Informing the Nation Federal Information Dissemination in an Electronic Age October 1988 NTIS order #PB89-114243 GPO stock #052-003-01130-1 Recommended Citation U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment Informing the Nation Federal Information Dissemination in an Electronic Age OTA-C IT-396 Washington DC U S Government Printing Office October 1988 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 88-600567 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington DC 20402-9325 order form can be found in the back of this report Foreword Federal information is essential to public understanding of many issues facing Congress and the Nation and is used by all sectors of society Technological advances are opening up many new and potentially cost-effective ways to collect manage and disseminate this information Although traditional ink-on-paper publications will continue to meet important needs for the foreseeable future many types of Federal information--such as statistical reference and scientific and technical-are well suited to electronic storage and dissemination For example an entire year's worth of the Congressional Record or several Bureau of the Census statistical series can be placed on one compact optical disk that can be easily read with a low-cost reader and basic microcomputer Press releases weather and crop bulletins and economic or trade indices can be disseminated immediately via electronic bulletin boards or online information systems This report addresses the opportunities to improve the dissemination of Federal information It also highlights two major problems maintaining equity in public access to Federal information in electronic formats and defining the respective roles of Federal agencies and the private sector in the electronic dissemination process The report focuses on current and future roles of the U S Government Printing Office GPO and Superintendent of Documents the Depository Library Program administered by GPO and the National Technical Information Service NTIS In addition this report examines electronic dissemination of congressional information the Freedom of Information Act in an electronic environment and electronic dissemination of government information to the press In conducting this assessment OTA drew on expertise and perspectives from numerous sources in and outside of the government OTA received special assistance from the General Accounting Office GAO for the surveys of Federal information dissemination practices and Federal information users from GPO with respect to Federal printing and related dissemination activities and from NTIS with regard to dissemination of scientific and technical information OTA appreciates the participation of the advisory panelists contractors working group participants Federal agency officials and Federal information users who responded to the GAO surveys and members of the library academic business labor consumer and Federal agency communities among others who helped bring this report to fruition The report responds to an initial request from the Joint Committee on Printing and subsequent expressions of interest from the Subcommittee on Government Information Justice and Agriculture of the House Committee on Government Operations the House Committee on Science Space and Technology the Committee on House Administration and the Subcommittee on Legislative of the House Committee on Appropriations The report is solely the responsibility of OTA not of those who assisted us in the assessment or of the congressional committees who requested or endorsed the undertaking of the study Informing the Nation Advisory Panel Marvin Sirbu Chairman Associate Professor Carnegie-Mellon University Ben Bagdikian Dean and Chairman Graduate School of Journalism University of California at Berkeley Nolan Bowie Assistant Professor of Communications Temple University Tom Davies General Manager SCT Corp Miriam Drake Director of Libraries Georgia Institute of Technology Paul P Massa President Chief Executive Officer Congressional Information Service Inc James A Nelson State Librarian and Commissioner Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Ron Plesser Esq Nash Railsback and Plesser Howard Resnikoff President Aware Inc Lee Felsenstein President Golemics Inc Katherine D Seelman Director of Communications Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing James K Galbraith Associate Professor of Economics LBJ School of Public Affairs Fran Spigai President Database Services Inc Mary Gardiner-Jones President Consumer Interest Research Institute Susan Tolchin Professor of Public Administration The George Washington University Robert Gibson Jr Head Librarian retired General Motors Technical Center Congressional Agency Participants John A Jenkins General Manager BNA On-Line Earl C Joseph President Anticipatory Sciences Inc Myer Kutz Executive Publisher John Wiley and Sons Robert L Chartrand Senior Specialist in Information Policy and Technology retired Congressional Research Service Vincent DeSanti Group Director General Accounting Office Harold C Relyea Specialist in American National Government Congressional Research Service NOTE OTA gratefully acknowledges the members of this advisory panel for their valuable assistance and thoughtful advice The panel does not however necessarily approve disapprove or endorse this report OTA assumes full responsibility for the report and the accuracy of its contents iv ---- OTA INFORMING THE NATION ASSESSMENT STAFF John Andelin Assistant Director OTA Science Information and Natural Resources Division Fred W Weingarten Program Manager Commumication and Information Technologies Project Staff Fred B Wood Project Director Prudence S Adler Assistant Project Director Jamie A Grodsky Analyst Carol S Nezzo Analyst Other OTA Staff Contributors Jean Smith Darlene Wong Administrative Staff Elizabeth Emanuel Administrative Assistant Rebecca Battle Secretary Karolyn Swauger Secretary Publishing Staff Kathie S Boss Publishing Officer Chip Moore Publishing Assistant Debra Datcher Cheryl Davis Dorinda Edmondson Steve Kettler Ted Williams Susan Zimmerman see appendix A for acknowledgments of GPO GAO and NTIS staff agency officials workshop p ticipants reviewers and others who participated in the study See appendix B for OTA project staff responsibilities v Contractors Brenda Dervin Ohio State University Charles McClure Syracuse University Stephen Frantzich Congressional Data Associates Judith E Myers University of Houston Library Henry Freedman Consultant Thomas P Riley Riley Information Services Gregory Giebel University of the District of Columbia Frank J Romano Consultant Mark P Haselkorn Philip L Bereano and Barbara Lewton University of Washington Barry M Schaeffer Consultant Peter Hernon Simmons College Earl Joseph Anticipatory Sciences Inc Jacob W Ulvila Decision Science Consortium Inc Carol Watts Sarah Kadec and Dorothy Weed Washington Information Network Contents Chapter Page CHAPTER 1 SUMMARY 3 Introduction 3 Opportunities 5 Problems and Challenges 8 Government Printing Office 10 National Technical Information Service 13 National Technical Information Service Superintendent of Documents 14 Depository Libraries 14 Technical Management Improvements 17 Statutory Oversight Changes 19 Legislative Branch 20 About This Report 21 CHAPTER 2 OVERVIEW OF FEDERAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Summary Introduction Size and Scope of Federal Information Dissemination Enterprise Technological Initiatives by Federal Agencies Institutional Infrastructure for Federal Information Dissemination 27 27 28 28 32 36 CHAPTER 3 KEY TECHNOLOGY TRENDS RELEVANT TO FEDERAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Summary Introduction and Overview Information Systems Integration The Microcomputer Revolution The Continuing Role of Paper and Microform Electronic Publishing Desktop Publishing High-End Electronic Publishing Electronic Forms Management Computer Graphics Scanners and Printers Online Information Dissemination Online Information Retrieval Telecommunications Electronic Mail Optical Disks Expert Systems Technical Standards 45 45 47 47 48 49 51 51 52 54 54 55 57 57 58 60 61 63 64 CHAPTER 4 ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE Summary Traditional GPO-Centralized Demand for Traditional GPO Services Impacts of Medium-Term Reductions in Traditional Demand 71 71 73 74 76 vii Page Traditional GPO-Legislative Branch Only 81 Financial Impacts 81 Labor Force Impacts 82 Other Vulnerabilities 83 Electronic GPO-Decentralized 85 Trends in Technology and Demand 86 Opportunities and Challenges 89 CHAPTER 5 AN ELECTRONIC NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE AND NTIS SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS COOPERATION 107 Summary 107 Role and Current Status of NTIS 108 Opportunities and Challenges 111 Trends in Demand and Revenues 111 Possible New Initiatives 116 NTIS SupDocs Cooperation 119 Differences and Similarities 119 Disadvantages and Advantages 121 CHAPTER 6 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES LIBRARIES AND THE FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM 127 Summary 127 Introduction 128 Role of Information Technologies in Libraries 131 Use of Specific Technologies 132 Online Database Services 133 Library Communication Networks 134 Electronic Bulletin Boards 135 Optical Disks 136 Facsimile 137 Summary 138 Federal Depository Library Program 138 Origins and Operations of the Depository Library Program 138 Format of Depository Library Materials Paperv Microfiche 140 Dissemination of Information in Electronic Format 142 Online Catalogs 144 CHAPTER 7 ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR THE DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM 149 Summary 149 Introduction 151 Alternative I Status Quo 151 Alternative II Electronic Depository Library Program 153 A Subalternative for Distributing Electronic Formats 157 Alternative III Reorganized Electronic Depository System 158 Disseminating Electronic Information Products-Two Case Studies 160 Congressional Record on CD-ROM 161 Federal Register Online 164 Issues Discussion 171 Dissemination Formats in the Depository Program 171 Changing Costs of the Depository Program 173 VII Page Reorganized Depository Program 175 Changing Roles of Stakeholders 176 CHAPTER 8 ELECTRONIC DISSEMINATION OF CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION 183 Summary 183 Introduction 184 Current Methods of congressional Information Dissemination 185 Congressional Information Products Case Studies Congressional Record and Bill Status Information 187 Congressional Record 187 Bill Status Information 190 Dissemination Practices of congressional Support Agencies 192 Office of Technology Assessment 192 General Accounting Office 194 Congressional Research Service 195 Discussion of crosscutting Issues 196 Benefits of Electronic Formats 196 Congressional Responsibility for Electronic Access 199 Need for an Index to Congressional Information 201 Role of GPO 201 Need for Congressional Coordination 202 CHAPTER9 THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT IN AN ELECTRONIC AGE 207 Summary 207 Introduction 209 Applicability of FOIA to Electronic Media 210 Computerized Information 210 Other Media 211 Defining the Limits of Searching Under FOIA 213 Traditional Interpretations 213 In the Computer Context The Distinction Between Searching and Programming 215 Determining the Format of Information Delivered 221 Expanding the Legal Frontiers Public Access to Software and Online Databases 222 Software 222 Online Databases 223 Fee Assessment and Fee Waivers Charged Issues in an Age of Electronic Information 225 New Technologies and the Need for Amending FOIL 226 Electronic Information Technologies Are Obscuring the Boundary Between Record and Nonrecord Material 228 Computers Are Facilitating Faster and More Complex Searches Thereby Encouraging a Broader Definition of a Reasonable' 'Search 229 Electronic FOIA Requests Can Be Incompatible With the Ways Agencies Collect and Organize Information 230 Computer Searching Raises New Staffing and Budgetary Problems as Well as Opportunities for Federal Agencies 232 Federal Agencies Are Using Information Products Whose Status is Unclear Under FOIA 233 Page Paper Printouts of Electronic Information May Not Satisfy Public Access Needs 234 Computers Are Prompting New Discussion About the Basic Purposes of FOIA 236 CHAPTER 1O THE ELECTRONIC PRESS RELEASE AND GOVERNMENT-PRESS RELATIONSHIPS 239 Slummary 239 Introduction 240 Functions and Problems of Agency Press Offices 241 Status of Automation in Federal Agency Press Offices 242 U S Department of Agriculture 242 U S Supreme Court 243 Environmental Protection Agency 243 White House 244 Bureau of Labor Statistics 244 The Federal Election Commission 244 Status of Automation in Press Newsrooms 245 Challenges to Government Press Automated Dissemination 247 Need for Coordination 247 Need for Improved Communication 247 Need for Completeness and Quality Control 247 Private Contracting and Price Control 247 Potential Unavailability of Paper Copy 248 Technological and Strategic Choices 248 Technological Choices 248 Strategic Choices 250 CHAPTER 11 FEDERAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION POLICY IN AN ELECTRONIC AGE 255 Summary 255 Renewed Commitment to Public Access 257 Clarification of Governmentwide Information Dissemination Policy 261 Cost-Effectiveness 261 Electronic v Paper Formats 264 Possible Congressional Actions 267 Clarification of Institutional Roles and Responsibilities 271 Improvements in Information Dissemination Management 276 Electronic Publishing Dissemination Technical Standards 276 Governmentwide Information Index 277 Government Information Dissemination Innovation Centers Committees 278 Revised Information Resources and Personnel Management 280 Improvements in Conventional Printing 283 Cost 283 Timeliness 288 Quality 288 Cost Estimating and Billing Procedures 289 General Themes 289 CHAPTER 12 SETTING FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS AND NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE 295 x Page Summary 295 Introduction 296 The Competitive Electronic Environment 296 Institutional Alternatives for SupDocs and NTIS Electronic Information Dissemination 300 Centralizing Government Electronic Information Dissemination 300 Privatizing SupDocs and NTIS 3oI Reorganizing SupDocs as Part of a Legislative Printing Office 303 Consolidating NTIS with SupDocs and or Reorganizing as a Government Information Office or Government Corporation 305 Authorizing SupDocs or the Consolidated SupDocs NTISto Produce and Disseminate Electronic Formats 307 Broader Implications of SupDocs NTIS Electronic Information Dissemination 309 Government Productivity and Cost-Effectiveness 309 Agency Missions and the Role of SupDocs and NTIS 310 Private Sector Economy 312 Other Implications 316 APPENDIXA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 323 APPENDIX B CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS 330 APPENDIX C LIST OF CONTRACTOR REPORTS 331 APPENDIXD SOME KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS 332 CONTENTS Page Introduction 3 Opportunities sO 5 Problems and Challenges 8 Government Printing Office 10 National Technical Information Service 13 National Technical Information Service Superintendent of Documents 14 Depository Libraries 14 Technical Management Improvements 17 Statutory Oversight Changes 19 Legislative Branch 20 About This Report 21 Boxes Page Box A Information the Lifeblood of the Federal Government 4 B General Accounting Office Surveysof Federal Agencies and Federal Information Users 6 C Some Opportunities for Productivity Improvement or Cost Avoidance Through Electronic Technology 9 D National Technical Information Service and Superintendent of Documents How They Compare 15 E The Importance of Text Markup and Page Description Standards for Information Dissemination 18 Tables Page Table l-1 Civilian Departmental Agency Dissemination of Statistical Information by Format Used 6 I-Z Civilian Departmental Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information by Format Used Current and Projected 6 l-3 Depository Library Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format 7 l-4 Civilian Departmental Agency Use of Selected Electronic Publishing-Related Technologies 11 l-5 GPO Workload Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 12 l-6 Trends in Sales of Selected NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1980 1987 13 l-7 Trends in New Titles Received byNTIS Fiscal Years 1983 1987 13 l-8 Depository Library Demand for Federal Information in Electronic Formats 16 l-9 Depository Library Access to Information Technology 17 l-10 Federal Agency Policies on Electronic Information Dissemination 19 Chapter 1 Summary INTRODUCTION If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization it expects what never was and never will be if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free it is the responsibility of every American to be informed -Thomas Jefferson Julv 6 1816 Federal information is used by all sectors of society For example the business and financial communities look to price levels and government indicators of economic activity as important inputs to business planning and investment decisions Similarly the agricultural community regularly uses government crop and weather bulletins as well as forecasts to aid in scheduling crop planting Scientists and engineers benefit from technical information generated by federally conducted or sponsored research in areas like superconductors supercomputers and solar energy Indeed information generated by the Federal Government spans the entire spectrum of issues and programs relevant to agency missions-from public health crises such as AIDs to environmental problems such as hazardous waste disposal and water pollution to demographic and employment trends And at the most basic level information about governmental processes--such as the Congressional Record for Congress and the Federal Re ster for the executive branch agencies--is used by citizens and organizations that wish to monitor and participate in a wide range of government activities For most of this Nation's history Federal information has been disseminated predominantly in the form of paper documents and in recent decades to a lesser extent in microfiche However in the last few years technological advances have resulted in a rapid increase in the use of electronic formats for Federal information dissemination While the use of electronic technology offers many new opportunities for cost-effective dissemination serious conflicts have arisen over how to maintain and strengthen public access to government information and balance the roles of individual Federal agencies governmentwide dissemination mechanisms and the private sector OTA has concluded that congressional action is urgently needed to resolve Federal information dissemination issues and to set the direction of Federal activities for years to come The government is at a crucial point where opportunities presented by the information technologies such as productivity and cost-effectiveness improvements are substantial However the stakes including preservation andlor enhancement of public access to government information plus maintenance of the fiscal and administrative responsibilities of the agencies are high and need to be carefully balanced by Congress Congress has enacted numerous laws that emphasize the importance of broad public access to Federal information such as the Printing Act of 1895 Depository Library Act of 1962 Freedom of Information Act of 1966 and Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 and assign various information dissemination functions to individual Federal agencies see box A and governmentwide clearinghouses The latter include principally the Superintendent of Documents SupDocs at the U S Government Printing Office GPO Depository Library Program DLP also at GPO National Technical Information Service NTIS and Consumer Information Center CIC However the existing statutory and institutional framework was established by Congress largely during the preelectronic era It is important therefore that Congress review this framework to determine what actions are needed to ensure that legislative intent is carried out in an electronic environment and whether any adjustments in legislative objectives or legislation are needed 3 4 Box A --Information the Lifeblood of the Federal Government Information is truly the lifeblood of many Federal Government programs and activities and is essential to the implementation of agency missions as well as to informed public debate concerning such programs and activities Congress has enacted hundreds of specific laws that assign information dissemination and related functions to Federal agencies Some illustrative laws include Public Law 96-374 Education Act Amendments of 1980 Department of Education to establish an information clearinghouse for the handicapped Public Law 96-399 Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 Department of Housing and Urban Development to collect and report data on sales prices for new homes Public Law 96-482 Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments of 1979 Environmental Protection Agency to collect maintain and disseminate information on energy and materials conservation and recovery from solid waste Public Law 97-98 Agriculture and Food Act Department of Agriculture to develop an agricultural land resources information system and to establish relations with foreign agricultural information systems Public Law 97-290 Export Trading Company Act of 1982 Department of Commerce to disseminate information on export trading Public Law 98-362 Small Business Computer Crime Prevention Act Small Business Administration to establish an information resource center on computer crime Public Law 99-412 Conservation Service Reform Act of 1985 Department of Energy to disseminate information annually to States and public utilities on residential energy conservation and Public Law 99-570 National Antidrug Reorganization and Coordination Act Department of Health and Human Services to establish a clearinghouse for alcohol and drug abuse information SOURCE Congressional Research Service and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 This assessment presents information and analyses on a broad range of topics and issues It is intended to help both Congress and the Nation better understand Federal information dissemination in an electronic age and assist Congress in implementing improvements in Federal information dissemination activities The focus of this report is on public information that is Federal information that is or should be in the public domain and is not subject to exemption under the Freedom of Information Act e g due to privacy security or confidentiality considerations The report focuses on the process of information dissemination including the Federal Government's technical and institutional infrastructure for dissemination not on information collection although also important The report considers a wide range of information formats--from paper and microfiche to computer tapes and diskettes compact disks and online databases And the report covers all major types of Federal information at a general level--including agency reports and pamphlets rules and regulations periodicals and bibliographies statistical information and scientific and technical information among others 5 OPPORTUNITIES The Federal Government today stands at a major crossroads with respect to the future of Federal information dissemination Technological advances have opened up many new and potentially cost-effective ways to disseminate Federal information especially those types of information such as bibliographic reference statistical and scientific and technical that are particularly well suited to electronic formats OTA expects several key underlying technical trends to continue unabated for at least the next 3 to 5 years and 10 years or more in many cases These include continued steady improvement in the price performance of microcomputers nonimpact printers scanners and desktop software rapid proliferation of desktop publishing systems and continued improvement in the ability of desktop systems to produce higher quality more complex documents rapid growth in networking of desktop and high-end systems nonimpact printers and phototypesetters used for more complex higher volume and or larger institutional applications continued increase in the number and use of computerized online information services and online information gateways that provide the channels for information exchange and continued advances in the underlying computer and telecommunication technologies rapid advances in optical disk technologies and applications including accelerating penetration of CD-ROM compact disk read-only memory maturation of WORM write once read many times and erasable optical disks plus emergence of CD-I compact disk interactive with audio video graphics textual and software capabilities all on one disk and rapid advances in the development of expert systems applicable to many aspects of information dissemination--including technical writing indexing information retrieval and printing management Many individual Federal agencies already are experimenting with and increasingly implementing information dissemination via electronic bulletin boards floppy disks compact optical disks desktop publishing and electronic printing-on-demand For example statistical data are highly suited to electronic formats and based on the results of the General Accounting Office GAO survey of Federal agencies see box B about one-third of the civilian departmental agencies use magnetic tape or disks one-fifth floppy disks and electronic data transfer and one-tenth electronic mail for dissemination of statistical data see Table l-l By comparison about three-fourths of the agencies use paper and roughly one tenth use microfiche for disseminating statistical data Overall civilian agencies departmental and independent reported over 7 500 information products disseminated electronically as of fiscal year 1987 The number of civilian agency publications in paper format appears to be declining slowly while the number of electronic products has more than tripled over the past 4 years The GAO survey results suggest that this trend will continue For example by 1990 agency use of electronic mail and bulletin boards floppy disks and compact optical disks in disseminating scientific and technical information is expected to more than double on the average as shown in Table 1-2 With respect to demand for Federal information OTA has concluded that for the foreseeable future paper will continue to be the preferred format for many purposes such as browsing government reports and microfiche will continue to be used for document storage and archival purposes However OTA'S 3- to 5year outlook for the dissemination of Federal information indicates that overall demand for paper formats will decline modestly and the demand for microfiche will drop rather markedly while the demand for electronic formats will increase dramatically There already is a significant demand for Federal information in electronic formats among user groups and particularly within the library 6 Box B --General Accounting Office Surveys of Federal Agencies and Federal Information Users GAO at the request of the Joint Committee on Printing conducted several surveys that provided important input to the OTA report Copies of the complete results are available from GAO Federal agency survey In 1987 GAO surveyed all 13 cabinet-level departments and 48 major independent agencies with respect to information dissemination practices technologies budgets plans and policies GAO asked department or agency senior Information Resources Management officials to coordinate the response but to consult with agency printing officers librarians publishers and public information officers among others GAO asked that the cabinet departments provide a separate response for each major subdivision or component such as bureaus or administrations GAO received responses from 114 civilian departmental components 11 Department of Defense components and 48 independent agencies GAO edited responses for completeness and internal consistency but did not independently verify their accuracy Overall the survey results are very informative however the survey responses were unaudited and undocumented Also it is unclear how the agency responses were developed especially with respect to evaluative questions Nonetheless the results present a useful overall picture of agency information dissemination activities Federal information user surveys In 1987-1988 GAO surveyed four user groups 1 GPO depository libraries 2 other libraries 3 scientific and technical associations and 4 general associations These groups were surveyed with respect to current and desired types and formats of Federal information As with the Federal agency survey the results of the user surveys were not verified and the exact process by which the responses were provided is not known Also the sampling error could be high but it does not affect the OTA analysis since OTA has emphasized only the major trends and findings that emerged from these surveys Table 1-1 --Civilian Departmental Agency Dissemination of Statistical Information by Format Used Percent of agencies responding Format used 73 Paper Magnetic tape disk 32 19 Floppy disk 18 Electronic data transfer 12 Microfiche 8 Electronic mail Microfilm 5 4 Electronic bulletin board 2 Videotape 1 Film aTOtalS more than 100 percent since many agencies use more than one format SOURCE' General Accounting Office Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 community private industry Federal agencies themselves and various groups with specialized needs such as educators researchers and disabled persons OTA projects that this demand will rise sharply over the next few years especially among the more technically sophisticated user groups Table l-2 --Civilian Departmental Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information by Format Used Current and Projected Percent of agencies responding Format Use in Use next now 3 years a P e r c e n t 1987 by 1990 change Electronic mail 6 1 Electronic bulletin board 6 1 Electronic data transfer 14 9 Magnetic tape disk 14 0 Floppy disk 8 8 Compact optical disk -- 15 8 10 5 18 4 16 7 16 7 8 8 159 72 24 19 90 %alculated by adding the percentage of agencies now as of 1987 using the format indicated to the number who expect to use the format within the next 3 years by 1990 Assumes that agencies currently using a format will continue to do SO SOURCE General Accounting Off Ice Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 7 GPO computer room The results of the GAO survey of Federal information users document this likely trend in demand For example the depository library community as intermediaries reflecting users and user information needs in university re- search Federal State local and public libraries indicated a strong preference for obtaining increasing percentages of Federal information in electronic form and declining percentages in paper and microfiche The survey results for 318 depository libraries out of a sample of 451 34 of the 51 regional depositories and 284 of the 400 selective depository libraries sampled are highlighted in Table 1-3 These results show that by and large the depository library communit y desires or anticipates decreases in use of paper and microfiche formats and significant increases in online databases and compact optical disks Trends for other surveyed segments of the Federal information user community e g nondepository libraries scientific and technical associations are not so dramatic but show a similar pattern Electronic publishing and related technologies when coupled with essential technical Table l-3 -- Depository Library Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format Number of libraries responding Type of information Congressional Recordlhearingsl reports bi 11s Scientific and technical reports information Press releases bulletins Statistical data Format Demand now Demand in next 3 years Percent change 271 paper 274 microfiche 59 online database floppy disk o compact optical disk 3 234 225 132 27 112 -14 -18 124 3600 244 paper 212 microfiche 76 online database 1 floppy disk compact optical disk 9 172 159 95 27 78 -17 -22 25 2600 770 paper 246 39 microfiche 9 electronic mail or bulletin board 24 online database compact optical disk 1 309 paper 241 microfiche 12 electronic mail or bulletin board 103 online database 11 magnetic tape disk floppy disk 12 videodisk o compact optical disk 15 183 35 51 -26 -10 467 50 18 270 134 27 108 1700 -13 -44 125 158 25 65 12 140 53 127 442 833 SOURCE General Accounting Off Ice Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 8 standards offer the near-term prospect for integrated information systems utilizing the information life cycle concept Here the collection processing storage and dissemination and ultimately retention or archiving of information in multiple formats paper microform and electronic are viewed and implemented as interrelated functions rather than separate unrelated activities The life cycle concept offers the prospect of improvements in Federal productivity or cost avoidance through increased efficiencies in the publishing of government reports reduced paper and postage costs and the like see box C The Federal Government should be able to realize at least a significant portion of the productivity improvements demonstrated by private business users Private firms typically report 30 to 50 percent productivity improvement with a payback on investment in the 2to 3-year range The Federal Government spends conservatively $6 billion per year on information dissemination not including the cost of collection processing or a prorated share of agency automation Thus productivity improvements on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year appear to be readily achievable In addition the substantial ongoing investment by Federal mission agencies in agency automation if planned and implemented properly can incorporate multi-format information dissemination at little additional marginal cost compared to the total cost of automation and with the potential for net cost savings in agency information functions PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES Technological advances are creating a number of problems and challenges with respect to Federal information dissemination At a fundamental level electronic technology is changing or even eliminating many distinctions between reports publications databases records and the like in ways not anticipated by existing statutes and policies A rapidly growing percentage of Federal information exists at some point in an electronic form on a computerized system as part of seamless web of information activities Electronic technology permits information dissemination on a decentralized basis that is cost-effective at low levels of demand but in ways that may challenge traditional roles responsibilities and policies In contrast conventional ink-on-paper printing technology tends to be cost-effective with more centralized production and distribution and higher levels of demand Electronic technology is eroding the institutional roles of governmentwide information dissemination agencies While many Fed- eral agencies disseminate at least some of their information in electronic formats the central governmentwide dissemination mechanisms SupDocs DLP NTIS and CIC are presently limited largely to paper or paper and microfiche formats and thus disseminate a declining portion of Federal information Technology has outpaced the major governmentwide statutes that apply to Federal information dissemination The Printing Act of 1895 Depository Library Act of 1962 and Freedom of Information Act of 1966 predate the era of electronic dissemination and have not been updated to explicitly reflect electronic as well as paper formats The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 was amended in 1986 to include information dissemination within its scope but substantive statutory guidance on electronic information dissemination per se is minimal The advent of electronic dissemination raises new equity concerns since to the extent electronic formats have distinct ad- 9 Box C -Some Opportunities for Productivity Improvement or Cost Avoidance Through Electronic Technology Electronic publishing --facilitates the document revision process by minimizing rekey boarding and graphics redesign -produces documents that are generally found to be more attractive and easier to read --reduces the total publishing time typically by 25 to 50 percent --reduces the total number of document pages typically by 35 to 50 percent since typeset pages contain more text than typewritten pages --reduces the costs for paper and postage for hard copy print runs and --can achieve rates of return on investment of up to 30 to 50 percent and payback periods of 2 to 3 years or less Compact disk-read only memory CDROM --can store and disseminate large amounts of information at very low cost --is best suited for statistical reference technical and other information that does not require frequent updates --can store up to the equivalent of about 250 000 pages of typewritten doublespaced text on one disk or the equivalent of about 1 500 single-sided floppy disks or about 10 of the 1 600 bits-perinch magnetic computer tapes --can reduce the cost of dissemination by an order of magnitude compared to magnetic tapes and up to two orders of magnitude compared to paper documents a typical estimate is that the same amount of information that could be disseminated for $50 per week on CD-ROM would cost $345 per week on magnetic tapes and $2 250 per week in paper and --permits searching retrieval and manipulation of the data in ways simply not possible with paper or microfiche formats SOURCE Office of Technology Assessment 1988 vantages e g in terms of timeliness searchability those without electronic access are disadvantaged In general the library research media public interest consumer and State local government communities among others argue that the Federal Government has a responsibility to assure equity of access to Federal information in electronic formats as well as in paper These groups contend that they are or will increasingly be disadvantaged to the extent that Federal information in electronic form is not available through normal channels Technological advances complicate the Federal Government's relationships with the commercial information industry While those companies that market repackaged or enhanced Federal information benefit from access to electronic formats some of these firms are concerned about possible adverse effects of government competition Efforts by the Office of Management and Budget OMB to establish policy in this area have proven to be controversial Also the privatization of major Federal information dissemination activities such as the NTIS clearinghouse has not yet been demonstrated to be either cost-effective or beneficial for important governmental functions OMB and industry representatives support government dissemination of Federal information in raw electronic form without software enhancements or searching aids but oppose government dissemination of enhanced or value-added information This conflicts with the long-established government role in producing and disseminating value-added information products in paper format and its logical extension to electronic formats Existing policy does not define value-added' or specify under what conditions value-added electronic information products are inherently or appropriately governmental versus commercial in nature In general information industry represent- 10 atives strongly favor open government and unimpeded and nondiscrimin atory access to Federal information for philosophical and competitive fairness reasons i e so that no single vendor has a captive or monopoly position over Federal information In these respects the industry shares common ground with the library research and press communities among others The absence of congressional action to address these issues is likely to result in continuing erosion in overall equity of public access to Federal information continuing confusion over institutional roles and responsibilities a significant time and dollar cost to the government and various stakeholders in seemingly endless debate over statutory interpretation and legislative intent inefficiency and excessive duplication in electronic information dissemination research and pilot-testing inability to capture learning from experience and economies of scale and failure to realize the significant opportunities for cost-effective improvements in overall public access to Federal information OTA concluded that the government needs to set in motion a comprehensive planning process for creatively exploring the long-term future e g 10 to 20 years from now when the information infrastructure of the public and private sectors could be quite different At the same time the government needs to provide short-term direc- tion to existing agencies and institutions with respect to electronic information dissemination A central challenge is setting future directions for the governmentwide information dissemination institutions Any electronic future for GPO NTIS and DLP must consider the increasingly decentralized competitive environment that characterizes the electronic information marketplace The Federal Government is moving in the direction of implementing electronic information systems at the heart of most agency activities In the long-term the myriad of possible information dissemination alternatives made possible by technological advances could serve as a catalyst for significant changes in the current institutional framework Full understanding of long-term alternatives will require several years of pilot tests demonstrations and experiments and related evaluation studies In the short-to medium-term 3 to 10 years the basis for setting directions is better established an intelligent informed populace has been is and will continue to be the fundamental element in the strength of our Nation Contributing greatly to that intellectual strength is the so-called Government document designed to disseminate to the American public important information relative to the activities and purposes of its Government -former U S Senator Frank J Lausche March 1962 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE GPO has historically carried out most of the Federal Government ink-on-paper printing either directly or through private contractors has marketed and sold selected government documents in paper and microfiche to the public through the SupDocs and has distributed government documents to the depository libraries through the DLP While GPO already makes extensive use of electronic input and photocomposition there is very little production or sales of products in electronic formats GPO does sell through SupDocs some agency and congressional products in magnetic computer tape format It also has ongoing pilot projects involving both online and CD-ROM dissemination and both desktop and high-end electronic publishing pursuant to direction of the Joint Committee on Printing JCP 11 Defining GPO's future role in the dissemination of electronic formats presents a major opportunity for Congress and GPO One alternative mandatory centralization of all electronic dissemination through SupDocs or any other central government office would conflict with numerous existing agency activities would meet strong agency opposition could precipitate legal and political challenges and would not appear to be cost-effective On the other hand excluding electronic formats from the SupDocs sales program would erode the viability and integrity of the program over time and compromise the ability of SupDocs to facilitate broad public awareness and use of Federal information A middle ground alternative with SupDocs including selected electronic formats and products would appear to strengthen the SupDocs sales program facilitate public access and preserve the prerogatives of the agencies to disseminate electronically themselves and of private vendors to enhance and resell electronic formats SupDocs sales of magnetic computer tapes floppy disks compact optical disks and perhaps electronic printing-on-demand products would appear to be straightforward except for a possible overlap with NTIS Sales of online services could be more difficult due to staffing software development and capital requirements and to more intensive competition with agencies and commercial vendors Another challenge is to define GPO's role relative to the growth in agency desktop and high-end electronic publishing systems The GAO survey of 114 civilian agency components indicated that one-half or more are cur- f'hofo credft U S Government Pvnt ng Off cc GPO operator using electronic photocomposition equipment rently operating or pilot testing desktop publishing computer-aided page makeup and electronic composition technologies and onethird are operating or testing full electronic publishing systems as shown in Table 1-4 OTA estimates that as of fiscal year 1987 agencies had already spent at least $400 million on electronic publishing-related technologies GPO could have a key role in standardssetting trainin g and innovative activities rele vant to electronic publishing but GPO will be operating in a much more decentralized competitive environment than has traditionally been the case with conventional ink-on-paper printing The general demand for conventional printing is likely to continue for several years at a slow growth or steady-state level However in the medium-term 3 to 10 years a sig- Table l-4 --Civilian Departmental Agency Use of Selected Electronic Publishing-Related Technologies Percent of agencies responding Technology Computer-aided page makeup ' Computer graphics Electronic photocomposition Laser and other nonimpact printing Desktop publishing system Electronic publishing system Currently in operational use Currently prototyping or pilot testing Totals 50 0 8 8 7 9 58 8 65 8 43 9 64 0 34 2 21 1 7 9 1 8 14 9 10 5 -- 51 8 65 8 49 1 31 6 SOURCE General Accounting Off Ice S urvey of Federal Agencies 1987 73 7 12 nificant portion of GPO inplant and procured printing could be suitable for electronic dissemination or vulnerable to competition from electronic formats The plans and activities of defense agencies are particularly important since the Army Navy and Air Force together account for roughly one-third of total GPO billings Over the next few years the defense agencies are hoping to place most manuals directives and technical documentation on electronic media GPO will have to be innovative in matching its expertise to agency needs which are likely to vary widely and change at an increasingly rapid pace With respect to GPO's role in traditional inkon-paper printing the fiscal year 1987 GPO printing workload totaled $771 million of which about threequarters was procured from commercial printing contractors and one-quarter carried out at the GPO main and regional printing plants As shown in Table 1-5 about 80 percent of legislative branch printing work is done inplant while about 85 percent of executive branch printing work is contracted out Overall about 45 percent of inplant work is legislative while about 95 percent of contracted work is for the executive branch OTA examined several alternatives including decentralizing GPO's conventional printing and procurement functions transferring GPO's procurement program to the executive branch and limiting GPO to legislative branch work Based on information available to OTA including comparative costs of GPO inhouse GPO procured agency inhouse and agency procured printing none of these alternatives appears to be cost-effective These alternatives would largely eliminate concerns about separation of powers since executive branch printing would no longer be done by or through a legislative branch agency However they could complicate the functioning of SupDocs and the DLP and could have significant adverse effects on the GPO labor force OTA identified several opportunities for improvement in GPO's traditional printing services These include more competitive pricing and timely delivery of GPO main plant inhouse work for executive agencies itemized estimating and billing practices regular surveys of customer needs and problems and revised and strengthened GPO advisory groups In principle the GPO main plant is well positioned to meet demands for conventional printing with one of the best equipped printing facilities in the United States and an experienced work force However GPO inhouse printing costs are high in part due to the need to maintain operational capacity to handle a wide diversity of printing work and to meet peak congressional and priority executive branch workloads A significant part of this workload is well suited for electronic formats e g Confessional Record Federal Register A gradual transition from paper to electronic formats for these items could help reduce GPO costs potentially increase access to this information and place the GPO main plant on a more competitive footing for executive branch printing Table 1 5 --GPO Workload Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 in millions of dollars Procured Main plant Regional plant printing printing printing Legislative branch $ 23 $ 90 Executive branch 552 1 90 Judicial branch 1 Totals $576 1'2 $18 NA not applicable SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Office 1987 Totals $113 656 $77 -- 13 NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE NTIS has historically served as the Federal Government's archive and clearinghouse for scientific and technical reports prepared by Federal agencies or contractors along with related indices and bibliographies The bulk of NTIS documents are provided in paper or microfiche format although in recent years NTIS also has served as a clearinghouse for some electronic format products e g software and databases Also NTIS performs other related services such as patent licensing Japanese literature exchange and FOIA request and or information sales processing for a few agencies With respect to NTIS the major opportunity is quite simply determining the future of NTIS as a government entity NTIS faces strategic challenges on several fronts First the core NTIS business as measured by sales of paper and microfiche reports has been shrinking by about 40 to 50 percent over the past decade see Table 1-6 In part as a result NTIS prices for these reports have gone up considerably faster than the inflation rate in order to help maintain break-even operations Over the last few years NTIS has offset declining revenues from full-text reports and subscription bibliographic and announcement products with increasing revenues from services to other agencies such as order billing and processing brokerage fees on sales of other agency materials and sales of computer-related products Photo credit Natlortal Technical In forrnatfon Serv ce NTIS staff pulls an archive document from the NTIS collection Second a significant percentage estimated at one-third to one-half see Table 1-7 of Federal scientific and technical reports are never provided to NTIS since agency participation is strictly voluntary The NTIS collection is thus becoming increasingly incomplete Third Table 1 7 --Trend in New Titles Received by NTIS Fiscal Years 1983 1987 1983 1987 Number of titles received 79 471 62 856 Estimated percentage of all 530 0 relevant titlesa 67 0 aA umes the number of relevant agency titles remains constant - 140 0 al 119 000 Per year SOURCE National Technical Information Service and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 Table 1-6 --Trends in Sales of Selected NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1980 1987 1980 1987 Net ---- change in thousands of copies 393 Paper documents 752 67 Microfiche documents 155 in millions of copies -48 0 0 -57 1 33 Selected Research in Microfiche SRI M 2 72 in thousands of subscriptions -51 Government Research Announcements and Index 2 22 Abstract Newsletters 16 0 SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 Net change -21 0 1 15 6 8 -48 -58 14 NTIS is being outdistanced by most of the Federal science agencies with respect to use of electronic information technology And fourth NTIS has been caught in the middle of the ongoing debate over privatization of Federal information functions Since Congress has af- firmed its intent that NTIS remain in the government Congress now has the opportunity to determine where NTIS should be located and how it should relate to other Federal agencies including what agency materials should or must be submitted to NTIS NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS Proposals have been made to retain NTIS in the Department of Commerce as a government corporation or in essentially its present form consolidate NTIS with SupDocs either within GPO or as part of a newly established Government Information Office and consolidate NTIS with the Library of Congress Whatever the alternative chosen by Congress strengthened NTIS-SupDocs cooperation would likely lead to improvements in indexing marketing and international exchange of Federal information And strengthened cooperation seems essential to the extent both agencies pursue sales of electronic format products and that SupDocs enters the lowdemand market At present demand for NTIS documents averages about 10 copies per title compared to about 2 000 copies per title for items in the SupDocs sales program see box D for a comparison of NTIS and SupDocs NTIS and SupDocs could cooperate on implementing electronic technologies that would meet NTIS clearinghouse and archival needs plus support a broadening of the SupDocs product line to include selected low-demand items Wherever located NTIS appears to be ideally suited for implementation of an electronic document system using optical disk storage electronic printing and multi-format output-- paper microfiche and electronic perhaps using the Defense Technical Information Center DTIC system as a prototype that could revitalize NTIS if coupled with improved agency participation Overall an electronic NTIS should be able to greatly increase the diversity and timeliness of NTIS and related private vendor offerings increase the ability of NTIS and private vendors to match information products with potential users and reduce costs the new electronic technology not only gives potential users quicker and more convenient access to wider bodies of information including instantly current information than can be provided by print alone it also gives the user a new kind of ability to search through and manipulate the information and in effect to create new information by the selection combination and arrangement of data -Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information American Z ibrary 4ssociation 1986 DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES The DLP is administered by GPO and serves as a mechanism for dissemination of Federal agency documents free of charge to the approximately 1 400 participating libraries The libraries in return provide housing for the documents and access to this information free of charge to the general public About 55 percent of the depository libraries are university libraries 23 percent are public libraries 11 percent are law school libraries 7 percent are Federal libraries and 4 percent are special libraries and the like -- ---- 15 Box D --National Technical Information Service and Superintendent of Documents How They Compare Branch of government Location Statutory authority Total annual revenues' approximate Titles for sale approximate Total annual sales volumeh Average sales per title Primary document formats Primary source of documents Electronic products' approximate NTIS SupDocs Executive Department of Commerce 15 U s c 1151-1157 $22 million Legislative GPO 44 U S C 1701-1722 $100 million 2 million 20 000 6 million copies 10 copies paper microfiche Federal agencies and contractors 800 numerical or statistical databases 300 textual databases 300 computer software items incl models Yes 27 million copies 2 000 copies paper microfiche Federal agencies Congress Prepares bibliographies catalogs Conducts marketing activities Yes Yes Carries out international document exchange Performs reimbursable services Yes--for agencies few dozen magnetic tape products Yes Yes Yes Yes--Consumer Information Information Center Depository Library Program ' a 1 clude fisca ear 19R7 revenues from reimbursable services and services funded through appropriations bFiscal ear 198ti SUpI OCS data include Consumer Information Center SdeS cFiscal rear 198'7 dRelmbursed through appropriations SOURCE Nat onal Technical Information Ser 'ice ind US Go rernment Printing Office 1988 As with GPO and NTIS there is a major opportunity to define the future role of the DLP with respect to dissemination of Federal informatione in electronic formats As agencies make increasing use of electronic formats limiting the DLP to paper and microfiche products would over time reduce the type and amount of Federal information available to the public and would erode the legislative intent of the DLP e g as expressed in the legislative history of the Depository Library Act of 1962 The impetus for including electronic information in the DLP is strong The JCP has interpreted the DLP statutory provisions as extending to gov- ernment information in all formats and other congressional committees concur in the decision to disseminate certain electronic formats to depositories OTA concluded that if it is to succeed this emerging policy needs to be further developed and refined and have the support of DLP participants especially libraries GPO and the agencies that are the source of most DLP materials A variety of pilot projects demonstrations and tests involving various technologies financial arrangements and delivery mechanisms including possible involvement of the private sector is warranted Ultimately Congress may wish to 16 ways to make this information available to the public Photo credit Documents Center Robert W Woodruff Library Emory Unlvers ty Librarian assisting user at reference desk at the Robert W Woodruff Library consider a reorganization or restructuring of the current DLP in light of both electronic information dissemination options now or likely to become available and the evolving nature of libraries and the telecommunication infrastructure An important reason for electronic pilot projects is to better understand the issue of costs to users government and depository institutions If the basic underlying principle of the depository program is to retain free access to government information for users then Congress needs to be aware that there maybe additional costs associated with the introduction of certain electronic services and assist depository libraries and GPO in designing and financing Distribution of selected government information products in CD-ROM format such as the bound cumulated Congressional Record could improve access to such information and could be a cost-effective dissemination mechanism for certain datafiles There could be some additional equipment and training costs associated with this format for the depository library participants Delivery of online datafiles such as the Federal Register to the public through depository institutions requires pilottesting to determine how best to provide access to this information and how to ensure that the additional costs associated with online formats do not hinder public access or place unrealistic unmanageable financial or administrative burdens on participating libraries The results of the GAO survey of Federal information users indicate a substantial depository library demand for electronic formats The vast majority of libraries responding indicated that the Record and Register along with an index to Federal information and database of key Federal statistical series would be moderately to greatly useful in both online and CD-ROM formats as shown in Table 1-8 The GAO survey also found that many of the depository libraries have access to key information technologies as shown in Table 1-9 Table 1-8 --Depository Library Demand for Federal Information in Electronic Formats Percent of libraries responding moderately to greatly usefula Online Offline immediate CD-ROM Item access issued monthly Congressional Record 77 74 Congressional Committee Calendar Bill Status 70 60 Federal Register 86 80 Federal Agency Press Releases 46 40 Agency Reports 61 62 Comprehensive Index to Federal Information 94 90 Integrated Database of Key Federal Statistical Series 90 88 aBaS8d on responses from 318 depository libraries out Of a sample Of 451 SOURCE General Accounting Office Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 17 Table l-9 --Depository Library Access to Information Technology Number of libraries with access a 283 Microcomputer without modem 337 Microcomputer with modem for online access 352 Microfiche reader without printer 384 Microfiche reader with printer 169 CD-ROM reader 72 Videodisk player 149 Mainframe computer a Based on responses from 403 depository libraries out of a sample of 451 depository libraries Information technology SOURCE General Accounting Office Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS OTA identified several important technical management alternatives that could be implemented under a wide range of institutional scenarios and could be implemented by agency action using existing statutory authorities and with congressional concurrence These alternatives include Technical standards on text markup page document description optical disks and other areas important to information dissemination see box E The National Bureau of Standards NBS DTIC or another responsible Department of Defense component and GPO could be assigned lead responsibility presumably building on accepted or emerging private sector industry standards to the extent possible and working through the existing national and international standards organizations Governmentwide information index to major Federal information products regardless of format GPO and or NTIS could be assigned lead responsibility to consolidate and upgrade existing indices directories and inventories into one integrated index The government could contract with private firms or library and information science professionals to carry out some of this work The index could be made available in multiple formats and disseminated both directly from the government as well as via the depository libraries and private vendors perhaps in enhanced form Innovation centers to exchange learning and experience about technological innovations and user needs relevant to information dissemination Such centers could be designated or established at for example DTIC for the defense sector NBS and NTIS for the civilian executive branch and GPO for the legislative branch DTIC NBS and GPO along with several mission agencies already have a variety of laboratory and or demonstration activities under way Agencies could be required to conduct Agency X-2000 studies to creatively explore and develop their own visions of future information dissemination activities Revised Information Resources Management IRM program A variety of training career development budget reporting and management actions could be taken to give information dissemination including printing publishing public affairs press library and related activities and personnel a stronger and better understood role within the IRM concept Electronic press release service Press releases and other time-sensitive information such as crop reports weather bulletins and economic and trade data from major Federal agencies could be electronically provided directly to the press via 18 Box E --The Importance of Text Markup and Page Description Standards for Information Dissemination Text markup standards are particularly important to realize the full benefits of electronic information dissemination If government documents whether reports pamphlets manuals other text or text plus tabular and graphics material are not prepared in a standardized electronic format using standardized codes and descriptors substantial and costly recoding and rekeyboarding may be necessary at later stages of the dissemination process Text markup standards are intended to establish a consistent set of codes for labeling key elements of a document-such as chapter titles paragraph indentations tabular presentations and the like If these electronic codes are widely agreed upon arid used i e standardized then the documents can be electronically transferred from one stage in the dissemination process to another with little or no additional effort and cost if the equipment is designed to be compatible with the electronic codes Three major approaches to text markup standards are GPO logically structured full text database standard Standard Generalized Markup Language SGML an international standard that has been adopted by DoD and NBS and Office Document Architecture ODA an international standard under consideration by NBS Page description standards are also very important If the language or code used by the page composition equipment is not compatible with the code used by the output devices e g printers then additional work is required to convert the codes Sometimes it is easier just to rekeyboard and recode the entire document at significant additional cost Page description languages are intended to establish a consistent set of codes compatible with both composition and output equipment One possible page description standard is PostScript a defacto industry standard under consideration by NBS and the national and international standards organizations Another possibility is the Standard Page Description Language SPDL now being developed SOURCE National Bureau of Standards Defense Technical Information Center and U S Government Printing Office 1988 private electronic news and wire services and to the DLP A major issue concerns equity of press access and the need to ensure that cost or technical requirements do not discourage smaller less affluent and or out-of-town news organizations from realizing the potential benefits While electronic press releases can be more timely and cost-effective than messenger or mail delivery of paper releases dual format paper and electronic would appear to be necessary-at least for a lengthy transition period-for those news outlets without or lacking interest in online electronic capability Photo cred t USA TODAY Gannett Co nc all rights reserved Reporter sitting at video display terminal 19 STATUTORY OVERSIGHT CHANGES Congress could amend the Printing Act Depository Library Act and Paperwork Reduction Act to provide statutory direction for specific institutional and technical management alternatives as well as to provide general philosophical guidance on electronic information dissemination At the most basic level a fundamental crosscutting issue is public access to Federal information Debate over the use of electronic formats privatization and the like is obscuring the commitment of Congress as expressed in numerous public laws to the importance of Federal information and its dissemination in carrying out agency missions and the principles of democracy and open government A renewed congressional commitment to public access in an electronic age may be needed Congress may wish to legislate a governmentwide electronic information dissemination policy In so doing Congress would need to consider several sometimes competing considerations including enhancing public access minimizing unnecessary overlap and duplication in Federal information activities optimizing the use of electronic versus paper formats and optimizing the role of the private sector OMB has promulgated its own view albeit controversial of appropriate public policy in the form of OMB Circular A-130 The vast ma- jority of agencies do not have policies on electronic dissemination see Table 1-10 As agencies begin to develop such policies the OMB view is likely to have a dominant role in the absence of clear and positive congressional guidance Congress may wish to amend specific statutes or otherwise promulgate its own views on the basic principles addressed and policies enunciated in OMB Circular A-130 as it relates to Federal information dissemination In particular Congress could provide more specific guidance on the role of the private sector and contracting out of Federal information dissemination user charges and provision of value-added information products Congress could also make any necessary adjustments in oversight mechanisms such as establishing a Joint Congressional Committee on Government Information With respect to the Freedom of Information Act FOIA this statute too was enacted in an era when paper records were the dominant form of government information The application of FOIA to electronic formats has created a number of problems The courts have expressed a need for Congress to clarify gray areas left open by the statute For example c The case law as applied to paper information establishes that FOIA does not require agencies to create new records in Table I-l O --Federal Agency Policies on Electronic Information Dissemination Policies and procedures for Public access to agency electronic databases yes no Electronic dissemination by agency contractors yes no do not use contractors App icabi ity of FO A to electronic formats yes no ap rC nt of 114 depafirnental clvlllan agency Cofnponents responding bPerCent of 4J3 independentcivilian agency Components responding SOURCE General Accounting Office Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 Percent of agencies having documented policies I nd b Dept a 9 6 90 4 10 4 89 6 7 9 43 0 49 1 6 3 41 7 52 1 18 4 81 6 25 0 75 0 20 fulfilling requests When additional programming is required to extract information from computer systems agencies and courts have sometimes held that such programming would be analogous to record creation and therefore would not be a required part of the FOIA search process In the electronic age however some degree of reprogramming or program modification may be essential to obtain access to electronic information Another gray area involves defining a ''reasonable effort on the part of the government in searching for records responsive to a FOIA request In the computer context the programming no programming distinction has begun to separate decisions about 'reasonableness from considerations of effort This is incongruous with tradition as significant expenditures of effort continue to be involved in manual FOIA searches Retrieval of paper documents may involve extensive tracking communication with various bureaus consolidation of disparate files and substantial hand deletions of exempted materials As computer capabilities for searching segregating and consolidating of data become increasingly efficient and cost-effective computer searches could be broadened and public access enhanced Agencies may need to focus on designing new ways to respond more readily to FOIA requests for computer records Another issue is whether and under what conditions the advantages of electronic formats are such that access to the format as well as the information itself should be guaranteed Although the case law and the FOIA fee guidelines have established that computer-stored information is subject to FOIA requesters are not guaranteed access to the information in formats other than paper If large quantities of data could be more effectively utilized with the flexibility offered by magnetic tapes disks or online retrieval access to these electronic media may be important Congress could amend FOIA to bring electronic formats clearly within the statutory purview define the scope and limits of FOIA searches in an electronic environment and clarify fees and procedures for FOIA requests for electronic information For the 1990s and beyond Congress may need to decide whether the FOIA should continue to be viewed as an access to records statute or whether it should be perceived more broadly as an access to information statute Due to the explosive growth in electronic information storage processing and transmission by the Federal Government traditional views about records and searches may need to be modified to ensure even basic access to computerized public information LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Congress itself is a major source of Federal information Congressional information ranges from the Congressional Record to congressional calendars and schedules to the status of pending legislation to a wide range of committee reports and to numerous documents produced by the analytical support agencies Congressional Research Service CRS General Accounting Office GAO and Congressional Budget Office ICBO as well as OTA Most of this information has been and continues to be available in paper formats How- ever increasingly electronic formats offer significant advantages in terms of timeliness and searchability and are being utilized by private vendors and congressional in-house support offices e g the House Information Systems Office and CRS for a growing range of congressional information To a large degree OTA'S general findings about technological trends and opportunities also apply to congressional information Electronic options offer the potential to make con- 21 gressional information more quickly and widely available This can be very important for citizens and organizations-whether consumer library research labor or business in nature-- that desire to closely follow congressional activity and or participate in the legislative process As congressional offices automate increasing amounts of information are created revised and stored in electronic form This creates the potential to apply information life cycle' and 'multi-format output concepts to the legislative branch as well as to the executive branch Again common technical standards will be important in realizing this potential Congress has the opportunity to establish a strategic direction for electronic dissemination of legislative branch information The importance of congressional information to an informed citizenry and the need to ensure equitable channels of access for all interested citizens including access to electronic formats are widely accepted in principle The differences of opinion focus on the means of implementation In setting an overall direction Congress will need to determine its own level of responsibility for ensuring that electronic congressional information is readily available to the public and how that information should be made available by GPO other congressional offices and private vendors For example because of GPO's growing role in providing electronic formats to Congress as part of the electronic publishing process GPO is positioned to more actively participate in disseminating electronic congressional information to the GPO depository libraries and the public-at-large At the same time some commercial vendors would like to contract directly with Congress perhaps on a bulk rate discount basis for electronic dissemination of congressional information to libraries the public and Congress itself Finally given the large number of House Senate and congressional support offices and units involved with the creation and dissemination of congressional information Congress may wish to establish a formal coordinating mechanism to maximize the exchange of learning and minimize the potential overlap and to take advantage of the opportunities for technologically enhanced access In many respects congressional decisions on electronic dissemination of congressional information are just as important as prior decisions on radio and television coverage of congressional hearings and floor sessions ABOUT THIS REPORT The report is organized into 12 chapters Chapter 1 is the summary Chapters 2 and 3 together provide an overview of key technical and institutional trends and issues Chapter 2 presents a picture of current evolving Federal Government information dissemination technologies and activities The results of the GAO survey of Federal agencies are used extensively Chapter 3 discusses current technical trends that are relevant to Federal information dissemination and that are expected to continue or intensify for 3 to 5 years into the future and in many cases longer Chapters 4 5 6 and 7 provide substantial analysis and discussion on the major governmentwide information dissemination institutions-GPO including SupDocs NTIS and DLP Chapter 4 examines three alternative futures for GPO printing functions--continuation of a traditional ink-on-paper printing role only for both the legislative and executive branches a GPO for the legislative branch only and the so-called decentralized electronic GPO that would involve expanded electronic publishing activities and the inclusion of some electronic formats in the SupDocs sales program The results of the GAO surveys of Federal information users are used extensivel y in chapter 4 These three alternatives highlight a range of considerations important to planning GPO's future Chapter 5 examines the opportunities and challenges facing NTIS Some of the GAO user survey results are included and survey results 22 previously cited in chapters 2 and 4 are also relevant Improved cooperation between NTIS and SupDocs is also examined Much of the discussion is relevant to NTIS and SupDocs regardless of the institutional structure as long as NTIS remains in the government in some form Chapters 6 and 7 provide indepth analysis and discussion of the history and current status of GPO's Depository Library Program with respect to electronic dissemination Chapter 6 covers a range of electronic information technologies currently used or whose use is contemplated by libraries and introduces the DLP current technology and several dissemination issues Chapter 7 examines and evaluates in considerable depth a range of alternative futures for DLP with specific illustrations Two case studies are presented on the Congressional Record and the Federal Register Finally chapter 7 provides an analysis of pending DLP policy and institutional issues regarding electronic dissemination The next three chapters--8 through 10-- examine other important dimensions of Federal information dissemination Chapter 8 discusses congressional information dissemination with particular attention to two case studies on the Congressional Record and bill status information and to the dissemination practices of three congressional support agencies OTA GAO and CRS Chapter 9 presents an indepth analysis of FOIA with respect to electronic formats This chapter reviews statutory and judicial precedents on the applicability of FOIA to electronic media and examines possible directions for amending FOIA in light of the implications of technological change for basic FOIA concepts Chapter 10 focuses on the electronic press release and its implications for government-press relationships The chapter reviews the status of automation in Federal agency press offices and in the press newsroom examines the strengths and weaknesses of electronic press releases and discusses the technological and strategic choices Chapter 11 considers a wide range of policy and institutional issues that are relevant to Federal information dissemination Chapter 11 also highlights the debate over the applicability and interpretation of key policy instruments to electronic dissemination Chapter 12 discusses possible future directions for and broader implications of SupDocs and NTIS involvement in Federal electronic information dissemination Several crosscutting themes are relevant to many chapters Three of the most important themes are 1 public access to Federal information 2 user needs for Federal information and 3 the private sector role in Federal information dissemination While there are not separate chapters devoted to these topics they are discussed throughout the report Also while there is a separate chapter on technology trends technology is discussed to varying degrees in every chapter of the report Similarly while there are separate chapters on GPO NTIS and DLP there is at least something significant in every chapter of the report that is relevant to planning the future of these institutions For discussion of related topics not covered in this report see the other OTA reports listed below These reports cover such topics as the tension between public access to government information and protection of national security interests physical security and data integrity privacy rights of individuals and organizations and intellectual property rights Other reports cover the need to preserve government information for archival and historical purposes and the need to consider government information in the context of long-term social political and economic changes relevant to the information and communication infrastructure of the United States Medlars and Health Information Policy-- A Technical Memorandum OTA-TM-H11 September 1982 NTIS order #PB 83-168658 23 Federal Government Information Technology Electronic Surveillance and Civil Liberties OTA-CIT-293 October 1985 GPO stock #052-003-01015-l $3 00 NTIS order #PB 86-123 239 AS Federal Government information Technology Management Security and Congressional Oversight OTA-CIT-297 February 1986 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1026-7 $7 50 NTIS order #PB 86-205 499 AS The Regulatory Environment of Science OTA-TM-SET-34 February 1986 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1024-l $6 00 NTIS order #PB 86-182 003 AS Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information OTA-CIT302 April 1982 GPO stock #052-00301036-4 $15 00 NTIS order #PB 87-100 301 AS Federal Government Information Technology Electronic Record Systems and 1ndividual Privacy OTA-CIT-296 June 1986 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1038-l $7 50 NTIS order #PB 87-100 335 AS Commercial Newsgathering From Space OTA-TM-ISC-40 May 1987 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1066-6 $3 00 The Electronic Supervisor New Technology New Tensions OTA-CIT-333 September 1987 GPO stock 052-003-01082-8 $6 50 Defending Secretsf Sharing Data New Locks and Keys for Electronic Information OTA-CIT-31O October 1987 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1083-6 $8 50 Science Technology and the First Amendment OTA-CIT-369 January 1988 GPO stock #052 -O03-O1090-9 $3 50 Book Preservation Technologies OTA-O376 May 1988 GPO stock #052-00301103-4 $5 00 Communication Systems for an Information Age OTA-CIT forthcoming spring 1989 Scientific and Technical information Dissemination Opportunities and Problems forthcoming spring 1989 Chapter 2 Overview of Federal Information Dissemination Photo cradit Chase Studios National Institute of Health medical staff using the National Library of Medicine's Medline database CONTENTS Page Summary 27 Introduction 28 Size and Scope of Federal Information Dissemination Enterprise 28 Technological Initiatives by Federal Agencies 32 Institutional Infrastructure for Federal Information Dissemination 36 Tables Page Table 2-l Federal Expenditures on Information Dissemination Civilian and Military 29 2-2 Illustrative Agency Expenditures for Information Dissemination Fiscal Year 1987 30 2-3 Selected Federal Agency Information Dissemination Activities Fiscal Years 1983 and 1987 30 2-4 Types of Public Information Dissemination by Federal Agencies 31 2-5 Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information and Statistical Data by Format 32 2-6 Agency Use of Nonpaper Formats for Information Dissemination by Type of Information 32 2-7 Agency Use of Information Technologies 34 2-8 Agency Prototyping or Testing of Advanced Technologies 35 2-9 Federal Agency Use of Institutional Mechanisms for Information Dissemination by Format 38 2-10 Approximate Distribution Volume Fiscal Year 1987 39 2-11 GPO SupDocs and NTIS Sales Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 39 2-12 Estimated Use of Depository Libraries Fiscal Year 1985 39 2-13 Federal Civilian Departmental Agency Evaluation of Information Dissemination Channels 40 2-14 Federal Civilian Departmental Evaluations of GPO Services 40 2-15 Federal Publishers Committee Survey of GPO Services Selected Results 41 Chapter 2 Overview of Federal Information Dissemination SUMMARY Information dissemination is a significant function of the Federal Government accounting for an estimated $6 billion per year in annual expenditures for relevant executive agency activities including information clearinghouse operations printing and publishing library operations and related research development and testing This estimate does not include expenditures for the collection and development of the information disseminated or even a prorated portion of expenditures for basic agency automation and information technology procurement The primary Federal mechanisms for information dissemination are the Federal agencies themselves the U S Government Printing Office GPO which includes about 5 percent of agency publications in the GPO Superintendent of Documents Sales Program and roughly one-half of agency publications in the Depository Library Program DLP the National Technical Information Service NTIS which sells scientific and technical documents provided by the agencies the Consumer Information Center CIC which distributes free or lowcost consumer pamphlets for the agencies and various private sector vendors operating under government contract Federal information is also disseminated by numerous intermediary mechanisms such as the press libraries and commercial vendors who on their own initiative enhance and or resell government information The number of civilian agency publications in paper format appears to be declining slowly while the number of publications in electronic format has more than tripled over the past 4 years Civilian agencies reported as of fiscal year 1987 over 7 500 information products dis- seminated electronically Paper is still by far the dominant format accounting for 80 to 90 percent of total information products but significant agency use of some electronic formats is already occurring for some purposes For example statistical data are highly suited to electronic formats and based on results of the General Accounting Office GAO survey about one-third of the civilian agencies use magnetic tape or disks one-fifth floppy disks and electronic data transfer and one-tenth electronic mail for dissemination of statistical data By comparison about two-thirds of the agencies use paper and roughly one-tenth use microfiche for disseminating statistical data Many Federal agencies have taken initiatives with respect to the use of electronic information technologies for information dissemination Electronic technologies have penetrated the majority of agencies in every aspect of the information process The GAO survey results suggest roughly one-half to two-thirds of the civilian agencies make at least some use of floppy disks magnetic tapes or disks electronic data transfer and electronic mail for information collection filing and dissemination About one-third of the agencies have desktop publishing systems roughly one-half have electronic photocomposition capability and roughly one-quarter have electronic publishing systems A key characteristic of the current Federal information infrastructure is that while Federal agencies and private companies disseminate Federal information in paper and increasingly electronic formats the central governmentwide dissemination mechanisms GPO SupDocs NTIS DLP CIC are presently limited largely to paper or paper and microfiche 27 28 Evaluating agency satisfaction with the various dissemination channels is difficult Available survey data for dissemination of paper formats are subjective in nature Not surprisingly the civilian agencies rated their own dissemination services as generally of high quality timely and moderate to low in cost Agencies rated GPO slightly lower in timeliness and slightly higher in cost and NTIS somewhat lower in quality and timeliness and higher in cost Commercial vendors were rated about the same as the agency With respect to GPO there appears to be overall agency satisfaction with respect to traditional ink-onpaper composition printing and binding However there is continuing dissatisfaction among some agencies with respect to GPO cost timeliness estimating and billing procedures and marketing distribution of printed products INTRODUCTION The Federal Government today stands at a major crossroads with respect to numerous policy oversight and operational aspects of Federal information dissemination Advances in information technology over the past decade and especially in the past few years have opened up many new opportunities for information dissemination-for all segments of American society Each year the private commercial sector generates literally thousands of new information technology-based products and services including hardware software and application packages many of which are currently or potentially applicable to Federal information dissemination Over the past several years technological applications such as optical disks electronic mail and bulletin boards electronic and desktop publishing electronic printing on demand and the like have become technologically feasible and economically viable for widespread application in the Federal Government as well as the private sector The vast majority of Federal agencies are experimenting with some of these technologies and some agencies are already implementing major operational applications Capturing the full benefits of these technologies involves consideration of a wide range of Federal policy oversight and operational questions as they relate to information dissemination In order to assess this broad topic the Office of Technology Assessment OTA commissioned a series of staff and contractor research papers sought related studies and information from various executive and legislative branch agencies and drew on the results of an extensive GAO survey of Federal agency practices and plans This chapter provides a technological and institutional overview of Federal information dissemination The chapter addresses the following specific areas the size and scope of the current Federal information dissemination enterprise the technological initiatives already underway in Federal agencies and the institutional bases for Federal information dissemination Each of these is discussed below This overall picture of the Federal information dissemination enterprise provides an important part of the context for the rest of this report SIZE AND SCOPE OF FEDERAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ENTERPRISE For purposes of this study OTA defined Federal information as information collected and or developed by the Federal Government to carry out government functions and agency missions and considered public legally available to the public and not subject to exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act such as law enforcement investigative pro- 29 prietary and classified information Such public information runs the gamut from statistical data and computer models to reports periodicals and directories to rules regulations and circulars to maps charts and photographs Also OTA included most formats of Federal information in the scope of study --including paper microforms and electronic Estimating the magnitude of Federal information dissemination activities is difficult at best There are no credible prior estimates and only very rough estimates can be made since there is no systematic reporting of budget and activity data for Federal information dissemination Based on the GAO survey results with 173 agency components responding the minimum dollar amounts spent by the Federal Government civilian and military in fiscal year 1983 and fiscal year 1987 for relevant activities are shown in Table 2-1 The total of about $3 2 billion in reported fiscal year 1987 expenditures is undoubtedly conservative Inspection of individual agency responses indicates that many agencies did not provide complete responses because they did not have and or could not estimate relevant expenditures Based on examination of selected agency responses that appear to be especially well done it appears that about one percent of agency budgets on the average are devoted to information dissemination which would translate into about $6 billion 1 percent of the roughly $600 billion Federal budget excluding interest on the national debt and transTable 2-1 --Federal Expenditures on Information Dissemination Civilian and Military in billions of dollars Fiscal year Fiscal year 1983 1987 -- Agency information clearinghouse operations $1 500 Agency printing and publishing 0 900 Agency library operations 0 200 Agency research development and testing on information dissemination SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 0 005 $2 605 $1 70 1 10 0 30 0 05 $3 15 fer payments or about twice the total figure reported to GAO Agencies vary widely in the budget percentage reported to be allocated to information dissemination and many well exceed the one percent level as illustrated in Table 2-2 Also these estimates do not include the costs of dissemination of technical information for weapon systems and other applications in Department of Defense DoD which are largely sensitive or classified in nature Nor do these estimates include expenditures for the collection and development of the information disseminated or even a prorated portion of expenditures for basic agency automation and information technology procurement And these estimates do not include the cost of federally funded research development or other activities on which a significant portion of the information collection development and or dissemination was based The GAO results provide a rough profile of the number of information dissemination activities The data are presented in Table 2-3 for fiscal year 1983 and fiscal year 1987 with a breakdown for DoD civilian departments and civilian independent agencies Again due to incomplete reporting from various agencies these numbers must be considered as minimum estimates of activity levels For example GPO reports that about 58 000 titles were distributed to depository libraries in fiscal year 1987 or about 40 percent more than reported by the agencies to GAO However assuming a random distribution of errors the general trends portrayed should be reasonably accurate The data suggest the following conclusions about the Federal information dissemination enterprise DoD accounts for the largest share of total Federal Government publications with about 82 percent of the titles and 96 percent of the pages originals not copies as of fiscid year 1987 However an insignificant percentage less than 1 percent of DoD publications are sold by GPO or included in the DLP This may be explained in part because many of these documents are considered to be 30 Table 2-2 --illustrative Agency Expenditures for Information Dissemination Fiscal Year 1987 Information dissemination budget in millions of dollars Agency Total agency budget Library operations -- Information clearinghouse -- 207 8 40 5 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 05 32 5 18 3 4 7 -- 55 5 21 7 0 2 0 8 1 7 -- 2 7 1 2 1 113 1 56 8 1 8 -- 58 6 5 3 363 1 7 9 1 0 -- 8 9 2 5 14 6 3 2 1 2 19 5 3 1 239 3 Library of Congress US Navy 86 584 4 Economic Research 44 0 Services USDA Patent and Trademark 255 8 Office DOC Natn'1 Bureau of 224 8 Standards DOC Natn'1 Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin DOC Bureau of the Census DOC US Geological Survey DOI Federal Elections Commission 632 4 Research development and testing 0 6 4 6 Printing and publishing 4 1 0 5 Totals d o l l a r s a p e r c e n tb 4 7 2 0 253 1 1 25 0 3 2 8 12 9 0 4 0 2 0 4 1 0 7 8 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 101 5 2 4 0 5 0 6 3 5 3 4 Federal Trade Commission 65 0 0 6 1 2 -- 1 8 2 8 Securities Exchange Commission 114 5 1 1 0 6 -- 8 1 7 1 6 4 'Total agency expenditure for information dissemination activities b Agency Information dissemination expenditures as a percentage of the total agency budget SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 Table 2 3 --Selected Federal Agency Information Dissemination Activities Fiscal Years 1983 and 1987 Fiscal year 1983 DOD a Publications printed Number of titles 339Kd Number of pages 93M e Printed publications accepted into GPO's saies program Number of titles 323 Number of pages 80K Printed publications inciuded in Federai Depository Library Program Number of titles 762 Number of pages 111 K information products disseminated eiectronicaiiy Number of titles 104 aDoD Depaflment of Defense Agency components b DEP Civilian departmental agency components clND civilian independent agency COrnPOnefItS 'K thousands 'M milllons SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agenctes 1987 DEPb Fiscal year 1987 INDC DOD DEP IND 60K 4 2M 29K 0 63M 334K 93M 54K 3 7M 20K 0 55M 3 6K 435K 1 2K 182K 295 72K 2 8K 277K 0 9K 105K 38K 7 1 M 2 7K 0 27M 776 110K 36 5K 7 7M 3 6K 0 26M 1 461 1 001 307 6 261 1 521 ---- ---- 31 -- sensitive and or to have very narrow and limited demand Of the civilian departmental and independent agency publications totalling at least 74 000 about 5 percent are sold by GPO and about half 54 percent are included in the DLP as of fiscal year 1987 While the number of DoD publications titles and pages has remained roughly constant over the past 4 years fiscal years 1983-1987 the number of civilian agency publication titles has declined by about 17 percent and the number of pages by about 12 percent This appears to be paralleled by even a larger decline in the number of titles accepted into the GPO sales program down about 23 percent GPO reports that the total number of titles in the sales program increased from 17 513 in fiscal year 1983 to 26 123 in fiscal year 1987 up 49 percent But this includes periodicals forms carryover documents and the like in addition to current year publications and is not necessarily inconsistent The number of titles in the DLP appears to have remained roughly constant over the past 4 years with the number of pages showing a modest increase about 8 percent The Depository Program includes as of fiscal year 1987 about one order of magnitude 10 times greater number of titles than are available from the GPO sales program s The number of information products disseminated electronically appears to have increased dramatically over the past 4 years by about 200 percent for DoD 300 percent for the civilian departments and 50 percent for the civilian independent agencies The estimated total number of civilian agency electronic information products for fiscal year 1987 was 7 782 up from 2 462 in fiscal year 1983 The scope of Federal information dissemination cuts across all types of public information As reported to GAO by 114 civilian departmental components and 48 civilian independent agencies the profile is shown in Table 2-4 The formats currently used for Federal information dissemination cover the entire spectrum Paper is still by far the dominant format However significant use of some electronic formats has already occurred For the 114 civilian departmental agency components and 48 civilian independent agencies reporting to GAO nonpaper formats are used most extensively for dissemination of scientific and technical information and for statistical information as indicated in Table 2-5 The use of nonpaper formats is also occurring although on a more selective and limited basis for certain other types of information The uses of nonpaper formats reported by more than 5 percent of the civilian departmental agencies responding are shown in Table 2-6 by type of information In sum Federal information dissemination has already begun the transition to significant use Table 2 4 --Types of Public Information Dissemination by Federal Agencies Percent of agencies responding Departmental Types of public information agencies Pamphlets bulletins 82 Press releases 79 Statistical data 75 Directories catalogs bibliographies 69 Manuals 64 Scientific and technical information 63 Contractual specs documents 63 Administrative reports 62 Rules regulations directives circulars 62 Maps charts photos 54 Decisions opinions 46 Professional journals proceedings 45 Laws statutes 41 Software products 30 6 Satellite imaaetvldata SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 Independent agencies 94 94 75 83 67 65 83 88 85 50 71 54 44 25 6 Table 2-5 -Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information and Statistical Data by Format Dissemination of scientific and technical information Percent of agencies responding Departmental Format agencies 61 Paper 19 Microfiche Electronic data transfer 15 14 Magnetic tape disk 13 Videotape Floppy disk 9 Microfilm 8 Film 8 Electronic mail 6 6 Electronic bulletin board Videodisk 2 Independent aaencies 65 21 10 13 8 10 6 4 8 2 -- Dissemination of statistical data Percent of agencies respond i ng Paper 73 75 Magnetic tape disk 32 29 Floppy disk 19 17 Electronic data transfer 18 10 Microfiche 12 13 Electronic mail 8 8 Microfilm 5 13 Electronic bulletin board 4 4 -- Videotape 2 -- Film 1 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 of electronic formats While paper is still dominant it appears that electronic formats are already used more frequently than microfilm or microfiche for many types of information While microform still has important archival benefits the sectors in which microfiche is used relatively heavily e g scientific and technical information Table 2-6 --Agency Use of Nonpaper Formats for Information Dissemination by Type of Information Type of information Administrative reports Electronic mail Electronic data transfer Floppy disk Magnetic tape disk Microfiche Pamphlets bulletins Microfiche Electronic mail Press releases Electronic mail Electronic data transfer Videotape Electronic bulletin board Directories catalogs bib iographics Microfiche Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Manuals Floppy disk Contractual specs documents Floppy disk Rules regulations directives circulars Electronic mail Floppy disk Maps charts photos Film Software products Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Electronic data transfer Percent of agencies responding 14 12 8 6 5 10 9 13 7 6 5 11 9 9 5 5 5 9 6 8 18 17 6 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 statistical data directories bibliographies are also those in which new technologies such as compact optical disks offer the greatest potential TECHNOLOGICAL INITIATIVES BY FEDERAL AGENCIES Many Federal agencies have taken initiatives with respect to the use of electronic information technologies for Federal information dissemination and related activities The number and scope of these initiatives have grown dramatically over the past 4 years One indicator is the amount of agency spending for research development and testing on informa- tion dissemination Collectively agencies reported to GAO that this expenditure increased from $5 million to $50 million between fiscal year 1983 and fiscal year 1987 This dollar amount is undoubtedly low since many agencies did not report or reported incompletely on this item If DoD is included the dollar amounts are low by at least an order of 33 magnitude based on separate DoD estimates For example the DoD Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistics Program CALS alone is spending on the orderof$150 million per year The primary focus of CALS is on weapon system technical data including technical documents such as engineering drawings and specifications developed in support of weapon systems acquisition much of which is sensitive or classified However the magnitude of increase is probably accurate--a roughly 1 000 percent cumulative increase over the past 4 years There is at present no reporting system in DoD or the civilian agencies that systematically collects relevant expenditure or activity data The GAO survey results provide a remarkable picture of agency operational use of electronic information technologies for information dissemination OTA has relied primarily on the GAO survey results for the civilian departmental agencies as being the most representative As discussed in chapter 1 the defense agencies did not circulate the GAO survey instrument to many major subcabinet agency components contrary to GAO instructions therefore the defense agency responses are likely to be biased by the aggregate responses of the major military departments On the other hand the independent agency responses are dominated by a large number of small agencies with a similar result--the likelihood of bias in the overall aggregate results However both the departmental and independent agency results are reported where particularly appropriate For 114 civilian departmental agency components and 48 independent agencies reporting electronic technologies have penetrated the majority of agencies in every aspect of the information process The rank order of technologies in operational use is listed in Table 2-7 The survey results do not of course give the absolute magnitude of each of the above as a percentage of total activity They provide the relative use and thus may tend to overstate actual use In other words the survey results indicate the percentages of agencies responding that use a specific technology but not the absolute number of each technology in use For example 34 percent of civilian departmental agencies report use of desktop publishing but the survey instrument did not ask nor did the agencies provide the absolute number of desktop publishing systems Nonetheless the qualitative penetration levels of these technologies are overall far greater than indicated in any known prior survey It is also noteworthy that significant percentages of civilian departmental agencies are currently prototyping or pilot testing advanced technologies for information storage and dissemination including those listed in Table 2-8 Also it appears that about half of the civilian departmental components will soon have desktop publishing systems 34 percent already have operational capability and another 15 percent are prototyping or pilot-testing about one-half will soon have electronic photocomposition capability 44 percent now plus 8 percent in prototyping or pilot-testing and about one-third will soon have electronic publishing systems 21 percent now plus 11 percent prototyping or pilot-testing For the independent agencies more than one half will have desktop publishing 29 percent now with another 31 percent prototyping or pilot-testing onehalf already have electronic photocomposition with another 13 percent prototyping or pilot-testing and about two-fifths will have electronic publishing 31 percent now plus 13 percent in prototype or pilot testing Where available quantitative estimates of Federal Government use of key technologies are generally consistent with the results of the GAO survey For example based on all available data OTA estimates that the Federal microcomputer inventory has increased from a few thousand in 1980 to conservatively over 500 today with a million microcomputers likely within 2 years if current agency procurement plans are fully implemented The microcomputer is a key component of agency electronic publishing and dissemination activities OTA estimates that the Federal agency inventory of high-end electronic laser printers has increased from a handful in 1980 to several hundred today and low-end desktop laser 34 Table 2-7 --Agency Use of Information Technologies Technology Information collection filing Floppy disk Magnetic tape disk Electronic data transfer computer to computer Electronic mail Computerized telephone calls Nonpaper storage Floppy disk Magnetic tape disk Micrographics microfilm fiche Videodisk CD-ROM Compact Disk-Read Only Memory Optical disk WORM CD-I Compact Disk-Interactive Optical disk-erasable Printing Computer graphics Laser and non-impact printing Photo-offset printing Computer-aided page makeup Electronic photocomposition Desktop publishing systems Electronic publishing systems Microform printing Electronic dissemination Floppy disk Magnetic tape disk Electronic data transfer Electronic mail Videotape Electronic bulletin board Teleconferencing Film Broadcast TV Videodisk One-way cableTV Videoconferencing Digital cartographic systems CD-ROM Selective dissemination of info Expert systems Videotext teletext Interactive cable TV CD-1 Depart mental agencies Independent agencies 73 64 60 50 18 67 63 56 48 21 76 66 54 9 4 1 0 0 73 73 71 6 8 4 2 2 66 64 54 50 44 34 21 18 58 81 63 52 50 29 31 29 61 58 50 46 46 35 33 30 16 9 8 8 7 4 4 3 3 3 0 58 60 52 40 52 17 33 31 19 6 10 8 2 2 8 2 6 2 -- SOURCE GAO Surveyof Federal Agencies 1987 printers and desk top publishing software have increased from very few in 1980 to several tens of thousands today Since a microcomputer laser printer and software are the major components of a desktop publishing system OTA conservatively estimates that there are 30 000 desktop publishing systems and 300 high-end electronic publishing systems in the Federal Government The GAO survey results are generally consistent with the results of OTA's own research and contractor case studies of selected agencies For example all three military services Army Navy and Air Force as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense have major electronic publishing and dissemination systems under development or in operation In the civilian sector the U S Geological Sur- 35 Table 2-8 --Agency Prototyping or Testing of Advanced Technologies Percent of agencies responding Departmental Independent agencies agencies Storage technology 15 1 0 CD-ROM a 6 2 CD-lb C 10 10 WORM Dissemination technology CD-ROM CD4 Expert systems 11 5 7 10 2 8 NOTES Cornpa ct Disk Read Only Memory bCompact Disk Interactive Read Mawlmf a Cwr te once SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 vey and Bureau of the Census among others are col laboratingon information dissemination via Compact Disk-Read Only Memory CDROM and digital cartographic technologies A capsule description of selected highlights is given below DoD Office of the Secretary of Defense OSD DoD is implementing the Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistics Support CALS program designed as an integrated system for the creation storage revision and dissemination of technical information relevant to weapon systems CALS is designed to use state-ofthe-art electronic publishing technology and incorporates an extensive set of technical standards for electronic exchange of information page markup graphics and the like The objective is eventually to convert current paper flows of information to digital electronic flows so that engineering drawings technical manuals logistics records and life-cycle data are created and accessed in electronic formats CALS participants include OSD Army Navy Air Force the Defense Logistics Agency and the private defense contractors The CALS consolidated budget for DoD is roughly $150 million per year DoD Defense Technical Information Center DTIC DTIC a component of the Defense Logistics Agency is implementing a Defense Applied Information Technol ogy Center in cooperation with OSD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff The Center includes four laboratories 1 Defense Gateway Laboratory which will facilitate electronic access to over 800 diverse DoD commercial and Federal databases via the Defense Gateway Information System and will utilize user-friendly search software along with an online database catalog 2 High-Density Information Systems Laboratory which will develop highdensity optical disk storage and retrieval systems with electronic printing publishing and dissemination capabilities 3 Artificial Intelligence Decision Support Laboratory which will explore state-of-the-art software for diagnostics monitoring control and information retrieval and will research the application of AI expert system software and display techniques to defense information needs including online interfacing with the Defense Gateway Information System and 4 Interactive Video Laser Disk Systems Laboratory which will explore nnovative disk techniques for training prospective users of the various hightechnology systems under development NOAA National Geophysical Data Center NGDC NGDC has prepared a prototype CD-ROM on selected geomagnetic and solar-terrestrial physics data including data on solar flares sunspots and wind NGDC makes this data available to users at reduced cost e g the disks cost about $50 each at a volume of 600 copies- including costs of data preparation software premastering mastering and duplication --compared to a cost of about $5OO for the same data on magnetic tape The CD-ROM runs on any IBM-PC AT or XT or compatible microcomputer with 512 kilobyte random access memory 10 megabyte hard-disk drive standard floppy-disk drive and CD-ROM reader and software using the High Sierra standard at a total cost of under $4 000 By comparison magnetic tapes require a mainframe or minicomputer and peripheral equipment at a total cost of several tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more DOI U S Geological Survey USGS USGS has prepared a prototype CD-ROM on mapping data for the Gulf of Mexico known as Project Gloria The prototype was prepared with NOAA which developed the search software and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which developed an interactive image display program The combined software permits the user to search the database by geographical mapping areas latitude and longitude and to display the data in graphic and variable image formats USGS views microcomputer-based CD-ROM applications as the key to dramatically improving access to and reducing the cost of many earth science databases maintained by USGS NOAA NASA and other Federal agencies and accordingly has already purchased CD-ROM premastering equipment DOC Bureau of the Census The Census Bureau offers a full range of products in electronic format in addition