Georgia Depository Libraries: Expanding Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Government Publishing Office (GPO) provides materials published by government agencies to designated libraries in the United States and its territories. In return, these libraries offer free, public access to the materials in their depository collections. The state of Georgia has 23 federal depository libraries—one Regional and 22 Selectives. All but two of these libraries are affiliated with academic institutions, and the majority are part of the University System of Georgia (USG).

ALA Midwinter GODORT Committee Highlights

Education Committee Meeting SummaryLegislation Committee Meeting SummaryCataloging Committee Meeting Summary

Outplayed: Regaining Strategic Initiative in The Gray Zone

This report is one of the first of a series on the gray zone, a “carrier concept” for hostile action, preceded by a long game of diplomacy, threats, and propaganda to achieve warlike aims without full-scale warfare. It owes a good deal to the British Royal Army’s General Rupert Smith, author of a 2005 best-seller, The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World.

Weeding Digital Government Information Resources: Considerations and Strategies

Weeding is a systematic approach to the removal of resources from a library’s collection. In the weeding process, materials are identified for withdrawal in order to maintain a collection that is accurate, updated, well-used, meets the needs of the users, and is in line with the library’s mission. When weeding tangible resources that are part of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), a depository library must ensure that its weeding policy follows the Legal Requirements & Program Regulations of the Federal Depository Library Program and any separate guidelines set by the Regional Depository. However, there are no specific rules or guidelines to follow when weeding digital FDLP resources. This means that individual libraries have more leeway to craft digital weeding procedures that best serve their institution, patrons, and the community at large. In this article, we will discuss initial considerations when developing a process for weeding digital depository materials, we will examine different methods for analyzing a digital collection’s size and usage, and we will review methods for maintenance and weeding of digital resources.

Editor’s Corner

Last year I published an editorial about voting during the pandemic, contrasting states trying to make voting more accessible, with states that were fighting efforts to enable ways citizens could vote safely. Unfortunately greater voting access is under more attack now. The Brennan Center for Justice noted as of March 24th, “361 bills with restrictive provisions in 47 states. That’s 108 more than the 253 restrictive bills tallied as of February 19, 2021—a 43 percent increase in little more than a month.” This is very disappointing, and once again my home state of Texas is restricting access, trying to ban methods of voting that local officials allowed during the pandemic in last year’s general election. The Texas Senate recently passed Senate Bill 7, which would limit extended early voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting, and make it illegal for local election officials to proactively send applications to vote by mail. Here’s hoping the Texas House will stand up to the Texas Senate and not restrict the ways citizens of Texas can vote. I think it also demonstrates that the U.S. Supreme Court was premature in its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling removing the requirement that states with a history of racial discrimination in voting get pre-clearance from the Justice Department before making changes in voting procedures. With so many states trying to restrict voting, and limit the powers of election officials, the U.S House has passed H.R. 1, For the People Act of 2021, in early March. This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, and more. Hopefully this will pass the U.S. Senate and allow the citizens of the United States the right to vote without undue burdens.

Beyond HHS: An Analysis of Federal Resources Which Exhibit Impacts of the United States Opioid Epidemic

In recent years, the opioid crisis across the United States has influenced the research of many professional fields. Widely known as a first stop information source for analysts and professionals in the medical and public health worlds, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gathers and presents extensive data on prescription rates and overdose numbers to the public. However, the opioid crisis is a collective matter. It holds cause and effect economically, environmentally, and socially. This article explores resources developed by federal departments outside of HHS, which provide useful data and information relevant to their fields on such impacts. Departments such as Agriculture, Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development—even the General Services Administration—make available statistics both the public and researchers can access to learn more about the effects of this crisis.

From the Chair

I hope you are all enjoying the warming weather (or at least making the best of it). By the time this issue is published, I imagine that I will have spent several days sitting on my porch or hanging out at a gorge. I can’t wait. I also hope by the time you are reading this that most, if not everyone, has been able to get vaccinated.During the past year, in addition to efforts to grow our membership, the leadership of GODORT has endeavored to retain a sense of community through a difficult time. Our Friday chats have been successful with a wide range of topics from government documents in the news to a discussion of the Mapping Prejudice Project. While we may not be able to sustain the pace of the chats indefinitely, I hope we can continue to come together informally in between conferences.

Small-Scale Digitization Projects For State and Local Publications

There is no question that libraries of all sizes, no matter how small, have an important role to play in preserving and facilitating the discovery of government publications. This is especially true for documents issued at the state and local level, precisely because they are less-well known nationally and therefore less likely to be included in larger national digitization projects. By focusing on what might as well be called small government publications, little libraries and small selective depository libraries can enter the digitization arena by undertaking small-scale digitization projects that, despite their diminutive scale, can achieve digital preservation successes in the range of minor to major. For inspiration, we should recall the hero of Robert Walser’s now celebrated novel from 1909, Jakob von Gunten, who adopts the motto “To be small and to stay small.”

From the Chair

The following were the Chair’s remarks at the GODORT General Membership Meeting on January 14:Welcome GODORT members, guests, and hopefully some future members. My name is Lynda Kellam. I am the Chair of GODORT and in my daily life the Senior Data Librarian at the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research. I begin this meeting by acknowledging that Cornell and Ithaca, NY are located on the indigenous lands of the Cayuga Nation and we recognize the indigenous peoples who have and continue to live here. I have a few prepared remarks and I know this might be unprecedented in GODORT, but I hope you will have patience with me as I believe this is necessary.

The Fight Against Enzy: US Libraries During the Influenza Epidemic of 1918

In 2020, a pandemic of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus struck worldwide, rapidly becoming the most devastating since the 1918 global influenza pandemic. As librarians confronted entirely new challenges in how to safely manage libraries during the COVID-19 crisis, a common question was, “what happened in libraries during the 1918 influenza pandemic?” This article explores that question through the lens of government documents and news articles of the 1918-1921 time period, seeking to understand what happened then in libraries nationwide, and what we might learn from it today.