Contents                         Collection of Last Resort                         Access Collections for Public Use

5. CLR preservation activities will be based on the agreement1 between GPO and the

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) designating GPO as an

archives affiliate.

6. The CLR includes the existing FDLP Electronic Collection. The FDLP

Electronic Collection consists of:

a. GPO Access, i.e. core legislative and regulatory documents such as the

Congressional Record, Federal Register, and other government

information.

b. Electronic publications published or made available by GPO, within

specific agreements for services between GPO and the originating agency.

c. Electronic publications published and made available by their originating

agencies, which GPO identifies, describes, and links to at the agency site

or from an EC access site.

d. Tangible electronic Government publications, such as CD/ROM or

DVD/ROM, which GPO distributes to libraries.

e. Digital files created, typically by scanning with or without optical

character recognition, by GPO’s partners. GPO’s partners may include

publishing agencies and other partners such as depository libraries.

7. The contents of the CLR will be described by standard metadata schemes

appropriate for various program needs, including:

a. Access metadata, such as AACR2 cataloging records.

b. Preservation metadata.

c. ISBNs, ISSNs, or other unique identifiers.

d. Persistent links, such PURLs, Handles, or DOI (Digital Object Identifiers).

8. Digital and tangible assets in the “dark archives” of the CLR are held for

preservation rather than public use.

9. Access copies of the electronic assets in the CLR will be publicly accessible.

10. GPO will acquire tangible copies from a variety of sources, including the transfer

of portions of the legacy FDLP Collections from depository libraries to GPO.

11. It will take three to five years to assemble the tangible CLR and digitize the 2.2

million titles (60 million pages) for the electronic CLR.

12. It is estimated that the depository library community and others will make an

initial investment of $50 million to digitize legacy FDLP Collection of print

materials.

13. GPO estimates the Government’s portion of establishing and managing the CLR

at approximately $1.5 million per year for the next five years. Once the final plan

is complete, we will be able to more accurately estimate the out-year funding

requirements for this project.

 

 

---------------------------------------

1 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between the Government Printing Office and the National

Archives And Records Administration , August 2003,

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/about/naramemofinal.pdf

14. The tangible products in the CLR will exist as a source and a backup for the

digital objects CLR. After digitization the original publication, even if disbound,

will be retained and preserved in case the item must be digitized again in the

future.

15. Tangible copies in the CLR dark archive will, to the extent practicable, be

produced on archival media.

 

 

IV. SCOPE

The CLR will become, over time, a comprehensive set of tangible and electronic titles

that will back up the tangible collections in regional depository libraries or shared

repositories into which regional library collections may be consolidated in the future. The

legacy collection of print documents is currently estimated at 2.2 million titles (60 million

pages). Over the next three to five years, a comprehensive collection of tangible

documents will be gathered for preservation and digitized for both preservation and

public access. Most of the already existing titles for the tangible CLR will be obtained

through voluntary transfers from depository libraries. New titles will be acquired by GPO

as they are issued. The digitization of the legacy print collection will be accomplished in

partnership with the depository library community and others. The partners expect to

invest an estimated $50 million in the retrospective digitization of print materials.

 

The CLR is comprehensive and includes publications of the Federal government, which

are of public interest and educational value, regardless of format. Publications classified

for reasons of national security and those produced solely for administrative or

operational use are excluded by law from depository distribution. However, whenever

possible administrative and operational publications will be acquired for the CLR,

identified by metadata and included in the National Bibliography. Since the legal scope

of the GPO Cataloging and Indexing Program is broader than that of the FDLP, some

products will be included in the CLR solely because they are represented in the National

Bibliography. The CLR will also serve as the repository for products from future GPO

business initiatives.

 

V. FUNDING

 

GPO has included $1.5 million in its FY 2005 Salaries and Expenses Appropriation

request to cover the initial startup costs for the CLR. A major part of our effort in FY

2005 will be planning for the ultimate location and management of the CLR. We will

explore the potential for establishing contractual relationships with libraries and other

organizations to house the tangible CLR versus maintaining and preserving the tangible

and electronic collections ourselves. These decisions will be made in consultation with

the library community. To assist us with writing a final plan for the Collection of Last

Resort, we have contracted with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) for a study on

the characteristics of and levels of assurance for repositories for such a collection.

The funding requested for FY 2005 is for the interim step, which will allow GPO to begin

to assemble the content for the CLR while the final plan is being prepared. Initial

expenditures in FY 2005 include the costs of transporting and storing materials that are

acquired for the tangible CLR, purchasing storage equipment and supplies, and investing

in the necessary information technology to develop and house the digital CLR materials.

Once the final plan is complete, we will be able to more accurately estimate the out-year

funding requirements for this project, but it is anticipated that it will cost approximately

$1.5 million per year for the next five years. Once the tangible CLR is assembled and the

legacy digitization is complete, the costs will be reduced to cover incremental addition of

new content and maintenance of the established tangible and digital CLR.

