F E D E R A LSend advertising copy to: Baldwin Graphics 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue,NW Mezzanine Level...

Vol. 24, No. 3, Spring 2006

F e d e r a l L i b r a r i a n • P a g e 1 • S p r i n g 2 0 0 6

F E D E R A L

L I B R A R I A NFederal and Armed Fo r c e s

Libraries Ro u n d t a b l e

ad d ress com p l i c a ted referen cerequests and redefine patron need s .Red i recting marketing and outre achtow a rds patrons produ ces ben ef i c i a lre sults for bo t h . The pers on a l i zeda t ten ti on and servi ce rei n forces thep a tron s’ feeling of being well - s ervedand goes a long way tow a rd cre a ting al i fetime advoc a te for the libra ry.

Georgette Harris

The word of the day for federal li-bra ries is Redu cti on s : redu ced bu d-get s , redu ced staffing and redu cedphysical space . The futu re of federa ll i bra ries depends on how well libra ri-ans miti ga te these probl ems and sti llkeep the libra ry program opera ti n gef fectively and smoo t h ly. For federa ll i bra rians this is business as usu a l . Weh ave been doing more with less for sol ong that we make it seem easy. Buta re we at the breaking point? Howdo we en su re the su ccess of the fed-eral libra ry furt h er limited by govern-m ent bu d get con s traints and call edu pon to increase use of the late s tcom p uteri zed inform a ti on sys tem s .

L i bra rians know how to cope wi t hredu ced bu d get s , s t a f f and space . Weh ave form ed con s ortia to con du ctmu l ti - a gency purch a s e s , retra i n edsu pport staff to take on more re s pon-s i bi l i ty and converted phys i c a ll i bra ries to vi rtual libra ri e s .

We have done everything ri ght orh ave we? Have we become our ownworst en emy? Libra rians have tra i n edp a trons so well that patrons now feelt h ey can con du ct business wi t h o utu s . Su re , “even tu a lly ” our patron swi ll re a l i ze how important libra ri a n sa re to the agen c y ’s mission but , in thei n teri m , l i bra rians wi ll take som eh a rd knock s .

This makes it the perfect time to re-con n ect with libra ry patron s . Wh enwas the last time libra rians asked thep a trons if we were meeting thei rn eeds? This is an internal opportu n i-ty that is of ten overl oo ked . L i bra ri e sn eed to bri d ge the gap bet ween wh a tthe libra ry has to of fer and wh a tp a trons need . Pa trons can be stron gadvoc a tes for the libra ry. Pa trons wi lla lw ays need libra rians to help devel opd a t a b a s e - s e a rching tech n i qu e s ,

Greetings From the President:

Rates for A d ve rtising in the

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Fe d e ral Libra r i a n n ew s l e t t e r, is theq u a rt e r ly journal of the American LibraryA s s o c i a t i o n ’s Federal and Armed Fo rc e sLibraries Round Table (FA F L RT ) . It pre s e n t srecent developments and events of intere s tto the Federal and Armed Fo rces libraryc o m mu n i t y, including news and re p o rts oni n t e r n a t i o n a l , fe d e r a l , s t a t e, and local gove r n-ment issues. The Fe d e ral Librarian s u b-scription base is ap p rox i m a t e ly 600.

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PUBLICATION DEADLINESISSUE DEADLINE

Summer 2006 April 15, 2006

Fall 2006 August 15, 2006

MAILING INSTRUCTIONS

Send correspondence to:Jane Sessa, EditorFederal Librarian643 South 21stArlington,Virginia 22202202-482-1610Email: [email protected]

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F E D E R A L




DTIC Participates inFLICC Orientation Series

As part of a series of orientationsto libraries and information centers,the Federal Library and InformationCenter Committee (FLICC) recentlyoffered the opportunity for federal li-brarians to become acquainted withDTIC. This two-hour briefing washeld at the Library of Congress onFebruary 14, 2006.

R. Paul Ryan, DTIC’sAdministrator, opened the programwith an overview of the organization.His presentation included a brief his-tory of DTIC and its mission. He dis-cussed DTIC’s content repositoryand the importance of safeguardingand preserving information. He alsospoke about DTIC’s new search page,the Research & Engineering (R&E)Portal and the important roles playedby DTIC-sponsored InformationAnalysis Centers (IACs) in support ofwarfighters.

He was accompanied by DTICstaffers Roberta Schoen, Director,Directorate of Operations; Philip

Tomposki, Senior Analyst, Referenceand Retrieval Branch, Directorate ofUser Services; and Helen Sherman,Team Leader, Reference and RetrievalBranch, Directorate of User Services.

Schoen explained how DTIC data-bases benefit the R&D communityand noted significant increases in thepercentage of electronic vs. paperdocument submissions in recentyears. Tomposki discussed the widerange of defense information avail-able on Public STINET and whatDTIC can do for its customers.Sherman concluded the briefing witha presentation of the numerousDTIC sources available to federallibrarians.

DTIC’s participation in the FLICCseries was one of the many briefingsperiodically offered by FLICC. Forfurther information on additionalevents, visit the FLICC EducationalPrograms Web site atwww.loc.gov/flicc/edutraining.html.

Librarians Build Communities!Volunteer Opportunities in New Orleans

Friday, June 23, 2006, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm or Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm

Help rebuild New Orleans. Participate in one or both of these daylongcommunity service efforts. Exact jobs to be determined as we work with TheNew Orleans Public Library and community service groups such as Habitat forHumanities, United Way, etc. All participants will be notified in advance of thevarious projects and be able to pick the one in which they wish to participate.The registration fee is $10, and will be contributed to the “ALA HurricaneKatrina Library Relief Fund.” Lunch, transportation and a participation t-shirtare included. To register to participate, please go to the Registration Page anduse the online registration form, or the print registration form. If you arealready registered for the Annual Conference, you can register for the VolunteerDays by submitting a second registration form, just for this event.


