NIDL Annual Report for 1998

Annual Report for 1998

Submitted by RoseAnn Vonesh

During 1998, NIDL provided a forum for documents librarians in the northeastern congressional districts in Illinois to share information about not only developments and activities in their own libraries, but also to discuss how they were dealing with the ever more electronic landscape of government information.

RoseAnn Vonesh, Oak Park Public Library, served as Coordinator. Linda Chia, Loyola University, served as Secretary for the first meeting.

The group convened twice during the year: April 3, 1998 at Oak Park Public Library and November 20, 1998 at Loyola University of Chicago, the Water Tower Campus.

At the April 3 meeting, an amendment to the NIDL constitution (Article VI, Section 1) was approved. The amendment provided for the creation of the Coordinator-Elect position. Linda Chia became the Coordinator-Elect for 1998. Paula Contreras, new Assistant Documents Librarian at University of Illinois at Chicago, willingly assumed the role of Secretary at the November meeting.

Both meetings had "program" components. At the spring meeting, Robert Cione, Manager of the U.S. Government Bookstore in downtown Chicago, spoke to the group about possible changes to the bookstore system. There is concern that the bookstores provide competition to the private sector. To avoid this, privatization has been considered as well as separating the bookstores from the Government Printing Office. Mr. Cione distributed folders, "Keeping America Informed" which contained instructions on how to acquire federal government information via the GPO Access System, fax, e-mail, and toll-free telephone. He also announced that the bookstore would be moving to a new but undecided location in the Chicago downtown area. At the end of his prepared remarks, Mr. Cione answered several questions from the group.

At the fall meeting, Pam Rebarcak of CIS, gave a demo of Congressional Universe.

The most valuable part of the NIDL meetings continues to be the "Membership News" agenda item. This is when attendees take turns talking about specific developments and issues in their libraries. At the April meeting, many academic library members mentioned their preparation for Illinet's migration to DRA. The public librarians talked about the difficulties they face in providing tax forms for the public. There were staff changes in many libraries. At the November meeting, several academic librarians again mentioned the challenge of the migration to DRA. Several librarians reported the completion of self-studies and /or inspections.

On the legislative front, HB3418 was discussed at the spring meeting. The librarians were urged to support this state bill which would make certain legislative information available free to the public. At the fall meeting, John Brandt reported on the Fall Depository Library Council meeting. Among the items he addressed was the failure of S.2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government Publications Reform Act of 1998, to pass the 105th Congress. He also told the group that the Biennial Survey is being expanded to include "cost information" on being a depository and that there are plans to change the large Depository Library Council in Washington, DC from a spring meeting to a fall meeting to avoid the higher spring hotel rates.

There was an announcement about the next Statewide Depository Meeting. It is scheduled for May 1999 following ILA Godort. Proposed agenda items include revising the state plan and an update on the Illinois Initiative. Also, the State Library has changed the way it deals with discard lists: rather than posting them to their website, they will be e-mailed to each library.

At the April meeting, there was discussion about the purpose of the two Committees formed at the November 1997 NIDL meeting, the Web Page Committee and the Congressional District Information Committee. The Web Page Committee members are John Brandt, Joan Coogan, John Schuler, and Pegeen Bassett. The Congressional District Information Committee members are Walt Baumann, Anne Abramson, John Klaus, and Steve Sposato. Both Committees expressed a desire NOT to duplicate information found elsewhere. The Committees also experienced difficulty in convening. A change in the meeting time for the November meeting was initiated to address this difficulty and the fact that many members had to leave during the lunch break (the April meeting time was 10 AM to 2 PM with an hour break for lunch). The November 1998 meeting ran from 10 AM to 1 PM without a lunch break and with an option for the committees to meet at 9 AM. As a result of the Web Page Committee's discussion, the NIDL website now lists major microfiche sets owned by local libraries. The Congressional District Information Committee is in the process of refining it's goals - the usefulness of maps indicating the districts' boundaries was mentioned as a major desideratum.

Many thanks are due to Joan Coogan of Northwestern University Library who continues to maintain the NIDL website.

The new officers elected for 1999 are Linda Chia as Coordinator, Earl Schumaker as Coordinator-Elect, and Paula Contreras as Secretary.