 

After receiving approval by GPO management, the final plan will be presented to

Congress.

 

 

VI. COLLECTION OF DIGITAL OBJECTS

 

Digital objects may be ingested or created for the FDLP Electronic Collection portion of

the CLR. Creation includes digitization activities conducted by GPO, depository libraries,

or other partners. Ingested digital objects include “born digital” files from agency

publishing activities as well as objects harvested from the Web. Digital objects in the

CLR will initially be text with accompanying graphics, and the most prevalent file types

in the near term are expected to be TIFF, PDF, HTML, and ASCII. In the future the CLR

may include video, audio, and other non-text file types.

 

Every new textual publication in the current stream of processing will be digitized if a

digital copy is not already available. A publication that has been digitized by GPO or its

partners will be represented in the CLR in multiple formats, including the original format,

the digital preservation master and one or more access file formats.

 

As the legacy documents are digitized, access copies will be available for search and

retrieval, dissemination, or repurposing for print-on-demand and other services. GPO will

coordinate digitization efforts with the library and other interested communities to

establish priorities, reduce duplication of effort and ensure the use of broadly acceptable

digitization standards.

 

 

VII. COLLECTION OF TANGIBLE PUBLICATIONS

Tangible copies of “born digital” products will be produced for the dark archive as

backups for the digital objects in the CLR. If an access or public use copy of a CLR print

title is required, it will generally be reproduced from a digitized version.

 

The CLR is intended to fulfill user information needs, expand options for access, and

assure that the documentary history of the United States is permanently available.

Activities that support these ends include:

o Eliminating out of print publications by offering print-on-demand.

o Acquiring two copies of every print publication selected for the FDLP and/or the

National Bibliography.

o Capturing or creating digital copies of all new publications.

o Digitizing legacy publications in collaboration with the library community and

other partners.

 

Tangible products in the CLR include:

 

o The format(s) in which the publication was produced, including microfiche, maps,

posters, and other publications formats.

o Microfiche produced under contract for GPO, when the source document is not

available.

o Tangible electronic products, such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM titles.

 

 

VIII. ACQUISITIONS SOURCES

 

Sources for acquiring current and retrospective products for the CLR are illustrated in the

tables below.

 

Table 2. Sources for Current Acquisitions

 

Tangible Information Products	Digital Information Products
• Riding agency print orders for additional copies for the CLR. • Agency mailing lists. • Acquiring fugitives. • External user or publishing agency notification mechanisms. • Depository library discards.	• Automated Web harvesting for individual products. • Manual mining of agency Web sites for individual products. • External user or publishing agency notification mechanisms. • Printing source files from agencies. • Official partnerships

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. Sources for Retrospective Acquisitions

 

 

Tangible Information Products	Digital Information Products
• GPO records (FDLP publications) at NARA. • External user or publishing agency notification mechanisms. • Copies offered by Federal depository libraries. • Copies offered by other libraries. • Copies or collections from libraries leaving the FDLP. • Agency bibliographies. • Booksellers.	• Authentic digital copy obtained from an official entity or partner. • Digital objects created by an official FDLP partner, i.e. from legacy collection digitization projects.

 

 

 

IX. BIBLIOGRAPHIC CONTROL

 

Bibliographic access to all items in the CLR will be provided through GPO’s National

Bibliography and potentially by other metadata services. Cataloging records for online

publications will include a persistent link to the publication. Digital objects will be

accompanied by preservation metadata describing their content, file type, provenance,

etc.

 

Bibliographic control will be provided to the individual product level for all access copies

of publications in the CLR. Applying metadata at this level will enhance the performance

of metasearch tools and OpenURL linking technologies. GPO bibliographic records will

conform to the practices and standards established for the National Bibliography. Digital

objects intended for print-on-demand reproduction and sales will also have book industry

standard metadata. The metadata for digital objects should indicate the permitted access

to that item if any restrictions apply. Other or additional metadata systems or elements

may be applied to other portions of the CLR.

 

 

X. ACCESS

The access copies of digital publications in the CLR will be directly accessible via links

from the National Bibliography or other metadata descriptions. Access to tangible

copies, as shown in Table 1, is through the Federal depository libraries. Users requiring

access to tangible titles will rely first on local depository collections, then on collections

in regional depository libraries and finally on light archives in shared repositories that

may be established by the depository library community in the future. A user must

exhaust all opportunities for access to a tangible resource from the collections maintained

in and by Federal depository libraries before seeking access to a tangible product in the

Collection of Last Resort. The CLR dark archives are not open to the public, and have no

reading rooms or other public facilities. Access to publications in the dark archives will

be provided to a digital copy or a tangible facsimile copy.

