BEST PRACTICES EXCHANGE 2006
SPRING WORKSHOP, MAY 2006
PEOPLE, EVENTS & ETC.
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES SECTION EXECUTIVE BOARD 2005/2006
Best Practices Exchange 2006
Christy Allen, Digital State Documents Librarian. State Library of North Carolina
In March of 2006, the State Library of North Carolina hosted Digital Preservation in State Government:
Best Practices Exchange 2006. This rich two-day forum encouraged discussion between librarians,
archivists, and other information professionals on issues related to the management and preservation
of digital assets. Over one hundred participants from thirty states, federal agencies, and
private industry attended the Exchange allowing for open communication and idea sharing between
traditionally autonomous institutions.
The Best Practices Exchange was made up of multiple small-group
exchange sessions on the topics of: identification, selection, and appraisal of digital assets;
repository systems; collection of digital assets; authentication; resources and workflows; access;
metadata; preservation; and organization. Designated contributors gave informal presentations of their
digital preservation experiences, which inspired discussion among the other attendees.
Throughout the various discussions, one consistent theme emerged. Participants stressed again and
again that a successful digital preservation program requires a strong foundation made up of
four essential elements: support and buy-in from stakeholders (including internal management and IT staff);
"good enough" practices implemented now; collaborations and partnerships (inside and outside one's institution);
and documentation for policies, procedures, and standards.
Attendees also recognized the need for a "community of practice" made up of practitioners working to
manage and preserve digital assets. The Best Practices Exchange and other national meetings were identified
as an important component to this community. Meetings allow practitioners to share ideas, knowledge, and
resources while networking and meeting potential collaborators. In fact, the State Library of North Carolina
is hopeful that the Best Practices Exchange will become an annual event hosted by a different institution each year.
This would allow for continued dialog among digital practitioners as they struggle with the dilemmas of
digital preservation.
To learn more about the Best Practices Exchange, please visit:
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/digidocs/bestpractices/index.html
Also, look out for the article "Foundations for a Successful Digital Preservation Program: Discussions
from Digital Preservation in State Government: Best Practices Exchange 2006" due to be published in the
June 15th issue of RLG DigiNews.
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=12081
The Government Resources Section Spring Workshop was held May 19, 2006 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh.
Welcome and Introduction
Beth Rowe, Federal Regional Librarian welcomed participants and made a few remarks.
Documents Dataminer 2
Ann Miller, Head, Public Documents and Maps, Duke University.
Ann demonstrated many useful and practical features of Documents Dataminer 2, such as: the ability to put
information in spreadsheets; users can tailor information specific to their library; users can search for
holdings in libraries within a certain radius of their library; there is a shelf list function; users can import
MARC records directly into their own catalog; and users can look at a shipping list with only their items dislayed.
Tips and Tricks of Documents Management
Mimi Curlee, presented a handout on RSS feeds
and talked about how to map multiple locations by address.
State Library: Vision and Plans
Mary Boone, State Librarian of North Carolina introduced herself and spoke about her interesting and varied
career in librarianship: a UNC-CH graduate, a Peace Corps volunteer, director of the Chapel Hill Public Library and
she spent twenty years in the U.S. foreign service. Leadership and Excellence is her theme. She wants to expand
the role of the State Library into a resource
for all libraries, not just publics. She spoke of the need for people to be excited about being leaders.
Preservation and Access to State Government Information: Update on State Library Effort.
Jan Reagan, Head, Documents Branch, Kristin martin, State Documents Cataloger/Metadata Manager
Christy Allen, Digital State Documents Librarian
State Library staff members discussed best practices for digital preservation, gave an update
on the Access to State Government Information Initiative, issues in cataloging digital publications
and the State Depository Library Survey. The State Library is sponsoring a meeting of state depository
librarians in early June.
What's New at Libraries around the State
see People, Events, and Etc., below
Business Meeting: Government Resources Section
By Dianne Ford, Secretary/Treasurer of the Government Resources Section.
The business meeting was called to order at 3pm by section Chair Beth Kaylor, UNCW.
Dianne Ford, Elon, section Sec/Treas, gave the treasurer's report; our current bank balance stands at $3732.53.
