University of California/Stanford
Government Information Librarians Group
Sixth Annual Meeting
Minutes

Attending: Cynthia Jahns, UC Santa Cruz (convenor); Beverlee French, California Digital Library; Tom Andersen, California State Library; Clinton Howard, Jim Ronningen, Jeanne Fong, Susana Hinojosa, Andrea Sevetson, UC Berkeley; Reg Durkin, Rose Sheehan, UC Davis Law; David Lundquist, Juri Stratford, Marcia Meister, Linda Kennedy, Patricia Inouye, UC Davis; Margaret Mooney, UC Riverside; Judy Horn, Yvonne Wilson, UC Irvine; Jim Jacobs, James A. Church, Trisha Cruse, Elizabeth Cowell, UC San Diego; Jan Goldsmith, UCLA; Sherry DeDecker, UC Santa Barbara (recorder).

I. Recommendations of the EGIIG White Paper on Government Information: http://gort.ucsd.edu/docs/EGIIG/final.html

1. Beverlee French gave some background information on the California Digital Library (CDL) and the new administrative restructuring. The Systemwide Operations Planning and Advisory Group (SOPAG) is charged with reconstituting the committees that look at collections. Rather than groups such as EGIIG, the plan is to have multi-functional groups under SOPAG rather than HOPS (Heads of Public Services). SOPAG is looking for ideas for mechanisms to identify costs and resources to position ourselves to be able to get grants, LSTA funding, etc. French asked what we knew of the NSF grant program. She is interested in public domain opportunities for inclusion into the CDL. CDL will create a framework so that other partners in the state can participate in initiatives. French mentioned the current LSTA grant project with multitype libraries adding environmental information electronically. She also said that the EAD project - the online archive of California -is moving to the CDL server.

Linda Kennedy asked Tom Andersen for his reaction as to UC taking on the role of California digital depository. Andersen thought that would be a welcome proposal. However, he is leaving his position at CSL to become the program coordinator for the California Library Services Act (CLSA), so that issue will have to be taken up with his replacement.

Question: how will CDL work for license agreements? French said that much of the work of the CDL is focussed on licensing, evaluating/describing/organizing web sources, and digitizing primary UC collections.

Participants brought up problems that arise: a high-level UC person is needed to negotiate large-scale projects. We need CDL funding - for GPO Gate, InfoMine, and similar projects.

French said that the advisory structures would set priorities.

2. GPO Gate - Trisha Cruse

GPO Gate still needs to establish a mirror site. Recently, GPO Access was frequently inaccessible because of the release of the Starr report.

Tom Andersen and Duncan Aldrich (GPO) are planning on looking into this issue.

Andersen suggested the group contact GPO to officially express an interest on becoming a mirror site. Sevetson suggested we start a pilot project with GPO to set up access to some piece of the database.

Kennedy mentioned the opportunity to speak with GPO representatives at the Depository Library Council in San Diego October 19-22. Cruse suggested that we need a document outlining the access problems to bring before GPO at the DLC. A meeting could be set up between GPO and CDL representatives.

Jacobs suggested we look at buying a piece of data to mount electronically, in order to get an estimate of the costs. The partnership concept with GPO is still evolving, and we don't necessarily have to use GPO software to access this information.

3. Pilot Project to establish UC as an electronic depository

The idea was discussed that UC become an electronic depository, and fold GPO Access into the CDL, using the idea of establishing a pilot project. A prioritized list could be formulated for inclusion into the project, using parameters that information would be affordable, doable, and interesting. Suggestions for a pilot were House Calendars, a bill search database, or Economic Indicators. Possible co-investors might be the Claremont group that was considering an initiative, or the CSUs. This would be our opportunity to create a system that would be responsive to our needs, and would be able to set up mechanisms to preserve electronic government information.

The issue of an electronic depository being archival has not been addressed. California information is often not archived. Andersen mentioned that some of this information may have copyright restrictions. California has no counterpart to GPO for handling information; only 25-30% of material goes through the office of state publishing. California agencies don't see distribution of information to the public as being their mandate. Cruse brought up the idea of a partnership between CSL and CDL to preserve California information. Andersen responded that start-up money would be needed in order for CSLA to acquiring licensing for databases and technology needs.

The issue was explored of UC GILS partnering with political science collection groups to set up an electronic database for California information. Possible projects would be California election materials, such as digitizing ballot measure pamphlets. Other ideas were to establish some type of thematic collection concept for all the UCs such as the League of Women Voters database, or set up a database for local government information.

4. Need for a government information group within the CDL
The group discussed the need for a group to focus on issues regarding government information, coming up with a list of priorities, and exploring the issue of partnering with state agencies. This could be EGIIG or a similar action group. French said there must be a mechanism to select and integrate government information into the CDL. Mooney suggested folding part of the database into InfoMine. She mentioned that InfoMine recently received an FIPS grant of $298,000 for a three-year project for InfoMine.