Japan. Riley began her 3- year tourwith the USMC library in October2005. Her previous position wasTechnical Services Librarian forOnslow County Public Library,Jacksonville, NC.

Eleanor Uhlinger began March 6 asAssociate Provost for Library &Information Resources at the NavalPostgraduate School’s Dudley KnoxLibrary. Eleanor has been theAssociate Library Director for thejoint library serving the MarineBiological Laboratory (MBL) and theWoods Hole OceanographicInstitution in Woods Hole, MA since2001. Her prior library experienceincludes working in the marine sci-ences libraries at the University ofRhode Island and UC Davis BodegaMarine Laboratory.

Did you see Shirley Loo on ABC’s“World News Tonight” on Feb. 7?She was part of the Women’s HealthInitiative study of 48,000 women.The study examined the impact of alow-fat diet on the incidence of can-cer, heart disease, and stroke. Thestudy did not find a correlation.

Steve Kerchoff, formerly of FLICCand now with the U.S. Embassy inMexico City, was quoted in theMexico section of the February 22Miami Herald, International Edition,in an article about the U.S. Embassy’sBenjamin Franklin Library. R. JamesKing, Chief Librarian, NavalResearch Laboratory has been nomi-nated for the Lexis/Nexis‘Innovations in Technology’ Award.

Moira Zelechoski, has been select-ed as the new reference librarian atthe technical library for NAVAIR atPatuxent River. She worked previ-

ously for the Charles County PublicLibrary and received her MLS fromthe University of Maryland in 2001.As a Navy and Air Force familymember, Moira has an appreciationfor military libraries.

Jan Dempsey, Medical ReferenceLibrarian at Naval Medical Center,San Diego retired on June 30, 2005,after more than 30 years of FederalService. She received the MeritoriousCivilian Service Award for her vision-ary focus, dedication, and commit-ment to the mission of the NavalMedical Center, San Diego. Just afew months ago, Simona Konecnawas selected to fill this position.Previously, Simona worked as aReference Librarian at University ofCalifornia, San Diego.

Ms. Terri Sato was selected as theLibrary Director for NAF Atsugi,Japan. She will begin her tour inMarch, 2006. She was previously theCommunity Librarian at LedwardBarracks (US Army) in Schweinfurt,Germany. She has worked at NASSigonella Library and at Pearl HarborLibrary.

Cora Besco Ahrens, who was mostrecently the Library Director for theAir Combat Command’s HollomanAFB Library in New Mexico, died onFebruary 7. Cora was noted as aquiet, unassuming leader who led byexample. As ACC Librarians steppedout in AF libraries to implement thefirst web automated library system,Cora served on the Tiger Team andshared in-depth knowledge of systempolicies and lessons-learned, whichbecame the template for the ACCsystem. She was willing and able to

Congratulations to the FLICCawards recipients who will be hon-ored March 23 at the 23rd AnnualFLICC Forum on FederalInformation Policies. LeslieCampbell, Law Library program ad-ministrator at the National JudiciaryLibrary Program for theAdministrative Office of the U.S.Courts, is the Federal Librarian ofthe Year. The Librarian Technician ofthe Year award went to Sue Hubbardat the Little Rock Air Force BaseLibrary in Arkansas. The Scientificand Technical Information Center(STIC) at the U.S. Patent andTrademark Office and the U.S. ArmyMilitary Intelligence Library in FortHuachuca, Arizona are the FederalLibrary/Information Center of theYear for large and small libraries re-spectively.

Diane Schnurrpusch, ProgramAnalyst in the Marketing Division atDefense Technical InformationCenter, was installed as President ofthe Iota Chapter of Beta Phi Mu onFeb. 23. She succeeded AndreaGruhl, FLRT Past President. HelenSherman, Team Leader, Referenceand Retrieval at DTIC, is now VicePresident/President-Elect. JoanTaylor took on a two-year term astreasurer of Beta Phi Mu. Joan ischair of the Membership Committeefor FAFLRT.

Robin Daly is now director of theNaval Air Warfare Center WeaponsDivision China Lake TechnicalLibrary. Robin has worked in the li-brary for a number of years and heldother positions at China Lake.

Riley A. Flynn is the new CampFoster Library Director, Okinawa,

Fabulous Feds

continued on page 6


The Air Force Library SteeringCommittee met 4-5 Dec 05 in con-junction with the Military Librarians’Workshop, Las Vegas NV. TheAdvocacy and Assessment sub-com-mittees provided progress reportsand plans to launch the assessmentsurvey in Feb 06 and conduct advo-cacy training at the Joint AirForce/Navy Librarians’ Conference,Baltimore MD, 8-10 Jun 06. Thenext steering committee meeting isscheduled for 20-23 Mar 06 in SanAntonio TX.

The revised Air Force Instruction(AFI) 34-270, Air Force Library andInformation System (AFLIS) was ap-proved and published on the AirForce e-publishing web site 23 Jun05. The instruction was expanded toinclude pertinent information abouttechnical and academic libraries.Compliance with this publication ismandatory.