to paper and microfiche Electronic formats include CENDATA an online information service including press releases statistical summaries product announcements and the like and available via DIALOG Information Services a private vendor electronic bulletin boards that provide instantaneous access to selected census data including most CENDATA entries to participants in the State Data Center program and the Federal-State Cooperative Estimates Program floppy disks contain- ing data from such Census reports as the County and City Data Book and County Business Patterns and on request data downloaded from magnetic tapes in the Census inventory and magnetic tapes that contain large volumes of Census data frequently in more detail than is available in the paper publications and sell for $175 per tape 6 250 bits per inch In the future CD-ROMs will be used for dissemination of statistical data to microcomputer users Census has already prepared prototype disks and envisions a significant role for CD-ROM for distributing the results of the 1990 census In the legislative branch GPO has initiated technology innovation projects in several areas including dial-up desktop to mainframe electronic printing capability dial-up fiber optic links for remote photocomposition and long-distance electronic data transfer While GPO disseminates its information products primarily in paper format and secondarily microfiche the majority of inputs to GPO is already in electronic format GPO pilot projects are discussed in ch 4 7 and 8 Other executive agency electronic pilot projects are discussed in ch 3 5 and 10 In sum the current initiatives of the Federal Government taken as a whole indicate a very significant use of advanced information technology While use varies widely by agency and even within agencies overall the government appears to be at or close to the threshold where technology-based electronic information dissemination can be a significant and integral part of the Federal information infrastructure INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR FEDERAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION The primary institutional mechanisms used for Federal information dissemination are the Federal agencies themselves GPO NTIS Consumer Information Center CIC located in Pueblo CO DLP and private sector vendors contractors Federal information is also disseminated by numerous intermediary mechanisms such as the press libraries interest groups congressional offices and the like Almost all Federal agencies and certainly all Cabinet departments have some explicit -- statutory authority for information dissemination and many have multiple statutory authorities Because Federal agencies collect and or develop the bulk of Federal information they are generally the most knowledgeable about their own information products and services and frequently are the best informed about the current and potential users of that information Many agencies have formal and or informal mechanisms to discuss information needs and problems with users According to the GAO survey results for 114 departmental agency components many agencies directly disseminate a wide range of types and formats of Federal information GPO or more precisely the GPO Superintendent of Documents SupDocs is statutorily authorized to sell selected agency documents to the general public The documents selected for the GPO sales program represent only a small fraction a few percent of all government publications and are ones judged by GPO marketing specialists to have significant demand and or those that by law must be sold to the public Documents sold by GPO cover a wide range of types of Federal information but the formats are limited primarily to paper and microfiche with a few items available in magnetic tape format See ch 4 and 5 for further discussion of SupDocs activities NTIS pursuant to public law sells scientific and technical information provided by the mission agencies The types of information products available from NTIS are much more limited than those available from the agencies or GPO and are provided to NTIS on a voluntary basis NTIS products have very limited demand about 10 copies per item compared to GPO products NTIS sells primarily microfiche and paper formats with some sales of magnetic tape and floppy disk formats See ch 5 for further discussion of NTIS activities CIC operated on a reimbursable basis by GPO for the General Services Administration pursuant to public law primarily facilitates the distribution of consumer-oriented pamphlets and bulletins from the agencies These materials are usually short and are available free or at a small fee CIC products are limited to paper formats -- -- -- 37 DLP is a cooperative program by which agency documents whether or not they are sold via GPO or NTIS are provided to a network of about 1 400 libraries around the United States Over 50 regional depository libraries receive all documents distributed while the other depository libraries select which types of documents or titles they wish to receive DLP was established by public law and is operated by GPO It serves as part of an information safety net by which the government funds the distribution of materials to designated libraries DLP includes all types of Federal information but has been limited until now to paper and microfiche formats See ch 6 and 7 for further discussion of DLP activities Finally private sector contractors play a role in disseminating information for many of the agencies Since in general government information cannot be copyrighted numerous private sector vendors repackage add value and sell or resell a wide variety of types of Federal information in a wide variety of formats The dissemination of agricultural information developed by the U S Department of Agriculture USDA provides a good illustration of the private sector role USDA information is disseminated directly by agency components through private contractors via private sector online gateways and by private sector value-added providers For example the ED I Electronic Dissemination of Information service is provided online on a fee-for-service basis by the U S Department of Agriculture USDA through a contract with Martin Marietta Corporation ED I provides time-sensitive daily weekly and monthly reports and news releases from USDA agencies AGRICOLA an extensive USDA bibliographic reference database on all aspects of agriculture is provided online via DIALOG Information Services a commercial database vendor USDA Online a USDA current information service including news releases and short reports is provided via ITT Dialcom a commercial online electronic mail gateway ED I AGRICOLA and USDA Online are information products developed by USDA but disseminated online via private vendors or 38 contractors There are also many online information products that make use of USDA information but are developed as well as disseminated by the private sector For example Deane Publishing sells AgLine an online information service that covers USDA daily commodity reports and updates and also offers electronic mail and software capabilities Pioneer Hi-Bred International sells AGRIBUSINESS U S A a comprehensive online database that indexes agricultural business trade and government publications This database is available via DIALOG Information Services a commercial vendor As a final example Vance publishing sells ProNet an online news and information service on the produce industry that incorporates a variety of price market weather and related information from USDA and elsewhere The four governmentwide dissemination agencies collectively distribute about 107 million copies of documents in paper or microfiche format per year as summarized in Table 2-10 Of these dissemination agencies only GPO SupDocs and NTIS maintain customer profiles Percentage estimates are shown in Table 2-11 The profiles for SupDocs and NTIS are fairly similar although the use of different categories makes comparisons somewhat difficult In any event the largest customer group is business To keep this in perspective consumers are by definition the primary customer group for CIC and the libraries are the primary DLP customers Of course libraries largely serve an intermediary role and the ultimate customers of DLP are the patrons of the individual depository libraries DLP does not at present maintain comprehensive user statistics although a survey is in progress However a 1985 estimate suggests that over 10 million persons use DLP each year as detailed in Table 2-12 although these estimates have not been validated The GAO survey results indicate that the 114 civilian departmental agency components responding use several institutional mechanisms for information dissemination with respect to the formats indicated as shown in Table 2-9 This highlights one of the key characteristics of the current Federal information infrastructure while individual Federal agencies and private companies disseminate Federal information in paper and electronic formats the central governmentwide dissemination mechanisms are presently limited largely to paper or paper and microfiche Both GPO SupDocs and NTIS sell a small number of products in electronic format but this represents an insignificant percentage of total sales volume for either The GAO survey attempted to measure agency satisfaction with the various dissemination channels for typical agency reports i e 50-100 pages paper format typeset some graphics specified deadline There are numerous problems in interpreting and using these data Not surprisingly the civilian departmental agencies rated their own dissemination services as generally of high quality timely and moderate to low in cost for paper products This is of course a self-assessment and Table 2-9 --Federal Agency Use of Institutional Mechanisms for Information Dissemination by Format -- Percent of agencies responding Institution Paper Own agency 92 Gpo Sup Docs 65 NTIS 37 CIC 18 Depository Libraries 52 Private sector vendors contractors 48 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 Electronic data transfer Microfiche Elect ronic mail 11 25 9 9 23 -- 12 7 1 1 1 -- -- 9 -- -- -- 3 Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk 40 33 3 7 -- 1 11 -- 2 15 39 Table 2 10 --Approximate Distribution Volume Fiscal Year 1987 Dissemination agency GPO SupDocs free a GPO SupDocs sales b NTIS sales CIC free DLP free Total Distribution volume millions of copies 30 27 6 21 23 107 aB law and re q hde c # aMe SOURCE US Government Prlntlng Office and National Techn cal Information SewIce 1988 Table 2 ll -- GPO SupDocs and NTIS Sales Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 Percent of total sales -- Business Private individuals Foreign Federal State and local government Universities and c o l l e g e s a GPOI SupDocs 5927 --a NTIS 64 U S only - 4 general public 20 business and government 8 6 6 6 includes public libraries GPO foreign customers Included In all other categories as appropriate except Government SOURCE U S Government Prtntlng Off Ice and National Technical Information Service 1988 Table 2-12 --Estimated Use of Depository Libraries Fiscal Year 1985 -- Actual a 1 188 No Ilbrarles reporting Avg no weekly users 141 per library Total weekly users 167 508 Total annual users 8 710 416 a b - Projected b 1 400 141 197 400 10 264 800 Based on I Ibrary estimates numbers not valldated and may tnclude undercounts overcounts or doublecounts multlple users per person Projects the average use based on the 1 188 Ilbrarles reporting to all of the approximate 1 400 depository Ilbrarles SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 its validity cannot be objectively determined from the survey results Agencies rated GPO slightly lower in timeliness and slightly higher in cost for paper products relative to agency views of themselves NTIS was rated by agencies as somewhat lower in quality and timeliness and higher in cost for paper products DLP was evaluated as slightly less timely Commercial vendors were rated about the same as the agency itself The full comparative data are shown in Table 2-13 normalized to 100 percent and expressed as a percentage of the agencies responding to each question based on 114 civilian departmental components responding Given the subjective and general nature of the agency evaluations these results should be interpreted cautiously For example the perceived problems with the quality and timeliness of NTIS documents could be due largely to poor quality and late delivery of copies provided to NTIS by source agencies Also the perception that GPO NTIS and DLP dissemination is less timely than agency dissemination could reflect the role of GPO and NTIS as secondary rather than primary distributors of agency documents and the delays inherent in a secondary role And the perception that NTIS documents are more costly than agency GPO and commercial sources may reflect the very low volume of sales per NTIS title and resulting higher per unit costs Finally some of the agency responses appear to be questionable For example the majority of agencies rated the cost of DLP dissemination as moderate rather than low or very low yet for many agencies there is no cost for DLP dissemination Agencies only pay printing and binding costs when they provide copies directly to DLP for documents not produced by or procured from GPO The GAO survey requested additional evaluation detail for GPO The results indicated that the majority of the departmental agency components responding were satisfied or very satisfied with publications layout composition printing quality printing timeliness binding cataloging marketing sales distribution and depository library services provided by GPO The one area where one-half were neutral neither satisfied or dissatisfied or dissatisfied was printing cost Some dissatisfaction was also indicated with respect to marketing sales printing timeliness and distribution as indicated in Table 2-14 in normalized percentages based on the civilian departmental 40 Table 2-13 --Federal Civilian Departmental Agency Evaluation of Information Dissemination Channels QUALITY Dissemination channel Very high Agency 29 8 GPO 20 9 NTIS 12 5 Clc 45 0 DLP 19 3 Commercial 22 2 Dissemination channel Very great Agency 27 9 GPO 9 6 NTIS -- Clc 21 1 DIP 14 8 Commercial 13 0 Percent of agencies responding High Moderate 45 2 56 9 30 0 50 0 44 2 53 7 25 0 19 4 30 0 5 0 34 6 22 2 - - Low -- 1 4 25 0 -- -- 1 9 TIMELINESS Percent of agencies responding Moderate Some Great extent extent 45 223 1 2 9 31 5 45 2 11 0 22 5 57 5 10 0 36 8 10 5 31 6 25 9 3 7 50 0 37 0 40 7 7 4 Very -- low 1-4 2 5 -- 1 9 -- Little or no extent 1 0 2 7 10 0 -- 5 6 1 9 COST Percent of agencies responding Very high Dissemination channel Agency 1 9 GPO 6 9 NTIS 22 5 Clc - DLP 1 9 Commercial -- High Moderate 15 3 23 3 45 0 15 0 7 5 14 8 63 5 61 6 27 5 65 0 56 6 79 6 Lo 13 5 8 2 2 5 5 0 11 4 5 6 Very low '5 8 -- 2 5 15 0 22 6 -- - SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 agency components responding Note that of the l14 agency components that participated the number that actually commented on specific GPO services ranged from 54 to 91 as indicated inTable 2-14 These 1987 GAO survey results can be compared with the results of a 1987 survey conducted by the Federal Publishers Committee FPC an interagency group of printing publishing and public information officials and a 1983 survey conducted by GPO itself While the FPC survey included many other topics it did cover several cost timeliness and marketing distribution topics with the results indicated in Table 2-15 The FPC survey results must be interpreted cautiously since the overall response rate was only about 10percent 48respondents out of the475persons who were sent the questionnaire FPC has noted thatthe48respondents included officials from nine cabinet departments Agricul- Table 2-14 --Federal Civilian Departmental Evaluations of GPO Services -- Percent of agencies responding GPOService N o a Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Publications layout 47 '78 0 12 0 10 0 0 Composition 66 81 5 10 8 7 7 Printing quality 91 80 0 12 2 7 8 Printing timeliness 91 66 7 17 8 15 6 Printing cost 87 50 0 36 0 14 0 Binding 82 74 1 19 7 6 2 Cataloging 39 73 0 24 3 2 7 Marketing sales 57 57 9 26 3 15 8 Distribution 67 67 2 21 9 10 9 Depository library 54 78 9 19 3 1 8 a Numberof agency components commenting on each GPO service SOURCE GAO Surveyof Federal Agencies 1987 ture Commerce Defense Energy Health and Human Services Housing and Urban Development Interior Justice and Labor and about a dozen independent agencies FPC has 41 Table 2-15 --Federal Publishers Committee Survey of GPO Services Selected Results Number of respondents Area of concern Adequate Bllllng delays and 8 discrepancies Cost of GPO lnhouse work 9 Delivery date reliability 14 Quallty timeliness and cost controls of GPO contractors 11 Accuracy and adequacy of S U PD O C S s a l e s i n f o r m a t i o n 1 3 I Needs m provement 29 7 22 25 11 SOURCE Fed2rd Publishers Committee Survey 1987 submitted the complete survey results and related recommendations to GPO for comment and followup action where appropriate In 1983 the GPO Inspector General conducted an audit of customer satisfaction with GPO services based on a questionnaire sent to agency customers The response rate was over 90 percent with 125 out of 136 agencies completing the questionnaire Six areas appeared to be of greatest concern to customers with 38 to 70 percent of the respondents dissatisfied at least some of the time with regard to 1 lack of advance notice to agencies when due dates slip 2 failure to complete jobs on time 3 failure to bill jobs in a timely manner 'Nlemorandum from John 11 hlounts Chairman Federal Publishers 'omrnittee to Ralph E Kennickell Jr I'uhlic Print r on '' Recommendations from Federal I'uhlishers C'ommit tee to oiernment Printing Off ice hla ' 13 1 Wfi 4 failure to provide accurate cost estimates in a timely manner 5 improper or unclear levying of surcharges and 6 improper packaging labeling or delivering of jobs by GPO contractors This survey is of course dated and GPO has not conducted a similar followup survey In addition to being 5 years old the 1983 GPO survey has been criticized because it was based on the opinions and perceptions of GPO's customer agencies The GPO Inspector General did not attempt to validate the responses by checking records or seeking corroboration from multiple sources within a given agency However the 1987 GAO and FPC surveys are subject to this same criticism Taking all information into account there appears to be overall satisfaction with GPO services with respect to traditional ink-onpaper composition printing and binding but continuing dissatisfaction among some agencies with respect to cost timeliness estimating and billing procedures and possibly marketing distribution of printed products GPO has instituted improvements in its customer service operations in recent years And FPC has acknowledged that GPO has greatly increased its responsiveness to agency needs but FPC is not satisfied that many of the longstanding problems are being resolved Opportunities for further improvement are considered in chapters 4 and 11 'Ibid Chapter 3 Key Technology Trends Relevant to Federal Information Dissemination i Clockwise from top left National Library of Medicine CD-ROM Disk phott credit Doug Jones National Library of Medicine satellite photo credit USA Today all rights reserved and gallery of Bureau of the Census dati products photo credit Neil Tillman Bureau of the Census CONTENTS summary Introduction and Overview Information Systems Integration The Microcomputer Revolution The Continuing Role of Paper and Microform Electronic Publishing Desktop Publishing High-End Electronic Publishing Electronic Forms Management Computer Graphics Scanners and Printers Online Information Dissemination Online Information Retrieval Telecommunications Electronic Mail Optical Disks Expert Systems Technical Standards 45 47 47 48 49 51 51 52 54 54 55 57 57 58 60 61 63 64 Chapter 3 Key Technology Trends Relevant to Federal Information Dissemination SUMMARY The results of the General Accounting Office GAO surveys of Federal information users see chapter 4 and prior studies on the future of paper and paper-based media such as books indicate that paper is expected to decline only marginally as a preferred format in the next few years although this decline could become significant for specific types of information e g bibliographic reference statistical scientific and technical that are highly suited to electronic access and manipulation The outlook for microform is less favorable Microfilm is currently used very little for Federal information dissemination microfiche while used extensively is expected to decline significantly as a preferred format except for records storage and archival purposes In sharp contrast the GAO surveys of Federal agencies see ch 2 and Federal information users ch 4 indicate that plans and preferences for dissemination in electronic formats e g electronic mail and bulletin boards optical disks are projected to increase dramatically This chapter surveys a number of major technologies and key technical trends relevant to Federal information dissemination Several key technical trends are expected to continue conservatively for 3 to 5 years and in many cases for at least 10 years and are combining in such a way that most of these plans and preferences are likely to become reality These trends include continued steady improvement in the price performance of microcomputers which already bring the power of mainframe computers to the desktop at the cost of a stereo set microcomputers pro- vide the technological underpinning for numerous information collection processing and dissemination activities continued rapid proliferation of desktop publishing systems comprised of a microcomputer nonimpact printer and page composition software and sometimes a scanner for paper input in the most basic configuration continued rapid improvement in the power of desktop publishing software to handle more complex documents formats fonts and the like continued steady improvement in the price performance of nonimpact printers with low-cost desktop printers offering output quality acceptable for most documents and high-end printers offering quality comparable to some phototypesetters similar improvement in the price performance of scanners with the capability of high-end scanners to handle a wide range of type styles and sizes migrating to desktop scanners as a combined result of the above trends overall continued improvement in the ability of desktop systems to produce higher quality more complex documents thus further reducing the gap between desktop and high-end electronic publishing and phototypesetting systems c for complex large-volume and or large institutional applications continued improvement in high-end electronic publishing characterized by -declining cost of software and workstations --increasingly heavy competition between desktop and high-end systems 45 46 --rapidly growing networking of desktop and high-end systems --rapidly growing networking of workstations with high-end nonimpact printers and phototypesetters --increasingly heavy competition between and among software workstation phototypesetter and computer equipment vendors as well as systems integrators and service bureaus and --continued migration of electronic publishing to other applications such as forms management and multi-format output continued rapid increase in the number and use of computerized online information services especially for information search and retrieval electronic display and remote printing-on-demand when needed continued steady increase in the number of online information gateways that provide the channels for electronic information exchange such as electronic data transfer mail facsimile and bulletin boards but not the information itself these gateways include common carriers interexchange and bell operating companies value-added companies and nonprofit and governmental systems continued advances in the telecommunication technologies that underlie online information services and gateways including packet switching fiber optics satellite networking FM subcarrier transmission and integrated switched digital systems rapid advances in optical disk technologies and applications especially for purposes of information storage and dissemination advances include --accelerating penetration of Compact Disk-Read Only Memory CD-ROM as remaining standards issues are resolved --maturation of Write Once Read Manytimes WORM and erasable optical disks compact and full size as technology stabilizes and standards are established --emergence of Compact Disk-Interactive CD-I and other optical disk applications rapid advances in development of expert systems applicable to many aspects of information dissemination-including technical writing indexing information retrieval and printing management and continued steady progress in development and acceptance of standards for telecommunication data transfer optical disks and page description and text markup The net cumulative effect of these technical trends is to afford the Federal Government the opportunity to realize the kind of significant performance improvements and cost reductions that have been demonstrated in the private sector Also the convergence of these technical trends along with progress in standards-setting makes information systems integration a real possibility for the Federal Government and other users Systems integration permits the coupling of input storage processing and output technologies in ways that permit multi-media e g paper microform online electronic and stored electronic dissemination from the same electronic database In essence the key technologies and technical trends highlighted above are central to the emerging movement towards systems integration 47 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW A major objective of this study is to identify and discuss new or evolving ways in which information technology can or might be applied by the U S Government Printing Office GPO National Technical Information Service NTIS and other Federal agencies to the dissemination of Federal information An important step in this process is the identification of key technology trends that are relevant to information dissemination OTA has surveyed a representative crosssection of major technologies relevant to information dissemination The presentation in this chapter emphasizes electronic technologies although paper and microform are discussed briefly Conventional ink-on-paper printing technologies including prepress and binding are considered in chapter 4 in the context of alternative futures for GPO As discussed in chapter 4 GPO has already upgraded its conventional printing technology to a level comparable to most of the private printing industry However GPO has much less experience with online information systems expert systems optical disks and high-end electronic publishing NTIS is in a similar situation see ch 5 as is the Depository Library Program DLP Libraries in general especially the larger research libraries have more experience with electronic systems see ch 6 Thus this chapter is highly relevant to general consideration of future technological directions for GPO NTIS and DLP as well as the Federal mission agencies This chapter emphasizes significant current or emerging technical trends that are expected to persist for at least 3 to 5 years into the future In many instances the key trends are likely to continue even longer-perhaps for 10 years or more In the aggregate the trends provide what OTA believes is a reliable overall technology planning framework for Federal information dissemination However the presentation in this chapter is not intended to be used in the evaluation and selection of specific equipment and systems Some examples of equipment vendors and or applications are pro- vided but for illustrative purposes only Some cost and performance data also are included for illustrative purposes only These data change rapidly and should be checked with vendors if product or service-specific evaluation is contemplated Also the presentation is geared to the level of the informed lay person not to the technical specialist For discussion of specialized information technologies not included here e g digital data tapes digital cartographic systems the reader should consult a forthcoming OTA staff paper on Federal Scientific and Technical Information Dissemination Finally for the discussion of telecommunication technologies not covered here e g digital facsimile videotext cable television the reader should consult OTA'S forthcoming report on Commumnications Systems for An information Age 1989 Information Systems Integration One important finding is that a combination of technological advances cost reductions and current or pending standards has opened up for the first time a real possibility of information systems integration in the Federal Government The importance of this development cannot be overstated Until recently the Federal Government along with other major information system users had no choice but to obtain an essentially incompatible complement of information technology hardware and software such that system integration across the government and major agencies was very difficult if not impossible Integration of specific systems within agencies was possible But even here major integration efforts for example in the Department of Defense still led to numerous incompatible systems The relevance to Federal information dissemination is immediate and direct It is now possible to conceive of plan for design and implement an integrated information dissemination system or more likely a network or hierarchy of systems for the Federal Government This is possible because of advances in 48 a whole range of relevant technologies-including input storage processing and output technologies-that can deal with the entire range of media including paper microform magnetic disk optical disk and direct electronic And the cost performance trends in these technologies are likely to make a wide range of applications cost-effective when compared to conventional methods Two other related trends are equally important One is the trend toward standards for systems interconnection at the hardware software and applications levels There is strong movement among the vendor and user communities and in the various national and international standards bodies towards a hierarchy of standards that will make it possible for a wide range of information systems to talk with and exchange information with each other Another trend is the rapid penetration of computerized information systems in all sectors of society but especially in the business educational and research communities This means that many of those who provide information to the government and use information from the government can now or soon be electronically connected and can where appropriate send and receive information in a variety of electronic formats This in no way suggests an end to paper-based information products-- but only that paper can be used where it is really needed and in a more efficient and costeffective manner Realizing this potential for information systems integration requires of course more than just the technology and standards A variety of institutional and policy changes maybe necessary and various alternatives will be discussed in later chapters Nonetheless it appears that the technology the industry the standards and the government are all moving towards systems integration It is now possible to envision in the relatively short term a Federal information dissemination environment that includes the following illustrative elements document data entry e g scanning word processing facsimile document revision composition e g electronic publishing-desktop and high-end computer graphics document storage e g electronic database optical disk document output e g electronic publishing laser printing photo offset and document distribution e g optical disk electronic mail computer diskette online electronic paper copies microform Indeed electronic publishing can be viewed as a key integrative technology because it can serve to integrate the various formats paper and microform as well as electronic of information input processing storage and output within a common technical framework Electronic publishing can also serve to connect the various so-called islands of automation in an organization-office automation publishing systems database systems records management document storage systems and the like Standards on information exchange are critical as is the need to find ways for the people who work in various areas of automation to work more effectively together The Microcomputer Revolution Most Federal Government information is either collected from the private sector State local government and the general public or is created by Federal employees and contractors as the result of studies analyses research and the like Even information collected from outside the government is frequently subject to analysis by Federal employees and in that sense has a creative or value-added aspect The dominant technology relevant to the collection and creation of Federal information is the microcomputer Over the last 5 years or so the United States has witnessed a revolu- - tion in computer technology that has brought the power of the mainframe computer to the desk of millions of public and private sector employees and citizens And this revolution is expected to continue for at least another 5 years The sheer magnitude of this microcomputer revolution can be measured in many different ways For example the Federal Government itself has gone from only a few thousand micros in 1980 to roughly 200 000 in 1986 to 500 000 in 1988 to a projected 1 million by 1990 The percentage of school districts with computers had already increased from about 18 percent in 1981 to over 90 percent by 1985 according to the National Center for Educational Statistics ' In the business community microcomputers drew even in total computing power with mainframes and superminis as of 1985 and are projected to dominate by 1990 according to Dataquest z Indeed various projections show microcomputers growing at an average 10 to 15 percent through 1990 compared to about 5 percent for mainframes and superminis The logic of this trend is understandable when one considers that the IBM personal computer systems selling for less than $10 000 are equivalent in computing power measured in millions of instructions per second to the IBM 370-168 mainframe computers that sold for several million dollars when introduced in the mid-1970s Even the home market has had significant microcomputer penetration with about 19 million households buying a microcomputer since 1981 about 14 percent of all households ' Link Resources projects an ultimate home penetration of about 35 percent although this may be conservative if full function microcom'Cited in tJ Bloomdecker Computer %rne Computer Security Computer Ethics Los Angeles Calif National Center for Computer Crime Data 1986 'Cited in G Lewis Zoom Here Come the New Micros Business W'eek Nov 1 1986 pp 82-92 'F Roth ' Power Surge in Personal Computers Editoriaf Research Reports vol 1 No 1 Jan 9 1987 p 4 49 puters drop to the $300-500 price range in the next 3-5 years 4 This would place the microcomputer in the same price range as a good quality 19-inch color television The continuous improvement in price performance of microcomputers is driven in part by advances in semiconductor chip technology which shows no signs of slowing down The 32-bit chip family such as the Intel 80386 or the Motorola 68020 made possible the latest personal computer systems that are more powerful more user friendly and more compatible with each other Price performance is expected to continue to improve as the 32-bit chips are further assimilated in microcomputer product offerings and as next generation microcomputers are developed and introduced The important impact on Federal information collection and creation is that an already large and increasing amount of information is generated in electronic form that is by capturing electronic keystrokes with a microcomputer or word processor Today much of this electronic information is submitted to or provided by the government in paper form But the potential exists to substantially reduce the amount of rekeyboarding and presumably the cost of such information by maintaining the information in electronic form as long as possible The Continuing Role of Paper and Microform A note of caution with respect to the role of paper is in order Despite the dramatic increase in computer technology and electronic information paper documents are expected to have a continuing major role for several reasons First and foremost for documents of significant length research has found that reading from a computer screen is much more difficult than reading from paper despite improvements in the design and resolution of 'Ibid p 6 50 screens and terminals Even extensive practice at electronic reading does not appear to make a significant difference Second paper continues to be a more convenient and portable medium for many purposes and accommodates a wide range of reading styles and locations Third for many documents paper is still a bargain although this is changing with the advent of optical disk storage technology And of course electronic publishing can significantly increase the efficiency of paper use even when the final product is still in paper format Fourth the paper format especially for lengthy reports and books permits the reader to browse through material and use a variety of conscious or subconscious search patterns that may be difficult if not impossible to replicate even with today's computerbased search and retrieval software Reading paper formats can lead to greater comprehension Overall most studies on the future of paper and paper-based media such as books have concluded that the paper format will play a major role as a medium of information storage exchange and dissemination for the foreseeable future 5 The results of the GAO surveys of Federal information users summarized in ch 4 indicate that paper is expected to hold steady or decline only marginally as a preferred format in the next few years although this decline could become significant for specific types of information e g bibliographic reference and statistical that are highly suited to electronic access and manipulation At the same time the preference for electronic formats e g electronic mail and bulletin boards floppy disks and compact optical disks is expected to increase dramatically The outlook for microform microfilm and microfiche is not as favorable as for paper or electronic formats but there is likely to be con%ee for example Priscilla Oakeskott and Clive Bradley eds The Future of the Book Part I -- The Impact of New Technologies Paris Unesco 1982 U S Congress Joint Committee on the Library Books in Our Future A Report From the Librarian of Congress to the Congress S Print 98-231 U S Government Printing Office Washington DC 1984 John Y Cole Books in Our Future Perspectives and Proposals Library of Congress Washington D C 1987 tinuing significant use of microforms for records storage and archival purposes for the foreseeable future or at least until electronic alternatives have been fully established and stood the test of time Microform is well suited for archival purposes because it requires less storage space compared to paper has a longer shelf life compared to paper and electronic although this may change is a stable access technology compared to electronic and is lower in cost compared to paper and some electronic ' Microform offers a lifetime of 100 years whereas the lifetime of acidic paper is perhaps several decades and magnetic media tape and disks a few years to a decade or two The main competitive threats to microform for archival purposes are from acid-free paper which can last 100 years but would still require more storage space and be more costly than microform and optical disks Optical disks do not as yet have proven archival capability although manufacturers are claiming 40 years require less storage space and can be less expensive than microform Microform is likely to continue as a major archival medium at least until optical disks or some related electronic-storage technology are well established However for many nonarchival purposes microform is not the preferred medium even today For reading lengthy written materials users find microform to be inconvenient uncomfortable and inefficient compared to paper For information search and retrieval users frequently prefer electronic formats including online database systems as well as increasingly offline media such as CD-ROMs The results of the GAO surveys of Federal information users summarized inch 4 indicate that microfilm is little used today for Federal in%ee for example Kenneth E Dowlin The Electronic LiNeal-Schuman 1984 F W Lancaster Libraries and Libraries in An Age of Electronics Arlington VA Information Resources Press Arlington VA 1982 Edward Gray The Rise and Fall of Technological Applications Considerations on Microforms and Their Possible Successor International Journal of Micrographics and Video Technology vol 15 No 1 1986 pp 31-38 National Research Council Committee on Preservation of Historical Records Preservation of Historical Records Washington DC National Academy Press 1986 brary The Prorm se and the Process New York 51 formation dissemination and that microfiche while used extensively is expected to decline significantly as the desired format for dissemination of many types of Federal information It should be noted however that the micrographics industry is itself using electronic technology to continuously upgrade microform access technologies such as computer-assisted microfiche retrieval systems and computeroutput microfilm systems 7 AIso the tecology for microfiche to paper conversion continues to advance For example the Defense Technical Information Center recently funded the development and installation of duplex two-sided microfiche copier machines In sum however the current and future use of paper microform and electronic formats will 'See for example Coopers and Lybrand Information and Image Management The Industry and the Technolo@ es study conducted for Association for Information and Image Management Sil 'er Spring MD 1987 depend largely on the type of information and the type of information user The kinds of criteria that will be relevant in selecting format include amount of information to be stored accessed and or distributed amount of storage space available frequency of information access or retrieval length of time information is to be stored desired speed of access or retrieval costs of storage access and retrieval number of users and technical expertise of users The rest of this chapter focuses on several key electronic technologies relevant to Federal information dissemination The price performance characteristics of these technologies make them highly competitive with paper and microform for those types of information well suited for electronic formats ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING Desktop Publishing One of the microcomputer applications most relevant to this study is desktop publishing Desktop publishing combines elements of advanced word-processing and computerized page layout and composition systems Desktop publishing can be defined as a set of hardware and software including a multifunction personal computer which has the ability to produce near-typeset quality output and utilizing multiple type fonts sizes and styles and multiple page layouts The characteristics of desktop publishing are low cost about $10 000 for an entire system user-friendly software frequently employing icons and a mouse and a 'what you see is what you get or WYSIWYG screen display that requires minimal training near-typeset quality output but still considerably less than high-quality book and magazine printing for example and relatively simple and straightforward documents although the desktop publishing software is much more sophisticated than typical word-processing software A typical desktop publishing configuration includes a microcomputer with mouse or digitizing tablet keyboard and screen roughly $2 000 to $4 000 inclusive page composition software about $500 to $1 000 a low-end laser printer about $1 500 to $3 000 and a low-end scanner for paper input about $2 000 to $4 000 Desktop publishing is expected to become a standard part of personal computing and to grow significantly over the next several years Growth in desktop publishing reflects the substantial potential savings for those types of 52 documents that do not require higher levels of quality and complexity For simple reports newsletters pamphlets and the like desktop publishing can cut composition costs from the $50 or more per page range for commercial composition and typesetting to the $1 to $5 per page range Compared to straight wordprocessing text desktop publishing can reduce the page length by perhaps 40 percent on average and this translates into substantial savings from reduced paper and mailing costs There are also major savings from a streamlined revision process minimal rekeyboarding and the ability to store text and graphics for future use and revision Two significant limitations of the low-end desktop publishing are limited ability to deal with complex documents e g complicated layouts using text and graphics and limited print quality due to the typical 240 dots per inch dpi or 300 dpi resolution of low nd laser printer output The first limitation is being mitigated rapidly by ever more powerful desktop publishing software releases Also users can invest in more sophisticated software and if necessary obtain software that supports phototypesetters as well as laser printers Finally low-end laser printers are improving output resolution thus reducing the print quality differential between laser printers and phototypesetters Desktop publishing has made dramatic inroads in the newspaper and newsletter industries An estimated 80 percent of newspapers with a circulation of over 100 000 use Macintosh-based desktop publishing including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today as do an estimated 75 percent of newspapers with a circulation over 50 000 H Knight Ridder and the Gannett Corp are using desktop publishing systems to create and distribute graphic designs nationwide While major newspapers generally use photocomposition equipment for typesetting in order to get higher print quality newsletter and some small newspaper pub- F Seghers In News Graphics Macintosh Makes the Front Page Business Week Jan 19 1987 p 87 lishers frequently find that laser printer typesetting quality is good enough The potential implications of desktop publishing for Federal information dissemination seem just as significant An increasing percentage of Federal information collected created and disseminated would appear to be well suited for desktop publishing High-End Electronic Publishing The distinction between desktop publishing and so-called high-end electronic publishing is somewhat arbitrary since microcomputerbased desktop systems can be connected or networked to high-end work stations typesetters and printers Electronic publishing is considered to be the electronic preparation of material at all pre-press stages of the publishing process including text and graphics preparation page layout and composition with the actual printing in any of a variet y of formats-- paper microform magnetic tape or diskette optical disk or direct electronic In general high-end electronic publishing is distinguished by high volume in number of pages and copies high quality of the final product high complexity of the page layout and composition and high cost compared to desktop systems High-end systems typically cost $30 000 to $150 000 depending on the configuration compared to $5 000 to $10 000 for desktop systems For the software alone high-end publishing systems typically cost $15 000 to $30 000 compared to $500 to $1 000 for desktop software The demand for high-end electronic publishing and to a lesser extent desktop publishing is driven by a powerful combination of advantages that translate into significant cost savings and productivity improvements For example electronically published materials are generally found to be more attractive easier to read 53 more timely publishing time can be anywhere from 25 to 90 percent faster and much less expensive Cost savings can be realized in several ways For example electronic publishing generally reduces the total number of document pages by 40 to 50 percent but occasionally up to 80 percent since typeset pages contain more text than typewritten pages This can dramatically reduce paper costs for hard copy print runs For documents with limited demand and low volume electronic publishing makes printingon-demand a realistic option Electronic publishing also facilitates the revision process by minimizing rekey boarding and graphics redesign bit workstations such as Sun DEC or Apollo a 19-inch monochrome display with a high resolution screen and a local area network The typical system can accept input from CAD workstations scanners graphics raster and vector line art and halftones spreadsheets and text in standard formats compatible with almost any mainframe mini microcomputer or word processor The system provides output to various laser printers such as Xerox Kodak Imagen Apple and Sun and phototypesetters such as Linotronic and Compugraphic Advanced software capabilities typically include Various market surveys project a strong demand for electronic publishing over the next 5 years based on a perceived need for electronic publishing by major corporations and government agencies Electronic publishing systems have made rapid technical advances in just a few years This trend is expected to continue due in part to heavy competition among graphics workstations publishing software traditional photocomposition services and computer equipment companies as well as systems integrators that combine hardware and software from numerous vendors At the heart of electronic publishing systems is the 32-bit workstation that permits complex manipulation of text graphics and increasingly halftones These are the same types of workstations used for computer-assisted design CAD and sophisticated graphics applications This workstation is now an established technology with a substantial track record According to Dataquest 32-bit workstation sales $15 000 to $50 000 per workstation price range grew from about 100 000 units in 1983 to 1 million units in 1985 an estimated 2 million in 1987 and a projected 4 million in 1989 9 The technical power sophistication and flexibility of electronic publishing systems are illustrated by a typical system which uses 32 Cited in G Lewis Nrew Nlicros ' op cit integration of text and graphics in nonstructured pages free-form drawing with a mouse tracing tablet to copy drawings editing of digitized line art pixel-by-pixel editing of halftone photographs and simultaneous editing of different portions of the same document Overall trends in electronic publishing include the following movement from a fragmented market to an integrated market aggressive competition from electronic publishing systems offered by traditional phototypesetters and by electronic publishing service bureaus standardization of information exchange among different types of hardware and soft ware declining price performance ratios narrowing of the technical differences between desktop and high-end publishing systems increasing integration of direct-to-plate printing technologies and increasing speed and quality of performance including higher resolution color and multiple languages In the corporate community investment in electronic publishing is generally claimed to have a rate of return of 50 to 60 percent and a payback period of 2 years or less Also companies typically claim to have cut overall pub- 54 lications turnaround time by 50 to 75 percent While similar data are not yet available from government users Interleaf Corp indicates that the following Federal agencies are using Interleaf electronic publishing systems Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for technical reports Office of Naval Research for research studies intelligence agencies various applications U S Coast Guard for technical manuals U S Army for technical manuals Department of State for regulations Department of Agriculture for statistical documents Bureau of the Census for statistical reports and Federal Reserve Board for financial analyses Xyvision reports sales of electronic publishing systems to among others the National Center for Health Statistics National Center for Disease Control U S Geological Survey Bureau of the Census and Central Intelligence Agency direct savings on the order of 40 percent over preprinted forms For larger print runs even greater savings may be possible where offset printing can be used to reduce the per-page printing cost of about two cents assumed for laser printers Further savings seem likely since the forms can be stored and edited electronically minimizing rekey boarding and redesign As another example the combination of microcomputers or mainframe terminals and laser printers can be used to permit direct electronic input of data collected by agencies into standard reporting forms stored on the laser printer The completed forms can be transmitted electronically to a regional office or to Washington DC eliminating both cost and potential errors associated with rekey boarding and the time delays associated with mail delivery Paper copies can be printed out for archival purposes Electronic Forms Management Another growing application of systems related to electronic publishing is electronic forms management Several companies specialize in this applications area The typical standalone workstation including a processor and hard disk along with software and a high resolution display costs in the range of $25 000 to $60 000 depending on memory size The typical system has many of the capabilities of electronic publishing systems discussed earlier and can be used for designing newsletters manuals and technical documents as well as forms However it is not necessary to have fullcapability electronic publishing systems for many forms-management applications For example among Federal agencies the Air Force Army Navy Internal Revenue Service Social Security Administration Federal Reserve Board Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration are all using personal computers and laser printers to manage forms Microcomputers are used to enter the data and laser printers are used to merge the data with standard forms for printing The agencies indicate Computer Graphics Advances in computer graphics are central to the recent breakthroughs in desktop and high-end electronic publishing Indeed computer graphics capabilities are key aspects of most electronic publishing systems And publishing applications have themselves become one of the driving forces for further advances in and broader use of computer graphics Other driving forces include graphics needs of the scientific community military applications of computer graphics most recently stimulated by the Strategic Defense Initiative's requirements for very sophisticated three-dimensional dynamic computer graphics and modeling continued movement toward graphics standards and continued breakthroughs in price performance ratios Major technical trends in computer graphics include the continuing transition from film-based techniques to digital processing -- 55 development of relatively low-cost under $15 000 desktop color scanners and printers further improvements in high resolution graphics up to 2 000 x 2 000 pixels further development of full color interactive three-dimensional graphics workstations at relatively modest prices e g $30 000 continued migration of high-end workstation capabilities to low-end workstations and progress in developing standards for exchanging graphics data between workstations such as the Digital Data Exchange Standard Further technical progress in computer graphics seems assured as various companies continually develop new products for top secret military applications Advanced digitized mapping techniques are used by the Defense Mapping Agency and by various Federal civilian agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of the Census Computerized graphics products can interpret infrared aerial imagery and produce maps In general computerized mapping offers advantages similar to computerized printing in that The original map preparation is much faster Maps can be stored electronically to facilitate relatively easy updating The original map and an-y revisions can be displayed on a video screen Hard-copy output can be obtained relatively quickly with a plotter or laser printer Scanners and Printers Almost all desktop and high-end electronic publishing systems are configured to include one or more printers and may include one or more scanners The price performance of scanners and printers has dropped dramatically in the last few years Scanners are used primarily to digitize text and images that are initially in paper formats Scanners are not as efficient as direct electronic input but are much more cost-effective than rekey boarding or redrawing those materials not in electronic format The cost of scanners has dropped to the point where low-end scanners are available in the $2 000-4 000 price range with a speed of up to several pages per minute and a scanning resolution of 200-300 dots per inch While satisfactory for many desktop applications higher speed and resolution are generally needed for high-end publishing purposes High-end scanners are available in the $15 000 to $40 000 price range with speeds of 1 or 2 pages per second and resolution levels up to 400-dp Thus the high-end scanners achieve speeds and resolutions similar to the high-end laser printers discussed later A major advantage of high-end scanners is the capability to approximate graphics-quality halftone pictures This is accomplished by scanning the image at up to about 120 scan lines per inch and recording multiple bits for each pixel rather than the one bit commonly used for scanning text and line art Instead of recording black or white with one bit per pixel multiple bits permit the recording of the degree of blackness for each pixel known as gray-scale scarming Also many high-end scanners can scan a wide range of type styles and sizes and some scanners can be programmed to learn new to the scanner type styles These capabilities are expected to migrate to the desktop scanners The technical status of printers is more complicated because printers are now used for functions other than printing such as typesetting graphics input and forms management For printing of straight textual material electromechanical line printers known as impact printers are efficient for low-copy runs i e one or a few copies per original Medium performance impact printers can print at about 1 000 lines per minute 20 pages per minute at 50 lines per page and cost $10 000 to $15 000 High-end impact printers can reach output speeds of about 3 600 lines 72 pages per minute Low-end desktop line printers print at a few pages per minute 56 The role of impact printers is expected to continue to decline because of the need for printing graphics and complex page layouts the use of variable type styles and fonts and the integration of forms and data at the point of printing Non-impact printers using laser light emitting diode array ion deposition and other technical processes provide better quality greater flexibility and diversity and faster speed at the high end While on a per-page cost basis non-impact printers may be more expensive than impact printers this is not an appropriate comparison in most cases When serving as a typesetter or graphics printer or proof printer the non-impact printer can be an order of magnitude cheaper than conventional methods For example for low-volume applications where 300 dpi output resolution is satisfactory a desktop laser printer at $1 500 to $3 000 may be perfectly adequate for producing camera-ready copy compared to a phototypesetter at $35 000 to $70 000 The high-end non-impact printers are still quite expensive typically in the $100 000 to $200 000 range although these prices are expected to come down A typical high-end nonimpact laser printer prints at 90 to 120 pages per minute By comparison a desktop laser printer prints a few pages e g 3 to 6 per minute and costs as low as $1 500 At the next level up a typical mid-range laser printer might print at 12 to 20 pages per minute and cost $10 000 to $15 000 Again price performance ratios continue to fall Non-impact printers are not well suited for jobs requiring high output quality and or print volume With respect to quality most nonimpact printers can achieve an output resolution of 300 dpi assuming that the input resolution is at least at that level This output quality is adequate for a wide range of purposes but not for high-quality publications By comparison photocomposition equipment can produce typeset output at resolutions of 1 200 or more dpi Technical advances are reducing this quality differential Indeed 400 to 1 000 dpi laser printers are now on the market High resolution non-impact printers are adequate to meet many electronic publishing needs either for demand printing or as camera-ready copy to be used in subsequent plate-making and photo-offset printing Continued technical advances and market forces are likely to push the typical output resolution of laser and other non-impact printers into the 600 to 800 dpi range over the next few years thus further closing the quality differential With respect to print-volume requirements it is still far cheaper to use conventional photooffset printers for high-volume print runs than laser and other non-impact printers One can debate the various break-even points as a function of the length format number of copies and desired turnaround time for specific documents In offset printing plate-making preparation of masters or negatives of the original images by which ink is transferred onto paper to make copies of the original costs anywhere from a few dollars to $50 and up per page This cost indicates that non-impact printing is frequently less expensive for short print runs of under a few hundred copies per original For larger print runs the printing cost is likely to be cheaper with photo offset rather than laser printing It appears that the cost of non-impact printing including xerographic is rarely below 2 cents per page Thus assuming $2 per page for plate-making this is for desktop relatively low volume applications and assuming all other costs are equal purchase or lease maintenance supplies and labor the break-even point would be about 100 copies In this hypothetical and oversimplified case print runs under 100 copies per original would use a non-impact printer and print runs over 100 per original would use a photo offset printer Other elements besides cost may enter into the printing decision such as quality speed turnaround time and control In the future the break-even point between non-impact and photo-offset printing will depend in part on their relative technical advances and cost reductions -- -- 57 ONLINE INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Online Information Retrieval Previous discussions have focused on a number of electronic information technologies- microcomputers page composition and publishing software computer graphics scanners printers--with the information maintained in electronic form through many or all stages of the publishing process The primary final output has been in paper format Advances in technology make it possible to disseminate the output information in a variety of electronic formats as well as paper For some purposes and some kinds of information electronic formats may be preferable to paper This is especially so for bibliographic reference statistical and bulletin board information where the user may not want to see the whole document but is only interested in locating specific pieces of information The private sector information industry has given high priority to computerizing access to these types of information whether the original source of the information is the government academic research or commercial sectors This section discusses the technology and application of online information retrieval systems in the context of the private sector since this is where much of the online activity is occuring From a technical viewpoint these private sector applications are directly relevant to the Federal Government The technology of online information retrieval is well established Customer access is typically via a microcomputer or terminal connected to a modem Residential customers normally tie into the local telephone company network e g Bell Operating Companies independent telephone companies and if accessing a database from long distance then connect to an interexchange carrier network e g AT T MCI U S Sprint or a value-added network e g Tymnet Telenet Business customers can sometimes bypass the local telephone company and connect directly to an interexchange or value-added network At the other end access to the desired database is frequently via an online database services company e g Lockheed DIALOG Pergamon Infoline or a database gateway company such as is available from Western Union Easy Net Gateway companies serve as intermediaries between the customer and the database source and do not maintain the database itself Online database service companies actually maintain copies of the databases online so that referral to the database source is not necessary Some database source companies do provide for direct customer electronic access to the database without going through a gateway or online services company Companies that maintain online databases need a host computer and memory necessary for handling the volume of data and frequency of use and the necessary front-end processor and communications equipment for handling remote inquiries and transmitting responses The growth of the online information industry has been phenomenal From less than $500 million in annual revenues in 1978 the industry has grown to about $2 billion total revenues in 1986 $3 billion in 1987 and is projected to reach about over $4 billion by 1990 A typical commercial online database service charges about $40 to $80 per hour of which about 40 to 45 percent is for acquiring and preparing the actual data and another 40 to 45 percent is for sales marketing and administration About 6 to 9 percent is for communications including the cost of customer premises equipment e g computer terminal and modem local exchange access and interexchange link if applicable and about 6 percent is for data processing including the cost of hardware and software for database storage and data communicaticm l' Studies by Cuadra Associates and Elsevier Science publishing cited in P W' Huber The leodesic Vetwork 1987 Report on Competition in the Telephone Industry prepared for U S Department of Justice Washington DC January 1987 p 7 13 58 One implication of the above cost structure is that substantial savings can result to the extent that the data are already in the appropriate electronic format If as a result of electronic publishing government statistical or reference reports were produced in electronic form as a matter of course even if the ultimate product is in paper format then the electronically formatted information could at least theoretically also be made available as an online database This could significantly reduce the cost of data acquisition and preparation This is a major cost element regardless of whether the government and or commercial firms disseminate the data Sales marketing and administrative costs may not be as amenable to reduction for commercial firms unless they are working under contract to the government in such a way that the market was in effect guaranteed For the government distribution to information intermediaries e g libraries in the depository program might help reduce marketing and other costs Technology is only a small part perhaps less than 15 percent of the cost of online databases Telecommunications Online information retrieval services and several other kinds of electronic information dissemination e g electronic mail and facsimile are dependent on telecommunication technology and systems A number of developments are converging to facilitate and most likely reduce the relative cost of data communication One key trend is the transition from analog to digital telecommunication networks that are designed to transfer information much more efficiently than the conventional analog telephone networks A second trend is the rapid movement towards national and international standards for data networks of all kinds A third trend is the maturation of Ku-band satellite fiber optic and FM subcarrier technologies for data transmission The implementation of FTS 2000 the upgraded Federal Telecommunication System is intended to make state-of-the-art data communication capability available to all major Fed- eral agencies As currently planned FTS 2000 will include switched voice up to 4 8 kilobits second transmission capacity switched digital integrated service packet-switched services video transmission including graphics facsimile limited and full motion video and dedicated voice or data transmission circuits The switched digital integrated service and packet-switched service should be especially useful for online database retrieval or electronic document transmission The switched digital integrated service is designed to be the equivalent of the Integrated Services Digital Network ISDN for digitally integrating voice data images and video over the same transmission medium As planned the FI'S 2000 version will be consistent with ISDN international standards and will have a 1 544 megabit second transmission capacity subdivided into 24 individual channels of 64 kilobits second each For illustrative purposes one 64 kilobit second channel can transmit about four pages of text per second at 250 words per page x 8 characters per word x 8 bits per character The planned IWS 2000 packet-switched service will be consistent with international standards for open systems interconnection and interoperability with public data networks and public electronic mail services The FTS 2000 packetswitched service is planned as a 24 hours a day 7 days a week operation with 99 5 percent uptime and 98 percent availability The basic concept of packet-switchingis that data can be transmitted most efficiently when assembled into packets or bunches of bits of information The U S packet-switching volume for 1985 has been estimated by International Resource Development at about 47 million kilopackets of which 7 million kilopackets were for database access 3 million for electronic mail and 0 3 million for electronic data interchange 11 Typical commercial rates for 1lCited in P W Huber Telephone PA 1 Industry op cit table 59 packet-switching have been estimated at about $0 50 per page of text for local packetswitching and roughly 3 times that for national packet switching While these rates compare favorably with electronic mail and may be acceptable for very short documents the cost of packet-switching long documents would be quite high Whether FTS 2000 will significantly reduce packet-switching costs in unknown at this time Data transmission networks of all kinds are expected to incorporate both satellite and fiber optic technology wherever appropriate For example a high speed 56 kilobit second packet-switched data transmission network can incorporate both a fiber optic terrestrial component and a Ku-band 12-14 gigahertz satellite component The Ku band permits use of lower-cost very small aperture VSAT earth stations with receiving disks that are 1 2 or 1 8 meters in diameter Such a system could be used for such functions as transmitting data collected from remote locations Over the next few years a balanced network of satellite and fiber optic transmission links is likely to evolve Fiber optic links are likely to be used primarily for heavy volume pointto-point transmissions while satellite links are expected to dominate for point-to-multipoint transmissions Experimental tests of fiber optics have attained transmission rates of 4 billion bits second over relatively short distances By comparison this is more than a 1 000 times the 1 544 megabits second transmission capacity specified in the ISDN standard and is equivalent to transmitting an entire 30-volume encyclopedia in 1 second The integration of fiber optics with satellite microwave and copper wire circuits will be facilitated by the continuing development of teleports with respect to traffic between major U S metropolitan areas and overseas traffic Teleports are essentially buildings and facilities that serve as a platform or bridge for interconnecting different modes of telecommunication all at one location I bid table PA 2 and accompanying text The trend towards so-called intelligent buildings will facilitate integration across different telecommunication technologies and services Intelligent buildings are prewired during construction with local area networks LANs capable of handling digital data communication LANs can carry information much faster and more efficiently than the conventional telephone and PBX private branch exchange analog circuit and switching systems The cost of LAN installation is much reduced if completed during building construction rather than retrofitted The trend toward intelligent buildings is expected to accelerate in response to the rapid increase in networking of microcomputers mainframe terminals peripheral equipment including scanners printers and graphics workstations and the like in the office environment A final telecommunication technology to be discussed in this section is FM frequency modulated radio subcarrier transmission The FM subcarrier is an excess portion of the bandwidth assigned to FM radio stations and was deregulated by the Federal Communications Commission in 1983 The FM subcarrier appears to be cost-effective for point-tOmultipoint transmission of time-sensitive digital data traffic such as news and public affairs information For example MultiComm Telecommunications Corp Arlington VA is using Western Union's Westar IV satellite to transmit information to 90 participating FM radio stations where the information is in turn retransmitted on the FM subcarrier to receiving sites equipped with a special low-cost FM receiver The information can be stored on a microcomputer or printed out MultiComm sells the receiver printer for $500 or leases the equipment for a nominal fee of $25 month The costs of the service per receive site range from 20 cents per page of information transmitted for immediate delivery e g within 19 seconds 10 cents per page for delivery within 2 hours and 5 cents per page for overnight delivery This is far cheaper than courier service especially for shorter documents The 90 participating FM stations broadcast to an estimated 85 percent of the U S population Ku-band 60 small satellite earth stations could be used to reach rural and remote areas MultiComm offers a Federal News Service that transmits transcripts of White House briefings congressional testimony and the like to hundreds of newspapers and trade associations and an Infowire service for low-volume users who need time-sensitive information on for example White House and agency press releases advance schedules of upcoming hearings and the like Other private firms are using the FM subcarrier to distribute such information as stock market quotes Electronic Mail Another technical option for online information retrieval and two-way information transfer is electronic mail As discussed previously electronic mail capability is planned as part of the FTS 2000 system Electronic mail has grown more slowly than initial expectations but appears to breaching a critical threshold of viability The outlook for electronic mail is being enhanced by several key trends Electronic mail is increasingly included as a basic capability of office automation systems such as those offered by Data General DEC IBM Wang and NBI Vendors are providing much improved capacity for interconnections or gateways between electronic mail systems e g Wang and IBM DEC and MCI Mail IBM and Western Union Easy Link MCI Mail and CompuServe Easy Plex Enhanced electronic mail capabilities are being developed that can handle graphics and spreadsheets besides American Standard Code for Information Interchange ASCII text and There is growing acceptance of the CCITT Consultative Committee on International Telephone and Telegraph X 400 standard for electronic mail and messagehandling service X 400 is based on the 0S1 Open Systems Interconnection model and will permit interconnection among various electronic mail services Many electronic mail systems require a modem modulator demodulator at each end of the circuit to convert the digital signals from the sending computer into analog signals for transmission over the telephone lines at least in the local exchange and back again from analog to digital at the receiving computer However modems are likely to be less of a constraint in the future for at least two reasons First the cost of modems continues to drop-a 300 bits per second modem now costs $100 to $200 a 1 200 bps modem the de facto standard for remote computer networking including electronic mail and bulletin boards $200 and the higher speed 2 400 bps modem about $300 to $400 Second in the future all-digital data communication and telephone networks will eliminate the need for modems almost entirely Modems will be necessary only to the extent analog phone systems are still used The cost of electronic mail varies according to the length and the volume of the messages and the type of electronic mail system used For an inhouse personal computer or office automation-based electronic mail system the cost range has been estimated at roughly $1 to $2 per 3-page message 7 500 characters at a monthly volume of 1 000 messages and is estimated to drop to about $0 10 to $0 20 per 3-page message at a monthly volume of 10 000 messages By comparison electronic mail service bureaus typically charge in the range $1 to 3 per 3-page message regardless of volume Other alternatives for transmission and receipt of electronic mail include electronic bulle tin boards digital facsimile services and videotext services For discussion of these and other related telecommunication technologies see Communication Systems for An Electronic Age OTA forthcoming 1989 -- -- -- 61 OPTICAL DISKS For information that neither changes frequently nor requires immediate online remote access optical disk technology is a viable technical option for purposes of information storage and dissemination and as an important component of electronic publishing systems Other optical technologies not discussed here such as optical or laser cards on strips could provide storage and dissemination of smaller amounts of information While some standards issues still need to resolved the significant technical advantages of optical disks are becoming more and more evident as a result of numerous development applications prototype tests and commercial offerings Optical disk technology uses a laser beam to record data on plastic disks by engraving pits in the surface The disks can then be subsequently read by a low-power laser beam to retrieve the data There are several different types of optical disk and some are further along in terms of technology and standards than others Standards are essential for optical technology to ensure compatibility among different types of disks and disk readers and to minimize the possible need for future rerecording of data due to incompatible equipment The major advantage of optical disk technology is the ability to store and disseminate large amounts of information at very low cost For example a 4 72 inch 12 centimeter CDROM Compact Disk-Read Only Memory can store up to roughly 540 megabytes millions of bytes of data Assuming that one typewritten text page averages 250 words or about 2 000 bytes per page one CD-ROM can store up to 270 000 pages of typewritten text Grollier has recorded its entire 20-volume Academic American Encyclopedia on about one-fifth of one disk One floppy diskette single-sided single density can store about 360 kilobytes of data which is equivalent to about 180 pages of double-spaced typewritten text Thus 1 CDROM can store the equivalent of about 1 500 floppy diskettes about 54 of the 10-megabyte hard disks or about 10 of the 1 600 bits-perinch magnetic computer tapes A 12-inch 30 cm WORM Write Once Read Many times optical disk can store up to 1 gigabyte billion bytes which is roughly double the capacity of a CD-ROM All of these storage capacities are per single side and would be doubled for two-sided disks The total and per bit or byte manufacturing costs of both 4 72-inch CD-ROMs and 12-inch WORM optical disks are already quite low CDROMS can be mastered for $4 000 to $5 000 and can be reproduced in quantities ranging from $30 per disk for 100 copies to $6 per disk at volumes of several thousand Some estimates suggest per disk costs as low as $3 for volume runs The 12-inch WORM disks are more expensive to produce at about $150 a copy but are still far cheaper per byte than floppy diskettes or hard disks These costs do not include the cost of data acquisition and preparation which apply to any storage medium and the cost of equipment needed to read the disks All that is necessary to read CD-ROMs is a CD-ROM reader available from several vendors in the $500 to $1 000 price range and a personal computer and screen Thus for users already owning a microcomputer system the incremental cost of CD-ROM equipment is in the same range as the medium to high-end consumer-oriented compact digital audio disk players WORM readers are considerably more expensive--several to tens of thousands of dollars range-although this can be modest for the institutional corporate and government users who are the likely clients for 12-inch WORM disks Optical disks also offer other advantages rapid access to stored data i e in one second the ability to use a microcomputer for data access and retrieval high levels of data integrity very minimal disk or equipment wear convenience and portability and relatively long media life 62 The latter point is somewhat controversial as initial manufacturer estimates of 10 to 20 years have now been extended to 40 to 50 years Some suggest that 100 years is possible under ideal conditions Disks could be recopied at periodic intervals if necessary The high level of commercial and governmental activity is indicative of the potential for CD-ROM and WORM disks Vendors such as Lockheed DIALOG Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Aide Publishing and VLS Inc are offering many new optical disk-based products and services Many of these include databases that originate in whole or in part from the Federal Government Federal agencies are actively pursuing a wide range of development and prototype projects For example The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution is developing a WORM optical disk system to keep track of submissions regarding nuclear waste disposal under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 The system uses personal computers scanners and 12-inch WORM optical disk drives The Library of Congress is prototyping optical disk technologies for general research archival and information retrieval purposes including the use of a 100-disk optical jukebox for 12-inch WORM disks The jukebox has a potential storage capacity of 200 gigabytes The National Library of Medicine is prototyping various optical disk technologies for medical applications research archival and instructional purposes The Bureau of the Census is prototyping the use of CD-ROMs for storing and distributing maps that will result from the 1990 census The Census Bureau is also examining the potential of CD-ROM for a broad range of geographic and topographic maps as part of the Topographic Integrated Geographic Retrieval TIGER project being conducted jointly with the U S Geological Survey USGS is prototyping the use of CD-ROMs for the possible goal of providing all or a large part of USGS earth science information in CD-ROM format such as seismic data from the National Earthquake Information Center USGS officials believe that CD-ROM offers the potential to make earth science data much more accessible at lower cost The U S Navy's Printing and Publications Service is implementing a print-ondemand system for 1 2 million pages of military specifications and standards including text and graphics images The Navy is using a 12-inch WORM optical disk unit to record the disks which are then placed on two 32-disk juke boxes More frequently requested documents are concentrated on a few disks and output is printed with Xerox 9700 laser printers The system is intended to --reduce warehouse space and printing costs --improve response time --eliminate dissemination of out-of-date documents and --serve as a prototype for many other applications-for example technical manuals training materials and handbooks The Navy intends to develop interactive applications for document updating alternative storage media such as CD-ROM and 5 25-inch WORM optical disks and document search capability Other Federal agencies actively pursuing optical disk technology include the Internal Revenue Service Patent and Trade mark Office National Archives and Records Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration Central Intelligence Agency and numerous components of the Department of Defense including the National Security Agency Another popular optical disk technology is the analog videodisk This is heavily used for educational and training purposes and can store up to 54 000 images per disk Videodisks are roughly similar to CD-ROMs in cost--about $2 000 to master $18 per disk for the first 100 ------ copies and under $10 per disk for runs of several thousand Videodisk readers cost in the range of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars Beyond the CD-ROM WORM and videodisk there are several other optical disk technologies under active development and application The most noteworthy are the CD-I Compact Disk-Interactive that combines text data video audio and software storage editing and retrieval on one disk and the erasable 12-inch or 5 25-inch optical disk CD-I is of particular interest because it will make possible such compact disk applications as talking CD books smart CD books using expert systems CD book or library of the month and interactive audio video and database software CD- I will be a disk with powerful capabilities including graphics e g digital video still frames limited motion video encoded colors full screen animation audio e g digital audio hi-fi mid-fi speech quality and text e g bit-map text storage for display 63 -- only character-encoded text for editing processing Optical disk technologies and applications continue to advance at a rapid pace Double sided 12-inch WORM disks are now available with up to 4 gigabytes storage capacity per disk The initial commercial 5 25-inch erasable disks already have been introduced and CD-I disks now are in the prototype stage with commercial introduction expected in 1989 or 1990 Some vendors have expanded the capacity of CD-ROM disks up to 750 megabytes and others offer CD-ROM juke boxes that can access up to 240 disks Personal computer compact disk readers are entering the market as are specialized PC-CD ROM applications e g using hypertext or hypergraphics software A fledgling CD-ROM service bureau industry is developing not far behind and perhaps eventually to be integrated with the electronic publishing service bureau industry A major critical path item for optical disk technology is the development of standards The current status and outlook are briefly discussed in a later section along with consideration of other standards issues EXPERT SYSTEMS Expert systems sometimes known as knowledge-based or rulebased systems are typically computer soft ware packages that permit users to have the benefit of expert knowledge in specified subject areas The 'expert inexpert system means that both the knowledge and rules decision paths and criteria built into the software come from relevant subject matter experts Expert systems have advanced to the point where widespread application to many aspects of information dissemination is likely-ranging from technical writing to information access and retrieval to the management of electronic publishing The expert systems applicable to information dissemination are no different in principle from the systems that have been successfully applied to various scientific industrial and educational areas For example expert systems have been used to help make agricultural management decisions regarding pest control as a function of the type of crop landscape weather conditions season other vegetation infestation history and the like help students explore and master a subject or skill and even monitor the learning progress of the students known as electronic or intelligent tutors and help technicians interpret technical data from computer-assisted manufacturing systems Expert systems can be tied into both online bibliographic and full text information retrieval and to electronic publishing For example pro- 64 The Defense Technical Information Center has established an Artificial Intelligence Decision Support Laboratory that is working to apply the full range of expert systems and even more powerful artificial intelligence technologies to information access and retrieval The ultimate objective is to facilitate the capture and transfer of knowledge from the experts to the users of DTIC and other DoD information systems utilizing innovative information display techniques and full integration with the DoD Gateway Information System that is interfaced with hundreds of online databases The National Agricultural Library NAL has developed prototype expert systems that query users on their information needs and route them to the appropriate bibliographic sources The prototype was provided to over 700 librarians in a floppy disk format that runs on a microcomputer NAL hopes to create a critical mass of expert system users and believes that expert systems could help free librarians from the more routine ready reference and directional questions NAL is also exploring linking expert systems to other government and commercial online databases and CD-ROM players Expert systems could be used to query the user on his or her information needs help sharpen the request and then route the request to an online bibliography a disk-based bibliography or a full text document on videodisk or CD-ROM with electronic printing on demand The possibilities are almost endless totype expert systems with sophisticated search strategies are being used to retrieve and deliver full text information via electronic publishing systems These kinds of information retrieval expert systems could eventually work hand-in-hand with expert systems designed to efficiently manage electronic publishing One can easily envision the day when expert systems will help optimize the electronic publishing and dissemination paper and electronic of information products or packages of products given the specific profile of the product number of pages composition type style use of graphics etc anticipated user needs e g size of demand by format and the mix of dissemination channels initial press run of paper copies provisions for demand printing online database access optical disk distribution etc Numerous expert system applications for information search and retrieval are under development For example The National Records and Archives Administration NARA developed a prototype expert system to assist with routine inquiries from researchers The objectives of the project were to evaluate the capability of an expert system to capture the expertise of experienced archivists and to relieve them of the significant expenditure of time needed to answer routine inquiries Test results indicated that if the prototype system were expanded to full scale the system could be expected to agree with its human counterpart more than 90 percent of the time NARA plans to extend testing of expert systems to other areas of records management TECHNICAL STANDARDS The pace of development and application of several of the technologies discussed earlier is dependent on the development of and agreement on national and international standards Standards-setting efforts are underway in all critical areas although the intensity of activity varies The major standards organizations include the International Committee on Consultative Telephone and Telegraph CCITT which is a unit of the International Telecommunications Union and whose formal members are 160 governments the International Standards Organization 1S0 whose members are the national standards bodies of 89 countries 65 the American National Standards Institute ANSI that represents the United States in the IS0 and coordinates voluntary standards activities in the United States the National Bureau of Standards NBS which is the lead U S government agency in many standards areas and the Federal Communications Commi ssion with respect to certain telecommunication standards A new organization the Corporation for Open Systems COS was established in 1986 to promote open systems interconnection standards COS members are primarily telecommunication and information equipment and services companies The following discussion highlights standardssetting for optical disks page description languages and test markup languages For discussion of other standards areas e g electronic data interchange integrated digital services see Communication Systems for an Information Age OTA forthcoming 1989 With respect to optical disk standards the two leading manufacturers of optical disks-- Sony and Phillips-took the lead and developed a set of proposed standards for CD digital audio CD-ROM and CD-I known as the Red Book Yellow Book and Green Book standards respectively The proposed CD-ROM standards Yellow Book included detailed technical specifications for CD encoding mastering replication decoding and reading such that any CD-ROM disk can be read by any CD-ROM disk drive and have become de facto industry standards In addition standards for the logical formatting of CD-ROMs were initially proposed by the so-called High Sierra Group and subsequently adopted by 1S0 as an international standard Data preparation is the one area not fully specified by the proposed standards While data must be logically organized formatted and prepared prior to conversion into opticaI disk format the standard permits use of a wide range of computer operating systems Although the other specifications insure that disks are physically readable by any disk drive the data may not be accessible except through proprietary software However this approach is consistent with the usual industry practice for disk drive standards Standards for WORM Eraseable and CD-I disks are in earlier stages of development Another very important standards area involves the page description and the text markup languages used to code the format style and composition of documents If the text markup language used to prepare a document is not compatible with the language used by the composition and or output devices then significant additional work is required to strip the markup commands from the document and reinsert the commands in a compatible language Sometimes it is easier just to rekeyboard and recode the entire document at significant additional cost Alternatively a page description language can be used to make the conversion automatically if there is page description software compatible with the particular text markup language and output devices in use One possible page description language is the PostScript language by Adobe Systems that is becoming a defacto standard at least for desktop and WYSIWYG publishing systems due to the fact that both Apple and IBM among others use PostScript This possibility is under consideration by NBS ANSI and 1S0 A related effort involves the development of a Standard Page Description Language SPDL These approaches are intended to match the applications software e g for editing and composition to the output devices and eliminate the need for the so-called device driver which is a separate set of instructions needed to make the applications software communicate with the output device Text markup standards are particularly important to realize the full benefits of electronic information dissemination If government documents whether reports pamphlets manuals other text or text plus tabular and graphics material are not prepared in a standardized electronic format using standardized codes and descriptors substantial recoding and rekeyboarding may be necessary at later stages of the dissemination process Any significant recoding and rekey boarding is costly and can 66 offset some or all of the cost advantages of electronic formats Text markup standards are intended to establish a consistent set of codes for labeling key elements of a document-such as chapter titles paragraph indentations tabular presentations and the like Such standards establish a logical structure for the elements of a document in a hierarchical order--such as chapter paragraph line word and character The elements are assigned codes which can be a letter number symbol or combination thereof that are keystroked along with the text tables and graphics included in the document If these electronic codes are widely agreed upon and used i e standardized then the documents can be electronically transferred from one stage in the dissemination process to another with little or no additional effort A wide range of information dissemination functions would be facilitated by text markup standards including authoring --creating the document --editing --revising archiving -- short-term -long-term disseminating in multiple formats --conventional printing --electronic printing-on-demand --online electronic --offline electronic e g magnetic tape floppy disk CD-ROM --microform --specialized outputs e g braille foreign languages voice disseminating through multiple channels --agency clearinghouses and information centers --governmentwide clearinghouses and sales programs --press libraries and commercial vendors For example text markup standards would help ensure that NTIS and or GPO are able to efficiently reproduce and disseminate agency electronic documents This would also facilitate private vendor repackaging or enhancing of agency documents if the vendors utilized the same standards Three major approaches to text markup standards are 1 GPO's logically structured full text database standard 2 the Standard Generalized Markup Language SGML that has been adopted by the Department of Defense 3 and the Office Document Architecture standard The GPO standard is used almost exclusively by GPO congressional committees and offices and Federal agencies--primarily those agencies that submit magnetic tapes to GPO for typesetting and printing Full text database standard or specification is the application of a logical coding structure to the full text or content of the document including tables as well as text GPO staff recently completed training on how to write software programs that can translate from SGML to GPO's full text database standard GPO indicates that it is prepared to write such software at customer request The GPO standard is designed primarily to meet the needs of publishing professions SGML on the other hand while also meeting publishing needs is recognized as an international standard endorsed by DoD and some vendors and is being issued by NBS as a Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS SGML is a set of rules for developing the element codes for a document whereas the GPO standard includes both the rules and the specific codes themselves Both SGML and GPO use a logical structure so in principle SGML codes should be convertible to GPO's codes and perhaps vice versa although some of these applications are still under development Office Document Architecture ODA a related protocol is directed primarily to meeting office not publishing needs and thus the document complexity is reduced due to fewer fonts formats etc ODA is a method of encoding software that essentially converts documents to a common code compatible with a wide range of office automation systems ODA is a protocol for converting the codes used to 67 format individual documents into a common format for the interchange of the documents among different systems ODA was initially defined by the European Computer Manufacturers Association ECMA to be consistent with the Open Systems Interconnection standard developed by the 1S0 and has been issued as an international standard Officials at NBS believe that there may be a need for both ODA and SGML standards within the Federal Government Finally there is intensive work by all major standards organizations to refine and implement the open systems interconnection 0S1 concept An 0S1 reference model has been developed under 1S0 auspices The model services as a master standard for an integrated telecommunications-information systems environment It also incorporates already established standards such as those for packetswitched data networks and electronic mail Many vendors and users have recognized the need for rapid 0S1 implementation In the United States NBS is coordinating an 0S1 prototype system known as OSINET that is intended to be a test of the 0S1 reference model The results are being made available to the standards-setting organizations The Federal Government commitment to 0S1 is already significant with a growing consensus that 0S1 is necessary to move to interoperability of the now confusing and largely incompatible range of equipment and software in the government inventory Indeed a Federal interagency committee has recommended that 0S1 standards be mandatory for new Federal computer and telecommunication procurements and be a first option for retrofits of existing systems The suggested 0S1 procurement standard would be consistent with the 1S0 reference model This 0S1 procurement standard is being issued by NBS as a Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS Chapter 4 Alternative Futures for the Government Printing Office Clockwise from top left a hot type scene at GPO circa 1940s GPO operator using electronic photocomposition equipment GPO operators using keyboard input terminals and the Congressional Record coming off the press photo credit U S Government Printing Office CONTENTS Page Summary 71 Traditional GPO-Centralized 73 Demand for Traditional GPO Services 74 Impacts of Medium-Term Reductions in Traditional Demand 76 Traditional GPO-Legislative Branch Only 81 Financial Impacts 81 Labor Force Impacts 82 Other Vulnerabilities 83 Electronic GPO-Decentralized 85 Trends in Technology and Demand 86 Opportunities and Challenges 89 Tables Page Table 4-1 GPO Revenues for Printing Services and Publications Sales Fiscal Years 1978-87 74 4-2 GPO Billings and Labor Force Breakdown Fiscal Year 1987 75 4-3 GPO Workload Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 75 4-4 Electronic Potential for Main Plant Products 76 4 5 Cost of GPO Work 20 Sample Jobs 77 4-6 GPO Cost Structure Fiscal Year 1987 78 4-7 GPO Main Plant Cost Structure Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985 78 4-8 Major Changes in GPO Labor Force Fiscal Years 1975-87 79 4-9 Selected Major Equipment Acquisitions GPO Press and Bindery Since 1977 as of September 1987 80 4-1o Hypothetical Calculation of Financial Impact of Legislative Branch GPO 82 4-11 Hypothetical Main Plant Total Labor Force Reductions 83 4-12 Hypothetical Main Plant Divisional Labor Force Reduction 83 4-13 GPO Main Plant Composers Years of Service and Retirement Eligibility Fiscal Year 1987 84 4-14 Changes in GPO Main Plant Volume for Eight Principal Products 1975-84 84 4-15 Congressional Printing and Binding Billings Selected Items Fiscal Years 1975 1983 and 1984 85 4-16 Congressional Printing and Binding Billings Selected Items Fiscal Years 1975 and 1987 85 Table Page 4-17 Origination Formats for Material Submitted to GPO as Percent of Total 86 4-18 Origination Formats Including Camera-Ready as Percent of Total and by Branch of Government 86 4-19 Civilian Department Agency Use of Selected Electronic Technologies 87 4-20 Estimated Use of Electronic Publishing Software Calendar Year 1987 87 4-21 Estimated Use of Other Electronic Publishing Technologies Calendar Year 1987 87 4-22 Depository Library Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format 88 4-23 Scientific and Technical Association Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format 89 4-24 Agency Activities and Plans for Electronic Information Dissemination by Type and Format 90 4-25 GPO Pages Produced from Databases and Direct Drive Magnetic Tapes Fiscal Years 1983-87 91 4-26 GPO Dial-Up Electronic Transmission Customers January 1988 92 4-27 Departmental Applications of GPO Structured Full Text Database Standard as of November 1987 93 4-28 Ten Largest GPO Printing Customers Fiscal Year 1986 94 4-29 Distribution of GPO Defense Customers by Procurement and Printing Offices Fiscal Year 1986 94 4-30 Federal Agency Electronic Publishing Activities and Plans as of 1986 in Percent of Agencies Responding 96 4-31 0 Depository Library Demand for Federal Information Electronic Formats 98 4-32 Scientific Technical and General Association Demand for Federal Information Electronic Formats 99 4-33 Library and Association Access to Information Dissemination Technology 99 4-34 GPO Union Bargaining Units as of April 1987 101 4-35 Selected GPO Electronic Composition Equipment Fiscal Year 1987 103 Chapter 4 Alternative Futures for the Government Printing Office SUMMARY This chapter along with chapter 5 examines in detail selected alternatives for the future of the U S Government Printing Office GPO and National Technical Information Service NTIS Chapter 4 focuses on GPO and chapter 5 on NTIS and NTIS Superintendent of Documents SupDocs cooperation The intent is to gain a full understanding of the strategic outlook for both GPO and NTIS as an input to congressional decisions on their future direction This strategic outlook should be relevant to congressional consideration of any alternatives for GPO and NTIS not just the ones explicitly discussed here and should be read in the context of the trends discussed in chapters '2 and 3 of this report The results of this strategic analysis are highlighted below Policy implications are discussed in chapters 11 and 12 First General Accounting Office GAO surveys of Federal agencies chapter 2 and Federal information users this chapter coupled with a review of agency automation plans and activities suggest the following overall projections c 1 to 3 years-steady state in demand for paper formats rapid growth in electronic formats but still a very small percentage of total demand 3 to 5 years-demand for paper formats may start to decline demand for electronic formats likely to reach critical thresholds for several types of Federal information 5 to 10 years-demand for paper formats likely to decline markedly in some categories but would still be significant for traditional government books reports and publications electronic formats likely to dominate for many types of information On one hand near-term l-3 years future demand for traditional GPO services is likely to be stable absent a severe governmentwide fiscal crisis and assuming executive agencies continue to be required to obtain printing from or through GPO GPO's greatest assets are its traditional ink-on-paper printing facilities and experienced labor force coupled with a substantially automated prepress capability including electronic input photocomposition and typesetting GPO has invested heavily over the past decade in upgraded prepress press and bindery facilities Despite the possibly misleading external appearance the GPO main plant compares favorably with even the largest and best equipped commercial printing plants On the other hand GPO is particularly vulnerable in the medium-term 3-5 years to changes in demand for paper formats that might reduce executive agency need for GPO procured printing which accounts for about three-quarters of GPO's total printing work and for GPO main plant inplant printing where the bulk of GPO overhead and labor costs are located The future of GPO printing depends in large measure on the plans and activities of Department of Defense DoD agencies that collectively account for roughly one-third of all GPO billings The defense agencies are determined to reduce drastically their dependence on paper formats within the next few years If traditional ink-on-paper defense work was phased out almost all of the GPO regional and satellite procurement offices would lose at least half and some over 90 percent of their work and two of the GPO regional printing plants would lose perhaps one-third to one-half of their work Realistically the defense conversion from paper to electronic for71 72 mats could take longer than planned but warrants careful monitoring due to the highly leveraged effects on the GPO regional work load The GPO main plant is not dependent on military work but is vulnerable due to the combination of potential electronic competition for some major product lines such as the Congressional Record and Federal Register and a high overhead cost structure necessitated largely by GPO's current diversified responsibilities In the hypothetical case that GPO were to be limited to legislative branch printing plus some key governmental process work such as the Federal Register passports and postal cards the main plant printing operations would switch from a net surplus of several million dollars to a net loss of several tens of millions of dollars assuming no changes in demand and overhead cost and labor force structure other than those associated with transferring the GPO printing procurement program to an executive agency such as the General Services Administration GSA Restoring GPO to breakeven operations under this scenario could necessitate up to a 40 percent reduction in the main plant labor force and or a significant increase in rates GPO is faced with several challenges and opportunities concerning electronic publishing and dissemination of electronic formats Federal executive agencies are rapidly increasing their automation activities and have already invested collectively an estimated $400 million in electronic publishing systems GAO surveys found dramatic increases in the percentages of both agencies and information users that anticipate use of electronic formats especially online data bases electronic mail or bulb tin boards floppy disks and compact optical disks over the next 3 years For the executive branch several roles for GPO are emerging beyond the continued provision of traditional printing services GPO could continue to improve cost-effectiveness at the input and prepress end of the print- ing process by encouraging electronic submissions already at high levels and dialup composition services where appropriate encourage adoption of governmentwide structured database standards for electronic as well as conventional printing facilitate mechanisms for training and education about electronic publishing establish an electronic publishing laboratory and innovation center open to agency personnel and or increase SupDocs dissemination of electronic formats Up to now GPO has participated in only a handful of agency automation programs From a strategic perspective GPO would benefit from staying abreast of agency applications and thereby be in a much better position to identify opportunities to meet agency needs In a decentralized and competitive electronic information environment that increasingly characterizes the Federal Government GPO will have to be innovative in matching its expertise to agency needs that are likely to vary widely and change at an increasingly rapid pace For the legislative branch GPO already has a central role in many traditional publishing activities and several electronic publishing pilot projects GPO could develop plans for an expanded role for congressional committees and offices including electronic search retrieval and printing-on-demand of congressional documents Any detailed planning would need to take into account the related roles of the Library of Congress and Congressional Research Service House Information Systems Office and Senate Computer Center With respect to GPO SupDocs sales of electronic formats SupDocs would be operating in a more competitive environment than has traditionally been the case with respect to paper formats For many types of Federal information individual agencies and or private vendors might decide to market electronic formats SupDocs would need to decide which electronic items would be cost-effective and competitive if included in the sales program Three policy issues would need resolution First is that significant SupDocs sales of magnetic tapes and floppy disks and potentially CD-ROMs and electronic printing-on-demand could overlap and duplicate the NTIS sales program absent a consolidation of or close cooperation between NTIS and SupDocs Second is that SupDocs sales of online databases could overlap and duplicate offerings by individual agencies agency online gateways such as the National Library of Medicine and or private or nonprofit online gateways or database providers that include Federal agency databases absent agency agreements While multiple government sales outlets for the same tapes and disks may be cost-effective given the small breakeven volumes multiple government outlets for sales of online services may be hard to justify considering the more substantial development staff and capital investment requirements