 

The terms and conditions for depository libraries to obtain tangible copies of titles in the

CLR are yet to be determined. Options being considered include an authorized account

for each depository library with a pre-established value that can be used to order print

copies, as well as the possibility for depository libraries to purchase additional print-on-demand

items at a discounted price.

 

 

XI. CLR MAINTENANCE

 

o Tangible products in the CLR may be arranged by bar code, radio-frequency

identification (RFID), accession number sequence, or successive technology for

robotic retrieval.

o The CLR must include provisions for growth space.

o The tangible and digital dark portions of the CLR will be maintained in closed,

non-public locations, outside the Washington, D.C. area.

o CLR security will be provided.

o GPO will benchmark its long-term preservation, storage, and management of the

copies in the dark archives against current NARA guidance and preservation

standards for print, microfiche and electronic materials.

 

 

XII. PRESERVATION

 

A preservation plan that encompasses all formats and media represented in the CLR will

be formulated within the first six months of the existence of the CLR.

 

Acquired retrospective materials will be evaluated upon intake and given appropriate

preservation treatment.

 

Accepted preservation guidelines and best practices will be employed, particularly when

publications are digitized.

 

Selection of digitization format must be consistent with long-term preservation

capabilities.

 

 

XIII. LOCATION AND SPACE

 

Preservation copies of tangible items in the CLR will be stored in environmentally

controlled, secure facilities outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. An

arrangement using compact shelving would entail an initial space requirement estimated

 

at 7,500 square feet. Using a “bin” system for robotic retrieval may require less space, but

higher initial infrastructure investment. Geographically separate redundant facilities for

the access copies of tangible products will be developed by GPO or its partners.

 

The FDLP Electronic Collection, the digital portion of the CLR, will be located in

multiple facilities for redundancy and security. Initially the GPO secure data storage

facilities are expected to be in Washington, D.C., a location outside the Washington area,

and the Alternative Congressional Facility. Under contract or other binding agreement,

portions of the CLR may be located in other Federal agency facilities, depository

libraries, or other non-Governmental organizations. Such agreements will define the

roles and responsibilities of each partner institution. At least initially, the agreements

will be modeled after GPO’s content partnership agreements. (GPO’s content partnerships

may be viewed at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/partners/index.html

.)

 

 

XIV. RELATIONSHIP WITH NARA

 

Like all other Federal agencies, GPO has a responsibility to transfer to the National

Archives those products that are scheduled as permanent records of GPO's operation.

This has historically included a record set of the tangible agency publications distributed

in the FDLP as well as record copies of GPO publications such as the Monthly Catalog of

U.S. Government Publications. GPO will continue to work within applicable records

schedules to ensure that its records management responsibilities are fulfilled in all media

and formats.

 

Under the affiliated archive relationship with NARA, GPO will retain physical custody of

specified permanent records that are accessioned into NARA's legal custody. GPO is

responsible for providing expertise in interpretation, access, and service for the publicly

accessible portions of the CLR. GPO’s practices will be guided by NARA’s policies for

reference, arrangement, description, preservation, and security.

 

GPO and NARA have begun a discussion concerning transforming the set of FDLP

tangible publications that NARA currently holds for GPO into one of the proposed

Collection of Last Resort dark archives. That would allow NARA to move that material

to storage, providing greater preservation for those materials. NARA will continue to

refer users to FDLP collections for tangible documents and will use the digital copies in

the EC for access. GPO is working with NARA to develop procedures for the addition of

materials to the CLR dark archive that were not distributed to depository libraries at the

time of publication because they were classified, cooperative, or fugitive. This will allow

GPO to assemble comprehensive coverage of all content that should be in the FDLP,

whether it was distributed at the time or not.

 

APPENDIX I: DEFINITIONS

 

Access (or service) copy is a digital object whose characteristics (for example a screenoptimized

PDF file) are designed for ease or speed of access rather than preservation.

 

Accessibility is the degree to which the public is able to retrieve or obtain Government

publications, either through the FDLP or directly through an electronic information

service established and maintained by a Government agency or its authorized agent or

other delivery channels, in a useful format or medium and in a time frame whereby the

information has utility.

 

Authenticity means that a digital object’s identity, source, ownership and/or other

attributes are verified. Authentication also connotes that any change to the object may be

identified and tracked.

 

Born digital: Relating to a document that was created and exists only in a digital format

 

Collection of Last Resort, or CLR, is a comprehensive collection of all in-scope

products content that should be (or should have been) in the FDLP, regardless of form or

format. Products in the dark archive will only be used whedn no other copy is available

from Program sources.

 

Collection Plan, or Collection Management Plan, means the policies, procedures, and

systems developed to manage and ensure current and permanent public access to

remotely accessible electronic Government publications maintained in the Collection.

