Light Archive – Collection Stewardship Guidelines

EXHIBIT A
Indiana Light Archive Collection Stewardship Guidelines

Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………..1
Collecting…………………………………………………………………………………2
Preservation……………………………………………………………………………..3
Delivery (Basic Loan/Delivery Guidelines)………………………………………….3
Cataloging Responsibilities……………………………………………………………4
Reference/Instruction………………………………………………………………….6
Professional Development/Training………………………………………………….6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….8
Appendix A-University Experts Database…………………………………………..10
Appendix B-Statistics………………………………………………………………….11
Appendix C-Collaborator Guidelines…………………………………………………12

Introduction-The four partner institutions in the Indiana Government Document Light Archive are the Indiana State Library, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame. Each of these congressionally designated federal depository libraries have the largest tangible format collections of U.S. Government information resources within Indiana. During 2006 these libraries agreed to develop the Indiana Government Document Light Archive to deal with increasing physical space constraints for storing print and microform format U.S. Government document resources in their individual collections. These four libraries are referred to as Collection Stewards in this document. The other Indiana federal depository libraries are referred to as Collaborators and they play a key role in providing supplemental reference services for federal depository library materials. Other Indiana federal depository libraries may assume collection stewardship responsibilities in collaboration with the four collection steward libraries.

The U.S. Government is the world’s largest publisher, producing information on every topic from accounting to zoology. Much of this information has been distributed to federal depository libraries by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), a congressional support agency. The purpose of this program is providing Americans with free access to federal government information produced and paid for with taxpayer dollars. This program’s distribution practices have become increasingly electronic since the 1990s, but depositories still receive significant quantities of government information from GPO in paper format. Research oriented libraries and regional depository libraries such as the four Collection Steward libraries have significant tangible format collections of U.S. Government Documents. Space constraints, as noted above, are prompting these libraries to work on a distributed system for collecting, cataloging, preserving, and providing timely and efficient access to these information resources for Indiana residents.

This initiative has involved unprecedented consultation and collaboration between these libraries and with other Indiana federal depository libraries who are not participating in this initiative. This initiative does not alter the Indiana State Library’s status as the Regional Depository for Indiana’s depository libraries. It does not prevent other Indiana federal depository libraries from obtaining or collecting government information resources, especially resources crucial to fulfilling institutional curricular, research, or public outreach needs. Furthermore, sustaining and supporting the expertise of other Indiana federal depository libraries is critical to the success of this initiative. While electronic format aids patron access, government documents experts understand the structure of government agencies, the relationship between documents, and know authoritative web resources, how they relate together, and the best way to mine information from databases.

Collection steward libraries are currently working on deciding which government agency publications will be kept and maintained at individual libraries. This is a daunting task since there have been thousands of government agencies during the federal government’s historical and ongoing institutional development and evolution. Libraries assuming responsibility for an agency or department’s publications are known as collection stewards and will maintain perpetual custodial responsibilities for these publications and ensure that users will have timely and efficient access to them. Determining collection steward responsibilities is easy in some cases and difficult in others. For instance, Purdue University will assume responsibility for U.S. Department of Agriculture publications based, in part, on its status as Indiana’s land-grant university and its extensive curricular and research programs in cognate disciplines.

This document describes the responsibilities of collection stewards in the areas of collecting, preservation, delivery, cataloging, reference/instruction, and professional development/training.

Collecting-Collection stewards will strive to build and retain comprehensive collections for their department or agency within the limitations of institution financial resources and the unpredictability of government agency publishing output. They should focus on acquiring print, microform, or electronic versions of these publications.
Examples of activities collection stewards can do in this regard include:

• Primary emphasis should be placed on acquiring these resources through normal depository distribution channels, Needs and Offers Lists, and monographic and serials vendors used by individual libraries.
• Print copies must be retained of their department or agency’s publications if there is no print copy in Indiana University’s Auxiliary Library Facility.
• Stewards are encouraged to keep, seek, and/or acquire depository and nondepository items, such as superseded items, to enhance their collection quality.

Collection assessment will be an ongoing activity for stewards. Such assessment practices may be based on a combination of U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) standards and through standards provided in library collection assessment policies produced by organizations like the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Collection use statistics are strongly encouraged.