Air Force libraries continued theirprogress this year in meeting the 5-Star Library Recognition Programcriteria using selected key elementsin five categories: Operations,Programs, Training, Facilities, andCustomer Services. Nineteen li-braries will be recognized with 4 cer-tificates and thirteen libraries will berecognized with 5 star plaques at theFourth Joint Air Force/NavyLibrarians’ Conference in Jun 06.The 4-star certificates will be award-ed to Altus AFB OK, Barksdale AFBase LA, Hickam AFB HI, KadenaAB Okinawa Japan, Kirtland AFBNM, Lackland AFB TX, Lajes AFBAzores, Laughlin AFB TS, Little RockAFB AR, Maxwell AFB Gunter AnnexAL, Minot AFB ND, Offutt AFB NE,Robins AFB GA, Scott AFB IL, Shaw

AFB SC, Tyndall AFB FL, VandenbergAFB CA, and Whiteman AFB MO,and Wright Patterson AFB OH. The5-Star plaques will be awarded toBolling AFB DC, Columbus AFB MS,Edwards AFB CA, Eglin AFB FL,Ellsworth AFB SD, Hanscom AFBMA, Holloman AFB NM, Misawa ABJapan, Patrick AFB FL, RandolphAFB TX, Seymour Johnson AFB NC,and Sheppard AFB TX.

The Air Force Service AgencyManpower Office requested a majorreview of all library process descrip-tions. The Library Program Office iscurrently establishing a database withall general library tasks and theirprocess descriptions. This is a need-ed study since libraries have changedconsiderably in the past ten years.

Of the 82 Air Force general li-braries, 44 libraries (54%) complywith 100% of the DOD Morale,Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) corelibrary standards; 38 libraries (46%)complied with less than 100% of thecore standards – 20 of the librariesmissed the 100% by one standard.The majority of the non-complianceitems are related to facility issues,which will continue to be a problemuntil library facilities are upgraded.Five Air Force libraries comply with100% of the core and premier stan-dards, which qualifies the librariesfor DOD Premier Certification.

Written by Barbara D. WrinkleDirector, Air Force Libraries

assist other government librarians inACC as they implemented their firstautomated library systems. She lovedcustomer service and provided out-standing programs through talentedstaff. Hers was the first and onlyACC library to ever out rank everyother ACC service activity for cus-tomer service on the Air Force-Wide,Customer Feedback Survey. Thismeant, for example, that her library’sscore was higher than other activitiessuch as Fitness.

Lu c i lle Ro s a , FA F L RT Arm ed Force sDi rector and Arch ivi s t , was recen t lyre - el ected to the po s i ti on of L i bra ryTru s tee , Freetown , M A . Lu c i lle hasbeen a Tru s tee there since 1995.

Sarah (Sally) Bosken became thenew Head Librarian at the U. S.Naval Observatory in February. Shecomes from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) where shehad been employed for 6 years andwas most recently Head of CollectionManagement. She has long been ac-tive in the American LibraryAssociation and is currentlyFAFLRT’s Federal Director. Sheholds an MLS from CatholicUniversity (Washington, DC) andhas done postgraduate work at theUniversity of Maryland. A good partof her career (18 years) has beenspent living and working overseas.Sally has a long-time interest in as-tronomy, and is very happy to beworking in an astronomy library.

Submitted by Shirley Loo

AIR FORCE UPDAT E Fab Fedscontinued from page 4


Federal and Armed Forces LibrariesRound Table (FA F L RT)Board MeetingA LA Midwinter Conference, 2 0 0 6Convention Center, San Antonio, TXSaturd ay, Janu ary 21, 2 0 0 6

At ten dee s : Hope Beyer, Ca ro lBu rs i k , Bobbie Ca rr, Art h a l en eG ordey, G eor get te Ha rri s , E m i ly C.Ma rd i s , Ma rie L. Nel s on , Donna E.Ra m s ey, Lu c i lle M. Ro s a , Jord a nS cep a n s k i , Reginald M. S co t t , Ja n eSe s s a , Hel en Sherman

Wel come and Ca ll to Order.G eor get te Ha rri s , FA F L RT Pre s i den t ,c a ll ed the meeting to order at 1:35p. m . The Agenda items were accepted .

The minutes of the June 2005G en eral Mem bership Meeting andBoa rd Meeting were accepted aswri t ten .

News l et ter Report . Jane Sessa re-ported that the su bm i s s i on of m orea rti cles for the Federal Libra ri a nwould be hel pf u l , as would ad d i ti on-al ven dors for ad su bm i s s i on s .In form a ti on abo ut FA F L RT’’sAn nual Program and Recepti on isn eeded for the next news l et ter. S h eis also sti ll seeking a vo lu n teer to re-p l ace her as news l et ter ed i tor.

Mem bership Report . G eor get teHa rri s , reporting for Joan Tayl or,su bm i t ted the report , d a ted Ja nu a ry1 3 , 2 0 0 6 . As of August 2005 therewere 273 Pers onal and 53Corpora te / O r ga n i z a ti onal mem bers ,for a total of 3 2 6 . Th ere sti ll con ti n-ue to be some issues abo ut A LA’s ac-c u rac y, as they are sti ll cred i ti n gs ome mem berships to A F L RT, one ofour old or ga n i z a ti onal com pon en t s .

Trea su rer ’s Report . Ca rol Bu rs i kd i s tri buted :

FA F L RT’s “Final FinancialS t a tem ent for FY 2005, Ba s ed onPerform a n ce Report of August 31,2 0 0 5 ,” s h owing Beginning Net As s et s(9/01/04) of ( $ 5 6 4 . 0 7 ) , Revenues forthe Year of $ 9 , 4 8 5 . 9 8 , Ex penses forthe Year of $ 7 , 2 1 3 . 7 3 , re su l ting inNet Revenue (Ex pense) of $ 2 , 2 7 2 . 2 5and an Ending Net As s et Ba l a n ce of$ 1 , 7 0 8 . 1 8 ;

“Financial Statem ent for FY2006,Ba s ed on Perform a n ce Report ofNovem ber 30, 2 0 0 5 ,” s h owing begi n-ning Net As s ets (9/01/05) of$ 1 , 7 0 7 . 9 3 , Revenues for the Year of$ 1 , 1 0 1 . 0 9 , Ex penses for the Year of$ 2 , 7 6 1 . 3 9 , A LA Overh e ad of$ 1 0 8 . 0 0 , re su l ting in Net Revenu e( Ex pense) of ($1,768.30) and anEnding Net As s et Ba l a n ce of( $ 6 0 . 3 7 ) .