There was a lively discussion about the activities and the future of the Electronic Government Information Initiatives Group (EGIIG). There was strong consensus in the group that a body such as EGIIG, which operates independently of UC/SU GILS, is crucial for the sustainability and development of government information collections as government information makes a rapid migration from a print to an electronic environment. It was agreed upon that UC/SU GILS should write a letter to SOPAG in support of the continuation of EGIIG. Andrea Sevetson and Trisha Cruse volunteered to write a letter in support of EGIIG and send it to SOPAG in time for their October 26^th meeting. There was also a discussion about how UC/SU GILS might restructure to be more of a decision making body. One suggestion was to form an executive board. The group felt that is was best to wait on this decision until SOPAG has decided on the future of EGIIG.

5. CDL Survey re: Government Information

Lucia Snowhill, UCSB, is coordinating the response to the CDL survey. She would appreciate volunteers to work on our response, which is due November 15. She is also looking for the group's input in answering the questions.

French mentioned that the questions are generic, and won't be equally applicable to all fields. In general, CDL is asking what our vision of a CDL would be, and upon what major components could they take action.

The group felt that we should start with a California digital library collection concept, with preservation a major issue. A starting focus should be on California, using materials such as the ballot pamphlets, state water resources data, or catalog records for print collections.

For question #1 - what commercial content would we recommend for a systemwide collection - UCLA had a list of suggestions, which included Lexis-Nexis, FBIS, Statistical Universe, and the Amnesty International Index, among others. A prioritized list could be sent out to govinfo, including materials that are available but not digitized.

For question #5 - with whom did we consult in preparing responses - the group felt we need tangible ways of justifying our proposals by being able to say we did consult faculty. Members should talk to faculty this fall.

Question #2 - what digital content in government information is freely available with enough value and stability to merit inclusion in the CDL - brought some specific suggestions, such as the Federal Register and the 1985 Congressional Record. But as a whole the group endorsed the idea of a concept such as the California Data Warehouse, an experimental database set up at UC San Diego which combines different sources of data into a common database, with a seamless interface for the user. Using this type of database, the user doesn't have to know where on the web to go to find the information; one would query the database, combine the data to view as graphs, tables, charts, maps, etc. and retrieve desired information.

II. California Data Warehouse

Jim Jacobs of UC San Diego gave a demonstration of the California Data Warehouse.

This experimental database combines different sources of data into a common database. In constructing the prototype, he started with data from different sources, e.g., Uniform Crime Reports, School District Data Book, Current Population Reports, and Census of Governments. He then designed a user-centered new home for the data, filtering numerical data into common formats and medium. The user would be able to query the database, view aggregate data, and combine the data into desired format.

Rand California has a similar type database, available at http://www.ca.rand.org. In looking at the issue of whether to subscribe to the Rand database or construct our own database such as the California Data Warehouse, the question to be asked is whether we want to look at access or acquisition. By subscribing to the Rand database, we have no local copy, and no control as to what we can access or how we can organize information. Someone else selects the information, and we have to rely on others to preserve it. As depository libraries, we are concerned with these issues of organization/selection/preservation, and our focus is on long term access to collections.

The goal of the California Data Warehouse would be to create a system that is responsive to the needs of users at the University of California. In addition the Data Warehouse would have appeal to users outside of the University community - the private sector, other institutions, state agencies, etc. The Warehouse would also allow us to preserve material that is important to long-term research projects.

III. Campus Round Robin:

UC Berkeley: Andrea Sevetson reported that there are no staffing changes at Berkeley. Andrea also reported that the Social Science and Government Data Library (http://sunsite.Berkeley.EDU/GovData/info/) now has three SSTFs available for searching on the www: SSTF 2, Ancestry of the Population of the U.S.; SSTF 3, Persons of Hispanic Origin in the U.S.; and SSTF 5, Characteristics of the Asian and Pacific Islander Population in the U.S. Andrea also noted that they have documents from a LBNL Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) available to help ensure that all interested parties have access to information about the Program.

UC Davis: Linda Kennedy reported that there are no staffing changes, but they do have a new area code; 530. Davis is also proceeding with retrospective conversion of pre-1976 U.S. documents, and other areas of the collection, with part-time assistance from the Catalog Department.

UC Irvine: Judy Horn reported that UCI has no staff changes, but they have a new area code: 949. They have totally revised their www pages (http://www.lib.uci.edu/rrsc/gimain.html) as part of a revised UCI Library Homepage. The California Coastal Conservancy has designated the UCI Library as the depository for the Southern California Wetlands Inventory material and the library is in the process of cataloging it. It will be part of the Orange County Public Affairs Collection.