 

Dark archive – A collection of tangible materials preserved under optimal conditions,

designed to safeguard the integrity and important artifactual characteristics of the

archived materials for specific potential future use or uses. Eventual use of the archived

materials (“lighting” the archives) is to be triggered by a specified event or condition.

Such events might include failure or inadequacy of the “service” copy of the materials;

lapse or expiration of restrictions imposed on use of the archives content; effect of the

requirements of a contractual obligation regarding maintenance or use; or other events as

determined under the charter of the dark archives.

 

Distribution means applying GPO processes and services to a tangible product and

sending a tangible copy to depository libraries.

 

FDLP Electronic Collection, or EC, means the electronic Government publications that

GPO holds in storage for permanent public access through the FDLP, or are held by

libraries and/or other institutions operating in partnership with the FDLP. These

electronic products may be remotely accessible online products, or tangible products such

as CD-ROMs maintained in depository library collections.

 

FDLP partner means a depository library or other institution that stores and maintains

for permanent access segments of the Collection.

 

Format means, in a general sense, the manner in which data, documents, or literature are

organized, structured, named, classified, and arranged. For example: full narrative text in

English language in the form of books or articles; abstracts of text; indexes and catalogs;

maps; photographs; sound recordings, video tapes, statistical and other tabulations, etc.

A screen format is the layout of text or fields on the computer screen; a record format is

the layout of fields with a record; a file or database format is the layout of fields and

records within a data file.

 

Light archive – A collection of tangible materials preserved under optimal conditions,

designed to safeguard the integrity and important artifactual characteristics of the

archived materials while supporting ongoing permitted use of those materials by the

designated constituents of the archives. A light archive normally presupposes the

existence of a dark archive, as a hedge against the risk of loss or damage to the light

archives content through permitted uses. A light archive is also distinct from regular

collections of like materials in that it systematically undertakes the active preservation of

the materials as part of a cooperative or coordinated effort that may include other

redundant or complementary light archives.

 

Government publication means a work of the United States Government, regardless of

form or format, which is created or compiled in whole or in part at Government expense,

or as required by law, except that which is required for official use only, is for strictly

operational or administrative purposes having no public interest or educational value, or

is classified for reasons of national security.

 

Metadata, literally data about data, refers to the content of a surrogate record that

describes or characterizes an object.

 

Official content is FDLP EC content that is acquired from the publishing Federal agency

or its business partner.

 

The official source for FDLP information is the publishing agency or other trusted

source.

 

Online dissemination means applying GPO processes and services to an online product

and making it available to depository libraries and the public.

 

Online means the product is published at a publicly accessible Internet site.

 

Permanent access means that Government publications within the scope of the FDLP

remain available for continuous, no fee public access through the program. For

emphasis, the phrase "permanent public access" is sometimes used with the same

definition.

 

Preservation means the activities associated with maintaining publications for use, either

in their original form or in some other usable way. Preservation also includes

 

substitution of the original product by a conversion process, wherein the intellectual

content of the original is retained.

 

Preservation master: A copy which maintains all of the characteristics of the original

digital object, from which true copies can be made.

 

Storage, or Storage facility, means the functions associated with saving electronic

publications on physical media, including magnetic, optical, or other alternative

technologies.

 

Trusted content means official content that is provided by or certified by a trusted

source.

 

Trusted source means the publishing agency or a GPO partner that provides or certifies

official FDLP content.

Appendix II: Guiding Principles

 

GPO will adhere to several guiding principles regarding Federal government information

dissemination, including the following:

 

o GPO’s Report to the Congress: Study to Identify Measures Necessary For A

Successful Transition To A More Electronic Federal Depository Library

Program. Principles for Federal Government Information. U.S. Government

Printing Office Publication 500.11, June 1996.

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/study/studyhtm.html

o U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS)

Principles of Public Information. http://www.nclis.gov/info/pripubin.html

Of specific note are the following excerpts from the NCLIS Principles of Public

Information:

o The public has the right of access to public information.

o The Federal Government should guarantee the integrity and preservation of public

information, regardless of its format.

o The Federal Government should ensure a wide diversity of sources of access,

private as well as governmental, to public information.

o The Federal Government should not allow cost to obstruct the people's access to

public information.

o The Federal Government should guarantee the public's access to public

information, regardless of where they live and work, through national networks

and programs like the Federal Depository Library Program.

 

APPENDIX III: PLANNING DOCUMENTS REFERENCED IN THIS PAPER

 

 

Decision Framework for Federal Document Repositories, Discussion Draft, April 12, 2004

www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/decisionmatrix.pdf

 

Managing the FDLP Electronic Collection, 2nd Edition, June 18, 2004

www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/ecplan2004rev1.pdf

 

The National Bibliography of U.S. Government Information: Initial Planning Statement,

June 18, 2004 www.gpoaccess.gov/about/reports/natbib0604.pdf