Th ere was also bi ll ed , but un-po s t-ed , revenue as of Ja nu a ry 13, 2006 of$ 2 , 2 9 5 . 0 0 .

Also distri buted were the FY2006bu d get , and the FY2007 bu d get pro-po s a l .

Committee Report s .a .A LA Round Ta ble Coord i n a ti n g

Com m i t tee . G eor get te Ha rri sa n n o u n ced that this com m i t teeis discussing means to re ach po-ten tial new mem bers . Th ere isan A LA em p l oyee who could doa direct mailing to po ten tial newm em bers of round tabl e s . It waspoi n ted out that perhaps gen er-a ting interest in round tabl e s ,could also en co u ra ge new peop l eto join A LA .

b.An nual Progra m . G eor get teHa rris reported that Jewel Playerhas the 2006 An nual progra mp l a n n ed . However, we need to

n ow con cen tra te on the 2007Program in Wa s h i n g ton , D. C . Al oc a ti on for the Recepti on is be-ing sough t , su ch as a military fa-c i l i ty; i . e . the Navy Officer ’sClu b. Some program topic su g-ge s ti ons were to con cen tra te onpo l i tical issu e s , su ch as thePa triot Act , with the assistanceof A LA’s Wa s h i n g ton Office , ord i gi ti z a ti on issu e s . A joint pro-gram with the A LA Com m i t teeon Legi s l a ti on was also pro-po s ed . Any furt h er ideas shouldbe sent to Geor get te .

Arch ive s . Lu c i lle Rosa requ e s tedthat materials be su bm i t ted to her.She has plans to send out a directmailing to of f i cers soliciting thei rf i l e s .

Aw a rd s . G eor get te Ha rri s , report-ing for Shirl ey Loo, s t a ted that nom-i n ees are needed for the Adel a i de delFra te A LA Sch o l a rship Aw a rd .

Byl aws and Con s ti t uti on .G eor get te , reporting for An d re aGru h l , rem i n ded us that the Byl awsCh a n ge that we planned for 2006n eeds to be su bm i t ted by A LA’sde adl i n e .

FA F L RT Web Si te . G eor get te , re-porting for James Ki n g, s t a ted thatt h ere are 201 su b s c ri bers toFA F L RT’s discussion list. He alsoplans to re s e a rch how many hits ourweb site has received .

Booth Coord i n a tor. FA F L RT on-ly displays at the An nual June A LACon feren ce .

Nom i n a ting Com m i t tee .G eor get te reported that Linda Re s l erhas nom i n ees for four of the openFA F L RT Boa rd po s i ti on s , but wo u l d

Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

continued on page 10

F e d e r a l L i b r a r i a n • P a g e 1 0 • S p r i n g 2 0 0 6

what with GODO RT and also wi t hs ome other round tables.) Mr.S cepanski su gge s ted that we en dors ea re s o luti on to add four ad d i ti on a lround table co u n c i l ors , so that on lythe smallest ei ght round tabl e swould share one co u n c i l or, i n s te adof t welve . The FA F L RT Boa rd vo tedto en dorse this re s o luti on , wh i ch Mr.S cepanski wi ll com mu n i c a te to theA LA Co u n c i l .

A LA Edu c a ti on As s em bl y. Hel enS h erm a n , as the new Edu c a ti onAs s em bly repre s en t a tive , reportedthat the issue they discussed is theva lue of online co u rses versus trad i-ti onal co u rs e s .

A LA Planning and Bu d getAs s em bl y. Ca rol Bu rsik reportedthat they app a ren t ly didn’t meet atthis Con feren ce , as she received non o ti f i c a ti on .

A LA Legi s l a tive As s em bl y. Ja n eSessa reported that they are work i n gon a re s o luti on con cerning thePa triot Act . She is also seeking a vo l-u n teer to be the new liaison to thisAs s em bly.

F L I CC Liaison . Ca rol Bu rsik hadno report . G eor get te men ti on ed thatt h ey are working on a su rvey.

I F LA . No report .

Pu blic Employees Round Ta bl e .No report . ( Fran Perros did, h owev-er, post an email on Jan 20, 2006 tothe FA F L RT discussion list abo ut thePu blic Servi ce Recogn i ti on Wee k2 0 0 6 , wh i ch wi ll be cel ebra ted onMay 1-7, 2 0 0 6 . )

Arm ed Forces Report . Lu c i ll eRo s a , reporting on beh a l f of Cy n t h i aS h i p l ey, s t a ted that there is a new

S E C NAV In s tru cti on 5070.2D, wh i chde s i gn a tes that the Libra rian of t h eNavy po s i ti on be co ll a teral duties at-t ach ed to som eone el s e’s pri m a rypo s i ti on . She also reported that theNaval Po s t gradu a te Sch ool has a newd i rector, E l e a n or Uh l i n ger, who wi lls t a rt in Ma rch .

Old Business.Ad d i ti onal discussion took place

on ways of i n c reasing mem bers h i p.

A su gge s ti on was to distri buteFA F L RT brochu res at other assoc i a-ti on s’ m eeti n gs , su ch as the Mi l i t a ryL i bra ri a n’s Work s h op (MLW) , ArmyL i bra ry In s ti tute (ALI), and the Ai rForce and Navy Libra ri a n’sWork s h op

Provi de FA F L RT brochu res to theA LA New Mem bers Round Ta bl e ,and the Joint Con feren ce ofL i bra rians of Co l or.

