint Brown, ESRI); "Future Directions for Geolibraries" (Michael Goodchild, U. of CA- Santa Barbara); and "National Geographic: From Paper to Digital to Distributed Mapping" (Allen Carroll, National Geographic Society. See MapMachine at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/ ).
Presentations on DATA COPYRIGHT, LICENSING AND ACCESS ISSUES were: "Licensing Geographic Data and Services: Vision for a National Commons and Marketplace" (Harlan Onsrud, U. of ME at Orono);
"The Idea of Discovery: Planning and Implementing Access to Geospatial Data at Harvard" (Tim Strawn, Harvard University); and "Technology Transfer Opportunities and Cartographic Information" (Julia Giller, USGS).
Most conference goers took advantage of visiting the 5,000,000+ maps in the LC collection.
The opportunities to network and compare projects, challenges, and goals were very valuable.
Many librarians present were facing projects of downsizing paper map collections, cataloging their collections,
hiring digitization specialists, generating digital map collections, and providing GIS services in the library.
The group adjourned with hopes for cooperative statewide projects for digitizing topographic maps and
cooperative collection management decisions.
--Dianne Ford, Serials and Documents Librarian, Elon University.
ALERTS FROM SCIENCE.GOV
Science.gov, the "go to" Web portal for federal science information,
now provides a free and convenient "Alert" service that delivers
information about the most current science developments right to
desktops each Monday.
Launched at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Feb. 17-21, 2005) in Washington, D.C., the Science.gov Alert Service provides weekly emails to those interested in science.
From the Science.gov homepage (www.science.gov), individuals can set up an account and let Science.gov do the searching for them. Each week, up to 25 relevant results from selected information sources will be sent to the subscriber's email account. Results are displayed in the Alert email and in a personalized Alert Archive, which stores six weeks of alerts results. In the Archive, past activity can be reviewed and Alert profiles edited.
Individuals can choose specific sources to monitor, or select the "All Sources" option. Science.gov drills down into hard-to-find research information collections, spanning more than 47 million pages of government R&D results. More than 1,700 government information resources and 30 databases on a wide variety of scientific topics are available - all in one place and searchable with just one search tool.
Since its launch in 2002, Science.gov, the science companion to FirstGov, has been the one-stop gateway to reliable federal science and technology information. Science.gov allows individuals to search for information based on subject, rather than by government agency.
Science.gov is made possible by the Science.gov Alliance, a
collaboration of 12 federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture,
Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services and
the Interior, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the Government Printing Office, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the National Science Foundation, with support
from the National Archives and Records Administration.
--Dianne Ford, Serials and Documents Librarian, Elon University.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION CHAT PROJECT
"With government information increasingly available on the World Wide Web, it's important
that documents librarians be available online as well, to provide the kind of specialized
assistance that only we can." David Durant, Head of Government Documents and Microforms,
East Carolina University.
Government documents staff members from East Carolina University and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill are currently participating in a national pilot project to provide virtual and email reference service for government information. Participants include Bryna Coonin and David Durant from ECU and Jim Ovitt, Beth L. Rowe, Antoinette Satterfield, Carolyn Shoemaker, and Michael Van Fossen from UNC-Chapel Hill.
The project, sponsored by the Illinois State Library, OCLC, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, began in November 2004 and is expected to go to November 2005. Staff at public libraries, academic libraries, state library and archive departments, are involved.
Project participants received online training in Question Point software, have access to a Knowledge Base of past questions, use a listserv, and participate in monthly conference calls to discuss issues. When patrons go to the website, http://govtinfo.org, they can initiate a live chat session with a librarian or send an email question. The hours of service and a list of participating libraries are also on the site.