Third sales of electronic formats could involve heavier demands for user support and generate the need for far more sophisticated and extensive customer service-- from GPO agencies and or vendors-- than is expected for paper or microfiche formats GPO faces two major challenges with respect retaining the necessary skilled labor force to maintain traditional printing services at a level commensurate with demand and obtaining personnel with the new skills needed to implement GPO's future role in electronic publishing and electronic information dissemination to staffing 73 however that role may be defined With respect to capital investment it would seem prudent for GPO to carefully reevaluate its capital investment plans in light of possible adjustments to traditional printing services and possible new electronic initiatives Staffing and capital investment decisions are best made within an overall strategic framework for the future of GPO The discussion in this chapter focuses on technical financial organizational labor and demand questions and not on the broad policy issues addressed in chapters 11 and 12 The alternatives presented here assume that Congress would take whatever policy actions were necessary to implement the particular alternative In other words this chapter is intended to probe more deeply into several of the possible alternatives for GPO Also although the alternatives are framed in terms of GPO the discussion applies equally regardless of the name for example Government Information Office or Government Publications Office The alternatives explored in this chapter are Traditional GPO--centralized Traditional GPO--legislative branch only Electronic GPO--decentralized Each of these alternatives is defined and discussed below The order of discussion does not imply an order of preference or priority but was chosen to facilitate the presentation Key facts and analyses are incorporated at the first appropriate place and then referenced in subsequent discussion rather than repeated Discussion relevant to SupDocs is also found in chapter 5 which focuses on an electronic NTIS and NTIS SupDocs cooperation TRADITIONAL GPO-CENTRALIZED Under this alternative GPO would continue to provide centralized conventional printing services that is Federal Government ink-onpaper printing would be obtained from or through GPO disseminate paper formats on a sales basis through SupDocs and disseminate paper and microfiche formats to the De- pository Library Program DLP GPO would do very little electronic dissernination as is the situation today The mission agencies would handle electronic dissemination themselves ineluding direct distribution to the depository libraries to the extent needed Note that printing services are defined to include composition 74 printing binding blank paper sales and related activities Demand for Traditional GPO Services A logical starting point for the analysis is to examine demand for traditional GPO services The two major components of demand are printing services and publication sales In fiscal year 1987 these accounted for 88 7 percent and 8 4 percent of total revenue respectively The 10-year trend data for these two items are shown in Table 4-1 Clearly other than the temporary decline in printing services during fiscal year 1981 and fiscal year 1982 almost half of which was due to reductions in congressional work the overall trends show a gradual increase in printing services and a rather steady increase in sales of publications Even accounting for inflation there is no historical evidence of weakness in the demand for traditional GPO services Looking to the future most independent pro jections suggest that overall general demand for paper formats will continue for at least 5 years at a slow growth or at worst steady state level--even in the face of rapid growth in electronic formats This projection should apply to the Federal Government as well short of a severe fiscal crisis There is no evidence that agency budgetary restraints in the past few years have translated into a significant reduction in actual printing services obtained from GPO However in the longer term significant reductions in paper formats could occur OTA'S independent printing consultant reviewed GPO's current product line and using several different methodologies concluded that about 60 percent of GPO's current products could potentially be suited for electronic formats although realistically perhaps only one-half of this amount or 30 percent would be suited for electronic dissemination and even this would not automatically mean that paper dissemination would be eliminated 1 Any actual switch from paper to electronic formats would most likely take place gradually since electronic dissemination requires that the recipient user as well as the sender have the necessary equipment and knowhow On the other hand results of the GAO survey of Federal information users highlighted later in this chapter indicate that many users desire to increase dramatically their use of electronic formats within the next 3 years These findings coupled with the ambitious automation plans and activities of many Federal agencies suggest the following projections Table 4 1 --GPO Revenues for Printing Services and Publications Sales Fiscal Years 1978-87 in millions of dollars Printina services $499 1978 1979 606 672 1980 644 1981 1982 608 637 1983 739 1984 771 1985 737 1986 773 1987 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1988 Fiscal year Sales of Duplications $44 4 44 4 47 6 51 3 55 0 57 1 59 4 59 3 62 9 73 5 1 to 3 years-steady state in demand for paper formats rapid growth in electronic formats but still a very small percentage of total demand 3 to 5 years-demand for paper formats may start to decline demand for electronic formats are likely to reach critical thresholds for several types of Federal information 5 to 10 years-demand for Paper formats are likeiy to decline markedly n some categories but would still be significant for traditional government books reports and publications electronic formats are likely to dominate for many types of information However even though there is not likely to be a precipitous near-term decline in overall demand for paper formats GPO is particularly vulnerable to changes in demand for products 'Frank Romano Decision Analysis Framework for GPO Strategic Alternahves contractor report prepared for OTA January 1988 75 - that are printed at the main GPO plant in Washington DC This is because the bulk of GPO overhead and labor are located at the main plant and also because about threequarters of GPO's total printing work is contracted out known as procured printing These figures are highlighted in Table 4-2 for fiscal year 1987 In addition to the 3 500 personnel allocated in Table 4-2 to procured main plant and regional printing there are 692 administrative and support personnel located primarily at the main plant and 930 personnel assigned to the SupDocs office The SupDocs personnel are supported through sales revenues appropriations for DLP and by law dissemination and agency reimbursements for reimbursable dissemination and are not counted as part of GPO overhead However the administrative and support personnel plus main plant maintenance utilities and the like are included in general overhead which is allocated across all major GPO activity centers Any reduction in the GPO work load would result at least in the short run in spreading the general overhead over a smaller base and thereby increasing unit costs Moreover reductions in the main plant work load would have a magnified impact since the high costs of main plant operations would be allocated over a smaller base of main plant work thus driving up the unit costs even further all other things being equal Main plant operations are particularly vulnerable to changes in the legislative branch work load which is concentrated at that plant As shown in Table 4-3 about 80 percent of all legislative branch work is done inplant while about 85 percent of all executive branch work is contracted out Of the 20 percent or $23 million worth of legislative branch printing that is procured only about $1 million is for Congress itself with the remainder for legislative branch agencies and extra copies of agency documents for SupDocs and DLP Also about 45 percent of inplant work is legislative while about 95 percent of contracted work is for the executive branch Judicial branch work is split about 50-50 between inplant and procured printing but represents only a fractional percentage of total GPO work compared to about 15 percent for the legislative branch and 85 percent for the executive branch Also over 90 percent of inplant work is done at the main plant with the remainder at GPO regional plants Complete fiscal year 1987 workload data are presented in Table 4-3 Again note that the term printing' is defined to include composition layout printing binding blank paper sales and other associated services in addition to printing An analysis of fiscal year 1987 billing data for the GPO main plant indicates that a significant portion could be suitable for electronic dissemination or could be vulnerable to competition from electronic formats The major items are listed in Table 4-4 with fiscal year 1987 billing amounts indicated Other significant main plant billing items which are judged as not suitable for electronic formats include such things as envelopes books letter head stationery note pads passports and postal cards Some main plant billings are for personnel services only e g Congressional Record Table 4-2 --GPO Billings and Labor Force Breakdown Fiscal Year 1987 Main plant printing Regional plant printing Billings $ millions $576 Percent of total 74 8 0 $180 23 40 o $14 1 80 0 Labor force assigned persons 637 Percent of total 18 2 0 2 619 a 74 80 o 244 7 0 0 Procured printing a Excludes 692 admtnlstratwe and support personnel and 930 SupDocs personnel SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Off Ice 1988 Table 4-3 --GPO Workload Distribution Fiscal Year 1987 in millions of dollars Main Regional Procured plant plant mintina Drintino rintino Totals 113 Legislative branch 23 90 - 2 l -- Judicial branch 1 14 656 Executive branch 552 90 $181 $14 $771 Totals $576 SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice 1988 76 Table 4 4 --Electronic Potenfial for Main Plant Products Major product U S Code Forms Fiscal year 1987 billings in $ millions Electronic potential 1 4 Online and CD-ROM distribution could reduce demand for paper format 5 8 Electronic filing and electronic printing-on-demand could reduce demand for paper formats in medium to long-term Online CD-ROM diskette and electronic mail bulletin board distribution along with electronic printing-on-demand could reduce demand for paper formats in medium-term Pamphlets 11 5 Bills resolutions amendments 11 0 Calendars 2 0 Online systems could reduce demand for paper formats 8 6 3 5 4 2 Online and CD-ROM distribution could reduce demand for paper formats Online CD-ROM and diskette distribution along with electronic printing-ondemand could reduce demand for paper formats Online authoring editing publishing and status systems along with online and CD-ROM distribution could significantly reduce demand for paper formats Codeof Federal regulations Committee prints Committee reports Congressional RecordDaily 13 0 Online and CD-ROM distribution could sharply reduce demand for paper formats Federal Register 17 7 Online and CD-ROM distribution could sharply reduce demand for paper formats Hearings Total 17 6 CD-ROM distribution could reduce demand for paper formats 96 3 SOURCE Bllltngs from GPO Electronic Potential from OTA 1988 indexers at $0 75M details to congressional committees at $6 M Overall just over half of the main plant work could be affected by electronic formats The vulnerable congressional work is particularly significant and amounts to about 45 percent of main plant billings if the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations CFR are included In principle reductions in inplant work could be offset by shifting some procured work to in-plant printing However the congressional work is quite unique and specialized with little work of a similar nature currently being procured unlike forms and pamphlets where work could be rather easily shifted from procured to in-plant printing Also once initial press runs reached small enough levels certainly in the few hundreds of copies and possibly in the few thousands fully electronic composition and printing would likely be costeffective In other words primary dissemination could shift from paper or paper and microfiche to electronic with a small initial press run e g a few thousand copies of paper copies and possibly some microfiche copies on a transitional basis Any subsequent dissemination of paper copies could be on a printingon-demand basis for complete copies or probably more common printing of selected pages Impacts of Medium-Term Reductions in Traditional Demand Realistically any significant transition from paper to electronic formats would take place over several years so GPO would have time to adjust Basically GPO could make up for any shortfall by transferring a portion of procured printing primarily executive branch work to the main plant or reducing main plant operating costs or some combination of the two The major drawback of transferring more work in-house is that the main plant work costs significantly more than procured work Thus either the executive agency customers would pay considerably more than they do now or 77 ---------- GPO would have to charge considerably less than full cost to offer a competitive price GPO Cost and Labor Force Structure The cost of GPO work for 20 sample printing jobs is shown in Table 4-5 in cost per 100 pages and total cost averaged over all 20 jobs For these 20 sample jobs the average main plant regular rate cost was more than double the procured cost While these 20 jobs do not constitute a statistically valid sample of all GPO work the sample jobs were selected by GPO as being reasonably representative See ch 11 for further details In recent years GPO has been offering a special rate for some executive branch printing jobs done at the main plant The rate is based on the tenth lowest bid for comparable procured work plus ten percent For the 20 sample jobs the average main plant cost using the special rate was about 45 percent higher than the procured cost The special rate is intended to recover variable costs and make some contribution to general overhead This would appear to be the case since the special rate for the 20 sample jobs averaged about 68 percent of the regular rate that presumably covers full costs According to GPO the average direct labor rate is about 30 percent of full costs So the special rate does appear to more than cover direct labor If one assumes direct labor to be a fixed cost at least in the short-term the special rate appears to easily cover the cost of expendable e g paper ink PIUS make a Contribution to overhead Of course on the other hand the greater the use of the special rate the greater the overhead rate will be for the balance of the work all other things being equal Table 4-5 --Cost of GPO Work 20 Sample Jobs Main plant procured a T o t a l c o s -t a Procured esttmates $1oo o17 Main plant regular rateb Main plant special ratec $213 281 $144 881 based on general usage contracts us I ng the average pr ce of the f rst 5 lowest b dders 1 bMaln plant regular rate estimates based on the GpO Price scale as of Dec 1987 cMaln plant special rate estimates based on the 10th lowest b d plus 10 SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Off Ice 1988 There are several reasons for the higher main plant costs First and foremost GPO is a unique printing facility in terms of product mix schedule requirements and customer base GPO produces a much more diversified set of printing products than any single private sector printing facility As a consequence GPO operates and maintains a much wider range of equipment than do private printing companies Most private firms specialize in a small number of products to keep overhead down and maximize economies of scale Second to provide quick turnaround of congressional work and overnight printing of the daily Congressional Record and Federal Register GPO operates on a three shift basis This results in significantly higher costs for staffing supervision maintenance and general overhead The overnight operations are so important that in 1987 GPO designated an Assistant Public Printer to provide overall on-site management of the night operations Third as a government agency GPO provides such services as employee and congressional relations public affairs inspector general equal employment labor relations safety and health and the like many of which contribute to higher general overhead than in private companies Overall GPO is a labor intensive organization After deducting the cost of procured printing and sales of publications and the surplus net profit about two-thirds of the remaining costs are for labor about one-fifth for supplies and materials and one-tenth for utilities and the like The GPO cost structure based on fiscal year 1987 data is shown in Table 4-6 Data for main plant costs shown in Table 4-7 confirm the general cost structure noted above With respect to the total GPO labor force a significant downsizing has already taken place Over the past 12 years total GPO employment has declined by about 3 500 persons or 40 percent from 8 632 in fiscal year 1975 to 5 122 in fiscal year 1987 As shown in Table 4-8 the reductions have been spread across several GPO activities but with the highest absolute and percentage reductions occurring 78 Table 4-6 --GPO Cost Structure Fiscal Year 1987 Percent of fiscal year 1987 revenue dollar Cost element Procured printing Sales of publications Surplus Subtotal Labor Supplies and materials Rents communications and utilities Capital expenditures Other Subtotal 61 5 2 3 2 6 66 4 22 4 6 1 3 3 0 8 1 0 33 6 Percent of fiscal year 1987 revenue dollar less cost of procured printing and sales plus surplus Labor 66 6 Supplies and materials 18 2 Rents communications and utilities 9 8 Capital expenditures 2 4 Other 3 0 Total 100 0 SOURCE US Government Printing Office and Office of Technology Assessmen 1988 Table 4 7 --GPO Main Plant Cost Structure Fiscal Years 1984and 1985 Percent of total costs Fiscal year Fiscal year 1984 1985 Cost element Labor Supplies and materials Rents communications and utilities Depreciation Other 65 0 26 2 66 8 25 0 4 3 3 3 1 2 100 0 4 4 2 6 1 2 100 0 SOURCEUS Government Printing Office and Office ofTechnology Assessment 1988 in the composition printing binding procuremerit persomel management and documents sales distribution areas Most of these labor force reductions resulted from advances in printing technology and improvements in management efficiency The reduction in personnel management in part reflects the reassignment of apprentices from personnel to the appropriate operating units Medium-Term Outlook To sum up near-termdemandfortraditional GPO services appears to be stable absent a severe fiscal crisis on the part of the customer agencies or some other circumstance that would precipitate a rapid decrease in conventional printing activity and assuming the executive agencies continue to be required to obtain printing from or through GPO On the other hand the GPO main plant appears to be vulnerable in the medium-term 35 years and beyond due to the combination of electronic competition for some major product lines such as the Congressional Record and Federal Register and a high overhead cost structure necessitated largely by GPO's current responsibilities Additional executive agency work could be shifted from private printing companies to the GPO main plant but this would likely increase the cost to the agencies GPO could charge a special lower rate for most agency work but this would mean some portion of overhead would be uncovered and have to be paid out of direct appropriations or possibly reimbursed from net revenues on sales of publications These latter alternatives would appear to require amendment of the relevant provisions of Title 44 of the U S Code On the other hand it is possible that cost reductions resulting from the provision of electronic alternatives to the Record and Register among other publications could offset any cost increases that might result by shifting more executive agency work from procured to inhouse printing GPO could attempt to further reduce operating costs but this may be difficult given the already substantial labor force reductions obtained since the mid 1970s absent a basic restructuring of GPO responsibilities and operations Some additional labor cost reductions are likely to occur as agencies assume greater responsibility for composition and other prepress functions as a consequence of desktop and high-end electronic publishing capabilities However in other production areas such as press and binding projected retirements could create an actual labor shortage according to GPO OTA'S independent labor consultant concluded that GPO workforce is relatively old average age of 45 2 years and that 13 percent of the work force 687 persons is eligible 79 -- Table 4-8 -Major Changes in GPO Labor Force Fiscal Years 1975-87 -- Selected labor force categories' Fiscal year Fiscal year 1975 1987 Document sales distribution 1 833 Composition 1 632 Binding 1 166 Press includes prepress 1 006 718 Printing procurement excludes regional 490 Engineering and facilities Personnel includes apprentices in fiscal year 1975 but not in 332 fiscal year 1987 367 Financial 269 Materials 124 Security 'L'b r force ategor e ele ted and defined to permit FY75-87 comparison may not correspond Net Number - change Percent 930 616 630 701 432 359 - 903 - 1 016 - 536 -305 -286 -131 - 49 3 -62 3 -46 0 -30 3 -39 8 -26 7 104 250 205 79 -228 -117 -64 -45 -68 7 -31 1 -23 8 -36 3 exactly with current labor force cate90rles bAsof Aug 5 1987 SOURCE US Government Pnntlng OffIce and OffIce of Technology Assessment 1988 to retire immediately About 35 percent of the GPO work force has over 20 years of service ' There is also the possibility of reducing GPO's overhead costs discussed later GPO Plant and Equipment Other areas of possible cost savings include the purchase or construction of a new main plant building and the upgrading of conventional prepress press and binding technology A 1982GA0 study identified numerous inefficiencies in GPO's facilities-including materials handling storage and production flow problems at the main plant OTA'S independent printing consultant examined al lof these areas and concluded first that there is no compelling need for a new plant Thepresent building was specifically built to handle the load factors of the printing process whereas very few commercial printing facilities were originally designed for printing Most new plants are on one floor rather than a multifloor facility such as GPO's and do offer some production efficiencies not currently available to GPO However continued renovation and upgrading of the main plant elevators should help compensate Also a single level building 'Gregory Giebel 'Technological Changes at the Government Printing Office ' contractor report prepared for OTA January 1988 ' U S General Accounting Office Report to the Chairman Joint Committee on Printing GPO Needs to Analyze Alternatives to Overcome Limitations in Government Printing Operations PLRD-82-20 Jan 4 1982 would require much more acreage and would probably have to be located much further away from GPO's customer base in Congress and the executive agencies Overall OTA'S printing consultant concluded that the GPO main plant is equal to most commercial printing facilities handling a comparable volume of work However if viable options become available to GPO a detailed evaluation would be warranted taking into account all the factors mentioned above and others especially any strategic decisions on GPO's future role in conventional printing and electronic publishing and dissemination One GPO building option currently under consideration involves a plan to transfer GPO's main plant to GSA in exchange for the construction of a new plant on property in the Washington Navy Yard and to relocate SupDocs to a site in Suitland Maryland As noted in the 1982 GAO report costbenefit analyses of all serious alternatives are warranted including continued renovation of the existing main plant building as well as construction of a new building Cost-benefit studies would appropriately include consideration of the impacts on the cost quality and timeliness of GPO main plant services productivity of GPO main plant operations and to the extent possible GPO's general morale sense of direction and strategic outlook With respect to printing technology OTA'S printing consultant concluded that GPO technology at the main plant was generally on a par 80 with or exceeded the top fifth of the commercial printing industry GPO was found to be on a par with the top 5 percent of private firms with respect to composition technology the top 11 percent for press technology and substantially ahead for bindery technology a more exact estimate here was not possible given the differences between the GPO product mix and that of typical commercial firms GPO has stayed abreast of the private sector with respect to conventional technology as a result of gradual but continuous equipment upgrades As long as GPO provides a substantial volume of inplant printing services periodic equipment upgrades are likely to be cost-effective Perhaps the best example of GPO's performance in adopting new technology is the now fully completed transition from hot type composition to electronic photocomposition at the main plant This transition took place largely during the 1970s In fiscal year 1968 only 40 000 pages were phototypeset This increased to over 700 000 pages in fiscal year 1972 over 1 million pages in fiscal year 1976 and over 2 75 million in fiscal year 1980 As of fiscal year 1986 about 3 7 million pages per year were being phototypeset Another example is the rapid increase in electronic input to the GPO printing process over the past several years As of fiscal year 1987 about three quarters of material phototypeset at the GPO main plant was received in electronic form With respect to conventional press and bindery equipment GPO has nearly completed a major equipment upgrade stretching over the past decade Selected major equipment acquisitions are listed in Table 4-9 along with the acquisition date and cost for each item Since 1977 GPO has invested almost $15 million in major press equipment and over $10 million in bindery equipment Actual totals are higher than shown since a large number of small equipment items plus furniture vehicles and extensive renovations are not listed here Based on all of the above OTA has concluded that despite the possibly misleading Table 4-9 -Selected Major Equipment Acquisitions GPO Press and Bindery Since 1977 as of September 1987 Item Press Division Letter Press-Envelope Letter Press-Auto Feed Dryer Offset Press-Harris Offset Press 5 units Offset Press 35x50 2 units Copier-Xerox 9200 II Offset Press-Miehle 43x60 7 units Offset Press-Harris 2 units Offset Press-Web 3 units Offset Press-5 Color Postal Card Cut-Pack System-Postal Card Total Press Division Binding Division Paper Cutter-71 inch Strapping Machine Machine Wrap-Stretch Plastic 2 units Inserter-Stitcher Complete Trimmer-3 Knife 2 units Folding Machine 6 units Labeler Machine Acquisition Acquisition cost in dol tars year 1986 48 500 1987 1986 1979 1981 1979 98 303 40 663 2 025 000 6 264 000 62 530 1977 1980 1979 1 918 000 66 000 2 136 000 1986 1 104 674 1987 970 084 14 733 754 1986 1987 75 237 2 623 1979 1987 1981 1985 1986 23 000 326 400 243 000 420 000 4 311 SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice 1988 Item Shredder Perforator 2 units Nipping Machine Paper Cutter Trim Paper Collection Waste Paper System Perforator 2 units Passport Machine Nipping Machine Sewing Machine-Smyth No 12 Cutter Spacer-Lawson Eyelet Attacher Machine Wrapping Package Machine Casemaking Machine-Smyth Strapping Machine 4 units Strapping Machine-Signode 3 units Folding Endsheet Machine Casing-In MachineVersamatic Copier-Xerox 9500 VR Adhesive Binder 2 units Adhesive Mailer 2 units Total Binding Division Acquisition Acquisition year cost in dol Iars 1987 19 272 15 600 1984 13 900 1985 47 139 1986 39 495 1987 40 582 1986 17 200 1982 1 213 650 1987 12 300 1983 1980 1984 1978 1979 1979 1982 17 355 70 000 5 045 37 972 25 138 20 000 1984 1983 63 000 4 950 1983 1986 1983 1983 23 100 12 564 6 343 347 977 498 10 113 678 81 external appearance the GPO main plant is overall essentially up-to-date with respect to conventional printing technology and already makes very extensive use of electronic input and photocomposition There will of course be opportunities for future technology upgrades as the need arises Overall however GPO is well positioned technologically to carry on its traditional printing responsibilities The strategic challenge arises with respect to how GPO can remain competitive and maintain or improve cost-effectiveness in the face of possible future reductions in the demand for paper formats and especially demand for major products produced at the main plant increases in demand for electronic formats and rapid progress in agency automation including use of desktop and high-end electronic publishing These possibilities are discussed later in this chapter TRADITIONAL GPO-LEGISLATIVE BRANCH ONLY Under this alternative GPO would continue to provide centralized conventional printing services but only for the legislative branch The printing procurement program would either be transferred to the executive branch e g to GSA or dispersed among individual agencies Responsibility for the DLP could be retained at GPO as could the sale of paper formats by the SupDocs or these functions could also be transferred to the executive branch GPO would do little electronic dissemination Analysis of this alternative is illustrative of one extreme on the spectrum of alternatives available and provides further insights into the functioning of GPO The discussion here emphasizes financial and labor impacts see ch 11 and 12 for other implications To keep this in perspective it is important to note that GPO was originally established in 1860 primarily to serve the printing needs of Congress and to eliminate the corruption in printing procurement that had become widespread Over the following decades executive branch printing needs grew much faster to the point where for fiscal year 1987 85 percent of GPO work is for the executive branch Financial Impacts Using fiscal year 1987 data the restriction of GPO to conventional printing for the legislative branch would have the following first order impacts all other things being equal c the total workload of GPO would decrease from about $771 million to about$113 million or an 85 percent reduction the total workload at the GPO main plant would decrease from about $180 million to $113 million $90 million main plant work plus $23 million previously procured or a 37 percent reduction this assumes the $23 million in procured printing for the legislative branch would be shifted to the main plant the total labor force of GPO would decline by about 881 persons or about 17 percent 637 printing procurement staff and 244 regional printing plant staff all presumably transferred to GSA or elsewhere the net income of GPO would decrease by about $4 6 million due to transfer of the printing procurement program which has operated at a net surplus for the past several years presumably this net income would accrue to GSA assuming the procurement program was kept intact and retained its effectiveness the net income of GPO would increase by about $1 million due to transfer of the regional printing plants which have operated at a net loss for the last several years all other things being equal and the net income less expenses at the GPO main plant would change from a surplus of several million dollars to a potential loss of several tens of millions These figures highlight how the GPO main plant operation is dependent on executive branch work to help spread the costs of gear- 82 ing up to meet the quick turnaround and diverse needs of the legislative branch and some executive branch work such as the Federal Register The executive branch work helps fill in the valleys between the peaks of the congressional work load and utilizes labor and plant capacity that would otherwise be underutilized Both in-plant and procured executive branch work help cover GPO overhead expenses and are sources of net income The role of executive branch work can be illustrated using the assumptions about the main plant cost structure presented earlier Starting with $180 million in main plant gross revenues and assuming a 2 percent profit or surplus the total GPO main plant expenses would be $176 4 million The cost breakout for the main plant would be as in Table 4-10 Now if gross revenues drop by 37 percent to $113 million due to the exclusion of executive branch work total expenses would decrease by only 13 percent to about $154 million if materials and supplies are assumed to be variable costs but labor rent and depreciation are assumed to be almost entirely 95 percent fixed costs in the short run The result is a swing from a net surplus of about $4 million to a net loss on main plant operations of about $4 I million If printing procurement were transferred out there would be no net surplus from procurement to even partially offset this loss Labor Force Impacts In order to return GPO to break even operations it would be necessary using this hypothetical calculation to cut costs and or increase revenues by a total of $37 million Any significant cost reductions would probably necessitate labor force reductions since further cuts in the other much smaller cost categories would have marginal effects at most Recovering the entire hypothetical deficit would necessitate roughly a one-third reduction in the main plant labor force assuming that this could be accomplished without jeopardizing the main plant's capacity to do the $113 million in legislative branch work Re organization of the production processes might be necessary-for example scaling back or eliminating the night shift Alternatively some or all of the hypothetical deficit could be offset through increased appropriations and or user fees If the hypothetical deficit was to be recovered through labor force reductions a total reduction in force of about 1 100 employees would be needed assuming a total main plant work force of 3 311 calculated as shown in Table 4-11 The main plant labor force of 3 311 persons is estimated by deducting the SupDocs staff which operates on a breakeven ba- Table 4 10 -- Hypothetical Calculation of Financial Impact of Legislative Branch GPO Main plant Executive and legislative work Gross evenue $180 0 million Less net surplus assumed 2 o -3 6 Total expenses 176 4 million Assumed cost structure as percent of total expense Labor 67 0 $118 2 million Materials and supplies 25 0 44 1 Rent communications and utilities 4 40 0 7 8 Depreciation and other 3 60 o 6 3 Net income or loss SOURCE Office of Technology Assessment 1988 $176 4 million $ 3 6 million Main plant Legislative work only $113 0 million Assumed cost reduction -50 0 - 370 0 -50 0 - 50 0 $112 3 million 27 8 7 4 6 0 $153 5 million $ 40 5 million 83 Table 4-11 --Hypothetical Main Plant Total Labor Force Reductions Fiscal year 1987 total GPO labor force Less SUP D OCS staff 5 122 - 930 Persons 3 948 -637 Electronic Photocomposition Division 616 Press Division 701 Binding Division 630 Current FY87 labor force 1 947 x 78 3 311 1 100 Reduced labor force 1 519 428 Staff reductions 4 192 -244 Less regional printing staff Less printing procurement staff Current main plant labor force Less 1 3 reduction in force Reduced main plant labor force Table 4-12 -- Hypothetical Main Plant Divisional Labor Force Reduction 2 211 SOURCE Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 sis financially separate from the main plant and the regional printing and printing procure ment staffs which would in this hypothetical example be transferred to GSA The hypothetical one-third labor force reduction is calculated by dividing the net loss $37 3 million into the main plant labor costs $110 0 million GPO has previously estimated that about 78 percent of the employees in the main plant Photocomposition Press and Binding Divisions would be required to perform the legislative branch work GPO defines this as congressional work plus the Federal Register postal cards passports CFR and OMB and Presidential documents This means that the fiscal year 1987 staffing level of 1 947 persons for these divisions could be reduced by only 428 persons 22 percent in order to maintain the necessary capacity The remaining reduction of 672 persons to provide a total of 1 100 would have to come from the Executive Office Operations and Production Divisions These divisions had a fiscal year 1987 combined staffing level of 1 364 persons which would translate into a roughly 50 percent staff cut 672 out of 1 364 for these areas The calculations are shown in Table 4-12 Options available to GPO for handling these hypothetical reductions would depend on how fast they had to be made Overall GPO has a relatively old labor force with about 13 percent of its employees eligible for retirement and about 35 percent having 21 or more years of service Some craft units have even higher Executive Office Operations Division Production Division 693 359 313 Current FY87 labor force 1 364 x 50 Reduced labor force Staff reductions 682 682 Total staff reductions 1 110 Total remaining labor force 2 201 SOURCE Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 - percentages For example of the 547 composers International Typographical Union Local No 101 176 or 32 percent are eligible for retirement and 326 or 60 percent have 21 or more years of service as shown in detail in Table 4-13 If three years were available to make the transition to a legislative branch GPO the 22 percent reduction in the photocomposition press and binding labor force probably could be made mostly through natural attrition averaging 5-10 percent per year at the main plant However the 50 percent reduction in the executive office operations and production labor force probably could not be made over this period of time through natural attrition and some early retirement buyouts might be necessary Of course the hypothetical transition would be easier if more time were available Other Vulnerabilities As a final note the traditional GPO-legislative branch only alternative would be especially vulnerable to any significant future reductions in the demand for paper formats Prior GPO analyses have indeed documented 84 Table 4-13 --GPO Main Plant Composers Years of Service and Retirement Eligibility Fiscal Year 1987 Number of employees Years of service o-5 19 1 6-10 11-15 40 161 16-20 193 21-25 26-30 94 31-35 33 6 36-40 0 41 547 Total Retirement eligibility Age 55 30 years service 32 Age 60 20 years service 85 Age 62 5 years service 59 176 Total SOURCE US Government Pnntlng Office 1988 significant reductions over the 1975-1984 period Thecombinedtotalsforeightprincipalmain plant products daily Congressional Record Federal Register bills resolutions and amendments committee hearings committee reports committee prints calendars and the Code of Federal Regulations showed declines of 64 percent in total number of copies printed However this reflected primarily a 55 percent reduction in the number of titles which is a function of a lower overall level of congressional activity rather than an indication of lower demand The number of pages declined by only16percent whichmeans that theaverage number of pages per title must have increased significantly over this period of time for example fewer but longer reports and bills Indeed as shown the average number of pages per copy almost doubled from 36 to 64 pages Nonetheless over the 1975-1984 period the total number of pages printed at the GPO main plant for these eight products declined by about 36 percent The statistical results are shown in Table 4-14 This volume reduction would be expected to increase drastically per unit costs all other things being equal However all other things Table 4-14 --Changes in GPO Main Plant Volume for Eight Principal Products a 1975 1984 Percent 1984 1975 number number change -55 Titles 28 893 13 854 -16 0 886 Original pages inmiliions 1 048 48 7 -64 Copies in millions 134 6 64 78 Pages per copy average 36 4 85 3 12 -36 Printed pages in trillions aDailY cO gfeSS Ona R e c o r d F e d e r a l Ffeg ster bills reSOILItl OnS a n d amendments committee heari rigs committee reports committee pr nts calendars and Code of Federa Regulatw s SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Office and Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 were not equal During this period the GPO labor force decreased by about 34 percent and more productive less labor-intensive equipment was deployed Some of the difference was also made up in price increases However as the trend data indicate Table 4-15 billings for key congressional printing and binding items remained remarkably stable increasing by only 1 4 percent through fiscal year 1983 and by about 17 percent through fiscal year 1984 Trend data for the entire fiscal year 19751987 period show only minor changes in GPO billings for hearings committee prints and reports and calendars As indicated in Table 4-16 billings for bills resolutions and amendments were up significantly although this may reflect a fiscal year 1987 anomaly since fiscal year 1986 billings were $8 41 million up only marginally from the $7 97 million expended in fiscal year 1975 The only dramatic changes were for bills resolutions and amendments up 35 percent the Congressional Record up 71 percent and the Federal Register up 128 percent as shown below These latter two items are among the biggest work orders at the main plant very labor intensive the primary reason along with congressional bills and reports for overnight operations at the main plant and among the more vulnerable main plant products with respect to competition from electronic formats As mentioned elsewhere in this chapter the Record and Register are both highly suited to online and CD-ROM electronic formats 85 Table 4-15 --Congressional Printing and Binding Billings Selected Items Fiscal Years 1975 1983 and 1984 Item Hearings Miscellaneous printing and binding Bills resolutions and amendments Miscellaneous publications Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year 1983 1984 1975 in thousands of dollars $17 746 $22 304 $16 684 9 776 10 042 8 720 7 965 7 552 6 827 4 585 4 130 3 680 Committee prints 4 372 2 956 3 065 House and Senate calendars Documents Committee reports Franked envelopes Congressional Record daily Totals 1 720 466 2 644 815 8 287 1 256 1 571 2 827 759 11 794 2 138 958 3 048 1 111 13 352 $57 471 $58 249 $67 430 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office and Offtce of Technology Assessment 1988 Table 4 16 --Congressional Printing and Binding Billings Selected Items Fiscal Years 1975 and 1987 Fiscal year Fiscal year 1975 1987 in thousands of dollars Item $16 835 $17 746 Hearings 7 965 10 830 Bills resolutions and amendments 7 016 7 247 Committee prints and reports 1 720 1 543 House and Senate calendars 8 287 11 173 Congressional Record daily a 7 776 17 697 Federal Register daily aln ludes billings for Congressional copies only and thus understates total billin9s Percent change -5 1 0 36 0 3 3 - 10 0 35 0 128 0 SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Off Ice and Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 ELECTRONIC GPO-DECENTRALIZED Under this alternative the GPO would continue to provide centralized conventional printing services that is Federal Government inkon-paper printing would be obtained from or through GPO expand the range of electronic publishing services available to agencies disseminate selected electronic formats on a sales basis through SupDocs as well as traditional paper formats and disseminate selected electronic as well as paper and microfiche formats to the DPL However government dissemination of electronic formats would not be centralized solely via GPO Mission agencies could at their discretion disseminate their own electronic formats or they could opt to utilize SupDocs or both SupDocs could at its discretion select those electronic formats judged to be suitable for inclusion in the sales program Fur- thermore electronic formats selected for inclusion in the DLP would be distributed to the depository libraries either directly by the agencies or via GPO Also this alternative assumes that GPO would develop and maintain a governmentwide information index in cooperation with NTIS and would actively participate in governmenttide standards-setting and innovation activities concerning electronic printing publishing and information dissemination This alternative labelled for convenience Electronic GPO-Decentralized most closely aligns with the current development path of GPO GPO is conducting a number of relevant pilot projects and is experimenting with and occasionally implementing precursor electronic -- 86 applications This alternative is conceptually viable and therefore warrants careful consideration due to the convergence of several key trends in electronic technology and demand for Federal information in electronic formats Trends in Technology and Demand Technology Trends One key technology trend is the rapid increase in agency automation which means that most agencies already are creating their original information products in electronic form and many are also converting this material to a camera-ready format OTA'S independent printing consultant estimated that about 25 percent of the original material is being provided by Federal agencies to GPO in cameraready format For these pages no typesetting or page composition by GPO is required Almost all 98 percent of this camera-ready material is estimated to originate from executive branch agencies The other 75 percent of the original material is being provided to GPO in a variety of formats primarily electronic as shown in Table 4-17 The overall picture that emerges is as follows Almost all executive agency material is being provided to GPO in camera-ready or electronic formats with very little material requiring GPO keyboarding Almost all agency electronic input is via magnetic tape On the other hand roughly one half of all legislative branch material requires GPO keyboarding roughly 10 percent is scanned and the remaining 40 percent of electronic input is split between magnetic tape and fiber optic cable transmission The distribution of origination formats is shown in Table 4-18 for camera-ready manuscript scanned and electronic input as a percentage of total input and total by branch of government The executive branch agencies are able to capture their own electronic keystrokes and increasingly do their own electronic composi- Table 4-17 --Origination Formatsa for Material Submitted to GPO as Percent of Total Executive Legislative branch branch 23 4 0 0 2 6 0 0 Manuscript Copyb 4 5 Scanned entry 0 5 10 4 Magnetic tape 41 6 0 04 Floppy disk 1 96 10 0 Fiber optic cable 0 4 25 0 75 Other electronic transmission Format aexcluding brequlring Totals 260 o 5 52 2 10 5 100'Y camera-ready cOPY keyboarding SOURCE U S Government Printing Office F R Romano and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 Table 4-18 --Origination Formats Including Camera Ready as Percent of Total and by Branch of Government Percent of all Government totals Executive Legislative Format branch branch Totals 24 5 25 0 5 Camera-ready 1 95 17 55 Manuscript 19 5 Scanned entry 0 375 3 375 3 75 15 89 Electronic input 35 86 51 75 Totals 100 Percent of all branch totals Executive Legislative branch branch 1 3 39 1 47 0 3 1 0 6 9 0 42 6 57 2 100 99 9 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office F R Romano and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 87 tion largely because of the widespread penetration of computer and word processing technologies and recently the rapid increase in the use of desktop and high-end electronic publishing As noted in chapter 2 the GAO survey of 114 civilian departmental agency components indicated that many are using and or testing relevant technologies as summarized in Table 4-19 The GAO survey did not ask for estimates of the absolute number of these technologies in use However these estimates can be developed from other relevant indicators including the use of page makeup and page description software OTA'S independent printing consultant has estimated that as of year end 1987 there were already over 20 000 units of page makeup software in use in the Federal Government and over 125 000 units of page description software The detailed breakout is in Table 4-20 OTA'S printing consultant estimates that in addition there are 200-350 high-end electronic printers Xerox 9700 class in use in the Federal Government Just these three items alone account for over $200 million in installed base of electronic publishing technology 21K units page makeup at $600 unit 127K units page description at $750 unit 275 high-end electronic printers at 400 K unit $12 6M $95 3M $11OM $217 9 M This does not include high-end workstations and low-end laser printers among other relevant technologies Rough estimates for the latter are shown in Table 4-21 These technologies represent conservatively roughly another $160 million in installed Table 4 20 --Estimated Use of Electronic Publishing Software Calendar Year 1987 Total Estimated units in units in United States U S Government Software Vendor Page makeup software Aldus Pagemaker Xerox Ventura All others Totals Page description software Hewlett Packard PCL Postscript Proprietary for printer 115 000 85 000 66 000 226 000 6 000 12 000 3 000 21 000 210 000 420 000 29 000 14 000 790 000 67 000 125 000 45 000 Totals 1 590 000 SOURCE TypeWorld F J Romano 19S8 8 700 11 000 Typesetter Other laser printer 129 700 Table 4-21 --Estimated Use of Other Electronic Publishing Technologies Estimated Calendar Year 1987 Estimated units in Technology U S Government High-end electronic publishing software loos e g Interleaf 1 000s High-end workstation e g Sun Low-end laser printers 10 000s e g HP Laserjet Estimated cost per unit $40K $20K $ 3K SOURCE Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 equipment assuming 300 units high-end software at $40 Khmit 3000 units highend workstations at $20 K unit 30 000 units low-end laser printers at $3 K unit $12M $60M $90M $162 M These estimates suggest that the Federal Government and primarily the executive agencies have already invested about $350-$400 million in electronic publish- Table 4 19 --Civilian Department Agency Use of selected Electronic Technologies percent of agencies responding Currently in Currently prototyping operational use or pilot testing Technology 50 0 8 8 Computer-aided page makeup 65 8 7 9 Computer graphics Electronic photocomposition 43 9 7 9 64 0 1 8 Laser and other non-impact printing 34 2 14 9 Desktop publishing system 10 5 Electronic publishing system 21 1 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office F R Romano and Office of Technology Assessment 19S8 Totals 58 8 73 7 51 8 65 8 49 1 31 6 88 ing and related technologies with no end to agency procurements in sight Also these figures do not include any allocation of the over 25 000 mainframe computers and the estimated 500 000 microcomputers in the Federal Government that are used in part for electronic publishing applications Finally these figures do not reflect the rapidly growing agency pilot tests and operational applications for direct electronic dissemination via bulletin boards electronic mail CD-ROM and the like Trends in Demand This high level of agency activity reflects in part opportunities presented by advancing technology and the overall drive to automate agency functions However agency activities also reflect growing demand on the part of Federal information users to receive information in electronic formats The results of the GAO survey of Federal information users document this demand For example the depository library community which heavily reflects university research and Federal libraries indicated a strong preference to obtain increasing percentages of Federal information in electronic form and declining percentages in paper and microfiche The results for 318 depository libraries responding out of a sample of 450 34 out of 50 regional depository libraries and 284 out of 400 selective depository libraries are highlighted in Table 422 Only the most significant changes are included here These results show that the library community desires or anticipates decreases in use of paper and microfiche formats significant increases in electronic mail or bulletin boards and floppy disks and substantial increases in online databases and compact optical disks Trends for other segments of the Federal information user community are not so dramatic but show a similar pattern The results for 109 scientific and technical associations responding to the GAO survey out of a sample of 250 are highlighted in Table 4-23 The GAO survey of Federal agencies indicates that agency use of electronic dissemina- Table 4 22 --Depository Library Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format Type of information Congressional record hearing reports bills Scientific and technical reports information Press releases bulletins Statistical data Format paper microfiche online database floppy disk compact optical disk paper microfiche online database floppy disk compact optical disk paper microfiche electronic mail or bulletin board online database compact optical disk paper microfiche electronic mail or bulletin board online database magnetic tape disk floppy disk videodisk compact optical disk SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 Number of libraries using Next Percent Now 3 years change 271 234 - 13 7 274 225 - 17 9 59 132 124 0 0 27 large increase 3 112 3 633 0 244 172 - 17 2 212 159 -21 7 76 95 25 0 1 27 2 600 0 9 78 767 0 246 183 -25 6 39 -10 3 35 9 51 467 0 24 50 108 0 1 18 1 700 0 309 270 - 12 6 241 134 -44 4 12 27 125 0 103 158 53 4 11 25 127 0 12 65 442 0 0 12 large increase 15 140 833 0 -- 89 Table 4-23 --Scientific and Technical Association Demand for Federal Information by Type and Format Type of information Congressional record hearings reports bills Format paper electronic mail or bulletin board online database floppy disk Number of associations using Next Percent 3 years Now change 61 57 -6 6 1 18 1 700 0 Scientific and technical i nformat ion paper microfiche electronic mail or bulletin board online database floppy disk compact optical disk 4 0 89 8 6 9 6 1 Press releases bulletins paper electronic mail or bulletin board online database floppy disk 77 3 5 1 60 26 16 10 - 22 1 767 0 220 0 900 0 Statistical data paper electronic mail or bulletin board online database floppy disk compact optical disk 60 1 6 5 1 49 11 23 23 5 -18 3 1 000 0 283 0 360 0 400 0 22 13 75 5 24 30 20 3 450 0 large increase - 15 7 - 37 5 300 0 233 0 233 0 200 0 SOURCE GAO Surveyof Federal Information Users 1988 tionis already significant forsometypesof information and is projected to expand considerably over the next 3years For the 114 civilian departmental agency components respending some key trends are in dicated inTable 4-24 ber of challenges and opportunities Principal among these are electronic input structured database standards electronic publishing support dissemination of electronic formats staffing and capital investment While generalizations are difficult the survey data suggest that for several major types of Federal information especially statistical data scientific and technical reports information administrative reports and press releases about one-fifth to one-third of the executive branch agencies expect to have electronic dissemination available within 3 years The dominant electronic formats vary by type of information Probably one-tenth to oneeighth of the agencies expect to have electronic dissemination of other types of Federal information e g pamphlets manuals regulations directories Overall however the survey data suggest that despite dramatic increases in electronic formats paper will still be the dominant format for the near- to medium-term Electronic Input Opportunities and Challenges These trends in technology user demand and agency activities present GPO with a num- As noted earlier most Federal agencies already have the technology needed to originate materials in electronic form and capture the key strokes needed to initially enter the data and make subsequent revisions Once the material is ready for composition and layout and assuming the originating agency is not performing these functions it is generally more cost-effective to transmit the data in electronic form to GPO so as to minimize any necessary rekeyboarding The cost savings can be substantial GPO estimates that rekeyboarding costs on average $35 to $50 per page whereas electronic input costs $1 to $15 per page depending on how much recoding and reformatting are needed For electronic input materials using the GPO structured database standards the average cost is $1 to $2 per page since no rekey boarding and minimal recoding or reformatting are needed 90 Table 4-24 --Agency Activities and Plans for Electronic Information Dissemination by Type and Format Percent of agencies using Type of information Administrative reports Format Now Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Compact optical disk Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Compact optical disk 14 0 0 0 9 12 3 6 1 7 9 -- Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer FIoppy disk Video tape Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Floppy disk 13 2 5 3 7 0 3 5 6 1 Manuals Next 3 yearsa b 0 Percent change 8 8 21 1 11 4 16 7 2 6 15 8 10 5 18 4 16 7 16 7 8 8 87 90 o 878 0 71 5 82 0 111 4 159 0 72 1 23 5 19 3 90 0 8 8 3 5 4 4 1 8 28 1 12 3 13 2 7 0 8 8 18 4 10 5 13 2 9 6 112 9 132 1 88 5 100 0 44 3 109 0 200 0 200 0 433 3 Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Floppy disk Compact optical disk 0 9 0 9 3 5 5 3 -- 9 6 5 3 11 4 14 0 3 5 Decisions opinions Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk 2 6 -- 2 6 0 9 2 6 Rules regulations directives circulars Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Floppy disk 8 8 0 9 2 6 6 1 10 5 5 3 9 6 4 4 6 1 18 4 6 1 10 5 12 3 966 6 488 9 225 7 164 2 303 9 269 2 388 9 134 6 109 1 577 8 303 9 101 6 Directories c atalogs bibl iographies Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Videodisk Compact optical disk Electronic mail Electronic bulletin board Electronic data transfer Magnetic tape disk Floppy disk Com act orMical disk 0 9 1 8 8 8 8 8 5 3 0 9 -- Scientific and technical reports information Press releases Pamphlets bulletins Statistical data 6 1 6 1 14 9 14 0 8 8 -- 7 9 3 5 17 5 31 6 19 3 11 4 7 9 18 4 11 4 14 9 3 5 7 9 20 2 12 3 25 6 34 2 31 6 2 6 1 167 0 339 0 109 1 29 5 181 1 288 9 155 7 251 4 46 3 8 2 63 7 %alculated by adding the percentage of agencies now using the format indicated to the number of agencies who expect to use the format within the next 3 years Assumes that agencies currently using a format will continue to do so SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal agencies 1987 GPO already provides multiple options for electronic input as noted earlier including scanned input floppy disks magnetic tapes dial-up telephone lines and fiber optic lines Some of these options could be refined and or expanded GPO has scanners that can read most of the popular typewriter and word processor fonts and convert the material from alphanumeric characters to electronic form However the scanned copy must be very clear and legible in order to obtain a low error rate and in any 91 event must be coded as well as scanned in order to produce a database for input to the GPO composition system As a result the cost of scanned input is higher than other purely electronic input modes but when properly selected can be much lower than rekeyboarding Scannable material is still a small percentage about one-fifth of all material in manuscript form received by GPO As long as manuscript copy is submitted the more that is scannable the lower the costs GPO could intensify efforts to advise agency customers of the scanner option and the typeface and format requirements GPO could also aggressively evaluate state-of-the-art scanner technology in order to increase the range of typefaces and fonts that can be scanned and to simplify recoding to the extent feasible Also agencies which have their own scanners could be encouraged to do the scanning themselves and submit materials to GPO in floppy disk or other direct electronic format However in the final analysis scanners are much slower and more error-prone than direct electronic formats GPO has a floppy disk reader that is capable of reading over 100 different disk formats from a wide range of word processing systems Agencies can submit their material on floppy disks and the word processing codes for typeface and format used on these disks can be converted to GPO's structured database codes Very few agencies currently make use of this option GPO could encourage greater agency use of floppy disk input especially as a substitute for manuscript submission which requires complete rekeyboarding GPO could also survey the Federal agencies to ascertain the types and distribution of word processing systems being used and could add capability to existing GPO equipment to convert other kinds of disk formats used by agencies Floppy disk conversion does require quality control on the part of the agencies to insure consistently error-free coding Floppy disk input is generally best suited for shorter documents cheaper than scanned input but more expensive than magnetic tape input Magnetic tape input is the dominant mode used by executive agencies and is used to a lesser but still significant extent by legisla- tive branch agencies Magnetic tape represents a high speed high volume low cost per page way to transmit material from originating agencies to GPO for composition typesetting and printing Magnetic tapes can be provided to GPO in any of three formats database tapes direct drive tapes and data tapes Database tapes are produced by the originating agency or an agency contractor using GPO's structured database specifications These tapes require no code conversion and serve as input to the GPO composition system GPO has been processing database tapes for nearly twenty years The preparation of camera ready copy at GPO from database tapes is inexpensive priced at $1 85 per page The preparation of film negatives from data tapes costs $3 15 per page Direct drive tapes are produced by the originating agency or an agency contractor using not only GPO's structured database specifications but also GPO'S electronic composition codes with type face and page format already specified Direct drive tapes provide direct input to GPO's phototypesetters producing camera ready copy or film negatives The preparation of camera ready copy or film negatives from direct drive tapes is $0 30 cheaper per page than from database tapes at $1 55 and $2 85 per page respectively and is a low-cost way of providing materials to GPO The use of both database and direct drive tapes has increased in recent years as indicated in Table 4-25 These two forms of magnetic tape input are likely to continue at or above present levels for the forseeable future so long as traditional ink-on-paper output formats are needed and GPO traditional printing services remain competitive Some agencies have the capability to produce magnetic tapes but do not have the Table 4-25 --GPO Pages Produced from Database and Direct Drive Magnetic Tapes Fiscal Years 1983-87 Fiscal year 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Database tapes total pages Direct drive tapes total pages 392 162 654 606 769 791 926 445 807 507 350 723 859 497 781 398 724 889 838 545 SOURCE U S Government Pr ntlng Off Ice 1988 92 expertise or desire to code the tapes to GPO specifications In these cases GPO does not have to rekeyboard the substantive material but does have to convert from agency codes to GPO's structured database standards and insert composition codes These tapes are handled on a case-by-case basis similar to the floppy disks A final means of input to be discussed here is electronic transmission via dial-up telephone lines fiber optic lines satellite private lines and the like Conceptually the originating agency keyboards the data on its own microcomputer or other terminal electronically transmits the data via a telecommunications link to GPO for composition and electronically receives the proof pages back from GPO via the telecommunications link for printout on a laser printer Corrections can be made on the proof copy and electronically transmitted or mailed back to GPO where the final pages are produced on GPO's phototypesetters As of January 15 1988 the organizations listed in Table 4-26 were using dial-up transmission for input and proofing of various publications While electronic transmission represents at present a small portion of total input to GPO this use for electronic input is likely to grow significantly especially if proven to be cost effective The experience with the fiber optic transmission between the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel and GPO is illustrative The Legislative Counsel uses a fiber optic link to transmit draft bills to GPO where they are typeset and transmitted back to the Legislative Counsel's Office and proof copies are pMted out on laser printers During fiscal year 1987 163 893 pages were transmitted in this fashion at a total GPO billable cost of $75 350 or about $0 46 per page This appears to be a competitive price although it presumably does not reflect any capital costs such as the fiber optic link or laser printers and does not include the GPO cost of printing copies of the bills in final form Also bills are very straight forward in format While not strictly comparable the average GPO per page composition cost for the U S Code using magnetic tape input was about $7 40 per page in fiscal year 1986 Table 4-26 --GPO Dial-Up Electronic Transmission Customers January 388 Executive branch Department of Commerce Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Department of the Treasury Customs Bureau Veterans Administration Office of Management and Budget Office of the Federal Register Code of Federal Regulations Legislative branch GPO--Daily Congressional Record Record Index Bills Library of Congress House of Representatives Committee on Banking Hearing Committee on the Budget Hearing Committee on Energy and Commerce Hearing Committee Print Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee Prints Committee on the Judiciary Hearings Committee on Small Business Hearings Committee on Veterans Affairs Committee Print Hearings Report Title 38 U S Code Sergeant At Arms Notice Office of Legislative Counsel Office of the Clerk Calendars Lists Stationary Directory U S Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs Hearing Office of the Secretary Document Book Senate Journal Office of Legislative Counsel SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1988 6 158 pages at a total cost of $45 592 The U S Code is more complex and contains more characters per page than a bill and bills usually go through several revisions If one assumes three revision cycles for bills with 4 bill pages equivalent to one U S Code page the costs are similar Structured Database Standard As mentioned in chapter 3 a structured database standard is a key aspect of overall standards development for electronic publishing and dissemination GPO has developed and implemented what it calls a logically structured fulltext database standard or specification or simply a structured database standard for short All this really means is that the database containing textual tabular and or numerical information contains no coding unique to a spe cific word processing or typesetting system 93 Data elements are tagged with an identifier that can be used to control the format of a particular document Users who agree on and implement a common set of structured database standards are able to change the database easily and cost-effectively from one location to another one format to another and one revision to a later revision or edition GPO uses its own structured database standard for the vast majority of materials composed and produced at the GPO main plant However the GPO standard is not at present generally accepted by private industry and significant parts of the Federal Government For example DoD is committed to the Standard Generalized Markup Language SGML approach which is similar to GPO's approach but still a distinctly different standard Many of the desktop and high-end electronic publishing systems located in Federal agencies use display oriented standards what you see on the screen is what you get in the document and or structured database approaches different from GPO'S GPO indicates that software could be written to convert SGML or presumably any other markup language automatically into GPO's logically structured full text database approach Also GPO is prototyping a desktop microcomputer-based version of its structured database software In sum as noted in Table 4-27 there is significant use of GPO's database standard But this percentage of use is only a small fraction of all government publications This suggests a significant unrealized opportunity to apply GPO's or some other approach as a broadly accepted and acceptable government wide database standard Electronic Publishing Support Under the electronic GPO-decentralized alternative GPO would need to develop an overall electronic publishing strategy that leverages GPO strengths to meet changing needs of the Federal agencies This strategy is likely to differ for the executive and legislative branches of government As presented in de- Table 4-27 --Departmental Applications of GPO Structured Full Text Database Standard as of November 1987 -- -- Number of publications or publication series Depart ment using GPO standard Agriculture 12 4 Air Force Army 11 Commerce 38 Defense other 13 2 Energy HHS a 23 7 Interior Justice 3 Labor 8 Navy 15 Transportation 11 Treasury 10 6 State 163 Total FIH lth and HUrnan sewlces ea SOURCE U S Government Prfntlng Off Ice 1988 tail earlier the executive branch has made and continues to make a major investment in electronic publishing and related technologies typically as part of agency automation programs While implementation varies widely electronic publishing is conceptually viewed as part of agency information resources nlanagement IRM and staffing budgeting and the like are evolving within the IRM framework Many agencies are committed to a transition from paper to electronic-based operations although the transition is likely to take many years For the executive branch several roles for GPO are emerging First GPO can continue to provide traditional printing services either at the well-equipped main plant or via outside procurement Second GPO can continue to improve cost-effectiveness at the input and prepress end of the printing process by encouraging electronic submissions already at very high levels and dial-up composition services where appropriate Third GPO can encourage adoption of governmentwide structured database standards as discussed above Fourth GPO can provide or facilitate mechanisms for training and education about electronic publishing 94 On the one hand GPO's greatest assets are its traditional printing facilities and labor force coupled with a substantially automated prepress capability including electronic photocomposition and typesetting GPO is well suited for agency work requiring typeset quality ink-on-paper output for large documents and long press runs and for a variety of specialty jobs GPO's structured database standard or some variation thereof is well suited to provide cost-effective linkages between document origination revision and multi-format dissemination regardless of who is doing the disseminating On the other hand many of the executive agencies are committed to acquiring and implementing their own electronic publishing and dissemination capability largely as part of agency automation programs in which GPO has little or no involvement Some agencies and especially the defense and regulatory agencies are determined to reduce their dependence on paper drastically within the next few years The plans and activities of defense agencies are particularly important since as shown in Table 4-28 the Army Navy and Air Force together account for about $250 million in GPO billings or roughly one-third of total GPO billings The Navy for example has established the paperless ship as a prime directive All military services are hoping to place most Table 4-28 --Ten Largest GPO Printing Customers Fiscal Year 1986 Customer Fiscal year 1986 billings Percent of Dollars in fiscal year mill ions 1986 total manuals directives and technical documentation on electronic media for filing revising updating and disseminating GPO's high dependence on printing for defense customers is concentrated at several of the regional procurement and printing facilities as shown in Table 4-29 In the extreme case that most traditional ink-on-paper defense work was phased out over a period of several to many years only the GPO main printing plant rapid response center Chicago Denver New York and San Francisco regional printing plants and Denver and Seattle regional procurement offices would be substantially unaffected All other offices could lose between Table 4 29 --Distribution of GPO Defense Customers by Procurement and Printing Offices Fiscal Year 1986 Total Defense Agency billings fiscal year 1986a Dollars in Percent of mil I ions office total b Procurement offices Boston Regional Philadelphia Regional New York Regional Hampton Regional Atlanta Regional Chicago Regional Columbus Regional St Louis Regional Dallas Regional Denver Regional Los Angeles Regional San Francisco Regional Seattle Regional San Antonio Satellite Charleston Satellite San Diego Satellite Oklahoma City Satellite Rapid Response Center 3 3 27 0 7 3 19 5 23 7 21 8 8 3 12 0 13 7 3 5 7 1 7 1 2 7 2 6 1 1 0 2 0 07 1 2 69 9 84 8 58 2 89 7 71 1 73 6 68 3 70 4 61 4 23 7 77 0 52 7 26 4 95 6 85 2 99 4 100 0 9 7 Printing Offices Chicago Regional Denver Regional New York Regional San Francisco Regional Seattle Regional Rapid Response Center 0 02 0 1 0 5 0 1 0 2 1 4 4 8 34 3 16 8 59 6 15 5 a Army 134 7 18 3 Navy 74 6 10 1 Congress 68 0 9 2 Treasury 65 6 8 9 Postal Service 53 0 HHS b 49 8 Air Force 48 0 6 5 GSA 23 0 3 1 Agriculture 21 8 3 0 Energy 19 3 2 6 aperCent of f Cal year IgSS GPo total revenues of $737 millionnet of wblica tions sales appropriations and reimbursements bHealth and Human services SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Office 19SS Main Piant Procurement Printing 63 6 17 2 1 0 19 3 9 3 a For Army Navy Air Force Defense Logistics Agency and Other Defense Agencies bDefense agency billings calculated as a percentage of total billings fOr each Office SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 19SS - --- -- 95 half and over 90 percent of current billings all other things being equal Clearly then an important part of GPO's electronic publishing strategy would logically be a very careful analysis of how defense automation activities are likely to affect the demand for traditional GPO printing services over what time frame and what are the leveraged opportunities for GPO with respect to the emerging defense electronic information infrastructure Such an analysis would require first that GPO obtain basic information about defense agency automation plans Up to now GPO has directly participated in only a handful of defense automation programs including the Army Programs 600-S terminated before contract award and 400-S contract awarded in 1984 and the Air Force Program 50-S contract awarded in 1988 However these three electronic publishing programs represent only a fraction of all relevant DoD activities For example GPO did not participate in the Navy's Printing on Demand System designed to produce 15 000 15-page documents per day on an electronic printing-on-demand basis would benefit from staying abreast or perhaps ahead of agency applications and thereby be in a much better position to identify opportunities to meet agency needs In a decentralized and competitive electronic environment which increasingly characterizes the Federal Government GPO will have to be imovative in matching its expertise with agency needs Agency needs will vary over a wide spectrum and will change over time at an increasingly rapid pace Some agencies will look to GPO for a wide range of electronic publishing services assuming such services are available while others will be completely independent of GPO regardless of what GPO offers In addition to keeping more fully informed on agency automation activities both military and civilian GPO could establish an electronic publishing laboratory and innovation center for both GPO and agency personnel GPO already has taken some action along these lines with respect to establishment of the dial-up composition service' now available This service permits agencies to originate material from agency microcomputers transmit the material over telephone or fiber optic lines to GPO for typesetting and receive the typeset material via transmission back to the agency for printing of proof copies on agency laser printers This dial-up service uses GPO's logically-structured database and GPO provides both a demonstration room and a training program At this point in time it is not possible to determine with precision the extent of agency needs for GPO electronic publishing services In 1986 GPO conducted its own survey of agency needs The results based on 175 of 850 questionnaires returned--a 20 percent response rate strongly indicate that almost all agencies will be using electronic publishing within 5 years especially for reference materials technical documentation and periodicals but the role of GPO is much less clear Roughly one-fifth to one-quarter of the respondents indicated a near-term preference for GPO automatic composition computer-aided page makeup and typeset quality output increasing to about one-third of the respondents in 5 years This compares to the roughly two-thirds of the respondents who indicated an overall intent to use these electronic publishing services in 5 years This suggests that perhaps up to about one-half of these types of agency electronic publishing work might be done by GPO and the other half by the agencies themselves or by agency contractors The results suggest a relatively smaller role for GPO with respect to text input and editing electronic display data telecommunicating and computer generated graphics although the overall use of these GPO services was still projected to grow significantly This concept could be expanded to a much wider range of electronic publishing applications including high-end and optical disk configurations From a strategic perspective GPO The response rate to this 1986 survey was low and both agency and GPO activities-as well as the underlying technologies-have changed markedly since then Clearly a new 96 survey is needed and hopefully with a much higher response rate Some highlights from the 1986 survey are shown in Table 4-30 Several of the agency respondents indicated in written comments that use of GPO electronic publishing services would depend in large part on whether such services were costeffective compared to in-house costs or commercial rates In essence GPO is competing for agency electronic publishing business against agency inhouse contractor and commercial vendor alternatives GPO is already moving to provide more electronic publishing options but the pace is still much slower than the rates of change in technology agency activities and user needs While GPO training and innovation activities are relevant to all branches of government the role of GPO with respect to legislative branch electronic publishing could be different in several key ways First the legislative branch has not yet made the major capital in- vestment in the technical infrastructure that makes decentralized executive branch activities a reality Second the legislative branch generally does not have a large number of staff already trained in electronic publishing Third GPO is in the legislative branch so separation of powers concerns do not apply Fourth GPO already has a central role in many legislative branch publishing activities And fifth many of GPO's own pilot projects involve the legislative branch such as the fiber optic links between GPO and the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel House Office of Legislative Counsel and House Information Systems Office HIS For all of these reasons GPO could develop plans for an expanded role with respect to the legislative branch These plans could include the GPO provided capability for congressional committees and offices to search retrieve and printon-demand key governmental process documents such as the Congressional Record Record Index Table 4-30 --Federal Agency Electronic Publishing Activities and Plans as of 1986 in Percent of Agencies Responding Types of documents for which electronic publishing is will be used Reference Materials Technical documentation Periodicals Throwaway Catalogs Legal documentation Electronic publishing services that are will be used Text input and editing microcomputers word processors Automatic composition software systems Computer generated graphics Computer-aided page makeup Typeset quality output Electronic display Data telecommunicating GPO electronic publishing services that will be used Text input and editing Automatic composition Computer generated graphics Computer-aided page markup Typeset quality output Electronic display Data telecommunicating SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice 1988 Currently In 5 Years 35' 0 37 26 21 14 57 0 56 48 36 31 20 10 Currently 75' 0 25 42 17 34 33 43 Next year 820 o 40 59 34 45 43 54 Next year 90 0 19 14 22 29 11 13 In 5 years 87 o 56 77 61 57 58 68 In 5 years 140 0 28 20 30 38 16 18 97 Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations all of which are already in an electronic structured database format This concept could be extended to include the capability to search retrieve and print-on-demand selected committee prints reports and hearings although the degree of difficulty would be considerably greater since little of this material is currently in structured database format This problem could be gradually eliminated overtime if more committees utilized GPO electronic database and photocomposition capability either on a dial-up or floppy disk basis These alternatives will become more widely possible as the penetration of microcomputers on Capitol Hill continues Any detailed planning along these lines would need to take into account the inevitable increase in desktop publishing software has decreased to the $600 per unit range and the complementary roles of GPO the Library of Congress HIS and the Senate Computer Center Dissemination of Electronic Formats Under the Electronic GPO-Decentralized' alternative SupDocs would select agency electronic format information products for inclusion in the GPO sales program presumably based on an evaluation of sales potential Agencies could sell such products as well but could also opt at agency discretion to use SupDocs as their sales outlet At the present time SupDocs includes only a few dozen magnetic tape products in the sales program These tapes are sold at the usual cost plus 50 percent in accordance with Title 44 of the U S Code and include for example the Congressional Record U S Code Code of Federal Regulations Federal Reg ster Statistical Abstract of the U S Budget of the United States Weekly Compilations of Presidential Documents and U S Government Manual At the moment these magnetic tape products are sold primarily to commercial information vendors-such as Mead WE STLAW DIALOG Legi-Slate Congressional Quarterly and BRS --which repackage or enhance and resell the information GPO planning for an expanded offering of electronic formats would need to take into account questions of demand economies of scale cost private sector competition and marketing The results of the GAO surveys of Federal information users clearly indicated a growing demand for electronic formats as discussed earlier As part of these surveys GAO also asked respondents to estimate the usefulness of a variet y of online and offline Federal information formats The depository library community indicated the strongest positive response with a clear majority of respondents finding the illustrative items to be useful These results based on responses from 318 depository libraries out of a sample of 451 are summarized in Table 4-31 and the number of libraries rating each item as moderately useful useful or greatly useful out of the total respondents for that item The remaining percentages not shown in Table 4-31 include those libraries rating the item as somewhat useful or having little or no use The respondents were asked to reply irrespective of how the formats might be provided e g by the Federal Government commercial vendors and or not-for-profit organizations The depository library results suggest very strong demand for the Congressional Record calendars and bill status the Federal Reg ster an index to Federal information and an integrated database in both online and offline electronic formats Demand for agency press releases and reports is weaker In terms of intensity of demand as measured by the percentage of libraries rating these items as greatly useful the results indicate the highest rankings for the index and integrated database online and offline followed by the Reg ster online and offline committee calendar and bill status online and Record online and offline The information needs of depository libraries could of course be met to some extent through DLP as discussed in detail in chapters 6 and 7 However the depository libraries serve as a good indicator of demand among library and information science professionals and those groups in American society that are the most information-intensive 98 Table 4-31 --Depository Library Demand for Federal Information Electronic Formats Item Congressional Record Committee Calendar and Bill Status Federal Register Federal Agency Press Releases Agency Reports Comprehensive Index to Federal Information Integrated Database of Key Federal Statistical Series Percent of libraries responding moderately to greatly useful Online Offline CD-ROM immediate access issued monthly 77 70 86 46 61 94 74 60 80 40 62 90 90 88 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 GAO also surveyed scientific and technical associations and general associations trade professional consumer etc The results based on 133 responses from a sample of 250 scientific and technical associations and 134 out of 350 general associations are similar to those of the depository libraries but with a considerably lower level of intensity In other words while the relative preferences for various types of electronic information formats were roughly the same the overall percentages of respondents rating the items as moderately to greatly useful were about half to threequarters that of the libraries for online access and about one-third to one-half for offline access The survey results for the associations are highlighted in Table 4-32 All categories of respondents indicated that the index and integrated database would be the most useful among the items included in the survey Unlike the depository libraries which indicated little difference in usefulness of online versus offline formats the associations showed a clear preference for online electronic formats This may reflect in part differences in the nature of demand For example researchers using libraries may have a less urgent need for some types of Federal information and therefore might find monthly CDROMS to be adequate Many associations may be primarily concerned with only the latest up -to the minute information that necessitates online access It is also probable that the associations are less familiar with CD-ROM technology than the libraries Indeed relatively few associations reported having access to CDROM readers compared to the libraries as indicated in Table 4-33 Clearly depository libraries have better access to all categories of technology listed except mainframe computers Scientific and technical associations have generally better access than the general associations with the exception of microfiche readers CD-ROM readers and videodisk players where the groups of associations are about equal The implications for SupDocs are several First there does appear to be an already significant demand for electronic formats but second this demand at the moment is somewhat ahead of the actual technical capability of users especially with respect to CD-ROM Taking all survey groups together online demand ranges from 34 to 94 percent of respondents while microcomputer with modem capability ranges from 54 to 83 percent Offline CD-ROM demand ranges from 22 to 90 percent but CD-ROM reader capability ranges from only 6 to 41 percent However third continually declining equipment costs mean that the gap between user demand and technical capability is likely to close rather rapidly Microcomputers cost $1 500 or less modems about $300 and CD-ROM readers about $700 For types of information where a demand has been established SupDocs would need to determine if including a particular item in the sales program would be cost-effective and competitive relative to any other alternatives that 99 Table 4-32 --Scientific Technical and General Association Demand for Federal Information Electronic Formats Percent of associations responding moderately to greatly useful Item Congressional Record Committee Calendar and Bill Status Federal Register Federal Agency Press Releases Agency Reports Comprehensive Index to Federal Information Integrated Database of Key Federal Statistical Series Scientific and technical associations Online Offline CD-ROM immediate access issued monthly 34 0 220 0 39 23 40 27 52 30 54 33 General associations Online Offline CD-ROM immediate access issued monthly 530 0 54 55 54 53 390 0 36 41 36 40 71 43 60 43 63 42 63 43 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 Table 4-33 --Library and Association Access to Information Dissemination Technology Percent of libraries or associations responding Scientific General Depository and technical libraries associations associations Technology 640 o 700 0 51 0 Microcomputer 65 54 Microcomputer with modem for online access 83 24 22 Microfiche reader 88 18 12 Microfiche reader with printer 96 6 6 CD-ROM reader 41 11 12 Videodisk player 17 36 27 Mainframe computer for tape disk access 37 SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 may be available to users For many types of Federal information individual agencies and private sector vendors might decide to market electronic formats In other words SupDocs would be operating in a more competitive environment than has traditionally been the case with respect to paper formats Thus for example at present the Bureau of the Census sells paper formats via the SupDocs sales program but sells magnetic tapes and floppy disks itself and also offers online electronic bulletin board services Both the Bureau of the Census and private vendors are developing CD-ROM products and some Census CD-ROM products will be disseminated as part of DLP The approach taken by SupDocs in deciding what to include in the sales program could vary depending on the particular information product Some items such as a governmentwide information index could be developed by SupDocs and or NTIS have an apparently broad demand and could be sold in both online and CD-ROM formats SupDocs would need to determine if electronic format products could be produced and sold at an acceptable price For example most depository library respondents to the GAO survey indicated that they would be willing to pay no more than $49 per hour online and $199 per CD-ROM for access to a governmentwide index However most of the associations responding indicated that they would be willing to pay no more than $24 per hour online and $19 per CD-ROM OTA has not done a detailed analysis of this data but $24 per hour online is in line with non-profit rates for similar information products And $19 or less per CD-ROM is realistic at production volumes of over 1 000 or so disks If the index 100 on CD-ROM were distributed to depository libraries this would guarantee a base volume of about 1 400 disks Initial demand for a CDROM index product could easily be in the several thousands based on the GAO survey response Again since the index information would not be copyrightable and assuming the electronic master tape or the equivalent would be available for purchase private companies could put the index up as a file on DIALOG and similar value-added database services and even could add value and sell an enhanced CDROM product In general CD-ROM products can be produced at low unit costs at volumes over 500 to 1 000 disks Thus there would likely be a growing number of opportunities for SupDocs to ride the order for production of agency CD-ROMs where a sufficient market exists just as SupDocs now rides the agency orders for printed ink-on-paper products Presumably the mastering and duplications of CDROMS would be contracted out to the private sector by either the agency or GPO at least until such time that inhouse government capability might be more cost-effective As for other formats the market for magnetic tapes is probably not going to be large in the forseeable future due to the need to have a mainframe or minicomputer and related peripheral equipment Major customers are likely to continue to be the value-added vendors and scientific or research organizations Government experience to date at GPO and various agencies is that sales in the hundreds of copies per year are considered good Similarly sales of floppy disks to date by NTIS and various agencies have been minimal Floppy disks can be produced at only $1 to $5 dollars per unit compared to about $100 to $200 for magnetic tapes depending on bit density Also floppy disks can run on the increasingly commonplace microcomputers Thus the potential market for floppy disks would appear to be large compared to magnetic tapes However detailed market analyses are needed to establish reliable estimates Perhaps the most difficult format for SupDocs could be online Whereas SupDocs could ride the agency orders for CD-ROMs magnetic tapes and floppy disks regardless of where and by whom the copies were produced it is hard to conceptualize riding an online database It seems unlikely that as a general rule agencies and SupDocs would be offering the same online databases SupDocs could offer agency online databases at agency discretion or could offer a gateway to agency databases Also SupDocs could contract with a private commercial or non-profit gateway service Further private gateway or value-added database companies could contract directly with individual agencies and or purchase the magnetic tapes as some do today On the other hand SupDocs could serve as the primary Federal outlet for online access to key governmental process information items such as the Congtessiona 1 Record and Federal Re ster These kinds of items are all well suited to online format because the information is frequently time sensitive and of selective interest That is many users are not interested in reading these documents cover to cover at their leisure but instead want to quickly search for and retrieve information on selected topics of interest The GAO survey results suggest that there would be broad demand for these items if priced below $24 per hour Since items such as the Record and Register are bought by vendors in magnetic tape format from SupDocs and then put online and sold at a significant mark-up it seems plausible that SupDocs could itself offer these items online at a competitive price SupDocs could of course itself contract with a private gateway or database vendor SupDocs offerings would not necessarily have any significant impact on private services since the markets served may be quite different Again detailed feasibility and marketing studies would be needed Overall the development of a rational and workable plan for SupDocs sales of electronic formats would require close consultation and 101 coordination with mission agencies and especially those agencies that already have clearinghouse or gateway functions for electronic formats such as NTIS and NLM NTIS currently serves as a clearinghouse for some agency floppy disk and magnetic tape products and NLM currently offers several agency online database services For paper formats SupDocs has included in the sales program primarily items judged to have significant demand given the economics of traditional printing which penalizes small press runs and given the need to spread overhead processing and marketing costs over as large a sales volume as possible However somle electronic formats could be economically viable at much lower sales volumes To the extent SupDocs might seek to include low demand and perhaps even printing-on-demand items in the sales program then SupDocs would be taking on NTISlike functions This would intensify the need to consider SupDocs-NTIS relationships as will be discussed in chapter 5 and 12 in more detail Staffing Table 4-34 --GPO Union Bargaining Units as of April 1987 Number of Bargaining unit employees American Federation of Government Employees AFGE Local 2876 Printing Crafts Joint Council Main Plant White Collar Workers 1 327 Washington Federal Printing Workers' Union Member of GCIU see below Local 713-S Printing plant workers 1 020 Columbia Typographical Union Local 101 2 units Composers and Rapid Response Center 672 Graphic Communications International Union GCIU Local 4-B 2 units Bookbinders and and Journeymen Bindery 247 Washington Printing and Graphic Communications Union member of GCIU Local 1-C 2 units Pressmen and Masonry Workers 232 GCIU Local 285 Offset Strippers 138 Washington Government Photo Offset Union member of GCIU Local 538-C Offset Platemaker Strippers AFGE Local 3392 Pueblo Distribution Center International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers IBEW Local 121 Electricians and Sanitary Engineers AFGE Local 2738 Police 69 67 65 62 GPO faces two major challenges with respect to staffing retaining the necessary skilled labor force to maintain traditional printing services at a level commensurate with demand and obtaining personnel with the new skills needed to implement GPO's future role in electronic publishing and electronic information dissemination however that role may be defined AFGE Local 1248 Denver Printing Plant 42 International Association of Machinists Local 2135 Machinists AFGE Local 1292 Chicago Printing Plant 36 27 Sheetmetal Workers' International Union Local 100 Sheet Metal Workers and Pipe Fitters 21 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of American Local 2456 Carpenters 17 As noted earlier GPO has a relatively old labor force with about thirteen percent of all current employees eligible for retirement and up to 25 percent in some key areas With a natural attrition rate of 5-10 percent retirements and quits GPO has considerable flexibility to reshape the labor force to match future needs About 80 percent of the GPO labor force is unionized and works under collective bargaining agreements The twenty union bargaining units and the approximate number of employees in each are listed in Table 4-34 AFGE Local 2618 New York Printing Plant Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Local 1632 Painters 14 9 Total 4 065 aNumber of employees represented by their Union nOt al I emplOyees represented are union members SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Off Ice 1988 Collective bargaining has been able to accommmajor changes in the size and job structure of the GPO labor force over the past fifteen years responding in large part to technological change in composition prepress and press techodate 102 nology Collective bargaining should be able to accommodate future changes so long as labor and management work closely together and bargain in good faith At the moment one possible impediment to successful labor-management relations as pointed out by OTA'S independent labor consultant is the absence of a clear strategic vision of GPO's future role The lack of a clear vision not only contributes to employee uncertainty but makes staffing decisions difficult It seems likely that absent major changes in GPO's traditional printing role as discussed earlier GPO should be able to continue its policy of no involuntary reductions in force governed by a May 1982 resolution of the Joint Commi ttee on Printing Any reductions in the traditional labor force should be able to be handled through retirements and reassignments It also seems likely that if GPO pursues a significant role in electronic publishing and dissemination GPO would need to bring in new skills from outside While some existing personnel undoubtedly could be retrained for new jobs involving electronic processes and formats as has been done in the past some new personnel with advanced engineering technical and marketing education and experience would be required The exact skills mix of retrained personnel and new hires cannot be determined in the absence of an overall strategic plan Capital Investment Another important element of GPO's overall strategic plan would be capital investment alternatives Again a detailed capital investment program would require a well developed strategic plan Short of that it would seem prudent for GPO to reevaluate carefully its capital investment plans in light of possible adjustments to traditional printing services and possible new initiatives in electronic publishing and dissemination As discussed earlier GPO has already substantially updated its main plant press and bindery equipment The major outstanding item is the pending purchase of two new web off set presses for the printing of the Cozzgres- sional Record and Federal Register at an estimated cost of about $10 5 million for the two units OTA'S independent printing consultant endorsed this capital investment on the grounds of improved efficiency and productivity However GPO's rationale for this investment presumes that traditional printing of the Record and Re ster will continue for at least 10 years substantially unchanged from today As noted earlier the Record and Register are well suited to online and offline electronic formats for which there is growing demand Should Congress decide to make these publications available online and through CDROMS issued periodically to the legislative branch and depository libraries and on a sales basis via SupDocs then it is conceivable that the paper format versions of the Record and Reg ster could be reduced significantly in a few years Indeed the volume of paper copies could be reduced to the point where the large web offset presses would no longer be cost-effective For example even if paper copies were still provided to every Member committee and office of Congress every depository library members of the press high-level executive officials and Federal and State archival agencies the required press run of several thousand copies could be uneconomical for the large presses GPO notes that a change of this magnitude would conflict with current provisions of Title 44 that require the printing and distribution of specified numbers of the Record and Register However electronic formats could be provided first as a complement to paper and eventually after a transition period as a substitute and Congress could amend Title 44 if necessary GPO also notes that any excess capacity on the two new web offset presses could be used to absorb workloads from other older equipment and to facilitate a gradual phaseout of some of that equipment In addition the new presses would be less labor intensive and would be technologically up-to-date GPO and Congress need to carefully evaluate whether even if electronic formats are encouraged or required the remaining volume of paper copies is sufficient to justify use of the large web off- 103 set presses or if not whether the other advantages noted above would by themselves be compelling Future capital investment in the prepress press and bindery areas should also reflect any decisions on changing the work load distribution at the GPO main plant The main plant carries out a much more diverse range of printing work than almost all private printing companies GPO could consider some greater degree of specialization in order to help reduce indirect labor and overhead costs The fiscal year 1986 cost allocation for the main plant production department was about 31 percent direct labor 34 percent section burden indirect labor materials etc 28 percent overhead general management and staff utilities rent etc 2 percent depreciation and 5 percent other supplies maintenance etc Presumably future capital investments would be made primarily in those areas designated as GPO specialities Also the shift to electronic formats for the Record and Re ster could further reduce indirect labor and general overhead since the overnight main plant operations could be scaled back although not eliminated due to the continuing need for input to and creation of the online databases by the next day With respect to composition equipment OTA'S independent printing consultant concluded that GPO's current equipment is strongly competitive with private industry GPO uses an ATEX minicomputer-based text editing system and Videocomp and Comp80 phototypesetters As with press and bindery the composition equipment has been substantially updated over the past decade as highlighted in Table 4-35 One area where GPO is not competitive is high-end electronic publishing equipment The ATEX system is designed to handle large text files and is not well suited for smaller and specialty jobs involving complex layouts graphics and the like To help meet this need GPO established an Electronic Job Section equipped with Compugraphic and Bedford electronic publishing systems among other equipment The Bedford system although two years old is rarely used and is essentially ob- Table 4-35 --Selected GPO Electronic Composition Equipment a Fiscal Year 1987 Equipment Number of units Year s acquired Personal computers 12 Video display terminals 160 Multi processor control 4 system PDP 11-44 minicomputer 2 Floppy disk reader 1 Text editing systems ATEX 16 Text editing system Videocomp 1 Photocomposers Videocomp Comp 80 4 aEXcludes Electronic Job Sect Ion 1984-1987 1978-1987 1983-1987 1981 1985 1985 1978-1987 1986 1976-1981 - SOURCE U S Government Prlntlng Off Ice 1988 solete The Compugraphic system is used for fully processing about 60 percent of the work done in this section and is used for partially processing in conjunction with ATEX or other systems another 35 percent of the work While performance of the Compugraphic appears to be satisfactory the now 3-year old system is obviously not state-of-the-art In essence GPO's capital investment strategy depends in part on whether GPO strives for or is directed to take a leaders p role in electronic publishing technology An effective leadership role probably requhes a heatier investment in state-of-the-art technology partly to learn about the technology for GPO's own purposes but equally important to also at least stay abreast of the mission agencies some of which at this point in time are well ahead of GPO For example GPO has no significant activity underway in optical disk or compact disk technologies and expert information retrieval systems and is behind the state-of-the-art in highend electronic publishing work stations and software all of which are under active testing or actually being implemented by various agencies With respect to the provision of online databases GPO would need to decide whether existing computer capability would be adequate and if not whether to purchase or lease aciciitional capability or whether to at least initially utilize the services of private sector value-added gateway carriers and database providers For example if SupDocs decided to sell the Congressional Record online the Record could be established as a file on The Source CompuServe Easylink and or DIALOG This would minimize GPO's capital investment requirements until experience with actual demand levels and patterns could be analyzed Alternatively or in addition the online Record could be set up as a file on NLM's MEDLARS on the gateway system operated by the Defense Technical Information Center andlor on the library community's various networks There are numerous possibilities especially for key governmental process information such as the Record and Reg ster Eventually SupDocs online information products could be made available via the FTS-2000 when implemented and could make use of advanced satellite and fiber optic transmission technologies embedded in FTS-2000 and various commercial telecommunication systems In an era of constrained resources GPO may have to make some difficult choices between investment in traditional versus electronic publishing technology and between capital investment versus the training and recruitment of personnel to apply the technology These decisions are best made within an overall strategic framework -- Chapter 5 An Electronic National Technical Information Service and NTIS Superintendent of Documents Cooperation - - Clockwise from top left NTIS staff searching the NTIS database for a customer NTIS staff blowing back from microfiche to produce a paper copy of a technicalreport NTIS staff reproducing additional shelf stock and NTIS staff pulling an archive document from the NTIS collection photo credits National Technical Information Service CONTENTS Page summary 107 Role and Current Status of NTIS 108 Opportunities and Challenges 111 Trends in Demand and Revenues 111 Possible New Initiatives 116 NTIS SupDocs Cooperation 119 Differences and Similarities 119 Disadvantages and Advantages 121 Tables Table Page 5-1 Source of NTIS Reports Fiscal Year 1987 108 5-2 Distribution of NTIS Sales Fiscal Year 1987 1o9 5-34 NTIS Revenues and Costs Fiscal Years 1980-87 112 5-4 Demand for Selected Major NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1980-87 112 5-5 Demand for Selected Minor NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1983-87 113 5-6 Average Per Unit Prices for Selected Major NTIS Products Compared to Inflation Rate Fiscal Years 1980-87 113 5 7 NTIS Revenues by Product Group Fiscal Years 1986-87 113 5-8 Federal Agency Evaluation of the Cost of NTIS Reports Paper and Microfiche Formats 114 Agency Components Responding 114 5-9 Trend in New Titles Received by NTIS Fiscal Years 1983-87 114 5 10 Federal Civilian Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Informa ion 115 5-11 Scientific and Technical Association Use of Federal Information Sources Rank Order 115 5-12 Demand for NTIS Documents Announced in Calendar Year 1986 116 5-13 AgeofNTIS Documents Sold in Calendar Year 1986 116 5-14 SupDocs Sales and Distribution Activity Fiscal Years 1981-8'7 122 5-15 Conventional Printing Functions Affected by Length of Press Run 123 5-16 Estimated Page Length and Content of Government Documents 123 Chapter 5 An Electronic National Technical Information Service and NTIS Superintendent of Documents Cooperation SUMMARY This chapter discusses the current status of and future prospects for the National Technical Information Service NTIS and opportunities for cooperation between NTIS and GPO's Superintendent of Documents SupDocs The debate over the privatization of NTIS is discussed in chapters 11 and 12 The discussion in this chapter assumes that this debate will be resolved by Congress in favor of retaining NTIS within the Federal Government-- as a separate agency or government corporation within the Department of Commerce or consolidated with SupDocs or even with the Library of Congress The major challenge facing Congress is defining a viable role for NTIS in the future A variety of indicators strongly suggest that the current role may not be sustainable absent some significant changes NTIS operates in a highly constrained environment characterized by ambivalent support from the executive branch limited financial resources mixed support from the information industry limited technical resources and a difficult product mix many low volume items In addition the basic demand for NTIS products appears to be significantly eroding Most NTIS users and client agencies believe in the NTIS concept and seek to find ways to strengthen NTIS or at least the core NTIS functions as a continuing element of the Federal Government NTIS appears to be ideally suited for the implementation of an electronic document system with multi-format output--paper microfiche or electronic regardless of organizational location NTIS could use aversion of the Defense Technical Information Center DTIC system as a prototype An electronic document system could help revitalize NTIS if coupled with improved agency participation Overall an electronic NTIS should be able to increase the diversity and timeliness of NTIS and related private vendor offerings increase the ability of NTIS and private vendors to match information products with potential users and reduce the cost of NTIS products An electronic NTIS should be better able to serve all users but especially small and medium businesses and individual researchers NTIS SupDocs cooperation could create new opportunities for improvements in the indexing marketing and international exchange of Federal information NTIS SupDocs cooperation could be synergistic with respect to implementing an electronic document system that would meet NTIS needs plus a broadening of the SupDocs product line to include selected low demand items The NTIS SupDocs combined