P l ace brochu res in the A LA bins atthe con feren ce s . ( Reggie reg u l a rlyp uts lef t - over Federal Libra ri a nn ews l et ters in them , a l s o. )

Wri te an arti cle for the Federa lL i bra rian abo ut what FA F L RT doe s .

P l ace an arti cle abo ut FA F L RT inthe other gro u p s’ n ews l et ters , and ind i s c u s s i on lists su ch as Fedlink andArmy L i b.

Hope Beyer vo lu n teered to be ofa s s i s t a n ce with mem bership issu e s .

FA F L RT’s activi ties at the Ju n eAn nual Con feren ce were discussedf u rt h er.

FA F L RT Recepti on . Lu c i lle Ro s aand Bobbie Ca rr are working on thep l a n s .

l i ke names of a ny ad d i ti onal peop l ei n tere s ted in servi n g.

Federal Pers on n el . Don n aRa m s ey reported that:

The Com peti tive So u rc i n gWorking Group is prep a ring a su r-vey, using Su rvey Mon key, wh i ch hasbeen com p l eted by 13 people up tothis ti m e . It is hoped that the su rveywi ll be taken by FLICC Co u n c i lm em bers , as well as the en ti re FLICCm em bers h i p.

The Human Re s o u rces Work i n gGroup is finalizing the revising ofthe GS-1410 Libra ri a n’s qu a l i f i c a-ti on s , as well as holding a work s h opon pay banding sch edu l ed for Feb 28at the Libra ry of Con gre s s .

Newly appoi n ted Army Ba s eL i bra rians coming into MWR or ga-n i z a ti ons wi ll be NAF em p l oyee s .

The Na ti onal Sec u ri ty Pers on n elSys tem (NSPS) implem en t a ti on isbeing held-up in co u rt by twelveu n i on s , with a sch edu l ed co u rt dateof Ja nu a ry 24, 2 0 0 6 .

Liaison Report s .A LA Co u n c i l or. Jordan Scep a n s k i

reported that, as repre s en t a tive forthe twelve small er round tabl e s , h etries to attend all of t h eir meeti n gs ifs ch eduling perm i t s . As his termends after the June A LA this ye a r, h esu gge s ted that we adva n ce a candi-d a te for his rep l acem en t , or joi nforces with another round table todo so. (The five largest round tabl e se ach have their own co u n c i l or, butthe smallest twelve are repre s en tedby on ly one who repre s ents them all .G O DO RT is no lon ger 5th in size ,and our mem berships overlap som e-

Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .continued from page 9


F e d e r a l L i b r a r i a n • P a g e 1 1 • S p r i n g 2 0 0 6

Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The An nual Program is sch edu l edfor 10:30 a.m. to noon .

The Boa rd vo ted to have the com-bi n ed Mem bers h i p / Boa rd meeti n gon Sa tu rd ay morn i n g. It may, h ow-ever, be too late to ask a ven dor tos pon s or a bre a k f a s t .

Reggie Scott stated that theres h o u l d n’t be any health issues re-ga rding the New Orleans con feren ce .The deva s t a ting damage was in a dif-ferent part of town than theConven ti on Cen ter, and hotels arerep l acing their carpets and otheri tems as nece s s a ry to make it envi-ron m en t a lly safe .

N ew Business.a . Hope Beyer has vo lu n teered to

rep l ace Joan Tayl or as theMem bership Com m i t tee ch a i r.

b.G eor get te wi ll send out an em a i lasking for vo lu n teers to be thec a n d i d a te for the A LA Co u n c i l orrepre s en ting the small er ro u n dt a bl e s .

The Boa rd Meeting sch edu l ed forMon d ay, Ja nu a ry 23, 2006 was can-

cell ed , as all business was con clu dedat tod ay ’s meeti n g.

The meeting was ad j o u rn ed at 3:27p. m . by Geor get te Ha rri s .

Re s pe ctfu lly su bm i t te d ,Ma rie L. Nel so nFA F L RT Secret a ry

continued from page 10

F e d e r a l L i b r a r i a n • P a g e 1 2 • S u m m e r 2 0 0 5

Encyclopedia of the Library ofCongress

John Y. Cole and Jane Aikin, Editors

The Library of Congress, in associa-tion with Bernan Press, 2004

Developed in cooperation with theInternational Encyclopedia Society

The Library of Congress is a won-der. It has during its own lifetime at-tained the mythical status of the li-braries at Alexandria or Timbuktu.Aside from being simply the world’slargest library, it has the world’slargest performing arts collection, theworld’s largest map collection, theworld’s largest conservation labora-tory, and a string of other superla-tives. Its collection totals 128 millionitems in 460 languages, and in 2003it recorded more than 2.6 billiontransactions on its computer systems.

Encyclopedia of the Library ofCongress: For Congress, the Nation& the World is a handsome large-for-mat book of 569 pages (plus xxxipages of front material) published bythe LOC (in association with BernanPress). Its 14 essays and 79 shorterarticles present the history of theLOC from its establishment in 1800and the development of several of itsmajor activities. I wouldn’t havechosen the term “Encyclopedia” as adescriptor; the book is not compre-hensive, but it does present the LOCin its vast complexity.

The Encyclopedia opens with 19color prints of the LOC’s impressivebuildings, mostly of The ThomasJefferson Building. The photos con-vey its neo-classical majesty; the pho-to of the Great Hall, with its elegantcolonnade, reflects the dignity of the

library’s collection. Furthermore,there are more than 350 black-and-white illustrations relieving the den-sity of the text. They range from pro-saic photos to sublime items like apage of the Gutenberg Bible (fromthe Rare Book and SpecialCollections Division). There’s even a19th-century advertisement forCocaine Toothache Drops (who saysthe legislative branch doesn’t have asense of humor?).

