Abstract
Federal government documents serials possess special features that make them particularly difficult to catalog and manage—from government documents-specific machine-readable cataloging fields and coding to Supervisor of Documents numbers and distinctive enumeration. As electronic documents, they present another set of complex cataloging challenges involving the Government Printing Office's (GPO) single-record approach in the early days of providing access online. This article brings three discrete perspectives to a discussion of these challenges. One perspective is that of a cataloger working at GPO's Library Services & Content Management (LSCM) division who provides a voice from the source. Another perspective is that of a local cataloger who must make government documents’ records conform to the guidelines of the local library's online catalog. The last perspective is that of a Regional Federal Depository Library Coordinator who is responsible for providing access to government information for patrons in a library located at a Carnegie Classified Research I university.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF GPO's OPERATIONS
To fully understand the questions and concerns brought out in this article, one must first have a general idea of how the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) functions. The mission of GPO is “Keeping America Informed”; and, to this end, it provides expert publishing and printing services for all three branches of the Federal Government as well as perpetual, free and ready public access to print and electronic federal government information through its partnership with over 1,200 Federal Depository Libraries (FDL). The GPO is a federal agency under the auspices of Congress; its legislative mandate is found in Title 44 of the United States Code, sections 1710–1711 and 1901–1916.
A unique characteristic of GPO is the fact that it is a national-level library program, but it has no onsite collection. To put it another way, its collection is spread over the 1,200-plus depository libraries. Many of the technical services functions of a library are carried on at GPO but without the physical materials on its shelves. The cataloging functions are probably the most visible and, as such, provide the de facto national cataloging authority for U.S. federal government documents. The authority comes directly from the Title 44 legislation that requires GPO to catalog and index government materials; hence the historical Monthly Catalog and the modern electronic version, the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, or “CGP.”Footnote 1
This authority is consigned to the GPO's Library Services & Content Management (LSCM) division, which is responsible for the Cataloging and Indexing Program. Through this program, GPO also participates in the Library of Congress’ Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) that includes more specific cataloging cooperatives like the monographic Bibliographic Cooperative (BIBCO), Cooperative Online Serials (CONSER), Name Authority Cooperative (NACO), and Subject Authority Cooperative (SACO).Footnote 2
GPO provides cataloging for all formats of the government information it disseminates: print, microform, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and online. That last format is, of course, becoming the most common—approximately 97% of all new U.S. Government documents are now made available digitally and published on the Web. As of mid-May 2012, the following metrics were collected from the CGP:
| • | Number of serials in CGP (live and ceased): 46,999 (as of 11:00 a.m. May 17, 2012) | ||||
| • | Number of live serials: 32,494 (as of 11:00 a.m. May 17, 2012) | ||||
| • | Number of online serials: 15,726 | ||||
| • | Number of tangible serials: 31,273 (print and other tangible formats such as microform, CD-ROM, DVD) | ||||
Keeping in mind that serials titles in all of these formats are regularly subject to the same unpredictable changes noted earlier (e.g., changes of frequency, of titles, even of responsible issuing agencies) one must acknowledge the amount of work needed to perform the potential number of modifications necessary to maintain accurate records. Thus, the first link in the chain of librarians and others who work with creation and control of government information serial records is GPO's Bibliographic Control (BC) group.Footnote 3
SPECIFIC GPO CATALOGING WORKFLOWS
At GPO, serials are usually cataloged with the title as the main entry. However, it is not uncommon to find government serials cataloged with government agencies or congressional committees as the main entries when they issue annual/biannual reports or year-in-review type of publications. When there are changes in issuing bodies, titles, frequencies, formats, and so on, serials catalogers at GPO will contact agencies directly to verify that all the information is accurate. Sometimes serials catalogers may not be able to get all the information they want due to staff turnover and the subsequent loss of institutional knowledge in federal agencies, but they will try their best to keep records accurate with the information they can gather. After the bibliographic records are updated, new or ceased Supervisor of Documents (SuDocs) class changes, item number changes, frequency changes, title changes, and format changes are all announced in WEBTech Notes.Footnote 4
