Member, 2020-2023

In April 2020, 1 was appointed to a three-year term on the Depository Library Council. This is a highly competitive position, and my nomination was endorsed by ALA GODORT Steering and approved by the ALA Executive Board. This group serves as an advisory group to the Government Publishing Office (GPO) and its Director. Council provides written commentary on any legislation related to Title 44 of the United States Code (this section governs the FDLP). During my time on Council, I provided written commentary related to Title 44 U.S.C. §1907 and §1917. Council’s feedback was sent to the Superintendent of Documents to be shared with the Committee on House Administration and Senate Rules Committee. We also advised the Superintendent of Documents and Director of GPO on the discontinuation of microfiche as a format for government publications. In addition to serving in an advisory capacity, Council also plans and organizes the Fall and Spring Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) conferences. Council had monthly, two-hour meetings with GPO.

Digital Deposit Work Group

Co-Chair, 2020-2022

This group met twice a month and worked on issues related to digital deposit of government information, with a focus on born-digital “unreported publications” (documents that should be disseminated through the FDLP but aren’t) and provided recommendations on how to assist GPO with issues related to these publications. As co-chair, I served as liaison between the working group and the rest of the DLC. I also presented updates at the DLC business meeting during the FDLP spring conference.

This group created a project with volunteers in the government information community to examine how they search for unreported publications. We created a detailed work form for collecting the search strategies used by these volunteers. I led 3 out of the 4 training sessions for our volunteers. The working group evaluated the work forms and I used the form to create training documentation and a best practices guide to share with the government information community to help give guidance for searching for the publications.

The working group submitted an 88-page report to the DLC, detailing the work of this group and its subgroups and providing recommendations for DLC to consider, and if adopted, sent on to GPO for consideration.

Visualizing Digital Deposit Working Group (VDDWG)

Member, 2020-2022

I was a member of a subgroup within the Digital Deposit working group that examined the feasibility of the transmittal of born-digital materials from GPO to depository libraries much in the same way that GPO currently disseminates tangible items. This subgroup interviewed representatives from the different types of libraries (regional, selective, tribal, academic, public, state, preservation steward, consortium) to discuss issues that would affect participation in such a program. I led three of these interviews. Feedback and recommendations were incorporated into the Digital Deposit Working Group’s final report.