Remodeling the Depository Library Program for the 21st Century

The consulting service Ithaka S+R, specializing in libraries and digital scholarship issues, has been conducting research on the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) under a contract with the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). Ithaka S+R describes their work  on their project website, Federal Depository Library Program: Modeling for the Future:

In this project, Ithaka S+R will conduct an environmental scan, examine other library networks, identify a practical and sustainable model (or models) for the FDLP going forward, analyze the value proposition for the FDLP in the 21st Century, and provide regulatory and legislative recommendations to guide possible implementation.

Ithaka S+R has been soliciting feedback on the public drafts of their reports. The latest release is a report on findings from the research phase of their work; a description and report link are provided in their site post Summary of Research Phase Findings and Implications. The initial deadline for the final report is March 2011; however, Ithaka S+R recently blogged about the schedule, noting:

As many of you will know, our client GPO has had a number of significant leadership changes [new Public Printer, new Superintendent of Documents--pg] in the past month. Consequently, although GPO has already accepted the next draft deliverable as complete and ready for public comment, GPO has asked that Ithaka S+R take a temporary pause in releasing any documents publicly at this time. At this point we do not yet know exactly how long this pause will need to last.

The drafts are still available on the project website for comment. The FreeGovInfo blog has posted a series of reports and comments on the work which may provide helpful context.

Ithaka S+R previously analyzed the FDLP program in a report for The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), Documents for a Digital Democracy: A Model for the Federal Depository Library Program in the 21st Century, released in December 2009.

 

Comments

[Freegovinfo]

Thanks for posting about the FDLP modeling project and especially for mentioning FGI's in-depth analysis and comments. It's critical that the documents- and wider library community track and comment on this project.