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Federal Depositories in Illinois - A Survey ILLINET Government Depository Coordinating Council A. Background Federal law provides for a program to disseminate government information to libraries throughout the United States. Two depositories may be designated in each Congressional District by its Representative, two may be designated by each Senator; federal agencies, law schools and state libraries may be depositories; and there may be two regionals in each state. There are 56 selective depositories in Illinois. Ten are public libraries, nine are law school libraries—one at the 7th Circuit U.S. Courts in Chicago and one at the Field Museum of Natural History—and 35 are academic libraries. Academic libraries include 11 of the 12 state universities (the 12th is a large selective housing site), seven community colleges and 17 private schools. The Illinois State Library is the Regional Federal Depository. All depositories must provide free access to depository material. Since 1984, the director of the Illinois State Library has appointed individuals to serve in an advisory capacity regarding government depository programs in the state. The group meets twice a year and has developed the Illinois State Plan for ILLINET Federal Document Depositories (Illinois Libraries, vol. 75, no. 4, May 1993). This plan was revised in 1991/92, and 55 selective depositories endorsed it. Implementation of the plan requires that the Coordinating Council make an annual report on the depository library program in Illinois. During the council's meeting on November 18, 1994, council members developed a survey to gather information that would provide a useful summary. Council members serve as liaisons to specific depositories, and the survey was administered through these contacts. Copies of the survey were mailed to the depositories in February 1995. They were asked in a memo to review the survey and to be prepared to discuss the items with their liaisons. Data was gathered from the 56 selective depositories and one large selective housing site by the end of March 1995 (Appendix B). The information gives Illinois Libraries readers a snapshot of federal depositories in Illinois in 1994. B. Results There were 10 items on the survey. Item 1: The depository name. Item 2: The depository librarian's name. We plan to publish a new edition of the directory of depositories. E-mail addresses will be included. Item 3: What percentage of federal depository documents do you select? 46 depositories report selecting 50% or less. 11 depositories report selecting more than 50%.
Item 4: What are your federal depository collection strengths? Information from this item will be listed in a new directory of depository libraries. The reporting of strengths was subjective. The assumption may be made that all depositories have a general, basic or core collection. Depositories with small selection rates were more likely to mention this. One large academic depository reported "most disciplines." Some law depositories omitted the obvious law or legal materials, while others listed specialties in civil rights, intellectual property, judicial administration and taxation. 136
The following groups of subjects are an attempt to consolidate and be inclusive of the many terms used.
Item 5: How long do you retain most federal depository documents? 33 depositories retain most depository material indefinitely. 24 retain most material only for the required five years. Item 6: How are you providing access to federal depository documents? Print indexes were most frequently mentioned. The networked electronic catalog (ILLINET ONLINE in most cases) also rated high, followed closely by shelf lists. Five depositories mentioned the PRF, or Publications Reference File, a microfiche "books in print" produced by the U.S. Government Printing Office and available to all depositories. Online indexes would probably have been indicated frequently if they had been listed as a separate category. Stand alone and networked CD-ROM counts are a mix of bibliographic and other data. Bibliographies and pathfinders were noted only once as access tools and would certainly have received a much higher count if they had been listed as a separate category access to federal depository documents.
Item 7: Do you have Internet access? 10 have no Internet access. Many are anticipating it. 47 depositories have Internet access. Of those: 34 depositories have subscribers to Govdoc-1, an international discussion group for anyone interested in government documents. 20 have subscribers to IGI-1, an Illinois government information discussion group. 19 have GPO Access, the Government Printing Office's electronic offering of the Federal Register, the Congressional Record, Congressional Bills and other timely information. Item 8: How many hours per week of staff time are "devoted" to federal depository collections and services? Where documents are not a separate department within the library, one or more staff members are involved with documents on a part-time basis, and are not clear how much time that is. Where libraries have separate documents departments, which often include state, international, foreign, and, or local documents, Staffers are often not sure of how much time they devote to federal documents. Those reporting more than 100 hours per week are of this type. More precise information on this item would be of great benefit in planning. 137
Item 9: In what professional documents activities have you participated in 1994? Individuals from 40 depositories participated in a variety of activities. In eight depositories no one participated in any professional document activities. The highest participation was in State Library and Northeastern Illinois Documents Librarians meetings. Participation was not precisely defined, so some included ALA and ILA membership as participation - and no one can deny that paying dues counts.
