Government Information Quarterly
Volume 3, Number 2, 1986
The Quality of Academic and Public Library Reference Service Provided
for NTIS Products and Services: Unobtrustive Test Results
Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure ................................ 117
Freedom of Information-A Progress Report
Hon. Alan Missen ................................................. 133
The National Bibliographies of the Turkic Republics of the Soviet Union
G. Koolemans Beynen .............................................. 141
The President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control: A Response to an
Opinion Essay on Its Proposals
J. Peter Grace .................................................... 153
The International Flow of Scientific and Technical Information
Federal Library and Information Center Committee ..................... 163
Documents Librarianship I
Extending Patent Access Through In-State Networks
Eulalie W. Brown...............................................................179
Documents Librarianship II
Current and Future Direction of Automation Activities for
U.S. Government Depository Collections
Mary Sue Stephenson and Gary R. Purcell ............................ 191
Contributors .......................................................... 201
Forthcoming .......................................................... 203
Reviews
David C. Heisser, Editor
American Indian Policy
By Theodore W. Taylor
Reviewed by Robert A. Trennert ..................................... 205
A Bibliography of State Bibliographies, 1970-1982
By David W. Parish
Reviewed by Wiley J. Williams ...................................... 206
Committee on the Records of Government: Report
Reviewed by H.G. Jones ............................................ 207
The Constitutional Law Dictionary. Volume 1:
Individual Rights. Clio Dictionaries in Political Science, No. 8
By Ralph C. Chandler, Richard A. Enslen, and Peter G. Renstrom
Reviewed by Susan E. Parker ....................................... 209
Deceiving the Public: The Story Behind J. Peter Grace
By Peter Ajemian and Joan Claybrook
Reviewed by Charles R. McClure .................................... 210
Dictionary of Foreign Document Collections
Compiled by Carol A. Turner
Reviewed by Susan L. Fales ......................................... 212
EC Index (European Communities Index): An Abstracting and Indexing
Guide to Publications and Documents of the European Communities.
Vol. 1 - 1985 -
Reviewed by Mary Fetzer ........................................... 213
Government Publications Index
Reviewed by Peter Hernon .......................................... 215
Government Reference Books 82/83:
A Biennial Guide to U.S. Government Publications
I
(Eighth Edition)
Compiled by LeRoy C. Schwarzkopf
Reviewed by Agnes Ferruso ......................................... 216
Government Research Directory
Edited by Kay Gill
Reviewed by Michael Vocino ........................................ 217
The League of Nations in Retrospect: Proceedings of the Symposium
Organized by the United Nations Library and
The Graduate Institute of International Studies
Reviewed by Sophie A. Welisch ...................................... 218
Guide to U.S. Government Directories, Volume 2: 1980-1984
By Donna Rae Larson
Reviewed by Charles R. McClure ....................................220
Human Rights: An International and Comparative Law Bibliography
Compiled and edited by Julian R. Friedman and Marc I. Sherman
Reviewed by Susan E. Parker ....................................... 221
Legal Information Management Index. Vol. 1 - 1984 -
Reviewed by Linda K. Fariss ........................................ 222
Map Collection in the United States and Canada (4th Edition)
Edited by David K. Carrington and Richard W. Stephenson
Reviewed by Thornton P. McGlamery ................................ 223
The Newspaperman's President: Harry S. Truman
By Herbert Lee Williams
Reviewed by Fran Hassencahl......................................................224
Politics and Television Re-Viewed
By Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang
Reviewed by Thomas A. Karel ............................................................226
The Uneasy Eighties: The Transition to the Information Society
By Arthur J. Cordell
Reviewed by Tom Riley ............................................................. 227
The Watergate Investigation Index:
House Judiciary Committee Hearings and Report on Impeachment
Compiled by Hedda Garza
Reviewed by Theodore Samore ...................................... 229
The Quality of Academic and Public Library
Reference Service Provided for
NTIS Products and Services:
Unobtrusive Test Results
PETER HERNON
CHARLES R. McCLURE
This article reports on the use of unobtrusive testing to gather data on a performance measure--correct answer fill rate. Personnel from 12 academic and public libraries participating in the U.S. Government Printing Office's depository program were asked 5 pretested questions and the accuracy and efficiency of their search outcome were measured. Although the article reports a pilot project, the findings and discussion of study results should have broad interest. They document the inability of a number of staff members to negotiate successfully reference questions pertaining to NTIS and technical report literature. Clearly, the study merits replication on a broader scale and library staff should review their search skills with the test questions appended to this article.
