Government Information Quarterly
Volume 9, Number 3,1992
SPECIAL FEATURES
Electronic Government Information and the
Depository Library Program: Paradise Found?
Robert E. Dugan and Joan F. Cheverie
......................................................... 269
The Defense Logistics Agency and the Federal
Catalog System
Robert M. Hayes
.......................................................................................... 291
Information "Publics" and Equitable Access to
Electronic Government Information: The Case
of Agriculture
Harold B. Shill
......................................................................................... 305
ALA and the 1991 WHCLIS Recommendations
Carol C. Henderson ................................................................................ 333
WHCLIS Resolutions Relevant to Concerns of the American
Society for Information Science
Ann E. Prentice and Richard Hill ............................................................... 337
The White House Conference and Democracy: A Missed Opportunity
Joan C. Durrance ...................................................................................... 341
A Documents Librarian's Perspective
Duncan Aldrich .............................................................................................. 347
An Echo, Not a Choice
John A. Shuler .............................................................................. 351
Special Libraries and Library Education
James M. Matarazzo ................................................................................. 355
Native American Library and Information Services
Cheryl Metoyer-Duran ............................................................................... 359
Contributors ...................................................................................................... 363
Reviews
John A. Shuler, Editor
Directory of Government Document
Collections & Libraries
Government Documents Round Table
Reviewed by Peter Hernon ......................................................................... 365
The Federal Budget: A Guide to Process and Principal
Publications
By Edward Herman
Reviewed by David Barber ........................................................................ 366
The Federal Roles in Support of School Library
Media Centers
By Dianne McAfee Hopkins and Rebecca P. Butler
Reviewed by Barbara L. Van Nortwick ................................................................. 367
Iron Curtain Rising
By Peter Laufer
Reviewed by Sever Bordeianu ....................................................................... 367
Pentagon Rules on Media Access to the Persian Gulf War
Committee on Governmental Affairs
The Media at War: The Press and the Persian
Gulf Conflict
A Gannett Foundation Report
Newsmen and National Defense: Is Conflict Inevitable?
U.S. Army War College Foundation, Inc.
Reviewed by Harold C. Relyea ...................................................................... 368
Secrecy & Government Bulletin
Prepared by Steven Aftergood
Reviewed by Peter Hernon ........................................................................ 370
The Single European Market and the Information and
Communication Technologies
By Gareth Locksley
Telecommunications, Values, and the Public Interest
Edited by Sven B. Lundstedt
Critical Connections: Communications for the Future
Office of Technology Assessment
Telecommunications in the Age of Information
U.S. Department of Commerce
Reviewed by John A. Shuler .................................................................. 371
United States Intelligence: An Encyclopedia
Edited by Bruce W. Watson, Susan M. Watson, and
Gerald W. Hopple
Reviewed by Thomas A. Stave ...................................................................... 372
Vital and Health Statistics Series: An Annotated Checklist
and Index to the Publications of the "Rainbow Series"
By Jim Walsh and A. James Bothmer
Reviewed by Barbara L Van Nortwick ....................................................... 373
Robert E. Dugan
Joan F. Cheverie
During the 1980s, Federal information dissemination began a transition to significant use of electronic formats. Because of legal, policy, and other constraints, these electronic products and services were not included in the depository library program, r aising concerns about the availability and accessibility of Federal information for the public. Librarians and others advocated that access and availability of Federal information would be increased through inclusion of electronic products in the deposito ry library program; surveys and reports were used to validate depository libraries' capabilities to accomodate electronic formats. Problems were encountered as the formats were introduced into the depository library program; useful experiences were gained . Inclusion of electronic products into the program has not solved all of the problems concerning access and availability of Federal information; however, dissemination of electronic formats to depository libraries has increased availability and access.
Robert M. Hayes
The Defense Logistics Agency maintains the Federal Catalog System on behalf of all branches of the Federal government and well over thirty foreign countries (especially those participating in NATO); in Australia, for example, it has been implemented as "A USLANG"--Australian Supply Language. Wherever used, it provides a centralized means for identification of items of supply and their sources. In the United States, it applies to the supply systems both of the Department of Defense and of the civilian agenc ies of government. The data bases created by its operations provide exceptionally valuable means for libraries to support purchasing functions needed in engineering, manufacturing, and marketing. This article reviews the history in development of the Fede ral cataloging system, summarizes the technical details of the data base system, and describes the potentials for general industrial use, beyond just the military and governmental contexts.
Harold B. Shill
The Federal government is relying increasingly on private sector firms to provide access for the general public to information being made available in electronic formats. This practice has raised the question whether an "information rich vs. information p
oor" class distinction is being created among taxpayers. The definition of the "public" for particular types of information has also been raised.
This article addresses the question of equitable access to electronic government information in one subject area, agriculture, where the Federal government has historically exercised a strong, proactive role in information dissemination. Issues conside
red include the impact of electronic technologies on existing dissemination structures, the Reagan era policy shift toward privatization of information dissemination, and factors influencing agriculturalisists' abilities to access electronic information.
A user-centered definition of agricultural "information public" is then offered. Finally, recommendations are presented for agencies to expand access to information in electronic formats without segmenting the user public along income lines.
Anne E. Prentice
Richard Hill
Many members of the American Society for Information Science were pleased to participate in the Second White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services (WCHLIS II) and in virtually all of the discussion groups. From discussions at the conferen ce and since, three areas of central interest to ASIS members have emerged: networking, copyright/intellectual property , and access. We thank Patrice Lyons, Debora Shaw, Bonnie Cooper Carroll, John R.B. Clement and many others for their help in writing a nd editing this article. As ASIS continues to participate in WHCLIS II discussions, it will focus on these three areas, raising questions and making suggestions as appropriate to lead toward achievement of the ambitious vision created at WHCLIS II.
Duncan Aldrich
Though the recommendations pertaining to government information issues passed in the 1991 WHCLIS Conference are so scattered that they do not present a focused agenda, careful scrutiny of the Conference report reveals that the recommendations do express c oncerns and opinions closely resembling those generally held by government documents librarians. The likelihood that proposed WHCLIS programs will be implemented, on the other hand, seems remote. The following essay assesses the WHCLIS recommendations from the documents librarians' perspective.
Joan F. Cheverie, who has been at Georgetown University since 1980, is Head of Government Documents and Microforms. She teaches at the graduate level and is active in government documents discussions regionally and nationally.
Robert E. Dugan is Associate University Librarian of Lauinger Library at Georgetown University. He has been State Librarian of Delaware, Research Associate at the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Head of Library Development in Massachusetts, a public library director, and a reference librarian. He is formerly a member of the GPO's Depository Library Council to the Public Printer.
Robert M. Hayes is former Dean, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of California, Los Angeles. He received his baccalaureate, master's, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, in mathematics. He is active in professional associations and as an author.
Margaret F. O'Hare is Director of National Programs, The White House Conference on Library and Information Services.
Harold B. Shill is currently head of the Division of Library and Information Services at Penn State Harrisburg. Before assuming his present position in August 1991, he was head librarian for 11 years at the Evansdale Library, West Virginia University. Shill has been active on legislative committees in the American Library Association, has served as Federal Relations Coordinator for the West Virginia Library Association, and has testified six times before congressional committees on information-related issues.
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