Indiana Light Archives for Federal Documents Cheryl Truesdell

Indiana Light Archives for Federal Documents

Cheryl Truesdell

How did we come up with this crazy idea?

Government Printing Office and Federal Depository Libraries evolving vision for an electronic documents system including:National Bibliography – GPO to purchase an

ILS system and systematically develop cataloging for all documents

Digitizing the Legacy Collection – GPO developing a plan to digitize all documents not currently in electronic format

GPO proposes a system of “dark” and “light” archives distributed throughout the United States that would be responsible for maintaining the legacy and current collection

GPO developing a harvesting system to systematically capture electronic documents not in the depository system

Indiana’s Response…

Brief history and evolution - 2003• At the IU Council of Head Librarians Judie

presented a brief description of the issues facing depository libraries today in the era of electronic information. Meeting of IU documents librarians recommended.

• Documents librarians convened and discussed building a complete, retrospective federal depository collection in the ALF.

Brief history and evolution – 2004• IU Council of Head Librarians drafted a charge

to the newly formed IU Depository Library Group:– provide a proposed plan and timeline for eliminating

duplication of electronic records in the Marcive profile– Delineate pros and cons of reducing the number of

print copies of U.S. government publications retained permanently by the IU Libraries

Brief history and evolution – 2004– Outline the implications of using the ALF as a

shelving location for print copies not needed onsite with the goal to keep at least one copy of every print document in ALF

– Define delivery standards and “restricted use” criteria – Examine the issues of shared cataloging

responsibilities among IU Libraries for these publications and for shared records management responsibilities.

Brief history and evolution – 2005• IU Documents Group Status Report

– Established goals• Enhance access to government documents and information• Free staff from more routine activities in order to concentrate

on value-added activities (such as building databases, working on digital projects, etc.)

• Save space, processing time and duplication of effort• Fill in collection gaps• Establish a base that could be expanded to include other

Indiana depositories

Brief history and evolution – 2005

• IU Documents Group Status Report– Recommendations

• All electronic-only selections will be re-assigned to IU’s Main Library. No other library will include electronic-only items in the MARCIVE profile in the future. Electronic-only selections will be assigned to the “Online” library location in IUCAT.

• Share the cost and labor of adding the URL to the record of the tangible format.



• IU Main Library will select all available printed documents starting FY2005

• Process all IU Main printed selections to the ALF• Move one copy of every title available to ALF• Circulate all copies with certain exceptions

Brief history and evolution – 2005• IU Documents Group Status Report

– Recommendations• Delivery standards assume that users will use electronic

versions of physical documents whenever possible• All items will be loanable/deliverable except for restricted

items (rare or fragile items)• All others will be a normal circulation or “in-library use only”• Items less than 25 pp will be scanned and sent electronically• Microfiche will be copied if longer than 50 pp• Desktop delivery within 24-36 hours; campus to campus

delivery within 2-3 days (assumes all campuses have 5-days/week Wheels delivery



• Cataloging of MARCIVE supplied electronic serials• Cataloging of non-depository items• Shared cleanup of records, e.g., changed

monographic records – many with updated URLs

Brief history and evolution – 2006• IU Library Director writes to Judith Russell,

Superintendent of Documents to “officially express our intent to serve as a light repository for historical federal documents”

• The concept of the “light” repository is based on the assumption that this tangible archive would serve as a backup to a publicly accessible digital collection

• Outlined IU’s questions to GPO on comprehensiveness, discard policy, duplication, cataloging assistance, preservation standards, delivery requirements

Brief history and evolution – February 2006Enter Academic Libraries of Indiana (ALI)• Directors of Indiana University, University of

Notre Dame and Purdue University report back to an ALI meeting concerning conference they attended sponsored by Association of Research Libraries “The Future of Government Documents in ARL Libraries”

• Recommended that ALI build upon the current IU Documents Group Plan

Brief history and evolution – June 2006• Planning meeting for Indiana GPO Light Archive

– Attended by Directors of IU, Purdue, Notre Dame and the Indiana State Library and representative government documents librarians

– The group agreed that the ultimate goal is development of one comprehensive, well-preserved, secure, centralized collection of federal documents in tangible format

– In the meantime task force was convened to develop a way to create a distributed collection based on the holdings of the participating libraries

– Everyone present agreed to commit time and resources to work on the project. Task Force established: Lou Malcomb, IU, Bert Chapman, Purdue, Laura Bayard, Notre Dame, Anika Williams, ISL, Cheryl Truesdell, IPFW

Brief history and evolution – August 2006• Meeting of Indiana Depository Librarians

– Forty-one depository librarians and directors, representing all but ten of Indiana’s depositories attended

– All agreed that we should proceed towards a shared, collaborative light repository for federal and state documents

– All agreed that we should adopt the revised disposal guidelines pending approval by the Superintendent of Documents, Judith Russell

– What began as a project involving only the nine depositories in Indiana University was now a project involving all of the depositories in Indiana, and indeed, all of the libraries of Indiana