Any questions, requests, and concerns can be sent through askGPO, the main point of contact between GPO, its depository library partners, its customers, and the general public, for questions about GPO products, services, and programs. Answering questions submitted through askGPO is a priority of all LSCM staff, and all requests are handled in a timely manner.Footnote 5
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF LOCAL OPERATIONS: LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Louisiana State University (LSU) has been an FDL since 1907 and has been a Regional FDL since the mid-1960s when the Regional FDLP first began. As a result, LSU has a large enough tangible collection to warrant its own physical space and its own staffing. Three of the five full-time staff members are involved in the ongoing processing and copy cataloging of federal materials. The senior staff member of this group handles the batch loads of records sent from GPO through the MARCIVE commercial bibliographic service.Footnote 6 Her main task is to oversee the successful loading of GPO records into the libraries’ online catalog and to correct any record-level discrepancies that may cause problems when the system automatically overlays complete records over brief records or provides revisions to records already in the catalog. Government Documents Department staff is also responsible for the checking-in of serials and the updating of holdings information.
Although the Government Documents Department is its own unit, it works closely with other departments in the Libraries. Cataloging and Database Management are two of those other departments; and among these three departments, whose focus is keeping the online catalog up-to-date and accurate, there is a mutual goal and a mutual “outside” resource—LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network.Footnote 7 Thus, it is a collaborative effort among all of the Libraries’ units which are responsible for catalog/database authenticity to address local cataloging issues for the Libraries’ federal government information collection.
When GPO decisions, such as the change from a single record to a separate record approach to cataloging titles in multiple formats, filter down to the local level, determinations on how to conform to the changes must be made in consultation with Government Documents, Cataloging, Database Management, and LOUIS. Recently, the topics of these consultations include, most importantly, that change of single to separate records as well as the re-cataloging of monographs as serials; fixing other related monographic serials analysis problems; preparing for the advent of Resource Description and Access (RDA); and knowing when to administer the final rites to a dying serial.
SPECIFIC LOCAL CHALLENGES
GPO cataloging policies and practices for serials can create challenges for government documents staff and users alike at the local depository level. Other problems can arise at the local level due to the vagaries of batch load cataloging with MARCIVE, which sends large groups of new and revised GPO records monthly to LSU Libraries and numerous other institutions, many of them requiring complex maintenance that can be performed only after they are downloaded into local catalogs. Vigilance and careful forethought can help minimize the difficulties encountered in processing GPO batch loads and ensure that serials records are as intelligible to patrons as possible. Other problems are less susceptible to easy solutions and must be confronted with a mixture of creativity, patience, and a wary understanding that serials management for both GPO and commercial serials is an increasingly complex business in which thorny dilemmas are as common as uniform titles and International Standard Serial Numbers (ISSNs).
THE SEPARATE RECORD POLICY AND ITS EFFECTS ON LOCAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES
Of recent GPO cataloging policy changes for serials, the decision to adopt the separate record approach for serials issued in different formats has had perhaps the most serious ramifications for staff and users at local depository libraries. Undertaken in an effort to adhere as closely as possible to CONSER guidelines for serials issued in multiple formats, the change in policy is irreproachable from a cataloging perspective and cannot have come as a shock to local libraries, many of which have become accustomed to using the separate record approach for the increasing number of electronic serial records supplied by vendors. Nevertheless, the shift away from the single record approach has been problematic for some depository libraries. The complex nature of GPO serials—with their frequent fluctuations in title, frequency, and form of corporate body name in the main entry—already make serial record displays difficult to interpret for users. The influx of separate electronic, print, and microfilm records for most new GPO serials into local catalogs has only made the catalog search experience more confusing and increased the workload of local staff, who must now maintain three separate records for a single serial instead of one.