An additional responsibility of collection stewards must be providing users access to nongovernmental information resources about their departments and agencies. These can include histories of these agencies and agency programs, biographies of relevant policymaking officials, and monographic or serial works analyzing specific policies and programs carried out by these agencies. Acquiring publishers monographic series of works on particular agencies or relevant subject areas is desirable. One example of a relevant monographic series is the Johns Hopkins University Press New Series in NASA History. These supplemental works can be in any format and should be focused on providing substantive historical and policy research information on these agencies. Each Collection Steward Library may determine what specific materials it will purchase with regard to this purpose.

An archive steward can hold expensive specialized collections in any format for the benefit of light archive stewards and other Indiana federal depository libraries. Collaboration in purchasing such resources can involve collection steward libraries and other Indiana federal depository libraries and is encouraged.

Preservation-Institutional collection stewards should maintain preservation standards for print and microform materials compatible with professional best practices and within institutional resources. This may require increases in institutional preservation budgets and staffing for tangible and electronic formats. Materials stabilization should be a minimum standard of print format preservation and not binding as a means of saving costs should be explored due to the desirability of digitization.

Electronic preservation standards should follow those comparable to ones enumerated in GPO Office of Information Dissemination reports accessible at www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/ such as Report from the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Digital Preservation Masters and from best practices contained in professional literature. Relevant cost and statistical data on expenditures in these areas should be compiled.

Delivery (Basic Loan/Delivery Guidelines)-The goal of this agreement is to improve public access and services to U.S. Government documents and information. It is expected that users will use electronic versions of physical documents whenever possible. With that understanding, all items should be loanable/deliverable, except for the aforementioned “restricted” category below, from Indiana University, Indiana State Library, Purdue University, and University of Notre Dame collections (known collectively as the Indiana Light Archives for Government Documents). The following guidelines should apply:

Loan Circulation Categories

Normal-All items not classified as rare or fragile (see below) should be circulated with a normal loan period.

Non-circ-Items for which there is only one copy and the item normally would not circulate from the collection e.g. Indiana census, bound periodicals, reference materials, should be sent to another library for in-library use only.

Restricted-Regardless of format, rarity, or fragility an original copy of any item in the Indiana Light Archive collections should be available for on-site use, including:
• Items classified as rare
• Items too fragile to be loaned off-campus

Delivery Guidelines
• Items less than 25 pages should be scanned and delivered electronically if possible.
• CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks should be delivered electronically whenever possible.
• Microform documents under 50 pages will be delivered electronically to the desktop. Fiche-to-fiche copying or loans of the original documents will be used for longer documents.

Basic Delivery Standards
• Items should be available through INCAT.
• Items should be shipped directly to requesting libraries through Wheels.
• Desktop delivery should be within 24-36 hours, Monday-Friday.
• Delivery from ALF to Lilly Library should be within 24-36 hours of request.
• Delivery from ALF to other libraries should be within 2-3 days.

Statistics
The following statistics should be maintained for each request:
• Turn-around time
• Borrowing library
• Borrowing status-faculty, grad, undergrad, staff, other
• Format of delivery-loan or delivered electronically
• Type of loan-normal, non-circ, restricted
• Number of non-returns to the libraries and estimated replacement costs
• The number of items acquired to supplement collections and supporting costs should be documented and recorded.

Cataloging Responsibilities-Regardless of document format, cataloging is an important means of discovering and accessing documents. The following are broad principles that the Stewards will strive towards fulfilling. A subgroup comprised of representatives from each of the Stewards cataloging agencies will consider and outline more specific procedures.