low-demand sales volume could help justify investment in the necessary equipment which could be funded out of the GPO revolving fund and or NTIS retained earnings if authorized and charged back as depreciation NTIS SupDocs cooperative initiatives would need to be sensitive to concerns about separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches and about the strengthening of government wide dissemination mechanisms at the possible expense of decentralized agency activities Regardless of the ultimate institutional structure there are significant opportunities for improvement in both NTIS and SupDocs product line analyses development and marketing Strengthened cooperation between NTIS and SupDocs would not only help identify mutually advantageous joint activities but would seem almost mandatory to the extent that both agencies pursue sales of electronic format products and that SupDocs enters the low-demand market 107 108 ROLE AND CURRENT STATUS OF NTIS The primary role of NTIS is to serve as a central governmentwide source of scientific and technical reports describing research performed by Federal agencies contractors and grantees NTIS depends on the voluntary submission of these reports by the Federal agencies NTIS maintains a permanent archive of these reports establishes bibliographic control over these materials prepares various index and abstract materials and sells copies of the reports In recent years NTIS has increased its collection to include additional reports prepared by state and local governments and by foreign government research organizations and to include Federal databases and software In addition to the basic archival and clearinghouse functions NTIS is responsible for the Federal Research in Progress FEDRIP Program that provides information describing on-going Federally funded research projects the Center for the Utilization of Federal Technology CUFT acquisition and licensing of governmentowned patents provision of production and billing collection services for information dissemination activities of other Federal agencies and provision and processing of FOIA requests for agency materi s placed on file at NTIS This discussion focuses primarily on the NTIS archival clearinghouse and dissemination functions As of fiscal year 1987 the NTIS archive included close to 2 million reports and over 2 500 data and software files About 60 000 to 70 000 new items are added each year About half of the NTIS reports originate from just three agencies the Department of Defense Defense Technical Information Center DTIC the Department of Energy DOE primarily the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information OSTI and National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA primarily the NASA Table 5 1 --Source of NTIS Reports Fiscal Year 1987 Agency Department of Defense Department of Energy NASA All other Federal agencies Non-Federal agencies Foreign countries Total Percent of total 23 23 4 20 2 100 SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 Scientific and Technical Information Facility STIF The percentage distribution is shown in Table 5-1 NTIS operates under several constraints One is the variable and limited funding commitment of the government to NTIS NTIS began in 1945 as the Publication Board The Publication Board was established by Executive Order 9568 which charged the Board with reviewing all government-generated scientific and technical documents and determining what could be released to the public Executive Order 9604 expanded the Board's responsibilities to include scientific and technical documents captured from the enemy during and at the end of World War II The Board's objectives were to organize declassified information so as to permit researchers and especially industry fast and easy access to information and to notify the public 'and industry about what was available The intent was to promote economic growth and development through the rapid dissemination of scientific and technical information Since established questions have been raised concerning the appropriate functions and funding for NTIS The Publications Board became part of the Office of Declassification and Technical Services OTS in late 1945 the Office of Technical Services in 1946 the OTS Clearinghouse in 1950 the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information in 1964 and NTIS in 1970 The history of NTIS has reflected uncertainty on the part of the Federal Government as to the appropriate Federal commitment to a central clearinghouse for 109 dissemination of scientific and technical information the role of the clearinghouse vis-a-vis the Federal science agencies and the private sector and the appropriate pricing of such clearinghouse services In general representatives of the scientific and technical community believe that the cost of such clearinghouse services is a very small price to pay compared to the substantial Federal investment in research and development To place this in perspective the fiscal year 1987 NTIS revenues and costs were about $22 million each breakeven operation compared to the fiscal year 1987 Federal research and development budget of about $59 billion Excluding defense R D the NTIS operating budget of $22 million represents about one onethousandth of the civilian R D budget $21 5 billion in fiscal year 1987 Advocates of a strong Federal role in dissemination of scientific and technical information argue that the level of Federal support is far too small Others believe that while a Federal role is needed it should be limited in terms of functions and budget The result is that NTIS receives no appropriated funds for its basic archival and clearinghouse functions with costs covered by sales of documents and services NTIS does not have a working capital revolving fund As a consequence since any net revenues must be returned to the U S Treasury it has proven difficult for NTIS to obtain up-to-date equipment--especially modern information technology A second major constraint is that NTIS has a voluntary relationship with the source agencies and cannot require agencies to submit materials NTIS estimates that more than onethird of Federal scientific and technical reports are never submitted There is also concern that agencies may delay submission of key reports and or submit primarily reports with less perceived interest or demand NTIS functions for the most part as a secondary distributor of Federal scientific and technical information The key Federal science agencies such as DoD DOE and NASA have their own mechanisms for direct dissemination of reports to agency personnel and contractors NTIS then makes secondary distribution to the business community and general public In addition the GPO SupDocs includes some scientific and technical reports in the SupDocs sales program NTIS includes some GPO titles in the NTIS clearinghouse However the overlap is thought to be small since SupDocs selects titles based on significant market potential projected sales of several hundreds to thousands of copies whereas almost all NTIS includes titles are included regardless of demand which is generally very small an average sales of 10 copies per title In sum NTIS must achieve breakeven operations working with a substantially incomplete collection of reports that sell very few copies on the average This is a difficult challenge A third major constraint is a complex relationship with the private sector and the information industry in particular On the one hand NTIS was established to help serve the scientific and technical information needs of business and industry NTIS estimates that about 75 percent of its business customers are small firms with major corporations accounting for the other 25 percent of business customers Overall the U S business community accounts for about two-thirds of NTIS sales as shown in Table 5-2 The information industry appears to be generally comfortable with the NTIS archival function and clearinghouse activities with respect to dissemination of paper and microfiche copies However NTIS initiatives with respect Table 5 2 -- Distribution of NTIS Sales Fiscal Year 1987 Customer U S business Foreign business and government U S Federal and State government Academic researchers institutions and public libraries General public Total SOURCE National Techn cal Information Servtce 1988 Percent of NTIS sales fiscal year 1987 64 20 6 6 4 100 110 to direct electronic dissemination of documents and derived products e g indices abstracts searches are perceived by NTIS as meeting resistance from the information industry The record of debate over NTIS privatization suggests a basis for this concern although the views of industry are varied and complex As a matter of practice NTIS depends on the private sector for dissemination of online products such as the NTIS Bibliographic Database available via DIALOG BRS and the like NTIS estimates that private sector revenues derived from adding value to or re-marketing NTIS products totals about $11-12 million annually NTIS reliance on the private sector for electronic and or enhanced dissemination has had the perhaps unintended effect of discouraging NTIS from aggressively pursuing how electronic technology might improve even the NTIS core archival and clearinghouse functions Improvements here could benefit both NTIS customers served directly by NTIS and those served indirectly via private sector vendors There is also an equity issue involved concerning access to the online NTIS Bibliographic Database and other online products Some customers and especially small businesses independent researchers and the general public may not be able to afford the commercial rates which can typically range from $50 per online hour and up Since online searching of the NTIS database offers significant advantages these customers could be disadvantaged in terms of their ability to effectively access and retrieve Federally funded scientific and technical reports In sum NTIS presently operates in a constrained environment characterized by ambivalent support from the government limited financial resources no public appropriation for the core clearinghouse and archival operations mixed support from the information industry limited technical resources and a difficult product mix many low volume items In addition the basic demand for NTIS products appears to be significantly eroding thereby placing in considerable jeopardy the overall viability of NTIS as it is presently operating At the same time most NTIS users and client agencies believe in the NTIS concept and seek to find ways to strengthen NTIS or at least the core NTIS functions as a continuing element of the Federal Government The record of the NTIS privatization debate provides ample evidence of support for the NTIS concept For example in response to an April 1986 request for public comment ' NTIS received 138 written responses from executive agencies the legislative branch the information industry and individuals or organizations that used NTIS 2 Review of the responses by NTIS3 and OTA indicates that The NTIS user community overwhelrning opposed privatization supported NTIS as a government entity and testified to the importance of scientific and technical information available from NTIS The user community was heavily represented by library associations and individual university public and technical libraries The Federal agencies which supply the source documents to NTIS opposed privatization cited numerous problems that could or would result if NTIS were not a government entity and emphasized their reliance on NTIS clearinghouse and archival functions The information industry and individual company representatives overwhelming opposed privatization of the core NTIS functions on the grounds that these functions were not appropriate for the private sector and or would create unfair competitive conditions However industry and company representatives strongly favored privatization of various dissemination and value-added functions 'U S Department of Commerce Study of Alternatives for Privatizing the National Technical Information Service Notice and request for public comment Federal Register vol M No 81 Apr 28 1986 pp 15868-15870 2U s Department of Commerce NTIS Privatization StUdY Re sponses to April 28 1986 Federal Register Notice Request for Pub ic Comment PB86-21 1240 National Technical Information Service Springfield Virginia June 1986 3U s Department of Commerce National Technical Informa- tion Service Analysis of Comments to Federal Register Notice prepared by NTIS staff 1986 111 These general positions were reaffirmed at congressional hearings held in July 1987 and February 1988 by the House Committee on Science Space and Technology Subcommittee on Science Research and Technology At the latter hearing the Subcommittee chairman released a letter from the Information Industry Association stating its position that the Administration's proposal to privatize NTIS is not in the public interest in that it will ultimately reduce the availability of Federally funded scientific and technical information Overall the years-long debate over privatization of NTIS has further constrained the ability of NTIS to take initiatives and has diverted substantial NTIS and Department of Commerce resources primarily staff time and attention Members of Congress and public witnesses have criticized the Administration for prolonging the debate when congressional sentiment against privatization is clear In a February 23 1988 letter the Chairman and Ranking Minority Members of the House Committee on Science Space and Technology and Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation wrote the Secretary of Commerce and requested delay in the privatization of NTIS activities until Congress completed legislative actions l tt tO Hon Doug wal ren Chairman Subcommittee 'n Science Research and Technology House Committee on Science Space and Technology from Kenneth E Allen Senior Vice President Information Industry Association Feb 12 1988 5Letter to Hon C William Verity Secretary of Commerce from Hon Ernest F Hollings John C Danforth Robert A Roe and Manuel Lujan Jr U S Congress Feb 23 1988 In a March 3 1988 letter the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Science Research Technology and Space sought the views of the Secretary of Commerce on legislation to establish a National Technical Information Corp The Chairman advised that i t is clear tome that privatization of NTIS will not occur in the near future To engage in a protracted NTIS privatization argument would be less than productive I would much prefer to look beyond the privatization controversy to implementing everyone's underlying goal of transforming NTIS into a modern low-cost deliverer of scientific and technical documents Congressional and agency officials as well as public witnesses have concluded that the drive for NTIS privatization was not based on a balanced analysis and finding of clear net benefits and furthermore that the Administration did not have the capacity to successfully implement the NTIS privatization plans even if thought to be desirable For further discussion see chs 11 and 12 on policy issues and implications 6Letter to Hon C William Verity Secretary of Commerce from Hon Doug Walgren Chairman Subcommittee on Scien e Research and Technology House Committee on Science Space and Technology Mar 3 1988 'See U S Congress House Committee on Science Space and Technology Subcommittee on Science Research and Technology National Technical Information Serl'ice Hearing IC Oth Congress 2nd Session U S Government Printing Office Washington D C Feb 24 1988 Also see A S Levine Legal Financial Woes Hamper NTIS P an Federal Computer Week May 2 1988 PP 15-16 OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES The major challenge facing NTIS is defining a viable role for its future A variety of indicators strongly suggest that the current role may not be sustainable absent some significant changes Trends in Demand and Revenues The starting point for this analysis is the historical trend in demand for and sales of the major NTIS products and services As shown in Table 5-3 NTIS appears to have had a healthy total revenue and cost performance in recent years with net revenues realized in fiscal years 1981 1983 1984 1986 and 1987 and net losses experienced in fiscal years 1982 and 1985 For the entire eight year period NTIS realized net revenues of $4 6 million or about 2 8 percent of total sales 112 Table 5 3 --NTIS Revenues and Costs Fiscal Years 1980 87 Fiscal year 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Totals aParentheses Indicate Total revenues $ millions 18 6 21 3 19 4 21 4 20 7 21 3 22 4 22 3 Net revenues or loss $ millions Percent 0 8 4 3 12 7 a 2 1 1 0 4 7 1 5 N 3 8 0 8 3 6 0 2 0 9 Total costs $ millions 17 8 18 6 19 8 20 4 20 4 22 1 21 6 22 1 162 8 167 4 4 6 2 8 net loss SOURCE National Technical information Service 1988 However a detailed analysis by major NTIS product line reveals a much different picture Sales of all major NTIS products have declined markedly since 1980 inmost cases by about 50 percent For example sales of paper copies dropped from752 000copiesin fiscal year1980 to 393 000 copies in fiscal year 1987 Sales of microfiche copies dedined from 155 000 copies in fiscal year 1980 t0 67 000 in fiscal year1987 This pattern is repeated throughout the NTIS product line as shown in Table 5-4 Overall sales of the abovesevenmajor NTIS products collectively declined from about3 69 million units copies or subscriptions in fiscal year 1980 t oabout 1 82 million units in fiscal year 1987 a net declineof51 percent Areview of all other NTIS products indicated that sales increased only for CUFT publications data tapes and data diskettes but these items account for a small percentage of total NTIS sales Trends in these three items and for software tapes and catalogs which declined are shown in Table 5-5 An obvious question is how could NTIS maintain a breakeven operation with slightly increased revenues in current dollars over the fiscal year 1980-87 period given the large reduction in product sales Part of the answer is that NTIS per unit prices increased significantly over this same period of time and with net price increases that typically equalled or exceeded the rate of inflation For example while paper copy sales decreased by about 50 percent the average per unit price for paper copies increased by 70 percent over the 198087 period while inflation averaged 45 percent Thus in the case of paper copies net revenues actually increased despite the drop in demand This general pattern holds for all of the major NTIS products as illustrated in Table 5-6 In addition to maintaininggrevenues through increased prices despite declining demand NTIS augmented sales revenues through s services to other agencies such as order billing and processing Table 5-4 --Demand for Selected Major NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1980-87 Product 1980 Paper copy demand 752 Microfiche copy demand 155 1981 1982 676 154 550 134 Demand by fiscal year 1983 1984 1985 On th ands of copies 1986 1987 457 101 451 85 393 67 -359 -88 -48 -57 1 94 1 78 1 33 - 1 39 -51 1 25 0 61 8 6 26 8 1 15 0 50 6 8 21 2 - 1 97 -0 41 -9 2 - 12 7 -48 -41 -58 -38 120 493 121 Net change Number Percent in millions of copies Selected research in microfiche SRIM 2 72 2 74 2 48 2 37 2 34 in thousands of subscriptions Government research announcements and index 2 22 2 01 Annual index 0 91 0 84 Abstract newsletters 16 0 14 0 Published searches 33 9 41 0 SOURCE National Techn cal Information Service 1968 1 85 0 96 12 5 32 7 1 61 0 82 12 2 28 9 1 49 0 73 11 0 27 7 1 38 0 63 10 4 31 0 113 Table 5-5 -- Demand for Selected Minor NTIS Products Fiscal Years 1983-87 Demand by fiscal year number of copies 1984 1983 1985 1986 1987 4 227 5 412 6 577 5 552 CUFT publications NA 524 586 638 537 380 Software tapes 1 783 2 174 2 493 2 503 Data tapes 1 405 NA 100 179 338 Data diskettes NA 648 1 622 3 486 969 Software catalog 2 064 Product Net change Number Percent 1 325 - 144 1 098 238 -1 095 31 -28 78 238 -53 NOTE NA not available SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 Table 5-6 --Average Per Unit Prices for Selected Major NTIS Products Compared to Inflation Rate Fiscal Years 1980 87 Fiscal year 1980 Fiscal year 1987 per unit price per unit price Product Average price per copy $11 37 $27 87 6 50 3 00 1 25 0 40 $16 50 3 50 0 85 Paper copies Microfiche copies Selected research in microfiche Net change Percent Dollars Inflation rate 690 o 86 47 450 0 45 45 38V0 28 44 50 450 0 45 45 45 Average price per subscription Government research announcements and index Annual index Abstract newsletters Published searches $275 375 62 30 $379 479 89 45 $104 104 27 15 SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 sales ofcomputer-relatedproducts which haveahigh averageperunit price about $67 per unit comparedto $28 for paper and$6 50 for microfiche asoffiscalyear 1987 and NTIS brokerage fees on sales of other agency materials Infiscalyear 1987 these three itemstogether accounted foroveraquarter oftotalNTlSrevenues The fiscal year 1986 and fiscal year 1987 revenue breakouts are shown in Table 5-7 The comparison between fiscal year 1986 and fiscal year 1987 revenue data shows how NTIS has offset revenue decreases in full text reports and subscription bibliographic and announcement products with revenue increases in computer products and services to other agencies Whether and how long NTIS can be expected to remain viable operating on this basis requires examination One risk is that continued reductions in the sales volume of reports subscriptions bibliographies and the like could Table 5-7 --NTIS Revenues by Product Group Fiscal Years 1986-87 in thousands of dollars Fiscal year 1986 Percent Fiscal year 1987 Dollars Product group Dollars Full text reports Subscription bibliographic and announcement products Computer products Services to other agencies Patent licensing fees Brokerage fees Other 11 195 50 0 10 403 Percent 46 6 6 100 1 416 1 811 617 1 095 147 27 3 6 3 8 1 2 8 4 9 0 7 5 429 2 167 2 451 575 1 220 102 24 3 9 7 11 0 2 6 5 5 0 5 100 1 22 347 100 2 Totals 22 381 SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 Net change Dollars Percent - 792 -7 1 -671 751 640 -42 125 -45 - 11 0 53 0 35 0 -6 8 11 4 -30 6 114 necessitate further price increases which could in turn further reduce sales and so on The elasticity of demand for NTIS products is not precisely known NTIS staff believe that increasing price is one significant factor contributing to the decline in sales For example various library officials observe that rising NTIS prices have been a major factor contributing to reductions in NTIS subscriptions especially as libraries are faced with increasingly tight budgets This view is supported to some extent by results of the GAO survey of Federal agencies Of the 114 civilian departmental components responding 40 agency components evaluated the cost of NTIS reports in paper format and 27 evaluated the cost of microfiche format Two-thirds of the agencies evaluated the costs for paper as high or very high while two-thirds evaluated microfiche cost as moderate or low as indicated in Table 5-8 NTIS staff believe that online searching of the NTIS bibliographic database may also be contributing to a reduction in the number of requests for reports The NTIS index products offered directly in paper or microfiche form and in electronic form via private sector vendors may well be improving the efficiency of customer searches of the NTIS archives while at the same time may be undercutting sales of NTIS documents The effects of online searching on overall NTIS demand are debatable The experience with other online bibliographic databases has tended to be just the opposite online searching has facilitated more awareness of and requests for the referenced documents This subject warrants further research Table 5-8 --Federal Agency Evaluation of the Cost of NTIS Reports Paper and Microfiche Formats 114 Agency Components Responding Percent of agencies using NTIS Cost of NTIS report Very high High Moderate Low Very low Paper Microfiche 22 5 45 0 27 5 2 5 2 5 2 63 0 7 4 -- SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 by NTIS and the library and information science community Other contributing factors include declining agency participation in the NTIS program and limited customer awareness of NTIS products With respect to the former NTIS reports that the number of new titles provided to NTIS by Federal agencies has declined by about 20 percent over the fiscal year 1983-87 period as shown in Table 5-9 Assuming that NTIS was not receiving one-third of relevant agency materials in fiscal year 1983 NTIS estimate the fugitive document percentage would now be up to about 47 percent In effect this trend may compromise both the perceived and real utility of the NTIS archive NTIS may now be receiving only about one-half of relevant agency documents This conclusion is qualitatively consistent with the results of the GAO survey of Federal agencies Of the 72 civilian departmental agency components disseminating scientific and technical information only onehalf of the agencies responding use NTIS Agencies appear to rely primarily on themselves for dissemination secondarily on GPO NTIS and the Depository Library Program DLP and to an even lesser extent on the private sector The results are presented in Table 5-10 With respect to customer awareness of NTIS NTIS has an ongoing series of activities to inform potential customers of NTIS services However the results of the GAO survey of Table 5-9 -Trend in New Titles Received by NTIS Fiscal Years 1983 87 Fiscal year 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Titles received Percent Number change 79 471 71 587 70 211 69 760 62 856 Estimated percent of all relevant agency titlesa 67 0 60 4 59 3 58 9 53 0 Net change 1983-87 -16 615 -2o 9 - 14 0 a SUmOS number Of relevm agency titles remains constantat 11 g 000 PN year SOURCE National Technical Information Service and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 -- -- ---- -- 115 Table 5-10 --Federal Civilian Agency Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information Table 5 11 --Scientific and Technical Association Use of Federal Information Sources Rank Order Percent of agencies a Dissemination channel 931 Own agency 52 7 Government Printing Office 50 0 National Technical Information Service 50 0 Depository libraries 36 1 Private sector vendors contractors 4 2 Consumer Information Center a ult expressed as percentage of agencies thatdisseminate STI that use each Percent of associations responding that the channel SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 and Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 Source of Federal information 1 Trade professional or 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Federal information users suggest that overall NTIS plays a rather limited role relative to other direct and indirect sources of Federal information Among other groups GAO surveyed a random sample of scientific and technical associations Based on the responses of 133 associations out of 250 sampled NTIS is used by about one-third Individual Federal agencies are used occasionally to very often as are newspapers news magazines newsletters and trade professional and scientific journals Compared to other governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms NTIS is used more often than the Consumer Information Center CIC or DLP but less often then GPO mail telephone orders While associations are perhaps not the best indicator of NTIS customer awareness science environment and technology were the most frequently cited categories of Federal information used by the respondents The relative ranking of Federal information sources for these associations is shown in Table 5-11 The relatively low use of NTIS may reflect a combination of low demand for NTIS products low awareness of NTIS products and or as mentioned earlier high cost of NTIS products In addition OTA'S independent consultant on university use of scientific and technical information concluded that NTIS is not viewed as a source of state-of-the-art information due to the time delays between the existence of a document and its availability via NTIS On the other hand the role of NTIS as a secondary source of scientific and technical source is usedb 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 -- 88 9 82 9 71 9 68 9 64 1 53 8 scientific journals Newsletters Newspapers News magazines Individual Federal Agencies Radio television Congressional agency LOC I GAO OTA CBO CRS College university library GPO mail telephone orders Office of U S Senator or Representative State or local government agency Inhouse library or information center Commercial bookstore Congressional committee Local public library Commercial mail telephone orders NTIS Federal agency library Commercial online database vendor GPO bookstore GPO depository library Commercial information brokers Consumer Information Center State agency library State government library Local school Grades 1-12 library J ' aFederal sources are italicized bAgencies repo ing that a source of Federal nformat on 50 8 45 8 44 4 43 2 42 6 39 5 38 7 37 7 37 5 35 8 30 6 25 2 24 8 23 7 19 8 15 4 12 1 11 2 7 8 1 7 IS used Occasionally often or very often SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 documents is appreciated especially in the library community and among university researchers a Mark P Haselkorn Philip L Bereano Caro yn Plumb and Patricia Tetlin Perspectives on Federal Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Information OTA cent ractor report prepared by the program in Scientific and Technical Communica tion School of Engineering University of Washington Seattle February 1988 Also see Charles R McClure Peter Hernon and Carj R Purcell Linking the U S IVational Technical Information Sert'ice With Academic and Public Libraries Norwood NJ Ablex Publishing 1986 and Peter Hernon and Charles R McClure Federal Information Policies in the 1980s Conflicts and Issues INorwood NJ Ablex Publishing 1987 116 Possible New Initiatives Table 5-13 --Age of NTIS Documents Sold in Calender Year 1986 The nature of demand for NTIS documents makes NTIS highly suitable for application of electronic publishing and printing-on-demand systems As noted earlier the average demand for NTIS documents is 10 copies and perhaps one-quarter of the documents never sell a single copy As an illustration for all documents archived by NTIS in calendar year 1986 there was no demand for 43 percent only 5 percent sold more than 10 copies and only 1 percent sold more than 50 copies The detailed demand distribution is shown in Table 5-12 In addition to very low total demand for most NTIS documents demand for a given document can be spread over many years For example of the average sales of 10 copies per document only 3 copies might be sold in the first year after announcement 2 copies in the second year 4 copies spread over the third through tenth years after announcement and the last copy might be sold 11 to 15 years or more after being made available This phenomenon is known as the demand decay curve and is illustrated in Table 5-13 for NTIS documents sold during calender year 1986 This highlights the NTIS dilemma low sales volume spread over many years but a document that sells only a single copy could contribute to significant innovations While NTIS is able to identify documents that are relevant to current technical issues and research and development priorities it is difficult to predict which documents will have high demand and virtually impossible to predict which documents will conTable 5 12 --Demand for NTIS Documents Announced in Calendar Year 1986 Level of demand total annual No demand 1 copy 2-5 copies 6-10 11-20 21-50 51 Totals Number of documents per demand level Percent of total documents announced 28 364 10 906 16 853 5 597 2 228 967 379 43 17 26 9 3 1 65 294 100 SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1986 1 Date of document Co ies sold 7 730 1968 and prior 1969 1 412 1970 1 931 1971 2 489 3 744 1972 1973 4 346 1974 4 278 4 942 1975 1976 7 282 1977 8 117 1978 8 660 1979 9 571 1980 10 446 1981 14 799 1982 15 615 1983 24 318 1984 30 448 1985 72 149 1986 138 431 2 854 Pre-announcement demanda Announcement date unknown b 37 423 Total 410 985 Percent of total 1 9 0 3 0 5 0 6 0 9 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 8 2 0 2 1 2 3 2 5 3 6 3 8 5 9 7 4 17 6 33 7 0 7 9 1 100 0 aPre announcement demand Announcement date of 1987 orders were received in FY 1986 due to source pre-announcement etc and NTIS was able to fill the b cement Date IJnknown Announcement date IS not included In NTIS in ventory file SOURCE National Technical Information Service 1988 tribute to a major scientific or technical breakthrough This is the primary rationale for the NTIS archive and underpins the need to maintain NTIS documents on file indefinitely Fortunately technological advances have created several possibilities that appear to be ideally suited to the nature of NTIS demand First most federally-sponsored or conducted scientific and technical reports are created on word processing or microcomputer-based systems Thus the keystrokes are captured electronically The electronic versions of these reports are typically converted to paper or microfiche format by the originating agency or the agency contractor and submitted to NTIS as paper or microfiche copies NTIS then disseminates copies in paper or microfiche in response to requests About 80 percent of the NTIS reports are disseminated in paper format and the remaining 20 percent in microfiche Because demand is low and typically for ---- ---- -- one copy at a time the per unit costs are high --averaging $25-30 per paper copy If NTIS could receive agency reports in electronic format using compatible document description standards then NTIS could apply electronic publishing and printing-on-demand technology where appropriate For example NTIS could develop and implement a version of the Electronic Document System similar to that being developed by DTIC Documents could enter NTIS either indirect electronic format by magnetic computer tape floppy disk or electronic transmission similar to GPO receipt of publications material or by scanning paper copies DTIC envisions the use of highspeed high-resolution optical scanning equipment that will compete favorably with the current microfiche system used by DTIC However direct electronic input should be less expensive than scanning for new input at least for NTIS purposes Scanning may however be the only option for converting old material DTIC also envisions using high capacity low cost per bit digital storage systems such as those using laser optical disks High capacity WORM Write Once Read Manytimes optical disk juke boxes should be applicable to both DTIC and NTIS The 12-inch disks can store about one gigabyte of information per side or roughly 400 000 to 500 000 pages of doublespaced typed material per side This means that assuming straight digitized text only and an average length of 200 double-spaced pages per document the roughly 70 000 new documents received by NTIS each year could be stored on about 14 doublesided WORM optical disks j For output DTIC plans to use high-speed high resolution electronic printing equipment for producing paper documents on demand Documents will be printed double-sided using plain bond paper to reduce paper and mailing costs The reproduction cost should drop by an order of magnitude The fully developed Electronic Document System permits the reITOK d 11 In Ilt i 200 j agf s p e r docunlellt 1 4 million pages divided by 1 million pages perdoubl sided 12-inch 11'ORM disk - -- - -- ' 117 production of full copies and facilitates printing-on-demand of selected pages since the text of documents stored on the system could be made available for electronic display at remote terminals DTIC plans to use a standard structured database approach known as Standardized General Markup Language SGML to facilitate electronic document reproduction on a fast turnaround basis DTIC intends to continue its present microfiche-based production system in parallel with the Electronic Document System However as new documents are added in electronic format the use of microfiche is expected to decline substantially DTIC estimates that the electronic system will fill about 40 to 45 percent of paper copy requests after one year of operation and about 60 to 70 percent of such requests after 3 years of operation Should NTIS implement a similar system NTIS could expect comparable results with an estimated 35 percent of requests handled with electronic printing on demand after the first year 60 percent of requests after 3 years and perhaps 75 percent of requests after 5 years These estimates assume that the NTIS backfiles archival documents entered in earlier years would be retained in microfiche since demand is so low and the cost of conversion may not be justified Should NTIS implement its version of an Electronic Document System NTIS would be positioned to offer search and retrieval capability directly and or via private vendors or other government agencies Such software could build on the results as they become available of DTIC'S Artificial Intelligence Decision Support Laboratory Another prototype is Grateful Meal ' bibliographic search software developed by the National Library of Medicine for users of the MEDLARS database An NTIS Electronic Document System if properly interfaced with the source agencies should be able to substantially reduce the time lag between the existence of a document and its availability via NTIS The time lag could be further reduced if interagency procedures are strengthened so that agencies are required to make more timely submissions to NTIS Strengthening of such procedures could also address the question of how to increase the completeness of the NTIS archive As noted earlier perhaps one half of the scientific and technical reports generated by or for Federal agencies are not submitted to NTIS While all the fugitive documents may not be relevant it is likely that a significant portion of these are Agencies could be required to provide more complete submissions and or follow a specified set of procedures for determining what items should be submitted An electronic NTIS with a more complete and up-to-date archive would open up a wide range of possibilities for marketing and dissemination of scientific and technical information The following illustrative activities could be implemented by NTIS individual Federal science agencies and or private vendor CD-ROM distribution of NTIS bibliographic database on selected subjects CD-ROM distribution of NTIS documents on selected subjects Floppy disk distribution of individual NTIS reports Online distribution of selected NTIS documents with printing-on-demand of the entire document or selected pages at NTIS or remote locations Electronic bulletin board announcement of selected new NTIS documents of general interest and Electronic bulletin board announcement of NTIS documents on subject matter matched to the bulletin board participants In essence an electronic NTIS would have the capability to produce multi-format output --paper microfiche offline electronic or online electronic as appropriate depending on the type of product and user needs As noted earlier the GAO survey results highlighted the significant anticipated increase over the next three years in demand for scientific and technical information in electronic formats on the part of libraries and scientific and technical associations Demand for paper and microfiche is anticipated to decrease moderately over the next three years Overall an electronic NTIS should be able to greatly increase the diversity and timeliness of NTIS and related private vendor offerings increase the ability of NTIS and private vendors to match information products with potential users and reduce the cost of NTIS and private vendor products An electronic NTIS also should be better able to serve especially small and medium businesses and individual researchers who tend to be penalized by the present paper-based system that assigns a premium to economies of scale Understandably NTIS directs much of its marketing efforts at its largest customers who generate the most sales but who also are typically well staffed with information specialists An electronic NTIS would increase the incentives and available options to reach smaller market segments from whence many innovations ultimately originate It is certainly conceivable that NTIS could eventually be used by the individual researcher and entrepreneur who depend heavily on informal and collegial networks for the sharing of scientific and technical information Also NTIS would be a logical key participant in the development of a governmentwide information index for which respondents to the GAO survey of Federal information users indicated strong interest Such an index would also help improve the ability of researchers and entrepreneurs to know of potentially relevant information Finally as a complement to the electronic document system and improved indexing increased agency participation in the NTIS clearinghouse may need to be mandated The declining trend in the percentage of agency scientific and technical documents submitted is cause for concern While including 100 percent of agency documents in NTIS is unrealistic some steps could be taken to broaden the coverage and increase the timeliness of agency submissions This could be accomplished through interagency agreements OMB circulars and or if necessary legislation 119 NTIS SUPDOCS COOPERATION while in stock or if reprinted usually due to strong demand NTIS has 2 million document titles for sale whereas the average SupDocs sales inventory is about 20 000 or about one percent of the NTIS inventory the average NTIS sales volume is about 10 copies per title whereas the SupDocS average is on the order of 2 000 copies per title NTIS retains all titles received in the NTIS archive and available for sale while SUpDocS for the most part includes only the titles judged to have significant sales potential the NTIS annual sales volume is in the few millions range whereas the SupIXxx volume is in the few tens of millions range and NTIS is considerably smaller than SupDocs-at yearend fiscal year 1987 NTIS had 344 employees compared to 930 for SupDocs NTIS had total revenues of about $22 million in fiscal year 1987 compared to about $100 million for SupDocs figures include reimbursed services and services funded through appropriations The consolidation of NTIS with GPO's SupDocs has been proposed by the Public Printer and as part of legislation introduced in the past two Congresses that would establish a Government Information Office However this section focuses on opportunities for improved cooperation between NTIS and SupDocs irrespective of the formal institutional structure since the need for improvements in NTIS SupDocs marketing product line analyses and coordination will exist regardless of the institutional structure See chs 11 and 12 for further discussion of institutional alternatives The major reasons advanced for improved NTIS SupDocs cooperation whether or not through formal consolidation are efficiencies in management and operations improved coordination of Federal information dissemination enhanced opportunities for use of new technology strengthened joint marketing programs reduced overlap and duplication in government dissemination activities and improved overall public access to Federal information Possible drawbacks of or barriers to improved cooperation include some differences in current missions of the NTIS and SupDocs and resultant potential problems in more closely coordinating these functions difficulties inherent in cooperative activities of agencies from different branches of government and reluctance on the part of some Federal agencies to cooperate with NTIS and or SupDocs regardless of the institutional structure At first glance these differences could appear as collectively a significant barrier to improved cooperation However these differences could become complementary aspects of a combined strateg for institutional sur iva and growth Differences and Similarities There are significant similarities between NTIS and SupDocs The major differences between NTIS and SupDocs are that NTIS is in the executive branch while SupDocs is in the legislative branch NTIS maintains a permanent archive of scientific and technical documents totalling close to 2 million items while GPO maintains documents in inventory only Both must operate their sales programs on a breakeven basis that is there are no appropriations to subsidize the cost of sales Both must compete with private vendors who can always reprint and resell government documents since these materials cannot be copyrighted Both must compete to some extent with 120 Federal mission agencies who frequently distribute significant numbers of copies of documents free of charge to agency clients contractors and interest groups Both NTIS and SupDocs carry out marketing activities in support of their sales programs although the programs have relative strengths and weaknesses NTIS produces a variety of specialized subject matter searches that have no direct parallel at SupDocs SupDocs makes growing use of radio and television public service announcements and is revitalizing the GPO bookstores as sales outlets marketing tools not used by NTIS NTIS and SupDocs perform reimbursable services for other agencies e In fiscal year 1987 NTIS performed about $2 5 million worth of services for other agencies accounting for roughly 10 percent of total revenues In fiscal year 1987 SupDocs performed about $5 million in reimbursable services primarily for operating the CIC for GSA accounting for about 5 percent of total SupDocs revenues If the DLP also operated by SupDocs is counted as a reimbursable service funded through appropriations then reimbursable services would be about 25 percent of total SupDocs revenues The similarities go on Both NTIS and SupDocs prepare indices or catalogs to government documents NTIS publishes a weekly and annual Government Reports Announcement and Index Journal known as GRA I that includes summaries of government conducted or sponsored research reports The summaries are indexed by subject author institution and contract number if applicable NTIS also prepares the NTIS Bibliographic Database that includes all items in the NTIS archive In addition to government conducted or sponsored reports the NTIS Database includes federallygenerated machine readable data files and software U S Government inventions available for licensing and foreign government reports exchanged with Federal agencies and any federally-generated translations thereof The NTIS database is updated biweekly and is available online through commercial vendors SupDocs prepares the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications which indexes publications by author title subject series report number contract number stock number and title keyword the 3 times a year Consumer Information Catalog which lists consumer publications from about 30 Federal agencies that are available free or at minimal charge from CIC the quarterly Government Peri cals and Subscription Serw ces which lists over 500 subscriptions to periodicals and recurring reports published by more than 40 Federal agencies and sold by SupDocs the 3 times a year U S Government Books which catalogs about 1 000 of SupDocs best-selling publications and the bimonthly New Books which lists new SupDocs wd-es items Information on SupDocs sales items bibliographies and catalogs is available from private vendors in both online and CD-ROM formats For example the GPO Sales Publications Reference File which lists all GPO titles currently for sale is available online to the public via the commercial DIALOG information retrieval service and includes an online ordering capability Both NTIS and SupDocs primarily use paper and microfiche formats for dissemination although NTIS sales of computer tapes floppy disks and software have been growing as have GPO sales of computer tapes Both NTIS and SupDocs have international exchange programs to encourage the two-way flow of information between the U S and other countries Finally it bears emphasis that except for the type of bibliographic and index products mentioned earlier both NTIS and SupDocs depend on the Federal mission agencies as the primary 121 source of documents The agencies including Congress for SupDocs purposes create the documents and in many cases handle primary distribution NTIS and SupDocs as governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms are responsible for in effect secondary distribution through their sales programs and through the DLP and CIC in the case of SupDocs Private vendors also serve as secondary distributors of selected agency documents Disadvantages and Advantages The possible disadvantages of improved NTIS SupDocs cooperation are erosion of the NTIS archive function and aggravation of separation of powers concerns Representatives of the scientific and technical community as well as the Federal science agencies believe that the NTIS archive or something equivalent is essential to the U S research and development effort and to basic science and technical innovation From this perspective cooperative initiatives would have to be designed so as to ensure continuity of the archive If the DLP is viewed as part of SupDocs then SupDocs does already have an archive function since the regional depository libraries maintain a complete archive of all government publications distributed to them 60 percent of which in recent years are in microfiche format Also either microfiche masters or camera ready copy existed at some previous point in time for most of these materials However retention of these originals is incomplete and neither the originals nor the regional depository library archives are available as part of a coordinated sales program The SupDoc's Library Programs Service does maintain a collection of microfiche masters procured for the DLP and plans to eventually transfer this collection to the National Archives and Records Administration NARA Copies of some of these items are available for sale on demand It also should be noted that NTIS has submitted to NARA a plan that provides for transferring NTIS master microforms to NARA when records are 10 years old The actual current overlap between the NTIS archive and the SupDocs sales program is thought to be small the overlap between the NTIS archive and the regional library archives is unknown as the libraries do receive some NTIS publications Another possible disadvantage is aggravation of separation of powers concerns since NTIS is in the executive branch and SupDocs in the legislative Some Federal executive branch agencies do not like the current roles of GPO and the Joint Committee on Printing JCP as authorized by Title 44 of the U S Code with respect to agency printing and publishing activities view those roles as inappropriate and or unconstitutional see ch 11 and oppose any greater role for them Regardless of the merits or demerits of these concerns the role of SupDocs has not been the primary focus of attention or challenge In fact some NTIS officials believe that NTIS is handicapped because while Federal agencies are required to participate in the SupDocs sales program agency participation in the NTIS archive is voluntary and not required by statute SupDocs seems to be able to work effectively with many executive branch agencies even though SupDocs is in the legislative branch Nonetheless improved NTIS SupDocs cooperation and especially a consolidation is viewed by some Commerce Department and OMB officials as possibly aggravating conflicts over separation of powers but more importantly from their perspective further distancing the creators of the information the executive agencies from the disseminators In this view the decentralizing tendencies of electronic technologies should be encouraged by placing information dissemination as close as possible to the ultimate users of the information The strengthening of centralized dissemination mechanisms whether SupDocs NTIS or even governmentwide indices seems to be feared and resisted even if centralized dissemination would not preempt agency dissemination It seems plausible that strengthened NTISSupDocs cooperation would lead to improvements in indexing marketing and international exchange Perhaps most important however is the potential improvement in overall 722 strategic posture that could result from improved cooperation As presented earlier in detail NTIS is in a very vulnerable situation In contrast SupDocs has maintained better than breakeven operations in recent years with net income of $11 4 million in fiscal year 1987 and $5 5 million in fiscal year 1986 However while in a strong position compared to NTIS SupDocs has some emerging areas of vulnerability that could become significant in a rather short period of time Like NTIS SupDocs could be vulnerable to electronic competition For example one of SupDocs largest revenue sources is the Commerce Business Daiiy CBD with subscriptions generating more than $9 million in SupDocs revenue or about 12 percent of total sales revenue in fiscal year 1987 However the results of private sector marketing of the CBD online or on CD-ROM suggests that electronic formats may be preferable for many C13D customers If the demand for paper copies declined dramatically over the next few years it is conceivable that the Department of Commerce might stop funding the set-up charges for printing paper copies While SupDocs presumably could continue to print the CBD itself the cost would increase significantly since SupDocs now pays only the marginal printing cost but would have to pay the full printing cost if the Department of Commerce ceased participation This could put SupDocs in the position of raising prices for paper copies of a product the C13D that clearly is well suited to electronic formats especially online If the NTIS experience is any guide higher prices could further reduce sales and encourage more users to switch to electronic formats which in turn could lead to yet another price increase for paper copies to cover fixed costs with a smaller sales volume According to GPO under current law if the Department of Commerce stopped printing the CBD there would be no printing requisition for SupDocs to ride order extra copies and thus no additional copies for SupDocs to sell Other SupDocs best sellers that might be vulnerable include with fiscal year 1987 revenues indicated the Code of Federal Regulations $2 million Federal Acquisition Regulations $1 9 million Tariff Schedules Annotated $0 9 million and DoD FAR Supplement $0 9 million At the moment SupDocs sales volume and total distribution appear to be holding reasonably steady Most indicators declined in the early 1980s but have since been relatively level Trends for fiscal years 1981-87 are shown in Table 5-14 for SupDocs sales orders copies sold CIC free orders CIC copies distributed and depository library copies distributed A detailed analysis of the SupDocs product line is warranted to determine if significant vulnerability extends beyond items such as the CBD and as discussed in chapter 4 the Record and l e ster that are well suited to electronic formats Overall SupDocs would appear to be in a stronger position than NTIS since many of the traditional government reports and periodicals sold or distributed by SupDocs are likely to be best suited to paper formats for years to come Also SupDocs has potential opportunities in other areas such as sales of government forms For example in fiscal Table 5-14 --SupDocs Sales and Distribution Activity Fiscal Years 1981-87 Millions of orders or copies Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987a Sales ordersb 2 0 1 5 1 3 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 6 Free CIC orders 3 9 2 4 2 3 2 2 2 1 2 6 2 2 b Copies sold 29 8 25 9 24 5 24 8 26 7 27 1 26 7 Free CIC copies distributed NA 25 7 14 7 23 0 21 9 19 2 21 5 Depository library copies distributed 28 7 20 7 31 9 37 1 36 1 26 7 22 7 aEstlmates blncludes CIC sales SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice 1988 123 -- year 1987 SupDocs sold IRS forms to tax practitioners About 80 000 orders were processed yielding a gross revenue of $2 8 million and net revenue of $1 5 million Nonetheless given the strong commitment of many Federal agencies to shift to electronic formats over the next few years especially for statistical scientific and technical and administrative documents the SupDocs sales and distribution outlook bears continuous scrutiny NTIS-SupDocs cooperation could be especially synergistic with regard to low-demand items At present the NTIS product sales line is dominated by low demand documents but NTIS does not have the resources or mechanism to invest in the electronic technology best suited to low demand dissemination On the other hand the SupDocs product sales line is almost devoid of low demand items yet SupDocs does have access to the GPO revolving fund for capital investment in electronic technology subject of course to approval of the Public Printer and JCP and to overall GPO funding constraints An NTIS-SupDocs cooperative initiative could design an Electronic Document System similar to the DTIC prototype that would meet NTIS needs plus a broadening of the SupDocs product line to include selected low demand items The economics of electronic printing-ondemand for low volume documents are quite simple Many of the cost elements in conventional printing are essentially fixed and are not affected by the number of copies printed as shown in Table 5-15 Thus most costs are independent of the size of the press run and reducing the length of the press run increases the per unit printing cost all other things being equal Electronic printing eliminates most of the prepress functions although the cost of toner e g for laser printers is higher per page than the cost of printing ink Electronic printing is generally less expensive per page at volumes of tens to a few hundred In addition electronic printing facilitates electronic linkages bet ween the document database and user terminals for on- Table 5-15 --Conventional Printing Functions Affected by Length of Press Run Affected by length of press run Composition - No -Camera No Platemaking No Film No Plates No Press makeready No Press running Yes Bindery set-up No Bindery running Yes Paper Yes Ink Yes --SOURCE F J R mano 1988 Function line searching and printing-on-demand of selected pages Electronic printing provides cost-effective multiformat output capability and is especially suited to low-volume shorter ald simpler documents with straight text or text and tables and a minimum of photographs and complex line art high-end systems can handle photos and art work although at higher cost Best estimates suggest that over half of the documents printed by GPO and about 90 percent of the documents printed by other agencies are 100 pages in length or less Estimates alSO indicate that about 90 percent of all material is straight text 80 percent and tables 10 percent The detailed breakout is shown in Table 5-16 Table 5-16 --Estimated Page Length and Content of Government Documents Other Overall GPO --Government average ---- Page length 10 pages or less 9 0 1-50 pages 23 51-10 pages 25 101-250 pages 20 251-499 pages 15 500 pages or more 8 Page content Text Tables Line art Photographs SOURCE GPO and F J Romano 1988 13'Yo 30 37 10 110 0 26 31 15 10 7 79 30 0 11 8 4 8 4 1 124 In sum many government documents are suitable for electronic printing if the demand is low Clearly many NTIS document sales items meet this criterion At present few SupDocs sales items meet this criterion since average sales volume is about 2 000 copies and the average GPO press run is 3 000 to 4 000 copies However a significant number of government documents not presently included in the GPO sales program may be viable on an electronic printing-on-demand basis The combined NTIS and SupDocs low-demand sales volume could help justify investment in the necessary equipment An Electronic Document System could be funded out of the GPO revolving fund and charged back to SupDocs as depreciation just like any other SupDocs capital investment NTIS could reimburse SupDocs for a prorated portion of the capital investment funded out of NTIS retained earnings if authorized by Congress NTIS-SupDocs cooperation could also be synergistic with respect to sales of what NTIS calls computer products As noted earlier this has become a significant product line for NTIS one of the few showing recent sales growth However it is likely that only a small fraction of agency computer products are included at the present time SupDocs has initiated a re- lated sales program that at present is limited to a few magnetic tapes An expanded SupDocs program could start to duplicate NTIS A single coordinated governmentwide sales mechanism presumably would be more efficient and easier for both the participating agencies and the customers Many agencies would still be likely to distribute some computer products themselves A coordinated and possibly even consolidated NTIS-SupDocs computer product line could also benefit from appropriate use of GPO bookstores catalogs and advertising and would fit well with the concept of a governmentwide index to Federal information in all formats Another potential advantage of NTIS-SupDocs cooperation would be to improve coordination among all four of the governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms SupDocs NTIS DLP and CIC and help insure that statutory requirements are fulfilled It is also possible that improved cooperation would result in reduced total overhead and indirect labor due to efficiencies in certain management and administrative functions However a full analysis would require more detailed information on NTIS and SupDocs cost and labor force structures Chapter 6 Information Technologies Libraries and the Federal Depository Library Program Clockwise from top left library shelving with document collection materials librarian assisting user at reference desk librarian assisting user with map collection and user on an OCLC terminal photo credits Documents Center Robert W Woodruff Library Emory University CONTENTS Page Summary 127 Introduction 128 Role of Information Technologies in Libraries 131 Use of Specific Technologies 132 Online Database Services 133 Library Communication Networks 134 Electronic Bulletin Boards 135 Optical Disks 136 Facsimile 137 Summary 138 Federal Depository Library Program 138 Origins and Operations of the Depository Library Program 138 Format of Depository Library Materials Paper v Microfiche 140 Dissemination of Information in Electronic Format 142 Online Catalogs 144 Table Table Page 6-l Depository Library Access to Information Technology 133 Chapter 6 Information Technologies Libraries and the Federal Depository Library Program SUMMARY Chapters 6 and 7 explore the role of libraries and particularly those participating in the U S Government Printing Office GPO depository library program DLP in the dissemination of Federal information to the public The program is a cooperative activity between the Federal Government and approximately 1 400 libraries The government provides copies of government-produced materials free of charge to the libraries the libraries in return provide housing for the documents and access to this information free of charge to their patrons DLP is a principal avenue of access to government information for the public It is recognized as one of several guaranteed channels of public access to government information established by Congress in support of our democratic form of government and serves in part as an ''information safety net for members of the public This safety net is changing because of the increasing use of information technologies by Federal agencies in support of agency programs This use is influencing the way in which agencies conduct their business and how citizens access government information This chapter examines how libraries employ a variety of information technologies to support their mission of allowing people to utilize information First the chapter reviews the role of libraries in the dissemination of government information in the United States This is followed by a discussion of key technological trends and applications relevant to libraries in general and to depository libraries in particular The technologies examined include this rewrt use of the phrase depositor program refers onl ' to the CI PO depositor libra ' program 'hl Turoff and M Spector I ibraries and the 1 replications of Computer Technology proceedings of the 1 FI1' S 'ati nal Computer ' reference 1'01 45 1 9 7 6 microcomputers online databases library communication networks electronic bulletin boards facsimile and optical disks Next the history of the depository program is briefly reviewed followed by a description of current dissemination efforts in the Library Programs Service Three topics concerning access to government information are examined in detail dual format which concerns the distribution of selected materials in paper and microfiche provision of government information in electronic formats to depository libraries through a pilot project program and the development of online catalogs in depository institutions The three topics are concerned with meeting the information and format needs of users while at the same time facing and resolving new financial issues OTA has found that depository libraries are increasingly incorporating new technologies in support of user services and operations The results of the General Accounting Office Survey of Federal Information Users when compared to earlier depository library data indicate a strong and growing technology base in depository institutions For example 83 percent of those surveyed have access to microcomputers with modems for online access 95 percent have access to microfiche readers with printers 41 percent have access to a CD-ROM reader and 36 percent have access to a mainframe computer facility The survey also found that these same institutions intend or wish to expand their use of information technologies within the next 3 years to support user information needs OTA has concluded that information technologies if appropriately planned and executed hold the promise of helping to achieve the original goals 127 128 and intent of the depository program through enhanced access to government information Information technologies are changing how libraries function and how users seek information Many libraries are deploying the electronic technologies to become gateways to information with the use of local State regional and national networks and information services--both public and private The relatively recent rapid introduction of new information applications such as full-text online retrieval of networked information services and CD-ROM tools demonstrates that librar- ians and information providers are experimenting with current electronic capabilities and future opportunities in order to meet user information needs For example it appears that since government information has been integrated into library collections through online catalogs use of the information has increased significantly While these technologies present the user with different types and levels of access they also present both the librarian and user with new cost concerns and format decisions INTRODUCTION People need information to perform a variety of daily tasks to participate in governmental deliberations to vote to be effective members of a community to make business decisions and more As the largest collector and disseminator of information in the United States the Federal Government is responsible for creating and disseminating much of this information used by the public Information reaches the public through a number of formal and informal complimentary and competitive channels These range from agency programs with specific dissemination charters to private sector services and from public interest group efforts and the media to libraries-- State and local public libraries libraries in academic and research institutions special libraries and Federal libraries Many of these channels are supported by the Federal Government in recognition of the importance of public access to government information This is a basic tenet of U S society and is considered vital to the functioning of our democratic form of government As stated by Jefferson If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization it expects what never was and never will be if we are to guard against ignorance and remain free it is the responsibility of every American to be informed 3 Recognition of the importance of an informed citizenry has been affirmed since the founding of the country and continues through the enactment of new laws such as the Freedom of Information Act Government in the Sunshine Act and the law establishing the DLP As stated by Senator Lausche during hearings on the Depository Program in 1962 Although it may sound trite an intelligent informed populace has been is and will continue to be the fundamental element in the strength of our Nation Contributing greatly to that intellectual strength is the so-called Government document designed to disseminate to the American public important information relative to the activities and purposes of its Government 4 There is also the understanding that equally important is their the people's ability to access all other types of information informa Letter to Cd Charles Yancey from Thomas Jefferson July 6 1816 'U S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Subcommittee on the Library Depositor-y Libraries Hearings on S 2029 and H R 8141 To Revise the Laws Relating to Depositor-y Libraries 87th Cong 2d session Mar 15-16 1962 p 25 --- -- tion that has a direct bearing on the quality of life our citizens enjoy In addition to democratic and quality of life principles the DLP serves the business community which is important to local State and national economies Congress through the establishment of the DLP specifically recognized the need for a guaranteed channel of access to government information by citizens and in Title 44 describes the purpose of the program as an avenue of dissemination of government information free of charge to the public The depository library system is a longestablished cooperative program between the Federal Government and designated major libraries throughout the United States under which certain classes of Government publications are supplied free of cost to those libraries for the purpose of making such publications more readily accessible to the American public The primary mission of the program as set out in the 1977 Guidelines For the Depository Library System is to make U S Government publications easily accessible to the general public and to insure their continued availability in the near future The Guideh nes a lso note that the materials will be forwarded to the participating institutions without delay again to insure timely access to information by citizens 7 There are two other elements of program mission use of government documents by the academic research community and educational needs and use The Office of Management and Budget OMB also recognized the importance of the program in Circular A-130 and noted that depository libraries provide a kind of information 'safety Testimony of Joseph Duncan on behalf of the 11A in U S Congress Committee on overnrnent Operations Electronic Collection and Dissemination of Information b ' Federal 4gencies A Policy 0 'er riew' 99th Cong 2d CWSS House Report NO 323 1986 p 52 'U S Congress Senate Committee cm Rules and Administration op cit footnote 4 p 1 'Depositor IJibrary Council Guidelines for the Depositor I ibrar - S rstem GPO il$rashington DC Oct 18 1977 p 1 129 net' to the public an existing institutional mechanism that guarantees a minimum level of availability of government information to all members of the public and the Federal Government shall rely upon the depository library system to provide free citizen access to public information There are many classes of government information collected for a variety of purposes and these are disseminated to the public through the DLP Some information is referred to as process core or basic information such as that found in the Federal Register and Congressional Record executive and congressional budgetary information and the like This information is recognized as both a product of the operation of government and a necessary element to maintaining an educated and informed citizenry As noted by members of the Subcommittee on the Library Government publications generally serve two main purposes In the first place they have a functional value in the agency which issues them Secondly and often quite as important they have an educational value which makes their availability y to the American public a highly desirable objective In the course of fulfilling their missions agencies collect information Some agencies such as the Bureau of Census collect information on the population as their mission other agencies such as the Department of Transportation collect information in order to effect policy and regulation This same information is then used by a variety of communities--business and industry academia and others--for a variety of purposes The Federal Government has long recognized the importance of libraries as a channel for disseminating information it has collected The role of libraries in society and the unique role of libraries in support of the public good Office of Management and Budget ' 'Management of Fed eral Information Resources Circular No A-130 Dec 12 1985 and 'Improved Management and Dissemination of Federal Information Request for Comment Federal Register rol 45 June 9 1980 p 38462 WJ S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Senate Report No 1587 87th Cong 2d sess 1962 p 8 130 - have been well defined Libraries perform a number of tasks in our society-' 'conserving and preserving our cultural heritage 1 providing education resources to various publics and disseminating government information The library collects all the knowledge of society all the information unedited unscreened unrewritten and instead of broadcasting it to the masses organizes and directs that information to the individual z A s noted by Curley Libraries do not serve merely individual informational and recreational interests but are part of the essential fabric of our society- its fragile cultural and social ecology '1 Libraries and librarians promote access to all types of information and represent user interests and information needs A library collection regardless of format reflects the information needs of its users whether they be the local community academic research special interest institution State or region Today there are over 8 000 public libraries s 000 college and university libraries 88 000 elementary and secondary school libraries 2 700 Federal libraries and 11 000 private and other special libraries in the United States This number and diversity are due in large part to Federal Government recognition of the importance of access to information through libraries Since the founding of the Nation there has been government support of libraries The Continental Congress arranged with the Library Company of Philadelphia to receive needed information for its members and the First Congress of the United States arranged access to the New York Society Library for similar purposes In April 1800 the Library Public good is the concept that the good for society is greater than the well-being of certain individuals within it see I ibraries Coalitions and the Pubfic Good E J Josey cd New York NY Neal-Schuman Publishers Inc 1987 '' Robert Wedgeworth A Library Agenda for the 1980' s in An Information Agenda for the 1980 's Carlton C Rochell cd Proceedings of a Colloquium Chicago American Library Association June 17-18 1980 p 94 'JJohn N Berry III The Public Good What Is It Libraries Co tions and the Public Good E J Josey cd New York NY Neal-Schunlan Publishers Inc 1987 p 10 'Arthur Curlev Towards a Broader Definition of the Public Good ' I ibrar es Coalitions and the Pubiic iood kj J Josey cd 11'ew 'ork NY Neal -Schuman Publishers Inc 1987 p 36 of Congress LOC was established and is now the largest library in the world It continues to be the principal library for Congress In the late 1850s the DLP was established to make congressional and other governmental information more broadly available to the general public The establishment of a depository library system was further affirmation by Congress of the need for a sound distribution system for government documents through libraries In addition two national libraries were established-the National Library of Medicine NLM began in 1836 and the National Agricultural Library NAL was created in 1862 with the establishment of the U S Department of Agriculture A variety of other information dissemination mechanisms were subsequently created expanding the number of avenues for citizens to receive government information-- the National Archives in 1943 now known as the National Archives and Record Administration NARA the Federal Library Committee in 1965 now known as the Federal Library and Information Center Committee a cooperative organization of Federal libraries the National Technical Information Service NTIS in 1970 its predecessor the Office of Technical Services was created in 1946 and other Federal depository programs such as the Patent Depository Library Program In addition a series of congressional actions led to increased Federal involvement in libraries and expanded the role of libraries in the provision of information to citizens Since the Library Services Act LSA was passed in 1956 the relationship between the Federal Government and libraries has expanded markedly Libraries are one means by which the Federal Government seeks to provide educational resources services and opportunities to both a broad populous and to specific segments of society LSA provided library services to rural areas and the Higher Education Act of 1957 authorized funds for the purchase of books periodicals and other library materials library training programs and R D for new ways to program process store and disseminate information The Li- -- 131 brary Services and Construction Act LSCA provides services to rural areas and allows funding for facilities' construction enhancing of interlibrary cooperation and increased service for physcially handicapped disadvantaged and bilingual individuals 11 LSA the Higher Education Act and LSCA have enhanced the libraries' ability to serve the general population and with various government information dissemination programs serve to strengthen and reinforce the role of libraries in the dissemina- tion of government information As noted in congressional hearings on the depository library program The Clovernment is able to make such information available to the citizenry due in large measure to the splendid cooperation of the American library profession This is a ser 'ice to the Nation which its libraries ha re performed in the past are presently performing and are anxious to perform in the future to a greater degree and in a more comprehensive manner 13 1 1 s congress committee on Rules and t' dm rli r it ion op cit footnote 4 p 26 ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN LIBRARIES All Libraries employ a variety of information technologies in support of their mission of 'allowing people to utilize information '' The following section discusses the role of technologies in libraries and reviews a few key information technologies and current applications Emphasis has been placed on those technologies found in depository institutions Although over time the physical form of information has varied from manuscripts to audiovisuals to online service and to other technologies the need of the librarian to access this information for users has remained constant A library is an institution that acquires manages and disseminates information Moreover ''a library is a bibliographic system regardless of the situation in which it is placed and the task of the librarian is to bring people and graphic records together in a meaningful relationship that will be beneficial to the user l Information technologies offer libraries opportunities and capabilities for enhancing their current services and for allowing libraries to 'Turoff and Spector op cit 1976 ' Pau ine W i l s o n A Ccn rnunit Elice and tbe ul ll' ibrar v The li es of in forma ion in I eadership W'estport 'T 19771 p xii better fulfill their missions As stated by Briscoe et al Technology has already changed the traditional way in which libraries operate and this trend will continue The library needs to persist in its role as a knowledge institut ion-- mankind's archive and encyclopedia--while providing the necessary services of an information broker computer literature searching information retrieval and document de livery 18 As libraries increasingly employ the technologies and expand access to all types and forms of information the role of the library and information specialist will not diminish In fact the current role will likely increase The advent of user friendly' software available to users for accessing electronic information systems will increase the number of users in libraries and elsewhere and at the same time many users will still require information specialists For example specialists in government information will assist users in identifying sources to search provide users with some assistance in using search technologies and or in some cases actually perform the search for users P 13riscoe et al Ashurbanipal's P nduring Ar het 'p Thoughts on the I ibrary Role in the Future College and I esearch Libraries March 1986 pp 121-126 132 -- These same technologies by integrating government information into the full library collection will increase both the use of government information and the use of the total resources of the library and other local State regional and national information resources Information technologies are not new to libraries A broad range of technologies have been employed by them for years and have affected all aspects of library operations and services In fact it has been noted that Almost every function carried out in a library has been altered to some extent by electronics computerization and telecommunications Software is available for most aspects of library operations circulation inventory acquisitions periodicals cataloging and reserves The use of technologies for information user services has resulted in the formation of library networks and has spurred the development of national databases thus allowing faster and more efficient access to information 20 The changes brought about by advances in technology have been so extensive that it is difficult to assess their total effect but it is clear that libraries are in a stage of fundamental transformation 2 Generally library automation refers to systems and technologies that provide improved access to resources within a library whereas information automation refers to systems and technologies that provide access to resources outside the library A growing range of information technologies are regularly employed in all types of libraries though the cost of some of these needed technologies is still prohibitive for many libraries due to fiscal constra ints 22 Library funding comes from a number of sources including State local and Federal governments all of which have experienced reduced revenues Barbara Moran Academic Libraries The Changing Knowledge Centers of Colleges and Universities Washington DC Clearinghouse on Higher Education 1984 p i U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment information Technology and Its Impact on American h'ducation Washington DC U S Government Printing Office November 1982 p 238 'l Moran op cit footnote 19 For those institutions unable to afford a new technology the user's access to desired information may be limited as some information is not available in more than one format This in turn has affected libraries and their ability to purchase new systems These technologies and technological applications are merely machines or processes for distributing information-the content does not vary though one can do more and different things with information in electronic form than in paper form As noted by the Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information the new technology not only gives potential users quicker and more convenient access to wider bodies of information including instantly current information than can be provided by print alone it also gives the user a new kind of abilit y to search through and manipulate the information and in effect to create new information by the selection combination and arrangement of data Moreover the user can alter the data in a kind of twoway transaction 23 A variety of technologies are found in depository libraries though not always in the documents collection The amount or types of technologies available reflect in some respects the parent institution Twenty-three percent of the depository libraries are public libraries 55 percent are academic research institutions 7 percent are Federal libraries 11 percent are law school libraries and 4 percent are special institutional affiliations such as special libraries and historical societies Use of Specific Technologies In a 1984 survey of depository libraries the Ad Hoc Committee on Depository Library Access to Federal Automated Databases appointed by the Joint Committee on Printing JCP concluded that there is a wide array of computer equipment already in place in depository libraries or their parent institutions and that many of the libraries regularly make use of time-sharing services for searching databases both Government and non-Government 'American Library Association Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information Freedom and L'qualitj' of Access to Information Chicago IL 1986 p 31 24U S Congress Joint Committee on Printing Provision of Federal Government Pubh cations in Electronic Format to De continued on next page 133 Since that survey more depositories have adopted information technologies 25 As indicated in the GAO Survey of Federal Information Users for the 403 responding of the 451 depositories surveyed libraries were equipped as shown in Table 6-1 Depository libraries employ one or more of the following technologies and or technological applications microcomputers online data services bibliographic numeric and others networks such as OCLC Online College Library Center and RLIN Research Libraries Information Network automated information systems electronic bulletin boards optical disk technologies such as videodisk and CDROM facsimile and microfiche and related equipment A discussion of microfiche can be found in a following section on the format of materials in the depository library program These are the primary technologies and technological applications in use today and those most likely to be found in libraries within the next 5 to 10 years In a 1984 survey over 5 000 public libraries 1 600 academic libraries and more than 7 000 special libraries were using microcomputers for a variety of information automation and li- continued from pre ious pagel pository Libraries Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Depository Library Access to Federal Automated Databases Washington DC U S Government Printing Office 1984 p 3 ' Discussions with Joseph McClane Chief Library Inspection Team LPS and Mark Scully Director I ibrary Programs Service U S Government Printing Office Dec 8 1986 Table 6 1 --Depository Library Access to Information Technology Technology Number of Libraries with Equipment Microcomputer without ' modem Microcomputer with modem for online access Microfiche reader without printer Microfiche reader with printer CD-ROM reader Videodisk player Mainframe c o m p u t e r SOURCE GAO Federal Information User Survey 1988 283 337 352 384 169 72 149 brary automation tasks In addition there were over 140 000 microcomputers in elementary and high school libraries Recent survey data including the GAO Survey of Federal Information Users indicate further growth and purchases by libraries A recent survey discovered that the mean expenditure spent on library automation per library over the past 5 years was $38 000 As in the 1984 survey word-processing software continues to be the most popular software followed by software for database management purposes and statistical uses in academic public and special libraries School libraries prefer word processing as well though statistical database inventory graphics and spreadsheet software are also used in these institutions PC's are employed in support of administration cataloging and reference purposes the majority of the time 2G Online Database Services Online database services such as DIALOG BRS and other computerized retrieval systems cover a wide array of continually expanding subject areas Each database is a compilation of textual statistical and or bibliographic information Bibliographic and referral databases are sometimes called reference databases whereas numeric and textual-numeric databases are called source databases In 197980 there were 400 databases 221 database producers and 59 online services available By 1987 there were 3 169 databases 1 494 datay base producers and 486 online services These services allow rapid access to information sources can integrate information for the user permit libraries greater flexibility in a choice of format and provide access to previously unavailable information Use of these services also allows the library to be less dependent on paper or hard-copy indexing materials These services are a primary means of accessing certain types of government information not found elsewhere e g government 'Sur 'e ' data from Cahners Research September 1986 and Table 1 - I ibrm-j Journal No ember 1986 p IJC8 '7 Cuadra Associations Director ' of Oniine Databases New York NY 1986 'ol 7 No 3 p 134 information found only in an online format such as some Bureau of the Census data Online bibliographic services usually require a trained searcher to search the databases effectively and also to limit search time and associated costs A number of vendors and institutions such as NLM and academic institutions have introduced user-friendly software that may reduce both the need for trained searchers and the costs of online searching Pricing policies for online services vary Some services charge a monthly fee e g $200 per month as well as connect time ranging from $4 00 to $45 00 per hour and system use charges ranging from $ 03 to $ 90 per unit of computer processing time There may also be disk storage costs incurred with certain services Prices of online services are most commonly based on hourly connect charges in addition to telecommunication costs for access to the network These connect charges range from $15 to $300 per hour If offline printing occurs the user will typically pay per citation o r page Online services are reexamining connect-time pricing due in part to the increase in transmission speeds With the increase in transmission speeds from 110 bps to 300 bps in the 1970's to up to 2 400 bps or higher today users can perform more in-depth searches download or print in a more costeffective manner NLM and Mead Data Central have revised their pricing schedules to account for this shift For example NLM now has a lower connect fee and charges according to the characters transmitted and the work performed on a given search by the NLM computer A number of Federal agencies produce databases consisting of original statistical information Agencies such as the Bureau of Census provide computer tapes of their information sometimes in lieu of the paper format Use of these numeric databases allows the librarian to both provide the needed information to the patron directly and be able to manipulate the ' Ibid pp v-vi data to the extent desired In general the GAO Survey of Federal Information Users found that depository institutions use online services primarily for bibliographic and statistical information Regular library use of many of the Federally generated databases available through commercial vendors is limited because of the relatively high costs Online systems such as DIALOG and BRS have introduced new services for after hours users that can substantially reduce the costs of online searching if a library can accommodate requisite scheduling changes Library Communication Networks Two or more libraries may form communication networks utilizing information technologies to enhance the exchange of materials information or other services The formation of local State regional and national networks has significantly altered the operation of libraries There are several types of networks- bibliographic utility regional service organizations and others which include State-wide publicly funded networks local or geographically concentrated multi-institutional networks and sub-regional subject-oriented networks AMIGOS SOLINET CLASS and the like are regional service networks that facilitate the expansion of the bibliographic utility Although bibliographic utilities began as a means for libraries to reduce costs of cataloging their primary function today is for sharing of resources One example of a bibliographic utility is OCLC a major computerbased cooperative network with over 7 900 members and employed by all types of libraries nationally and internationally The OCLC network assists librarians in acquiring and cataloging materials ordering custom-printed catalog cards initiating interlibrary loan locating materials in member libraries and gaining access to other databases More and more depository libraries are using the OCLC database for reference purposes to assist in searching for government documents The GPO Library Division catalogs government documents into 135 OCLC where they can be searched by member institutions These networks are undergoing changes in their structure and functions Areas affected include autonomy for members changes in the telecommunication infrastructure decentralized versus centralized control the development of more integrated systems for libraries that permit less reliance on the utility and greater emphasis on local resource sharing and finally the debate concerning ownership of data found in the shared cataloging databases As a result of network changes libraries are being changed as well ' Automated information systems are those that assist the librarian in performing specific library tasks such as circulation inventory acquisitions cataloging administration budgeting personnel and more Many depository libraries use OCLC to perform many of these tasks because they lack access to other dedicated systems or necessary software An example of an automated information system at NLM is DOCLINE This is the Library's automated interlibrary loan request and referral system that automatically routes an interlibrary local request through the Regional Medical Library Network Requests for titles found in SE RLINE the Library's online database of approximately 66 000 serial titles are also automatically routed based on the holdings of SE RHOLD NLM National Biomedical Serials Holding database which contains the holdings of 2 276 libraries Electronic Bulletin Boards Libraries are employing electronic bulletin boards in support of library operations such as interlibrary loan ILL resource-sharing functions and for access to current informa'g13ecause GPO has been inputting to OCLC since July 1976 a limited amount of retrospective searching is possible though it has been extensively noted that these earIjr GPO cataloging records contain numerous errors ' f' Moran op cit footnote 19 tion located elsewhere The Wisconsin Interlibrary Service WILS network is one example of the growing use of bulletin boards in libraries The WILS network is used by over one-half of the 55 member libraries a combination of public library systems and State library resource centers in the Wisconsin library system WILS can handle over 90 000 requests a year Users note the following advantages it is inexpensive and in fact is less costly than the previous system it offers increased speed of communication many members had the necessary equipment microcomputers and modems and therefore it did not require special equipment or hardware purchases it has the capability to store and track the requests in a database it reduces the amount of paper used to support the ILL system and it enhances microcomputer use by library staff 31 Libraries are also subscribing to bulletin boards containing government information These boards contain timely information produced by agencies For example the SRS Remote Bulletin Board System RBBS of the National Science Foundation contains information on financial and human resources for science and engineering activities Also included is information concerning current studies of the Foundation announcements of available publications and comprehensive statistical tabulations Specific data contained within the file include Federal Funds for Research and Development Scientific and Engineering Expenditures at Universities ''Employment and Demographic Characteristics U S Scientists and Engineers and International Comparisons of Science and Technology Data among others 32 The GAO ' Cathy Moore Do-It-Yourself Automation Interloan Bulletin 130ards Library Jouma 10 112 NO 18 NOV i 1987 National Science Foundation Remote Access to Science Resources Studies Data 1987 136 Survey of Federal Information Users found a minimal use of electronic bulletin boards by those surveyed The predominant library use was for press releases and statistical data Optical Disks In a 1985 survey by Link Resources Corp 7 6 percent of the libraries contacted had one or more videodisks or CD-ROMs Sixty-five percent of those responding forecast a purchase of optical disk technology by 1990 33 The GAO Survey of Federal Information Users found that 169 of the 403 depository library respondents had access to a CD-ROM player Libraries are adopting optical disk technologies for both operational or technical services purposes and for reference services In fact the library and information communities are at the forefront of testing the various optical media-videodisk CD-ROM and optical digital disk-in digital data publishing and storage applications These technologies can provide improved access to a variety of information tools and sources are a means of preserving important documents and information and appear to be popular with users Optical disk technologies include videodisks compact audio disks CD-ROMs optical digital disks and others This discussion will focus on videodisks and CD-ROMs With regard to videodisks the very large storage capacity and the ability to carry both video and audio information are the two key characteristics that make videodisks attractive technologies for libraries There are a number of types of videodisks with different capabilities The laser optical videodisk is the most accepted technology One indication of wider acceptance of this technology is the recent drop in the price of products as more data files are introduced and competition increases 35 The MINI MARC produced by Library Systems and Services is an example of a technical SSJudY Mc@een ad RichMd W Boss videodisk and @ ical Disk Technologies and Their Apph cations in Libraries 1986 Update Chicago IL American Library Association 1986 p 105 'Ibid p 3 'Ibid pp 9-36 service application in videodisk format The MINI MARC cataloging system is published on two videodisks containing over 2 1 million Library of Congress MARC records- 1 5 million MARC records on 52 900 video frames on the first disk and over 600 000 MARC records on 27 000 frames and 17 000 video frames of index data on the second 36 The videodisk is updated twice a month ALDE Applied Laser Disk Efficiencies Publishing produces the United States Code USC and the Code of Federal Regulations CFR using digitally encoded videodisks These materials are available on disk and can be broken out into specific areas of Titles of Interest For example Title 26 tax code of the CFR is available annually with monthly updates 37 Another example is IAC'S Government Publications Index on videodisk which indexes the Monthly Catalog from 1978 to the present with monthly updates CD-ROM an optical storage device uses the differential reflection of light from a mirrorlike disk surface as a means of reading information 8 The following factors make CDROMS increasingly popular particularly in libraries and for database creators storage capacity durability and stability cost compared to magnetic tape and microfiche fixed searching costs the ability of users to perform the searches themselves without a trained librarian to assist and size and compactness of the disk Despite a lack of common information access and retrieval standards an increasing number of vendors are introducing database services on CD-ROM Use of a CD-ROM usually requires an interactive system consisting of a microcomputer a ROM disk and a disk drive Reference ma Ibid p 115 'TIbid p 127 ' hDonald Case and Robert Powers Optical Disk Publication of Databases A Review of Applications for Acaderm c Libraries Washington DC Council of I ibrary Resources 1986 p 4 - terials and large textual or statistical databases are ideal candidates for the CD-ROM format in some libraries and information centers Reference materials are especially well suited to CD-ROM because they save shelf space and do not require frequent updating Books in Print and Ulrich Periodicals Directory are now available from R R Bowker in CD-ROM format In a joint venture with Online Computer Systems Inc who developed the search software the Books in Print Plus service includes all of the multivolume BIP the Subject Guide to BIP BIP Supplement Forthcoming Books and Subject Guide to Forthcoming Books in addition to names and addresses of book publishers This is contained on one disk Ulrich Plus on CD-ROM includes 68 000 periodicals in alphabetical order by title in 557 subject categories Online databases are also available on CDROMS The primary advantage of having these databases on disk is that the user may sit at a terminal for any length of time and not incur high connect charges This allows the untrained user to perform his her own search This user-oriented characteristic of CD-ROM explains some of the technology's popularity In fact many libraries find the need to place a time limit on the workstations due to the popularity of using these disk files AGRICOLA the database compiled by NAL containing citations on agriculture and related topics is available on CD-ROM from $950 annually with a quarterly update Another government-generated database ERIC Educational Resources Information Center is also available from $1 750 with quarterly updates The acceptance by users of the CD-ROM technology has been rapid and as a consequence vendors are quickly respondng through the introduction of new products The Library Corporation markets Library of Congress LOC MARC databases in disk format The BiblioFile Catalog Production System contains over one million Library of Congress MARC records on four disks The user can search edit create and save MARC records display the catalog card image print 137 cards transmit records and more Brodart markets the Le Pac Government Documents Option on CD-ROM This service also uses GPO LOC MARC records and provides a public access catalog of about 230 000 titles of depository and nondepository titles from 1976 to the present on an annual subscription basis with bi-monthly updates Auto-Graphics GDCS also produces a government documents catalog on CD-ROM with monthly cumulated updates There are a number of other factors to be considered by libraries as this technology is introduced CD-ROMs cannot be updated unless a new disk is mastered Therefore CDROMS are not practical for time-sensitive data Access time to CD-ROMs varies and this may limit the number of users able to use the system concurrently Different databases require different access software and indexing structures The use of different search and retrieval software packages by vendors results in difficulty for librarians when putting up' a new disk This requires additional expertise and training on the part of the libraries Finally a microcomputer or PC and a CD-ROM reader are necessary and this may represent additional expense to the library However many libraries already have or will be purchasing microcomputers Facsimile Facsimile is the transmission of printed information e g a letter order form interlibrary loan request from one locale to another by encoding the printed materials into digitized form The information is converted or decoded back to its original form once it is received Current generation digital facsimile machines are able to transmit one to three sheets of 81 'z by 1 l-inch paper per minute This is a substantial improvement over analog machines that were only able to transit one page every 6 to 7 minutes Facsimile machines area very quick method of relaying information between Iibraries The NLM facsimile program is an example of how this technology is currently used NLM and a number of medical libraries are par- 138 ticipating in an interlibrary loan program whereby NLM will send up to 20 pages of library material to a member library in support of emergency patient care A small amount of information is relayed quickly-this is not a printing-on-demand program for lengthy documents The project is limited to emergency medical care for a number of reasons a broader project could overwhelm the NLM interlibrary loan staff the cost could be prohibitive and the majority of requests are satisfied by the regular interlibrary loan program Another example is the use of facsimile machines by GPO field offices Field offices send notices of printing requisitions via facsimile to the GPO Library and GPO Sales Program The GPO Library and Sales Programs select items to be included in their respective programs and advise the field offices via facsimile of the items and number of additional copies to be printed Summary In summary information technologies individually and collectively are changing the nature of access to govermnent documents via libraries and have the capability to improve access to government information They can provide timely and accurate information to library users in a variety of formats and for various purposes For instance as noted earlier surveys show that all types of libraries are purchasing microcomputers in increasing numbers for a variety of purposes The GAO survey demonstrates the growing technology base in depository libraries and how new technologies such as CD-ROM are becoming more widely accepted and used Most importantly information technologies permit access to a much greater range of information and resources including government information through vendor profit and not-for-profit services New types of Federal information resources such as statistical numeric databases from the Bureau of the Census are now online and available to libraries through the use of information technologies and vendors Newer technologies such as CDROM are moving quickly from the marketplace to libraries as producers place more and more services in a CD-ROM format Libraries are experimenting and employing these technologies in support of their operations which in turn permits the user greater access to needed information FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM In 1813 Congress established a system for the distribution of congressional literature and this system developed into the depository library program-a significant avenue for dissemination of government information to the public The program has experienced a number of changes since its inception and is still changing as participating libraries and managers of the program at GPO debate how to best serve the users of the depository system The following section provides a brief description of the origins of the program and its operations This is followed by a discussion of three specific topics 1 dual format distribution paper and microfiche 2 the dissemination of information in electronic format and online catalogs Origins and Operations of the Depository Library Program There are approximately 1 400 Federal depository libraries in the United States and related territories These libraries provide Federal publications without charge to the general public This program is the primary avenue or safety net for dissemination of government information to the general public The DLP originated in 1813 when a resolution was passed authorizing the printing of additional copies of' congressional literature for distribution to State governments and legislatures The following year the American An 'Office of Management and Budget op cit footnote 8 ---- ---- - 139 tiquarian Societ y became the first depository library Responsibility for the distribution of materials shifted among a number of government agencies prior to resting with GPO Congressional resolutions in 1857 and 1858 affirmed the distribution of congressional materials to institutions such as libraries and colleges and Members of Congress designated organizations within their districts as depository institutions In 1895 a new printing act was passed incorporating the old legislation and placing responsibility for bibliographic control efforts distribution marketing of public documents and the DI P in the office of the Superintendent of Documents at GPO ' This legislation also specified that certain not internal confidential or administrative executive materials were to be included in the depository program In addition the act called for a catalog to be published each month listing government documents published the previous month A number of other points in the legislation were central to the DLP-attaining status as a depository library could be gained either through congressional designation or through legal designation and the Superintendent of Documents could now investigate depositor-y libraries and evaluate their holdings vis-a-vis the program It was not until 1923 that depository libraries were able to select those government documents most appropriate to their clientele 1' The Federal Depository Act of 1962 revised the previous legislation by increasing the number of possible depository libraries establishing a system of regional libraries two per State which were to maintain a permanent collection and provide interlibrary loan and reference services providing for the transfer of certain documents within New York and Wisconsin to either the New York State Library or to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin expanding the variety of government documents available for distribution and establishing a reporting mechanism to ascertain the libraies' condition the Biennial Survey became the reporting vehicle There have been two changes to the 1962 Federal Depository Act The highest appellate court of each State became exempt from the requirement of public access in 1972 and law schools were eligible to become depositories under the law designation in 197S This legislation has expanded the total number of libraries in the program since some of those law libraries already participating became members under the law designation thus allowing for new participants under the separate congressional designation Another effect has been a substantial increase in law schools participating in the depository program almost one-half of the new depositories between 1976 and 1985 were accredited law schools The appointment of librarians and knowledgeable individuals to a Depository Library Council began in 1972 in an effort to assist the I ublic Printer and the Superintendent of Documents 3 One description of the Library Programs Service is that of a production shop ' From this perspective its purpose is to act as a transfer agent of government documents from Federal agencies to the member depositories By law as stipulated in Title 44 all documents produced by an agency that are not confidential not for internal use or not concerned with national security belong in the depository program In fiscal year 1986 66 367 titles or 27 million copies of government documents were distributed to depository libraries GPO staff state that the workload of the program has remained relatively constant for sev- ''l'he General I rinting Act of 1895 ch 23 28 SLat 601 codi- '-i bid pp 5-8 1'Hernon McClure and Purcell p cit fmtn te 42 p 1 i fied as amended in scattered Sections 44 J S C ' i Peter Hernon Charles hfc 'lure and jar Purcell G P O L epositor r Librarj' Program 4 Descriptit'c 4nai 'si Norwood N J i4blex Publishing Corp 19X5 pp 5-8 earlier 'ouncil was formed in the 1960's ''I iscussion with Mark Scull ' Director I ibrar ' Programs Ser 'ic'e and jonald Fossedal Superintendent of Documents ' S t ernment Printing Office Dec 8 1986 jn 140 eral years GPO staff estimate that an additional 5 percent of the 66 000 titles or about 3000 titles are fugitive documents-those belonging in the program but not included by the agencies 45 The operating cost of managing the depository program is provided by the GPO in the annual budget In fiscal year 1987 the budget for the depository program was $19 7 million and the fiscal year 1988 estimate is $20 2 million DLP is managed by the Superintendent of Documents The principal mission of this office is to distribute government documents and information about them for the three branches of government 4G The DLP is managed directly by the Library Programs Service LPS within the Office of the Superintendent of Documents The Joint Committee on Printing JCP oversees the policies and overall direction of the program Until recently the Gu i deLines for the Depository Library System recommended that libraries other than regionals that receive one copy of all documents distributed select a minimum of 25 percent of available documents and approximately 50 percent of the depositories select no more than 25 