UC Los Angeles: Jan Goldsmith reported about several staffing changes at UCLA: Greg Padilla is the stacks and circulation student supervisor, Scott Martin is back to full time, Chere Negaard has retired, but is working one day a week to help out. Jan has switched duties with Barbara Silvernail, so she is now doing federal documents, and Barbara is responsible for state, NGO, and Canada. ORION2 is causing a huge backlog everywhere, not just in microfiche!

UC Riverside: Margaret Mooney reported that there are no staff changes at UC Riverside. The new Science Library has just been completed, and the seismic upgrade for the Rivera Library will begin early next year.

UC San Diego: Trisha Cruse introduced the two new government information librarians at UCSD: Jim Church and Elizabeth Cowell. Jim is responsible for state and local documents and Elizabeth oversees the federal collection. Trisha is government information coordinator and is also responsible for political science. Sam Dunlap is still the international documents librarian and has also taken on British documents.

UC Santa Barbara: Sherry DeDecker reported that Carol Doyle has taken a position at CSU Fresno. Carol was responsible for international documents, which Sherry DeDecker has absorbed. UCSB is currently conducting a search for a new University Librarian.

UC Santa Cruz: Cynthia Jahns reported that Santa Cruz has no recent staffing changes. Art Townsend became the LAIII in Government Publications last January. The area code changed from 408 to 831 in July, and those changes are reflected on the UC/S GILS web page.

Stanford University: A Stanford representative wasn't able to attend the meeting, but Chuck Eckman reported in absentia about changes. First, the west wing of the Green Library (Stanford's central humanities/social sciences branch) reopens after a 10-year renovation project in November.

Second, the Jonsson Library of Government Documents disappears as a separate branch location in December, its collections becoming part of the new Social Sciences Resource Center in Green Library's renovated west wing, and our public services becoming part of a new Information Center in Green east wing.

California State Library: Tom Anderson reported that he would be leaving his current position. His new position will be in the Library Development Services Bureau at CSL. His new title is CLSA Program Coordinator. In addition, there is a vacant technical processing position for California materials. CSL will be moving back downtown in early 2000 however they anticipate that they will have to close for a long period when they relocate. Tom also reported that they are working with LEXIS/NEXIS to secure a subscription to the Universe products. LEXIS/NEXIS has placed the CSL with other government accounts, which impacts what type of subscription that is available to CSL. IV. INFOMINE
Margaret Mooney gave an overview of INFOMINE version 3 and highlighted some of the changes and enhancements to the system. There are presently 14,000+ records. The new version allows for multiple database searching. One of goals is to streamline and automate the process for inputting records so subject specialists can focus their energy on the intellectual work of selecting and evaluating Internet resources to be added into and the computer will do most of the grunt work. The Beta version of the version 3 has been uploaded onto the UCOP machine for testing purposes; the INFOMINE coordinators hope to release it to the public in Mid-October.

The good news is that INFOMINE has recently received a Federal Grant in the amount of $298,000.00 for its further development. The grant was awarded by the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, the Computer Science Department at UCR has expressed interest in partnering with the Library to work on INFOMINE. This collaborative endeavor will give the students good experience and the Library will gain the expertise of Computer Science faculty. One major goal of the project will be to implement a LASE (local area search engine) to expand INFOMINE content.

V. Academic Universe and Statistical Universe: subscriptions and training.

Davis, Berkeley, San Diego, and Los Angeles all have campus-wide subscriptions to Academic Universe. These subscriptions are part of the SOLINET consortia. One of the biggest complaints about Academic Universe is that it is difficult to determine what titles are included in the database and what is the range of coverage. The campuses reported that the database is quite popular and each campus providing some level of training. Berkeley, Davis, and San Diego have also subscribed to Statistical Universe. This is also part of the SOLINET consortia. However, this subscription only includes the federal (ASI) section of the database. There was unanimous agreement that both of these databases would be ideal candidates for a CDL UC wide subscription.

VI. Foreign Documents

Jan Goldsmith on behalf of Chuck Eckman, Stanford University, requested that we survey all the campuses to determine what has happened to foreign document collections on the campuses. (NOTE this item has been discussed at several UC/SU GILS meetings -- see minutes from October 18, 1993, September 23, 1994, September 20, 1996, and September 17, 1997.) Foreign documents collections have been severely impacted by reduced collection budgets and the dispersal of collection responsibility for foreign documents to area study librarians. A survey would help us identify holes in our collections. Berkeley, UT Austin and Stanford have recently signed a cooperative agreement on Latin American collections.

Maintained by: Sherry DeDecker
Updated: 10/11/04 08:30:48