For all materials in the agreed upon stewardship area, institutions will provide the following to ensure Indiana citizens can easily locate and obtain U.S. Government material:

The following bibliographic record standards/best practices should be used for retrospective, current, and future cataloging:

• Steward agrees to provide or ensure availability of bibliographic records in their stewardship area meeting current BIBCO (monographs) and CONSER (serials) standards in Worldcat/INCat or for all materials within the federal depository library program, whether or not they were distributed in tangible format. [Note: Institutions are not being asked to become an official BIBCO or CONSER participating agency, only to follow these organizations standards. Records should meet the standards at time of record creation.]
• Priority should be on providing original cataloging where no record exists and not on upgrading existing bibliographic records.
• Holdings statements will be provided in WorldCat/INCat following OCLC standards with the Indiana Light Archives holdings symbol attached to the records. [Note: The exact configuration of holding symbol/s for the archive has yet to be finalized.]
• SuDoc classification (086 Field) will be provided on the record in WorldCat when available.
• Item number(s) or any future selection identifier will be provided in WorldCat when available.
• There is no requirement to add any records to the institution’s local catalog. (However, do we want to encourage this? Bert)
• Stewards will be responsible for providing cataloging in WorldCat/INCat for all documents in their stewardship area even if they don’t own the document. Stewards should request documents absent in their own collection in their stated stewardship area from another institution if no WorldCat record exists, even if another Light Archive institution holds the document.

The following bibliographic standards/best practices are recommended:
• Stewards are encouraged to pursue grant money from Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI) or other sources, form partnerships with other groups and institutions in Indiana and nationally, and to contract with bibliographic services to increase the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of bibliographic record creation. The Indiana Light Archive for Government Documents Planning Group will work with the Committee for Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and GPO to create and maintain a full and accurate file of federal depository document records.
• Stewards may provide ongoing bibliographic record maintenance in WorldCat, i.e. ceased serials, author changes, SuDoc changes,
distribution changes, URL/PURL changes etc.
• GPO retains overall responsibility for maintaining URLs/PURLs in WorldCat, but stewards are encouaged to explore alternate means for identifying and correcting broken URLs/PURLs.

Cataloging Guidelines Differing by Document Publication Date:
• For all depository materials in all formats in the future:
Monographic series should be fully analyzed when series components have differing subjects. These analytic records need only be available in WorldCat, and there is no requirement that they be used in the Steward’s local catalog. In most cases, analytics are being provided by GPO and other sources so it is not expected that Stewards will face a considerable burden. However, the Indiana Light Archives OCLC holdings symbol should be attached to WorldCat Analytics. If this becomes a burden, the Steward Cataloging Subgroup will reconsider this item.
• For all federal depository material in all formats 1976-present:
Creation of analytics (fully analyzed monographic series records) is optional but strongly encouraged when series components have differing subjects.
• For all federal depository materials in all formats pre-1976 (retrospective cataloging):
It is recognized that creating records for pre-1976 documents is a sizeable undertaking. The steward commits to provide or ensure availability of bibliographic records at some point in the future that meet current BIBCO (monographs) and CONSER (serials) standards in Worldcat/INCat for all materials that were distributed within the federal depository system. Stewards will provide a cataloging plan for all uncataloged pre-1976 material within two years of the agreement.

Reference/Instruction-Providing high quality reference, instructional, and referral services to multifaceted users and maintaining professional expertise are essential prerequisites for this collection’s success. Making optimum use of expertise possessed by colleagues at other Indiana libraries is essential. Stewards for individual departmental and agency collections will acquire, maintain, and seek to expand their knowledge of their department and agency’s organizational, political, and policymaking practices, and information resources. This can be done through regular reading of agency information resources and popular and scholarly works analyzing that department or agency’s activities. Besides being capable of using traditional and emerging technologies to perform reference service, collection stewards should have a broad general understanding of scholarly communication trends and practices in the subject matter produced by these agencies. Periodic interaction with officials from these departments or agencies is also
helpful. Stewards should be able to refer users requiring more detailed technical assistance to individuals at their institutions possessing more specific expertise in a given subject area such as those listed in Appendix A.

Collection stewards will also provide instruction in finding and using the information resources of these departments or agencies regardless of their format. This instruction can be provided through classroom instruction, instructing colleagues at your own institution, performing demonstrations for local organizations, at other Indiana libraries, or other federal depository libraries through traditional instructional technologies or interactive distance learning. It may also be provided by electronic instruction guides posted on the websites of participating libraries through web pages and online tutorials which should be shared with other institutions. Examples of such instruction could include describing how to search for the legislative history of a law, finding and manipulating statistics on particular topics, demonstrating how to use geographic information systems, explaining why agencies do or don’t produce particular kinds of information, and explaining the political contexts in which agencies produce information resources. Collection stewards will customize their reference and instruction to meet the needs and information searching capabilities of individual users ranging from individuals wanting the proper federal tax form to individuals conducting substantive scholarly research on various topics.