percent of the available government documents It is predicted that the U S Government Printing Office will distribute approximately 20 000 paper documents and 43 000 on microfiche each year 47 For those libraries selecting the minimum number of government documents this represents approximately 15 000 documents per year-requiring an enormous investment in space collection maintenance and staff time by participating libraries GPO -- ' s Fugitive documents continue to be a problem for the program although members of the Library Programs Servicce believe the number is declining However it has been noted by members of the depository library community that the number of fugitive documents is increasing at the same time that the number of materials in the depository library program is decreasing %overnment Printing Office Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents Description Draft GPO 1986 p 1 'TDonald Case and Kathleen Welden Distribution of Government Publications to Depository Libraries by Optical Disk Government Publications Review vol 13 1986 p 314 through a legislative branch appropriation is responsible for the cost of distributing these materials to member institutions if GPO prints the documents If another agency prints documents on its own premises or elsewhere that agency is then responsible for the cost of printing copies for depository distribution with GPO bearing the distribution costs Over the past several years LPS the Depository Library Council and members of the depository library community have debated the availability of government information in different formats in the depository library program There are two debates regarding format-- the dual format debate that concerns materials distributed in paper and microfiche with libraries selecting either format and the debate about inclusion of government electronic information products in the program Both debates are concerned with meeting user preferences on format with the costs of providing these products and with ensuring access to government information regardless of format The focus of both debates is the accessibility of the information and availability of the information Format of Depository Library Materials Paper v Microfiche Materials sent to depository library participants are either in paper format microfiche or a combination of both although only regionals can receive a title in both formats Beginning in the early 1970s the JCP and GPO began to explore the advantages and disadvantages of instituting a microfiche publishing program for depository materials In 1977 following a number of library surveys and committee evaluation efforts the JCP gave permission to GPO to begin conversion of selected depository materials to a microfiche format to effect cost savings for the program and for participating libraries Private information providers objected to this practice at the time because it was their stated position that the library community was already well served by private sector firms At issue was the difference in the scope and amount of materials to -- 141 be offered by GPO in contrast to those available from the private sector Members of this community as represented by the Information Industry Association 11A believed that provision of free microfiche to depository institutions would undermine their business and voiced concerns that the Federal Government would be the sole information provider to libraries and other users of Federal information Since that time the LPS has adopted a policy of providing more and more documents in microfiche format primarily for financial reasons Reduced production and postage costs of microfiche compared to paper allow savings for the program Many libraries have adopted microfiche to both achieve greater access to a broader range of government materials and reduce their maintenance costs Housing of paper can be quite costly In turn use of microfiche has reduced the financial burden on GPO In the spring of 1986 54 percent of the materials sent by GPO to member institutions were in microfiche and the number is increasing By December of 1986 61 2 percent of the materials were in microfiche s In addition a number of agencies send their microfiche materials directly to library participants based on interagency agreements resulting in a more decentralized operation The Department of Energy sends copies of microfiche concerned with technical R D information directly to participating depository institutions and the U S Geological Service USGS ships cartographic microfiche materials for themselves and the Defense Mapping Agency DMA The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEOC also provides agency decisions in microfiche to depositories via its contractor IHS EEOC pays the production costs and is responsible for sending out the materials GPO reimburses the EEOC for postage costs There is a continuing debate between the LPS member institutions and the JCP over what proportion of materials and which mate Discussion with Mark Scully Director I ibrary Programs Services GPO Dec 8 1986 rials will remain in hard copy In August 1983 the Superintendent of Documents issued SOD 13 a list of criteria for determining which documents were more appropriate in microfiche or paper format Criteria include physical characteristics color size etc timeliness audience frequency and type of use savings in space historical significance and reference value This directive recognized that certain documents are more suited to either paper or microfiche and some documents to both formats Depository librarians also recognize that some conversion to microfiche is helpful in order to reduce program costs save space in participating libraries and make more information available to the public The Depository Library Council and the Public Printer continue to work together to identify materials that can be converted to microfiche and those that must remain in dual format that is distributed in both paper and microfiche The JCP passed a resolution on April 9 1987 supporting choice of format for depository institutions Dual format documents are the most heavily used titles in the majority of depository libraries and are the fundamental records of Government '' Secondly it is important that libraries receive dual format items such as the F'edez-al Register in a timely fashion so that users can respond to proposed regulations within a 30-or 60-day timeframe The delay resulting from conversion from paper to microfiche format and subsequent shipment can sometimes make a timely response impossible Third the format of some key documents such as the Code of Federal Regulations does not lend itself to use in the microfiche format Given the high usage of key documents the need for receiving these documents in a timely fashion and ease of access to information contained in the paper documents versus microfiche it is understandable why a paper format is preferred Library use of microfiche has a number of advantages and disadvantages On the pIus 1 Conversation with Judy Myers University of Houston Library tJune 1'7 1987 142 side microfiche is an enormous space saver consequently more government information can be made available at the depository Small colleges and public libraries in particular benefit from the distribution of government materials in microfiche and access is improved since many of these institutions otherwise could not afford to store the materials The use of microfiche also permits libraries to retain more information for longer periods of time or permanently It is projected that libraries that accept all depository publications distributed over the next 20 years will require an estimated 7 500 linear feet of hard copy storage and 2 500 linear feet of microfiche storage However microfiche also has disadvantages Librarians are finding that patrons prefer paper to microfiche as there are problems with viewing and reproduction equipment that have resulted in user complaints of eye strain and unsatisfactory paper copies 51 The cost to the patron is at least double when duplicating pages from microfiche compared to copying paper documents and the range of costs to the library for the purchase of a microfiche reader printer from Kodak for example is between $1 500 and $5 000 plus maintenance fees Also there are added difficulties in the organization and bibliographic control of fiche 52 Another consideration is that conversion of a document to microfiche by GPO adds 4 to 8 additional months to the processing time prior to the document being shipped out GPO has stated that time-sensitive materials will not be included in the microfiche program due to this extra delay 5 ' The dual format issue exacerbates two somewhat competing and contradictory philosophies of the depository library program To many the GPO program is simply one that 50Case and Welden op cit footnote 45 p 315 5' Ibid ' Discussions at the Depository Library Council Meeting Oct 15-17 1986 Discussion with Mmk ully op cit footnote 45 An IJPS microfiche contractor has defaulted on the contract causing extensive delays in the creation and distribution of microfiche to the depositories transfers materials from the government to participating institutions To others the program is one that provides timely and informative government materials to citizens in support of the principle of public access To those adhering to the access philosophy the adoption of microfiche as the predominant format negates both the accessibility and timeliness objectives of the program 54 Dissatisfaction with the microfiche format by library patrons and the added delay of conversion from hard copy to microfiche are cited as critical factors An added difficulty in resolving the dual format distribution debate is the poor but improving relationship between the managers of the DLP and members of the depository library community There has been some improvement in the relationship since the LPS began upgrading the quality of the GPO cataloging tapes the inspection program and pertinent training programs and seminars among other areas On the other hand GPO's failure to resolve problems with its microfiche contractor has exacerbated its relationship with depository libraries Dissemination of Information in Electronic Format Microfiche and hard copy materials are the only formats employed to date by GPO in the transfer of government information to depository institutions except for the planned shipment of the Bureau of the Census CD-ROM Test Disk No 2 to the depositories '6 GPO is currently reformulating agency policies with respect to electronic dissemination in the depository program Prior agency decisions to withhold electronic information from 'iIIA supports the continuation of the dual format programs because it recognizes the need for items used more heavily to be available in paper due to ease of access patron preference and timeliness 'sDiscussions and meetings GODORT American Library Association Midwinter Meeting Jan 16-19 1987 Chicago IL t'GPO has agreed to ride the Census Test Disk No 2 order and ship copies of this CD-ROM to all depository institutions The Census of Agriculture for 1982 and the Census of Retail Trade by Zip Code will be included on this disk - the program were based on a GPO interpretation of previous legislation concerning the depository program specifically section 1901 of the 1962 Depository Act The opinion by former GPO general counsel Garrett Brown determined GPO policy the Depository Library Act of 1962 does not direct the Superintendent of Documents make published documents available in all possible formats to the libraries It was the intent of Congress that only printed publications would be made available to depositories 3PO now supports the position that while it cannot require agencies to submit electronic products for distribution through the depository system agencies may voluntarily submit electronic products to GPO Also those electronic products available in paper or microfiche format can be disseminated to depositories in electronic format since these materials have already been ''published The recent plan to distribute a Bureau of the Census CD-ROM to depositories prompted the Public Printer to request approval from the JCP and clarification of the Committee's views concerning disseminatiOn of government information in electronic formats to depositories In a March 25 1988 letter to the Public Printer Congressman Frank Annunzio Chairman of the JCP affirmed both the Committee's support of the Census project and the position that the GPO's authority as required by Title 44 UiN ted States Code extended to the production and distribution of Government publications in these new formats GPO and the JCP recently developed a research plan that identifies selected electronic data files as products for depository distribution This plan was approved by the JCP on June 29 1988 The demonstrations involve a ombination of online and CD-ROM govern - S Congress Joint Conlmittee on I rinting l'r i sion of 'edt'ral o 'c3rnment utlficaLiOns in Eiectronl ' ' l nl jt t tIposj or l ihrarie s Report of the Ad Hoc Comfllit we 1 h poS- it r ' I lbrar T Access to Federal Automated Databases $'ashington 1 U S iovernrnent Printing office I 984 pp 112-113 l etter from the J1lOr lbh Frank Annunzio Chairman Joint Commit tee on I'rint ing CO the Ilonorable RaJph Kennickell J r the I'ub ic I rinter hlar 2 19H8 143 ment data files The Subcommittee on Legislative of the House Committee on Appropriations supported dissemination in CD-ROM formats in the fiscal year 1989 I egislative Branch Appropriation Bill and requested a copy of the GPO-JCP plan In addition the Committee noted that online access and other formats excepting CD-ROM may require additional funding and requested that GPO submit any future electronic dissemination plans to the Subcommittee on Legislati 'e -' ' The JCP position on the dissemination of government information in electronic form resulted in part from the deliberations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Depository Library Access to Federal Automated Databases The Committee's efforts were based on a request from the JCP to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of providing access to Federal Government information in electronic formats to depository libraries The Ad Hoc Committee has considered a variety of formats databases and institutional arrangements for the pro ' ision of agency information for the past A years ' This advisor committee intended to recommend to Members of the JCP certain agency databases for depository distribution in online or CD-ROM format to test electronic dissemination to depositories These recommendations were to be based in part on proposals made by each agency to the JCP As of December 1986 16 proposals were received by the JCP from Federal agencies hoping to participate in the pilot program ' These proposals ranged from provision of 4 possible databases from the U S Geological Survey-the Geologic Map Index the Library System Catalog the Mineral Resources Data System and the Selected Water Resources Abstracts-to 3 databases from the Department of the Treasury- ''U S Congress Commitw on ppropriations Legiskt Appropriations Bill 1989 Report to accompanJ H R 4587 Report No 1W621 I th C'on 2d session 1988 ' 'The Ad HOG Committee is c rnpc sd of indit iduals from government agencies and representatives of pertinent ass ciations 'The tJCP is still recei 'ing new pilot proj lct proposals from Federal agencies interested in pro iding electronic products t depositor nlembers 144 the Financial Management Database the Internal Revenue Bulletin and the Taxpayer Information Publications One goal of the pilot and demonstration projects was to permit depository institutions access to some agency data not previously available or data that were lost once converted to an electronic format It would also open up the depository program to government information in electronic form The JCP passed a resolution on April 9 1987 accepting the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee in principle and urged GPO to initiate pilot projects Despite the April 9 1987 resolution a fiscal year 1987 funding request of $800 000 for the initial round of pilot projects was deferred by the Appropriations Committees of both the House and Senate GPO did create the Information Technology Program within LPS with internal funds to prepare the depository program for electronic projects gather information on Federal agency electronic programs and assist internal LPS operations The introduction of electronic formats to the depository library program has been characterized as an opportunity to make Government information useful and more timely and an opportunity to achieve a higher level of service to constituents G2 This proposal has been endorsed by the American Library Association Special Library Association American Association of Law Libraries Association of Research Libraries National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History Medical Library Association Cartographic Users Advisory Council and others representing thousands of libraries around the country Many depository librarians also view the pilot projects as a chance to test a variety of electronic formats and discover which one or combination of technologies and formats electronic paper and microfiche are appropriate for different kinds information Finally provision of information in an elec' zDiscussions American Library Association Midwinter Meeting Chicago II Jan 16-19 1987 tronic format is seen as a continuation of the current multi-tiered approach to disseminating government information provision of information directly to the individual by government provision of information via the private sector through a number of services and provision of information through the GPO document sales program and the DLP This threetiered approach recognizes that there are both different markets and different users for this information and that these three modes of delivery are not necessarily competitive and in many respects are complementary Some database producers and services object to the inclusion of electronic formats in the depository program as proposed in the pilot project program The private sector position is represented in part by the Information Industry Association 11A a trade association with over 450 members from the publishing and information sectors of the economy These businesses employ information technologies to supply users both public and private with all types of information The 11A has argued that provision of government information in electronic format via depository libraries as proposed in the pilot project program would compete with existing private sector online services and that if electronic formats are included in the depository program they should be provided by private vendors The Association has further stated that the depository program should comply with OMB Circular A-130 though the legislative and judicial branches of government are not legally subject to A-130 and that the goals of the depository program should be developed and reviewed in much greater detail Some members of the 11A also contend that if government information in electronic format is disseminated through the depository program private vendors will be unable to compete fairly and will suffer adverse economic consequences Online Catalogs Some government information is available to depository libraries in electronic formats through a number of private and not-for-profit 145 -- database and vendor services such as DIALOG BRS and OCLC and the number of these services is growing The majority of the depository libraries have access to at least one of the database systems such as DIALOG or BRS and the majority are also planning future online catalogs ' Since 1976 LPS use of OCLC allows depository institutions and others to search OCLC and other online services for government documents for cataloging purposes for downloading into library catalogs and as a limited reference tool LPS is the center of authority for the cataloging of Federal documents employing accepted Anglo-American cataloging rules AACR2 and is responsible for producing original cataloging records of Federal documents in a timely fashion Once cataloged at GPO the record is available online immediately Each week OCLC sends the computer tapes to GPO where they are consolidated by the GPO Data System Service Four computer tapes are again consolidated to produce the MonthluY Catalog of the Um ted States Government Publications These GPO MARC tapes can be purchased from GPO and the Library of Congress by commercial firms and libraries As more and more libraries adopt information technologies the promise of online catalogs is particularly appealing for government document collections It has been noted that three developments seem to have had the widest impac on the overall effects of automation in academic libraries the growth and development of bibliographic utilities the changes brought about in information retrieval by the use of online databases and the more recent development of online public access catalogs 'f'f The 1981 Depository Library Biennial Statistical Summary found that only 70 depository libraries or 6 percent of all depository libraries catalog all government documents received while 666 depositories or 56 percent catalog less than one-tenth of items selected It has been noted that 'Con rersation with Joseph hlcl'lane Chief 1 ibrar Inspection Team I ibrar r I rograrns Ser rice U S lo fernment Printing office Nm'ember 19H6 ' 'hloran op cit footnote 19 p S --------------- ---- ------ the resources required to catalog items and to maintain card catalogs in even a moderatesized institution are so extensive that libraries have frequently chosen not to catalog documents in order to contain these costs f'-' Whereas previously the combination of traditionally understaffed and low-budget document departments could not afford the enormous cost of cataloging the materials new technologies now allow many to catalog both new and retrospective documents There are a number of commercial services available to libraries for cataloging of government documents including retrospective materials For example Marcive and Brodart provide machine-readable tape a microfiche catalog or catalog card set records to depository libraries The library identifies by a GPO item number those documents requiring a record and the vendors will supply the record in the desired format Vendors are also providing this service for retrospective government documents This type of service presents the participating institution with new opportunities for creating online catalogs of Federal documents as these tapes can be loaded into a library's local online catalog '' Some GPO cataloging records particularly from July 1976 to 1984 when GPO began to include corrections made during the Monthl v Catalog production process contain errors that have not been corrected GPO does not generate retrospective corrections on the OCLC tapes for users unlike the Library of Congress and other Federal library institutions The added expense to a library of iden6sRoseann Bowerman and Susan Cad3 Go ernrnent P u b lications in an Online Catalog A Feasibility Stud fioternrnent Publications December 1984 p 331 66Conversation with Judy hl ers op cit footnote 50 ' TFor more information see LJudj E Myers ''The o ernment Printing Office Cataloging Records Opportunities and Problems Government Information Quarterl r 2 1985 pp 27-56 Bowerman and Cad ' op cit footnote 65 Nlary Sue Stephenson and Gary Purcell Current and Future Direction of Automation Activities for t S ' merriment Depvsi ur Collections Government Information QuarterI r 3 1986 pp 191199 and Margaret Johnston Powell Deborah Smith and Ellen Conrad The Use of OCLC for Cataloging IJ S Go 'ernment Publications A Feasibility' Studj ' ol'ernnlent Public ation q Re riem' 1987 pp 61-76 146 -- -- tifying and correcting a record is quite high- almost $4 50 per corrected record versus $1 40 per high-quality record such as those produced today For example it would cost about $495 000 to examine identify and correct the 110 000 GPO cataloging records at the University of Houston in order to include these records in the online catalog Error-free the cost of inclusion in the online catalog would be substantially reduced to $154 000G8 At those depositories where online catalogs are being created and or catalog records are being generated government documents are becoming more accessible as cataloging records are now integrated into the main catalog and usage rates are going Up As early as 1984 Trinity University noted a 300 h Ibid Judy E Myers S 'Discussions American Library Association Midwinter Meeting Jan 16-19 1987 There are materials that are still not accessible through the program GPO does not catalog all materials it distributes such as the DOE materials and there are no plans for creating machine-readable records for those depositor-y materials that predate 1976 --- percent increase in documents usage once records were included in the circulation system 70 In conclusion the availability of retrospective GPO cataloging tapes and private and notfor-profit vendor services combined with the increasing number of technologies in depository institutions permits these institutions to catalog their government documents in a more cost-effective manner This in turn increases access by patrons to government documents In addition it also allows these libraries to consider machine-readable catalogs The advent of online catalogs in libraries in the next 5 to 10 years will revolutionize government document collections as they will allow subject access to these materials by users utilizing electronic capabilities and integrate the government information into the rest of the library collection 7 Bowerman and Cady op cit footnote 65 p 341 Chapter 7 Alternative Futures for the Depository Library Program Photo credft Documents Center Robed Woodruff Library Emory University Documents librarian assists users with the Documents Center online catalog CONTENTS Page Summary 149 Introduction 151 Alternative I Status Quo 151 Alternative II Electronic Depository Library Program 153 A Subalternative for Distributing Electronic Formats 157 Alternative III Reorganized Electronic Depository System 158 Disseminating Electronic Information Products-Two Case Studies 160 C o n g r e s s i o n a l R e c o r d on CD-ROM 161 Federtd Re ster Online 164 Issues Discussion 171 Dissemination Formats in the Depository Program 171 Changing Costsof the Depository Program 173 Reorganized Depository Program 175 Changing Rolesof Stakeholders 176 Tables Table Page 7-l Estimated Costs Per Library Per Year for Distribution of the Bound C'ongz-essional Record to Depository Libraries Various Formats 163 7-2 Estimated Costs Per Library Per Year for Distributionof the Federa lRe@ster by Format 167 7-3 Queries and Cost Data for Online Patent Information 1987 167 7-4 Estimated Reproduction and Distribution Costs Per Magnetic Tape 170 Chapter 7 Alternative Futures for the Depository Library Program SUMMARY This chapter discusses several alternative futures for the U S Government Printing Office GPO depository library program DLP and examines their implications for the depository program and users of Federal information The three alternatives considered are maintaining the status quo that is the program as currently operating excluding most electronic information products incorporating electronic information products into the current depository library program and reorganizing the depository program in the 2- to 10-year time period to accommodate electronic formats and the adoption of current and emerging information technologies by libraries l Included in this chapter are case studies of electronic delivery oft wo data files--the Congressional Record and Federal Register This chapter also discusses several key issues concerning the future of the DLP In 1962 Congress revised the laws relating to the depository program Throughout the hearings and debate on the proposed legislation Members and those testifying noted the vital role of the depository program in the dissemination of government information to the American people One of the revisions accepted by Members was a provision to extend to the depositories access to additional government-produced materials and Members noted that the Subcommittee on the Li1 Throughout this Chapter D PI refers onl r to the U S overnment Printing Office depository librar program and the reorganized DLP alternative is based in part on the proposal developed by the Association of Research Libraries Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Format For more information see Association of Research Libraries Technology U S Government Information Poh cies Catalwvsts for New Partnerships J4'ashington DC ARL October 1987 brary considers the expanded availability of documents to those depository libraries as absolutely essential if the purpose intended by Congress in the establishment of the original program is to continue to be served ' The debate today concerns not only additional materials but additional formats and whether including electronic formats is consistent with the legislative history and statutory authority of the 1962 act With the increasing number of electronic dissemination projects in agencies as well as related private sector offerings the impetus for including electronic information in the depository program is strong Electronic products enhance access to many types of information and failure to include these products within the depository library program could create or exacerbate inequities in public access to such information The Joint Committee on Printing JCP has interpreted provisions of Title 44 of the United States Code as extending to government information in all formats and has endorsed pilot and demonstration tests and delivery of government information products in electronic formats The Subcommittee on Legislative Committee on House Appropriations has approved the distribution of CD-ROMs to depository libraries Thus it seems clear that some electronic products will be included in the depository program However the number and types of products are likely to be quite limited in the absence of further congressional guidance since at present GPO is not empowered to require agencies to submit their electronic products for depository distribution Thus without further policy action erosion of IU S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Revising the I a ws Relating to Depositor ' Libraries Senate Re- port No 1587 87th Cong 2d sess 1962 p 25 149 150 public access to government information via the depository libraries is likely to continue OTA has also concluded that the likely introduction of electronic information to the depository library program may require an examination of the current structure of the program and the nature of the relationships between depository participants and the government Committees of Congress member libraries and GPO will need to assess the current organizational structure and operation of the depository library program and determine if it is the most effective and efficient system for users to access government information Pilot projects and the like will provide useful information regarding user information needs financial costs administrative requirements and levels of usage These pilots will also assist the committees GPO and member institutions in designing new delivery and financing arrangements particularly in light of the evolving nature of both libraries and the telecommunications infrastructure An important reason for electronic demonstration projects is to better understand the issue of costs to users to government and to depository institutions If the basic underlying principle of the depository program is to retain free access to government information for users then Congress needs to appreciate that there may be additional costs associated with the introduction of certain electronic services and Congress may have to assist depository libraries and GPO in designing and financing ways to make this information available to the public Case studies of two electronic data files the final or bound Congressional Record in CD-ROM format and the Federal Re ster online are pre sented to illustrate possible delivery modes and costs Distribution of selected government information products in CD-ROM format such as the bound or final cumulated edition of the Congressional Record could improve access to such information and could be a cost-effective dissemination mechanism for the Library Programs Service LPS for certain data files There could be some additional equipment and training costs associated with this format for --- the depository library participants There will be a need to periodically review depository library policies as new formats are added especially since budgetary constraints are not likely to permit multiple formats for many government information products Difficult decisions will need to be made about which formats for the different products should be distributed to depository libraries In the longer-term Congress may wish to consider a reorganization or restructuring of the current depository program in light of electronic information dissemination options now or likely to become available This assumes that there is a fundamental need to reorganize the depository program to account for changes in how users access information and how libraries provide information to users A reorganized depository program presumably would incorporate the 'lessons learned' from the pilot projects and demonstrations To this end the pilots and other resource-sharing projects would assist depository librarians GPO the JCP and other congressional committees in discussing and redesigning the current structure of the depository program to best serve the end-user--the public Other issues such as how best to serve the needs of rural users of government information and whether the depository program should remain within GPO or be moved elsewhere e g to the Library of Congress also could be examined during the reorganization discussions In the final section of this chapter four closely related policy issues are examined These issues concern the need for developing a clear information policy on access to government information in electronic format through depository libraries In formulating policy it will be important to consider the following spe cific questions or issues Should government information in all electronic formats be disseminated to the public through the depository library program Are the principles of free access still applicable to the depository program or are there new costs associated with the introduction of electronically formatted prod- 151 -- ucts such that user fees or new funding mechanisms need to be considered Can the current depository system accommodate new responsibilities for electronic formats or should a new institutional structure be considered and Does the increasing shift to electronically formatted information require a reexamination of the composition and relationships of the stakeholders in the depository program and especially the role of the information industry INTRODUCTION The first three major sections of this chapter explore three possible alternatives for the depository library program These are maintaining the status quo establishing an electronic depository library program and developing a long-term reorganized electronic depository library program based on new and emerging technologies and the changing nature of libraries and information needs of users The analysis of the alternatives and their possible implications is intended to facilitate an understanding of the possible choices available to policy makers The three alternatives are presented and evaluated in some detail In evaluating the alternatives the effects of proposed changes resulting from the use of new technologies are given considerable attention Each of the alternatives is structured in terms of the five main functions of the Library Programs Service LPS 1 acquisition of materials 2 3 4 5 classification of materials cataloging of materials distribution of materials monitoring of member depositories The discussion of monitoring includes consideration of internal LPS operations and is presented from the perspective of the quality of library service and access to Federal information The fourth section in this chapter discusses the possible dissemination of two data files to the depository libraries in electronic formats-- the bound Congressional Record in CD-ROM format and the Federal Register online Finally the fifth and last section in this chapter discusses four key issues relevant to the future of the DLP ALTERNATIVE I STATUS QUO The status quo is defined as a continuation of the current roles and activities of the DLP as described in chapter 6 The discussion below assumes that no major congressional or executive actions are taken for the next few years and GPO disseminates information in paper and microfiche formats with a few CDROMS and a few online files and depository libraries receive information from Federal agencies in paper and microfiche formats with few electronic formats DLP within the Superintendent of Documents SupDocs at GPO would continue to distribute government documents to approximately 1 400 participating depository institutions The amount of government information that should belong in the program is projected to increase but the actual amount distributed would probably decrease for two reasons--agencies failing to place paper documents in the program fugitive documents and an increase in the percentage of electronic products falling outside the program The decentralized practice of agencies shipping materials directly to participating depository in- 152 stitutions would likely increase as in the case of Department of Energy and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agreements that are typical of arrangements between GPO libraries and the agencies see ch 6 for more information Classification of materials There would be no changes in or effects on the classification of materials Cataloging of materials There would be no changes in the cataloging of materials Distribution of materials The bulk of government documents distributed to depository libraries would continue to be in microform format Dual format paper and microfiche would continue for selected congressional and executive branch materials GPO and the library community would likely revisit the debate over the choice and cost issues raised by dual format The Superintendent of Documents would maintain the practice of selling GPO tapes to vendors at a nominal fee Neither these tapes nor the bulk of electronically-formatted materials from other government agencies would be distributed to depository institutions except for a few CD-ROMs and online products Depository institutions in need of electronically-formatted information would presumably purchase this information from vendors or through other arrangements directly with the agencies for example Bureau of the Census or National Library of Medicine NLM Monitoring of the member institutions and effectiveness of the program The budget of the LPS would likely remain relatively constant If Federal agencies move away from GPO services for whatever reasons such as an increase in electronic products in lieu of paper and as a consequence fewer government documents were available to the Sales Program the GPO sales could be reduced This could in turn affect the amount of monies redirected from net sales revenues to LPS to partially reduce the need for appropriated funds The LPS Information Technology Program ITP was established in the summer of 1987 with a charter to initiate agency electronic pilot projects for the depository program However no monies were appropriated by Congress for this program The program focus instead has been on internal operations such as automated shipping lists a claims-processing system and other microcomputer-based systems in support of LPS operations Additional staff time has been spent gathering information on other agency electronic information programs and a few electronic projects such as the Census Disk Over the next few years under the status quo alternative the role of ITP with respect to dissemination of electronic formats would continue to be limited The ability of LPS to accomplish its mission would be eroded to the degree that electronically-formatted government information was unavailable to the public through the depository program the agencies became even more dependent on NTIS rather than GPO SupDocs as a dissemination mechanism for electronic products and the agencies relied on contractors interagency agreements or private sector arrangements rather than GPO for electronic dissemination in general Although the number of selective depository institutions in the program would likely increase several regional libraries those libraries receiving and permanently maintaining all government documents would likely drop membership in the depository program as is happening currently The increase in membership of selective depositories would be due to the minimum selection requirement that allows participating institutions to select only those government documents as appropriate for their patrons The decline in the number of regional depositories would be attributed to the growing amount of government information that would need to be maintained permanently and the escalating costs of participation As GPO's role diminished the role of the private sector in the provision of government information to the public would likely expand An increasing percentage of information in electronic formats would be available only through private vendors Depositories would have two choices either pay vendors for government information not available through the depository program or directly from agencies or not provide direct access to these materials for their patrons ' The costs to member depositories would increase and continue to rise as agencies moved to greater reliance upon electronic formats and private sector services The costs to those depositories opting to provide access would continually rise as agencies moved to greater reliance upon electronic formats and private sector services Also depositories could incur increased costs for online searching and additional reference services to the extent that librarians and information specialists needed to check a greater number of sources for government information Regionals could face additional costs to the extent that selective depository institutions were unable to provide specific information to patrons and as a result referred inquiries to the regional libraries Under the status quo alternative public access to government information via depository libraries would likely be continually eroded and reduced Equity of access would be adversely affected to the extent that patrons of depository institutions would have to pay for access to government information Also many of the agency electronic information products could 'Not all government information in electronic format would be available through private sector services since some or many types of information would not be expected to produce monetary benefits for vendors This information could be permanently lost to the public 153 -- be more difficult for patrons to locate To the degree that depository library users were denied effective access to enhanced electronic versions of core governmental process information such as the Congressional Record equity of access would be further reduced As stated by Frantzich The current hard copy version of the Record is particularly inflexible While users generally want a full picture of a debate on a particular subject or the actions of a particular Member these are scattered throughout the text and over a number of different documents The ability to use new technology to cut and paste a tailored document would greatly increase the usability of the material in the Record 4 Under this alternative overall government costs would likely increase since government at all levels including Federal as well as State and local depository libraries would not be receiving needed Federal information through the depository program and would have to maintain it through other more expensive means Under the status quo with a greater number of agency information products available in electronic formats GPO would be unable to comply fully with a legislative mandate of providing access to government information to the public through the depository library program 'Stephen Frantzich Public Access to Congressional Information in the Technological Age Case Studies Draft OTA contractor report OTA September 1987 pp 50-51 ALTERNATIVE II ELECTRONIC DEPOSITORY LIBRARY PROGRAM This alternative assumes that the existing DLP would be extended to include government information products in electronic formats as well as paper and microfiche The program would be managed as it is now In addition this alternative assumes that GPO would serve as the disseminating agency for the depository program and each depository would select the type and number of formats and OMB WOLIM issue a circular requiring agencies to comply with the depository program for all government information regardless of format within current accepted guidelines for those materials that 154 are not confidential administrative or for internal use it might be more advantageous for GPO to ship the CD-ROMs directly to the depositories Under this alternative the Superintendent of Documents would approve the inclusion of electronic products from Federal agencies for dissemination to depository institutions in addition to paper and microfiche products Under this alternative it is likely that microfiche would still account for the bulk of products within the program Dual format would probably continue for a minimum number of products and fewer paper documents would be available to member institutions LPS would be able to provide a choice of files in a variety of formats to members of the program but these files would not always be available in all formats Classification of materials The introduction of electronically formatted materials should not require any significant changes in current LPS classification procedures The format type -paper microfiche CD-ROM disk diskette or online tape--would need to be noted as it is now It would be necessary for the originating agencies to clearly define the source and nature of the electronic material so it can be properly classified and assigned a correct number This alternative could have the following effects on the five major functions of LPS Acquisition of materials Many of the current procedures for acquiring materials would continue GPO would receive tapes disks or diskettes from the issuing agency duplicate the new media in-house or via a contractor or depositories would receive the materials directly from the agency or an agency contractor pursuant to an interagency agreement The information format would require individual decisions by the agencies and GPO to determine if GPO would operate in a centralized or decentralized mode For example a data file developed by or for an agency could be received by the depository via GPO from the issuing agency directly or from an agency contractor This data tape could also be a raw data tape or one with value-added software included Each mode of delivery to the depositories and each format has advantages and disadvantages to the program the participating institutions and the agencies Thus it could be more advantageous for libraries to work directly with the Bureau of the Census for certain data tapes This could require additional infrastructure within agencies where the amount of electronically formatted information is significant Another example would be CD-ROMs of the bound Congressional Record or of Bureau of the Census materials where Cataloging of materials GPO employs AACR-2 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules the accepted standard for cataloging developed by the library community The cataloging of new media is already an accepted practice in the library community GPO's integration of new media into the depository program would require training of LPS cataloging staff and informational assistance to depository institutions to make library catalogers aware of the changes in format GPO has developed Cataloging Guidelines that describe preferred routines for inputting records into the Online Computer Library Center OCLC use of AACR-2 serials procedures and the like GPO would be required to update these guidelines to include procedures for handling electronic formats Distribution of new materials Overall the current distribution procedures would remain with some modification for materials in an online format Diskettes and CD-ROMS would present few if any new distribution problems to LPS However distribution of online data files could present a variety of problems depending on whether the mode of operation was centralized or decentralized The addition of electronic formats might affect the selectivity of the depositories Depository institutions are becoming increasingly selective in the number of and kind of government information products they receive The inclusion of electronic products in the program would not change this trend and might even increase selectivity As with paper and micro- 155 fiche librarians would need to examine the government materials available in electronic format and explore the choices for their- patrons Whereas the initial cost of adding a document in microfiche is minimal not counting the costs of storage and maintenance the cost of equipment and software development for electronic formats could be higher at least initially With electronic formats depositories would have new choices to make concerning the information needs of users Monitoring of member institutions and effectiveness of the program as it relates to quality of service and access The introduction of electronic files to the depository program and to GPO would require the development of additional GPO in-house expertise in information technologies For example GPO could contract for the mastering and production of CD-ROMs produce CD-ROMs in-house equipment permitting or obtain the necessary number of CD-ROMs from the agencies Regardless of the choice an overall understanding of CD-ROM technology production and use would be needed to ensure an effective program The Information Technology Program ITP would need to be expanded The new responsibilities of this office could include development of training programs for depository libraries that focus on equipment purchases use of new electronic services and awareness of electronic information products available from the government This training component would be critical to the success of this alternative and would require increased funding Overall large institutions such as the Association of Research Libraries ARL members academic institutions and State libraries which collectively account for over 50 per cent of the depositories would be better prepared than smaller institutions to accept products in electronic format These institutions already have much of the needed equipment and ongoing training programs for staff Acceptance of electronic products probably would be slower at smaller institutions primarily due to lack of necessary equipment training and an adequate financial base The GAO Survey of Federal Information Users noted a growing technology base in depository institutions If GPO were to provide electronically formatted materials it is likely that more and more depositories would over time invest in needed equipment just as they did for microfiche Each depository institution would be in a different stage of development concerning the use of information technologies in support of depository library programs For example many university libraries already have CDROM equipment whereas many smaller libraries do not On the other hand CD-ROM technology is inexpensive very user-friendly and requires minimal staff and user training It does though require some training and knowledge in order to use different software packages effectively A determination would need to be made on what kind and level of support GPO should provide including costs and other implications For example GPO could offer the depository libraries a series of comprehensive seminars on equipment and training and or form a team of information technology consultants similar to the current depository inspectors This team would assist member institutions introduce electronic formats to the library staff and users Congress could consider a one-time equipment grant for depository library CD-ROM equipment but would need to address standardization issues Depository participants and GPO are likely to be unable to regularly upgrade their CD-ROMs for financial constraints alone yet at the same time CD-ROM technologies are constantly changing both hardware and software capabilities One possible side effect of an equipment grant if made would be to encourage and accelerate standardsetting since the government would be buying for up to 1 400 institutions Some reconsideration of retention policies wou d be necessary with the introduction of electronic files These new policies would be applicable to regional depositories that are now required to retain all government materials permanently There are over 50 regional institu- 156 - tions--a mix of public and private institutions and academic public and State libraries Storage guidelines for new formats at these institutions particularly for online files would be an issue if the old requirements were retained The two key issues that would need to be addressed would be the development of guidelines for online storage and the development of guidelines regarding the costs to regionals for provision of online information to other institutions A new institutional structure for the depository program is evolving with the emergence of a set of supra regionals The role of some regional depositories has developed into one of providing service support to other depositories including staff time and equipment Also some regional institutions do not house all government materials received but instead assume responsibility for these documents regardless of the location This change has occurred due to increased cooperation among members with statewide institutions expanding their participation There are a number of advantages to this emerging structure increased integration of government documents into library collections greater resource sharing spreading out the burden of the service support functions and costs and improved flexibility of storage requirements This growth in cooperation and flexibility within the depository system is very important and should be beneficial as the amount of electronic information increases 5 Other impacts of Alternative II Under Alternative II there could be substantial savings in GPO production and distribution costs if more government information products were available in CD-ROM format and not produced in paper and microfiche e g for certain Bureau of the Census materials There could be additional costs incurred depending on the number of products distributed in an online format as this format can be more expensive Based on discussions with GPO LPS staff November 1987 There would be some reduction in other current costs such as for storage of paper and microfiche For example the cost of microfiche cabinets is very high-$3 000 per year including maintenance and space considerations-- and the reduction in the amount of microfiche could be a benefit to regional depository institutions All depository institutions that accept electronically formatted products might face additional costs from participating in the program These costs would result from one or more of the following 1 staff training 2 equipment purchase beyond that possibly provided by GPO 3 costs of online searching 4 local mounting and or downloading of government information and 5 increased user support The specific electronic format would affect the level of costs to the user the library or the government For example providing the Congressional Record retrospectively on a CD-ROM disk to all depository institutions if mastered by GPO replicated by a contractor and distributed by the depository program would likely impose some additional financial responsibilities on depositories and actually reduce costs to the government if provided in lieu of paper or microfiche However access to an agency online data file might involve additional costs to the depositories and or the government when telecommunication costs are factored in Some regional depositories would face additional financial burdens and some depositories might reconsider membership as the costs of resource-sharing increased An increasing number of depositories not receiving certain electronic files might turn to the regional depository libraries for that information If this occurred it could be difficult for these regional libraries to maintain policies of free access to government information Under alternative II overall access to government information would be expected to improve But access would be enhanced only if depository libraries could accommodate and support electronic formats and develop resource-sharing procedures for those libraries -- that did not have the necessary technologies funding and training within a State or region This alternative would increase the need for clarification of the roles and legal authorities of GPO the depositories and the agencies Agencies presumably would be required to provide electronically formatted information to the depository program Clear guidelines and possibly legislation would be necessary A Subalternative for Distributing Electronic Formats A subalternative of Alternative II would make selected electronic products available to specified depositories not via GPO but via an agreement with private sector or not-for-profit services The Public Printer has previously proposed a pilot project whereby private sector and not-for-profit services would disseminate selected government generated tapes to a subset of depository libraries at little or no cost to the government h The private sector service would add value to five suggested databases congressional bills Congress onal Record Federal Register Code of Federal Regulations and the Monthly Catalog of Um ted States Government Publications in return for free receipt of the tapes The private sector service would be required to accept all five tapes because the total value of the five tapes would provide increased access for users and increased value to the vendor The cost of the tapes would be debited to the depository program For this or similar proposals to be seriously considered a number of issues would require clarification For example GPO would need to determine a level of public access to the electronic information that would be considered viable and appr priate Would the combined value of the tapes minus the va badded costs provide a sufficient level of access to the public and sufficient incentive to the vendors 61 etter from Ralph E Kennickell Jr Public Printer to Honorable Frank Annunzio Chairman tJoint Committee on Printing Dec 10 1987 157 GPO would need to design criteria for selection of library participants Telecommunications permit access to online information regardless of geographic location so geographical concerns need not limit the libraries selected The type of library the facilities equipment and training programs in the library and the networking capabilities to other depositories are examples of criteria or factors that could be employed by GPO to select participants GPO would need to specify the responsibility of participating libraries regarding the need to maintain paper and microfiche copies of these data files to guarantee access to government information and for archival purposes GPO would need some assurance on behalf of all participants of length and level of commitment by the vendor and the vendor would require some assurance as to the commitment by GPO to the continuation of this program For example would this be a pilot project or a program that would seek congressional endorsement and financial support for say the next 3 years For an option such as this to be successful the vendor would likely already have considerable market share in one or several of the data files and within the library community The value of the duplicated tapes and the charge against the depository program would need to be factored into the overall costs of the program A determination of proprietary rights in the 'value added' information and ensuing use by libraries would be necessary Previous barter agreements between agencies and private sector services generally have been unsuccessful and congressional committees with relevant jurisdiction generally have not supported projects of this nature Congressional concerns would need to be alleviated prior to implementation of such a proposal Arrangements concerning telecommunications charges and the like would need to be specified 158 ---- -- Under this subalternative public access to government information would appear to increase Electronic information would be available to the depositories at little or no immediate cost to participating institutions Some insight would be gained concerning usage levels and the overall costs that would be associated with a larger electronic program There would be minimal costs to government at least at the outset There are also disadvantages associated with this subaltemative With the pilot project only a selected number of libraries would participate and even those would have only a minimum level of access It is unclear whether and under what conditions this suba lternative could be extended to all depository libraries The costs to the government while minimal with the pilot project would increase substantially over time as the number and types of files expanded The question of proprietary rights in the value added by vendors would need to be addressed Should or could these rights be waived or should restrictions on public use of such value added information be accepted Any restrictions could adversely affect the ability of libraries to share this information with other depositories and users Overall this subalternative would change the current relationships between the government and the depository libraries Congress GPO and the libraries would need to consider carefully the implications of including new partners' in the depository library program Finally barter-type arrangements such as this suba lternative have not been successful in other agencies for example the Patent and Trademark Office PTO and the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Another possibility would be for the government to simply pay the vendor for services rendered at a bulk discount rate ALTERNATIVE III REORGANIZED ELECTRONIC DEPOSITORY SYSTEM This alternative presents one of many possible future directions for the depository program once electronic pilots have commenced and user needs usage patterns and cost factors are more fully understood This alternative seeks to describe a longer-term reorganized view of the LPS incorporating current and emerging technologies and reflecting the changing roles of libraries The composition of participating libraries could be reviewed and reorganized consistent with meeting user needs and optimizing use of resources This alternative is based on the recent Association of Research Libraries ARL proposal for restructuring the depository program This proposal has been put forth by the ARL Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Format for discussion purposes only The ARL proposal defines a three-tiered system of libraries and library responsibilities Three new levels of service would be designated Basic Intermediate and Full Basic Service-libraries with small government document collections and gateway access to electronic information located elsewhere Basic service would be characterized by self-help on-demand service and high cost per transaction but small fixed cost Intermediate Service--libraries with a larger government document collection including some electronic information and gateway access to other electronic information located elsewhere Intermediate service would be characterized by some vah wadded information development and increased mediation between information resources and information users Full Service--libraries with a complete government document collections and a full range of electronic information and gateways to other resources Full service would be characterized by support from related locally available databases 159 value-added services development of software packages and similar approaches which would change wholesale Government information into retail Government information higher fixed costs and lower per transaction costs 7 ated by a member institution LPS would then in turn notify other participants in the program e g through Administrative Notes that the products were available The depository institutions could also rely on other networks and bulletin boards to convey this information Under this alternative LPS would continue to distribute government information to participating institutions Electronic products from Federal agencies would be included in the depository program and the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications in addition to paper and microfiche products Dual format would continue for a minimum number of products Microfiche would probably continue to account for the bulk of materials in the program LPS would be able to provide a choice of files in a number of formats but these files would not always be available in all formats The full-resource institutions would be assuming many new responsibilities for example local mounting of tape files The new focus would be on the ability to access information as required from a host of available resources With the reorganized structure LPS Cataloging of Materials The cataloging discussion found in the previous section would apply to this reorganized electronic option would not require the same amount of printed or microfiche products from GPO would need to expand the functions oft he ITP would determine with depository institutions the core collection for basic and intermediate services and would work closely with depository members in developing criteria and infrastructure for the reorganized system Acquisition of Materials Most of the current procedures for acquisition of materials would remain in effect The discussion in Alternative II would apply to this alternative Classification of Materials The previous discussion of Alternative I I would apply to this reorganized electronic alternative LPS and the intermediate-and full-service depositories could consider the value of devising a system whereby LPS would be notified of any value-added products software products or the like cre'Association of Research Libraries op cit footnote 1 p 22 Distribution of New Materials In addition to the distribution mechanisms discussed in the previous section a core collection of materials for basic and intermediate levels of service would need to be developed by LPS in concert with the depository institutions Distribution systems or new resource-sharing procedures between basic intermediate and full service libraries would need to be developed by participating institutions and the LPS These procedures would include a description of the responsibilities of each service level financial obligations interlibrary loan procedures and the like ITP could be responsible for assisting intermediate-and full-service institutions with new technological applications and providing current information on activities in Federal agencies such as the development of new electronic information products and applications Monitoring of member institutions and effectiveness of the program as it relates to quality of service and access Most of the new tasks noted in the previous discussion of Alternative II would apply here as well--the expansion of ITP to assist libraries in choice of formats technological applications and liaison with other Federal agencies new retention policies for electronic formats and the possible provision of CD-ROM equipment Overall policies for bibliographic searching cooperative acquisition interlibrary loan document delivery services reciprocal borrowing privileges referral and reference services and the storage and preservation of government materials would need to be modified or created The establishment of a new infrastructure for the depository program would probably require changes in the monitoring responsibili- 160 ties of LPS Depository members and GPO together would need to define the goals and objectives of the new system define the responsibilities of each level of service and define the responsibilities of GPO and an overall framework for monitoring performance of the depository program The current system employed in a number of regions whereby regional depositories have assumed some responsibilities for the level of service in their region or State might be applicable in the new system In this instance full service libraries would with intermediate libraries assist new libraries wishing to join the depository system and would regularly evaluate the services needed and those already provided for the region The depository institutions would need to consider carefully which level of service under the reorganized system would best serve their organization and patrons There is a wide variance in technological sophistication among the libraries in the current depository system The same variance would be evident in a reorganized system and many libraries would not be capable of providing gateway services without guidance and support from affiliated depository members The reorganized structure would likely streamline the current program and permit the development of a network or system of depository institutions recognizing that there is a need for different levels of service Other impacts of Alternative III It is difficult to determine if there would be savings to government under this alternative without detailed cost-benefit studies Reducing distribution of paper and microfiche would save money However there would be transition costs as well as new equipment and training costs e g resulting in the shifting of funds from distribution functions to ITP within LPS Access to government information would be improved under this alternative A reorganized electronic program would 1 facilitate access to print-based materials and electronic information 2 expand and improve access to a host of online information services and products and 3 encourage a new level of sophisticated manipulation of information electronically government and nongovernment information The reorganized structure would permit an information network to develop among depositories allowing for increased efficiency and access to information resources on a national State and local scale This alternative would increase the need for clarification of the roles and legal authorities of GPO the depositories and the agencies Agencies presumably would be required to provide electronically formatted information to the depository program Clear guidelines and possibly legislation would be necessary DISSEMINATING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION PRODUCTS-TWO CASE STUDIES The previous sections examined three possible alternatives for the depository library program maintenance of the status quo an electronic depository library program and a reorganized electronic depository library systern This section will examine two formats online and CD-ROM and delivery mechanisms for specific government data files as test projects for disseminating electronic formats through the DLP The data files described are the Congressional Record in CD-ROM format for the bound cumulated file and the Federal Register online These files were selected for several reasons First the Congressional Record and the Federal Register represent core or process government information Second these files have been identified by depository librarians as useful and or desirable in electronic format are extremely popular with high or regular usage and are files found in most depositories Third providing these files in electronic formats clearly improves and enhances public access and in some cases timeliness compared to paper and microfiche for- mats The bound or final Congressional Record in CD-ROM format and the Federal Register online could be made available to depositories as described in Alternatives II or III Finally the JCP recently announced that the bound Record will be available on CD-ROM through GPO Congressional Record on CD-ROM In the 1983 Ad Hoc Committee on Depository Library Access to Federal Automated Databases survey of depository institutions depository librarians identified the Congressional Record as a key data file which if available in electronic format would enhance access by patrons to government information The Congressional Record is received by most depositories is currently available in paper or microfiche dual format from GPO and is available online for a fee through several commercial vendors The Congressional Record contains the daily record of House and Senate floor proceedings as well as schedules of other congressional activities and actions A new Record i s produced nightly and is available to the public the following morning It has been stated that a distinguishing feature of the Record is its timeliness 8 GPO receives scheduling information prepared remarks and inserts from Members floor debate transcripts bill texts and other documents and melds this material into a 200-to 300-page document every night that Congress is in session The material is accepted by GPO in numerous formats electronic printed and handwritten which are then entered in the database by GPO staff This new electronic version is used to produce the printing plates for the printing of the Congressional Record in hard copy 9 The electronic database in the form of magnetic computer tapes is corrected and then made available for purchase through the Superintendent of Documents within 24 'Frantzich op cit footnote 4 'Due to time constraints of the printing process errors in the electronic tapes are not corrected immediately For more information see Frantzich op cit footnote 4 p 35 to 72 hours after the printing of each Record A number of vendors acquire these tapes from the GPO add value to the existing version and sell this enhanced information to clients A yearly subscription to the Congressional Record tape service costs $29 300 and each tape can be purchased for $175 Microfiche copies of the Record are produced by a GPO contractor and are then distributed by GPO These microfiche copies are not available as quickly as either the paper or electronic formats The Congressional Record is recorrected and new printing plates are created to produce the bound permanent copy or final edition of the Congressional Record The bound Record is a number of years behind The most recent bound volumes published cover 1982 volume 128 and 1985 volume 131 with current efforts focused on 1983 1984 and 1986 The most current index available is for 1980 The 1981 index is in production and expected in 1988 the 1982 index is scheduled for completion in late 1988 The cumulated final bound Congressional Record represents the only corrected edition of the Record and is important for archival historical and sometimes legal purposes For more information on the issues relating to the Record see ch 8 Bound Congressional Record on CD-ROM There are a number of possible options for mastering and replicating a CD-ROM disk of the bound Record for example by GPO by a commercial vendor or by a combination of the two Several new internal production steps will be necessary to produce a disk Once complete the yearly cumulative Congressional Record on CD-ROM produced either by GPO or a contractor could then be shipped to the depositories through normal distribution channels The disk could also be available through the Superintendent of Documents for a fee the usual cost plus 50 per cent The corrected daily Record tapes produced by the GPO Office of Information Resources Management will be the digitized data used for the creation of the CD-ROM GPO management is currently considering the lease of 162 -- a CD Publisher system that is capable of reconfiguring reindexing a file structure and preparing the file for one or more disks This file would then be ready for a contractor to master and replicate CD-ROMs for GPO distribution to the depository libraries and or sale through the Superintendent of Documents 10 GPO management has determined that GPO staff will not develop the needed retrieval software itself but will purchase the software from a vendor Producing the software on CD-ROM may eliminate the need for a separate index to the Record because of the search and retrieval capabilities inherent in CD-ROM software On the other hand it is also argued that there may be the need for both the Congressional Record Index and the CD-ROM search and retrieval software because the index provides additional reference points and human judgment not found in the software The average amount of data in the Record per year is 37 594 pages representing over 500 million bytes of information for 1985 as a sample year These figures do not include an index to the bound version GPO is considering many possibilities Two under consideration are one year one volume of the bound version of the Record without the index plus required necessary software on one CD-ROM and one year of the Record on one CD-ROM plus a floppy disk that would contain the software for accessing and manipulating the data residing on the CD-ROM Because GPO has not developed such a disk before staff are uncertain as to the amount of data that can fit on the disk and what constitutes the best approach Certain crosscutting criteria can be applied to each data file and delivery mode to describe and present the opportunities and drawbacks of each format option These criteria are o data requirements --including completeness size and use of data timeliness etc 10 At this time GPO does not intend to master and replicate CD-ROM products GPO believes that it would not be costeffective for the agency to invest in such equipment or necessary manpower at this time If the need for and use of CD-ROM products by the Federal Government increased radically and requires substantial production capabilities then GPO would reconsider its position o delivery mode--including format equipment needs training needs etc and o costs--including startup equipment staff operational needs etc ll Data requirements Under the current guidelines GPO only offers to depositories the microfiche format with a paper index of the bound final Congressional Record If the CD-ROM bound Record were available libraries could choose among the two formats microfiche or CD-ROM for a limited amount of transition time This transition time would provide data to determine user preferences regarding the format of the bound or final Record A limited number of printed copies would be available for purchase through the Superintendent of Documents The bound Congressional Record serves as an important historical archival and legal tool Member institutions would need to determine their institutions' needs regarding access printed or electronic and transition time between different formats if switching from paper and microfiche to CD-ROM or microfiche to CD-ROM Many libraries may be in the position of housing paper microfiche and electronic versions of the Record for archival purposes 12 Many of the same transition issues addressed in the late 1970s and 1980s as libraries incorporated microfiche into their collections would apply here There is no agreement on the longevity of optical disks with estimates ranging from as little as 10 years to as long as 100 years Also although CD-ROMs may endure for up to several decades or longer the equipment used to read these products may quickly become outdated Format longevity is important for archival purposes because one goal of some depositories is to provide a continuous and complete record of government information The importance of maintaining a usable and complete Record file reflects several needs-- 11 These criteria are based in part on questions proposed by the ARL Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Format for use in evaluating pilot projects Report No 1 App 1 Oct 30 1986 Draft No 1 12 GP0 could begin production of CD-ROM formats beginning with the 1983 bound Record However GPO would be unable at this time to retrospectively convert earlier pre-1983 Record tapes to CD-ROM products 163 historical research research on a political position and increasingly determination of legislative intent by the courts agencies lawyers and others Timeliness is not a critical issue for the bound Record though use of the CD-ROM format probably would reduce the current backlog As with the replication of microfiche GPO would rely on private sector contractors to master and replicate the disks The schedules and reliability of the firms chosen as well as GPO contract specifications would in many respects determine the turnaround time from GPO to the depositories The availability of the bound Record in a CDROM format would enhance and improve access by users to those files The number of users simultaneously using Congressional Record information would not necessarily increase but ease of access to the file would increase dramatically This would be particularly true when compared to the microfiche format In addition by its very nature indexing would be built into the disk file whereas with microfiche there is a separate index still maintained in paper for congressional and depository use and searching is more cumbersome and timeconsuming The CD-ROM format would include print-on-demand capabilities similar to those in use today for microfiche reader printers It has been noted that A major limitation of using the Record in its current form is the limited indexing and the difficulty of finding materials Whereas the ability to create new subsets of data makes an electronic database very powerful and much more valuable than a paper catalog Searches of the database become easier faster cheaper and more thorough 13 In general the bound Record is not one of the most heavily used items in a depository but it is one that 1 305 of the 1 393 libraries maintain and one that is used by patrons It is expected that improved indexing and easier re- trieval of information would increase the use of the Record Delivery and costs There would be few if any new requirements or equipment needs for LPS to deliver this information in CD-ROM to the depositories As noted in Table 7-1 the estimated per-library cost for provision of the bound Congressional Record is $632 83 for paper format $33 74 for a hard copy of the index of the Record $83 62 for a microfiche copy and $10 05 for a CD-ROM plus floppy disk one of two possibilities under investigation If GPO used commercial access software with the disk there might be an additional software license fee although it would likely be minimal According to GPO the overall cost of producing the microfiche master of the bound Record is $5 047 50 and the estimated production cost of the CD-ROM master for the bound Record is $1 700 GPO would not require supplemental funding to produce the CD-ROM for the bound Record if this were the only format produced However member depository libraries would need to assess their CD-ROM information access and equipment needs The GAO Survey of Federal Information Users found that over 40 per cent of those surveyed have a CD-ROM player or access to one Those libraries without CD-ROM players would need to invest about $600-$700 per player The GAO survey also found that 283 of 451 depository libraries have or have access to a microcomputer without a modem and 337 of the 451 have a microTable 7-1 --Estimated Costs Per Library Per Year for Distribution of the Bound Congressional Record to Depository Libraries Various Formats Paper Paper Microfiche CD-ROM Copies Index Copies Copies Printing Cost $569 70$30 30 - - Production Costs -- -- $28 27 - Duplication Costs CD-ROM Floppy Disk - -- - -- Postage $55 30 $3 13 Handling $7 83 $ 31 'Frmtzich op cit footnote 4 p 42 and Stephen Frantzich Public Access to Congressional Information The Potential and Pitfalls of Technology I nhanced Access OTA contractor report January 1987 p 17 Documentation -- -- Total $632 83 $33 74 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1987 - -- $ 85 $3 00 $5 00 $1 49 $54 50 $ 06 -- $ 50 $83 62 $10 05 164 computer with a modem for online access many libraries have more than one microcomputer Those libraries not having a microcomputer or not having adequate access if the equipment is located elsewhere would need to invest in a microcomputer as well at a cost of about $1 200 to $1 400 If CD-ROM becomes a major format for depository distribution many libraries may wish to invest in a complete CD-ROM system player microcomputer and printer at a total cost about $2 500-$3 000 per system for dedicated use GPO LPS training needs would be rather minimal The LPS training role could be directed toward assisting member libraries choose equipment providing or developing additional software applications and arranging training seminars for participating library staff Depository library training requirements would be greater Libraries would need to provide both hands-on training sessions for staff and at least minimal assistance to users The amount of training and assistance required would depend in part on the software package provided or developed by GPO and its ease of use Libraries that have provided some user CD-ROM training and instruction note improvements in user capabilities and searchstrategy success 14 An important consideration with the introduction of any service is to factor in as well as possible the life cycle costs The shift to a CD-ROM format for the bound Record could result in a three-format collection for many institutions for archival and preservation purposes 1 maintenance of paper format for current information 2 microfiche for the retrospective collection and 3 CD-ROM for the bound Record The combination of formats would require the use of different equipment and possible upgrading of equipment particularly for CD-ROM players all with associated purchase lease and or maintenance costs 14 For more information see K J Pearce ''CD-ROM caveat Emptor Library Journal vol 113 No 2 Feb 1 1988 pp 3738 and Linda Stewart and Jan Olsen Compact Disk Databases Are They Good For Users Online vol 12 No 3 May 1988 pp 48-52 However this equipment would be used for numerous tasks and many information products not just the Record In summary there appear to be numerous advantages to using the CD-ROM format for the bound Congressional Record the large textual database lends itself to the CD-ROM format the information is not current data and therefore does not require regular updating the efficiency and ease of access to the information would improve with this format compared to either paper or microfiche products library shelving needs would be reduced there could be substantial cost savings for the GPO Library Programs Service depending on the format options and for some libraries the ability to combine the historical data on disk- and current data online would present exciting new access possibilities and potential The disadvantages of adopting the CD-ROM format would be the need for some libraries to purchase one or more pieces of equipment the need to provide physical space for CDROM work stations for microcomputers printers and CD-ROM players and finally the need for some or many libraries to maintain collections of the Record in paper microfiche and CD-ROM formats Federal Register Online The Federal Register is one of the core or process documents included in the collections of most depository institutions The Federal Register is a dual format item available in microfiche or paper from the GPO and is available online all or parts thereof through several commercial services for a fee The Code of Federal Regulations CFR is also available in CD-ROM format from VLSOPTEXT VLS plans to offer a combination CFR and Federal Register on disk quarterly with seamless access to an online Federal Register file 165 The Federal Register is a daily publication of the government that documents executive branch regulations proposed and final presidential directives meetings and policies proposed and final The classes of documents found in the Register are grouped under four headings or categories 1 the President's section consisting of executive orders proclamations and other presidential documents 2 rules and regulations which include the administrative actions pursuant to statutory law 3 proposed rules that provide an avenue for notification of new rulemaking and for interested parties to comment on draft rules and 4 notices which include miscellaneous agency material advisory activities and opinions meetings and the like 15 Like the Congressional Record the Federal Register is produced daily by GPO and an electronic database is created by GPO for use in the printing process Also like the Record the hard copy of the Federal Register takes precedence over both electronic and microfiche versions The microfiche version is replicated by a GPO contractor and distributed 24 hours following the printing and the corrected electronic tapes are available up to 72 hours following the hard copy release Final corrections are made by GPO in the electronic database during a lull in the printing process These data tapes once corrected can be purchased on a yearly subscription basis for $37 500 or on a daily basis for $175 per tape from the Superintendent of Documents The daily Register contains an index and a cumulated index is produced monthly Indexing of the Reqister is automated The average number of pages per year in the Federal Register is 52 000 representing 416 million bytes of information including the GPO printing codes 15 Frantzich Public Access to Executive Agency Information in the Technological Age Case Studies OTA contractor report February 1988 p 8 -- '- - Frantzich has noted that It is unreasonable to expect individuals and organizations to comply with the rules and regulations of government without timely access to the relevant details A prime purpose of the Federal Register is to solicit comments and inform the interested public about meetings on proposed regulations 16 The Federal Register is regularly cited by depository librarians as a key document that is needed on an up-to-date basis 1 040 libraries receive paper copies of the Register and 363 receive microfiche copies both via LPS In the GAO survey depository librarians identified the Federal Register online as one of the most useful electronic services that could be provided The Federal Register has been described as one item received by depositories that can never arrive soon enough If not received in paper format it is clearly less useful in microfiche due to the time lag and the inherent limitations of the microfiche format LPS requests that depository members retain at least the current and previous year's editions of the Federal Register on file Member libraries also retain the current year of the Code of Federal Regulations except for Title 3 Much of the pertinent material printed in the daily Register is eventually included in the Code of Federal Regulations Some regional depository libraries keep retrospective microfiche collections of the Federal Register Use of these back files has been described as minimal due in part to the difficulty in using the microfiche format Federal Register Online Delivery If the Federal Register were to be provided online to depository libraries there are several possible delivery options Option 1 Centralized delivery Depositories would have direct access to the Federal Register data file maintained by GPO with GPO providing minimal value-added enhancements to the basic data and with 16 Frantzich Ibid 166 libraries using commercial dial-up telecommunication lines 17 Option 2 Decentralized delivery GPO would duplicate and provide Federal Register computer tapes to a select number of depositories these depositories would in turn locally mount the data and make the information available online to participating libraries in a designated region and Option 3 Subscription basis Depository libraries would access the Federal Register data file via a commercial or not-forprofit vendor with a subscription subsidy full or partial provided by GPO Each of these options will be considered in terms of the same criteria applied in the previous discussion of the Record on CD-ROM data requirements delivery and costs The bulk of the information presented in the discussion of centralized delivery applies to the discussions of decentralized and subscription delivery Choice of these three delivery options for discussion does not preclude other possible options It is important to note that decisions concerning the Federal Register are made by the Office of the Federal Register OFR Decisions relating to format and dissemination are determined by the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register whose members are the Archivist Public Printer a representative of the Department of Justice and the Director of the Federal Register Centralized Delivery The daily Federal Register computer tapes plus minimal search and retrieval software developed by GPO's Office of Information Resources Management would be the basic service provided by GPO to the depositories The GPO would provide the data via telecommunication facilities online to depositories The information provided to the depositories would be the same as that found in the paper and microfiche formats except for the electronic format indexing aids and would likely be avail17 Minimal value-added enhancements would mean adding sufficient search and retrieval capabilities to the database to permit access and use Anything beyond this level could be left to the private sector to develop and market able within hours of the printed Register 18 GPO would need to determine how much data to maintain online-for example the past year or two of the Register Users would be required to use paper or microfiche copies of the Register for certain dated materials-for example those more than 6 months or a year old-- instead of relying on the online file Data requirements Online access to the Federal Register would greatly improve and enhance access to and timeliness of the information for patrons Receipt of the Register in a timely fashion is one requirement of its use Unlike direct access with CD-ROM technology online access could require a trained information specialist Although there are user-friendly software packages available the telecommunication costs associated with online access can be high and these costs could be reduced if a trained librarian performed the search Although access to the information in the Federal Register file would be improved unless the libraries have high speed modems users' searches would likely be limited and the information would be downloaded and printed offline This adds an additional step to accessing the information Libraries choosing to access the Federal Register online via GPO would still need to retain some archival copies of the Federal Register for retrospective information For example these libraries could elect to maintain microfiche copies of the Federal Register for archival purposes and access the Federal Register online from GPO for current information It is difficult to estimate the average usage of the Federal Register file per library or even by type of library due to the diversity and mix of the depository members While lacking concrete data several general observations can be made First for many libraries the Register is used most heavily when first received and then usage drops off Second for those libraries choosing to access the GPO database with microfiche as the format maintained for 18 GPO is striving to improve the turn-around time for correcting the tapes for the Record and Register -- 167 archival purposes there would be greater reliance on the online system due to ease of access and improvement in timeliness Third without a certain cap placed on usage by depositories GPO could face ever increasing telecommunication costs The recent experience of the PTO with a similar online service is illustrative see Table 7-3 and discussion below Fourth if an overall online usage level were set guidelines would be necessary for allocating access throughout the month so that the allocation would not be used up in the first few days Law school libraries are heavy users of the Register as are large urban public libraries Other depository members have stated that use of an online Federal Register would be minimal perhaps as little as once every other month Usage of the online service would be quite disparate among the depository library members with some employing the service less than once a month and some requiring daily use Fifth the enhanced access and capabilities of such an online file could increase usage by patrons which would in turn increase the value of the file to users Data Delivery A microcomputer modem and printer would be the necessary components for a library electing to access the GPO database This would be no different than current access to online services such as DIALOG BRS and others Costs The Federal Register is funded through the publishing agencies not the depository library program As seen in Table 72 the cost of printing postage and handling per year per library subscription to the Federal Register is $339 67 The cost of the microfiche master again paid by the publishing agencies is $7 238 and microfiche copies are $103 12 There are no comparable figures for online costs for a GPO Register file However the online commercial service of Federal Register Abstracts from Capitol Services Inc available through DIALOG ITT and SDC costs $75 per hour plus $ 20 per full record printed offline Table 7-2 -- Estimated Costs Per Library Per Year for Distribution of the Federal Register by Format Paper Copies with Paper CFR Index CFR Index Sections Microfiche a Only Sections Only Copies b Printing Cost $209 01 $5 66 $8 45 Production Costs -- $23 74 Postage $61 16 $3 06 $3 - 0 6 $1 21 Handling $69 50 $3 00 $3 00 $78 17 Total $339 67 $11 72 $14 51 $103 12 a Includes relevant sections of the Code of Federal Regulations CFR b lncludes Federal Register Index and relevant sections of the CFR Source U S Government Printing Office 1988 The recent experience with the Classification and Search Support Information System CASSIS at PTO is useful in evaluating the delivery of an online information service to libraries although the information is different and the number of libraries within the Patent Depository System is much smaller The provision of online patent information to the patent depository libraries direct from PTO resulted in spiraling costs of over one-half million dollars in 1987 at over $120 per hour see Table 7-3 and a partial termination of the program PTO has instead offered a CD-ROM disk with the same information to participating patent depository libraries The CASSIS system does not require constant or timely updating therefore a CD-ROM is an appropriate technology for this information Overall the cost to GPO and the government or to the libraries in delivering an online file could be high depending on who pays the computer and telecommunication charges and how the development costs are allocated and recovered Table 7-3 --Queries and Cost Data for Online Patent Information 1987 Total Queries Total Connect Time Total Cost Average Cost per Inquiry Average Cost per Connect Hour 151 808 4 315 4 hours $552 066 $3 64 $128 including telecommunication costs of about $20 per hour SOURCE Patent and Trademark Office 1987 168 If GPO were to provide online access to a Federal Register database it would be important to evaluate necessary capacity to serve a broader constituency GPO is planning an upgrade of their computer facilities This upgrade is designed for several reasons one of which is to add capacity to accommodate access by congressional users to an online Congressional Record database See ch 8 for more information If the Federal Register were available to depositories online GPO would need to examine whether this system could accommodate both congressional and depository access and for more than one data file The introduction of such a service would place GPO in the position of an information provider for another agency's data file Presumably either GPO would be providing this online service for the OFR on a reimbursable basis or GPO would receive appropriations to provide such a service There would be additional costs to some depositories if this service and format were added These costs might include training costs associated with learning to use the data file and equipment costs for those libraries without an available microcomputer and modem The GAO user survey found that 283 of 451 depositories surveyed have access to a microcomputer without a modem and 337 have access to a microcomputer with a modem for online access Thus for some libraries online access to the Federal Register would require the purchase of a modem $200-$300 and for some a microcomputer Another variation on this option would be to provide online access to a Federal Register database modeled after the National Library of Medicine NLM system The NLM access policy provides that users share in the costs of access to online services and tapes and that appropriations bear the cost of building the database the creation cost 19 Paper or microfiche products would be required in concert with this electronic option to guarantee free access by those who choose to use the traditional formats Users would be expected 19 NLM Pricing Policy and Medlars Fees May 1985 to pay a minimal fee for access to government information in an additional but optional format and users would be given a choice The average hourly search cost for the NLM databases is between $17 and $22 This is significantly less than the commercial or PTO costs and merits further consideration especially given the responses to the GAO Federal Information User Survey Most depository library respondents expressed willingness to pay at least a minimal fee $1-$24 per hour for online access to the Register data Decentralized Delivery Here GPO would duplicate magnetic computer tapes of the Register for those institutions participating in a distributed regional access program Daily tapes would be duplicated in-house or via duplication services and shipped by overnight mail to depositories for mounting on local computer facilities or could be downloaded directly by electronic data transfer These libraries would be responsible for providing at least a minimal agreed-upon level of service access to depositories within their region Libraries not GPO would be responsible for developing usage policies and resource-sharing principles In consultation with depository libraries GPO would determine the needed regional distribution and number of libraries required for such a plan Delivery of information between participating institutions would require interconnections with local State and regional networks Data requirements The computer tapes provided to the depositories would consist of daily Federal Register data Minimal retrieval capabilities would be provided by GPO with licensed software or the participating institutions could choose to license another software product with comparable or enhanced capabilities to meet local requirements Storage requirements for the local institutions would likely require that one year's data be kept online The libraries could choose to mount the data in one of two ways one file with full text data online or two files with the indexing aids on one for the initial search and the full text file on the second for follow-on search if nec- 169 essary Inquiries for information more than 6 months to 1 year old or whatever period chosen could be referred to paper microfiche or CD-ROM collections of archival data Most of the discussion found in option 1 centralized delivery pertains to this option as well As with option 1 usage of this data file would likely increase at certain institutions with little change at others There would be enhanced access to information in the daily Register and the value of the information to the user would increase due to improved timeliness and accessibility The number of patrons using the online system might increase because the local costs per inquiry would be reduced compared to option 1 and user-friendly software could assist local users The number of users of an online system would likely increase if microfiche were the only other format available Use of the library's full collection of government documents would likely increase as a result of the Register being online and the integration of government information with the rest of the library's collection Access to information found in the online Federal Register would be improved due to the electronic format However as in option 1 unless the library has a high speed modem and can download quickly the library would likely limit long searches and request that printing of the file be done offline In this case with the file as a local resource many of the same time constraints would apply the addition of one more database would be minimal Of the 451 depository institutions responding to the GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 149 have access to a mainframe computer To appreciate the cost undertaken by a library to support such an effort the up-front cost of a database management system could be as much as $300 000 plus approximately $300 000 per year to maintain and run the software package This level of a database management system could accommodate many online services and up to 50 concurrent individual searches employing complex searching boolean techniques The cost of adding additional files to such a system could range from several to tens of thousands of dollars Equipment needs within a region would be as they are now--varied and uneven Decisions concerning access within a region would be required to determine hardware and software necessary for connectivity for example dedicated phone lines from depositories to the host library A minimum level of service as set forth by the GPO would be required of all participants so that the host institution in concert with other local regional State and national networks could accommodate depositories Additional services and responsibilities would be determined by the host institution Archival copies of the Register would likely not be in tape format due to the size of the database and ensuing storage requirements In concert with other local institutions archival plans could be formulated possibly permitting a sharing of archiving resources including consideration of CD-ROM products There would be training needs at the host institution as well as those institutions electing to access the online file This would entail training on use of the file and in some cases training on use of equipment for access to files Database management packages available are user friendly and these packages permit users to perform searches without assistance Additional staff would be required for maintenance of the file and for training programs Data delivery For libraries participating as hosts in the regional access program affiliation with a computer center either resident within the library or within a university or local government community would be required It is likely that the needed computer facilities for example mainframe computers would already be in place in the host institution so that Costs There would be minimal additional costs to GPO under this option and increased costs for the host depository institutions As shown in Table 7-4 it would cost GPO a maximum of $62 70 to prepare and ship a tape to a depository and this estimate may be quite high A more realistic cost is about $30 per tape if tapes are recycled and some of the loading 170 Table 7-4 --Estimated Reproduction and Distribution Costs Per Magnetic Tape $7 00' Initial loading of the tape Computer duplication $23 25a Packaging and Iabelling $10 00' Cost of tape $14 75b $7 70 Postage $62 70 Total a Does not create new expenses b for GPOlf the tasks can be performed with ex- isting personnel and no overtime IS required This is expense can be avoided if the vendor user is required to return the tape to GPO for reuse SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1987 and duplication costs are provided in the course of normal GPO operations The host depository costs would likely entail initial expenses for mounting and yearly maintenance and access costs With computer facilities and storage capacity already in place the other new costs would be for additional telecommunication and administrative support The costs noted previously for a database management package and yearly maintenance would be the approximate investment necessary per institution if the facilities were not already in place Once in place the costs of including another database would be incremental Local usage costs would be less given the reduced telecommunication costs The uncertainty involves comparing host institution costs for access charges to information resident elsewhere and the costs of mounting locally and permitting access by other depository institutions Other local costs would likely reflect increased use of the library collection and resources including costs associated with expanded interlibrary loan and additional equipment and space requirements for work stations The costs to the host library in providing this service to other local institutions would require careful evaluation by GPO and by the host library to ensure that the benefits of mounting the file are not outweighed by greater than anticipated usage additional staff and training costs and equipment needs Participation would likely require careful coordination with and support from local State regional and national networks Subscription Basis Here GPO would on a subscription basis provide online Federal Register information to depositories GPO would contract with a vendor or not-for-profit institution for a minimum period of time e g 3 years to provide online Federal Register data to all depositories GPO would provide a full or partial subsidy to the depositories for use of this system GPO would through a solicitation process select a vendor to provide depository members with access to an online data file of the Federal Register for a minimum of 3 years to provide some continuity The vendor or not-forprofit service would provide search and retrieval capabilities within the file comparable to that described in options 1 and 2 centralized and decentralized GPO delivery The information provided to the depositories would be the same as that found in the paper and microfiche format except for electronic format indexing aids and would likely be available within hours of the printed Federal Register One year of Federal Register data could be included within the data file Much of the discussion found in option 1 applies to option 3 And as with option 2 reliance on local State and regional networks would be important to the success of this option Data requirements As with options 1 and 2 users would have enhanced access to Register data in electronic format The timeliness of the data would also increase the benefit to users Under this option there could be some difference between the types of use possible Once the data file was mounted at an institution as in option 2 there could be unlimited downloading or manipulation of that file by users This may not be the case with option 3 due to telecommunication costs possible restrictions placed on this file by the vendor and the type of search and retrieval software employed Concerns for archiving the data would be the same as with options 1 and 2 Archival copies would need to be retained in some format A combination of online and CD-ROM might provide the optimal mix of access and archival requirements The preservation needs of the li- 171 brary would not be the same as those of the vendor Consequently maintenance by libraries of an alternative format would be required As with options 1 and 2 local resource-sharing policies could be considered The extent of usage of this file would be similar to one provided by GPO with the improved timeliness and ease of access increasing the number of users Also these improvements would increase the value of the file to users Data delivery As with option 1 there would be few new requirements beyond a microcomputer and modem for those libraries electing this format Accessing this data file would be like accessing any other online information service Depending on the vendor selected there could be a need for depository library staff training The telecommunication costs would likely drive the need for a trained information specialist to perform searches for patrons in order to contain search costs even if user-friendly software were used Unlike option 1 where GPO would add value to the existing tapes a vendor would perform this service in option 3 This could decrease the amount of control that could be exercised over the data file and its use--depending upon the contract Although government information is not copyrightable format is The value added to government information by the vendor would be format-related and this could- but depending on the contract need not necessarily-restrict the type of use by depositories Costs There are additional costs associated with this option for GPO and member libraries GPO would subsidize either full or a specified level of access to an online data file In consultation with the libraries GPO would need to determine an equitable level of access per month