First Annual Report
October 1993-October 1995
The UC/Stanford Government Information Librarians group was established as a selector group in October of 1993.
In response to a March 1993 memo from the Collection Development Committee of Library Council, the government information librarians in the University of California and Stanford University formed a statewide organization to formalize their long-standing and productive cooperative activities. Since the 1970's, documents librarians had been meeting in regional groups. Librarians from government publications departments in Southern and Northern California UC campuses met twice annually (and now continue to meet at least annually). The Southern California group has invited representatives from the University of Southern California and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to attend its meetings. The Northern California group had historically included librarians from Stanford, the California State Library, and other major area documents collections in its meetings. In recent years, the University of Nevada, Reno had joined, and participated a direct-borrowing arrangement that continues to operate, generally on a regional basis. The California State Library is an active participant as a lender in the direct loan program. UC and Stanford documents librarians had also been active participants in the UC Shared Collections and Access Program (SCAP), the source of many large documents sets.
The goals of the UC/Stanford Government Information Librarians Group (GIL) selector group include the general goals for selector groups in the University of California and Stanford: to improve University-wide access to government information resources and to support projects which result in lowering costs and broadening the resource base available to support UC programs.
Another goal in creation of GIL is to maintain communication and share expertise. Reorganizations have resulted in merging of government documents reference and/or technical processing functions with other library units at some campuses. GIL provides a mechanism for continuing to work together on common problems and issues. Due to the rapid transition to electronic formats in the area of government information, effective communication is even more critical.
STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIESThe UC/Stanford Government Information Librarians consists of government information selectors from the University of California and Stanford. The California State Library, University of Southern California and University of Nevada Reno will be included on the mailing list and invited to meetings as appropriate.
At each annual meeting, a Convenor is elected for the next annual meeting, and the date and location of the meeting is established
GIL meets annually in the fall, alternating meetings North and South. Meetings are scheduled in conjunction with the California Depository Library Conference, if possible.
Detailed minutes from each of these meetings are available on the GIL gopher mentioned below.
The Govinfo listserver was established to share information. Linda Kennedy, UC Davis, is the list administrator. There are currently 32 subscribers.
GIL information is posted on a section of the UC Berkeley INFOLIB Gopher. Cooperative agreements, minutes of meetings, and the Directory have been posted. The Union List will be posted when fully revised. Andrea Sevetson, UC Berkeley, administers the GIL gopher. (URL: gopher:// infolib.berkeley.edu:70/11/resdbs/gove/ucstan)
The UC/Stanford Government Information Librarians update a Directory of Government Publications Departments on an annual basis. The work has been coordinated by UC Davis. The list includes Stanford, California State Library, and University of Nevada, Reno. With the posting of an electronic version of the Directory of the GIL gopher, updating will be continuous and distribution handled electronically. At its 1995 meeting GIL agreed on an annual date for reviewing the currency of the listings.
Union List: Substantial work has gone into updating a Union list of Microform sets. A Northern California list was updated with Southern California campus holdings, and additional titles added. The list was originally compiled as a paper list at UC Davis. When completed, the Union List will be posted on the GIL gopher described above)
Cooperative Agreement: In 1994, GIL approved a list of the major microform sets that have been cooperatively acquired for which it would like to formalize a resource sharing agreement. Chuck Eckman, formerly at UCB and now at Stanford, compiled the list, which was submitted to Anthony Angiletta for approval by CDC on December 19, 1994. A copy of the agreement is attached.
Mini-SCAP: GIL submitted the following 1994/95 MINI-SCAP proposal. CDC funded Part 1 for 1994/95. : US Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1909 on Microfiche, Bethesda, MD., Congressional Information Service. Parts 1-6 and supplement.
Cooperative Purchase: In 1995 five campuses (B,D,LA,SB,Stanford) jointly purchased a microfiche set of United Nations Development Programme microfiche covering 1981-1992 and corresponding indexing on CD-ROM. The fiche set was sited at Berkeley, which contributed half of the total cost and committed to maintaining an ongoing subscription to the set."
MELVYL Databases: In 1995, GIL discussed via its listserver the additional government information databases, both full-text and bibliographic, which could be made available via MELVYL. GIL forwarded a list of priorities, with rankings from specific campuses, to Beverlee French, chair of the Computer Files Committee.
Government information is moving rapidly to electronic formats. Much of the 1995 annual meeting of GIL concerned electronic formats.
Through its listserver, and through its meetings, GIL provides input to the UC/Stanford Electronic Government Information Initiatives Group (EGIIG). Five EGIIG members attended the September 1995 meeting.
GIL members will participate in a project initiated at UC Riverside to further develop its database of links to Internet government Information sources. Using software developed at UCR, participants will be responsible for identifying Internet resources in a specific area, such as a region, state, locality, or a category of intergovernmental organization. Links will be established from the INFOMINE database. Subject terms, keywords and an abstract will be added by the participants. This project is being sponsored by the EGIIG Committee. GIL members will also participate in an editorial board for the government information database to establish additional guidelines for the project.
STAT-USA: At its September 1995 meeting, GIL suggested to EGIIG that it study the technical issues involved in acquiring a low-cost group subscription to the STAT-USA database to facilitate web access at UC campuses. DLA is now investigating this option.
CQ Washington Alert: At its second and third annual meetings, GIL members provided input to Laine Farley of DLA on CQ Washington Alert performance and problems.
Ariel: At the 1995 meeting, Chuck Eckman, Stanford University, suggested GIL consider establishing an Ariel-based document delivery service for selected materials, making use of existing Ariel equipment in campus libraries. Members are looking into the issues on their home campuses.