Professional Development/Training-Professional development and training is essential to the success of the Indiana Government Document Light Archive. As the (Federal Depository Library Program) FDLP undergoes extensive changes, Indiana libraries and citizens will need to know where to locate government information. All FDLP libraries need to understand these changes and non-FDLP libraries need to remain important stakeholders in this process.

There will be broad and varied mechanisms for communicating information about these changes in government information access. Professional development and training will involve ongoing activities and presentations and help sessions. Such sessions, offered within the initial 1-2 years of Indiana Light Archive Program implementation, are particularly important.

Presentations will be given on a rotating basis by all Indiana Light Archive committee participants. In person training will primarily be conducted by the Indiana State Library relying on other major library organizations to volunteer when meetings are in their geographic area.

Indiana State Plan¬-The Indiana State Plan will be revised to reflect all
FDLP changes. This State Plan will be distributed in tangible format to all
FDLP libraries when a revised and a digital version will be posted on the Internet. Announcements of any/all changes will be posted to the FDLPIN listserv.

Indiana Government Documents Light Archive Website-Indiana University has volunteered to host a website “clearinghouse” of information related to this project. The Indiana State Plan will be available here as well as documents describing various aspects of document delivery, item location, etc. This website is accessible at http://bl-libg-doghill.ads.iu.edu/gpd-web/fdlp/ilitweb.html. Having this information available on this site will facilitate keeping everyone informed of pertinent policies and standards.

FDLPIN Listserv-This Indiana State Library maintained listserv provides information on FDLP matters to Indiana’s FDLP libraries. Access to this listserv is only available to FDLP libraries. Due to the scope of this project, listserv membership will be expanded to include librarians and other Indiana government information users. Listserv focus will be expanded to encourage the posting of information queries and answers to this list.

Like GOVDOC-L, FDLPIN-L can be expended to serve as a mechanism in which the entire Indiana library community can communicate with each other and answer government-document related queries. Such change will make this listserv a “living” resource enhancing the ability of any Indiana library to locate, utilize, and understand government information. INDIGO-L, the listserv for Indiana’s government documents librarians and the INDIGO website www.lib.purdue.edu/govdocs/indigo.html can also serve as professional awareness/development mechanisms.

Indiana Library Federation (ILF) District Training-Indiana is divided into eight regional library districts www.ilfonline.org/Units/Districts/districts.htm which conduct annual
conferences where presentation topics are sought. After the State Plan is altered and the Indiana Government Document Light Archive “goes live”, a presentation will be given at each district conference to ensure each ILF state region is aware of the existence and importance of all types of government information as well as of FDLP changes in Indiana.

ILF Annual Conference-The ILF annual conference provides a way to disseminate information through presentations about this project and government information at libraries state-wide.

ILF Divisional Meetings-ILF also has topic-specific divisions in addition to
the districts (www.ilfonline.org/Unites/Divisions/divisions.htm). These divisions meet on different schedules, but during the first year after the revised State Plan is implemented, an information session will be held at each regional division meeting with information to that division (e.g. Reference versus Cataloging).

ILF Association Meetings-The Association for Indiana Media Educators, Indiana Academic Library Association, Indiana Corporate & Network Library Association, Indiana Public Library Association, and Indiana Library Trustee Association are all ILF-linked entities. Reaching out to these organizations provides an opportunity to define and describe Indiana’s changed FDLP and help dispel “fear” associated with accessing and using government documents.

Data Users Conference-The Indiana Business Resource Center (IBRC) at the State Data Center at the Indiana State Library have a tradition of offering a yearly data users conference in downtown Indianapolis. A general information presentation on the FDLP in Indiana is a good way to reach outside a narrow librarians’ community and contact legislators, professors, and other data users.

On-Demand Training-Though the immediate focus of training is on larger conference-type meetings, it is important to remain open to conducting individual on-demand training when requested. Training will be conducted in person when possible and conference calls will also be an important means of answering individual instruction requests which can be more convenient than traveling.