to this data Again some libraries would actively and regularly use this Register file others would perform just a few searches Vendors providing online congressional information and other governmental data have suggested that given the size of the program a special rate for depository access could be provided and that these same vendors already provide service to many of the libraries In a somewhat similar arrangement special rates online could be negotiated through FEDLINK under the auspices of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee This access could also include files other than the Register Libraries participating in this service would need a microcomputer modem and printer and to be successful this equipment should be within the depository collection Training costs would be minimal Finally there would still be the costs of retaining archival copies of the Register for 2 years unless GPO reconsidered its current requirements ISSUES DISCUSSION In this final section four issues are discussed These issues concern the need for developing a clear information policy on access to government information in electronic format through depository libraries Dissemination Formats in the Depository Program Should government information in electronic format be disseminated to the public through the depository library program There are already many government information products in electronic formats that are unavailable to the public through the depository program Congress needs to determine whether extensive electronic access to government information should be available through the depository library system or if the current depository access to paper and microfiche printed products and perhaps a few CD-ROMS and online datafile demonstrations is an acceptable level of access recognizing that increasing amounts of government information are available only in electronic formats 172 Congress has repeatedly endorsed and supported the concept and the continuation of the depository program As noted earlier congressional support is evident for a number of reasons but particularly because of the recognition of the relationship between access to government information and the principles of a democratic form of government the need for a guaranteed channel of access by the public to government information a recognition in part that Congress should not rely solely on the agencies and the marketplace to provide channels of access to Federal information and the acknowledged modest investment of approximately -$20 million in disseminating this information through the GPO depository program compared to the estimated several billion dollar cost of creating the information 20 As noted by members of the Subcommittee on the Library during the 1962 hearing on revising the laws relating to the depository libraries After a publication serves its primary purpose in the functioning of the Government what more useful additional purpose can it serve than to keep the American public informed on the workings of its Government and extending to private endeavors the benefits and advantages of the information compiled The depository library system was specifically established to perform that vital function 21 Congress has also endorsed and supported through the appropriations process and congressional oversight agency dissemination programs employing information technologies Implicit in this approval process is the ac30 For discussion see Peter Hernon and Charles McClure Federal Information Policies in the 1980 's Conflicts and Issues Norwood NJ Ablex Publishing Corporation 1987 U S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Senate Rept No 1587 87th Cong 2d sess 1962 and U S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Subcommittee on the Library Hearings on S 2029 and H R 8141 to Revise the Laws Relating to Depository Libraries Mar 15-16 1962 87th Cong 2d sess 21 U S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Senate Rept No 1587 87th Cong 2d sess 1962 p 18 knowledgment by Congress that use of the technologies is necessary to accomplish agency missions or perform agency functions and represents a change in how agency business is and will be conducted 22 This is also true for congressional operations as described in chapter 8 An April 8 1987 resolution by the JCP accepted the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Depository Library Access to Federal Automated Databases and urged GPO to initiate pilot projects By following this course the JCP hoped to ensure that the depository program would keep pace with electronic information applications within the rest of the Federal Government and in the private sector The June 17 1987 JCP resolution authorizing GPO to treat publications in electronic format the same as paper and microfiche for the purposes of sale to the public is pertinent The recent June 29 1988 JCP approval of a series of demonstration projects is also important GPO policy on electronic dissemination to depository institutions is under revision due to a recent letter from the Chairman of the JCP supporting the position that GPO's responsibility to print and disseminate Government information as required by Title 44 clearly extends to the production and distribution of Government publications in these new formats 23 And the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative recently approved distribution of CD-ROMs to depository libraries Congress has also recognized the overall importance of ensuring that government infor22 OMB also recognizes the benefits of electronic information technologies We believe that there are substantial savings to the public and to the government that the government can operate more efficiently and more effectively by moving to electronic media and that there will ultimately be less burden on the public ultimately less cost to the public by moving toward electronic media From Timothy Sprehe Developing a Federal Policy on Electronic Collection and Dissemination of Information Government Publications Review No 11 1984 pp 353-362 23 Letter from the Honorable Frank Amunzio Chairman Joint Committee on Printing to the Honorable Ralph Kennickell Jr Public Printer Mar 25 1988 173 mation is publicly available The 1986 House Committee on Government Operations Report Electronic Collection and Dissemination of Information by Federal Agencies A Policy Overview noted the need to make certain that government data in the public domain-information that has been compiled using taxpayer funds and that is not classified or sensitive or exempt from public disclosure-will remain freely accessible and easily reproducible whether the data is maintained in paper form or in electronic form 24 The legislative history and recent interpretations of the 1962 Depository Library Act and related provisions of Title 44 appear to support the inclusion of electronic products in the depository program Clarification of congressional policy to this end would help to eliminate confusion on the part of users depository libraries private sector and not-for-profit information services the agencies and GPO In summary the increasing use of electronic information services by all sectors of government as is evident from the results of the GAO surveys of Federal agencies and Federal information users see chs 2 4 and 5 requires new dissemination decisions by Congress and GPO concerning depository library distribution format options Many information products will no longer be available solely in paper or microfiche format may only be available in electronic format and may incur additional costs associated with creating multiple formats Changing Costs of the Depository Program Are the principles of free access still applicable or are there new costs associated with the introduction of electronic access such that user fees or new funding mechanisms need to be considered 24 U S Congress Committee on Government Operations Electronic Collection and Dissemination of Information by Federal Agencies A Policy Overview House Report 99-560 99th Cong 2d sess Washington DC U S Government Printing Office 1986 p 9 Free access by the public to government information is an essential component to the current depository program Depository members have always assumed financial responsibilities to provide users with free access to government information Current estimates project that on average for every dollar spent by the Federal Government in depository appropriations 10 dollars are invested in public access by each participating library 25 Some of the responsibilities of the libraries include provision of space materials processing storage and retention of materials reference service interlibrary loan and necessary equipment such as microfiche reader printers 26 A recent survey by the American Library Association of 16 depositories estimated that these institutions spend over $1 million on staff salaries per year to provide public access to their collections This same survey noted that 8 libraries invested almost $750 000 per year in space and utilities 15 libraries spent an additional $268 000 in acquisition costs beyond government-provided materials e g additional copies of documents indexes and reference tools and the like 11 libraries spent over $17 000 in telecommunication costs and 14 libraries invested over $45 000 in supplies copying and the like Users typically pay only copying fees for paper and microfiche materials and in some institutions copying of diskettes The financial contribution of GPO and the source agencies to the program is the cost of printing publishing and dissemination of government materials to the depository libraries The introduction of electronic information to the program may result in the need for a reexamination of the current relationship between libraries and the government Because there are new costs associated with provision of electronic information depository members X American Library Association Survey data from Questionnaire to Federal Depository Libraries February 1988 26 For information on costs assumed by depositories see Francis Buckley Cost Elements of a Federal Depository Detroit Public Library July 1976 Sandra Faull Cost and Benefits of Federal Depository Status For Academic Research Libraries New Mexico State Library May 1979 and Ann Bregent Cost of Regional Depository Library Service in the State of Washington Washington State Library July 1979 174 and GPO will need to determine if the level of support currently provided by libraries and GPO will be sufficient for and applicable to providing electronic information It has been stated that it has become quite clear that to take full advantage of computer and telecommunications technologies will require added funds on the part of the library 27 The nature of the relationship between the libraries and the government is one of cooperation If the introduction of a new service or technology shifts the balance of the program and places even greater financial and or administrative burdens on libraries the cooperative infrastructure of the program could be changed or diminished This shift in costs is already occurring as institutions increasingly move to using information technologies Libraries like the Federal agencies are employing information technologies in support of their programs and in support of their users' information needs The amount and types of information technologies used by libraries will continue to expand and change As the newer technologies are introduced the role of the library will become more of a gateway to information versus a repository for information and more and more librarians will be asked to act as intermediaries for accessing information Although there will continue to be a growing amount of user-friendly software to assist the user in employing information technologies there will be an even greater need for information specialists to perform searches on sophisticated search services and technologies 28 This evolving role of libraries also affects current resource-sharing practices by shifting access from a print-based to a bimodal environment of a library providing access to document-based and electronic information27 Susan K Martin Technology and Cooperation The Behaviors of Networking Library Journal vol 112 No 16 October 1987 p 44 z Ass iation of Research Libraries Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Format Report No 2 Apr 21 1987 p 19 based resources 29 With this shift comes new costs or reallocation of old costs to accommodate the expenses of electronic information These trends are forcing librarians to recognize that there are additional costs associated with electronically formatted information and that these costs must be reconciled with current library practices and budgets There would be some reallocation of costs within libraries as more information and services become available electronically For example staff costs for the processing of incoming microfiche and paper would be reduced as would storage needs However the costs of training increased staff intervention and equipment for electronic-based services would increase Agencies will experience similar shifts in services and financial obligations Depository institutions now provide access to government information free of charge to users Policies concerning government information available through online services to which value has been added vary from library to library Some provide a minimum level of free access by number of citations or search time whereas others charge the user for the full cost of the search Depository librarians note the different kinds of access afforded by the different media and these differences in addition to cost are taken into consideration during the mediation reference process When considering the introduction of electronic products it is also important to reexamine all formats and the criteria or guidelines employed in determining which format s are used for each government information product Many government information products may not be available in more than one format due to budgetary and fiscal restraints These restraints affect the depository program as 29 1 bid p 20 and Barbara Moran Academ c Libraries The Changing Knowledge Centers of Colleges and Universities Washington D C Clearinghouse on Higher Education 1984 p 24 and Cline and Sinnott The Electronic Library Lexington MA Lexington Books 1983 175 well as other governmental programs The depository community and LPS need to collectively determine which products can be provided in one format to effect savings for the program and thereby permit the inclusion of other information products in the program The appropriate format for one library may not be the best format choice for another institution but given the number of products entering the program and the cost of many of the new electronic products budgetary constraints require further format decisions If the basic underlying principle of the program is to retain free access by the public to government information then Congress needs to recognize that there maybe additional costs associated with the introduction of electronic information and assist depository libraries and GPO in designing and financing new ways to make this information available to the public Reorganized Depository Program Can the current depository system accommodate new responsibilities for electronic formats or should a new institutional structure be considered The current depository system is composed of a mix of organizations with diverse needs and clienteles Members are at different stages of introducing information technologies ranging from the highly sophisticated institutions with a broad array of electronic services to libraries just introducing OCLC services Any discussion of either a reorganized depository program or a system that would include new formats must consider this diversity The current system can accommodate new responsibilities for the dissemination of electronic products regardless of format through the depository program The current structure may not necessarily be the most efficient or effective but many member institutions have some experience with electronic formats from providing other electronic services to patrons and or incorporating electronic technologies into their operations 30 More information concerning the effectiveness and user needs of the depository program will be available following the completion of a GPO study of the depository program Fry noted in 1978 that the effectiveness of the depository program could only be a matter of conjecture because there is a lack of reliable descriptive and statistically significant data upon which to base policy decisions 31 This remains true today An evaluation of the effectiveness of the GPO depository library program may be merited This evaluation could take place at the same time as the pilot and demonstration projects that will introduce and evaluate the delivery of electronic products This is an opportunity to examine the future directions and organization of the depository program If electronic files are included it is likely that many depository libraries will continue to select only those products and files most germane to their patrons For some this may not include electronic files for the foreseeable future Individual libraries will decide whether or not electronic access to certain government files is a necessary addition to the collection More and more government information will be produced in electronic formats Some libraries may not accept these formats immediately but will require electronic data in the near future to supplement paper and microfiche collections The level of resource-sharing and cooperation among depository libraries varies throughout the country Generally it has been noted that using technologies and databases already in place librarians are beginning to idena Fo more information see Peter Hereon Charles McClure and Gary Purcell GPO Depository Libraq' Program A Descriptive Amdysis Norwood NJ Ablex Publishing Corp 1985 and Peter Hernon and Charles McClure Public Access to Government Information Issues Trends and Strategies Norwood NJ Ablex Publishing Corp 1984 al BernWd Fry Government Publications Their Role in the National Program for Library and Information Services Wash- ington DC NCLIS December 1978 176 tify the benefits and procedures of cooperative collection development and cooperative preservation of library materials 32 In some States such as New York there is a very unified system with the State library a regional depository taking a lead role in the operation of the program In this case the State library assists new libraries wishing to gain depository status implements resource-sharing policies throughout the State and seeks to achieve a consistent level of service throughout the State for access to government documents Some regionals share resources whereby a regional will accept responsibility for government documents but the documents themselves are processed and housed elsewhere This practice enhances collection development and resource-sharing within a State or region Within this system it is also recognized that the degree of technological sophistication is varied as are user needs not all libraries need on-site access to all electronic files nor do they have the capabilities to access these files However there is an infrastructure in place that can accommodate these institutions if access to electronic files or other data is needed Other areas and States do not have a collective system and operate on a more independent basis Some of those States and regions already employing cooperative arrangements have developed or are planning systems similar to the Association of Research Libraries' proposal for restructuring the depository library system The ascending levels of responsibilities of basic intermediate and full service describe an informal network already in place in many parts of the depository system This is just one of many possible directions that the depository library program could take as new technologies and electronic information applications are introduced Careful evaluation of the effects of these new information services on users libraries agencies and GPO will be needed When these effects are better understood discussion could 32 Op cit P Martin footnote 27 p 43 begin on possible reorganization alternatives A mechanism for evaluating these effects might be helpful such as a committee with representatives from LPS the JCP and other relevant congressional committees agencies with electronic products in the program depository librarians and members of the Depository Library Council Transition to a reorganized depository system would take time and effort Current depository members would need to consider carefully a new system that would best serve the needs of libraries and users and ensure that the resources within the region would be sufficient to satisfy resource-sharing requirements Changing Roles of Stakeholders Does the increasing shift to electronically formatted information require a reexamination of the composition and relationships of the stakeholders in the depository program As noted in chapter 6 the depository program is a cooperative program between the Federal Government and designated major libraries throughout the United States 33 Three participants are identified by Congress in this depository program relationship the government selected libraries throughout the United States and the public Throughout the history of the program Congress and GPO have maintained this partnership and have relied on other services-both private sector services such as Congressional Information Service Inc CIS and not-for-profit services such as OCLC--to improve government information resources and to serve as other sources of access to government information The different avenues of access-directly from an agency through a depository library or through a private sector information source-- ensure access for a variety of constituencies each with differing needs 33 Senate U S Congress Committee on Rules and Administration Subcommittee on the Library Depository Libraries Hearings on S 2029 and H R 8141 to Revise the Laws Relating to Depository Libraries 87th Cong 2d sess Mar 15-16 1962 p 25 177 The depository library program represents one of several marketplace opportunities for private sector services and this marketplace is expanding Private information vendors perform numerous roles in the government information marketplace Vendors reprint government materials since there is no government copyright For example The Effects of Nuclear War an OTA publication was reprinted commercially under that title and as After Midnight The Effects of Nuclear War Private sector services design and create databases for Federal agencies and may even disseminate the data files for agencies Private sector firms also add value to government data in all formats-- paper microfiche and electronic For example CIS Inc develops indexes to congressional information and the Code of Federal Regulations is available through OPTEXT on CDROM Depositories and other institutions purchase and or subscribe to these products for several reasons o to enhance existing government materials for example the CIS Congressional indexes to have access to information in a more timely fashion or o to access value-added information that is not available through the government depository program The increasing shift by agencies to electronic information products is presenting new opportunities for private sector involvement in the information practices of government Office of Management and Budget OMB Circulars A76 and A-130 encourage agencies to employ private sector services when possible to minimize competition between government and the private sector and for reasons of economy and efficiency 34 Generally private sector firms support OMB policies because they advocate an expanding private sector role in government information practices The Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information noted in 1986 that Hereon and McClure footnote 20 pp 244-246 Federal Information Policies op cit The Information Industry Association and other organizations representing information providers have vigorously opposed expansion of government publishing programs advocating a policy that would forbid government entry into competition with existing private sector services and discourage the Government undertaking new information dissemination programs using the new media unless there was an overriding national need and a demonstrated unwillingness or inability of the private sector to offer a service meeting that need 35 In the past the Information Industry Association has opposed direct distribution' of government information in electronic format to depository libraries by GPO taking the position that information in electronic format does not fall within the statutory authority of the depository library program and if distribution were to occur the Government should rely upon the private sector 36 Members of the Information Industry Association have voiced concern that if GPO were to disseminate government information in electronic format there would be direct competition with existing or prospective private sector services and that some of these services would be forced out of business or otherwise suffer adverse economic consequences On the other hand the Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access noted that libraries and university interests have wished to see the Government expand its publishing programs using the new media in order to offer broad and inexpensive access They have felt that the principle of the depository library system developed for printed materials should be applicable to information in other forms as well 37 35 Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information Freedom and Equality of Access to Information Chicago ALA 1986 p 75 36 Information Industry Association Public Policy Activities of the Information Industry Association Washington DC 11A June 1987 p 49 and January 1988 pp 43-44 37 Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information Freedom and Equality of Access to Information Chicago IL ALA 1986 p 75 178 An expanded role for the information industry in the dissemination of electronic information in the depository library program is cause for further concern within the library community due to the lack of explicit information policies 38 As the information industry looks to OMB for leadership on electronic dissemination the library community looks to the JCP The separation of power issue causes additional tension because the agencies are caught between OMB's policies that emphasize the private sector role and JCP policies that emphasize a governmental and GPO role The information industry tends to view government information as an economic commodity that should to the extent possible be sold for profit in an unregulated free market In contrast the library community as represented by the American Library Association ALA views government information as a public good and believes that reliance on market forces will not adequately ensure access to government information Several groups including the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Public Sector Private Sector Task Force the Commission on Freedom and Equality of Access to Information and the ARL Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Format have developed broad-based principles and or key considerations that describe clarify and or determine the roles of stakeholders in the government information creation processing and dissemination cycle Some have suggested that it maybe impossible to develop overall guidelines for electronic products and that a case-by-case review may be needed for each data file There are several underlying principles of this overall debate on which most major stakeholders appear to agree and from which further congressional policy can be developed First public access to government information regardless of format is a basic right of U S 38 Letter from Duane Webster Interim Executive Director Association of Research Libraries to Ralph Kennickell Jr Public Printer Dee 28 1987 and phone conversations with members of the depository library community and information industry December 1987 society and is vital to the functioning of our democratic form of government Second there are different stakeholders in this public access process all of whom contribute to its success Third the roles of the stakeholders are both complementary and competitive and none can be completely excluded from the process Fourth the depository program a key avenue of public access is a unique dissemination program of the Federal Government and is necessary to the continuation of the principles of public access An examination of the changing roles of the stakeholders in the depository program is important as new formats are introduced and demonstration projects commence The recent controversy over an initiative by the Public Printer to enlist the cooperation of nongovernment information service providers for the delivery of online information services to selected depository libraries is one example of the need for a clearly stated congressional policy 39 Reliance on a non-governmental service or government-contracted service to provide depository library program access to government information would signify a change in the depository program and would alter the current relationships Moreover the basic premise of free access to government information in the depository program may conflict with a private sector value-added role For example once a government-generated database is purchased by a vendor the vendor adds value to this data file creating anew enhanced product The vendor now may have proprietary rights associated with this new product or format although not the information per se If this product is the electronic file made available to the depositories conditions may be placed on the use of that file This would be a departure from current practice of unrestricted use that is primarily due to the nature of the format--paper and microfiche versus electronic For the value 39 Letter from Ralph Kennickel Jr Public Printer to Honorable Frank Annunzio Chairman Joint Committee on Printing Dec 10 1987 179 added to the government information the vendor deserves compensation At the same time the public's right to free and unrestricted access to government information is a cornerstone of the depository program To the ex- tent the private sector is directly involved in electronic dissemination to depository libraries new kinds of pricing and access arrangements maybe needed to preserve the basic objectives of the depository program Chapter 8 Electronic Dissemination of Congressional Information From the top Congressional Research Service Inquiry Unit photo credit Library of Congress and the Congressional Record coming off the press photo credit U S Government Printing Office CONTENTS Page Summary 183 Introduction 184 Current Methods of Congressional Information Dissemination 185 Congressional Information Products Case Studies Cogressional Record and Bill Status Information 187 Congressional Record 187 Bill Status Information 190 Dissemination Practices of Congressional Support Agencies 192 Office of Technology Assessment 192 General Accounting Office 194 Congressional Research Service 195 Discussion of Crosscutting Issues 196 Benefits of Electronic Formats 196 Congressional Responsibility for Electronic Access 199 Need for an Index to Congressional Information 201 Role of GPO 201 Need for Congressional Coordination 202 Tables Table Page 8-1 GPO Distribution of the Congressional Record 189 8-2 Volume of Telephone Bill Status Requests Handled by the House LEGIS Office 192 8-3 GAO Information Products Distributed in Fiscal Year 1987 194 8-4 Library Use of Congressional Information by Format Currently and in Next 3 Years 198 8-5 Library Assessment of Usefulness of Congressional Information in Electronic Formats 198 8-6 Library Willingness to Pay for Congressional Information in Electronic Formats Maximum Acceptable Charge 200 Chapter 8 Electronic Dissemination of Congressional Information SUMMARY Congress like the rest of the Federal Government is presented with new technological opportunities and choices for the dissemination of information Congress has a long and valued tradition as an open political institution and has over time made information about congressional processes and actions more readily available to the public The advent of electronic formats for congressional information has created a window of opportunity for Congress to set the direction of congressional information policy for the years and perhaps decades ahead Electronic formats--such as online computer systems or compact disks--offer significant benefits to knowledgeable users including most importantly improvements in timeliness of information access to information and efficiency of information search and retrieval Those who have access to electronic formats therefore gain significant information advantages over those whose access is limited to traditional paper and microfiche formats At present the members of Congress and congressional staff have access to electronic formats via internal legislative branch information systems and or private sector vendors Members of the general public have access through commercial information services if they can afford the rather substantial user fees The problem is that many segments of the public cannot afford commercial rates and therefore are effectively disadvantaged in terms of access to congressional information Congressional information products such as the Congressional Record bill status committee reports and hearings materials from support offices and the like are vital to informed and effective participation in the legislative process Therefore lack of access or the inability to afford access to electronic formats can easily translate into a political handicap Congress needs to determine the level of responsibility y it wishes to assume for electronic information dissemination and how active its role should be In doing so Congress may wish to establish an overall congressional information dissemination policy which is currently lacking that would help define the types of congressional information that Congress desires to be readily and publicly available in electronic formats At the same time Congress should also consider the roles of the various congressional offices and agencies including U S Government Printing Office GPO House Information Systems HIS Senate Computer Center Office of Technology Assessment OTA Congressional Research Service CRS General Accounting Office GAO Congressional Budget Office and the like as well as publicly funded programs such as the Depository Library Program DLP in making such electronic information available Because of its growing role in providing electronic formats to Congress as part of the electronic publishing process GPO is positioned to more actively participate in disseminating electronic formats to the depository libraries and public at large Congress may wish to review policies on public dissemination of support agency materials For example congressional policies limit direct public distribution of CRS reports to a small fraction perhaps 1 10 of the total although copies of many more are obtained by the public indirectly through individual member offices As another example a limited number of GAO reports and OTA summaries are available to the public free while OTA reports are available for a fee through the GPO sales program 183 184 Congress also may wish to develop as part of an overall policy a clear intent as to the role of private vendors Presumably vendors would be able to obtain any publicly available congressional information and repackage and resell that information as they already do to some extent now However some vendors would like to contract directly with Congress perhaps on a bulk rate discount basis for electronic dissemination of congressional information to depository libraries the general public and the Congress itself Finally given the large number of House Senate and congressional support offices and units involved with the creation and dissemination of congressional information Congress may wish to establish an index to such information through a congressional agency or a contractor and a formal coordinating mechanism to maximize the exchange of learning and minimize the potential overlap and to take advantage of the opportunities for technologically enhanced access In many respects congressional decisions on electronic dissemination of congressional information are just as important as prior decisions on radio and television coverage of congressional hearings and floor sessions INTRODUCTION Congress has traditionally supported and endorsed meaningful citizen participation in its deliberations One key facilitator of participation is the dissemination of congressional information which has occurred in a variety of ways since the earliest days of the Republic and continues today with a mix of public and private information services participating in the dissemination process 1 Initially Congress relied upon newspapers to publish information concerning the deliberations and acts of Congress The first appropriation for public printing was made in 1794 and policies were effected which ensured distribution of Federal statutes to rural areas not well served by newspapers And with the December 1813 resolution concerning government printing Congress became committed to the formal and regular distribution of its publica- I The information in this chapter is based in part on contractor reports prepared for OTA by Stephen Frantzich Public Access to Congressional Information The Potential and Pitfalls of Technology Enhanced Access January 1987 Public Access to Congressional Support Agency Information in the Technological Age Case Studies Nov 12 1987 and Public Access to Congressional Information in the Technological Age Case Studies September 1987 For related discussion also see U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment Federal Government Information Technology Congressional Oversight and Civil Liberties OTA-CIT-297 Washington DC U S Govern- ment Printing Office February 1986 especially ch 8 tions 2 Reliance upon private printers ended with the establishment of GPO in 1860 GPO was created due to charges of corrupt printing practices and concerns about newspaper patronage The establishment of GPO gave government and particularly Congress the means to produce documents for its own and the public's use Congress also established the DLP to make Congressional and other governmental information more broadly available to the general public The creation of the depository system was further affirmation by Congress of the need for a sound distribution system for congressional documents and information about governmental deliberations to ensure widespread information dissemination in support of the democratic form of government The Printing Act of 1895 was the next major legislative action concerned with the printing and publishing practices of government This legislation combined pertinent past legislation relating to the printing binding and distribution of government publications This Act centralized the printing functions of government at GPO institutionalized the distribution of the Congressional Record and strengthened the depository library provisions 2 P Hernon C McClure and G Purcell GPO's Depository Library Program Norwood NJ Ablex Publishing 1985 p 4 185 among other things The Act and subsequent amendments continue to be the basis for existing regulations and policies Throughout this time GPO and congressional lawmakers continued to place emphasis on improving the quality timeliness and efficiency of dissemination mechanisms The predominant format available has been and continues to be paper or hard copy with microfiche serving as a secondary format since the 1970s Recent advances in information technologies present Congress with new opportunities for creating producing packaging and disseminating the Congressional Record and other congressional materials in a more timely fashion The issues facing Congress are not unlike those facing the Federal agencies as they move to incorporate information technologies into ongoing information activities As with debate concerning the future of the depository program the central issue in the debate over congressional information concerns the level of public access to congressional information envisioned by Congress particularly as facilitated by the new information technologies In exploring this issue there are several questions that require examination in- cluding the extent to which electronic formats permit enhanced access to congressional materials and if they do what types of congressional information are especially useful in electronic formats the degree to which Congress has a responsibility to ensure equitable access to congressional information in all formats the need for an index to congressional information in order to improve public access to such information the extent to which the introduction of new electronic technologies might change the GPO and private sector roles in dissemination of congressional information and finally the extent to which the increasin g pace of automation activities within the legislative branch requires a more coordinated information dissemination plan to enhance public access to congressional information This chapter will explore these questions through a description of current dissemination practices and by case studies of the Congressional Record and of bill status information These are followed by a brief review of other types of congressional information available and current dissemination practices of selected support offices Finally the chapter discusses several key cross-cutting issues CURRENT METHODS OF CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Numerous access channels are available to users of congressional information though not all avenues are open to all users nor do many users know how to access certain types of congressional information Once a document is identified it is possible to receive information directly from a congressional office from a congressional committee from House or Senate Document Rooms and from the GPO Sales program DLP is another avenue available to those who seek access to congressional information This depository library channel though not part of a' 'congressional' office or agency is available throughout the country in approximately 1 400 libraries Also though not an information' product per se in the traditional sense C-SPAN the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network provides direct access to televised congressional proceedings and stimulates interest in congressional materials Finally access to congressional information is available through the press and via private information services that provide congressional information in all formats Congressional offices are often the first stop for many seeking congressional information Congressional staff will obtain for constituents congressional documents from other offices committees and congressional support offices 186 such as OTA or CRS An estimated 25 percent or more of incoming congressional mail are information requests from constituents Congressional committees distribute their own hearings committee prints and reports The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 Public Law 99-177 resulted in a tightened limit on the number of copies available to committees thereby reducing availability of congressional information to the public through this channel Committees are provided 300 copies of each product today compared with an average of 612 in 1985 It has been noted that committees are now less willing to give away copies of congressional materials from their limited supply 3 The House and Senate Documents Rooms were originally intended as the primary access point for those seeking free congressional products Distribution rules for the two Rooms are similar though not identical The stock of the Rooms is composed of the following bills resolutions committee reports laws and congressional documents from the current Congress Committee reports are only in stock on a as available basis and other documents are generally reprinted or photocopied as necessary Committee hearings are not distributed by the Document Rooms Calendars of the United States House of Representatives are available from the House Document Room and the Senate Calendar of Business is distributed through the Senate Post Office with no direct public dissemination Finally both Rooms retain selected materials from previous Congresses although coverage is very incomplete Requests to Document Room staff are either in person over the counter by phone by mail or through electronic mail No formal records are maintained though Document Room staff do estimate the number of individuals served and do distinguish between congressional staff requests and those of the general public It is important to note that many of the congres3 Stephen Frantzich Public Access to Congressional Information in the Technological Age Case Studies op cit footnote 1 p 16 sional staff requests are in response to constituent inquiries The House Document Room serves approximately 300 in-person requests per day with over half of these being direct requests from the public The Senate Document Room serves approximately 400 to 500 in-person requests daily with no comparable estimate on the number of 'direct public requests The Senate Document Room responds to phone requests only from congressional staff totaling approximately 300 daily calls that are usually for multiple documents The House Document Room responds to approximately 275 congressional staff requests for information each day by phone and another 4550 requests are recorded each night on a telephone answering machine The volume of mail requests varies depending on the day of the week and the visibility of congressional proceedings The House Document Room receives between 125 to 250 mail requests per day and the Senate Document Room receives approximately 200 to 250 mail requests per day Both Senate and House Document Room staff note along term growth in mail requests Finally congressional staff can place orders for documents from the House Document Room through an electronic mail system The Document Room distribution is primarily used by more sophisticated observers of government Commercial firms lobbyists public interest groups and law firms systematically use the Document Rooms to access congressional information Budget reduction measures resulted in the establishment of the Congressional Sales Office under the Superintendent of Documents SupDocs at the GPO This Office receives 25 copies of hearings and prints Staff do order more copies for those materials thought to be of greatest interest and therefore likely to be in higher demand Items are sold on a nonsubscription basis over the counter by mail and by telephone GPO also offers permanent subscriptions to government documents and this includes subscription sales of electronic tapes of selected congressional documents 'Ibid p 21 187 Private information services also provide access to congressional information For example Congressional Information Service C IS serves as a source of congressional material CIS offers extensive indexing and abstracting of congressional documents sells hard copy indexes to congressional information and provides online indexing via DIALOG The CIS indexes have become the standard source and in fact are used by GPO as a master list In addition to these other services CIS sells yearly microfiche subscriptions and individual microfiche subscriptions of bills laws committee prints committee reports committee documents and hearings Several private information vendors are offering congressional products in electronic format Commercial efforts focus on products such as the Congressional Record and bill status as these are time sensitive and can be much more useful in an online format The vendors purchase the computer tapes produced by GPO that are used in support of the printing process remove the GPO printing codes and add search and retrieval software The searching software employed by the different vendors varies considerably In addition to the access channels described above there are two other not so direct avenues for those interested in obtaining congressional information These are telephone hot lines operated within Congress and outside and the DLP The LEG IS office within the House Information Systems Office provides bill status information over the phone or will send a printout with information concerning House and Senate actions Party leadership offices' also provide scheduling information recorded messages that is accessible by the public Finally different interest groups such as the Chamber of Commerce have recorded message services for members but these services are available to the general public as well These services usually provide minimal information concerning current congressional actions and news The DLP is a cooperative program between the Federal Government and approximately 1 400 libraries The Government provides copies of government-produced materials free of charge and the libraries in return provide housing for the documents and access to this information free of charge to their patrons Congressional documents are some of the most frequently used materials in depository collections Many of the congressional materials are dual format items available in either paper or microfiche For more information on depository libraries see chs 6 and 7 CONGRESSIONAL INFORMATION PRODUCTS CASE STUDIES CONGRESSIONAL RECORD AND BILL STATUS INFORMATION Case studies of the Congressional Record and of bill status information are presented to illuminate many of the issues and questions facing Congress as electronic information technologies are introduced in support of ongoing programs Congressional Record Production The Congressional Record is produced nightly and delivered to Congress by 8 00 a m the following morning before the session be- gins Information in all formats typed hand written and electronic is received by GPO for reproduction in the daily printed Record Material from the floor includes typed transcripts from floor reporters approximately 20 percent typed speech drafts from Members copies of bills newspaper articles and other documents Members wish included in the Record Much of this information to be inserted includes hand written corrections Members have the right to revise and extend their remarks as taken down on the floor or to insert an entirely new speech It is GPO's job to weave and blend' this material into the Record 188 GPO keystrokes all documents anew except for the text of some bills and resolutions and recorded votes in the House Approximately 56 percent of the text of bills are in electronic format the remainder require keystroking by GPO Although much of the material inserted in the Record is created on word processors it is not received in electronic form by GPO GPO must transfer this information into electronic format to produce the typeset pages and the photographic plates from which the hard copies of the Record are printed In the process magnetic computer tapes of the Record database are created From this perspective the creation of the magnetic tapes is solely to support the printing process and therefore is a byproduct of the printing process As material is received from the floor reporters of the House and the Senate it is marked for identification purposes edited for proper format and keyed into the database Those materials such as bills that are prestored in electronic form are then inserted and the data are proofread Since all sections of the Record do not arrive at the same time or in the order they are to be printed electronic assembly of the final product is required prior to the creation of typeset pages plates and printed copies Proofreading is accomplished in galley format prior to electronic assembly and final corrections are made to the photocomposed page before negatives and printing plates are prepared The presses then begin running the hard copy version of the Record Final corrections to the electronic version are not a priority effort at GPO but are completed as soon as possible In addition to the paper format microfiche copies are produced for distribution A contractor produces both the microfiche master and copies for the GPO There are two other products the Congressional Record Index and the bound Record related to the daily Record The Index is created largely by hand and is published by GPO biweekly though automation has been introduced to speed up this process The yearly index accompanies the bound Record The bound copy of the Congressional Record requires a second revision to the daily Record with new photographic plates created Production of the bound Congressional Record is a number of years behind the last bound volumes published covered the years 1982 vol 128 and 1985 vol 131 with work proceeding concurrently on years 1986 1984 and 1983 vols 133 130 and 129 The last Index produced was for the year 1980 with the 1981 Index due out in 1988 and the 1982 Index also in production and expected to be completed in late 1988 Dissemination Over 22 000 copies of the Congressional Record are distributed daily when Congress is in session Distribution is made mostly on a predetermined basis with many copies distributed free to individuals and organizations as required by law or designated by Members of Congress SupDocs also sells single copies of the Record Each Member of the House is allocated 25 copies of the Record to distribute and each Senator 37 copies 5 Recipients can request copies of the Record in paper or microfiche format For DLP distribution the Record is a dual format item with libraries indicating a preference for hard copy over microfiche formats 942 for hard copy v 307 for microfiche Table 8-1 provides data on the current GPO distribution of the Record Several private firms also distribute microform and hardcopy versions of the Record Since July 1 1987 Congressional Record magnetic computer tapes have been sold by GPO 6 Individual tapes can be purchased for $175 or yearly subscriptions at $29 300 from the SupDocs Sales Office The tapes sold are equivalent to the printed copy with all stripped in corrections there is a delay for the corrected computer tape of up to 72 hours Three commercial vendors Legi-Slate Mead Data and Congressional Quarterly purchase 5 Microfiche copies of the record count as only one-third of a hard copy in Member distribution quotas 6 iA June 17 1987 resolution by the Joint Committee on Printing directed GPO to sell government publications in electronic format -- 189 vides search and retrieval of Congressional Record abstracts in the SCORPIO system Table 8-1 --GPO Distribution of the Congressional Record Microfiche Paper -- -- Free distribution Designated by Representatives Designated by Senators Government departments Joint Committee on Printing additional distribution to Congress Depository libraries House of Representatives by law Congress officials Press Ex-members Government agencies Governors independent establishments Courts Public Printer International Exchange Sales Distribution Superintendent of Documents subscriptions SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 676 175 1 7 765 3 147 2 788 18 306 2 002 942 680 301 202 182 174 25 3 40 36 31 83 100 2 860 1987 subscriptions to the Record tapes which are used in support of online services Congressional Quarterly and Legi-Slate offer the Record online as a subscription service charging a single yearly fee for unlimited searching Mead Data Central charges an hourly connect fee Each service has employed different search and retrieval software hence access to congressional information within each file is different and varied GPO utilizing its own tapes has developed an online Congressional Record database for use by Members and staff This service is currently being tested in several congressional offices and is planned to be offered to all congressional offices and support agencies within a year The GPO online service will include Senate and House proceedings Extensions of Remarks the Daily Digest and the Congressional Record Index The system will provide electronic search and retrieval capabilities but is also designed to facilitate the creation of secondary products for Members and staff The House Information System Office HIS also has the Congressional Record full text online for House Members and staff HIS relies upon GPO tapes for original input into their online system Finally the Library of Congress pro- Over two-thirds of the Members of the Senate have purchased private sector services primarily Legi-Slate with congressional information online whereas the House has relied upon HIS and its information services pursuant to a decision by the Committee on House Administration The growing demand for an electronic version of the Congressional Record has generated concern regarding the role of the GPO in the future and the nature of its products First some have noted that an electronic Record could reduce sales of the hard copy version Others contend the opposite namely that electronic searching of the Record will boost sales because it will improve indexing and access to the hardcopy version Experience with some other information products has indicated that when hard copy documents became available electronically sales of the hard copy did not diminish but instead increased Also to the extent that paper is the preferred format for certain classes of users the demand for paper copies of the Record is likely to be unaffected Second a gradual shift to an electronic Record and phasing out of conventional printing could eventually realize some productivity improvements and savings at GPO It would also help cut costs if GPO were able to receive a higher percentage of the Record input material in electronic form so as to minimize rekeyboarding Third there could be changes in GPO net revenues for the Record both in paper and electronic formats Sales of the hard copy version realize $675 000 per year for SupDocs The bulk of the costs associated with producing the Record are fixed and not heavily dependent upon the number of copies printed A reduction in the volume of copies printed could increase unit costs and reduce revenue to GPO unless prices were raised Conversely if the electronic Record encouraged additional demand for the hard copy GPO revenues could increase without significantly increasing costs In terms of revenue each of the 3 current com- 190 puter tape subscriptions is equivalent to over 125 hard-copy subscriptions Fourth HIS and private vendors are in a potentially competitive position with GPO with respect to online access to the Record These relationships need to be examined with respect to minimizing overlap and duplication with regard to HIS and to developing complementary roles to the extent possible Fifth there is concern within both Congress and GPO about the content and accuracy of government publications GPO is striving to improve the turnaround time for corrections to the daily Record electronic database and hence to reduce the time lag for making corrected tapes available to subscribers A priority is to ensure that the online Record is accurate and complete regardless of the provider Some further Record corrections and revisions are made by Members approximately 5 percent of the total material after the corrected tapes go out but prior to production of the bound Congressional Record There is no procedure at present for exchanging an incorrect or incomplete daily version for a revised bound copy version of the computer tape Once GPO distributes the electronic tapes to subscribers all control or revision of the information is lost The Record serves as a primary source for determining legal intent and is widely used by the legal community and government alike to this end The ability to search the Record electronically particularly over several years would aid in such research There is concern that the information maintained by the vendors will not match that found in the bound Record A related concern is that the new flexibility inherent in an online system allows for cutting and pasting of congressional information creating anew information product possible not reflecting the appropriate context of a Member's vote or statements Changes in congressional procedures regarding Member corrections and revisions to the Record could be considered in order to minimize or eliminate content differences between the daily and bound Record Bill Status Information With thousands of bills introduced by Members each Congress it is important for individuals or interest groups to monitor the progress of legislation Monitoring the status of legislation requires tracking bills through numerous stages and different committee jurisdictions Entire bills can be included in other pieces of legislation and the official title may not reflect the true or full content of the bill It is possible to miss amendments to bills or other substantive changes if an individual is only following a bill by number or title Current Practices The Congressional Research Service CRS creates the hard copy Digest of Public General Bill and Resolutions This includes a summary of bills introduced the sponsor and cosponsors of the legislation and any action taken on the bill Originally the Digest was printed a number of times each year and provided relatively frequent updates on legislative action Since CRS automated the Digest it is only printed on an annual basis and is not a priority item and thus is usually even further delayed in reaching the public However the Joint Committee on the Library has recently authorized the Library of Congress to discuss with GPO the possible sale of daily computer tapes prepared by CRS which update the online system The bill status system was one of the first automated information systems of Congress and is a timely system reflecting Congressional legislative action less than 12 hours after it occurs The Bill Status system is in fact 3 separate systems which share information The House and Senate create computer tapes of all official actions taken within the chambers and CRS develops bill digests abstracts and indexing for each bill introduced Each bill is indexed by one or more categories to facilitate searching HIS the Senate Computer Center and CRS share their data and then create separate comprehensive databases for their users Users can search for bills by bill number sponsor index terms and more Once identified -- 191 information is available on bill sponsors and co-sponsors actions on bills at successive stages of the legislative process and a summary of the legislation Within the LEG IS system for those bills reaching the floor voting stage aggregate voting totals are available though only the Members and staff can access how individual Members voted for the first 24 hours after a vote after this time only the leadership can access this information The bill status system also permits retrospective searching of previous legislation This capability is helpful when trying to shepherd current legislation through the process and to research the history of prior legislation For example retrospective searching can illuminate types of legislation a Member tends to sponsor or co-sponsor or oppose or determine the types of legislation certain committees favor or oppose As a consequence the previous year's data is maintained online The ability to search current and retrospective data on Members has been used by interest groups national political parties and individual candidates to gather information on Member's voting records legislation introduced supported or opposed and their legislative success rates HIS and the Senate Computer Center will for a Member provide a summary of the individual's legislative efforts and the results Comparable services can be purchased from commercial sources by individuals or comparable information can be gleaned with considerable effort from hard copy records Access to Bill Status Information The daily Calendar of the United States House of Representatives provides a bill status chart of major legislation and a detailed History of Bills and Resolutions The Calendar is a product of the Office of the Clerk Complete cumulative histories of legislation are printed on the first legislative day of each week the House is in session with subsequent daily listings including only new action Calendars are distributed free by both Document Rooms and are also distributed to the depository libraries The Digest of General Bills and Resolutions a CRS product is disseminated to depository libraries and subscribers The hard copy is less accessible than the electronic format for two reasons First the hard copy is not timely or current for those trying to keep abreast of congressional actions Secondly there is limited indexing in the Digest inhibiting easy bill identification and tracking particularly for those bills amended more than once However as noted earlier GPO and the Library are exploring the possibility of making daily computer tapes available to the private sector Private sector information products such as the Congressional Quarterly and the National Journal track major legislation but do not cover a full range of issues CIS publishes an annual CIS Index of Legislative Case Histories with abstracts of those bills that become law and some detailed analysis of major legislation The Commerce Clearinghouse produces the Congressional Index a looseleaf service containing the status of both congressional and state legislative bills listed by number There is also a daily tracking service available from Commerce Clearinghouse known as the Congressional Legislative Reporting Service Both the House and Senate Bill Status Offices respond to phone requests from their chambers Public requests are directed to the House LEG IS office located in the Clerk's office for an oral response or for a hard copy of the relevant print out from the LEGIS system The cost of the LEGIS print out is $0 20 per page with a $5 00 minimum Table 8-2 details the volume of external and internal phone requests for bill status information handled by the House LEGIS system Members and congressional staff have direct access to LEG IS from their own terminals It is possible to specify bills of particular interest and receive updated information whenever there is action on this legislation Most congressional offices respond to constituent requests for bill status information but there is no information on how many requests are answered in this fashion Terminals are available to the public at the Library of Congress 192 Table 8-2 --Volume of Telephone Bill Status Requests Handled by the House LEGIS Office Total number of requests and percent of total by year 1984 1985 1986 Source of request House offices 183 635 66% 6 438 Senate offices 2% Others public and agencies 87 420 32% 152 062 65% 5 331 2% 137 839 64% 5 684 3% 72 811 33% 82 648 33% SOURCE House LEGIS Office 1987 to access the bill status system This system does not permit public access to information on a Member's voting record or to tag certain bills for monitoring on a continuous basis A number of commercial firms have developed online databases with bill status information Vendors purchase bill text computer tapes from GPO the vendors then add additional information such as action on bills and voting records of Members and necessary search and retrieval software Legi-Slate Congressional Quarterly's Washington Alert Systems and Commerce Clearinghouse's ELSS or Electronic Legislative Search System are current online services offering bill status information all with differing capabilities pricing schedules and information In sum there are multiple avenues for dissemination of bill status information but with differing levels of access and cost In the case of bill status information electronic information technologies employed to improve congressional operations have at the same time altered access by the public to this same information Members of the public who rely on only the printed versions of the bill status information the Digest of General Bills and Resolutions and Major Legislation of the Congress have access to retrospective information but not to current information about the legislative process DISSEMINATION PRACTICES OF CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT AGENCIES Several congressional support agencies were established by Congress with the primary purpose of providing Members and staff with information and analyses for congressional decisionmaking In the process of assisting Congress the agencies develop numerous information products Each agency employs differing access and dissemination practices and the introduction of electronic information technologies presents new opportunities and challenges with respect to their philosophies and operations concerning public access Dissemination practices of three of the congressional support agencies the Office of Technology Assessment OTA the General Accounting Office GAO and the Congressional Research Service CRS of the Library of Congress are briefly described Some of the changes and opportunities resulting from the introduction of technologies are discussed in the following section 7 Office of Technology Assessment OTA was established in 1972 to provide Congress with information on a wide range of public policy issues concerned with scientific and technological change OTA was created to remedy a perceived lack of objective non-partisan and expert analyses on scientific and technical issues relevant to congressional deliberations OTA's organizational structure and the nature of its work processes set it apart from its sister agencies OTA is governed by the Tech'Dissemination practices for the Library of Congress and the Congressional Budget Office are not discussed 193 nology Assessment Board TAB composed of 12 Members of the House and Senate The TAB determines which assessments OTA staff will undertake based on proposals developed by OTA staff and requested by either the chairman ranking minority member or a majority of committee members of any congressional committee If approved by the Board these assessments can take up to 2 years to complete and are comprehensive in nature Throughout the study process OTA research efforts are open for external review and public participation This process includes extensive use of outside consultants formal reviews by panels of experts distribution of draft reports and papers to interested parties and extensive internal and external review prior to publication The Technology Assessment Act of 1972 Public Law 92-484 stipulates that OTA products as distinct from the research process may be made publicly available Assessments made by the Office including information surveys studies reports and findings related thereto shall be made available to the initiating committees of Congress In addition any such information surveys studies reports and findings produced by the Office may be made available to the public except where-- 1 to do so would violate security statutes or 2 the Board considers it necessary or advisable to withhold such information OTA offers a number of information products to the public including final reports one-page briefs of each report and summary documents which highlight the full reports OTA also produces staff papers technical memoranda special reports background papers testimony and contractor reports OTA draft reports testimony and other materials are keyed in on word processors A paste up camera ready version of the final assessment is prepared by OTA publishing staff using electronic photocomposition where possible and this version is then sent to GPO for printing There are multiple avenues for dissemination of OTA information products Summary reports are sent out to congressional staff and Members interested persons on OTA mailing lists and individuals and organizations requesting information on a particular subject Full reports are also sent out but to a more limited mailing list usually including study participants advisory panel members and interested congressional staff and members OTA reports can be purchased from the GPO SupDocs and from NTIS NTIS also stocks selected OTA contractor reports Sales of OTA reports vary widely depending upon the topic and press coverage GPO may sell several hundred to over 25 000 copies of a report OTA reports are available to depository libraries Of the depository libraries 771 elect to receive OTA reports OTA reports are distributed in hard copy or paper but contractor reports are only available in microfiche The OTA Information Center receives a number of telephone calls per month to confirm a report title learn how to purchase an OTA report inquire about a study and the like The Information Center is open to the public and some users rely on the Center for access to OTA reports The Information Center also maintains QuOTAtion an in-house database of OTA publications This file includes citations to 375 reports staff papers and technical memoranda The database is used to answer staff and public information requests The OTA Publishing Office produces OTA Publications annually and Assessment Activities quarterly pamphlets these are widely distributed This office also responds to numerous inquiries for OTA reports-and other publications OTA provides summaries and reports to congressional staff for mailing to constituents in response to information requests This distribution is in addition to copies sent by OTA to congressional offices at-the completion of a project Practically all formal OTA informa- 194 tion dissemination is in the form of printed documents There have been a few videotapes audiotapes and diskettes produced in connection with specific projects General Accounting Office GAO was established in 1921 as the auditor for the Congress and today this role has broadened to include agency program reviews to better assist committees and Members These reviews can include social organizational technical and financial aspects of programs and activities GAO assists Congress with a number of information services Program reviews are carried out in response to specific congressional requests from committee chairman ranking minority members and or individual members GAO also has a significant number of on-going reviews required bylaw The agency's primary function the provision of audits and program evaluations is supplemented by other services such as provision of legal services to Congress on issues concerning government programs and activities and reviews of proposed recisions and deferrals of government funds Other services include resolving bid protests that challenge government contract awards assisting government agencies in interpreting the laws governing the expenditure of public funds and adjudicating claims for and against the government 8 GAO produces a number of research products for Congress This can include fact sheets testimony staff studies Comptroller General Decisions and briefing and detailed reports Fact sheets provide limited background information no conclusions and pertinent information on specific questions Staff studies are compilations of previously produced GAO and other work on a given subject Comptroller Decisions are rulings from the Comptroller General on personnel and procurement issues Detailed reports provide in-depth information on the operation and background of agency 8 GAO p 20 Serving the Congress Washington DC GAO n d programs and include conclusions and recommendations Briefing reports contain much of the same information found in detailed reports including conclusions and possible recommendations but provide less background data Table 8-3 summarizes the volume of GAO information products distributed in 1987 All unclassified GAO products are available to the public through a variety of channels 9 First GAO maintains a mailing list of interested parties who receive copies of selected materials Second individual depository libraries can elect to automatically receive all or selected GAO reports Third GPO maintains a distribution outlet operated by a contractor that handles orders for GAO materials The first five copies of GAO reports are free to requestors with a $2 00 fee for each copy thereafter Fourth GAO publishes several newsletters or pamphlets announcing their publications a monthly pamphlet entitled 'Requesting committees control the time of release of some GAO materials Table 8 3 --GAO Information Products Distributed in Fiscal Year 1987 Product Free distribution Sales Briefings 184 616 Fact sheets 97 606 Reports 536 582 15 508a Staff studies 9 684 Testimony 77 812 Solicitor General's decisions 8 296 Letters 3 930 Memos 566 Other 34 932 Total 954 024b Depository library standing orders GAO Annual Report 802 microfiche Reports to Congress 587 microfiche Bibliographies of publications 651 microfiche Documents catalog of reports decisions testimony 653 paper Comptroller General decisions and testimony 505 microfiche a Virtually all sales are of Reports b 484 782 of the free items distributed did not involve a specific request but rather were sent to individuals on established maiIing Iists SOURCE General Accounting Office and U S Government Printing Office 1987 195 Reports Issued in listing of current month an Annual Index of Reports Issued in FY 19xx a monthly catalog of GAO publications entitled GAO Documents and bibliographies on specific subjects such as Energy Health and the like A newly revised and reinstated service the GAO Journal is intended to serve as an internal communication tool and as a means of informing a larger public audience about GAO's activities GAO maintains an online bibliographic database in its Information Handling and Support Facility IHSF This facility is contractor operated and provides bibliographic cataloging indexing and abstracting of GAO documents The IHSF facility also maintains the document inventory which contains GAO Audit Reports Reports Fact Sheets and Briefing Reports from 1978 to the present and some from as early as 1972 This facility processes requests for copies of GAO materials In 1987 the IHSF received over 190 000 requests Of these nearly 30 000 involved database searches to track or locate information products GAO products are disseminated in hard-copy format but originate in electronic form Short reports those under 60 pages are printed in-house an outside contractor is employed for the electronic photocomposition phase of the printing process Longer reports are printed by GPO Congressional Research Service CRS provides both immediate and in-depth detailed analyses on all subject areas of interest to Members of Congress and staff As the reference and research arm of Congress CRS draws upon the broader resources and services of the Library of Congress The CRS began as the 'legislative reference bureau' later known as the Legislative Reference Service in 1914 to better respond to Congressional inquiries as distinct from library operations and functions The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 authorized the Legislative Reference Service as a permanent department within the Library and the development of staff specialists in a wide range of subjects The Legisla- tive Reorganization Act of 1970 provided the newly named Congressional Research Service with research administrative and fiscal autonomy within the Library and expanded CRS capabilities and services CRS produces a variety of information products for Members and staff These products include responses to telephone inquiries confidential reports CRS reports issue briefs info packs and databases among others CRS receives well over 1 000 inquiries per day from Congress and responded to a total of 443 400 inquiries in 1987 CRS performs confidential analyses on policy issues for Members and committees These analyses remain the property of the requestor unless the Member or committee explicitly provides approval for a wider dissemination Annual appropriations language prohibits CRS from publishing its research without prior approval of one of CRS' oversight committees While 10 percent of CRS research is published by Congress in congressional documents such as hearings 90 percent of CRS research remains unpublished CRS Reports Issue Briefs and Info Packs are three products developed for use by Members and staff CRS Reports are in-depth longer term analyses on particular subject areas whereas Issues Briefs are short and succinct analyses of pressing policy issues Each Issue Brief contains information on current legislation relevant hearings and documents a chronology of events and a bibliography all pertinent to the topic of interest Congress has online access to Issue Briefs Info Packs are designed to satisfy general audiences and these packs include a collection of clippings CRS Reports speeches and the like Over 100 Info Packs are actively maintained on a broad range of subjects CRS also produces an SDI selective dissemination of information online and in offline print-outs for congressional staff Congressional staff develop a profile of policy interests and the CRS database is searched weekly to alert staff to new articles or other information products on these topics Staff following a review of the SD I information can order spe- 196 cific articles of interest Some of the SDI information is maintained within the Library's optical disk project which maintains full text of over 70 periodicals CRS maintains several of the files in SCORPIO the Library of Congress' automated information system The legislative file as discussed earlier the bibliographic citation file and the issues file are the responsibility of CRS CRS actively disseminates its products to congressional offices For example once released reports and issue briefs are listed in the annual Guide to CRS Products with new products highlighted in the monthly Update Some CRS products are also announced in the CRS Review a digest of recent CRS policy analyses It is published 10 times each year for congressional use and is sold by GPO to the public When responding to congressional information calls these same products may be a part of the information package offered to staffs Finally CRS information products are listed in the Citation File CITN which is available online to all congressional offices through the SCORPIO system The CITN file is a bibliographic database designed to support the research needs of the CRS research staff and congressional clients and includes citations to articles reports and papers of potential relevance to congressional policy making An abridged form of this file BIBL is available to the public via terminals in the Library of Congress Those items not directly available to the public such as CRS Reports are excluded from the database The CITN file is undergoing revision at present and will eventually be replaced by two files a CRS Products File and a public policies literature file The new products will augment the current bibliographic information with a one page summary of each CRS document and are intended to both speed up the searching of files and increase the awareness and accessibility of CRS materials within the Congress Congressional offices serve as primary disseminators of CRS materials CRS products can be ordered by congressional staff via telephone letter or electronic mail CRS cannot determine the amount of information used by congressional staff for internal use versus that ordered to answer a constituent request for information The volume of CRS products distributed in hard copy format in 1987 is indicative of their use and popularity about 83 000 CRS Reports 230 000 Issue Briefs and 166 000 Info Packs There is some dissemination of CRS materials through private sector services For example University Publications of America UPA offers a set of CRS Reports on microfilm and a limited index This company does not receive the information directly from CRS but instead receives the materials including Reports and some Issue Briefs through Member offices DISCUSSION OF CROSSCUTTING ISSUES The incorporation of electronic information technologies into congressional operations its deliberations the work of its support agencies and of the GPO changes access to congressional information by all participants in the process The introduction of electronic technologies to assist in the recording management and dissemination of congressional information in fact challenges the traditional modes of information access and provides new opportunities for enhanced access by both Congress and the public to congressional information The increasing use of these technologies to support congressional operations presents Congress with a new opportunity to examine its dissemination practices and to determine what level of access to congressional information should be afforded to the public beyond current publicly and privately offered services Five key issues are discussed below Benefits of Electronic Formats Electronic versions of congressional information involve considerably more than a new 197 storage medium for the production of the hardcopy document There is an unlocking effect to information found in the electronic Congressional Record for example because of the search and retrieval capabilities inherent in online and CD-ROM systems Electronic products can permit a user to perform tasks that are difficult or impossible through the manipulation of the hard copy version a user can undertake full-text word searches simultaneous searches for segments indexed under more than one term automated cut and paste editing print on demand production content analysis through word counts and more Transfer of information electronically increases timeliness and has no geographic limitations There are several other criteria that can be applied to compare dissemination formats such as timeliness comprehensiveness searchability ease of use user support required archivability flexibility and stability of the technology The differences in accessing congressional information in different formats can be better appreciated when these criteria are applied to bill status information as discussed below for illustrative criteria Timeliness Timeliness is the most important characteristic for consideration of bill status information For the vast majority of users bill status information has a relatively short shelf life For example delayed knowledge of when legislation passes through crucial stages e g reporting from the full committee is no better than complete lack of information Online formats permit access to upto-date information whereas printed formats typically provide the information on a much less frequent e g weekly or even annual basis CD-ROM potentially falls somewhere in between Comprehensiveness Comprehensiveness is important in order to retrospectively analyze previous related bills and to track fully the history and status of current legislation The cost of online formats may limit its historical completeness CD-ROM may offer the most complete and cost-effective coverage Searchability The more specific a searcher's interests the more important the ability to search for particular bills and sections of bills Online systems and CD-ROMs clearly enhance the ability to search for specific legislation or topics of interest o Archivability Historical bill status information is of interest when analyzing the record of prior legislative activity Microform and CD-ROM appear to be best suited for archival purposes o Flexibility The flexibility of combining bill status information in different ways can be important e g matching topics and sponsors Online and CD-ROM offer more flexibility to the extent this capability is needed Stability of the technology The technology for both printed and online formats is stable CD-ROM technology is still changing rapidly although standards on readers and disks protect to some degree against technological change As with bill status information access to information in the Congressional Record is improved for the user when employing electronic information technologies and especially online services Access to committee reports hearings and prints typically is less time sensitive and CD-ROM may be particularly helpful in ensuring the availability and indexing of these materials The GAO Survey of Federal Information Users found that for example depository libraries already make considerable use of congressional information primarily in paper format with some microfiche and online access the latter via private vendors As shown in Table 8-4 the depository libraries desire to dramatically increase their use of online and compact optical disk formats while reducing use of paper modestly and microfiche substantially More specifically the majority of depository libraries responded that an online Congressional Record and online committee calendar and bill status would be useful or greatly useful as summarized in Table 8-5 CD-ROM format was assessed as somewhat less useful than online for these types of congressional information but the majority of depository libraries re- 198 Table 8-4 -- Library Use of Congressional Informationa by Format Currently and in Next 3 Years Number of libraries responding Library group Selected formats Net change Currently use Desire to use in next 3 years Number Percent Regional depository libraries Paper Microfilm Microfiche Electronic mail or bulletin board Online data base Magnetic tape Floppy disk Compact optical disk Selective depository libraries Paper Microfilm Microfiche Electronic mail or bulletin board Online database Magnetic tape Floppy disk Compact optical disk 46 10 46 1 14 1 2 3 41 3 40 6 24 3 2 23 -5 -7 -6 5 10 2 -- 20 -12 -70 -15 500 71 200 -- 600 302 53 302 0 61 0 0 2 262 23 248 13 144 1 31 112 -40 -30 -54 13 83 1 31 110 -13 -57 -18 136 5 500 Nondepository libraries Paper Microfilm Microfiche Electronic mail or bulletin board Online data base Magnetic tape Floppy disk Compact optical disk 99 8 31 0 13 0 0 0 90 11 41 3 36 -9 3 10 3 23 -9 38 32 177 10 21 10 21 a Defined as Congressional Record Committee hearings and reports and bills SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 Table 8-5 --Library Assessment of Usefulness of Congressional Information in Electronic Formats Library group information product Greatly useful Regional depository libraries Congressional Record Online 20 CD-ROM 22 Committee calendar and bill status Online 30 CD-ROM 17 Selective depository libraries Congressional Record Online 109 CD-ROM 95 Committee calendar and bill status 133 Online CD-ROM 80 Non depository libraries Congressional Record Online CD-ROM Committee calendar and bill status Online CD-ROM SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 Number of libraries responding Moderately Somewhat Useful useful useful Little or no 13 13 9 5 2 3 2 2 8 14 6 6 1 4 1 4 87 103 68 57 58 65 33 36 65 66 46 55 63 77 49 76 25 18 21 30 36 27 39 32 66 78 26 15 19 19 29 27 33 36 79 85 -- 199 spending felt that the CD-ROM format would still beat least moderately useful Overall the nondepository libraries assessed electronic formats as less useful than did the depositories but the majority of nondepository respondents still rated electronic formats as at least somewhat useful In sum electronic formats do permit enhanced access to a variety of congressional information as reflected in the desire of the library community and especially the depositories to increase use of electronic formats Congressional Responsibility for Electronic Access Congress has a long and valued tradition as an open political institution sharing its information with a wide range of groups and individuals Public access to congressional information is a dynamic concept and dependent upon a number of avenues of dissemination using various technologies The use of electronic information technologies enhances congressional operations but at the same time produces some inequities in public access to congressional information As more electronic technologies are incorporated into congressional processes Congress will find it necessary to consider what level of public access to congressional information in electronic formats is desirable The debate concerning congressional information is no different than that with other government information The debate is focused on the level of and type or format paper microfiche and or electronic of public access Some argue that as long as paper and microfiche documents are available to the public then a sufficient level of access is permitted In contrast others contend that characteristics of the electronic media for example search and retrieval capabilities and timeliness are so powerful that lack of comparable access to these formats constitutes inequitable access to congressional information In this view failure to provide comparable access to these products will exacerbate the gap between the information haves and have nets The arguments as put forth by those advocating a more active congressional role in the dissemination of congressional information and those supporting a more limited congressional role are presented below If one accepts the need for Congress to insure equitable access to congressional information in electronic formats then the debate shifts to how equitable access should be provided A key question concerns the role of the private sector Private vendors have suggested that the most cost-effective way to provide access would be for Congress to contract with vendors presumably on a competitive basis for bulk rate online services made available to for example depository libraries The Senate currently has a bulk rate contract with LegiSlate for online congressional information On the other hand Congress could offer its own online information services e g via HIS and or GPO to the depositories libraries and even the broader public Advocates argue that a direct congressional role would help guarantee the accuracy and continuity of the information provided would ensure at least a minimum level of electronic access to the general public and would be cost-effective by utilizing systems already developed for internal congressional use Private vendors argue that such a congressional role would duplicate private offerings be a wasteful use of public funds unfairly compete with commercial enterprise and possibly result in excessive reliance on Congress as the source of congressional information with the attendant potential for manipulation and control of information flow However at the same time vendors point out that their services are state-of-the art and that it is unlikely that HIS or GPO would catch up soon or ever If true then it would seem rather unlikely that HIS or GPO offerings would be very competitive with private sector services Perhaps more likely Congress would itself provide a basic level of subsidized low cost electronic access and vendors would provide highly enhanced access to those who need and can afford to pay for such services Even here Congress could negotiate bulk rate contracts with vendors to 200 congressional information involves significant expense and Congress must balance the need for subsidized public access to congressional information against these production and dissemination costs the extent highly enhanced service was needed for congressional and or depository library users In considering the issue of public access to congressional and in fact all government information three potentially competing goals impinge on the discussion These goals relate to efficiency equity and cost The desire to increase the efficiency of producing congressional information and also to make it more usable by Congress has led to extensive internal applications of and investment in information technology which will continue to change and improve and this in turn has resulted in unequal access to congressional information by the public For example with the development of the online capabilities for bill status information Congress made a clear choice in favor of an electronic format in response to legislative information needs and demands However the production and distribution of The GAO survey found that libraries perhaps typical of many public users are willing to pay only modest amounts for electronic formats As shown in Table 8-6 relatively few libraries are willing to pay more than about $25 per hour for online congressional information or about $50 per CD-ROM Consideration by Congress of possible new dissemination techniques in concert with current methods e g the depository library program will affect future public access to congressional information and ultimately the degree to which the public is an active participant in the political process In many respects the resolution of these issues may be just as significant as Table 8-6 --Library Willingness to Pay for Congressional Information in Electronic Formats Maximum Acceptable Charge Number of libraries willing to pay Information product library group Congressional Record online Regional depository libraries Selective depository libraries Nondepository libraries $1-$9 per hour $10-$24 per hour $25-$49 per hour $50-$99 per hour $100 per hour 16 98 56 8 81 16 11 48 15 -- 15 9 2 1 1 14 110 51 10 66 17 8 43 13 2 13 5 1 2 1 Committee calendar bill status online Regional depository libraries Selective depository libraries Nondepository libraries Willing to pay $1-$19 $1000 -$20-$49 $50-$199 $200-$499 $500-$999 per CD-ROM per CD-ROM per CD-ROM per CD-ROM per CD-ROM per CD-ROM Congressional Record CD-ROM Regional depository libraries 17 Selective depository libraries 119 Nondepository libraries 55 Committee calendar bill status CD-ROM Regional depository libraries 20 Selective depository libraries 141 Nondepository libraries 59 a Excludes do not know responses about 50 Percent and not SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Information Users 1988 12 71 24 3 22 4 -- 6 1 1 1 -- 1 1 1 10 41 13 1 14 3 -- 4 1 1 1 -- 1 1 1 willing to pay anything about 1 Percent 201 prior decisions on radio and television coverage of congressional proceedings Need for an Index to Congressional Information A vast amount of information is developed to support congressional operations This information as described previously is created and disseminated in a combination of paper microfiche and electronic formats Most of this information is available to the public though not always in the same format as it is available to Congress There is no central government produced index or catalog of congressional publications Some items for sale at GPO are listed in the GPO Publications Reference File in microfiche or on-line via DIALOG and in the GPO Monthly Catalog of United States Publications in hard copy or online from a number of vendors There are also private sector indexing products available for a fee Several channels of access to congressional materials are available to the public and how one chooses to access congressional information can depend upon the information needed the skill level of the requestor the financial resources of the requestor and the geographic location and personal or political contacts of the requestor There is also no common dissemination policy employed by congressional offices and support offices The introduction of electronic media to congressional operations presents Congress with the opportunity to improve public access to congressional materials and this improvement could be effected in part through better tracking and indexing of congressional information If Congress determines that an index is needed to facilitate improved access to congressional information then Congress could authorize one or more of its offices to create an index or could contract with a private or not-for-profit vendor for such service Role of GPO As described in chapter 4 Alternative Futures for GPO GPO already uses electronic photocomposition for many types of congressional documents or significant portions of these materials As a result congressional documents originate in electronic format yet are disseminated in a printed format This shift in GPO's production technologies presents Congress with the opportunity to disseminate its information in printed and or electronic formats There are a number of trends and issues considered throughout this report which relate to the role of GPO First as described in chapters 2 3 and 4 and in this chapter the Federal Government as a whole is increasingly adopting information technologies in support of on-going programs and agency missions Second the hard copy or printed version of a document if it still is printed becomes increasingly a byproduct of the electronic publishing process Third there is no common information dissemination policy within the executive branch and Congress which specifies how government information is to be disseminated in other than hard copy or microfiche format see ch 11 for a discussion of policy issues Fourth GPO is a primary avenue for dissemination of government including congressional information to the public through the depository library program and SupDocs and there is a debate as to which electronic products to disseminate and how Some electronic databases created in support of the printing process e g for the Congressional Record are already for sale by SupDocs This practice is consistent with the sale of traditional hard copy or microfiche products in that GPO is providing to the public another avenue and format for dissemination of government information this practice could be extended to a wide range of congressional information in electronic formats Some members 202 of the information industry have expressed concern about the potential for competition with private enterprise if the GPO role in electronic information expands The Information Industry Association has previously taken the position that the government should only provide those information products and services which are essential to society's wellbeing and which are not and cannot be provided by the private sector'' 10 GPO's role in electronic media has already changed and is likely to change further if only because GPO's primary client Congress is requesting products in electronic formats In providing electronic formats to Congress however GPO is positioned to more actively participate in disseminating electronic formats to the public at large The previous discussion of congressional responsibility for electronic access and the role of the private sector is relevant here Congress is in a unique position to assist GPO in defining its responsibilities with respect to congressional information dissemination in an electronic age Need for Congressional Coordination Congress invests over $100 million annually in automation activities and this figure has increased steadily since the 1970s 11 This investment in information technologies has been made by Congress in response to legislative needs and demands and to technological opportunities Recognizing the size and nature of this investment Congress established the Policy Coordination Group PCG in the late 1970s to coordinate the development of technology-supported information systems during the present and succeeding Con12 gresses This group's actions were successful but recently its coordinating efforts have diminished Given the importance and complexity of the congressional information technology activities Congress may wish to consider ' 'Information Industry Association Public Policy Activities of the Information Industry Association June 1987 p 26 ' Congressional Research Service The Legislator as User of Information Technology Dec 28 1987 p 3 Ibid p 18 or examine its current automation practices including information dissemination activities evaluate the current and anticipated information needs of the legislative branch and possibly establish new or revised coordination mechanisms The 1987 CRS report The Legislator as User of Information Technology describes many of the resources available to Congress For example it is estimated that there are 5 000 computer terminals connected to the Senate computer support system and between 3 500 to 4 000 terminals within the House of Representatives This does not include terminals and related equipment supporting other congressional offices In the Senate the Committee on Rules and Administration establishes overall policy for computer related operations and the Committee has supported and developed a combination of four systems to address Senate automation and information requirements The systems serve different office and legislative functions and included in this resource base is the ability to access commercial online information systems In the House the Committee on House Administration and its Subcommittee on Office Systems determine House information policies and practices and the House Information Systems HIS is responsible for information systems planning and operations For example HIS operates the Members Information System M I N which includes newswire services information services such as LEGIS government statistics the Congressional Record in full text federal funding files and administrative services such as electronic mail scheduling information and the like The Congressional support offices-CBO CRS the Library of Congress GAO OTA and GPO--are all in different stages of automation each with differing future plans and goals for incorporating electronic media within their programs Appropriate use of electronic information systems permits these offices to improve their operations and hence their service to Congress but also increases the amount and types of possible interactions with other institutions and the options for information dissemination to the public 203 The expanding use of electronic dissemination may necessitate that Congress review in particular policies on public dissemination of support agency reports and materials As noted earlier GAO reports are publicly available directly from GAO with the first five copies free to any requestor OTA reports are publicly available but for most requestors via the GPO sales program and at the established sales price and sometimes via private vendors who reprint OTA documents OTA one-page briefs and summary reports are available free to the public CRS reports are available free to all member offices and to the public through these offices at the discretion of members Only about one-tenth of CRS reports are available directly to the public The dissemination of other support agency documents e g GAO testimony OTA staff papers CRS issue briefs is even more variable Congress may wish to consider revisions to existing policies to help ensure more equitable public access to support agency materials including the possibility of consolidated indexing and more consistent approaches to pricing and availability Expanding electronic interactions will also influence and could change the nature of some congressional operations The cooperative program between the LOC and the Research Libraries Group is illustrative The Library's Linked Systems Project LSP enables eight other libraries to input online cataloging information into the LOC's computer And work is currently underway which will permit the exchange of bibliographic data from computer to computer using the LSP so that when the data is transmitted to the LOC it can also be redistributed to other bibliographic utilities The role of the LOC in the future as it is seen by the new Librarian James H Billington fully employs the electronic technologies By imaginatively using new technologies for instance we might aspire to share by the year 2000 much of the substantive content and not merely the descriptive catalog of this remarkable national collection with citizens and students directly in their local communities Using new technologies boldly may enable us to become less preoccupied with the means and freer to pursue the ends of enhancing the direct interaction between people and ideas within and beyond the Library In sum the integration of information technologies into congressional operations is changing the nature of congressional processes and the possibilities for enhanced public access to information created generated and disseminated by Congress There is a window of opportunity for Congress to examine the congressional information infrastructure including House Senate and support offices in light of changing technology and user needs and to consider new or alternative ways to harness the technology to strengthen congressional information dissemination and more fully realize the goal of public access 13 U S Congress Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Confirmation Hearings of James Billington as Librarian of Congress 100th Cong 1st sess July 14 1987 Chapter 9 The Freedom of Information Act in an Electronic Age $ Jim Photo credit Mark MangoId Bureau of the Census Mainframe area 1986 Bureau of the Census CONTENTS Page Summary 207 Introduction 209 Applicability of FOIA to Electronic Media 210 Computerized Information 210 Other Media 211 Defining the Limits of Searching Under FOIA 213 Traditional Interpretations 213 In the Computer Context The Distinction Between Searching and Progr amming 215 Determining the Format of Information Delivered 221 Expanding the Legal Frontiers Public Access to Software and Online Databases 222 Software 222 Online Databases 223 Fee Assessment and Fee Waivers Charged Issues in an Age of Electronic Information 225 New Technologies and the Need for Amending FOIL 226 Electronic Information Technologies Are Obscuring the Boundary Between Record and Nonrecord Material 228 Computers Are Facilitating Faster and More Complex Searches Thereby Encouraging a Broader Definition of a Reasonable Search 229 Electronic FOIA Requests Can Be Incompatible With the Ways Agencies Collect and Organize Information 230 Computer Searching Raises New Staffing and Budgetary Problems as Well as Opportunities for Federal Agencies 232 Federal Agencies Are Using Information Products Whose Status is Unclear Under FOIA 233 Paper Printouts of Electronic Information May Not Satisfy Public Access Needs 234 Computers Are Prompting New Discussion About the Basic Purposes of FOIA 236 Chapter 9 The Freedom of Information Act in an Electronic Age SUMMARY When the Freedom of Information Act FOIA was passed in 1966 Federal Government records were stored primarily in paper form the act makes no mention of computer records Since 1966 the installation and use of computer systems by Federal agencies has proceeded at a dramatic pace Agency regulations and judicial interpretations have generally supported the treatment of computer tapes and other non-paper media such as motion pictures video and audiotapes as agency records under FOIA However significant unresolved issues warrant congressional attention For example the case law as applied to paper information establishes that FOIA does not require agencies to create new records in fulfilling requests When additional programming is required to extract information from computer systems agencies and courts have sometimes held that such programming would be analogous to record creation and therefore would not be a required part of the FOIA search' process In the electronic age however some degree of reprogramming or program modification may be essential to obtain access to electronic information Another gray area involves defining a reasonable effort on the part of the government in searching for records responsive to a FOIA request In the computer context the programming no programming distinction has begun to detach decisions about reasonableness from considerations of effort This is incongruous with tradition as significant expenditures of effort continue to be involved in manual FOIA searches Retrieval of paper documents may involve extensive tracking communication with various bureaus consolidation of disparate files and substantial hand deletions of exempted materials As computer capabilities for searching segregating and consolidating of data become increasingly efficient and costeffective computer searches could be broadened and public access enhanced Agencies may need to focus on designing new ways to respond more readily to FOIA requests for computer records Another issue is whether and under what conditions the advantages of electronic formats are such that providing electronic access should be guaranteed Although the case law and the FOIA fee guidelines have established that computer-stored information is subject to FOIA requesters are not guaranteed access to the information in formats other than paper If large quantities of data could be more effectively utilized with the flexibility offered by magnetic tapes disks or online retrieval access to these electronic media may be important In several FOIA cases the courts have expressed a need for Congress to clarify the gray areas left open by the statute in its application to electronic information In developing and considering possible amendments to FOIA it is important to understand the types and nature of emerging computer-related problems It is also important to consider new developments in computer and database technology that could alleviate some of these problems in the future A synopsis of the issues is presented below Electronic information technologies are obscuring the boundary between record and nonrecord material As electronic databases become more sophisticated they resemble information pools rather than discrete records For example relational database technology allows data elements from different pathways or fields to be connected to one another in nonlinear com207 208 binations The parallels to paper records are becoming more remote Computers are facilitating faster and more complex searches thereby encouraging a broader definition of a reasonable search Given computer capabilities for expedited searching segregating and consolidating of data the definition of a reasonable search may need to be broadened Electronic FOIA requests can be incompatible with the ways agencies collect and organize information Although this problem also applies to FOIA requests