The text reflects the LOC’s involve-ment with its enormous range ofconcerns: acquisitions, automation,congressional research, the digital li-brary, copyright, classification, etc…Its special collections, such as TheNational Library Service for theBlind and Physically Handicapped,The Law Library, and The HispanicDivision, are explored here, as aremany of the Library’s functions,ranging from interlibrary lending tochildren’s literature.

Librarians will be particularly in-terested in its tenth essay, “TheLibrary of Congress and AmericanLibrarianship”, which traces theLibrary’s relationship with the librarycommunity and its partnership withthe ALA. We learn that “for most li-brarians, the Library of Congress wasnot a source of assistance during thenineteenth century.” The chapterproceeds to explain its recent contri-butions in the areas of preservation,networking and digitization, madewhile the LOC has become imbeddedin the life of the community.

In tracing the development of col-lections and functions, theEncyclopedia details the history ofthe library through successive ad-ministrations, appointments, wars, et

al. It reveals an endless succession ofcommittees, task forces and reviewsdesigned to further, to renew or oth-erwise to promote the library’s goals.It’s amazing that the LOC has man-aged to overcome the drag of politicsand bureaucracy so well.

There are articles on each of the 13Librarians of Congress, and theLibrarians appear throughout thebook. The Encyclopedia creditsHerbert Putnam (in the officefrom1899 until 1939) with doing“the most to extend the Library tothe American people.” ArchibaldMacLeish, it acknowledges, was “themost publicly visible Librarian ofCongress in the history of the office.”The present Librarian of Congress,James Billington, who took officein1987, is credited with taking “per-sonal charge” of the Library and in-stituting its major reorganization.The Encyclopedia doesn’t mentionthe opposition to his nomination ex-pressed by the American LibraryAssociation, who felt that the posi-tion demanded “someone who hasthe background of an informationprofessional”.

The article on the library’s Poetryand Literature Center is of particularinterest to writers. The Center spon-sors awards, fellowships and literaryevents, as well as the position of thePoet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.The chapter reminds us that ourPoets Laureate and PoetryConsultants (as they were first called)have been the icons of American let-ters, including Robert Penn Warren,Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, and oth-er heroes. What’s more, its Archiveof Recorded Poetry and Literature

A Library of Last Resort


has preserved audio records of morethan 2,000 poets reading their ownwork. The article also relates, in a re-markable passage, an unfortunate in-cident that took place in 1949, whenEzra Pound was awarded the LOC’sBollingen Prize in Poetry:

At the time Pound, who had beenindicted for treason, was in an insti-tution for the insane. Because of theensuing controversy, in August theJoint Committee on the Library [theLOC’s link to Congress] unanimous-ly recommended that the Librarycancel all arrangements it had madefor giving prizes and making awards,and Librarian [of Congress Luther]Evans immediately complied.

Thankfully, the Poetry andLiterature Center’s prizes and awardsrecovered from the setback.

The Encycl oped i a’s Appen d i ce sprovi de stati s tical materi a l , i n clu d-ing a table detailing the growth ofthe Libra ry ’s co ll ecti ons – from 740vo lumes in 1801 to 57 mill i on item sin the manu s c ri pt co ll ecti on alon ein 2003.

The index , u n fortu n a tely, doe s n’tm eet the demands of the materi a l .We need to be able to access everyreferen ce to indivi du a l s , p l aces andeven t s ; the index doe s n’t even at-tem pt this functi on . Programs andco ll ecti ons are re a s on a bly well cov-ered ; i n d ivi duals and con cepts aren o t . And it’s high ly litera l . One il-lu s tra ti on , “Te aching of t h eIn d i a n s” is referen ced on ly in an en-try under Photogra ph s ; it is not ac-ce s s i ble via a search for “n a tiveAm eri c a n .” However, a n o t h er ph o-to, “ Na tive Am erican Ch i l d ”, is ac-

ce s s i ble ei t h er way.

Although the size of the LOC’s col-lection has more than tripled since1950, its history hasn’t been one ofuncontrolled expansion. Much to itscredit, it has pursued selectivegrowth. In 1962, it was suggestedthat the Library’s national activitiesand services be expanded, but cir-cumstances “made increased nationallibrary aspirations impractical.” Inthe 1970’s, as library networking de-veloped, a Task Force on Goals,Organization and Planning con-curred with the library communitythat “there is no hope for one institu-tion to go the whole way alone.” Andthe Encyclopedia allows that today“the Library of Congress is much lessthe acknowledged leader of theAmerican library community than itwas a century ago.

It is mentioned several times thatthe LOC is not officially our “nation-al library”. The ALA recommendedin 1896 that the LOC be designatedas the national library. The NationalAdvisory Committee on Libraries didthe same in 1968, and The NationalCommittee on Libraries andInformation Science did so in 1975.The White House, however, neveracted on the recommendations. TheEncyclopedia acknowledges that theLOC is “the de facto national libraryof the United States”, and refers to itrepeatedly as a national library (in-deed, a passage on the LOC’s websiterefers to “our special status as the na-tional library”).

But the book never discusses whatit would mean to be a national li-brary. We’re told only that the ALA’s

1896 recommendation was intended“to broaden the LOC’s role to in-clude assistance to libraries nation-wide” – assistance it unquestionablysupplies.

Actually, it is the LOC’s function asthe national copyright depositorythat makes it our de facto national li-brary. As the Encyclopedia’s discus-sion of The Copyright Office (whichis a part of the LOC) tells us, theowner of a copyright is required todeposit two copies of a publishedwork in the Copyright Office, and“the primary purpose of this manda-tory deposit so to build and preservea comprehensive collection ofAmerican publications as a record ofthe country’s national heritage, thuscreating in effect a library of last re-sort for all works published domesti-cally.”

