The subtitle "From Archive to Access" describes a deliberate process we have undertaken at Wichita State University's (WSU) Library. Since 1994, we have very deliberately been moving our Government depository collection out of archival repose towards active use.

[slide 1]

"The mission is to provide access to and promote the usage of government information, and to support the academic curriculum, scholarship and research needs of the Wichita State University community, as well as the information needs of the citizens of the Fourth Congressional District of Kansas. To this end, the library actively seeks ways to enhance access to government information."

This is the story of a mission underwritten by the administration of our library and effected by teamwork and inter-departmental cooperation. The mission statement of our Government documents policy is on the screen. I won't read it to you, but I will point out the phrases "provide access to," "promote usage," and "actively seeks ways to enhance access to Government information."

[slide 2]

• Depository 0204A
• Established 1903
• Kansas Congressional District 4
• About Wichita State University
• Prominent Programs
• Patent Depository Since 1991

Just a little background about the depository at WSU, which was established in 1903. Wichita State is the only metropolitan university in the Kansas Regents' system of six universities and has about 14,000 students. WSU's student profile of both traditional and non-traditional students reflects many educational needs in a sizeable city. The average student age is 27. In addition to our main campus, we have three off-site centers, and many programs are driven by local industry. Prominent programs are in engineering, health professions, business, economics, and fine arts. The city of Wichita itself has an MSA of close to 500,000 people and is the largest city in Kansas. The WSU library has also been a Patent Depository since 1991 and shares a service point on the first floor of the library with Government Documents.

[slide 3]

• Select 57%
• Collection Breakdown

520,000 Paper
225,000 MF
2,000 CDs
20,000 Maps

• Program Support

As you can see on the screen, the physical collection is sizeable. For many years we collected at the 62% level, but we have been gradually downsizing and are currently at 57%. Notable holdings are for Census, Labor, Congress, Department of the Interior, State Department and the Smithsonian Institution. Teaching areas most served by the collection are in the fields of: administration of justice, anthropology, minority studies, political science, sociology, social work, economics, aeronautical engineering, geology, biology and the health professions.

[slide 4]

Scope of the Program

Electronic Access

• Catalog Tapeloads
• WebPac & URL Project
• Internet Access & Docs Icons
• WSU is a GPO Access Gateway
• CDs on Networked & Stand-Alone PCs
• Gov't Information home page

Since 1994, we have worked to provide access to online information mandated by the electronic transition.

• Records and holdings are online for both retrospective and new titles.
• A year ago we added the WebPac module to our NOTIS system, allowing hotlinking of URLs in the library's catalog.
• The 58 computer stations in the reference area are Internet accessible and have Adobe Acrobat loaded on them. All documents staff, both in cataloging and public services, have Pentium computers.
• Icons for Government information are well represented on the library's home page.
• Last fall, WSU became a GPO Access Gateway, and the icon for GPO Access is prominently displayed on our home page. STAT-USA has its own icon.
• CD-ROMS: Five documents CDs and the Marcive CAT-PAC are loaded on a network for easy access. Software for our other CDs are loaded on two stand-alone work stations.
• The Government Information home page provides access to many electronic titles and sites.

[slide 5]

Our Main Assets

• Location, Location, Location
• Library Administrative Support
• Technology
• Staffing
• Long-Range Planning
• Professional Relationships

Our main assets are, first: Location, location, location! The Documents collection occupies prime real estate space on the first floor of the library, adjacent to the Reference stacks and computer terminals, and only a few steps from the Reference Desk. We have also retained a Documents Office, which is about 10 steps from the Reference Desk, primarily because we are also a Patent Depository.

I would say that the second asset is a library administration which desires to emphasize and promote the documents collection.

Third, technology. The administration has for many years invested heavily in state-of-the-art computer equipment and training. We now have three systems support staff, one stationed in Reference and two in Technical Services. In addition, there is a graduate assistant in Reference responsible for evaluating, loading and upgrading software.

I will address the staffing component in some depth shortly, but we have satisfactory resources in staffing, with the flexibility in job descriptions to roll with the punches. In addition, many of our staff are long-term employees.

Long-Range Planning Initiatives have given us focus and goals. And, we have been very fortunate in our professional relationships: on campus (other departments such as engineering, computer science, the computing center, media resources, and NIAR), statewide and national contacts.