for paper documents computerized information management systems are aggravating the issue as they are relatively inflexible with limited capacity to respond to inquiries in an ad hoc fashion Evolving technologies such as relational databases and hypertext could provide some solutions in the future Computer searching raises new staffing and budgetary problems as well as opportunities for Federal agencies Most agencies have no computer programmers assigned to FOIA implementation Requests for computerized records are generally given to personnel hired to operate internal information management systems Agency use of electronic technologies that would help administrative staff retrieve computerized information could ultimately enhance public access to computer records These technologies include preprogrammed utility software front-end systems with natural query languages expert systems and optical disks Federal agencies are using information products whose status is unclear under FOIA The status of computer programs including computerized indexes codes and directories is unclear as is that of integrated software and database packages Electronic mail quickly becoming a major mode of interdepartmental communication presents additional questions for FOIA Paper printouts of electronic information may not satisfy public access needs Although the case law has established that computerized information is subject to FOIA agencies are not required to deliver the information in machine-readable form The option of encouraging or requiring agencies to provide alternative electronic formats- such as magnetic tape floppy disk optical disk and online access-- warrants consideration In resolving these issues Congress may need to reconsider the purposes and goals of FOIA If new procedures need to be instituted for an electronic FOIA the policies behind the procedures should be evaluated and clarified Computer records today bear few similarities to the paper records of 1966 New database technologies have begun to raise questions about whether computer-stored information can even be conceptualized as discrete records For the 1990s and beyond Congress may need to decide whether the FOIA should continue to be viewed as an access to records statute or whether it should be perceived more broadly as an access to information statute This is not to suggest that public access to computer-stored government information should be unlimited access must be balanced against economic and personnel constraints of Federal agencies However due to the explosive growth in electronic information storage processing and transmission by the Federal Government traditional views about records and searches may need to be modified to ensure even basic access to computerized public information The case law in many areas is too limited conflicting or vague to give consistent direction to agencies and courts Even in those areas where the case law is clear variation in agency practice suggests the need for greater statutory specificity If Congress wishes to maintain the integrity of FOIA in an electronic environment the goals of the statute need to be reassessed and statutory amendment pursued 209 INTRODUCTION The passage of the Freedom of Information Act FOIA l in 1966 eliminated the ambiguous public information provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act 2 and shifted the burden of proof from the public to Federal agencies with respect to the withholding of Federal information from public view The act not only created a clear right of access to government information for the press and public but also made that right enforceable 3 The purpose of the act was to establish a general philosophy of full agency disclosure unless information is exempt under delineated language and to provide a court procedure by which citizens and the press may obtain information wrongly withheld 4 In signing the bill into law President Johnson articulated the spirit behind the legislation I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people's right to know is cherished and guarded 5 In the years following the passage of FOIA there has been substantial growth in Federal Government use of electronic information systems Estimates indicate that when FOIA was passed in 1966 about 3 000 mainframe computers had been installed by Federal agencies microcomputers were not yet in use 6 Recent reports indicate that by 1986 approximately 25 000 mainframes and over 125 000 microcomputers were in place representing a dra- 1 5 U S C sec 552 2 60 Stat 238 1946 5 U S C sec 1002 1964 3 Harold L Cross quoted in the FOIA Source Book U S Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure 93rd Cong 2d sess 1974 4 U S Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure Freedom of Information Hearings on S 1663 88th Cong 1st sess 1964 U S Senate FOIA Source Book op cit 1974 6 Martha Mulford Gray U S Department of Commerce National Bureau of Standards Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology Computers in the Federal Government A Compilation of Statistics-J978 N B S Special Publication 500-46 April 1979 matic increase over a 20-year period 7 The use of electronic mail and other electronic information systems has also proliferated For example according to a 1986 Office of Technology Assessment survey 97 of 134 Federal agencies and agency components responding reported the use of electronic mail 8 The results of the 1987 GAO survey summarized in chapter 2 indicate significant and growing Federal agency use of electronic technologies and formats When a paper statute is applied in an era of electronic information its original ideals may become more difficult to carry out Drawing analogies in the courts between paper documents and electronic information is often difficult Evolving problems in interpreting FOIA could mean that new electronic technologies may serve as barriers to rather than facilitators of information disclosure under the act This chapter draws upon the existing body of FOIA case law addressing electronic information and presents those FOIA cases involving traditional paper records that have served as precedents for decisions involving computer records Inmost instances cases are presented chronologically to provide an evolutionary perspective on the lines of reasoning relevant to issues involving computerized records Other sources of information that may help clarify ongoing debates such as legislative history and agency practice are included Finally the chapter provides an analysis of trends in computer and database technology that raise additional questions about the applicability of traditional interpretations of FOIA to current Federal information practices 7 U S General Services Administration Information Resources Management Service Managing End User Computin in the Federal Government No 2 September 1986 8 U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment Federal Government Information Technology Management Security Congressional Oversight OTA-CIT-297 Washington DC U S Government Printing Office February 1986 g 210 APPLICABILITY OF FOIA TO ELECTRONIC MEDIA Although the term records is used throughout the text of FOIA 9 it is not defined Absent statutory reference application of FOIA to computer tapes and other nonpaper media is determined by agency practice or on a case-by-case basis in the courts To date both agency practice and the case law generally support the treatment of computerized information as records under FOIA although agencies are not necessarily required to provide the information in machine-readable form In certain commonly-occurring cases the status of computerized information still remains problematic For example in instances where computer records require insertion of codes or some form of additional programming to be retrieved from computer systems agencies and courts have sometimes designated these efforts to be supplemental to the required FOIA search process According to the following decisions the term records at least in principle should be applied to computerized information and other nonpaper media including motion pictures audio recordings and videotapes Computerized Information The history of discussion of computerized FOIA records by Federal courts began in 1979 in the U S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit In Long v Internal Revenue Service 10 the court vacated and remanded a district court decision that had denied a request for electronic information compiled by the IRS in its taxpayer compliance measurement program Speaking for the majority Judge Kennedy stated we dispose at the outset of any contention that computer tapes are not generally within the FOIA The district court apparently determines that the term records as used in the Act does not include computer tapes This conclusion however is quite at odds with the purpose and history of the statute '50 U S C sec 552 ' 596 F 2d 362 9th Cir 1979 Kennedy relied upon the Senate Report accompanying the 1974 amendments to FOIA for its consideration of special problems of computer records in the context of search and copying fees 11 In addition he cited the Treasury Department's FOIA regulations which make explicit provision for disclosure of 'records maintained in computerized form' 12 and a 1975 opinion by the U S District Court for the Northern District of California that had affirmed the accessibility of motion pictures under FOIA 13 Judge Kennedy concluded In view of the common widespread use of computers by government agencies for information storage and processing any interpretation of the FOIA which limits its application to conventional written documents contradicts the 'general philosophy of full agency disclosure' which Congress intended to establish 14 We conclude that FOIA applies to computer tapes to the same extent it applies to any other documents 15 The United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of computerized records in 1980 In Forsham v Harris 16 the Court referred to the Records Disposal Act to arrive at a definition of agency records under FOIA In delivering the opinion of the Court Justice Rehnquist cited the Attorney General's 1976 Memorandum on the FOIA for its conclusion that Congress intended the Records Act definition to apply to FOIA although Congress has supplied no definition of agency records in the FOIA it has formulated a definition in other Acts The Records Disposal Act in effect at the time Congress enacted the FOIA provided a threshhold requirement for agency records records inllS Rep No 854 93rd Cong 2d sess 12 1974 cert denied 446 U S 917 1980 1'31 C F R ssl 5 f 1 6 g 3 ii 1977 13Save the Dolphins v U S Department of Commerce 404 F %qq 407 410-411 N D Cal 1975 S Rep No 813 89th Cong 1st sess 3 1965 '3596 F 2d 362 365 9th Cir 1979 16445 us 16g 186 1980 'T44 U S C sec 3301 211 eluded all books papers maps photographs machine readable materials or other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business emphasis added 18 A 1982 decision by the U S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reaffirmed the applicability of FOIA to computerized records Yeager v Drug Enforcement Administration 19 concerned an appeal to the Drug Enforcement Administration DEA for the release of computerized information and the use of computer-facilitated disclosure avoidance techniques to conceal exempted private information Though the appellant request for compacting or concealing personal information was denied the court acknowledged parallels between manual and computer storage Although it is clear that Congress was aware of problems that could arise in the application of the FOIA to computer-stored records the Act itself makes no distinction between records maintained in manual and computer storage systems 20 The court concluded that It is thus clear that computer-stored records whether stored in the central processing unit on magnetic tape or in some other form are still records for the purposes of the FOIA Although accessing information from computers may involve a somewhat different process than locating and retrieving manuallystored records these differences may not be used to circumvent the full disclosure policies of the FOIA 21 Other Media A small yet important body of case law has established that various other media constitute records under FOIA These cases have been cited in several decisions concerning computer generated materials ' 445 U S 169 186 1980 19678 F 2d 315 D C Cir 1982 'Ibid 21 Ibid Motion Pictures In Save the Dolphins v U S Department of Commerce 22 the U S District Court for the Northern District of California affirmed that motion pictures constitute records subject to the disclosure requirements of FOIA The case concerned a nonprofit corporation that sought access to a National Marine Fisheries Service film documenting the incidental killing of dolphins in the nets of commercial tuna fishing boats In attempting to determine the status of motion pictures under FOIA the court admitted to a lack of precedent in the area The first question is whether the film sought is a 'record' within the meaning of the Act FOIA The term is not defined in the Act Neither do existing judicial interpretations appear helpful in regard to the precise questions here presented 23 The court was forced to draw on examples from agency practice citing both the Disposal of Records chapter of the Public Printing and Documents Act24 and the General Services Administration definition of agency records which includes all books papers maps photographs or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics 25 At the time of the case the Department of Commerce had not yet defined records in its regulations pertaining to FOIA The court's decision in Save the Dolphins reflected an interest in broad policy goals over narrow records definitions The object of the Freedom of Information Act is to make available to the public information in the possession of government agencies The term records in common parlance includes various means of storing information for future reference There does not appear to be any good reason for limiting records as used in the Act to written documents The motion picture film in question was made in order to store the information it now contains it therefore falls within the definition of records in 5 U S C 552 26 22404 F lpp 407 N D Cal 1975 'iIbid 44 U S C sec 3301 2'141 C F R sec 105-60 104 a 404 F Supp 407 N D Cal 1975 26 212 The important conceptual distinction between whether FOIA applies to records narrowly defined or to 'information' broadly construed recurs throughout the FOIA debate in cases involving computer-generated materials Audio Recordings A 1976 decision by the U S District Court for the Southern District of New York Mobil Oil Corp v Federal Trade Commission 27 has been cited for its implied treatment of audio recordings as FOIA records The defendant had requested copies of communications between several Federal and State agencies pertaining to aspects of petroleum use Although the case dealt primarily with the applicability of pertinent FOIA exemptions the court specified that all identifiable records must be made available to the public on demand unless requested documents fall within one of the Act's nine exemptions Mobil's request encompassed all communications including letters reports or memoranda and notes transcripts or other memorialization of oral communications During the proceedings the FTC was ordered by the court to search for any relevant tape recordings and documents Only after this search was completed did the court attempt to establish whether Mobil's request fell under FOIA exemptions Videotape Murphy v F B I 28 a 1982 decision by the U S District Court for the District of Columbia concerned a New York Congressman's request for ABSCAM videotapes documenting alleged meetings between the Congressman and undercover agents Although the decision concerned whether or not the tapes constituted investigatory records subject to the law enforcement exemption of FOIA the court held that videotapes could be obtained at the conclusion of the law enforcement proceedings V ideotapes which were exempt from disclosure prior to indictment can be obtained by accused after indictment 29 Although Albright v United States30 is essentially a Privacy Act case the judgment by the U S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was based on FOIA's inclusion of videotapes as public records The case concerned the legality of the filming and retention of a potentially damaging videotape by the Department of Health Education and Welfare HE W The videotape documented a confrontation between HEW employees and their supervisors The plaintiffs maintained that storing videotapes of displeased employees exercising their First Amendment rights constituted an unfair labor practice and a violation of the Privacy Act A copy of the videotape had been provided by the agency to the employees pursuant to a FOIA request filed 3 years earlier The court determined that We do not think the fact that the means of storing information in this case was a videotape makes it any less a record for the purposes of the Act After citing the decision in Save the Dolphins 31 concerning motion picture film the court maintained that As long as the tape contains a means of identifying an individual by picture or voice it falls within the definition of a 'record' under the Privacy Act 32 29 'T406 F lpp 305 S D N Y 1976 ' 490 F Supp 1138 D C Cir 1980 Ibid 631 F 2d 915 D C Cir 1980 404 F Supp 407 410-411 N D Cal 1975 631 F 2d 915 920 D C Cir 1980 30 31 213 DEFINING THE LIMITS OF SEARCHING UNDER FOIA Traditional Interpretations Although it has been established that FOIA applies to records on computer tapes that are in government possession at the time of a request the status of information stored in computers is undercurrent dispute The arguments turn on the definition of what activities should constitute searching under FOIA and what activities extend beyond the realm of searching to records creation The case law as applied to paper information establishes that the FOIA does not require agencies to create new records in fulfilling requests A history of relevant Supreme Court decisions is presented below The difficulties involved in making analogies between paper and computer-generated materials will be discussed in a subsequent section National Labor Relations Board v Sears Roebuck 33 a 1975 decision by the U S Supreme Court addressed the Labor Board's attempted rejection of a request by Sears forcertain Advice and Appeals Memoranda used in litigation proceedings The Board argued first that the memoranda should be exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 7 dealing with law enforcement proceedings Second the Board argued that the requirement to generate explanatory material describing circumstances of the case was beyond the reach of FOIA Although the Supreme Court remanded the first objection it held that describing the circumstances of the case constituted the generation of new materials and was thus unnecessary for FOIA disclosure purposes The Act does not compel agencies to write opinions in cases in which they would not otherwise be required to do so It only requires disclosure of certain documents which the law requires the agency to prepare or which the agency has decided for its own reasons to create Thus insofar as the order of the court requires the agency to34create explanatory material it is baseless ' 421 U S 132 1975 421 U S 132 at 161-162 1975 In Forsham v Harris 35 the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether materials generated by government contractors and remaining in the possession of contractors could be considered government records and subject to FOIA request As in National Labor Relations Board this case turned on whether or not the FOIA request would involve the creation of new records Speaking for the majority Justice Rehnquist equated records creation with the obtaining of records not previously held by the agency Congress contemplated that an agency must first either create or obtain a record as a prerequisite to its becoming an 'agency record within the meaning of the FOIA I n this context the FOIA applies to records which have been in fact obtained and not to records which merely could have been obtained 36 Justice Brennan dissenting denied that government possession was a requirement for determining what constituted a record Nothing whatever in the legislative history suggests that Congress meant to allow agencies to insulate important steps in decisionmaking on the basis of the technical niceties of who 'owns' crucial documents In explaining his dissent Brennan argued that a close connection' between the government and the record was sufficient Where the nexus between the agency and the requested information is close and where the importance of the information to public understanding of the decisions or the operation of the agency is great I believe the congressional purposes require us to hold that the information sought is an S7 agency record within the meaning of FOIA Brennan added that if contractor information was not subject to FOIA the institution of government contracting could ultimately shield public access to information '445 U S 169 1980 '0445 U S 169 at 186 1980 7445 U S 169 1980 214 Just as the explosion of Federal agencies which are not directly responsible to the electorate worked to hide the workings of the Federal Government from voters before enactment of FOIA the understandable tendency of agencies to rely on nongovernmental grantees to perform myriad projects distances the electorate from important information by one more step If the records of such organizations when drawn directly into the regulatory process are immune from public inspection then government by secrecy must surely return 38 In Kissinger v Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press39 the Supreme Court once again addressed the issue of whether records outside of government hands at the time of a request were subject to FOIA disclosure The plaintiff had questioned a journalist's access to transcripts of politicallysignificant telephone conversations Originally in government hands the transcripts had subsequently been donated to a private library prior to the request In delivering the opinion of the Court Justice Rehnquist emphasized the distinction between existing records and record production When an agency has demonstrated that it has not 'withheld' requested records in violation of the standards established by Congress the Federal courts have no authority to order the production of such records under the FOIA Rehnquist cited the legislative history to strengthen his argument Several sources suggest directly that agency possession or control is prerequisite to triggering any duties under the FOIA In the debates the Act was described as ensuring ''access to the information possessed by government servants emphasis added ' He also referred to FOIA guidelines issued by the Attorney General in 1966 for the use of all Federal departments and agencies in complying with the new statute The guidelines state that FOIA refers of course only to records in being in the posses- 38 Ibid 39 445 U S 136 1980 40 112 Cong Rec 13652 1966 reprinted in FOIA Source Book S DOC No 93-82 p 69 1974 sion or control of an agency It imposes no obligation to compile or procure a record in response to a request emphasis added 41 Justice Brennan concurring and dissenting in part determined that FOIA contained an implicit mandate for the government to retain those records it had created but did not contradict Rehnquist stance on record creation FOIA does not compel agencies to write opinions where not otherwise required FOIA neither compels the Government to conduct research on behalf of private citizens nor duplicates administrative law requirements of adequate explanation for Government action What the Act does mandate is exposure of the research and explanations which the government has chosen to memorialize an agency's obligation to retain records therefore may be inferred from FOIA without contradicting the principle that agencies need not create records emphasis added 42 Although it is clear that agencies are not required to create new records in response to FOIA requests determining the point at which searching becomes records creation can be difficult Put another way the definition of what constitutes a record may depend upon the viewpoints of agencies or courts on the purposes and goals of FOIA These views will influence whether or not records are perceived to be tangible entities or whether records are defined more broadly in terms of the information they may provide The debate about the physical nature of records pervades the FOIA case law addressing paper records and is highly significant for cases involving computer records Whether FOIA applies to some notion of a tangible 'agency record' or instead to information in the abstract becomes a crucial distinction in the case of computer records which may not exist in tangible form unless modified in some way In the Supreme Court's decision in Forsham 43 Justice Rehnquist embraced a narrow definition of records stating outright that Ibid 445 U S 136 at 152 1980 445 U S 169 1980 215 The FOIA deals with 'agency records' not information in the abstract '44 In his dissent Justice Brennan drew upon the legislative history to argue for a broader interpretation of ''records' to account for the original purposes of the Act The Court concedes of course that the statute itself does not define agency records Therefore out task is to construe the statutory language consistently with the purposes of FOIA FOIA is a broad enactment meant to open the processes of government to public inspection It reflects a finding that if left to themselves agencies would operate in near secrecy FOIA was therefore enacted to provide access to information to enable an informed electorate so ''vital to the proper operation of a democracy to govern itself 45 In 1982 the Supreme Court in F B I v Abramson 46 used a broad definition of records to limit access to exempted information The Court addressed the issue of whether information contained in records compiled for law enforcement purposes and thus subject to Exemption 7 of the FOIA would lose its exempt status when incorporated into records compiled for purposes other than law enforcement The U S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had used a physical definition of records to conclude that the exempt status would be lost when records were recompiled into a new physical form According to the Supreme Court because recompilation of the physical form of the documents would not alter the basic nature of the information the exempt status should remain The Court's decision was based on the equivalence of the information contained in the two sets of records We are of the view however that the statutory language is reasonably construable to protect that part of an otherwise non-exempt compilation which essentially reproduces and is substantially the equivalent of all or part of an earlier record made47 for law enforcement uses emphasis added In dissenting Justice Blackmun advocated a narrower definition of records ''I cannot escape the conclusion that the Court has simply substituted the word 'information' for the word 'records' in Exemption 7 C He cited Forsham 48 to conclude that FOIA applied to agency records not information in the abstract Justice O'Connor also dissenting concluded that the Court was reaching beyond Congressional intent To reach its result the Court assumes that through inadvertence or inattention Congress' pen slipped while amending Exemption 7 in 1974 Proceeding on this basis the Court helpfully undertakes to rewrite the Exemption substituting for the statutory phrase ' 'investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes something like records containing investigatory information originally gathered for law enforcement purposes 49 In the Computer Context The Distinction Between Searching and Programming Can the distinctions between searching and record creation under FOIA be extended by simple analogy to the computer context It is clear that in cases involving paper documents the FOIA does not require agencies to create new records on behalf of requesters A fundamental difference between computerized records and hard copy records however is that the former may reside within computer systems until they are specifically demanded Computerized government records may require the application of codes or even additional programming to be retrieved from host systems in systematic or comprehensible form By extending analogies from cases involving paper records the courts are creating distinctions between computer searching and computer programming maintaining that programming is not required under FOIA as it is analogous to record creation As more information becomes machine-readable the line 44 Ibid ' S Rep No 813 89th Cong 1st sess 3 1965 '456 U S 615 1982 47 Ibid 48 445 49 U S 169 at 186 1980 615 1982 456 U S 216 between record searching and record creation becomes increasingly fine Also as Federal agency communication via electronic mail and other electronic vehicles intensifies government records may have the potential to become buried within computer systems The intellectual debate that needs resolution is as follows in an electronic age is creating a program to retrieve a document part of the searching process analogous to a manual search or should it be considered creation of a new record not required for governmental purposes which the case law has determined is not required under FOIA Press groups and various public interest and public data user groups tend to hold the view that creating a program is analogous to the searching process while agencies may respond that creating a program is no different from creating a new document The arguments turn on how records are defined If an agency maintains that FOIA pertains only to records in being then any kind of manipulation used to extract data from a system could technically serve as a rationale to withhold information If some degree of manipulation is required to make a computer record comprehensible or available to the public then perhaps the record in being definition should be avoided On the other hand in some cases distinctions must be drawn between making records available and analyzing or further manipulating data as FOIA does not compel agencies to assume analytical research functions Furthermore FOIA applies only to records created for government purposes and the manipulation of information may be perceived to be equivalent to the creation of records that are not for government use Another gray area which has become increasingly apparent in the context of online information is the determination of what constitutes a reasonable effort on the part of the government in searching for records responsive to a FOIA request The legislative history of the FOIA indicates that a description of a requested record is sufficient if it enables a professional agency employee familiar with the subject area to locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort 5 How can a ''reasonable effort be defined in an electronic age when the capabilities for manipulating information become increasingly efficient and cost effective In the light of electronic developments the threshold of reasonableness warrants re-examination The issue becomes apparent in the cases presented below some of which involve requests for computer segregating and compacting of data According to the case law when exemptions are involved FOIA only requires agencies to disclose that information which is reasonably segregable The ability to delete personal and trade data electronically could call for a broadening of the domain of requests that are considered reasonable Congress and the courts may need to abandon some traditional views and build an entirely new frame of reference for electronic information Federal appellate and district courts have begun to address the problems associated with defining the appropriate nature and extent of computer seaching under FOIA In Long v lRS 51 the U S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded a district court decision that had determined that the process of deleting personal information from a record in order to sanitize tax compliance information would involve the creation of a new record The appeals court determined that the material requested was in fact reasonably segregable from exempted information and therefore did not involve the creation of a new record We do not believe however that the mere deletion of names addresses and social security numbers results in the agency's creating a whole new record 52 The Long court differentiated the facts of the case from N L R B v Sears 53 Requiring an agency to write an opinion on request is far different however from requir H R Rep No 876 93rd Cong 2d sess 6 1974 reprinted in 1974 U S Code Cong Ad News 6271 s15g6 F 2d 362 9th Cir 1979 cert denied 446 U S 917 1980 'zIbid ' '421 U S 132 161-62 1975 217 ing it to excise a name or social security number from an existing record T he editing required here is not considered an unreasonable burden to place on an agency 54 The appeals court in Long disagreed with the district court's holding that deletion of identifying information would be prohibitively expensive the IRS had estimated an editing cost of $160 000 The court explored whether the cost and inconvenience to the agency attributable to the editing process can be the sole basis for determining that material is not reasonably segregable The court cited the legislative history of the 1974 amendments to FOIA dealing with fees to argue that agencies should bear the costs of deletions The legislative history contains a statement indicating that fees should not be used for the purpose of discouraging requests for information or as obstacles to disclosure of requested information '-'-' The amendments provided that agencies could only charge for costs of search and duplication The court further cited a Department of the Treasury regulation that stated that under no circumstances will a fee be 56 charged for deleting exempt matter In Yeager v Drug Enforcement Agency the D C Circuit Court came to a different conclusion regarding the limits of reasonableness in segregating disclosable data under FOIA In this case the requester had asked the Drug Enforcement Agency to collapse or compact data electronically Data compaction or disclosure avoidance techniques are used to remove sensitive information from statistical materials and involve the expression of specific information in more general terms Computers have facilitated these types of data manipulations The Yeager court determined that agencies were not required under FOIA to use disclosure avoidance techniques in fulfilling their duties to release reasonably segregable non '596 F 2d 362 9th Cir 1979 S Rep No 1200 93rd Cong 2d sess 1974 -' 31 C F R sec 1 6 a l 1 1977 57 678 F 2d 315 D C Cir 1982 exempt portions of records The test used to determine the breadth of requestable functions was whether the search was functionally analogous' to a manual search The Senate report on the 1974 amendments in the sole reference to computer-stored records maintained that in computerized form the term 'search' would include services 'functionally analogous' to searches for records maintained in conventional form 58 The court held that although it is clear that Congress was aware of problems that could arise in the application of the FOIA to computerized records the Act itself makes no distinction between records maintained in manual and computer storage systems The judge cited holdings in National Labor Relations Board 59 Forsham 60 a n d Kissinger 61 on record creation and concluded that It is well settled that an agency is not required by FOIA to create a document that does not exist in order to satisfy a request A requester is entitled only to records that an agency has in fact chosen to create and retain Thus although an agency is entitled to possess a record it need not obtain or regain possession of a record in order to satisfy a FOIA request Agencies are not however required to commit to paper information that does not exist in some form as an agency record Thus they need not write an opinion 62or add explanatory material to a document The Yeager court determined that new capabilities of computers should not result in the expansion of duties imposed on agencies The FOIA does not contemplate imposing a greater segregation duty upon agencies that choose to store records in computer than upon agencies that employ manual retrieval systems The court concluded that Congress did not require any restructuring of the substantive content of records feasibility and full disclosure not withstanding ' S Rep No 854 93rd Cong 2d sess 1974 ' '421 U S 132 at 161-162 1975 '0445 U S 169 at 186 1980 445 U S 136 at 152 1980 ' '678 F 2d at 315 1982 218 The interpretation suggested by petitioner Yeager may be desirable in terms of full disclosure policy and it may be feasible in terms of computer technology these factors notwithstanding however we are not persuaded that Congress intended any manipulation or restructuring of the substantive content of a record when it commanded agencies to delete exempt information 63 Although Yeager rejects segregation duties in this case it pays lip service to the potential of increased disclosure offered by computers Our treatment of the use of disclosure-avoidance techniques should not be viewed as disapproval of the use of such techniques by agencies We hold only that the FOIA does not mandate their use in determining whether information is reasonably segregable The FOIA does not prohibit an agency from releasing information that falls within any of the delineated exemptions It only provides the agency the option of withholding the documents Agencies that store information in computerized retrieval systems have more flexibility in voluntarily releasing information and should be encourage d to process requests for computerized information even if doing so involves performing services which the agencies are not required to provide emphasis added 64 That searches for computer records should involve activities which are functionally analogous to manual searches is an important concept one which continues to serve as a cornerstone of debates about the extent of computer searching appropriate to FOIA The term has been used to support as well as to deny requests for computer searches However defining when a computer search is functionally analogous to a manual search may be a subjective enterprise Congress may need to examine the appropriateness of using tests which are based on analogies to paper records to define the limits of computer searches In a case recently settled in the U S District Court for the District of Columbia Public Citizen v Occupational Safety and Health 6 Ibid 'lS Rep No 854 93rd Cong 2d sess 12 1974 Administration 65 a public interest group challenged the comparison of computer programming to new record creation The case involved an attempt by Public Citizen to conduct a survey of OSHA's enforcement of policies of employee notification about workplace hazards Public Citizen first approached a regional office which claimed that a search of paper records would be unduly burdensome and suggested that the enforcement information was currently available on a company-bycompany basis in OSHA's computerized Integrated Data Management System in its Office of Management Data Systems When Public Citizen offered its list of companies to that office OSHA maintained that although the companies were in its database computer reprogramming would be required to satisfy the request As new programming would constitute the creation of a new record the request did not fall under FOIA and Public Citizen therefore would not be entitled to a fee waiver Public Citizen's lawsuit challenged this contention claiming that the retrieval procedures were analogous to searching not record creation According to Public Citizen OSHA's assessment of the full costs of computer time would terminate Public Citizen's inquiry The public interest group also pointed out that OSHA had supplied similar computer printouts in the past to requesters free of charge Once the suit was initiated OSHA claimed that it had increased its computer capabilities to the extent that the appropriate technology was available to conduct the search without additional programming The case was settled when the agency agreed to produce the information and grant a FOIA fee waiver to the public interest group Public Citizen illustrates a problem that recurs in legal questions involving new technologies-a lack of technological literacy among lawyers judges and litigants In the case of FOIA it may be difficult or impossible for non-agency personnel to know whether technological explanations are being used Civil Action No 86-07-05 705 D C District Court 219 honestly or arbitrarily to circumvent information disclosure This issue is connected to that of determining costs for searches If requesters cannot know what types of operations are genuinely required to fulfill requests they have little way of knowing whether assessed costs are accurate In a recent decision by the U S District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Clarke v Treasury 66 the plaintiff sought compiled information from the bond records of certain Flower Bond holders The court determined here that anew computer program would need to be created to extract the information requested The court drew upon Forsham 67 and Kissinger 68 to hold that while an agency maybe required to produce records that do exist it is not required to make them and cited the Department of the Treasury's regulation that provided that t here is no requirement that records be created or data processed in a format other than that required for governmental purposes in order to comply with a request for records 69 In a case decided by the U S District Court for the District of Columbia Kele v U S Parole Commission 70 the petitioner requested statistical information on convicted murderers receiving early parole The Commission maintained that the information could not be retrieved without new programming and denied the petitioner's request Though the petitioner Kele insisted that retrieval would involve nothing more than the punching of a few keys on a keyboard the Department of Justice argued on behalf of the Commission holding that poses of the FOIA to say nothing of the practical ramifications for the government 71 In denying Kele's request the court upheld the Justice Department's view that to hold otherwise by requiring agencies to write computer programs not needed for carrying out agency functions in response to FOIA requests would transform the government into a giant computer research firm captive to the whims of individual requesters at a great public expense 72 A recent decision by the Department of Energy's Office of Hearings and Appeals OHA may help change the tenor of future debate The Energy Department determined that reprogramming of computers in some cases should be considered appropriate and necessary to the FOIA search process The case concerned a request by the National Security Archive NSA for a listing of unclassified limited access documents' available to authorized requesters from the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information OSTI Library personnel at OSTI responded that the data existed in a database but that FOIA did not require OSTI to compile the list as production of a list from the database would constitute new programming to go beyond an agency's own existing capabilities to extract data in defining computerized 'records' would constitute a wholesale departure from both existing law and the pur- The NSA appealed OSTI determination to the DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals OHA In conferring with OSTI OHA found that if a profile' of the requesting party were entered into the computer the list of reports available to that party could be retrieved OHA granted NSA's appeal and directed OSTI to contact the NSA to clarify the scope of its request and to inform the NSA of the structure and contents of its database According to DOE regulations if the agency holds that a request does not reasonably describe the records sought agency personnel are required Civil Action No 84-1873 P il Pa 1986 'T445 U S 186 1980 '445 U S 136 152 1980 ' s31 C F R sec 1 5 a 1984 Civil Action No 85-4058 D C District Court 1986 ' Memorandum of Points and Authorities in support of defendant's motion to dismiss p 18 Ibid p 19 'Opinion of Record Decision and Order Office of Hearings and Appeals U S Dept of Commerce Case No KFA-0158 June 1988 Decision and Order Office of Hearings and Appeals U S Dept of Energy Case No KFA-0146 Dec 18 1987 220 to confer with the requester in an effort to restate the request in a manner that would facilitate compliance 75 In addition OSTI was then directed to search its database to provide the list of documents sought by the NSA The OHA stated in its decision that programming could be considered an appropriate part of a search for FOIA records T he mere retrieval of information already existing in a database even if a computer must be programmed to select specified types of data does not constitute creation of a new record 76 Shortly thereafter OSTI filed a Motion for Clarification of OHA's decision maintaining that OHA's statement was overboard and inconsistent with FOIA requirements In its response OHA held that contrary to OSTI's contention providing a list of documents derived from OSTI database would not constitute the creation of a new record According to OHA agencies may need to manipulate their software to perform FOIA searches even if those searches are dissimilar from searches normally conducted by agencies for their own purposes We believe however that to the extent that OSTI maintains records in a database and already has software that is capable of searching the database the FOIA requires OSTI to use that software to search the database for the requested records This is true even if the type of search that must be performed is different from the type normally performed by OSTI A search of this nature is not in substance significantly different from a search of a file cabinet for paper records that are responsive to a request If the FOIA required anything less it would allow agencies to conceal information from public scrutiny by placing it in computerized form This would be inconsistent with the FOIA policy of the fullest possible disclosure 77 The OHA specified that there should be limitations upon the work that agencies must undertake under FOIA as 7 '10 C F R 1004 4 C 2 Op cit 7'Decision and Order Office of Hearings and Appeals U S Dept of Energy Case No KFA-0158 May 26 1988 the FOIA does not require agencies to answer questions generate explanatory material compile statistical data or provide any other information that is not already contained in agency records There is also no doubt that agencies are not required to perform calculations manipulate data or restructure records in any way pursuant to a FOIA request since this would constitute the creation of a new record 78 However short of the above exceptions the OHA held that many types of computerized searches should be considered analogous to those performed by hand While the process may be different many computer searches are in substance essentially the same as manual searches and involve comparable methods and skills For example to search paper records a methodology must be developed and the relevant files or file drawers manually searched for the requested information Similar methodologies must be developed and used when a computer is instructed to perform the search A computer search may be electronic in nature but it is not necessarily any different in essence It merely uses different tools--the computer and its software--to conduct the search 79 The OHA refuted the court's holding in Clarke v Treasury 80 where the agency was not required to undertake programming to provide a simple listing to the requester Under these circumstances we do not believe that this single district court opinion can be interpreted to mean that agencies can never be required to perform any reprogramming in order to comply with a FOIA request 81 The OHA did not attempt to define the extent to which agencies must reprogram their computers in order to respond to FOIA requests and maintained that it will address this issue in the future on a case-by-case basis 82 The more difficult issue is the extent to which agencies must search a database in ord7MIbid 'qIbid ' Civil Action No 84-1873 E D Pa 1986 ' U S Dept of Energy Case No KFA-0158 op cit 82 Ibid 221 er to select those records within the database that are requested pursuant to the FOIA On this issue no precise answer can be formulated in the abstract As noted above this is an unsettled area of the law and there are few judicial determinations to guide us Furthermore an agency's obligation to search its database may depend upon the circumstances presented including how the database is structured the capabilities of the agency's computer system and personnel and the specific information requested emphasis added held that the agency had no obligation under law to satisfy the request on computer tape and could determine the form in which it would make its records available providing it had a reasonable argument for not presenting the information in the format requested Determining the Format of Information Delivered Although in this case computer tape offered the least expensive means of access the agency system was configured to deliver this type of information on microfiche Although both the case law and the FOIA fee guidelines have established that computer stored information is subject to FOIA requesters are not guaranteed access to this information in formats other than paper According to a limited body of case law once the determination has been made that a FOIA request for computer-stored information is reasonable an agency is not legally bound to offer the information in any specified format If a requester does not specify format the agency will generally provide the information in the least expensive form possible or in the form most compatible with the agency's current information delivery modes If the requester does specify format agencies may accommodate the request if costs are not unreasonable Otherwise the requester will be denied the format or offered the option of obtaining the specified format at a higher price A 1984 decision by the U S District Court for the District of Columbia Dismukes v Department of the Interior 84 addressed the issue of the equivalency of alternative formats The plaintiff requested a computer tape listing of participants in the Bureau of Land Management's California oil and gas leasing lotteries in nine track 1 600 b p i DOS or unlabeled IBM compatible formats with file dumps and file layouts The Department of the Interior responded that the information was only available on microfiche The court ' 'Ibid '%0 3 F Supp 760 D D C 1984 An agency has no obligation under the FOIA to accommodate a particular requester's preference regarding the format of requested information and according to FOIA the agency need only provide responsive nonexempt information in a reasonably accessible form 85 The issue in Dismukes was whether the tape and microfiche were equivalent media for agency records such that release of the latter would satisfy a request for the former To support the decision the court used the rationale that FOIA applied to information in the abstract rather than to tangible agency records While this is an argument that recurs throughout FOIA case law it was used here to limit the specificity of formats rather than to argue for fuller disclosure The Dismukes court acknowledged the Supreme Court holding in FBI v Abramson 86 also citing a 1982 case Center for National Security Studies v CIA 87 where the court rejected the plaintiff literal physical approach to the definition of agency record The court determined that if the plaintiff were to strengthen his case he would need to prove that the decision to release the information on microfiche would diminish his access to the information he sought The court did allow that in some cases formats would not be equivalent as in the case of audiotapes where written transcripts would not be able to provide the nuances of inflection which give words added meaning beyond that reproducible on paper In the case presented however the court determined that neither plaintiff nor any document in the record suggests that the ' 'Ibid '456 U S at 615 1982 ' 577 F Supp 584 589-590 D C District Court 1984 222 quantum of information contained in the microfiche varies in any way from that recorded on the computer tape 88 NASA has recently appealed a decision by the U S District Court for the District of Columbia in which information contained in audiotapes was determined to convey nuances that made them more valuable than the written transcripts New York Times v NASA 89 concerns a New York Times reporter's FOIA request to obtain cockpit voice recordings from the space shuttle Challenger along with tran '603 F Supp 760 D C District Court 1984 yCivil Action No 86-02860 D C District Court 1986 scripts and digital information The trial judge ordered disclosure of the tapes NASA appealed on the grounds that the tapes constituted personal proprietary information similar to personnel and medical files and that release of the tapes could create undue suffering for the families of the astronauts The reporter claimed that unlike transcripts the tape recordings conveyed voice inflections and reproduced shuttle background noises that could serve as indicators of technical problems possibly enhancing future efforts to improve safety A three-person Circuit Court panel recently affirmed the lower court's decision and the case awaits a potential appeal by NASA to the full court EXPANDING THE LEGAL FRONTIERS PUBLIC ACCESS TO SOFTWARE AND ONLINE DATABASES Software The status of computer software including indexes directories and operating programs and codes under FOIA is uncertain and few agencies mention software in their regulations Agency practice is inconsistent varying with the function of the software its commercial potential and general agency attitudes toward openness No legal cases clearly address the issue of what classes of software should constitute agency records Some agencies have suggested that software is a tool used to manipulate information rather than a record while others relinquish software products when requests are perceived to be reasonable This issue is problematic as some sort of code may be necessary for even the most basic functions such as producing a printed document from the magnetic media on which the information is stored It may be difficult or impossible for requesters to know what types of computer operations are involved in the agency's retrieval process and whether their rights under FOIA are being arbitrarily denied for technical or other reasons data are agency records under FOIA was raised by the district court in Yeager 90 and was not resolved on appeal Conceivably an agency might deny access to computer codes under FOIA Exemption 2 which covers internal personnel matters and has been construed to absolve the agency from any obligation to produce trivial internal information The appeals court in Yeager concurred with the holding of the lower court on the subject of codes The district court found that if Yeager had magnetic tapes of computer records then the codes necessary to read and use the tapes would become more than intra-agency records 91 A more liberal view emerged in a 1982 decision by a Florida appellate court where computer codes were compared to instructions accompanying a written document In Seigle v Barry 92 the court stated The information in a computer is analogous to information recorded in a code Where a public record is maintained in such a manner that it can only be interpreted by the use of 90 The issue of whether or not codes and other information needed to extract computerized 678 F 2d at 315 D C Cir 1982 9' Ibid W422 So 2d 63 Fla 4 D C A 1982 223 a code then the code book must be furnished to the applicant 93 While pre-existing data can be demanded under FOIA further analysis of data cannot However the distinction between record production and data analysis may become blurred in cases involving computer records If a record is incomprehensible to anyone but the operator of an in-house system some form of analysis may be required Also if a database includes software combined with public information and the two are not segregable the status of the software under FOIA can be argued Conceivably one fraction of the database could constitute nonreleasable agency information while the rest of the unit qualified as a record by FOIA standards While most agencies have failed to mention software explicitly in their FOIA regulations the Department of Defense DoD is an exception DoD made several explicit references to software in its recent regulations pertaining to fees and fee waivers in compliance with the FOIA Reform Act of 1986 94 In specifying those materials which should not constitute records under FOIA the Department included in its definition of commercially exploitable resources Computer software if not created or used as primary sources of information about organizations policies functions decisions or procedures of a DoD component DoD did however add that this definition should not include the underlying data which is processed and produced by such software and which may in some instances be stored 95 with the software emphasis added Perhaps even more significant is DoD's reference to information stored inside machines According to the regulations information stored within a computer for which there is no existing computer program or printout emphasis added would not be subject to a FOIA request When in-house paperwork re Ibid 'P I 99-570 100 Stat 3207-49 32 C F R Part 286 1987 Fed Reg vol 52 No 132 July 10 1987 96 Ibid duction efforts and the efficacy of computer communications have led to increased use of electronic mail and other electronic systems to relay agency information this limited definition of records could be problematic Even when information is targeted for public consumption the growing adoption of printing on demand practices should stimulate close examination of relevant regulations Online Databases Given the trend toward cost recovery for Federal agency information products it seems likely that user fees will continue to help support Federal online database delivery systems If FOIA requests for copies of certain databases are denied and online access is priced beyond the means of particular requesters the Federal Government can be accused of restricting public access to its electronic information On the other hand if private vendors or other members of the public are able to obtain copies of Federal databases at nominal prices under FOIA the ability of these database services to operate in a self-sustaining fashion could be eroded The leading case addressing a FOIA request for machine-readable copies of a Federal database is SDC Development Corp v Mathews a 1976 ruling by the U S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 97 The case concerned an attempt by a private firm to use FOIA to obtain copies of the extensive MEDLARS bibliographic health database from the National Library of Medicine NLM The MEDLARS tapes were available for sale on a subscription basis through the National Technical Information Service NTIS for $50 000 with an estimated additional cost of $50 000 for annual data updating The firm maintained that the database should be relinquished for the cost of search and duplication presumably much less than the NTIS sales price The court held that the library reference materials were not public records and need not be relinquished under FOIA Although this ' 542 F 7 2d at 1116 9th Cir 1976 224 case is sometimes cited by agencies to deny the analogy between paper records and computerized records the fact that NLM's reference materials were stored in a computer databank was inconsequential to the decision The court used the rationale that applying FOIA here would constitute a conflict between two statutes in this case FOIA and the National Library of Medicine Act 98 When two statutes are capable of coexistence it is the duty of courts absent a clearly expressed Congressional intention to the contrary to regard each 99 as effective The National Library of Medicine Act in which Congress established the Library in 1956 authorized the Secretary of Health Education and Welfare to charge the public for using services and materials 100 The court also footnoted the Technical Information Act 101 which directed the Secretary of Commerce to maintain a clearinghouse for scientific and technical information in which to the fullest extent feasible each of the services and functions provided shall be self-sustaining or self-liquidating 102 The court distinguished here between information per se and information delivery systems Congress specifically mandated the agency to prepare this system and hold it as stock in trade for sale to the public As such the system constitutes a highly valuable commodity Requiring the agency to make its delivery system available to the appellants at nominal charge would not enhance the information gathering and dissemination function of the agency but rather would hamper it substantially Contractual relationships with various organizations designed to increase the agency's ability to acquire and catalog medical information would be destroyed if the tapes could be obtained essentially for free The agency is seeking to protect not its information but rather its system for delivering that information 103 The Mathews court determined that the MEDLARS material did not constitute an agency record as it does not directly reflect the structure oper- ation or decision-making functions of the agency and where as here the materials are readily disseminated to the public by the agency the danger of agency secrecy which Congress sought to alleviate is not a consideration 104 SDC v Mathews is particularly interesting when observed in the context of the debate over the roles of the public or private sectors in the delivery of public information services In a committee report on government information dissemination prepared by the House Committee on Government Operations the Mathews court was accused of having misunderstood the statutory role of NLM misread the FOIA and failed to consider the Copyright Act and the significance of the policy against restrictions on dissemination of government information 105 The decision works both in favor of and against private vendors On the one hand the decision supports NLM's charging of fees and its exclusive agreements with private contractors in order to further the agency's public information objectives On the other hand to protect the agency's information dissemination mission the decision prevents other private database vendors from using FOIA as an inexpensive means to obtain marketable electronic data A case currently pending in the U S District Court for the District of Columbia International Computaprint Corp v U S Department of Commerce106 raises issues addressed in Dismukes 107 as well as SDC v Mathews 108 Computaprint a private database vendor requested machine-readable copies of the Patent Office's PTO computerized trademark database PTO denied the request on two grounds First because the data was available ' ''Ibid 's42 U S C 276 542 F 2d at 1116 9th Cir 1976 1o042 us-c 276 c 21 '15 U S C sec 1151-1157 ' '542 F 2d at 1116 9th Cir 1976 ' '' 603 F 2d at 1116 9th Cir 1976 103Electrom c Collection and Dissemination of Information buy Federal Agencies A Policy Overview House Rep 99-560 99th Cong 2d sess 1986 p 35 'Civil Action No 87-1848 D C District Court 1987 '7603 F SUpp 760 D D C 1984 uh542 F 2d at 1116 9th Cir 1976 225 through alternate means PTO claimed that it had no obligation to provide machine-readable tapes Trademark data could be obtained online in PTO's public reading room as well as on microfiche Using the line of reasoning in Dismukes the agency maintained that the information content of a record is not affected by its format Second PTO responded that the economic value of the tapes excluded them from FOIA Computaprint maintains that the Patent Office's alternative means of securing trademark information are inadequate According to Computaprint the paper records in PTO's reference library are not as accurate as the computerized records--in fact the agency's original rationale for computerization was the upgrading of its information During an experimental effort to use the heavily-trafficked computer terminals in the public reference rooms Computaprint personnel were asked to leave the terminals at one-hour intervals Computaprint has estimated in its briefs that securing the information through the public reference rooms would take about 8 years According to Computaprint the case is not analogous to SDC v Mathews as there are no provisions in PTO authorizing legislation to make the trademark database self-sustaining Complicating the case a reverse-FOIA action was filed by Thomson and Thomson the contractor that computerized PTO's files 109 In a special agreement with PTO Thomson and Thomson currently receives a copy of the database for commercial use Thomson and Thomson claims that the records in question represent a a computer-readable trademark database and search system developed at substantial cost ''n and that releasing some of the information to Computaprint even on microfiche could reveal proprietary information of submitters According to Thomson and Thomson release of machine-readable tapes to Computaprint at nominal costs under FOIA would relieve Computaprint from the capital costs of developing its own database giving Computaprint an unfair competitive advantage over Thomson and Thomson in the trademark search business Computaprint has responded that allowing Thomson and Thomson to use the database while restricting other bulk transfers of data from PTO's system is contrary to the mandates of FOIA 1' 9Thomson and Thomson v International Computaprint Corp Civil Action No 88-0839 D C District Court 1988 '' Ibid FEE ASSESSMENT AND FEE WAIVERS CHARGED ISSUES IN AN AGE OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION The growth in computerized agency records and the associated escalation in costs of records have heightened public sensitivity to the new Federal standards for fee assessment and fee waivers that were specified in the FOIA Reform Act of 1986 111 The act gave the Office of Management and Budget the authority to establish fee guidelines which were issued in 1987 as the Uniform Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines 112 Fees that are assessable under FOIA fall into three categories 1 review costs--costs asso-- '''P L 99-570 100 Stat 3207-44 'P L 99-570 Fed Reg 'ol 52 No 59 1987 ciated with the determination of whether the requested documents can be disclosed 2 search costs--costs associated with retrieving disclosable documents and 3 reproduction costs Under the FOIA amendments of 1974 fees were reduced or waived when the information requested was determined to 'benefit the gen113 eral public Benefitting the public was subsequently construed by agencies to mean that public dissemination was expected The new standard for applying general fee waivers has been more specifically defined from benefit' ''P L 93-502 226 ting the public to significantly increasing the understanding of government activities emphasis added ' Where there were no distinctions between requesters in the 1974 amendments the provisions of the FOIA Reform Act specify three categories of requesters that are unconditionally entitled to preferential fee treatment The news media educational institutions and noncommercial scientific institutions are automatically excluded from all but duplication costs Commercial requesters may be assessed review search and duplication costs while other requesters who do not fall into one of the above four categories may be assessed both search and duplication costs Outside this schedule all requesters are entitled to apply for general fee waivers Since the 1986 amendments have guaranteed reduced fees for specified groups they are potentially more generous than the amendments of 1974 However the new amendments have been highly criticized for their omission of certain groups from the favored categories particularly libraries and public interest groups Also the definition of the specified categories eligible for favorable fee treatment has generated controversy as the OMB guidelines take a more restrictive view than those put forward by several congressional sponsors of the amendments 'P 1 99-570 Fed Reg VO1 Under the new FOIA fee guidelines in searches for paper records noncommercial requesters may not be charged for the first 2 hours of search time or the first 100 pages of information delivered OMB has determined however that 2 hours of computer search time is not analogous to 2 hours of manual search time Since most computer searches are accomplished in seconds and fractions of seconds according to OMB an interpretation of the statutory free search time as an entitlement to require an agency to operate a computer for 2 hours would constitute an unreasonable disruption of an agency's normal automated data processing ADP activities Thus OMB has developed a formula based on a literal analogy to a manual search whereby the computer searcher is equated to as a clerical worker undertaking a manual search The requestor is therefore entitled to receive an amount of computer processing unit CPU operating time equivalent to the cost of 2 hours of computer operator salary In order to reduce administrative steps required to calculate costs on an individual basis agencies may establish agencywide average operator programmer salaries and average CPU operating costs According to OMB 100 pages of free information should not be applied directly to microfiche but to the microfiche equivalent of 100 pages Similarly audiotape distribution should be analogous to 100 pages of paper copies 52 No 59 1987 NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND THE NEED FOR AMENDING FOIA As is evident in the courts new communication and information technologies are raising essential questions about the fundamental nature of records and the parameters of searches for records In several FOIA cases the courts have expressed a need for Congress to clarify the numerous gray areas left open by the statute in its application to the new generation of computerized information The Yeager court is one such example W e decline Yeager's invitation to view the availability of disclosure avoidance techniques as simply defining with more clarity the manner in which microdata information might be released This invitation should be extended to Congress rather than to this court 115 '678 F 2d at 315 D C Cir 1982 -- -- The appeals court in Yeager mirrored the views of the district court regarding congressional specificity y A s agencies begin keeping more of their records in computerized form the need to contour the provisions of FOIA to the computer will become increasingly necessary and more dramatic 116 At present decisions about fundamental principles are left to agency discretion with further interpretation when litigated by the courts Consequently these decisions may be subject to the biases of agency personnel or be made by lawyers and judges whose understanding of new technologies may be limited Some of the problems raised by new technologies may be clarified by the facts of individual cases and can be approached on a case-bycase basis But many of the growing ambiguities need to be addressed through statutory amendment As technology is continually evolving setting objective criteria for defining records and search efforts will be a difficult task Nevertheless working toward greater specificity could bean important first step in ensuring an adequate level of public access to electronic information In developing and considering possible amendments to FOIA it is important to understand the nature of emerging computerrelated problems It is also important to consider new developments in computer and database technology that could alleviate some of these problems in the future A typology of the issues is presented below Electronic information technologies are obscuring the boundary between record and nonrecord material As electronic databases become more sophisticated they resemble information pools rather than discrete records For example relational database technology allows data elements from different pathways or fields to be connected to one another in nonlinear com- lbMemorandum order at 6 APP at 44 227 binations The parallels to paper records are becoming more remote Computers are facilitating faster and more complex searches encouraging a broader definition of a reasonable search Given computer capabilities for expedited searching segregating and consolidating of data the definition of a reasonable search may need to be broadened Electronic FOIA requests can be incompatible with the ways agencies collect and organize information Although this problem also applies to FOIA requests for paper documents computerized information management systems are aggravating the issue as they are relatively inflexible with limited capacity to respond to inquiries in an ad hoc fashion Evolving technologies such as relational databases and hypertext could provide some solutions in the future Computer searching raises new staffing and budgetary problems as well as opportunities for Federal agencies Most agencies have no computer programmers assigned to FOIA implementation Requests for computerized records are generally given to personnel hired to operate internal information management systems Agency use of electronic technologies that could allow clerical and administrative staff to retrieve computerized information could ultimately enhance public access to computer records These technologies include preprogr ammed utility software frontend systems with natural query languages expert systems and optical disks Federal agencies are using information products whose status is unclear under FOIA The status of computer programs including computerized indexes codes and directories is unclear as is that of integrated software and database packages Electronic mail quickly becoming a major mode of interdepartmental communication presents additional questions for FOIA Paper printouts of electronic information 228 may not satisfy public access needs Although the case law has established that computerized information is subject to FOIA agencies are not required to deliver the information in machine-readable form The option of encouraging or requiring agencies to provide alternative electronic formats-such as magnetic tape floppy disk optical disk and online access- warrants consideration Electronic Information Technologies Are Obscuring the Boundary Between Record and Nonrecord Material At the most fundamental level new technologies are obscuring the boundary between record and nonrecord material As information technology evolves records become more difficult to conceptualize in terms of discrete tangible documents Information technology is in a sense detaching information from its embodiment A record stored electronically may become a useful body of information only upon retrieval The concept of database is replacing the concept of record per se It thus becomes more difficult to establish genuine parallels between paper records and records stored in computers Electronic Information Often Requires Intervening Technologies To Become Understandable In court cases involving computer records analogies from paper documents are still being applied implying a distinct boundary between record and nonrecord material The courts are currently basing the delineation of this boundary on the function of retrieval if information requires new programming for its retrieval it is not an agency record or it is an entirely new record the creation of which is not required under FOIA This type of functional definition is clearly easier to apply than other distinctions but it may be inappropriate At present if an electronic file cannot be printed out with one push of a button agen- cies and courts may determine that it legally need not serve as a record under FOIA The current records test based on programming is inappropriate because electronic information always needs some type of transformation to be understood While written information can be read instantaneously no one can look at the electronic bits of data in a database and understand their meaning These bits of data often require specialized software for reorganization into readable form As intervening technologies are necessary rather than superfluous there is technically no such thing as a record in being As Electronic Databases Become More Sophisticated They Resemble Information Pools Rather Than Discrete Records As electronic database systems become more sophisticated electronic records become more difficult to conceptualize in terms of separable identifiable entities As records can be generated from data elements from different files the information stored in databases may resemble pools of information rather than discrete documents As the database technology continues to evolve the parallels to paper records become more oblique For example relational database systems developed in the 1970s allow discrete data items to be linked to one another based on specified underlying criteria One record may therefore constitute a synthesis of information retrieved from several different files In some cases then several pieces of data can or must be connected to make a record The jargon in the field of relational technology reflects the pool-like aspect of the new databases A collection of data is called a relation instead of a file A record is in effect a series of relations or collections of data rather than a single file This represents a significant jump from the flat file technology of the 1970s where databases were designed in hierarchical or network 229 fashion In both hierarchical and network databases information retrieval is linear In the former one piece of information is connected to others through a series of hierarchicallyarranged channels Access begins at the top of the hierarchy and spreads through subsequent levels of detail While network databases are set up so that a single data element can point to other data elements there is still a fixed pathway for navigating through the database By contrast in a relational database data elements from different pathways or fields can be connected to one another in nonlinear combinations As a result some forms of new programming or other intervening operations may be necessary to interpret or compile electronic records Making analogies between paper and electronic records and using the function of programming to distinguish between record and nonrecord material could be detrimental to the intent of FOIA If genuine access to records is to be preserved a new focus may need to be placed on the substance or information content of databases rather than the operations required to extract or interpret them Computers Are Facilitating Faster and More Complex Searches Thereby Encouraging a Broader Definition of a Reasonable Search As mentioned earlier the legislative history of the FOIA indicates that a description of a requested record is sufficient if it enables a professional agency employee familiar with the subject area to locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort 117 At present the definition of what constitutes a reasonable search is left to the discretion of agencies and when litigated the courts As in defining records the current test of reasonableness usually includes whether new programming is required '' H It Rep No 876 93rd Cong 2d sess 6 1974 reprinted in 1974 U S Code Cong Ad News 6271 This test may no longer be appropriate due to technological evolution Given computer capabilities for expedited searching segregating and compacting of data the realm of what constitutes a ''reasonable search could be broadening In cases involving paper records decisions in the courts as to what is reasonable have been related to the effort agencies are required to exert on behalf of requesters In the computer context some courts have concluded that any new programming or modification of an existing program should be deemed new record creation and therefore unreasonable According to DoD's recent regulations pertaining to FOIA fees electronic information for which there is no existing printout need not be attainable under FOIA 118 Taken to its extreme this regulation could be interpreted to mean that pushing a button to print a document would constitute new programming Thus a subtle shift has occurred that has detached decisions about reasonableness from any considerations of effort This is incongruous with tradition as a significant amount of effort has historically gone into FOIA searching for and production of paper documents Retrieval of paper documents may involve extensive tracking communication with numerous bureaus searching disparate files and substantial hand deletion of exempted materials The programming no programming distinction continues to decrease in validity as developing technologies reduce the effort needed to modify or execute new programs In many cases new programming to retrieve computer records may be less costly and or time consuming than searches for paper records Clearly drawing lines between reasonable degrees of effort is a difficult task The functional approach is much more clear-cut If Congress is to help set new criteria it must take into account the rapid rate of technological evolution in data processing What is not reasonable today may be reasonable tomorrow or in ' ' 32 C F R Part 286 1987 Fed Reg Fol 52 No 132 July 10 1987 230 the near future In spite of this new criteria based on effort or cost could ultimately benefit agencies as well as requesters Clearer standards could enhance public access as well as protect agencies from excessive demands by attorneys seeking to prolong FOIA lawsuits Degrees of effort needed to execute computer searches can vary dramatically A request may be relatively easy to specify but difficult to run requiring days of computer time Another request may require hours of programming time but can be searched easily once the program is created An illustration of computer searches requiring varying levels of effort is presented below Level 1 File ABCD exists in the computer It can be retrieved with a print command In other words the data has already been collected and organized in the manner desired by the requester Level 2 File ABCD exists in the computer Though it cannot be printed directly it can be retrieved from the database by using existing retrieval programming and entering keywords The data does not need to be modified with a new algorithm Level 3 Someone asks for E which can be derived from ABCD using a new algorithm Put simply the agency maintains the data but it must be modified to fit the request Level 4 The request cannot be satisfied by information-derived from ABCD It may require additional information from FGHI or other databases A new program must be created This may involve a limited amount of effort through the application of simple query language or commercially available software On the other hand anew program could involve a complex query that takes days of a programmer's time and hours or days of computer time According to recent interviews with information management personnel at selected agencies many choose to reprogram their computers or modify existing programs on their own accord In some cases this may benefit the agencies as well as the requesters Contoured searches may be easier to execute than supplying large amounts of unedited or disaggregate data In other cases programming is motivated by the awareness that the effort undertaken would be less burdensome than that associated with a potential lawsuit An important consideration to remember is that the effort required for a FOIA search is not solely a function of the nature of the request Effort is also determined by the structure of the database the sophistication of information storage and retrieval tools and the competence of agency staff A poorly run retrieval system could require days to search for a straightforward record A sophisticated system with higher-level language might be able to retrieve the same data in minutes Clearly Congress cannot mandate the acquisition of state-of-the-art computer systems But if searches are to be based on effort and if requesters continue to be charged for computer programming and operation time measures must be undertaken to encourage agency efficiency Electronic FOIA Requests Can Be Incompatible With the Ways Agencies Collect and Organize Information One of the greatest problems encountered in satisfying FOIA requests is that requests are often incompatible with the ways in which agency records are originally collected and organized For example at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA a regulatory agency most inspections are undertaken and documented by geographical region industry accident or type of complaint The databases created by OSHA follow the contours of the different inspection programs within the agency FOIA requests on the other hand are usually directed to specific products or companies at particular locations Since the agency does not maintain such a database these requests may require new programming While the lack of compatibility between requests and compiled information is a problem 231 that also affects requests for paper records computer retrieval in some ways exacerbates the problem Although computers can be fast and consistent they may be less flexible than the manual systems they have replaced While they are proficient at processing anticipated forms of information they are less adept at performing operations such as responding to FOIA requests that have not been preprogrammed into their software or machine language text allows a user to design a database from scratch Links can be established between unstructured bits of information hypertext does not impose a linear display of data Hypertext incorporates images and sound as well as text Certain new developments in hardware and software technology --such as relational databases and hypertext-promise to enhance computer flexibility and responsiveness to unanticipated forms of requests New technologies will also increase the speed of all forms of data processing These developments will ultimately reduce the effort associated with retrieval of electronic information and therefore could have positive consequences for FOIA allowing for faster searches searches through unorganized data integration of data from diverse files and better response to ad hoc requests In addition to new technologies certain institutional changes could help alleviate the problem of responding to requests that are incompatible with the ways information is collected Some options are Technologies Could Facilitate Ad Hoc Responses to FOIA Requests for Computerized Information Relational Databases As relational database technology increases in sophistication users can more easily pull together data from different files in an ad hoc manner The links between different data fields do not necessarily need to be preprogrammed instead they can be created to suit the requirements of specific requests Programming new links varies in difficulty depending on the software The increasing flexibility y offered by relational database technology could have major significance for FOIA allowing the computer to provide information better tailored to the needs of requesters Hypertext Hypertext software still in early phases of commercial development will also allow for enhanced ad hoc data retrieval In theory hyper- Institutional Changes Could Increase Comparability Between FOIA Requests and Available Information Tallying frequent requests Tallying the most common types of requests for computerized information could be a first step in enhancing compatibility between data and requests This could lead to the development of utility programs tailored to retrieve organized data and could influence a greater awareness of public access needs in the data collection phase OSHA is currently documenting its most frequent FOIA requests every 6 months Public input in data collection Pilot programs could be initiated to allow citizens and public interest groups to inform agencies about the types of data that would be most beneficial to them Public input would also help determine the delivery formats that would be best suited to requesters' needs Public input in the records-searching process Some agency regulations require their FOIA offices to consult with requesters to help tailor searches to requester needs In some cases requesters are allowed to walk through agency computer systems If an agency is incapable of conducting a search a requester could be shown how to narrow the inquiry or conversely to broaden the request to allow files to be copied without editing or selection Standardized information delivery systems Current custom-built agency information systems rarely take public access into account Setting standards for agency hard- 232 ware and software could enhance compatibility with users' equipment Utility programs The creation of preprogr ammed utility software for commonlyoccurring requests could facilitate more efficient and appropriate responses Utility programs are discussed in the following section Computer Searching Raises New Staffing and Budgetary Problems as Well as Opportunities for Federal Agencies Many agency FOIA offices are understaffed and to the best of OTA's knowledge none have computer programmers specifically assigned to FOIA As a result FOIA requests for computerized records are typically shunted to Automated Data Processing ADP departments where they are handled by personnel hired and trained to run internal computer operations As FOIA fees are forwarded to the Department of the Treasury rather than being credited to specific agencies there are few financial incentives for agencies to respond to requests for electronic records Policy could be changed to establish an annual congressional appropriation for the implementation of FOIA or to allow agencies to retain FOIA fees at least as a partial offset against expenses As there are usually no computer operaters on FOIA staffs agencies could be required to hire at least one full-time computer programmer to accommodate FOIA requests involving computer work In addition to policy initiatives new technologies could help alleviate staffing problems and reduce costs of processing certain FOIA requests Technologies that could relieve ADP specialists from FOIA demands could facilitate access by clerical and administrative staff and ultimately enhance public access to computerized information Several of these technologies are discussed below Technologies Could Help Nonspecialists Respond to FOIA Requests for Computerized Information Utility Programs The development of commercial and custommade utility programs could facilitate responses to some types of requests especially more common types of requests that could be predicted in advance Utility programs are generic software programs that can perform anticipated functions They contain a set of retrieval operations that can be invoked without programming Thus even if an agency had little interest in compiling a record for its internal purposes the record could be generated much more easily than in the past The trend from mainframes to microcomputers a hallmark of the 1980s is allowing for greater user autonomy In theory clerical workers could be trained to handle some programming functions currently executed by ADP professionals Administrative staff traditionally handle FOIA requests for paper records therefore from a staffing perspective the use of utility programs could make some types of computer searches more similar to searches through paper files According to agency information managers interviewed some are already beginning to tally their most common FOIA requests and design their own utility programs to accommodate them eliminating the need for new programming Searching with utility programs can be significantly less expensive than searching on mainframe tape-driven systems As the effort involved in satisfying certain requests is decreasing new classes of requests could fall into the reasonable domain Networked PCs and Network Servers As stand-alone PCs become linked through local area networks individuals at work sta- 233 -- tions can gain increased access to large databases through network servers These are specialized computers with larger storage and processing capacity than work stations The network server is a shared machine that allows individuals at their own work stations to update process delete and insert new records from remote locations Networked PCs and network servers could give nonspecialists greater access to more powerful computer operations including larger and more sophisticated databases Therefore like utility programs they could contribute to the goal of helping administrative staff process FOIA requests for computerized information Network servers equipped with optical disks could optimize access to large volumes of records personnel respond more easily and quickly to predictable FOIA requests Artificial Intelligence Future artificial intelligence systems will have more self-initiating capabilities than do expert systems Artificial intelligence software helps users ask the questions appropriate to solving problems A master control programs directs users to appropriate expert systems through question-and- answer sessions undertaken in natural language While artificial intelligence systems are still in early developmental phases it is expected that in the future they could eliminate the need for users to remember complex codes or commands Users will be able to articulate their questions fully in natural language Front End Software Advances in front-end software are contributing to the possibilities for nonspecialists to write new programs by translating complicated query languages into natural language A query is a command that tells a computer which fields to search and combine At present different databases and brands of computers require different query languages The growing simplification and standardization of queries could significantly reduce the amount of effort involved in some forms of new programming In the future better front-end technology could facilitate direct queries from home computers or from PC in agency public reference rooms Expert Systems Expert systems contain inference or decision making programs that are combined with data entered by users Expert systems software contains programmed search rules that help users decide how to maneuver through datafiles to answer particular questions While expert systems are limited by the logic of the experts who create the programs they could help agency Optical Disks Optical disks and related search and retrieval software could greatly enhance records-storage capacity and facilitate searching through unstructured information While manual searches for archived paper documents can take days weeks or even months searches through an equal number of full-text records on optical disks could technically be accomplished in seconds or minutes Federal Agencies Are Using Information Products Whose Status is Unclear Under FOIA In addition to software programs and online databases whose status under FOIA has begun to be debated in the courts Federal agencies are embracing additional technologies that need to be studied in the context of FOIA Two examples are presented below Integrated Software and Database Systems When databases and their integrative software are combined into one system the func- 234 tional distinction between programs and records loses its validity As the software is necessary to make the database or record comprehensible the program may need to be supplied along with the record Electronic Mail Electronic mail is significant for FOIA in that it allows data to be created transmitted processed analyzed archived and disposed of electronically without paper printouts As government communications are increasingly carried out via electronic mail and other computer applications records may never exist in tangible form or in a narrow physical sense Under current judicial interpretations these forms of communication could be withheld from public view The record in being concept which continues to be used in the courts and in agency regulations may need to be revisited The Iran-Contra case recently demonstrated that electronic mail can provide valuable information about government activities information which the public may have a justifiable right to know The National Security Council's PROFS electronic mail system provided the public with crucial information about the diversion of funds to the Nicaraguan Contras This information was retrieved from a temporary PROFS backup file that had been created to protect users against electrical power surges or other interruptions The question electronic mail poses for FOIA is whether messages should be treated like agency records or like confidential personal communications such as telephone calls If some types of electronic mail communications are to become accessible under FOIA they must be stored backed up archived and or printed In cases where electronic mail messages are considered analogous to telephone conversations or personal meetings the FOIA need not apply Monitoring or required archiving of telephone calls could be considered similar to wiretapping The questions of which electronic mail communications require archiving for FOIA pur- poses as well as for records retention purposes and how some messages differ from others under FOIA need to be answered in order to develop consistent policies for electronic mail These new policies may need to focus upon the content of the communications rather than the form While most electronic mail systems have document as well as message features archiving should not be limited to documents Increasing numbers of important agency actions and decisions are resulting from electronic mail messages Though assessing the import of messages and distinguishing between deliberations and final orders may be difficult taking these steps may be necessary to ensure appropriate public access Paper Printouts of Electronic Information May Not Satisfy Public Access Needs Although both the case law and the FOIA fee guidelines have established that computerstored information is subject to FOIA requesters are not guaranteed access to this information in formats other than paper Though the case law is extremely limited in this area the D C District Court decided in Dismukes v Department of the Interior that an agency has no obligation under FOIA to accommodate a particular requester's preference regarding the format of requested information and that agencies need only provide information in reasonably accessible form 119 If requesters ask for tapes disks or direct online access they are not assured their choices The decisions generally rest with agency information custodians Technological change brings into question whether paper printouts alone are a satisfactory means of satisfying requests for electronic information It could be argued that tapes disks or even online retrieval might be necessary to effectively use or analyze large quantities of raw data In practice agency decisions about format vary widely Some agencies provide data tapes I lg603 F Supp 760 1 C District Court 1984 235 disks and software either to save time lower costs or enhance public access Some State and Federal agencies are beginning to offer remote access to electronic records Most Federal agencies however continue to satisfy their minimum legal requirements by producing paper printouts of electronic information A brief discussion of alternative delivery formats is presented below Magnetic Tapes and Disks Providing tapes or disks to requesters could relieve agencies from computer searching and printing efforts For requesters tapes and disks eliminate the need to re-input information and facilitate analysis and synthesis of statistical information As a drawback distributing tapes or disks could result in additional time commitments for agency personnel Requesters generally ask for explanations of data structures and need help designing programs to retrieve machine-readable data Whether accurate or not some agency personnel feel that releasing tapes and disks would increase possibilities of information manipulation and misrepresentation of agency statistics and opinions Other information custodians readily release tapes and disks although some include caveats to reduce the risks of false attribution Optical Disks Optical disks may provide an economical means of distributing records to satellite reading rooms and depository libraries Optical disks are simpler and less expensive to duplicate than large quantities of paper documents Automated retrieval software could facilitate searches for FOIA records on disks Computer Programs Computer programs contain the instructions that direct machines to store retrieve and manipulate data For the purposes of FOIA the status of programs is in a state of flux Agency views about programs are disparate- they are sometimes considered records and sometimes tools When deemed tools programs are not considered subject to FOIA Whether programs are considered tools or records some types of records may be inaccessible without them Agencies must learn to distinguish fairly between programs required to interpret records and programs that further analyze or manipulate data the former may need to be released and the latter subject to agency discretion When programs incorporate instructions that reveal agency decisionmaking techniques or information gathering methods they may constitute records in their own right In 1980 a Florida appellate court embraced a broad definition of agency records that could have implications for the status of software In Shevin v Byron Harless 120 the court held that a public record is anything made or received in connection with the agency's business that is intended to communicate knowledge 121 In many instances program software serves that function and could be considered a public record unless deemed sensitive or proprietary As mentioned earlier in this chapter another appellate court in Florida has compared software programs to code books accompanying written documents In Seigle v Barry 122 the court determined that the information stored in a computer was analogous to information recorded in a written code If a written public record were maintained in such a manner that it could only be interpreted with a code then a code book should be provided to requesters According to the court it followed that computer programs should be furnished to requesters when electronic information would otherwise be inaccessible Remote Access The growing use of personal computers with modems opens up entirely new possibilities for remote access to computerized FOIA records Some agencies are making public records available online in public reference rooms and at remote locations ''379 So 2d 633 Fla 1980 ' Ibid '422 So 2d 63 Fla 4 D C A 1982 236 Remote access to Federal information could facilitate searches for requesters as well as agencies Remote access would allow users to issue queries directly reducing search time for agencies Currently FOIA requests are issued on paper and computer programs are written at the discretion of agency personnel If data are distributed in hard copy or tapes users are required to re-input or download to their own computers If remote access is to be considered as a delivery option for FOIA records the following areas would need to be addressed security liability for errors cost requirements for user assistance upkeep of data files privacy protection control of levels of use standard setting for hardware and data presentation and competition with private online database vendors 123 Computers Are Prompting New Discussion About the Basic Purposes of FOIA The original movement for enacting Federal freedom of information laws in the United States gained momentum in the 1940's and 1950's In 1966 when FOIA was passed the assurance of basic access to government records represented a significant strengthening of the open government principle Although the United States Government is now heralded internationally for its policies of openness FOIA is still narrowly interpreted as a basic access to records statute In addressing the impacts of new technologies Congress may need to reconsider the purposes and goals of FOIA If new procedures ' Florida State Legislature Joint Committee on Information Technology Resources Remote Computer Access to Public Records in Florida January 1985 need to be instituted for an electronic FOIA the policies behind the procedures should be evaluated and clarified Computer records bear few similarities to the paper records of 1966 New database technologies have begun to raise questions about whether computer-stored information can even be conceptualized in terms of discrete records For the 1990's and beyond Congress needs to decide whether the FOIA should continue to be viewed as an access to records statute or whether it should be perceived more broadly as an access to information statute This is not to suggest that public access to computerstored government information should be unlimited access must be balanced against economic and personnel constraints of Federal agencies However due to the explosive growth in electronic information storage processing and transmission by the Federal government traditional views about records and searches need to be modified to ensure even basic access to public information As technology is continually evolving setting objective criteria for defining records and appropriate search efforts will be difficult Nevertheless working toward greater statutory specificity could bean important first step in ensuring an adequate level of access If the statutory language is not modified to address electronic information agencies may have new opportunities to legally withhold certain classes of materials from the public The case law in many areas is too limited conflicting or vague to give comprehensive or consistent direction to agencies and courts Even in those areas where the case law is clear variation in agency practice calls for stronger legislative guidance If Congress wishes to maintain the integrity of the FOIA in an electronic environment the goals of the statute should be reassessed and statutory amendment pursued -- Chapter 10 The Electronic Press Release and Government-Press Relationships Photo credit USA TODAY Gannett Co Inc All rights reserved Reporter sitting at video display terminal CONTENTS Page Summary 239 Introduction 240 Functions and Problems of Agency Press Offices 241 Status of Automation in Federal Agency Press Offices 242 U S Department of Agriculture 242 U S Supreme Court 243 Environmental Protection Agency 243 White House 244 Bureau of Labor Statistics 244 The Federal Election Commission 244 Status of Automation in Press Newsrooms 245 Challenges to Government Press Automated Dissemination 247 Need for Coordination 247 Need for Improved Communication 247 Need for Completeness and Quality Control 247 Private Contracting and Price Control 247 Potential Unavailability of Paper Copy 248 Technological and Strategic Choices 248 Technological Choices 248 Strategic Choices 250 -- Chapter 10 The Electronic Press Release and Government-Press Relationships SUMMARY Although the Federal Government disseminates information through several means the largest cross section of the U S population receives its government information via the press Some Federal agencies have begun to design electronic mail systems to distribute press releases and other time-sensitive information such as crop reports weather bulletins and economic and trade data to newsletters news magazines and television and radio news broadcasters If managed properly electronic press release services could provide costeffective and efficient alternatives or supplements to traditional messenger or mail delivery of paper releases The goals of this chapter are to examine current methods of delivering perishable information to the press to explore a range of technological and strategic alternatives for electronic delivery of Federal news and data and to examine the implications of electronic delivery for effective and equitable access by the press To the extent that electronic dissemination by the Federal Government affects the ability of the press to cover and report on government activity Congress has an oversight role to ensure that access by the press is enhanced At present Federal agency use of electronic news distribution systems is highly variable and the implications for equity of press access to Federal information have not been fully considered The primary advantage of the electronic press release is timeliness both for regional newspapers and media outlets as well as for Washington DC news organizations that otherwise would depend on the mail or expensive messenger services In general electronic press releases are more cost-effective than courier or messenger services Also elec- tronic press releases can offer greater selectivity and more efficient archiving than paper formats Federal agencies currently use a variety of contractor-provided or commercial services for electronic dissemination of perishable information Some of these services are provided in response to agency initiatives others are provided by vendors purely as a commercial offering to the news industry The most important issue for congress to consider is equity of press access to agency press releases and other time-sensitive information While electronic press releases could be especially helpful to smaller out-of-town news organizations the potential benefits could go unrealized if costs or technical barriers are prohibitive The Federal Government may need to consider paying for electronic press releases entirely with Federal funds at no charge to the press charging the press only the marginal cost of dissemination excluding costs of developing and maintaining databases or establishing sliding-scale fee schedules for smaller or less affluent news outlets At least for a lengthy transition period dual format paper and electronic would appear to be necessary to ensure that those news outlets without or lacking interest in online capability are guaranteed access to traditional press releases and perishable data At the technical level a number of alternative electronic press release delivery systems warrant consideration including computer-to-computer electronic mail electronic wire services electronic bulletin boards o facsimile transmissions and 239 240 electronic mail or wire services with abstracting printout and storage capabilities The latter alternative may provide a desirable balance between the visible tangible paper copy offered by traditional wire services and the selectivity and archival capability offered by computer storage Other issues that warrant attention include the need for a more complete consistent and better coordinated approach to Federal agency electronic press release distribution standards on archiving and quality control and guidelines for involvement of private sector contractors in disseminating electronic press releases Decisions about the future direction of Federal electronic press release services should take into account the specific functions and problems of agency press offices as well as the current status of automation in press newsrooms INTRODUCTION Although the Federal Government disseminates information through several means the largest cross section of the U S population receives its government information via the press The recent General Accounting Office GAO Survey of Federal Information Users indicated that newspapers newsmagazines and newsletters are among the primary means by which the public obtains Federal information see ch 5 Table 5-11 for partial survey results Since World War I Washington DC has emerged as the principal locus of news generation in the United States reflecting the growing importance of the Federal Government as a major source of information to the U S press The press serves a unique intermediary function between the government and the public It functions bothasa''private citizen' or user of public information in its own right and as an interpreter and disseminator of this information This chapter explores how reporters receive information from the Federal Government and examines government press offices and press newsrooms--essential links between public information providers and private information gatherers As these links begin to take electronic and digital form a change may be taking place in the timeliness and even content of news stories The press obtains Federal information through a wide variety of channels including direct contacts press releases Freedom of Information Act requests and published data and reports This chapter focuses on press releases concise written summaries of news and data and explores electronic alternatives to the traditional modes of distributing press releases and other time-sensitive information to the news media While some Federal agencies already disseminate press releases electronically participation is far from complete and numerous policy questions need to be considered The following evaluation of alternative methods takes into account the functions problems and status of automation in agency press offices and press newsrooms The discussion is based primarily on interviews with press officers members of trade