Questions deal with a variety of local, state, and federal information: Where is the city code for a specific city? How can I find the status of a bill in a state legislature? How can I find historical information on weather conditions in a U.S. city? How much do Americans spend on certain products? According to use statistics released in early March, since the beginning of the project,there have been 18,201 visits to the site, the patron chat form was accessed 948 times, and the patron email question form was accessed 981 times. The total number of questions, both e-mail and chat, received by the program from October through part of May is 344.
North Carolina documents staff members are enthused about the project. Bryna Coonin, of ECU, noted,
"We often hear reports of the death of government documents libraries and documents librarianship.
However, the ongoing need for competent assistance navigating government information is evident from
the initial results of the project." Beth L. Rowe, the Federal Regional Documents Librarian at UNC-CH,
said: "The project is a win-win for both librarians and patrons. Patrons can continue to receive efficient
and timely responses to their government information needs online while government documents
librarians can collaborate with colleagues more easily on a national level and learn from one another
in the process."
--Michael Van Fossen, State/International Documents Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill.
SEPTEMBER PROGRAM AT THE NCLA CONFERENCE
The dates for the NCLA Conference are Tuesday, September 20th through Friday, September 23rd.
The slogan for the Conference being held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the Benton Convention Center
is “Your Library: The Place to Be”. Pre-registration for both the Conference and Hotel are available on the
NCLA website at http://www.nclaonline.org/.
The Government Resources Section is involved in three different programs. We are jointly producing with
BLINC (Business Librarians in North Carolina) a program on “Using the 2002 Economic Census for Business Research”,
tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, September 21st from 3:45-4:45pm. We are sponsoring with TNT
(Technology and Trends) a program on “Interactive Mapping Websites at the Local and State level”,
tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 22nd from 4:15-5:15pm.
The Government Resources Section main program on “Marketing Government Resources or other Special Library
Collection” is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, September 22nd from 9:15am - 10:15am.
The Government Resources Section Business Meeting will take place right after the program.
Please mark your calendars and join us!
--Beth L. Rowe, Federal Regional Documents Librarian, UNC Chapel Hill.
FALL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON,D.C.
GPO announced the dates for the fall Depository Library Council as Sunday, October 16, 2005 through
Wednesday, October 19, 2005. The meetings are to be held at the Hyatt Regency, located on 400 New Jersey Ave.,
NW, Washington, D.C. On Sunday, registration starts at 8:00 a.m., the first session, the
New Attendees Orientation, begins at 10:00 a.m., while the GPO Update and a plenary session will
take place that afternoon. The conference concludes at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Pre-Registration is available at:
[The majority of the items below were shared at the May 6th, Documents Section Spring Workshop in Raleigh. If we missed any or have incorrect information, please let us know. Thanks.]
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES SECTION EXECUTIVE BOARD 2005
Chair
Beth L. Rowe
UNC Chapel Hill
919-962-1151
rowe@refstaff.lib.unc.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
Beth Kaylor
UNC Wilmington
910-962-4232
kaylorj@uncw.edu
Secretary/Treasurer
Dianne Ford
Elon University
336-278-6584
dford@elon.edu
Past Chair
Bryna Coonin
East Carolina University
252-328-0431
cooninb@mail.ecu.edu
Docket Editor
Michael Van Fossen
UNC Chapel Hill
919-962-1151
mike_vanfossen@unc.edu
State Clearinghouse Coordinator
Jan Reagan
State Library of North Carolina
919-733-3683
jreagan@library.dcr.state.nc.us
The Docket (ISSN 0198-1048) is the official
newsletter of the Government Resources Section Section of the
North Carolina
Library Association. Published twice a year.
Permission to copy is granted provided appropriate credit is given to The Docket and individual
authors.
Issues from Spring 1998 to the present are available at:
http://www.nclaonline.org/grs/pub.html.
Contact the Editor for issues prior to Spring 1998.
Editor:
Michael Van Fossen
Davis Library, Reference, CB#3912,
University of North Carolina,Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3912
Voice: 919-962-1151
Fax 919-962-5537
mike_vanfossen@unc.edu