Public access to government records received "a quiet introduction rather than a resounding start" in 1982 with the enactment of the Australian Freedom of Information Act. Although it was strengthened the following year through amendments, the statute, unlike its robust U.S. counterpart, is a struggling infant. Among the problems facing the Act are the need to reconcile secrecy provisions in existing laws with it, a lack of vigorous public opinion and a constant campaigning in support of freedom of information, attempts to increase fees and decrease agency compliance with requirements for the production of documents, failure of the media to support freedom of information through better use of the Act, inadequate coverage of security organizations by the Act, and efforts to defeat the purpose of the Act by injections of a need to know standard.
This article provides both historical and contemporary coverage of the national bibliographies. Book production of the Soviet Union and its Turkic-language republics has remained steady since the early 1970s. The number of new biblio- graphic publications, however, has increased over the last ten years, especially in the Uzbek and Kazakh SSR. This growth probably indicates the presence of powerful groups which aim at preserving Turkic languages and culture.
This article is a reply to Robert M. Hayes, "The President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control: An Opinion Essay on the Grace Commission Report," Government Information Quarterly, 3, no. I (1986): 73-81.
The President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control in the Federal Government (PPSS) welcomes factual analysis of its report and debate on its recommendations. The author's article on the PPSS Report to the President in the last issue of GIQ, however, provides no evidence that he looked at our report in detail, evaluated our proposals based on factual knowledge, or had any intent other than to discredit the report. While the author states that the PPSS report "should be read with the greatest care by everyone concerned with governmental policies," our response concludes that he uses innuendo and misdirection to derive his conclusions, since he presents no evidence to support his opinions.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the journal,
Editorial Board,
or publisher.
On February 27, 1985, the Federal Library and Information Center Committee
(FLICC) convened its second annual Forum on Federal Information Policies at the
Library of Congress. "The International Flow of Scientific and Technical Information" brought together some one hundred public and private sector librarians and
information policy leaders to hear distinguished professionals discuss a subject of
great and growing importance to the future of world communications.
Dr. Carol A. Nemeyer, Associate Librarian for National Programs, welcomed
participants and thanked key members of the FLICC Executive Advisory Committee for their help in planning the program. (Later, Nemeyer was herself credited for
her "vision in pioneering and conceptualizing this forum.") "As I look around this
roomful of leaders," she said, "I am proud to be a member of this dynamic
profession." Nemeyer introduced Jane Bortnick, Specialist in Information Science
and Technology in the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, who
moderated the morning session.
This section presents techniques, practices, and specific strategies by which docu- ments collections and services can be made more effective. It also highlights individual documents collections and current developments, and addresses issues pertinent to forthcoming government policies and regulations.
Extending Patent Access through In-State Networks
EULALIE W. BROWN
U.S. patents form the largest and most comprehensive body of technological literature in the world. The Patent and Trademark Office has greatly expanded its dissemination efforts in response to the interest and need for technological information, increasing to 58 the number of Patent Depository Libraries able to bring patent collections closer to those who need them. The effectiveness of this program could be magnified by enlisting local Government Printing Office de- pository libraries in cooperative networks. A model for establishing such a network is suggested, based on the experience of New Mexico.
Current and Future Direction of Automation Activities
for U.S. Government Depository Collections
MARY SUE STEPHENSON
GARY R. PURCELL
This article reviews the current status of government documents automation and identifies major problems associated with documents automation. These serve as background for a proposed research agenda concerned with the development and implementation of a broad-based documents control system. The proposed agenda, if implemented, would result in the design of full-function, automated documents systems, suitable for depository library collections.