There was no old business. Items of new business included:
Membership: Robert Burgin, NCLA Chair, has charged all sections to attempt a 10-20% increase
in membership. Ideas discussed for finding new members include contacting all documents librarians in the
state, and also all government data librarians. We would like to welcome and support new members; ideas for
how to do this include asking Kim Parrot, NCLA Administrative Assistant, to notify our section Chair whenever
we have new members join the section. The new member could receive a "welcome" letter from the section Chair
or Secretary; the Chair could also notify a section member who is near the new member to serve as a personal contact
and possibly offer support. Beth Rowe, UNC-CH, our Regional Depository Librarian, and Jan Reagan, NC State Library,
could also alert our section when they know of new staff members in Federal or State Documents.
Scholarships: NCLA needs donations to their scholarship fund for the biennial conference. A motion was made,
seconded, and passed for the GRS to donate up to $250 to this scholarship fund. Because our treasury is healthy
right now, we will also consider offering scholarship assistance to our future meetings, especially if we meet in
locations in the far eastern or western parts of the state.
Terms for officers: the GRS is the only NCLA section without two-year terms for our executive board.
(We currently have a two-year term for sec/treas, and a one-year term for chair and vice-chair.) If we change to
two-year terms, we'd like to lighten the load for the vice-chair, who is in change of programming.
Our bylaws currently dictate a nominating committee, which has not actually been necessary within our small group.
We will offer a draft resolution on the listserv to change this committee to a programming committee, supporting
the vice-chair. The proposed bylaws change to make terms of office two years and to create a programming committee
will be voted on at our fall meeting; if approved, they must also be approved by NCLA, so this would not take effect
for one more year.
Support for H.R. 2985: Ann Miller, Duke, urges us all to email our representatives supporting full funding
for GPO (H.R. 2985). Remind them that the FDLP is an important program needing future investment.
New officers: at the fall GRS meeting, we will be nominating and electing new officers for the section.
Volunteers are welcome!
Locations for future programs: the evaluation survey for today's meeting included questions about the
desirability of meeting in other parts of the state (far eastern, far western, etc) for our fall programs.
The majority of respondents seem to be in favor of continuing meeting in Raleigh; we will attempt to poll
GRS members who were not present so they can also offer input.
The Docket: Mike Van Fossen, UNC-CH, reminded us that news for the next issue of The Docket is due by June 15.
The section thanked Vice-Chair Mimi Curlee, Charlotte Public, for the excellent programming today.
The meeting was adjourned by Beth Kaylor.
Congratulations to the Graduates
Antoinette Satterfield (UNC-CH) and Victoria Silver (NCCU) were graduates of the library school programs
at their universities in Dec. 2005. These women worked full-time and went to school part-time for quite
a few years to finish their degrees. This is a great achievement: congratulations Antoinette and Victoria!
NC State University
Michele Hayslett has assumed responsibilities for government information with the departure of Karrie Peterson.
Karrie has become the Director of the Edwin Ginn Library at the Fletcher School, a graduate school of international
affairs at Tufts University.
Elon University
Jennifer Smith has become the Serials/Documents Assistant in Belk Library. Jennifer, a MLIS student at
UNC Greensboro, was introduced at the Government Resources Workshop on May 19.
Fayetteville State University
Karen Orr Fritts is the new Government Documents Librarian. She will also serve as the State Government
Documents Depository Librarian for FSU.
North Carolina Central University
Wadad Giles is the new Catalog Librarian in the Law Library. She will also serve as the State Government Documents
Depository Librarian for NCCU.
Victoria Silver is the new Head Documents Librarian in Shephard Memorial Library.
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Lillian Brewington, Government Documents/Special Collections Librarian, will begin phased
retirement in July of 2006.
State Library of North Carolina
Jan Reagan, Documents Branch Head and State Clearinghouse Coordinator has accepted the position
of Chief of the Library Services Section.
Christy Allen, Digital State Documents Librarian, has accepted the position of Digitization Projects Manager
in the Information Services Branch.
Erin Bradford is the new Documents library Clerk in the Documents Branch.
Jennifer Ricker, is the Digital State Documents Librarian in the Documents Branch.
Government Resources Section Executive Board 2005/2006
Volume 33 Number 1, Spring 2006, Posted 16 June 2006
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 in the Spring and the Fall.
Permission to copy is granted provided appropriate credit is given to The Docket and individual
authors.
Issues from Spring 1998 are available at:
http://www.nclaonline.org/grs/pub.html.
Contact the Editor for issues prior to Spring 1998.
Address editorial correspondence to the Editor:
Michael Van Fossen
Davis Library, Reference, CB#3912,
University of
North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3912
919-962-1151; fax 919-962-5537;
email mike_vanfossen@unc.edu