NETWORK OF ALABAMA ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

State Publications Task Force Meeting

20 February 2008

The State Publications Task Force met on 20 February 2008 in the Auburn University Montgomery Library.  Chairman Diann Weatherly called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m.

Attendees were: Tracey Berezansky, Alabama Department of Archives and History; Al Craig, Alabama Public Library Service; Rickey D. Best, Coleen Valente, Jason Kniep, Lucy Farrow, John Gantt, and Tim Bailey, Auburn University at Montgomery; Bethany Skaggs and Yolanda Cox, Jacksonville State University; Beth Ashmore and Carla Waddell, Samford University; Paul May, State Health Planning & Development Agency; Jess Echord, Troy University; Kay Hogan Smith, Lister Hill Library, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Valerie Glenn, University of Alabama; Paula Webb, University of South Alabama; and Sue Medina, Network of Alabama Academic Libraries;

Background

Chairman Weatherly briefly reviewed the history of the Task Force which was created in 2006 to recommend a solution for Alabama's lack of a comprehensive state publications depository program.  Librarians have always had great difficulty collecting and providing public access to these publications when they were printed.  Increasingly state agencies publish online in lieu of printing and distributing copies to the public.  Most agencies lack a comprehensive archiving policy to assure continued access to their electronic publications, and older publications often vanish from the websites.  NAAL created the State Publications Task Force to develop a recommendation for NAAL regarding the feasibility of a distributed program to improve public access to electronic state publications and to assure their long-term archival storage.  This recommendation should provide a foundation for Alabama libraries to identify, harvest, catalog, archive, and make publicly accessible selected electronic publications posted on State of Alabama agency websites.  She noted that when the Task Force was created, the solution seemed to be manually identifying and harvesting the publications.  Since then, OCLC developed and released its Digital Archive Toolbox for automated control of state publications.  NAAL funded Auburn University Montgomery Library to test the feasibility of using the Toolbox for an Alabama program. 

Alabama State Collection at ADAH

Ms. Berezansky suggested that the Task Force look at the Alabama State Publications collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.  ADAH is using ContentDM for the collection, and it will be searchable via the Archives website as well as Alabama Mosaic.  Currently, the collection includes selected annual reports, monographs, periodicals from various state agencies, and the Governor's office.  ADAH is adding selected publications that state agencies send electronically to ADAH and print documents that ADAH selects to scan.  ADAH is using pdf 4.0 and posting compound documents in the collection.

OCLC Digital Archive Toolbox Demonstration

Rickey Best reported that for FY2008 NAAL funded the addition of the OCLC Digital Archive Toolbox to the AUM Library Connexion cataloging client.  The check didn't arrive until 7 January, and he immediately ordered the Toolbox.  It took several weeks to schedule training, so the librarians have not had a lot experience using it.  Also, OCLC has announced a major release for April which will significantly change the functionality.  Because of this change, OCLC has extended the AUM subscription until April 2009.  Also, the AUM staff have not been encouraged to learn this version, only to migrate to an entirely new version so soon. 

Mr. Best also reported that he has discussed the need for a shared solution with Taylor Surface at OCLC, and there may be a "work-around."  He reported that if all users catalog under the same symbol, then they could share a Toolbox.  The shared solution is worth exploring for NAAL. 

Ms. Valente demonstrated the Toolbox for the group.  She noted that there are some problems with it: For example the Toolbox does not harvest using FTP.  She said that you also have to be concerned that it is harvesting the correct file and, once harvested, the file is readable.  She especially wanted to harvest the education "state report cards" but these require FTP.  Ms. Valente also said that the Toolbox does not work without some manual processes. 

One major problem is the lack of authority records.  Creating these records will require a significant amount of professional time.  Ms. Berezansky noted that ADAH has done extensive authority work, and these will be available once its bibliographic records are loaded into OCLC.  Ms. Berezansky did not have a time frame for when these records would be added. 

In response to a question, Mr. Best said the digital files are hosted by OCLC, not resident on a server at AUM. 

Also in response to a question, Mr. Kneip said that OCLC does quarterly checks for everything the library uploads.  The library can review the report and correct any non-working links.  This can help show problems preventing a designated publication from being harvested. 

There was a discussion about publications that incorporate multiple file formats.  Everyone agreed there is a need for catalogers to share their knowledge and build their expertise in working with electronic state publications.  The Task Force agreed that it would be helpful to talk with catalogers from an established documents program.  The Task Force expressed interest in knowing more about cataloging standards and best practices for electronic state publications (especially those incorporating multiple file formats); changes in cataloging workflow; outsourced (hosted) versus in-house solutions; assuring public access; archiving digital files; preservation metadata, how publications are identified to harvest, and other solutions implemented by long-standing state publications programs. 

Mrs. Smith reminded everyone that a large scale project such as a possible distributed program outlined in the charge is likely to add to existing workloads.  The dead links in the catalog records for state agency websites (a NAAL project from several years ago) need to be corrected.

The Task Force also learned that the Government Printing Office is now using the OCLC Digital Archive for selected federal documents. 

Some problems with the Task Force wiki were mentioned, and Ms. Weatherly will work on solving these. 

Dr. Medina announced that as a result of the underwhelming response to her invitation for a volunteer to write an article about the work of the Task Force, Mr. Gant had been enlisted. 

Ms. Weatherly will call Taylor Surface, OCLC and ask if OCLC would be interested in sponsoring a webinar to explore the questions raised by the Task Force.  It seems logical that other librarians planning to use the Digital Archive Tool Box would have some of the same questions as the Task Force.  The Task Force adjourned to lunch in the stacks graciously provided by AUM.

POST MINUTES NOTE: Taylor Surface responded positively to Diann's suggestion that OCLC develop a webinar to cover issues related to cataloging electronic state publications.  One suggestion is to recruit presenters from users of the Digital Archive ToolBox