GPO's decision to apply the separate record approach to its retrospective cataloging efforts has created additional headaches for local users and staff. Employing a rationale that is not always clear to library staff working at the local level, GPO catalogers have begun creating new separate records for older serials that were originally cataloged in the 1970s and 1980s using the single record approach. When new separate records for these serials arrive in MARCIVE batch loads, local staff must delete the single serial records previously used and reattach holdings to the new record appropriate to the manifestation owned (generally microfiche). The new separate records for older serials have resulted in greater inconsistency in serials record displays, with multiple formats of the same serial sometimes represented by a single record and sometimes not, and of course in additional record maintenance work for staff.
Like some other local depositories, LSU Libraries have attempted to minimize the confusion that the separate records for the same serial can create through a continued use of the single record approach in selected cases. In doing so, LSU has taken its cue from GPO's original announcement of the policy change in October of 2008, which invited local depositories to craft single records from the separate records it issues by copying metadata from the electronic record into the print and using the latter to represent print, electronic, and other formats of the same serial. Sometimes LSU uses the approach outlined in that document, attaching holdings for electronic, print, and microform manifestations of a serial to the print record and deleting the bibliographic records for other manifestations; in other cases, it requests MARCIVE to send only the print record for serials issued in different formats. Due to staff and time shortages, LSU has thus far limited its use of the single record approach to frequently used serials such as the Federal Register and the Congressional Quarterly, but users’ generally positive experience in interpreting such records supports a more widespread use of this practice in the future.
“UNDEAD” SERIALS: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
The tendency of GPO serial records to remain open long after issues stop arriving in depositories is in part a function of the uncertain nature of publishing in the public sector. Funding for agency publications wanes and waxes on a yearly basis, resulting in a sudden cessation of issues and sometimes in a resumption of publication years after a serial has gone dormant. Subject to the caprices of a fluctuating budget, government agencies are not always able to report reliably to GPO on whether a publication has definitively ceased. When no clear information about a serial's publication status is available, GPO's choice to leave serial records open seems a reasonable hedging of bets. In other situations, the decision not to close out records appears less justifiable. When evidence clearly suggests that the print manifestation of a serial has been superseded by the electronic, for instance, one could question what is gained by leaving the print record open.
Whatever the grounds for leaving serial records open long after issues have stopped being produced, the result is often the same: frustration for both staff and users. Confronted with a serial record representing print and electronic versions of a serial for which print issues are no longer being issued, users often conclude that the print holdings are equivalent to the electronic holdings, though in fact the latter may be much more current. When searching for a serial for which the separate record approach has been used, users sometimes find what appears to be a ceased, although still open, print record and miss the record for the still-current electronic version entirely. Government documents technical processing staff, meanwhile, can be uncomfortable with the element of ambiguity and irresoluteness that numerous “undead” GPO serials records introduce into serials processing work.
A local LSU practice of changing the “AcqStat” code in the holdings records of such records to “5” (issues no longer received) to identify serials that have, for all practical purposes, ceased has helped restore some measure of clarity to serials recordkeeping and maintenance activities. In addition, the use of public notes in holdings records and in subfield “z” of the 856 field in bibliographic records could help alert patrons to the existence of current electronic versions of serials that seem to have stopped producing issues in print, although this practice has yet to be successfully tested in LSU's catalog on a widespread basis. Thus far, local efforts to ease the confusion that such records create for staff and users have been too piecemeal to deal effectively with the legions of undead “zombie” serials that crowd the catalog. Such records are simply too numerous, and staff to attend to them too few, for the solutions devised to make more than a slight dent in the problem.