Participants will seek to learn and understand how to use current and emerging technologies for accessing and preserving government information. This can include digitization projects seeking to preserve government information resources in paper, microform, and digital format. Collection stewards are encouraged to utilize local institutional expertise and external funding sources to promote professional development/training opportunities locally or in collaboration with other partners.

Mentor Program-Mentoring can be a wonderful way to match new and experienced data users. Individuals interested in being matched with a mentor will be able to submit requests.

Conclusion-Managing change carries a heavy responsibility to keep stakeholders informed and confident that their feedback and questions are necessary and respected. By providing multiple training and professional development activities, the Indiana Government Document Light Archive is confident that government information users across Indiana will not only understand statewide FDLP changes but better understand government information as well.

Indiana Light Archives Committee members

Laura Bayard
Head, Documents Access & Database Management
University of Notre Dame

Elisabeth ODonnell
Government Documents Librarian II Indiana State Library

Roberta Brooker
Director
Indiana State Library

Bert Chapman
Government Information & Political Science Librarian
Purdue University Libraries

Kirsten Leonard
E-Resources/Documents Librarian
Indiana University Kokomo

Lou Malcomb
Head, Government Information, Microforms, & Statistics
Indiana University-Bloomington

Cheryl Truesdell
Director, Helmke Library
Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne

Appendix A
University Experts Databases

The expertise of government information specialists at Indiana Light Archive libraries and other Indiana federal depository libraries will serve as the principal experts for public government information reference service. In instances, where users require more detailed technical assistance beyond the expertise of depository librarians, the following institutional expert databases at Purdue University, Indiana University, and the University of Notre Dame are recommended:

Purdue University Research Expertise (PURE) Database

Indiana University Search Expert Assistance Database

University of Notre Dame Faculty Experts Guide

Appendix B
Statistics

Collection of statistics in areas such as collections, preservation, delivery, cataloging, reference/instruction, and professional development will be part of this project. Light Archive Collection Stewards will work to develop and implement consistent statistical gathering practices and procedures and present them on a regular basis to their administrations and Indiana depository libraries.

Appendix C
Collaborator Guidelines

The four partner institutions agreeing to be full Collection Stewards for the Indiana Light Archive are the Indiana State Library, Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Notre Dame. As Collection Stewards these four institutions have agreed to collect, catalog, preserve, share, and maintain an expertise for the Superintendent of Documents areas they have chosen. While these four libraries will do their best to fulfill their responsibilities, Indiana’s other federal depository libraries also play an important role in building the Indiana Light Archive. As Indiana Light Archive Collaborators, Indiana federal depository libraries can select specific SuDoc areas and assist Collection Stewards in one or more of the following areas:

1. Providing reference or instruction in a selected SuDoc area.
2. Assisting in completing the collection in a selected SuDoc area by:
a. Locating and obtaining depository and non-depository documents currently held by the
Steward to help fill in the collection
b. Stabilizing the document as much as possible before transferring it to the Collection
Steward.
c. Identifying or creating a full bibliographic record for the item in OCLC.
3. Assisting in cataloging collections already held by the Steward and by the Collaborator
institution by creating full level, analyzed records in OCLC or other cataloging assistance as
negotiated with the collection steward. (See pp. 5-6).
4. Providing or assisting in professional development training in the SuDoc area selected. This could be done at statewide INDIGO or ILF meetings.
5. Providing technical expertise such as statistics compilation and reporting, web design for training materials, etc.
6. Assisting in publicizing the Indiana Light Archive and statewide librarian expertise in
government documents.
7. Other suggestions for participation and collaboration are welcome.

If your library chooses to be an Indiana Light Archive Collaborator, you should:

1. Determine which SuDoc number area(s) in which you want to assist.
2. Notify the Collection Steward responsible for that SuDoc number area(s) of your intention to assist the steward in the selected SuDoc area and how you would like to assist.
3. The Collaborator and Collection Steward will compose a written agreement of the
collaboration terms which will be posted on the Indiana Light Archive.
4.If either the Collaborator or Collection Steward ceases the collaboration, notify the
Collaborator or Collection Steward and the web manager of the Indiana Light Archive
website to update, but not remove, the documentation.