[slide 6]

Administrative Vision for Government Documents

• Increase Visibility
• Increase Access
• Increase Efficiency
• Increase Use

I think the administrative vision for documents combine four directives which are intertwined:

1. to increase visibility of documents - this began with the tapeload of over 200,000 cataloging records and has continued
2. to increase access to documents - coincides with an overall push to increase electronic resources in reference; but also focuses on an emphasis on more staff training, a commitment to becoming a GPO Access Gateway, a commitment to statewide consortial purchases of such databases as STAT-USA, a potential re-design of the layout of the documents collection, a review of signage, and a resolve to pursue marketing of the documents collection.
3. to increase efficiency by mainstreaming services within the library
4. to increase use by the dedication to making 1-3 happen.

[slide 7]

Traditional Model for Documents

• A Special Collection
• SuDocs: Separately Classed Means Separately Shelved
• Separate Paper Trail and Inspection
• Need for a Gatekeeper

As you well know, the traditional model for a Documents collection is that of a Special Collection. The separateness of Documents is reinforced by:

1. The Superintendent of Documents classification system. Separately classed means separately shelved.
2. The traditional requirement for special attention and treatment. Depositories must account for the selection, receipt and de-selection of items, as well as respond to the mandate to array the collection and the recordkeeping, or shelflisting, for regular inspection (now self-inspection) by the Regional Librarian and Depository Services.
3. The need for a gatekeeper. Lack of user-friendly access to the collection and lack of a broad understanding of documents by the general reference staff mandates that a specialist be on-site to handle documents reference and oversee the collection.

[slide 8]

Initiatives: Archive to Access

• 1994 - Records Tapeload
• 1995 - Mainstreaming Processing
• 1995 - Digitizing the Paper Trail
• 1996 - Downsizing Begins
• 1996 - Two-Librarian Model
• 1997 - GPO Gateway
• 1998 - Data Miner

Since 1994, we have moved away from the traditional archival model towards what I call an "access model." The dates of our projects are listed on the slide and I will briefly comment on each step:

[slide 9]

1994 Records Tapeload

• Retro: 200,000+ Records Overnight
• Ongoing: Monthly Tapeloads
• Making It Happen
Assembling the Project Team
Designing the Workload
Database Clean-Up & Holdings
Continual Fine-tuning


My first task at WSU was to oversee a tapeload of bibliographic records for the documents collection, both retrospective holdings and currently received items. The "stakeholders" in this project were: the Government Documents, Cataloging and Acquisitions Departments, the Computing Center, and our vendor, Marcive. I was also charged with regularizing cataloging functions in Technical Services.

The Government Documents Project Team was assembled from in-place staff, except for myself. Even so, I was hired to fill a vacant position previously titled Special Projects Cataloger and given the responsibility of Team Leader. No new positions were created.

Since we could not add more staff in Technical Services, we rewrote the job descriptions of five staff to include a documents component and held weekly meetings and training sessions. A staff member from Documents moved into Cataloging half-time for eight months to assist me with both the Cataloging transition and the mainstreaming of processing. Our strategies were to:

1. Use pilot projects to gather information
2. Phase in the gradual reassignment of staff
3. Phase in the workload, which continues to include database cleanup.

[slide 10]

1995 - Mainstreaming Processing

• Eliminate Duplicative Services
• Processing & Cataloging Entwined
• Expediting the Materials Flow
Periodicals Pilot Project
Training Phased In
Staffing Phased In
Labeling In-House


To expedite the materials flow and eliminate duplicative services, we moved all mail receipt and processing of documents to Technical Services. Regularizing the documents workload required heavy front-end work, and for a while it doubled the workload in Cataloging. The primary payoff I want is a smooth continuations flow. Since at least 85% of documents can be considered serials, we manage as many titles as possible on serial records.

[slide 11]

1995 to Present: Digitizing the Paper Trail

• Development of GPRD
Eliminate Labor-Intensive Tasks
Data Warehousing/Data Mining
Report Generation

• Documents Data Miner
National Collection Management Tool


We developed an in-house relational database which we call GPRD to warehouse the Item File, List of Classes, Inactive/Discontinued Titles, our profile, our Marcive profile, the Kansas Union List, our Claims, Map Holdings, Use Statistics, and even a run of LC subject headings from our documents in the OPAC. Using data mining techniques, we can generate reports which have been especially useful in collection management.

Over the past year, we have worked to create a national utility for collection management, called the Documents Data Miner (DDM), which has just become a partnership tool with the GPO. DDM is a search engine associating files from four databases: the List of Classes, Item Lister profiles, the Depository Directory, and the Inactive/Discontinued items.