BATCH CATALOGING ISSUES: MONOGRAPHS RECATALOGED AS SERIALS
The difficulties that can arise when GPO re-catalogs monographs as serials have much more to do with the peculiarities of batch load cataloging than with GPO cataloging policies per se. The serial-like nature of a resource that initially appeared to be a monograph often does not become clear until several iterations of the resource have been issued, and the change in cataloging treatment from monograph to serial that GPO catalogers must subsequently perform is as standard a procedure for serials staff as bypass surgery is for the cardiac specialist. Problems with monographs re-cataloged as serials occur when local staff fails to notice the arrival of new serial records in the monthly batch loads from MARCIVE. Because the new serial records do not overlay the monograph records GPO previously created for the resource, staff must manually remove the latter from the local catalog and create new serial holdings records accurately representing the issues held. If new serial records from MARCIVE go undetected by staff, the old monograph records will remain in the catalog along with the new serial record. The result is duplicate records for the same resource.
LSU Libraries’ staff members rely heavily on local reports run in our local SirsiDynix Symphony (SIRSI) database to detect monographs re-cataloged as serials as well as other serials problems. Run after each MARCIVE batch is downloaded into the local catalog via the FTP protocol, the SIRSI reports focus predominantly on the “new” records (as opposed to changed or revised records) in each shipment. Some of these records are in fact truly new; others represent more complex cataloging situations that require greater scrutiny on the part of staff, such as title changes that necessitate the closing out of ceased serials records, the arrival of new records for older superseded serials that staff have already weeded from the stacks, and the aforementioned problems with re-cataloged monographs. But while such reports have had a remarkable track record of success in uncovering problems in MARCIVE batch loads, they are not yet a failsafe method of catching glitches, as several duplicate monograph and serial records discovered in the catalog during the research phase of this presentation indicate.
OTHER CATALOGING PROBLEMS
Other GPO serials cataloging practices create less significant problems but are nonetheless troublesome to staff and patrons at the local depository level. GPO has, at times, an inconsistent policy regarding the analysis of members of monographic series, some of which it analyzes and some of which it does not, even when volumes have distinctive subject matter that would seem to call for separate records. The inconsistent practice results in differing degrees of accessibility in local catalogs for monographic series members with very similar bibliographic characteristics. Other problems that local staff encounter have less to do with GPO cataloging policies than the chimerical nature of GPO serials. Frequent changes in government agencies responsible for serials, for instance, result in stem changes to SuDoc numbers that require staff members to shift print serials issues to new shelving locations, an onerous chore if serial holdings are significant. And the irregularity with which GPO serials are issued makes it difficult for staff to create reliable receiving patterns in local serials check-in systems.
RDA ON THE HORIZON: WHAT IS AHEAD FOR GPO SERIALS?
One of the chief concerns of government documents staff at LSU Libraries is what the transition to RDA, the new cataloging code that many libraries will adopt in early 2013, will mean for both monograph and serial records received from GPO via MARCIVE. At LSU, catalogers are currently creating training documentation for staff which draws heavily on the Library of Congress's RDA “Core Plus” elements and its local policy statements for various RDA instructions, which provide a fairly clear picture of what RDA records produced by the Library of Congress will look like. The future complexion of RDA records created by GPO remains more uncertain, however. Which RDA elements GPO will require in its records, which optional RDA omissions and additions GPO catalogers will employ when cataloging, what capitalization and punctuation options GPO will select—this information GPO has yet to disclose in a final form. The uncertainty makes it difficult to plan a coherent strategy for dealing with RDA records from GPO and other sources when they begin to arrive en masse in LSU's catalog in 2013. LSU eagerly awaits clarification from GPO on its plans for RDA implementation and its RDA record policy.
GPO SERIALS PHILOSOPHY AT LSU LIBRARIES
Government documents’ staff at LSU Libraries has tended to take a philosophical approach when dealing with the problems outlined above with GPO records and batch load cataloging. In an increasingly chaotic serials environment of different record practices and ever-evolving cataloging rules, the search for any perfect, one-size-fits-all approach to serials management problems appears more and more difficult. Rather than devise grand schemes to tame the serials chaos, we have preferred to focus our energies on creating order in those parts of the GPO serials universe that seem to make the most difference to patrons. Using the single record approach to make complex GPO serial holdings in multiple formats more understandable for users, adding notes to holdings records to alert users to serials formats with the most current issues, using local SIRSI reports to track down problems with serial records—these are modest measures, to be sure, but ones that have had some degree of success. Most importantly, they are measures for which there is a demonstrable need on the part of our users. As we attempt to make sense of a complex serials universe and conjure harmony out of serials discord, our users will ultimately be our surest and most reliable guides.