Item 10: What do you envision as the future of your depository? (Will you remain in the program?) The question was open-ended to provide views of current thinking about the future of federal depositories in Illinois. Fifty-three depositories responded that they would remain in the program. Two of them were concerned about space constraints. Many were concerned about electronic and online capabilities. Some had plans for expansion in those areas, including CD-ROM and online access and networking. One mentioned interdepository cooperation as a means of providing these services. At least one depository viewed the Internet as a more accessible alternative to the GPO distributed products and services. A few depositories expressed a commitment to training non-depository librarians and the public in the use of electronic resources. More generally, outreach and promotion were mentioned by a few depositories. Several depositories are committed to more cataloging of government publications. Three depositories indicated plans to broaden or increase their selections. One commented on increasing print format purchases as a priority for easy use with increasing microfiche formats. Two depositories planned on maintaining their current selection rates, one planned to reduce selections, and one mentioned removal of non-used documents to conserve space. One depository planned to integrate documents with the general collection. Other plans included the development of a business/government information center, hiring new staff and building a new library. Sangamon State University would like to be a designated depository (Currently they are a "selective housing site" for Blackburn College). Chicago Public Library would like to be a regional depository. One depository is interested in getting out of the program at the library level; the institution remains to be convinced. Another mentioned transferring the designation. Three were uncertain about retaining the depository status, one stating that there is an analysis in progress. C. Conclusions The survey has provided a snapshot of federal depositories in Illinois in 1994. Information from item 4 (collection strengths) will be more fully listed in a new directory of depository libraries. Item 6 (access) could have provided more information if the methods of access had been more precisely defined. Responses to item 8 (staff time) indicate a need to take a closer look at this area for planning library priorities and staff utilization. Discussion of concerns and plans of the depositories is useful to the council and to the State Library in planning future programs and services. The council has gained some experience in designing and administering a survey from which we hope to benefit in more efficient future surveys. We thank all the federal depositories in Illinois for their cooperation in this survey.
APPENDIX A
Liz C. Alexander, Chair, Illinois State Library
Dennis Weller, Ex Officio, Illinois State Library 138 Susan Bekiares, Assistant-Chair, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign Dan Blewett, Loyola University of Chicago Helen Gilbert, McKendree College, Lebanon Paulette Harding, Poplar Creek Library, Streamwood Kendi Kelley, C. E. Brehm Memorial Public Library District, Mt. Vernon John Klaus, U.S. Courts Library, 7th Circuit, Chicago Jerald Merrick, Decatur Public Library Evelyn Moyle, Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby
Walter Stubbs, Southern Illinois University at
John Westall, Illinois Wesleyan University,
APPENDIX B Black Hawk College, Moline Blackburn College, Carlinville Bradley University, Peoria Chicago Public Library Chicago State University Decatur Public Library DePaul University Law Library, Chicago Eastern Illinois University, Charleston Field Museum of Natural History Library, Chicago Freeport Public Library Galesburg Public Library Governors State University, University Park Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Illinois Institute of Technology Kent College of Law, Chicago Illinois State University, Normal Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington John Marshall Law School, Chicago Lake Forest College, Lake Forest Lewis University, Romeoville John A. Logan College, Carterville Loyola University of Chicago Loyola University of Chicago School of Law MacMurray College, Jacksonville McKendreee College, Lebanon Monmouth College, Monmouth Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills Mt. Prospect Public Library Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago Northern Illinois University, DeKalb Northern Illinois University College of Law Northwestern University Northwestern University Law Library Oak Park Public Library Oakton Community College/Northwest Municipal Conference, Des Plaines Olivet Nazarene University, Kankakee Peoria Public Library Poplar Creek Public Library, Streamwood Principia College, Elsah Rockford Public Library Rosary College, River Forest Sangamon State University, Springfield South Suburban College, South Holland Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Southern Illinois University School of Law Library, Carbondale U.S. Courts-7th Circuit-Wm. J. Campbell Library, Chicago University of Chicago University of Chicago Law School University of Illinois at Chicago University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois Law School, Champaign Wabash Valley College, Mt. Carmel Western Illinois University, Macomb Wheaton College, Wheaton Woodstock Public Library *ILLINET Government Depository Coordinating Council members are listed in the Appendix A. 139 |Home|
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