[slide 12]

1996 - Downsizing Begins

• Space Problem
86% Full - Zero Growth Imperative
• Emphasis on Electronic Access
• Collection Management Initiative
Weeding & De-Selection Project
• Move to Statewide Cooperative Collecting

In 1996, we were able to begin addressing our serious space problem in the documents stacks, which filled 86% of the space and were growing at 4% a year. No additional library space will be available for at least ten years. Off-site storage and compact shelving were not options. Weeding and de-selection were our only options.

At this time, the Collection Development component of Documents was given to the Head of Collection Development. She worked with Documents Librarians and Subject Librarians to produce a sizeable withdrawal list for exchange. We finished withdrawing this list at the end of 1997, freeing half of a range of shelves. Even so, we continue to rely on continual weeding, supersedes and deselection of items to break even on space. We hope that a movement towards statewide cooperative collecting will assist with our space problems.

[slide 13]

1997 - Two-Librarian Model

A Two-Year Pilot Project

• Government Documents Librarian
Reports to Head/Technical Services
• Government Information Librarian
Reports to Head/Reference

With the retirement of our Depository Librarian in June 1996, we rethought the direction of documents leadership. The Government Documents Mission Statement and Policy were rewritten to focus on Government Information.

We now have two professionals providing team-based management for the physical and electronic collection, as well as for the traditional split between technical and public services.

[slide 14]

Government Documents Librarian

• Responsibilities:
Reporting Function to the GPO Manage Processing, Database, Cataloging Manage the Physical Collection Promote the "Model"
• Staffing:
1.00 FTE Professional 1.75 FTE Staff (divided among 5 people) Students: 30 hours

I received the title Government Documents Librarian with the responsibilities for:

• Reporting to the GPO
• Managing Technical Services
• Managing the Physical Collection
• Maintaining the "Model"

Staffing: Our staffing breakdown is 1.00 FTE professional, 1.75 FTE classified staff, and 30 student hours. Besides myself, there are 5 people in Technical Services who work a portion of their time on documents, making up the paraprofessional 1.75 FTE.

[slide 15]

Government Information Librarian

• Responsibilities:
Public Service (Docs & General Reference)
Electronic Government Resources
Patents & Trademarks
Promotion, Marketing, Training

• Staffing:
1.00 FTE Professional
1.00 FTE Classified Staff
Students: 15 hours office, 16 hours shelving


My counterpart is responsible for public services, electronic access, patents and trademarks, and promotion, marketing, and training. She has a full-time classified staff person and 34 student hours split between office and shelving.

[slide 16]

1997 - GPO Access Gateway

1998 - Documents Data Miner

• Support for the GPO's Electronic Transition Initiative
• Support for the GPO's Partnership Program
• National Utility which Supports Our Internal Needs

We have made a decision to support the GPO's electronic transition. In 1997, we became a Gateway for GPO Access. Last week, the GPO announced a new Web tool, the Documents Data Miner, which we have been developing during the past year. This is a partnership between the GPO, WSU and our affiliate organization, NIAR (National Institute for Aviation Research).

[slide 17]

Accomplishments

• Enhanced Access & Increased Use
• Effective Public Services
• Efficient Technical Services
• Embracing the Electronic Transition

By increasing access to and visibility of the documents collection, we have dramatically increased the use of it. Our external checkout statistics, which we have kept since 1990, show an overall increase of 284% between 1990 and 1996. More significantly, they increased 520% the first full year we were on line.

Internal statistics for re-shelving between 1990 and 1997 show an increase of 525% in activity. In 1990, we only re-shelved 4,230 pieces. In 1997, we re-shelved 22,035 pieces. (In 1996, we re-shelved 24,565. In 1997 we are probably seeing the impact of URLs in the catalog, CD-ROMs and GPO Access, which are degrading the use of the paper and microfiche formats.)

In addition, we feel good about our public and technical services efforts. And, we are going where we said we would with regard to the electronic transition.

[slide 18]

Challenges

• Communications
• Momentum
• Collection Development
• Administrative Changes

[slide 19]

Prospects

• Shifting the Stacks
• Re-Designing the Documents Layout
• Marketing & Outreach
• Statewide Collection Development
• Celebrate 100 Years in 2003

We have a few tasks which must be addressed:

• Shifting the stacks
• Possibly re-designing the documents layout

We must continually re-address:

• Marketing and Outreach - we can never do enough

We have a political agenda statewide - collection development

And,

in 2003 we can celebrate 100 years as a depository library!!

Cover/Title Page  | Table of Contents  |  Agenda