THE PUBLIC SERVICES RESPONSE: HOW TO ASSIST THE USER
As implied in the paragraph above, no cataloging strategy, no matter how logical we professionals deem it to be, is of any use unless it helps users find the information they need. Library patrons, even those who are sophisticated researchers, can become befuddled when presented with a bibliographic record for a serial publication; and, as stated in the beginning of this article, bibliographic records for government documents serials are often the most befuddling of all. What we professionals see as slightly ambiguous, patrons can see as completely misleading. Incomplete runs, miniscule changes in title, changes in frequency all contribute to a sense of confusion—as in “Why doesn't the library have the January 2009 issue for this title?” We may understand by looking with an experienced eye at the record that the January 2009 issue was never received from GPO probably because of a shortage on a shipping list—or that the January 2009 issue was distributed in microfiche only, unlike the December 2008 issue before it or the February 2009 issue after it. In the first example, staff can assist the patron in borrowing a copy from a depository library that did receive it; in the second example, assuming that the patron is physically in the library, staff will direct him or her to the cabinets that house the microfiche collection. The most important aspect of either of these examples is whether or not the patron actually does ask a librarian for help; because if the patron is looking at the catalog from home, he or she may not even realize that a copy of the January 2009 issue is available somewhere. Complex publications require complex records, and complex records need trained professionals to interpret them. This observation supplies proof (and comfort) that librarians are still the best conduits for connecting users to their information needs.
SHARED CONCERNS AND FUTURE GOALS
Ultimately, problems with cataloging government serials are best solved by communicating with GPO and/or the agencies responsible for publishing the serials. Often a lot of frustration can be avoided by simply picking up the telephone and calling the originating agency of some particularly convoluted serial and asking someone to explain what is going on with that serial. If local catalogers are not comfortable with calling the agency directly, then they should contact GPO—who, as mentioned earlier, may themselves contact the agency for details. This kind of support is part of GPO's mission, and being comfortable with asking for help from GPO librarians is beneficial to both the local cataloger and to the GPO staff.
In a final note, and as mentioned earlier, GPO is planning its implementation strategy for RDA. To this end, GPO is collaborating with depository librarians to provide answers to questions about RDA and government publications. At a recent American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) sponsored an RDA program that included participants from a depository library, from the Library of Congress, and from GPO. In order to most effectively implement new processes and procedures, collaborations like that one will be necessary as libraries continue to face shortages in funding and staffing. Unlocking the mysteries of serial government publications will probably always be a challenge, but working with experts at both ends of the depository cycle can only help make the challenges a bit less daunting.
Notes
1. United States Government Printing Office, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications, http://catalog.gpo.gov/F (accessed July 8, 2012).
2. Library of Congress, Program for Cooperative Cataloging, www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/ (accessed July 8, 2012).
3. United States Government Printing Office, FDLP Connection, “Get to Know GPO,” http://www.fdlp.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=993:get-to-know-lscm&catid=343:gettoknowgpo (accessed July 8, 2012).
4. United States Government Printing Office, WEBTech Notes, http://fdlp.gov./component/webtech/ (accessed July 8, 2012).
5. United States Government Printing Office, “askGPO,” http://www.gpo.gov/askgpo/ (accessed July 8, 2012).
6. MARCIVE, Inc., “Enhanced GPO Database Services,” http://home.marcive.com/images/stories/Literature/egds.pdf (accessed July 8, 2012).
7. LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, https://sites01.lsu.edu/wp/louis/ (accessed July 8, 2012).