Brief history and evolution – Sept. 2006

“The Legacy Collection in a Digital Age: The Indiana Plan for a Light Government Documents Depository: A Meeting with the Superintendent of Documents” outlined Indiana Plan and asked for response from GPO

Brief history and evolution – Sept. 2006

• Some questions & concerns by GPO– Legal ruling on Indiana’s proposed Disposal

Guidelines– Written memorandum of understanding by

participating libraries outlining commitment now and in the future

Brief history and evolution – October 2006

Indiana Gets the Green Light!Meeting with the Sup’t. of Documents

All participants of the light archive will sign a selective housing agreement that describes which libraries are involved, which parts of the collection they are responsible for, and what support services they will provide, and “an out clause”

Brief history and evolution – October 2006 In the near term the shared light archive

collection will be a distributed collection housed at IU, Purdue, Notre Dame and ISL

All publications included in the light archive will be cataloged

Participants will provide ILL and reference services for those areas of the collection for which they are responsible

Wheels will include all depository libraries

Brief history and evolution – October 2006There is a consensus among the Indiana

depository libraries that this is an acceptable arrangement

Indiana may revise its Disposal Guidelines to reflect availability of documents in distributed light archive

Nothing in the disposal guidelines will cause Indiana to be without a comprehensive collection of Federal depository resources

Where are we now?

ALI Indiana Light Archive for Government Documents Planning Group has met monthly and so far has:Issued revised Indiana Guidelines for

Disposal of U.S. Government Depository Documents

New Disposal Guidelines Indiana federal depository libraries have agreed to build a “light archive” of

all U.S. government depository documents. The core of the archive currently resides in Indiana University’s Auxillary Library Facility (ALF) and Government Information, Microforms & Statistical Services (GIMSS), Bloomington, Indiana, and the Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, Indiana. It has been determined that these libraries already contain close to 100% of federal depository documents distributed from 1976 to the present. The Indiana State Library, Indiana’s Regional Federal Depository Library, has determined that Indiana selectives do not have to prepare disposal lists for federal depository documents issued from 1976 to date, with the stipulation that documents received from GPO within the last 5 years cannot be discarded

In addition, Indiana federal depository libraries are encouraged to continue to offer through a disposal list any post-1975 document (s) that they consider historically significant or important to Indiana

Indiana federal depository libraries must continue to compile disposal lists for pre-1976 documents.

Indiana State Library is developing a Web-based Needs & Offers list as required by GPO

The Group has created a Web page which includes many of the documents issued so far in this process

The Group has developed the Stewardship concept for the distributed light archive

Indiana Light Archive Collection Stewardship Guidelines

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


Collecting – Stewards will build and retain comprehensive collections for their department or agency…They should focus on acquiring and providing optimum cataloging for print, microform, or electronic versions of these publications


Preservation – Stewards should maintain preservation standards for print and microform materials compatible with professional best practices and within institutional resources. Materials stabilization should be a minimum


Delivery – It is expected that users will use electronic versions of physical documents whenever possible All items should be loanable/deliverable

except “restricted” items (rare or fragile)


Delivery Guidelines All items should be loanable/deliverable

except “restricted” items (rare or fragile)Loanable items should have regular

circulation periods and shipped by Wheels (2-3 days)


Delivery Guidelines Paper items less than 25 pages, microform

items under 50 pages, and CDs, DVDs and Floppies should be scanned and delivered electronically (24-36 hrs, M-F)

All items should be cataloged and available through INCAT


Cataloging - All material in all formats 1976 to present

Stewards agree to provide or ensure bibliographic records in WorldCat, INCat with level 3 holding statements meeting or exceeding current BIBCO and CONSER standards


Cataloging - All material in all formats in the future

Stewards agree to provide or ensure bibliographic records in WorldCat, INCat meeting or exceeding current BIBCO and CONSER standards to the piece level (monographic series full analyzed) with level 4 holdings statements


Cataloging - All material in all formats pre-1976

Stewards commit to provide or ensure availability of bibliographic records at some point in the future that meet or exceed current BIBCO and CONSER standards in WorldCat/INcat. Stewards will provide a cataloging plan for all un-cataloged materials within two years of this agreement


Reference/Instruction 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


Reference/Instruction Stewards for individual departmental and agency

collections will provide instruction in finding and using information resources of these departments and agencies

This instruction can be provided through the classroom, to colleagues within the institution at conferences or through Web sites and online tutorials


Professional Development/Training Professional development and training will

involve ongoing activities, presentations and help sessions

Presentations will be given on a rotating basis by all Indiana Light Archive task force participants

Indiana Light Archive Stewardship Current Status

I-LIGHT Group is still selecting departments and agencies for stewardship

State Library is still working on Needs & Offers database

Cataloging guidelines are being discussed with steward library cataloging units

Pursuing with OCLC an ILIT symbol for designation of an archive copy

What does this mean for IPFW? IPFW can weed without preparing discard lists

documents 1976 to within last five yearsBetter access to U.S. Federal documentsRole of other IU and Indiana depositories not

clearly defined, but it is felt that IPFW must commit to stewardship of one or more

parts of the collectionOr IPFW must to assisting IU in its stewardship of the

collections it chooses

Stay Tuned….