In fact, the central question is notwhether the LOC is a national li-brary, but whether it is a legal depositlibrary. Legal deposit libraries, suchthe British Library or the NationalLibrary of France, receive, by law, acopy of each book published in thecountry. When I asked the LOCabout the its status as such, TheGeneral Counsel’s Office of theCopyright Office explained:

In the United States, mandatorydeposit is part of the copyright law.We generally referred to legal depositas mandatory deposit. The Library ofCongress is the legal deposit in theUnited States, although the statutoryunderpinning of mandatory depositis considerably different from legaldeposit systems abroad. To myknowledge, the United States is the


A Library of Last Resortcontinued from page 12



on ly co u n try that has made manda-tory deposit a part of its copyri gh tl aw.

Mandatory deposit applies to allworks under copyright, unless ex-empted by regulation. It does not ap-ply to works in the public domain.However, since copyright applies toworks automatically, the mere failureto apply a copyright notice to a workdoes not take the work out ofmandatory deposit. In order to placean otherwise copyrightable work intothe public domain, it is necessary toinclude a disclaimer of copyright onthe work. This is uncommon, but itdoes occur.

Most commercial works are regis-tered in the Copyright Office due tothe significant legal advantages suchregistration brings. In instanceswhere registration has been made,the deposit for registration generallysatisfies the mandatory deposit oblig-ation. Copyright registration, howev-er, is optional. Where registrationhas not been sought, mandatory de-posit is still required. Exceptions,then, being “uncommon”, the LOCdoes function essentially as a legaldeposit – or mandatory deposit – li-brary.

Of course, The Encyclopedia does-n’t discuss the implications of havingthese powerful collections husbandedby the federal government.Certainly, the library community isin agreement that library funding isthe exquisite use of governmentfunds. But the LOC is not above re-proach. Our poets laureate have beencriticized for not being more vocal intheir reaction to censorship, i.e., the

“content restrictions” on NationalEndowment for the Arts grants.

The Encyclopedia is not a tool forunderstanding the structure and or-ganization of the LOC. The appen-dices contain no charted history, andthey don’t even include the organiza-tional chart we find on the LOC’swebsite. But the book will prove it-self a unique tool for the researcherin many specialty fields. For the ca-

sual browser or the professional li-brarian, it’s a treasure.

By the way, the Strategic Plan tellsus that the Library has a dispropor-tionate number of staff approachingretirement age - an intriguing fact aswe design our careers…

- Steve Greechie

A Library of Last Resortcontinued from page 13

GET INVOLVED!Join acommittee.Run foroffice.FAFLRT isonly aseffective as youmake it.Contact any BoardMember listed on theback page.

1. The Military IntelligenceLibrary at Ft. Huachuca has won the2005 Federal Library of the Yearaward in the small category (10 staffmembers or less). The presentationwill be held March 23 at the Libraryof Congress. This is a link to theLibrary’s homepage: http://www.uni-versityofmilitaryintelligence.us/mi_li-brary/default.asp

Dr. Vee Herrington, the LibraryDirector, can be reached at: [email protected]

2. Ann Parham’s email address haschanged [email protected] andher new phone numbers are below.

M. Ann Parham Librarian of the ArmyHQDA, DCS, G-1 ATTN: DAPE-ZXI, Rm 2C453 300 Army PentagonWashington, DC 20310-0300 Voice (DSN 225) 703-695-5600 Fax (DSN 225) 703-695-6988

3. The Army Library TrainingInstitute (ALTI) 2006 will be held atthe Hilton St. Louis Frontenac in St.Louis, MO from 24 to 28 April 2006.The ALTI ‘06 website, a work inprogress, is available at http://www.li-braries.army.mil/ali2006/index.htm.The agenda, complete with all names,is available on our ALP team page onAKO athttps://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/136583. The Army Library ProgramFiles channel is the first channel be-low the graphic on the right. TheALTI 06 folder includes the tentativeagenda, Army G-1 support memo,and poster session application.Contact Neta L. Cox ([email protected]) if you need help finding

it. Phone: 703-697-1446 DSN 227

4. Reminder for METRICS, theArmy Library ProgramMeasurement, Tracking, andInformation Collection System(METRICS): METRICS is theweb-based statistics reporting systemfor collecting and storing data onArmy library collections, resources,and services:https://www.libraries.army.mil/met-rics/. METRICS is designed to pro-vide senior Army leaders and librarymanagement at all levels with a stan-dardized system for information re-quired for library program evalua-tion, management planning and de-cision-making. Several changes inMETRICS are summarized below.

Library InformationThe information entered for indi-

vidual libraries is used to generatethe Army Libraries Directory avail-able on the DALS website:http://www.libraries.army.mil/.

1. ‘Registered Borrowers’ has beenmoved from Services to LibraryInformation.

2. The telephone number fieldshave been revised: Library Manager,Library, ILL and FAX. The Librarynumber will be the number includedin the Army Libraries Directory. 3)We have revised the populationfields. All of the libraries will showthe military population. This will betop loaded for the General Libraries.The other population fields will varyaccording to type of library. Pleasesee the Help text in METRICS for ex-planations. Briefly,

a. General: ASIP Total andBaseline Standards/ISR III.This will be top loaded.

b. Academic: Student andFaculty/Staff. Obtain from AT-TRS data or RMO.

c. Medical, Scientific/Technical,Special: Organization. Obtainfrom RMO.

4. Please review the URL and up-date if needed. We are now linkingto the library websites from both theArmy Libraries Directory and ourLibrary Reference Center.

ServicesWe added two fields: Attendance

at Programs/Orientations andPublications. We’ve had severalquestions about Current Awarenessservices. We added CurrentAwareness/SDI to Short Reference IFthe librarian is involved in produc-ing/editing the bibliography andsending it to the individual.

Again, we want to encourage youto give read-only access to all of yourlibrary staff so that they can see whatMETRICS is all about and what dataare available in METRICS. To dothis, the Primary Account holder canclick on Manage Accounts, click on‘Add a User’ for your Library, and se-lect the Role of ‘Other’.

The freeze date for the annual datahas been extended to 31 March 2006.

Respectfully submitted,Lucille M. RosaArmed Forces Director


R e p o rt on Army Libraries

PRESIDENT (2005-6)Georgette HarrisFLICC/FEDLINKLibrary of Congress101 Independence Ave SEAdams Building, Room 217Washington, D.C. 20540(202) [email protected]

PAST PRESIDENTLinda ReslerU.S. Gov’t Printing OfficeWashington, D.C.Phone: (540)[email protected]

VICE-PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT-ELECT (2005-6)

Roberta CarrElectronic Services Lib.Defense Language Institute, Aiso

Library543 Lawton Rd.,Ste.617aMonterey, CA. 93944Phone: 831-242-4230Fax: [email protected]

SECRETARY (2004-6)Marie L. Nelson Reference LibrarianUSAF Academy, DFLIB/REFUSAF Academy, CO 80840Phone: (719) 333-6660/4406DSN: (333) [email protected]

TREASURER (2005-07)Carol BursikAssistant Director for Access &

OrganizationDept of Justice Libraries601 D Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20530Phone: (202) 514-5102 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

FEDERAL DIRECTOR(THROUGH 6/2006)

Cynthia EtkinSenior Program Planning Specialist

(Librarian)U.S. Gov’t Printing OfficeWashington, D.C. 20401Phone: (202) 512-1873 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

FEDERAL DIRECTOR (THROUGH 6/2007)

Sally BoskenLibraryU.S. Naval Observatory3450 Mass.Avenue, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20392Phone: 202-762-1463Fax: 202-762-1083 [email protected]

ARMED FORCES DIRECTOR(THROUGH 6/2006)

Lucille M. RosaHead,Tech ServicesEccles LibraryNaval War College686 Cushing RoadNewport, RI 02841-1207Phone: (401) 841-6492DSN: [email protected]

ARMED FORCES DIRECTOR(THROUGH 6/2007)

Cynthia ShipleyDirector, USMC LibrariesOkinawa, Japan, Unit35023, Camp S.D. ButlerLibrary Processing CenterFPO,AP 96373-5023Phone: 011-81-611-745-6056DSN: [email protected]

Committee Chairs and Liaisons:

ALA ANNUAL PROGRAMJewel Armstrong PlayerU.S. Copyright Office,AcquisitionsLibrary of Congress101 Indep.Ave., S.E.Room LM 438cWashington, D.C. 20559-6600Phone: (202) 707-6781 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

ALA COUNCILOR (THROUGH 6/2006)Jordan M. ScepanskiZayed UniversityUnited Arab [email protected]

ARCHIVISTLucille M. Rosa

ALA EDUCATION ASSEMBLYMichelle BrosiusLibrarianU.S. Dept. of StateA/RPS/IPS/LIBR, Rm 3239Washington, D.C. 20520Phone: (202) 647-3092Fax: (202) [email protected]

ALA LEGISLATION ASSEMBLYREPRESENTATIVE

Jane T. Sessa Department of Commerce Law

Library, Room 189414th & Constitution, NWWashington, DC 20230Phone: (202) 482-1610Fax: (202) [email protected]

ALA LIAISONPat MayAmerican Library Assoc.1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.,

Suite 403Washington, D.C. 20004Phone: (202) 628-8410 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

ALA PLANNING & BUDGET ASSEMBLYCarol Bursik

ALA ROUND TABLE COORDINATINGCOMMITTEE

Linda Resler

AWARDS COMMITTEEShirley Loo, ChairLibrary of Congress, CRS625 A Street, S.E.Washington, D.C. 20003Phone: (202) 707-6785 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

Maria Pisa, Co-Chair

BOOTH COORDINATOREileen WelchUSDA Animal & Plant Health

Inspection4700 River Rd., Unit 6Riverdale, MD 20737Phone: (301) 734-5240Fax: (301) [email protected]

BYLAWS & CONSTITUTIONAndrea Morris Gruhl5990 Jacob’s LadderColumbia, MD [email protected]

COALITION FOR EFFECTIVE CHANGEJane T. Sessa

FEDERAL PERSONNELDonna RamseyU.S.Army Van Noy Library5966 12th StreetBuilding 1024Fort Belvoir,VA. 22060Phone: (703) 806-0096Fax: (703) [email protected]

FLICC LIAISONCarol Bursik

IFLA LIAISONAndrea Morris Gruhl

INTERNET / WEB ENHANCEMENTCOMMITTEE

R. James King, WebmasterNaval Research Lab4555 Overlook AveCode 5596Washington, DC 20375Phone: (202) [email protected]

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEEJoan R.Taylor, ChairU.S. Department of State10290 Colony Park DriveFairfax,VA 22032-3235Phone: (202) 619-4875 (w)Fax: (202) [email protected]

NOMINATING COMMITTEELinda ReslerU.S. Gov’t Printing OfficeWashington, D.C.Phone: (202)-512-1119Fax: 202-(512)[email protected]

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ROUNDTABLELIAISON

Fran PerrosU.S. Dept of State LibraryRoom 2442Washington, D.C. 20520Phone: (202) 647-2196Fax: (202) [email protected]

Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table Board: 2005-2006

F E D E R A L



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