associations electronic information vendors wire service providers and reporters editors librarians and systems managers at small and large papers throughout the country The goal is to highlight general trends and issues that warrant congressional attention and to point toward areas requiring more systematic and intensive research in the future Press offices according to Don Obendorfer of the Washington Post are the junction point where the government and press meet For most reporters it what it all about--the clips the releases the briefings--and yet nobody ever studies that stuff 1 'Steven Hess The Government Press Connection Washing- ton DC The Brookings Institution 1984 241 FUNCTIONS AND PROBLEMS OF AGENCY PRESS OFFICES When evaluating technologies or institutional arrangements involving the working press a very important element to consider is time The goal of a reporter is to maximize his her news gathering and reporting in minimal amounts of time and to cover breaking news The timeliness of press releases and their delivery can help determine whether a news story makes front page headlines or is buried inside In the aggregate newspaper and media coverage can help shape the public perception of the importance of events and eventually mold the constellation of issues that merit public policy attention news In terms of political agenda-setting the clippings files have served to enhance the influence of the newspapers particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post over the broadcast media and also over papers from other regions Some papers that merit attention have been excluded by clipping services due to their distance from Washington The use of online dissemination has begun to change the mix of newspapers represented in the files and could perhaps affect government perspectives on regional outlooks and issues The White House has subscribed to a computerized clipping service since 1982 The functions of government press offices are difficult to generalize Federal Government press offices are as varied in quality as are reporters' perceptions of their utility The complexion of any given press office may change with each administration in terms of personnel budget ratio of career civil servants to public appointees involvement in broader public affairs functions and overall objectivity of the information disseminated Within a single press office certain individuals may win the trust of reporters while others function as agency apologists The growth of the Washington press corps has heightened the need for press offices Press offices serve in part to facilitate the government information function in the form of press conferences briefings and the distribution of prepared materials As government grows bureaucracies become increasingly difficult for reporters to cover the press office performs a coordinating and frequently centralizing function at the press-government interface It also may serve as a buffer to discrimination in reporting While reporters often seek to bypass press offices and contact technical and policy staff directly access to top officials is generally accorded largely to reporters from the most prestigious and well known media outlets Press offices on the other hand are mandated to respond to diverse news organizations Although some degree of discrimination may occur even here these offices serve to institutionalize at least some degree of access by all members of the press z Aside from these significant differences press officers perform similar basic functions arranging press conferences briefings and interviews and notifying reporters of events and publications through press releases press advisories wire service releases and telephone calls Most also serve a broader fact-finding and verification function Like reporters press officers have beats within their agencies allowing them to become familiar with personnel issues and procedures in specific areas of agency activity An important but often overlooked function of the press office is the daily collection and circulation of news clippings to senior agency officials Many government executives learn what is being written about their actions their agencies and their adversaries through these intensive doses of narrowly-focused Most large agencies have highly decentralized press functions with a departmentlevel office answering to the national media For example all major agency components at the U S Department of Agriculture USDA have their own information offices The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA press activities are separated both functionally and regionally with separate 'ibid - 242 press and public relations offices in different programs as well as regional NASA centers Decentralization may complicate news-gathering tasks but at the same time allows press officers to maintain closer contact with their sources within agencies A problem affecting some press offices that are attempting to create online release services is the competition for funding and control with agency Information Resources Management IRM offices When the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 was enacted the role of the press offices as potential generators of online services does not appear to have been considered In several cases IRM personnel have assumed responsibility for designing delivery systems to serve the press IRM staff generally schooled in computer programming and data processing may have little or no under- standing of journalistic perspectives and requirements The growing trend toward combination of press activities with public affairs activities presents another possible barrier to effective press operations In 1981 the Office of Personnel Management OPM instituted new job standards that require press officers seeking promotion beyond a GS-13 level to be trained in the range of public affairs functions Public affairs activities include organizing exhibits producing graphic and broadcast materials conducting visitor and outreach activities and developing advertising programs These new job standards may serve as disincentives for trained journalists to apply for positions in Federal agencies In a few years it may become increasingly difficult to find specialized press officers in the Federal Government STATUS OF AUTOMATION IN FEDERAL AGENCY PRESS OFFICES In recent years several Federal agencies and departments have initiated electronic press release services According to the GAO survey of 114 civilian agency components see ch 4 Table 4-24 the following percentages of agencies already used or planned to use electronic means for the release of information to the press electronic mail 28 percent electronic bulletin boards 12 percent electronic data transfer 13 percent and floppy disk 7 percent The adoption of electronic news dissemination technologies is not uniform among agencies Six brief examples are presented below U S Department of Agriculture USDA As a first example USDA has undertaken an intensive effort to deliver news releases and other perishable information by means of electronic services The effort was motivated in part by a desire to save on postage costs and to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act and OMB guidelines USDA Online produced by the USDA information office includes national and regional press releases two-page daily briefings of news stories affecting USDA programs databases on food nutrition animal health and agricultural trade agricultural statistics and economic reports calendars of events phone listings of USDA personnel and an electronic messaging service Due to funding constraints USDA cannot provide this electronic service free to the press although free printed press releases and press mailings are still provided USDA Online is available on FedNews through Dialcom Inc a commercial electronic mail service To date the service is used primarily by land grant colleges and universities trade associations Federal and State agricultural agencies and farm bureaus USDA also maintains an independent fulltext delivery service EDI Electronic Dissemination of Information which releases only perishable information EDI was designed as a wholesale information service contracted -- 243 through Martin Marietta Data Systems to sell USDA information to resellers or multiplexers EDI contains information from several of the USDA agencies EDI includes crop and livestock reports agricultural research reports national and regional press releases daily twopage news briefs and other perishable information U S Supreme Court The Supreme Court is planning for electronic distribution of judicial opinions The initial push for automation at the Supreme Court came from the press in 1982 by way of the American Newspaper Publisher Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors These trade associations were motivated by the demands of out-of-State news reporters who wanted direct and quick access to Supreme Court opinions Supporting the request were the looseleaf and the legal database services such as West Mead and the Lawyer's Co-op which currently transcribe the full text of decisions from hard copy into their databases Also supporting the initiative were State court judges and lawyers who believed that wire service synopses did not adequately describe opinions Supreme Court opinions are currently transmitted to the news media via paper Prior to entry into online databases such as Lexis Westlaw and BNA Online they need to be scanned or transcribed Reporters in the Supreme Court press gallery are the first to obtain copies of new decisions About 150 new decisions are issued by the Supreme Court each year The Court provides 175 photocopies or bench copies of each new decision and subsequently prints slip opinions bench copies in a slightly different form which are released two to three days after the opinions are handed down More than 4 000 copies of each new decision are printed by U S Government Printing Office GPO inch-ding 400 for the Court 225 for the Administrative Office of the U S Courts and 360 for the Department of Justice Slip opinions are provided free of charge to the press and public Bound volumes of opinions the United States Reports are available from GPO about 18 months after the Court recesses Opinions are also reprinted by commercial vendors The time value of electronic release would be extremely important for State and Federal courts whose verdicts may be hinging on Supreme Court decisions Requests from Federal judges are currently handled piecemeal and distributed by facsimile machines Within the next several years computer-aided legal research will be available in the chambers of all Federal judges and as a consequence the desirability of online transmission will increase Legal reporting services currently receive the full text of opinions by mail or messenger Online full-text release of Supreme Court opinions would be of value to the press for several reasons The instant availability of full text at remote locations would allow reporters to solicit informed commentary from affected parties as well as legal scholars In addition to reporters on the Supreme Court beat editors financial reporters and reporters on related beats would gain access to copies of decisions Online full-text release would allow for broader participation in the analysis of decisions and their impacts Online release of Supreme Court opinions could have regional significance as well When several opinions are handed down on the same day cases of regional interest are often overlooked by the national newspapers and news broadcasters Online delivery of decisions could give regional news organizations greater autonomy in reporting their stories The Court is currently considering the possibility of working with a single nonprofit organization to serve as a depository or disseminator of opinions at the lowest cost to the public Environmental Protection Agency EPA Known by the news community to have one of the most responsive press offices in Washington EPA has chosen not to employ an electronic news release system Instead the agency pays for regular messenger runs to about 50 publications in Washington and mails additional materials to media in other regions EPA also mails 244 releases to any citizens requesting them maintaining a current mailing list of 3 000 At its current level of computer sophistication EPA has not found a system that is priced comparably to hard copy After polling newspapers EPA found that most were not adequately equipped to receive releases via Dialcom Inc electronic mail a system that EPA relies on for its internal communications According to EPA only a small percentage of the larger papers can effectively use electronic mail releases In addition the trade publications that focus on EPA activities e g Inside EPA Toxic Materials Report Clean Water Report generally lack dial-up electronic capabilities Although EPA sees flaws in messenger services too slow for late-breaking stories increased pressure to release announcements early it still finds them to be an economical and thorough distribution mechanism EPA does send releases to U S Newswire anew wire service that transcribes hard copy releases and transmits them mainly to the larger papers and bureaus in Washington White House In 1984 in an effort to reduce the voluminous paperwork involved in its media relations activities the White House pilot-tested an online news release program with an exclusive feed to Dialcom Inc for incorporation into its electronic mail system Controversy ensued however when other private sector vendors demanded equal access to this online information The White House press corps objected to these services as a potential threat to their own viability voicing procedural concerns about breaking traditional rules of the briefing room regarding judicious attribution of sources Furthermore some members of the public expressed propaganda concerns Users of the system complained that the White House was slow to enter briefings into the daily system making the service less valuable than expected The White House has since discontinued its electronic effort Press releases in hard copy format are left in the New Executive Office Building for members of the nonresident press corps Transcripts of briefings now remain on file in the White House press room ostensibly accessible only to the White House press corps 1 800 reporters Nevertheless White House briefings are independently taped by commercial newswire services such as the Federal News Service and Press Text that transmit the transcribed texts verbatim to clients Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS Although BLS makes its employment figures Consumer Price Index Producer Price Index and collective bargaining settlements available online it has found that the broadest segment of the press is neither equipped nor organized to receive electronic mail transmissions and still prefers paper copies of releases Most of its online subscribers are libraries and research organizations Particularly in cases of embargoed release times for the unemployment rate and the Consumer Price Index for example BLS has found that reporters prefer to retrieve hard copies at the agency press office and telephone their stories rather than wait for releases to print from computers Wire services also prefer this method as they may be required to feed broadcast news programs which may be aired within a few minutes of these releases The Federal Election Commission FEC FEC provides detailed campaign finance information online in a variety of formats FEC has made innovative use of its Freedom of Information Act FOIA infrastructure to satisfy requests from the press and public for computerized and computer-generated information It merits mention as it has managed to keep prices relatively low for its users including the press FEC accomplished this by coupling its delivery services with its internal computer service contract with Digital Equipment Corp avoiding intermediate delivery services Connect charges and annual fees have been avoided and FEC data can be accessed at an hourly usage charge of $25 All the major national news media in Washington receive this service Smaller newspapers may request pa- ---- per versions of reports that are free to requesters FEC rationalizes its program as a spinoff of the FOIA process Under FOIA FEC has provided computer tapes upon request since 1980 The Commission subsequently added a dialup capability to the oper- 245 ation which allowed them to provide the tapes outside of the FOIA process and charge user fees Requesters can choose either to receive reports online or download raw data into their personal computers to be reworked with desktop software -STATUS OF AUTOMATIONIN PRESS NEWSROOMS It is difficult to make predictions about future penetration of Federal electronic information dissemination technologies into newsrooms First electronic offerings of the Federal government are slowly and unevenly making themselves known to the media they wish to target Second newsroom technology is in a state of transition It is difficult to predict whether newspapers will evolve in a linear fashion toward greater technological sophistication or whether cultural and practical barriers will stunt technological growth During the seventies the newspaper industry adopted computerized word-processing editing and publishing systems With some major exceptions mid-sized newspapers were the first to accept new technologies The Detroit News the Providence Journal and the Des Moines Register for example automated their newsrooms long before the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal Due to the cumbersome nature of retooling a number of the largest papers are still in the process of automating various production and editorial functions At the other end of the spectrum the smallest papers although computerized sometimes lack the resources and personnel needed to handle large amounts of incoming electronic data Automation in newsroom technology has grown out of the automation of production technology Several large papers today are curious hybrids of obsolete newsroom technology and avant garde production equipment It is not coincidental that automation and consolidation in the newspaper industry both occurred during the seventies Chain ownership has decreased the risks associated with experimentation and has been an important catalyst for innovation Several small chain- owned papers have been selected as prototypes for newsroom automation These papers generally are chosen for their secure positions in noncompetitive or physically isolated markets The first paper to use electronic pagination part of the electronic publishing technology that is revolutionizing the nature of production was the Pasadena Star a small paper belonging to the Knight-Ridder chain KnightRidder selected another of its small papers to experiment with changes in circulation hours Gannett the largest domestic newspaper chain has selected a small paper in Cocoa Beach Florida to experiment with new technological as well as editorial concepts An organizational manifestation of the computer revolution among newspapers is the growth in importance of the newspaper library a central locus of online database retrieval This centralizing trend is likely to continue as a means of controlling database retrieval costs As database retrieval frequently requires specialized knowledge of different search protocols the importance of the newspaper librarian is likely to grow As a group news writers are slow to embrace new technologies The legendary black Royal typewriter still maintains an elevated position in many newsrooms alongside oversized wordprocessing screens Editors are less inclined to use electronic technologies than younger reporters who have grown up with portable personal computers There are two classes of information that reporters at some newspapers can retrieve from the computers at their desks wire services and clippings files Relatively few newsroom PCs are equipped with modems Desk- 246 top wire access can be highly efficient At the Louisville Courier Journal reporters' desktop computers are programmed to segregate over 100 wire services into queues according to subject matter sports politics Washington news as well as type of service AP advisories AP domestic AP international AP Washington Supplementary Washington wires Supplementary international etc Reporters can also receive Nexis Vu Text and other commercially available news clipping files Computers in the newsroom have changed the process of writing and the substance of news From the field stories can now be relayed electronically between reporters and editors allowing for quick turnaround time of edited drafts and potentially involving more individuals in the story-writing process This opportunity did not exist 5 years ago when stories were written on paper and dictated over telephones USA Today has revolutionized the newspaper business in its production and distribution technologies as well as its format The USA Today emphasis on short stories has made it dependent on wire services to a higher degree than most large papers The emphasis on graphics in USA Today facilitated by new technologies has placed a premium on the inclusion of statistics in its incoming wire service reports thus affecting the way wire reporters gather their news In terms of online databases the innovators for the newspapers have been the full-text newspaper compendia For example in addition to Nexis the Washington Post receives Vu Text regional papers Datasolve full text of the Economist and the Financial Times and Data Times newspaper texts and gateways to Dow Jones The Post has recently expanded the range of its online subscriptions to include DIALOG PaperChase and Grateful Med medical Dow Jones News Retrieval Legi-Slate congressional information FEC campaign finance data BLS releases the Federal News Service wire and US Newswire U S government news It is soon to receive Wilsonline bibliographic citations to journals and Compu-Serve Small regional and local papers without Washington bureaus should be considered independently because their needs interests and resources are distinct from larger papers They are particularly interesting to study in the technological context because online technologies could open new communication channels and give them greater autonomy in reporting national news Today Federal Government information is a relatively small fraction of the news of regional and local papers This results from a lack of interest as well as resources Small papers have become dependent on national wire services and telephoned news stories in part because press releases mailed from Federal agencies to small papers outside Washington are both erratic and slow Final copy is either reprinted wholesale from the wire services moderately altered or rewritten with local angles The traditional wire services aim to satisfy broad audiences often failing to cover stories of regional interest Direct online access by small papers to Federal agencies could enhance local awareness of relevant national news While small papers could benefit substantially from the electronic receipt of Federal Government information many are currently inhibited by a lack of data-carrying capacity and lack of financial and personnel resources to accommodate high-priced electronic offerings 247 -- -- CHALLENGES TO GOVERNMENT PRESS AUTOMATED DISSEMINATION Need for Coordination There is a clear need for better communication and coordination between those agencies choosing to disseminate press releases electronically FedNews offered through Dialcom Inc is the most significant effort at a consolidated Federal electronic news-release service to date Eleven agencies currently offer news releases and other perishable information on FedNews including the USDA Federal Communications Commission FCC Bureau of the Census NASA Food and Drug Administration Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of the Interior U S Army and Army Reserve Releases are distributed unedited agencies may determine the frequency and range of materials included The FedNews menu allows materials to be searched by key words or dates it can be scanned or read in full-text Decentralization in database and newsrelease distribution is a problem within and among agencies All major agencies within USDA have created separate databases that could be made available online Some of these are highly specialized USDA's EDI system the department only online service consisting solely of perishable information receives materials from roughly half of the USDA agencies Need for Improved Communication Many newsroom librarians are inadequately informed about the availability of Federal electronic services and there are no comprehensive indexes to Federal electronic services A few agencies are aware of this problem and have made substantial efforts to stimulate public awareness Both FEC and NLM Grateful Meal have held press conferences on their online services outlining their range of offerings costs and compatible computer systems Another communication gap exists between newsroom librarians and reporters While librarians are interested in and trained in the retrieval of online information many reporters remain uninterested or uninformed As most reporters have not learned to use online services in daily reporting library education and outreach must be energetic Still another communication gap lies between agency press offices and the private information providers who operate their services Although service providers claim media subscribers they rarely maintain adequate statistics to verify user numbers Some providers sell first to multiplexers who then resell the services making total client estimates increasingly difficult Agencies could require that service firms track their clients more thoroughly and require that sales and customer statistics be provided Need for Completeness and Quality Control Online databases may be incomplete or inconsistent in quality Even on FedNews participation by agencies varies Some agencies use FedNews as a regular release mechanism USDA updates its entries daily while others use it as a supplemental service with only sporadic entries Reporters tapping into FedNews might not understand these distinctions and might find the service unreliable Private Contracting and Price Control The tendency of private contractors to sell to other private vendors or multiplexer can contribute to escalating prices and delays Several issues need to be resolved whether private vendors should be responsible for the delivery of public information and especially time-sensitive information like press releases whether licensees or contractors own the valueadded material they distribute and whether agencies have the power to impose pricing or distribution requirements on licensees or contractors Price escalation associated with the involvement of intermediaries could create pronounced inequities for small papers Potential Unavailability of Paper Copy The absence of paper copies of press releases could present a problem for some news organizations Several Federal press offices interviewed by OTA cited the Paperwork Reduction Act as the principal impetus for ventures into online news release distribution Although most claim that online information is also available in paper format this would seem to nullify some of the logic for initiating computerized distribution systems Although it is clear that there is ample room for paperwork reduction in press release activities reducing paper copies beyond a reasonable minimum could have a detrimental effect on the press and particularly small papers that do not have electronic retrieval capabilities TECHNOLOGICAL AND STRATEGIC CHOICES Technological Choices Choosing new technological means to serve the press is not simply a decision for Federal agencies Interest and technological readiness must be expressed by the media In order to maximize the usefulness of new services agencies must understand their potential clients The news media currently display wide-ranging levels of technological sophistication varying according to type of media newspapers magazines newsletters wire services radio television broadcasters size of firms and ownership structures group-owned versus independent Media interest in new electronic services varies according to such factors as technological sophistication proximity to Washington and level of income In this era of technological transition the most flexible services will be the most valuable Some alternatives for delivery of information to the press are outlined below along with a discussion of advantages and disadvantages to facilitate agency and congressional understanding Hard Copy Release The most common form of transmitting newsworthy government information to the press involves the timed release of paper documents When actively distributed hard copy release is dependent on the mail or on messenger services and can be slower than elec- tronic alternatives It is necessary that paper releases remain available to serve recipients without computers Alternatives for hard copy release include Hard copy releases sent by messenger or mailed to the press accompanied by telephone call-outs to alert press about particularly important events Hard copy releases deposited in agency press rooms for the newspapers' messengers to retrieve or for use by in-house reporters Hard copy mailings for out-ofState papers Computer-to-Computer Electronic Release Computer-to-computer electronic mail is by far the most widely used electronic press release dissemination mode The choice of electronic mail by most agencies probably results from the fact that this technology is becoming widely used for agency internal communications Computer-to-computer electronic mail is not optimally suited to the press however as its contents are not immediately visible To log onto an electronic mail system searchers must dial a number enter a code and pay connect charges and hourly fees Computers receiving mail-type messages are usually centrally located in newsroom libraries As noted earlier in order to control online costs newspapers typically set up these systems so that access is not available from reporters' terminals Electronic mail may not be practical for -- perishable releases that arrive at very irregular intervals Computer-to-computer electronic release is best suited for the provision of database services for research purposes One advantage of electronic mail is that it allows for selectivity on the part of the reporter or researcher Contents may be scanned for useful documents Other advantages include archival capability and interactivity Menu-driven systems can be divided into subject areas that can be scanned or reviewed in full-text form As mentioned earlier electronic mail maybe an important vehicle through which small papers can receive unfiltered news from remote locations Full text databases for longer documents could place smaller papers on a par with larger papers that have easier direct access to the hard copy documents While database services are impractical and often times too costly for reporters with daily deadlines they can be of value for longer stories or for newsletter magazine and trade publications Alternatives for disseminating releases via electronic mail include direct online release into newsroom computers through contracting agreements with private service firms Dialcom Inc EDS etc o direct or-dine release to multiplexer who offer subscriptions to service firms ED I hard copy release by agencies with private firms placing information online and marketing services Wire Services Wire service releases may be better suited to daily news-gathering than electronic mail as they can eliminate the necessity of entering computer files to check for potential releases Newswires can be received either directly through reporters' work stations or in hard copy form via teleprinters Wire service release of hard copy is a practical way to handle irregular information flows and reporters are accustomed to watching wire teleprinters for printouts 249 Three existing alternatives for wire service transmission of government information include Hard copy release by the agencies picked up by independent wire services that transmit Federal information over telephone wires to newsroom computers or teleprinters US Newswire Fee for the agencies free to the press Hard copy transcripts of press briefings picked up by independent wire services that transmit Federal information by satellite to newsroom computers or teleprinters Federal News Service local transmission the carried out via FM sideband radios Fee for the press free for the agencies Online release of information to independent wire services The first option has been adopted by US Newswire founded in 1986 and currently serving almost 100 news media outlets in the Washington area US Newswire transmits releases and advisories over dedicated data lines leased from the local telephone company delivering releases via teleprinters installed in newsrooms or directly into newsroom computers The teleprinter concept can eliminate the necessity of searching directories for news releases The service is free to the media Federal entities are charged per release so this wire service tends to be used for announcements with significant time value About 80 percent of US Newswire's clients have chosen the teleprinter mode of final delivery Most newspaper bureaus use teleprinters as do television and radio stations USA Today has chosen to receive U S Newswire along with other wire services such as AP and UPI into reporters' personal computers while the Post has chosen to accept the wires via teleprinters to avoid overuse of computers US Newswire releases are saved for 24 hours unless stored by reporters U S Newswire is distinguishable from traditional wire services in that it assumes no abstracting or editorial functions it simply transmits releases as issued 250 Several congressional offices are now offering information on US Newswire along with the U S Information Agency EPA Department of Transportation DOT Department of Commerce Department of Justice DOI HUD and Department of Health and Human Services The service currently costs $150 for a release to 100 media outlets and $55 for release to a shorter list of 45 media outlets This cost must be weighed against the cost of individual messenger-service runs to the media and against message charges for electronic mail delivery The Federal News Service another new wire service operation uses a satellite to transmit daily briefings from Capitol Hill the State Department the Pentagon and the White House to computers and teleprinters at media outlets This is an expensive service for subscribers yet Newsweek bureau personnel refer to it as our life blood Unlike the traditional wire services Federal News Service US Newswire and similar services deliver briefings and speeches in unedited full-text form Federal News Service transcripts are placed online shortly after the time of release The service will soon be available alternatively through Dialcom Inc Bulletin Boards Electronic bulletin boards have not been used extensively to inform the press about government activities Within agencies bulletin boards tend to be small specialized and little publicized Bulletin boards may grow in importance in the future for example to serve small newspapers wishing to be generally informed about a range of government activities but not seeking Federal information on a regular basis Facsimile Transmission Facsimile transmission allows for high speed relaying of individual messages to specific requesters Facsimile is not appropriate for highvolume paper releases but it is a necessary component of newsroom technology as it is widely used by those organizations that have not embraced full-scale electronic distribution technologies Congressional offices embassies the Supreme Court and the Pentagon all employ facsimile distribution Facsimile is theoretically well suited to the press because like newswires it delivers a tangible paper product that is visible upon delivery However the routine use of facsimile transmission is not expected because the machines tend to become overloaded with incoming messages at press deadline times If newspapers are using facsimile machines to send their own documents agencies will receive busy telephone signals and perhaps miss their own deadlines Electronic Mail or Wire Distribution with Some Abstracting and Printout Capability The most suitable technology for distribution of perishable information to the press would appear to involve some combination of wire service and computer communications A blending of electronic mail capabilities with the automatic printout capabilities of a wire message would be well suited to the needs of the press Perhaps the best electronic option would involve the printing of short abstracts when news releases reach the receiving computer system this type of approach is currently used by the Washington bureau of the Wall Street Journal when receiving US Newswire Such a system could combine the selectivity interactivity and flexibility of computer storage with the tangible visible hard-copy product of a wire service Computer-to-printer electronic mail technology is increasingly available in the agencies but most media outlets do not receive releases in this manner Ultimately each agency must embrace a mix of technologies to fit the varying levels of technological sophistication of the media they hope to reach and to match the types of messages they wish to relay Strategic Choices If Federal agencies choose to distribute electronic press releases they have several strategic options available to them in addition to 251 the technological choices outlined above Criteria for evaluating the alternatives should address the potential problems and benefits for both agencies and the media Evaluation criteria for the media cost equity of access--services affordable to newspapers and other media outlets of different sizes geographical flexibility-services extending to regional newspapers speed--services received by papers in time for daily deadlines accessibility-electronic press releases accessed in ways compatible with daily reporting activities archival capability thoroughness uniform frequency and centralization flexibility of news releases full-text databases database-oriented perishable statistics and maintenance of hard copy releases Evaluation criteria for Federal agencies costs for electronic press releases versus costs of messenger-based and mail-based paper releases interagency coordination in delivery of electronic press releases extent of reach to media outlets--if service firms are involved they should provide maximum coverage ease of transmission and speed of transmission As mentioned earlier electronic distribution of government information to the press can have benefits in terms of speed geographical coverage archival capability and selectivity At the present time however electronic dissemination efforts by Federal agencies are limited Among those involved in electronic dissemination little communication or coordination has occurred Further coordination and possibly centralization of these services would benefit agencies as well as the press Electronic press release services currently vary in quality frequency and technical and institutional frameworks for delivery Different strategies for marketing and distribution have created disparities in pricing and limited access for small and regional papers The technologies selected for dissemination could have a major impact on the types of news organizations that will benefit from these services Federal agencies may choose active or relatively passive roles in electronic dissemination Regardless of the Federal role private vendors on their own initiative are likely to continue to collect perishable Federal information and provide it to the press in several ways including online database services wire service releases transmitted verbatim and unedited or abstracted and edited and clippings services However if all electronic press release activities are left to the marketplace news coverage may be incomplete Some media organizations particularly smaller low-budget companies may be unable to afford marketplace electronic offerings To the extent that electronic distribution of news releases and other time-sensitive information is judged to be desirable Federal agencies may choose from a spectrum of arrangements Selected examples are outlined below 1 Exclusive agreements with single private vendors Vendors would charge agencies for online services and also charge media clients for connect time A potential drawback is that Federal agencies could become locked into paying high fees and prices could become prohibitive for some media groups Also sole contractors might receive competitive advantages perceived to be unfair by other vendors 2 Online delivery of information to multiplexer offering subscriptions to clients Clients would include information retailers and selected end users Concerns about high fees and equity of access could surface here as well In addition client tracking could be difficult for agencies and services might not reach intended media users 3 Contracts with selected service firms or multiplexers supplemented by provision 252 of on-line information to lower-cost distributors Providing alternative access through lower-cost vendors such as The Source or Compu-Serve could help address concerns about high fees and equity of access This scenario could still create concerns for competing vendors about unfair competition 40 On-line provision of press releases to wire services This alternative might mitigate concerns about accountability equity of access and possibly high fees It could also generate concerns about unfair competition 5 Direct provision of electronic information by Federal agencies In this scenario agencies would place their news releases online and distribute them directly tomedia outlets This could be fully or partially government subsidized This alternative could help ensure accountability and equity of access It could also raise concerns about governmental costs unfair competition with private vendors and possibly government manipulation or control of information Enhancing the effectiveness and equitability of electronic press release services will require the resolution of several important questions One question is whether Federal agencies using sole contractors should be required to provide alternative access through lower-cost vendors Another question is whether the use of intermediaries should be limited in order to control costs and foster accountability A third question involves pricing strategies As noted earlier pricing strategies vary significantly among the alternatives pursued to date In the case of U S Newswire Federal agencies pay for the service the wires are free for the media In the case of the Federal News Service the media pay the service is free to the government Both the media and the government pay for both Fednews and ED I A decision that needs to be resolved is whether agencies should be required to create tiered pricing systems including some form of price cuts or subsidies for small media groups depository libraries or public interest groups Still another unresolved issue is whether greater collaboration among agencies should be encouraged or required in order to provide one-stop-shopping' for the media This might require standards for quality consistency and delivery formats A final issue is the preservation of hard copy materials Even if electronic press release services are widely adopted dual format paper and electronic would appear to be necessary to ensure that those news outlets without or lacking interest in online capability are guaranteed access to traditional press releases and perishable data It is clear that the electronic delivery of timesensitive information raises problems as well as opportunities for Federal agencies and other Federal entities As the use of electronic delivery modes spreads throughout the Federal Government attention should be directed to ensuring that new technologies serve their intended beneficiaries A growing media interest in using electronic newsgathering techniques warrants further experimentation with new systems by executive agencies as well as congressional offices and Federal courts But a diversity in levels of interest income and automation in the press mandates that new strategies be flexible multifaceted and accommodating Chapter 11 Federal Information Dissemination Policy in an Electronic Age Photo credit Documents Center Robert W Woodruff Library Emory Unive r s i t y User accessing Federal information via an online information system CONTENTS Page Summary 255 Renewed Commitment to Public Access 257 Clarification of Governmentwide Information Dissemination Policy 261 Cost-Effectiveness 261 Electronic Paper Formats 264 Possible Congressional Actions 267 Clarification of Institutional Roles and Responsibilities 271 Improvements in Information Dissemination Management 276 Electronic Publishing Dissemination Technical Standards 276 Governmentwide Information Index 277 Government Information Dissemination Innovation Centers Committees 278 Revised Information Resources and Personnel Management 280 Improvements in Conventional Printing 283 Cost 283 Timeliness 288 Quality 288 Cost Estimating and Billing Procedures 289 General Themes 289 Tables Page Table 11-1 Illustrative Public Laws Relevant to Information Dissemination 95th Through 99th Congresses 259 11-2 Illustrative OTA Report Excerpts Relevant to Information Dissemination 260 11-3 Selected Legislation Introduced in the 100th Congress Relevant to Information Dissemination 261 11-4 Federal Agency Policies on Electronic Information Dissemination 265 Page Table 11-5 Federal Civilian Agency Research or Evaluation Studies 278 n-6 Federal Employees in Job Categories Relevant to Information Dissemination Fiscal Year 1985 281 11-7 Top 10 Federal Blue-Collar Employers in Washington DC Metropolitan Statistical Area Fiscal Year 1985 281 11-8 Top 10 Federal Agencies With Largest Printing Workforce Fiscal Year 1985 282 11-9 Description of 20 Sample Printing Jobs Used for Estimating Costs 284 11-10 Cost Estimates for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars GPO Regional and Main Plants 284 11-11 Cost Estimates for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars Agency Plants and Private Printers 285 11-12 Estimated Total Costs for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars 285 11-13 Estimated Costs by Job and Total for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars GPO Main Plant Procured and Private Printer 286 11-14 Agency Views on Cost of GPO Work 1983 Survey of Agency Customers 287 11-15 Agency Views on GPO Inhouse v GPO Contractors 1983 Survey 287 11-16 GPO Procured Printing Percent of Jobs Delinquent by Fiscal Year 288 11-17 GPO Main Plant Printing Percent of Jobs Delinquent Fiscal Year 1987 289 11-18 Results of GPO Quality Audits Number of Defects Per 100 Items Inplant v Procured Agency Printing 290 11-19 Agency Views on GPO Cost Estimates 1983 Survey 290 Chapter 11 Federal Information Dissemination Policy in an Electronic Age SUMMARY The rapid deployment of electronic information technologies by Federal agencies as with all major sectors of American society is generating a number of issues with respect to public policy on Federal information dissemination This chapter raises and examines several broad information policy issues These include congressional commitment to public access to Federal information the need for revision of governmentwide information dissemination policy-particularly regarding cost-effectiveness the role of the private sector and electronic v paper formats the need for clarification of institutional roles and responsibilities and improvements in information dissemination management These analyses are followed by a discussion of ways to improve conventional printing activities of the Federal Government with respect to cost timeliness and quality and estimating and billing procedures A fundamental cross-cutting issue is public access to Federal information Debate over the use of electronic formats privatization and the like is obscuring the commitment of Congress to public access Congress has expressed through numerous public laws the importance of Federal information and the dissemination of that information in carrying out agency missions and the principles of democracy and open government A renewed commitment to public access in an electronic age maybe needed Congress may wish to revise governmentwide information dissemination policy In so doing Congress would need to consider and reconcile several sometimes competing considerations including enhancing public access minimizing unnecessary overlap and duplication in Federal information activities reducing unnecessary or wasteful Federal information activities optimizing the use of electronic v paper formats and optimizing the role of the private sector The Office of Management and Budget OMB has promulgated its own view of appropriate public policy in the form of OMB Circulars A-130 and A-76 The OMB view is controversial as it relates to Federal information dissemination In the absence of clear and positive congressional direction conflict and confusion are likely to continue Congress may wish to amend specific statutes including the Printing Act Depository Library Act and Paperwork Reduction Act promulgate its own version of the basic principles addressed in A-1 30 and establish guidelines on the role of the private sector including contracting out and provision of value-added information products Congress could act on a governmentwide agencyby-agency or program-by-program basis Congress also may wish clarify the roles and responsibilities of Federal institutions involved with information dissemination including mission agencies and governmentwide dissemination agencies such as the U S Government Printing Office GPO and National Technical Information Service NTIS The advent of numerous options for electronic dissemination has aggravated concerns about statutory authority e g Printing Act v Paperwork Reduction Act jurisdiction over electronic for- 255 256 mats separation of powers e g legislative v executive branch control over agency printing procurement Printing Act v Brooks Act jurisdiction over electronic publishing systems role of the private sector e g privatization v government incorporation of NTIS and overall policy guidance e g OMB v Joint Committee on Printing JCP roles These issues have led to various proposals for reorganization of government information dissemination institutions In the absence of congressional direction conflict and confusion are likely to continue OTA identified several alternatives for improvement of information dissemination management that could be implemented in the short-term by executive branch action using existing statutory authorities and with the concurrence of Congress but with no required statutory action Of course one or any combination of these alternatives could be incorporated into a legislative package as amendments to various statutes should Congress determine that a stronger mandate is needed There is a clear consensus that appropriate technical standards for electronic publishing and dissemination are essential if the government wishes to realize potential cost-effectiveness and productivity improvements The National Bureau of Standards NBS Defense Technical Information Center DTIC or another Department of Defense DoD component and GPO could be assigned lead responbility to accelerate the ongoing standardssetting process presumably incorporating accepted or emerging industry standards to the extent possible There is also general consensus in and out of government for the establishment of a governmentwide index to major Federal information products--regardless of format--although there are differing views on how to implement an index GPO and NTIS or a Government Information Office should one be established with possible assistance from the private sector and information science community could be assigned responsibility to consolidate and upgrade existing indices directions and inventories including the results of OMB surveys into one integrated index The index could be made available in multiple formats and disseminated direct from the government as well as via the depository libraries and private vendors perhaps in enhanced form Federal agency officials expressed strong support for much improved mechanisms to exchange learning and experience about technological innovations Information dissemination innovation centers could be designated or established in each branch of government for example at DTIC for the defense sector NTIS and or NBS for the civilian executive branch and GPO for the legislative branch and under grant or contract to a university or other independent nonprofit research center Agencies could be required to conduct agency X-2000 studies to creatively explore and develop their own visions of future information dissemination activities Information dissemination is still not an effective part of agency information resources management IRM programs A variety of IRM training career development budget and management actions could be implemented to give information dissemination including printing publishing press public affairs and the like a stronger and better understood role within the IRM concept Also whether within the IRM concept or otherwise Federal agency participation in electronic press release activities could be expanded with electronic releases provided directly to the press to private electronic news and wire services and perhaps to depository libraries Finally OTA identified several alternatives that could be implemented to improve the government conventional ink-on-paper printing Despite the rapid increase in electronic formats there is likely to be significant continuing de- 257 mand for printed copies of a broad range of Federal reports and other printed materials Thus for at least the next 5 years and probably longer there will be a need to continually improve the Federal Government's conventional printing Some Federal agencies have raised concerns about the cost timeliness and quality of GPO printing Based on information available to OTA the cost of GPO's procured printing appears to be competitive and there appears to be no financial basis for dismantling the GPO printing procurement program However GPO main plant inhouse work is more expensive than procured work There are several alternatives for reducing the cost to Federal agencies including use of special rates reducing indirect costs and overhead and use of costsaving technology With respect to timeliness of GPO procured work the overall data do not suggest a widespread delinquency problem However the percentage of delinquent printing jobs at the GPO main plant is two to three times higher than procured jobs This warrants further evaluation to determine the extent of the problem and possibly to take action to smooth the work flow encourage realistic delivery estimates and limit priority work With respect to quality of GPO printing again the overall data do not suggest a widespread problem although the defect rate for inhouse work is somewhat higher than for procured work Other areas that appear to be in need of improvement are cost estimating and billing procedures Routine itemized billing warrants consideration There is need for even stronger cooperative working relationships between agency printers and publishers and GPO staff and between publishers printers public information officers financial and procurement officers and the like within the agencies Existing intra- and interagency advisory groups could be reviewed and strengthened and or new groups established Other potential improvements in conventional printing identified but not examined by OTA include use of nonacidic paper alternative printing inks and expert systems software for printing management RENEWED COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC ACCESS A major crosscutting issue for this study is public access to Federal information In the broadest sense all of the technical institutional and policy mechanisms discussed in previous chapters are intended to facilitate public access The debate in recent years over cost-effectiveness privatization and the like has sometimes obscured the fundamental and enduring commitment of Congress and indeed of public law to the principle of public access Information is the lifeblood of Federal Government programs and activities and is essential not only to the implementation of agency missions but to informed public debate decision and evaluation concerning such programs and activities Broad public access to such information has been established by Congress as a primary policy objective to be accom- plished through a variety of information dissemination mechanisms including government-initiated activities such as the GPO and NTIS document sales programs the GPO depository library program DLP and citizeninitiated activities such as submitting FOIA requests The policy framework establishing public access as a goal of Federal information dissemination consists of both governmentwide and agency-specific statutes plus various legislative and executive branch directives circulars and guidelines Many governmentwide statutory provisions have been codified in Title 44 of the U S Code Public Printing and Documents Several 258 -- key chapters of Title 44 include the following illustrative provisions Chapter l-establishes the JCP to remedy neglect delay duplication or waste in the public printing and binding and the distribution of Government publications 44 103 Chapters 3 and 5-establish GPO to be headed by the Public Printer require that all printing binding and blank-book work for the Government be done at GPO except as approved by the JCP and authorize GPO to procure printing with approval of the JCP 44 U S C 301 501 502 Chapters 7 and 9--establish rules procedures and authorities for printing binding and distribution of congressional documents including the Congressional Record and specify responsibilities of the JCP and GPO among others Chapters 11 and 13-establish rules procedures and authorities for printing binding and distribution of executive and judicial branch documents Chapter 15-establishes the Office of the Federal Register now located in the National Archives and Records Administration NARA and rules and procedures for preparation of the Register and printing by GPO Chapter 17-establishes the Superintendent of Documents SupDocs within GPO and the rules procedures and authorities for SupDocs sale and distribution of public documents preparation of an index to public documents and catalog of government publications and international exchange of government publications Chapter 19--establishes rules procedures and authorities for the DLP to be administered by the SupDocs Chapters 21 29 31 and 33-establish rules procedures and authorities for the preservation of historical materials e g books documents papers maps of the government and for management retention and disposal of government records assign responsibilities to the Administra- U S C tor of General Services GSA Archivist of the United States and Federal agencies and assign administrative responsibility to the Archivist of the United States and now NARA Chapter 35--establishes rules procedures and-authorities for coordination and management of Federal information policy relevant to the collection maintenance use and dissemination of Federal information and the acquisition and use of automatic data processing and telecommunications technologies by the Federal Government establishes the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs OIRA in OMB and assigns responsibilities to OIRA and Federal agencies Prior analyses by the Congressional Research Service CRS have found that Congress has enacted literally hundreds of specific laws that assign information collection clearinghouse directory dissemination and related functions to Federal agencies ' Some illustrative laws enacted by the 95th through 99th Congresses are shown in Table 11-1 A review of prior OTA reports also revealed that information dissemination is an important aspect of many issues facing Congress ranging from medical technologies to hazardous waste disposal to ocean resource management to energy conservation Excerpts from selected OTA reports are capsulized in Table 11-2 Congress frequently includes the establishment or strengthening of information dissemination and related collection mechanisms in legislative actions to address current problems such as AIDS or international competitiveness The CRS list of legislation introduced in the 100th Congress provides a further indication of congressional intent as highlighted in Table 11-3 'Sandra N Milevski and Robert L Chartrand Information Policy Legislation of the 95-98th Congresses With Selected Bills of the 99th Congress Congressional Research Service June 1985 Sandra N Milevski Information-Related Legislation of the 99th Congress CRS August 1986 Robert L Chartrand Information Policy and Technology Issues Public Laws of the 95th through 99th Congresses CRS February 1987 ---- -- 259 Table 11-1 --illustrative Public Laws Relevant to Information Dissemination 95th Through 99th Congresses -- -- -- Public Laws relevant provisions in capsule form 95th Congress P L 95-87 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to establish a surface coal mining and reclamation information clearinghouse P L 95-166 National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Amendments to disseminate nutrition information P L 95-267 National Climate Program Act to gather and disseminate national and international climate data P L 95-273 Ocean Pollution Research and Monitoring Program Act to establish an ocean pollution information system P L 95-307 Forest and Park Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act to disseminate scientific information on all aspects of forest and rangeland renewable resources 96th Congress P L 96-302 Small Business Administration SBA Authorization Act SBA to create a small business economic database and publish economic indices P L 96-345 Wind Energy Systems Research Development and Demonstration Act of 1979 Department of Energy DOE to collect evaluate and disseminate data on wind energy systems P L 96-374 Education Act Amendments of 1980 Dept of Education to establish an Information clearinghouse for the handicapped P L 96-399 Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD to collect and report data on sales prices for new homes P L 96-482 Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments of 1979 Environmental Protection Agency EPA to collect maintain and disseminate information on energy and materials conservation and recovery from solid waste Public Laws relevant provisions in capsule term 97th Congress P L 97-88 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1982 Department of the Interior DOI to prepare and disseminate information on recreational uses of reservoir areas and archeological remains i n such areas P L 97-98 Agriculture and Food Act U S Department of Agriculture to develop an agricultural land resources information system and to establish relations with foreign agricultural information systems P L 97-290 Export Trading Company Act of 1982 Dept of Commerce to disseminate information on export trading P L 97-292 Missing Children Act Attorney General to acquire and exchange information to help identify and locate certain deceased individuals and missing chiIdren 98th Congress P L 98-24 Alcohol and Drug Abuse Amendments of 1983 Department of Health and Human Services HHS to disseminate information regarding health hazards of alcohol and drug abuse P L 98-362 Small Business Computer Crime Prevention Act SBA to establish an information resource center on computer crime P L 98-373 Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1982 to establish data collection and retrieval center for arctic research and to promulgate guidelines for use and dissemination of such information 99th Congress P L 99-412 Conservation Service Reform Act of 1985 DOE to disseminate information annually to states and public utilities on residential energy conservation P L 99-570 National Antidrug Reorganization and Coordination Act HHS to establish a clearinghouse for alcohol and drug abuse -- information -- -- ---- -- SOURCE R L Chartrand Congressional Research Service 1988 There is a history of congressional actions to institutionalize information dissemination functions as illustrated by the establishment of the Library of Congress in 1800 the Federal Depository Library Program in 1813 the Library of the Surgeon General's office in 1836 later to become the National Library of Medicine NLM the GPO in 1860 National Agricultural Library NAL in 1862 and NTIS in 1970 In addition Congress has articulated the importance of access to and dissemination of public information in enacting for example the Printing Act of 1895 remodified in 1968 as Part of Title 44 of the U S Code Depository Library Act of 1962 Freedom of Information Act of 1966 Public Law 91-345 establishing the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science in 1970 Federal Program Information Act P L 95-220 creating a database on Federal domestic assistance programs and Paperwork Reduction Act in 1980 codified as part of Title 44 Thus taken as a whole congressional intent with respect to Federal information is clear In general unimpeded dissemination of and access to Federal information is encouraged or frequently required and is vital to performance of agency and programmatic missions established by statute as well as to the principles of open government and a democratic society Despite the breadth and depth of legislated congressional commitment to Federal information dissemination and the overriding goal of 260 Table 11-2 --lllustrative OTA Report Excerpts Relevant to Information Dissemination Starpower The U S and International Quest for Fusion October 1987 Effective exchange of information on research in progress technical know-how experimental data and the like would minimize unnecessary duplication of effort and increase the probabilities of scientific or technical breakthroughs Technologies for the Preservation of Prehistoric and Historic Landscapes July 1987 A national computerized database of identified historic landscapes would help increase awareness management and conservation of historic landscapes and facilitate identification of as yet uncatalogued landscapes Marine Minerals Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier July 1987 Better coordinated policy on archiving and disseminating oceanographic data and upgrading of oceanographic data centers would help make such data more readily available to a wide range of potential users Technologies to Maintain Biological Diversity March 1987 The quality of data on biological diversity is uneven for different parts of the world due in part to data being collected for different purposes stored in different forms and scattered among different institutions An information clearinghouse with integrated databases on biological diversity would enhance access to and use of the data and reduce duplication of effort Transportation of Hazardous Materials July 1986 Lack of adequate information about transport of hazardous materials is one key factor contributing to accidents and the resultant injuries and environmental damage Federal State and local governments need improved information systems to help set regulations reduce high-risk accident potential target enforcement efforts and plan for effective emergency response when accidents do occur Alternatives to Animal Use in Research Testing and Education February 1986 The sharing of information on animal-based research and testing is vital to scientific progress A computer-based registry of research and testing would help decrease the use of animals by reducing unintentional duplication of effort facilitate new kinds of data analyses and save time and money SOURCE Off Ice of Technology Assessment 1988 public access major policy issues have developed in several different areas This is especially true with respect to the use of electronic information technologies to access to Federal electronic information They argue that the Federal Government has a responsibility to assure equity of access to Federal information in electronic formats as well as in paper to the degree that electronic formats offer significant cost or usefulness advantages Based on the results of commissioned research surveys and various outreach activities conducted as part of this assessment significant segments of the interested public desire access to Federal information in electronic formats where it is appropriate useful and cost-effective The results of the GAO survey of Federal information users as detailed in chapter 4 confirm this desire Overall the library research media public interest consumer business State local government and physically handicapped communities among others support the principle of public access to Federal information regardless of formats Consumer library and public interest groups also have expressed concern about the decline in availability of and increase in user charges for Federal information products and services Both the number of total and the number of free Federal publications appears to have declined over the past decade and many agencies have adopted some form of marginal cost recovery as the basis for pricing agency publications and other information products or services However many of these groups believe that Federal information users are increasingly disadvantaged to the extent Federal information in electronic form is not available through the normal governmentwide dissemination channels and or that there are significant barriers Congress may wish to consider making a renewed commitment to the overriding goal of public access and perhaps even a reaffirmation of principles established by Congress in previous statutes but updated to reflect the increasingly electronic nature of Federal information 261 CLARIFICATION OF GOVERNMENTWIDE INFORMATION DISSEMINATION POLICY Over the last decade implementation of the overall goal of public access to Federal information has been complicated by several sometimes competing public policy goals with respect to cost-effectiveness of Federal information activities These include a desire to o minimize unnecessary overlap and duplication in Federal information activities reduce unnecessary or wasteful Federal information activities and optimize or in the opinion of some stake- Table 11-3 --Selected Legislation Introduced in the 100th Congress Relevant to Information Dissemination Bill Number -- Title and or description H R 393 S 1354 National--Biotechnology Information Act of 1987 to establish the National Center for Biotechnology Information with i n the National Library of Medicine H J Res 370 Directs the Secretary of Transportation to develop airline safety indicators and provide such information to the public H R 1 S 1 Water Quality Act of 1987 directs EPA to fund a National Clearinghouse on Small Flows of sewage and to collect and disseminate research and other information on the environmental quality of the Chesapeake Bay H R 407 National Home Health Clearinghouse Act of 1987 to establish a clearinghouse to collect and disseminate information on home health care for the elderly H R 2800 Directs EPA to collect and disseminate information on reduction of toxic chemical emissions S 1429 Directs EPA to establish a clearinghouse on waste reduction S 744 Directs EPA to develop and implement an information clearinghouse and national database on the location and amounts of radon H R 1407 Directs the Secretary of Trade created in this bill to develop and maintain a system to collect and disseminate information on international trade SOURCE R L Chartrand and E Baldwin Congressional Research Service 1988 holders maximize the role of the private sector The goal of public access is complicated by the lack of clear congressional guidance on the use of electronic v paper formats in Federal information dissemination activities and how goals of public access and cost-effectiveness are to be reconciled OMB has promulgated its own view of appropriate public policy but the OMB view is controversial and as discussed below not necessarily consistent with at least what can be reasonably inferred from a variety of congressional actions However absent a clear and positive congressional clarification probably in statutory form conflict and confusion are likely to continue Cost-Effectiveness Both the legislative and executive branches of government have expressed concern about whether electronic information technologies are being deployed by the Federal Government in a cost-effective manner There are several subelements to this issue One is simply the need to minimize overlap and duplication in technology-based Federal information activities through effective management and coordination The Paperwork Reduction of Act of 1980 was directed in large part at this problem and required that OMB through OIRA and the major executive agencies implement an integrated approach to planning for and managing information resources This has become known as the Information Resources Management IRM concept and all major agencies have since designated 'senior IRM officials While the legislative history of the Paperwork Reduction Act indicates that information dissemination was intended to be covered the language of the act as originally enacted was ambiguous However 1986 amendments to the Paperwork Reduction Act explicitly included 262 ''information dissemination in the statutory language 2 One purpose of the amended Paperwork Reduction Act is to maximize the usefulness of information collected maintained and disseminated by the Federal Government And the authority and functions of the OIRA Director and of Federal agencies extend to 'sharing and dissemination of information 3 A second aspect of concern about cost-effectiveness involves reducing unnecessary or wasteful Federal information activities The Paperwork Reduction Act is clear in its intent that the government information collection burden on the public be reduced reflecting the presumption that government information collection activities were at least at that time uncoordinated and included a significant portion of unnecessary collection requests The Act is silent on reduction of information dissemination activities Also the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 called for reductions in certain Federal publishing public affairs and audio-visual activities Some cuts were made in response to the Act and as part of OMB's general initiative to reduce fraud waste and abuse OMB claimed that about 4 000 government publications were eliminated or consolidated by 1985 and that more than 100 agency printing duplicating plants had been eliminated or consolidated out of about 850 agency plants operating in the continental United States and another 200 overseas 4 GPO had provided OMB with recommendations for the consolidation downgrading or closure of 250 of these plants of which 70 were ultimately closed OMB concluded in 1985 that any further significant reductions in publishing and related activities would compromise essential agency missions 5 'U S Congress Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal 1987 Title VIII Paperwork Reduction Reauthorization Sec 811 which amends 44 U S C 3501 3 99th Congress 2nd sess pp 350 351 353 'Ibid Wffice of Management and Budget Management of the United States Government Fiscal Year 1986 January 1985 and OMB Managing Federal Information Resources June 1984 I bid Management Neither the Paperwork Reduction Act nor the Deficit Reduction Act explicitly mention reductions in electronic information dissemination activities Current OMB officials concur that the Paperwork Reduction Act does not provide guidance on electronic or any information dissemination Indeed according to Dr Timothy Sprehe of OMB 6 While the Paperwork Reduction Act in several places uses the term dissemination neither in that act nor elsewhere has Congress given the executive branch a single comprehensive set of statutory directions regarding responsibilities of all Federal agencies for actively disseminating Government information Put another way the Paperwork Reduction Act provides fairly explicit statutory policy regarding information input to Government-- controlling the collection of information and imposition of record-keeping requirements-- but says little regarding information output from Government The act and its legislative history do articulate congressional intent to maximize public access to government information For example the original purpose of the act was among other things to maximize the usefulness of information collected by the Federal Government and extended to specifically include information maintained and disseminated per the 1986 amendments as noted earlier ' The Senate report accompanying the original act stated that the Committee expects the Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to take appropriate steps to maximize public access to the information the Federal Government collects 8 Also the Federal Information Locater System which the original act required OMB to establish was intended to help serve this purpose 9 The 1986 amendments further strengthened this statutory requirement However it is correct that the act does not provide the kind of de J Timothy Sprehe Developing Federal Information Resources Management Polity Issues and Impact for Information Managers Information Management Review vol 2 No 3 1987 p 37 see generally pp 33-41 744 U s c 3501 3 'S Rep No 96-930 p 3 '44 U S C 3501 2 B and D 263 tailed guidance on information dissemination that was provided on information collection A third part of the concern about cost-effectiveness involves the role of the private sector Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act OMB has promulgated Circular A-130 on Management of Federal Information Resources A-130 emphasizes the role of the private sector in information dissemination activities The history of A-130 is informative The draft circular formulated after a public input process strongly emphasized reliance on the private sector and user charges For example the draft circular recognized that government information dissemination could be necessary and even essential to agency missions But the draft circular would have permitted such dissemination by the government only if the information product or service was not already provided by other government or private sector organizations or could reasonably be provided by such organizations in the absence of agency dissemination 10 Moreover while the draft circular noted that dissemination should be conducted 'in a manner that reasonably ensures the information will reach the public the draft circular required that 'maximum feasible reliance' be placed on the private sector for dissemination and that the costs of dissemination be recovered through user charges where appropriate 11 The draft circular proved to be controversial and numerous objections were received The final version of the circular issued by OMB in December 1985 gives more explicit recognition to the importance of government information For example the circular states that government information is a valuable national resource and '' t he free flow of information from the government to its citizens and vice versa is essential in a democratic so' 'Office of hlanagement and Budget Itlanagement of Federal Information Resources Federal Register vol 50 No 51 Mar 15 1985 Sec H a 11 Ibid See a g For furth r discussion SW Harold Relyea Jane Bortnick and Richard C E hlke Ifanagement of Federd information Resources 4 kneral Critique of the March 1985 OMB Draft Circular-- llat ters for Possible Congressional Consideration Congressional Research Service I ibrary of Con- gress July 5 1985 ciety 12 The circular still emphasizes the role of the private sector Federal agency dissemination must be either specifically required by law' or n eccessary for the proper performance of agency functions ' provided that the information products and services disseminated do not duplicate similar products or services that are or would otherwise be provided by other government or private sector organizations 13 The circular requires that ''maximum feasible reliance' be placed on the private sector for dissemination and that costs be recovered through user charges where appropriate 14 The statutory authority for the information dissemination provisions of OMB circular A-130 appears to be unclear While much of the circular clearly is responsive to the Paperwork Reduction Act the act does not specifically speak to the role of the private sector or user charges in Federal information dissemination While the act does assert the need to minimize the cost to the government of collecting using and disseminating information the act does not address how this need should be met The cost recovery provision of OMB Circular A-130 was and is controversial and is widely interpreted by agencies as strongly encouraging if not requiring user charges for information dissemination However a careful reading of A-130 indicates that the decisions on pricing are left up to the discretion of agency heads the user charge where applied should be set to recover the cost of information reproduction or dissemination only and not the cost of collecting or creating the information user charges should take into account both the nature of the agency mission and client groups and user charges can be waived or eliminated if necessary to carry out mission objectives 1-Office of Management and Budget Circular No A-130 Management of Federal Information Resources Dec 12 1985 Secs 7 a and b 'I bid Sees 9 a and hi '' Ibi i Sees 11 b and c 264 In effect OMB policy on user charges permits the individual Federal agencies considerable latitude as to pricing of Federal information dissemination regardless of format In promulgating A-130 OMB applied the philosophy of OMB circular A-25 regarding user charges for government goods and services in general to information dissemination in particular Note that OMB has issued a draft revision to A-25 Similarly OMB applied the philosophy of OMB circular A-76 regarding contracting out of commercially available services in general to information dissemination in particular 15 The private sector already has a major role in Federal information dissemination A key issue is how this role relates to the government goal of access broadly defined 'G The private sector traditionally has a major role as contractor to the government for a wide range of services some of which are information related Both the Printing Act P L 90-620 and the Brooks Act P L 89-306 and their implementing guidelines facilitate contracting out of Federal printing and computer-related activities Private sector printing contracts through the GPO are averaging about $600 million annually and private sector information technology contracts through GSA and the line agen'%prehe footnote 6 op cit pp 38-39 and Office of Management and Budget Draft Revision of OMB Circular A-25 on User Charges Federal Register vol 52 No 126 July 1 1987 pp 24890-24892 IGThere have been numerous prior studies on this neral topic See for example U S National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Public Sector Private Sector Interaction in Providing Information Services February 1982 U S Congress House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights Government Provision of Information Services in Competition With the Private Sector 97th Congress 1st Sess Feb 25 1982 U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment MEDLARS and Health Information Policy OTATM-H-1 1 U S GPO Washington DC September 1982 U S Library of Congress Network Development Office Public Private Sector Interactions The Implications for Networking prepared by the Network Advisory Committee 1983 U S National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Information Policy Implications of Archiving Satellite Data To Preserve the Sense of Earth from Space Washington DC 1984 U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment Remote Sensing and the Private Sector Issues for Discussion OTA-TM- ISC-20 U S GPO Washington DC March 1984 and Peter Hernon and Charles R McClure Federal Information Policies in the 1980's Conflicts and Issues Ablex Publishing Norwood N J 1987 cies are averaging conservatively $8 billion annually for hardware software and services Over the past 5 years an estimated $3 billion in printing contracts and $40 billion in information technology contracts have been awarded to the private sector Much of the information technology contracting is for the general information infrastructure of the Federal Government The fraction devoted directly or indirectly to information dissemination functions is not known since the OMB and agency IRM budgets and plans do not collect or provide financial data by type of application The 114 civilian departmental agency components responding to the GAO survey reported collectively an average of $1 1 billion annually for fiscal year 1983 through fiscal year 1987 in private sector contracting for information clearinghouse operations The extent of overlap between this figure and the IRM figures is unknown Recent automation programs for information dissemination-related activities at agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC and Patent and Trademark Office PTO have included private sector contracting in the range of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per agency In addition to its role as a government contractor the private sector is a major user and reseller of Federal information as will be discussed later in this chapter Electronic v Paper Formats The second major issue cluster involves the applicability of the existing statutory framework and implementing directives to electronic as opposed to paper forms of information dissemination As noted earlier the Paperwork Reduction Act provides little substantive guidance on electronic information dissemination Unfortunately the two other critically important statutes the Printing Act and Freedom of Information Act were enacted in 1895 and 1966 respectively and both predated the era of widespread electronic information exchange Neither has been updated to reflect electronic formats as a result there is considerable controversy about their applicability to electronic formats Much of the debate turns on such narrow questions as whether terms such as printing publication record and document are to be interpreted as limited to paper formats or to include relevant Federal information regardless of format Today most Federal agencies are operating in a partial policy vacuum when it comes to electronic information dissemination In addition to the confusion and controversy over governmentwide statutory application the results of the GAO survey indicate that the majority of agencies do not have documented policies or procedures on providing public access to electronic databases on the electronic dissemination of information by agency contractors or on the applicability of FOIA to public information in electronic formats The results are highlighted in Table 11-4 for 114 civilian departmental agency components and 48 independent civilian agencies The absence of explicit governmentwide policy on electronic information dissemination is recognized by key legislative and executive branch officials As early as the late 1970s the JCP recognized the need to review and possibly update the Printing Act with respect to electronic printing and dissemination In 1979 the JCP issued a comprehensive overview of a wide range of relevant issues 17 In the early 1980s the JCP initiated a revision of the Government Printing and Binding Regulations to deal in part with technological change 18 While the revision effort did not come to fruition the JCP did issue a requirement in 1985 that agencies submit to the JCP comprehensive printITU S Congress Joint Committee on Printing Federal Government Printing and Publishing Policy Issues Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Revision of Title 44 U S Government Printing Office Washington DC 1979 Also see U S Congress Joint Committee on Printing The Printing Procurement Program of the Federal Government Report of the Task Force on the Printing Procurement Program 99th Congress 1st sess Washington DC U S Government Printing Office 1986 1 Memorandum to Heads of All Federal Departments and Agencies from Rep Augustus F Hawkins Chairman Joint Committee on Printing U S Congress June 20 1983 Also see U S Congress Joint Committee on Printing Revisions to Printing and Binding Regulations of the Joint Committee on Printing 130 Congressional Record P H7075 ff June 26 1984 Table 11-4 -Federal Agency Policies on Electronic Information Dissemination Policy area Percent of agencies having documented policies and procedures Departmental a Independent b Public access to agency electronic databases 9 6 yes 90 4 no Electronic dissemination by agency contractors yes 7 9 43 0 no 49 1 do not use contractors Applicability of FOIA to electronic formats 18 4 yes no 81 6 a Departmental civilian agency components b 10 4 89 6 6 3 41 7 52 1 25 0 --75 0 lndependent civilian agency components SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 ing program plans that included new technology Also during this time period the JCP actively explored the provision of electronic formats to the depository libraries and issued two reports on this topic 20 In 1986 the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs introduced legislation to amend the Paperwork Reduction Act to provide much clearer guidance on information dissemination 21 A-few of the relevant provisions were incorporated in the Paperwork Reduction Act Amendments enacted by Congress at the close of the 99th Congress Also in 1986 the House Committee on Government Operations issued a comprehensive report and policy overview of issues pertaining to electronic collection and dissemination of Federal information 22 The 19 Memorandum t Heads of All Federal Departments and Agencies from Sen Charles McC Mathias Jr Chairman Joint Committee on Printing U S Congress Sept 23 1985 20 U S Congress Joint Committee on Printing Provision of Federal Government Publications in Electronic Format to Depository Libraries 98th Congress 2d sess U S GPO Washington D C 1984 and An Open Forum on the Provision of Electronic Federal Information to Depository Libraries 99th Congress 1st sess U S GPO 1985 U S Congress Senate S 2230 Federal Management Re- organization and Cost Control Act of 1986 Mar 26 1986 and especially Title VI on Federal Information Policy 22 U S Congress House Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information Justice and Agriculture Electronic Collection and Dissemination of Infor continued on next page 266 report was prepared by the Subcommittee on Government Information Justice and Agriculture based in part on hearings that explored early agency initiatives in electronic dissemination Subsequently the House Committees on Government Operations Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary have collaborated on statutory language to address issues raised by SEC and PTO automation plans that affect access to and dissemination of agency information In 1987 the JCP passed resolutions authorizing and encouraging the GPO to offer electronic formats and services and to conduct appropriate pilot tests A few agencies such as the Department of Commerce DOC have initiated internal task forces to address electronic dissemination policy issues The DOC task force recently issued a draft policy on electronic dissemination Also in 1987 OMB issued Bulletin No 8714 which directed all executive departments and agencies to inventory their information dissemination products and services and report the results to OMB 23 This bulletin essentially revises OMB Bulletin 86-11 on government publications to include electronic formats such as machine-readable data files e g magnetic tapes floppy disks software online electronic databases and electronic bulletin boards In addition to activity reports agencies are directed to establish and maintain electronic inventories of all information dissemination products and services and to make these inventories available to the public Agencies may provide these inventories either directly as long as there is no duplication with other agency or private sector offerings or indirectly through other agencies or continued from previous page mation by Federal Agencies A Policy Overview House Report 99-560 99th Congress 2d sess U S GPO Washington DC Apr 29 1986 Also see U S Congress House Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights Government Provision of Information Services in Competition With the Private Sector Hearing 97th Congress 2d sess U S GPO Washington D C Feb 25 1982 and Rep Glenn English Electronic Filing of Documents With the Government New Technology Presents New Problems Congressional Record-House Mar 14 1984 H 1614-1615 ' Office of Management and Budget Report and Inventory of Government Information Dissemination Products and Services OMB Bulletin No 87-14 June 8 1987 private sector entities The agency responses to this bulletin have not yet been released by OMB OMB has issued 24 a draft policy on electronic information collection or filing which is relevant since electronic collection and dissemination can be part of the same system and a draft policy on Federal statistical activities which states that agencies are expected to conform to A-130 with respect to dissemination of statistical information Another example of ambiguity and controversy about statutory applicability concerns the Depository Library Act of 1962 Both this act and the related Printing Act of 1895 predate electronic dissemination and use conventional paper-based terminology The word ''electronic' does not appear in these acts However the legislative history of the Depository Library Act of 1962 can be interpreted to suggest that congressional intent was inclusive with respect to government information see chs 6 and 7 for further discussion While the primary formats available at the time of enactment were traditional paper-based reports publications and documents historical debate suggests that new formats could and should be accommodated Indeed microfiche is now a well established part of the depository program Moreover the JCP as noted earlier has instructed the GPO and by extension the depository program run by GPO to include electronic formats OMB in circular A-130 directed agencies to provide all publications to depository libraries via GPO but explicitly used the definition of 'publication informational matter published as an individual document found in the 44 USC 1901 rather than the broader term information informational matter in any medium including computerized databases microform or magnetic tape as well as paper used elsewhere in Office of Management and Budget Notice of Policy Guidance on Electronic Collection of Information Aug 7 1987 printed in Federal Register vol 52 pp 29454-29457 0MB Summary of Comments on Notice of Policy Guidance on Electronic Collection of Information Nov 17 1987 OMB Notice of Draft Circular Establishing Guidelines for Federal Statistical Activities Federal Register vol 53 No 12 Jan 20 1988 pp 1542-1552 267 A-130 Also in Bulletin 87-14 OMB excluded electronic formats from the agency reporting requirements for materials provided to the depository library program In sum OMB appears to have reservations or at least be quite uncertain about whether and to what extent electronic formats should be included in the depository library program In sharp contrast the chairman of the JCP has stated that 25 When a Federal agency publishes Government information in electronic format for mass or general distribution whether as a complement to or as a substitute for conventionally printed material the GPO should and must continue to provide its full range of services and support in the production distribution and sale of such publications This of course includes the distribution of such electronic Government publications to depository libraries One final example of ambiguity over statutory applicability to electronic formats involves the Freedom of Information Act FOIA Enactment of FOIA in 1966 shifted the burden of proof from the public to Federal agencies when questions of access to Federal information are in dispute The act served to establish full agency disclosure as the operating principle unless information was in one of the categories e g classified proprietary specifically exempted The advent of electronic information technology largely postdated the act and as a result numerous issues have arisen in the agencies and the courts For example what is a' 'reasonable' search for the desired information when the information is in electronic form and the search can be conducted in a computerassisted fashion What is the definition of an agency ''record' when a record could be in a machine-readable format such as a database floppy disk or optical disk If computer software is needed to access electronic agency information effectively does or should the software be defined as an integral part of the agency record and of a reasonable search Does a legal agency record exist when the record has 25 Letter from Honorable Frank Annunzio Chairman Joint Committee on Printing to Honorable Ralph E Kennickell Jr Public Pinter Mar 25 1988 never been and may never be in hardcopy paper format These and other questions present a growing challenge to the interpretation of FOIA in an increasingly electronic environment In many areas the FOIA case law on electronic formats is limited ambiguous or contradictory and the courts have suggested the need for legislative remedies see ch 9 Possible Congressional Actions If Congress wishes to preserve and strengthen the principle of public access to Federal information a number of possible actions warrant consideration These range from amending specific statutes with respect to electronic formats to articulating an overall statement of congressional intent For example if Congress wishes to maintain the integrity of FOIA for electronic as well as traditional paper formats the option of amending the statute deserves serious consideration and indeed may well be essential Various specific electronic FOIA issues that could be addressed by amendments are discussed in some detail in chapter 9 Similarly if it is congressional intent that the DLP should include Federal information in all formats then Congress may need to amend appropriate statutes to eliminate the current ambiguity and controversy Various specific depository library issues that could be addressed are discussed in detail in chapter 7 Another congressional action that warrants serious consideration is the promulgation of congressional views perhaps in statutory form on the information dissemination principles addressed in OMB's Circular A-130 The most important contribution could be to establish a clearer sense of congressional priority with respect to public access and cost-effectiveness goals A central question is--which comes first if choices must be made For example one possible interpretation of congressional intent regarding Federal information dissemination is to give highest priority to unimpeded and open dissemination in order to realize the overriding policy goal of public ac- 268 cess This could be achieved as cost-effectively as possible without compromising public access and utilizing the private sector where appropriate as one means to achieve these ends This interpretation is philosophically somewhat different from that reflected in OMB Circular A-130 and also from OMB Circular A-76 which requires contracting out of commercially available services when cost-effective to the government Note that the applicability of A-76 to arguably inherent governmental functions such as information dissemination and the cost-effectiveness of private contracting of such functions are also in dispute These topics are considered below and in chapter 12 under the discussion of possible privatization of NTIS or GPO Given the potentially conflicting interpretations of congressional intent congressional clarification or reaffirmation appears warranted possibly through amendment of relevant statues such as the Printing Act or Paperwork Reduction Act Congress may need to clarify its intent about whether and under what conditions privatizing Federal information dissemination functions is appropriate given the vital governmental nature of many dissemination activities and whether and under what conditions privatizing is cost-effective OMB Circular A-76 on Performance of Commercial Activities August 4 1983 states that the Federal Government shall rely on commercially available sources to provide commercial products and services if the product or service can be procured more economically from a commercial source and is not inherently governmental in nature Circular A-76 defines a governmental function as so intimately related to the public interest as to mandate performance by Government employees such as management of government programs requiring value judgments selection of program priorities direction of Federal employees regulation of the use of space oceans navigable rivers and other natural resources and regulation of industry and commerce A-76 does not specifically address whether information dissemination is a governmental function in this sense However A-76 does list the following information-related activities as being commercial not governmental in nature along with numerous other activities illustrated below Information-Related Distribution of audiovisual materials Library operations Cataloging Printing and binding Reproduction copying and duplication Management information systems Other Operation of cafeterias Laundry and dry cleaning Architect and engineer services Operation of motor pools Word processing data entry typing Laboratory testing services A-76 does point out that whether or not these or other commercial activities serve inherently governmental functions and should be performed by the government there should be analyses and decisions on a case-by-case basis And the library community for example among others has challenged OMB's assertion that information-related activities such as library operations are essentially commercial in nature 26 OMB Circular A-130 on Management of Federal Information Resources on the other hand asserts that policies contained in A-76 are applicable to information dissemination The OMB policy is in general reliance on the private sector for information dissemination when cost effective and when not an inherently governmental function Although not explicitly stated the OMB drafters of A-130 apparently intended to draw a distinction between the issues of whether the government should offer an information product or service and how the product or service should be offered The first question is whether the 26 Letter to Honorable David S Linowes Chairman President's Commission on Privatization from James P Riley Executive Director Federal Library and Information Center Committee Jan 29 1988 -- government should undertake an information activity at all or leave it to the private sector Answering this question appears to be an inherently governmental function However once it has been determined that the government has a proper role the second question of how to carry out the role arises Here it is appropriate to inquire whether the activities involved in carrying out the role are commercial and hence might be accomplished through grant or contract 27 There are two problems with current OMB policy First there has not been a systematic analysis of what information dissemination functions are inherently governmental An analysis of NTIS and GPO privatization proposals see ch 12 suggests that many NTIS and GPO dissemination functions are not suitable for privatization Many other agency information dissemination functions arguably are vital to agency performance of statutory missions and would thereby qualify as governmental However whether these functions are inherently governmental and therefore not amenable or suitable for contracting out as appears to be the case for many NTIS and GPO functions has not been carefully examined Second there have not been credible analyses of whether and under what conditions the contracting out of Federal information dissemination functions is cost-effective Conducting such analyses is not easy Numerous GAO audits of agency contracting out activities have identified serious problems that have the effect of overstating savings to the government 28 In many instances it is difficult to develop a fair initial comparison between inhouse and contracted out costs Secondly contract costs frequently escalate rapidly after the initial contract award for a variety of reasons It is difficult to tell if in fact contracting out ends up being less expensive than retaining the activity inhouse net savings but it is clear that projected gross savings often do not fully materialize Other concerns expressed about contracting out 'TSprehe Federal Information footnote 6 p 39 ' See for example U S General Accounting Office Synopsis of GAO Reports Involving Contracting Out Under OMB Circular A-76 GAO PLRD-83-74 May 24 1983 269 especially in technology-intensive areas are the loss of governmental expertise necessary to monitor contracts and set overall direction and the potential for the government to become dependent on the incumbent contractor As a matter of general philosophy some OMB and information industry officials have argued that while Federal agency electronic dissemination of raw data is acceptable government dissemination of so-called value-added information products and services is not an appropriate governmental function and should be the province of private industry In this view dissemination by the Bureau of the Census of statistical data on magnetic computer tapes would be appropriate but dissemination of value-added or enhanced information--such as a CD-ROM with the data and search software for retrieving and manipulating this data--would not The major problem with using value-added as a line of demarcation between governmental and private sector roles is that many Federal agencies have mandates see Tables 11-1 11-2 and 11-3 to develop and disseminate what amounts to value-added information and have been doing so for years or decades Providing value-added information is a well-established and indeed a mandated function of government Restricting the Federal Government from providing value-added information or from providing such information in electronic form even if previously available in paper would appear to substantially diminish the government's role and erode the ability of agencies to carry out numerous statutory responsibilities At the same time however the concept of multiple levels of value-added may be viable with the private sector frequently providing additional levels of value or enhancement beyond those provided by the government Federal agencies would continue to provide information as they do today using electronic formats where appropriate and desired by users and employing private sector contractors where cost-effective and or necessary to provide the desired quality or timeliness The private information industry would be able to repackage and resell any Federal information 270 products and would be able to add further value to create enhanced information products where the market exists much as the industry does today The only real difference is that both the governmental and private sector offerings would be moving to a higher and more sophisticated technological level Congress could address the value-added question in hearings reports oversight and or legislation In addition Congress could establish guidelines for the role of private sector contractors in Federal information dissemination For example based on experience with agency automation programs to date--particularly those of the SEC and PTO and other agencies cited in the 1986 House Committee on Government Operations report29-- with respect to agency contracting out of information dissemination activities at least six basic principles have emerged from the congressional debate Briefly these are that agency contracting out of information dissemination activities should 1 not impede or erode vital governmental functions 2 maintain or strengthen public access to agency information 3 be more cost-effective compared to governmental performance 4 maintain open and competitive procurements for private vendors e g contractors would have no exclusive rights to develop value-added products 5 preclude monopoly control by contractors over agency information dissemination and 6 preclude cross subsidies between contractor services and agency operations Also Congress could establish guidelines on the role of Federal agencies in information dis 'See for example U S Congress House H R 2600 Securities and Exchange Commission Authorization Act of 1987 100th Congress 1st sess June 4 1987 U S Congress House Committee on Energy and Commerce Securities and Exchange Commission Authorization Act Report to accompany H R 2600 100th Congress 1st sess Rep No 100-296 Sept 9 1987 Also see U S Congress Committee on Government Operations Electronic Collection and Dissemination footnote 22 semination and especially electronic dissemination Again at least six basic principles have emerged from the congressional debate to date These are that agency electronic dissemination activities should 1 strengthen public access to agency information 2 improve the cost-effectiveness of agency information dissemination 3 encourage a diversity of mechanisms for agency information dissemination and preclude copyright-like or monopoly controls over Federal information 4 include information sources users and potential contractors in the planning of information dissemination systems products and services 5 limit user fees to no more than the marginal cost of information dissemination and preclude fees that compromise agency statutory missions and 6 minimize competition with the private sector and encourage the private sector so long as public access to agency information is assured and agency statutory mission requirements are met to provide additional value-added services and products beyond the value of those offered by the agency These or similar principles could be enacted into law as amendments to the Paperwork Reduction Act the Printing Act or other appropriate statutes The urgency for such action is heightened as individual agencies promulgate their own policies and initiate activities that may not be consistent with the above 12 principles Also Congress could clarify the roles and responsibilities of the governmentwide information dissemination institutions and or mandate a variety of specific improvements in the management of conventional as well as electronic information dissemination These are discussed later in this chapter and in chapter 12 271 - CLARIFICATION OF INSTITUTIONAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Another major issue cluster that warrants congressional attention and action involves institutional responsibilities for Federal information dissemination The focal points for current debate are the GPO and related functions of the JCP NTIS and the proposals for reorganization of the Federal Government information dissemination institutions and oversight These are discussed briefly below in turn The role of the DLP in electronic information dissemination mentioned earlier can also be viewed as an institutional issue See chs 6 and 7 of this report for discussion GPO The Printing Act of 1895 remodified in 1968 by P L 90-620 requires that all Federal printing with the exception of the Supreme Court be done by or through GPO except where the JCP has approved field printing plants or printing procurement by specific agencies Three specific policy issues have arisen One is whether the act extends to electronic dissemination or more broadly to information dissemination in general regardless of format At present OMB has taken the position that electronic-based information dissemination by executive agencies falls outside of the act's purview As of August 1988 very few of the electronic dissemination products of the executive agencies are produced by or through GPO or are provided to the GPO Superintendent of Documents for possible inclusion in the sales program A few agencies participate on a voluntary basis in GPO's magnetic tape sales program and a few are participating in pilot projects on electronic data transfer and the like Almost all Federal information products and services in electronic format are produced and disseminated by the individual agencies themselves or through agency contractors The JCP has directed by a 1987 resolution and 1988 letter that the GPO include electronic formats in the Sales Program and the DLP However OMB has taken the position that while executive agencies may participate on a voluntary basis in G PO electronic activities GPO and JCP may not require agency participation A second GPO institutional issue is whether GPO and JCP procurement authority extends to computer-based electronic printing technology at least with respect to the executive branch Over the past 10 to 15 years printing technology has incorporated significant electronic and computer-based components to the point where page layout and composition are heavily computerized At GPO about 70 percent of the input textual material is provided in electronic format Increasingly the printing process is becoming a largely electronic one with material remaining in electronic form from initial keyboarding through layout composition and revision cycles until a final version is ready for production The production format can be and frequently still is paper but it can also be microform magnetic tape diskette and other nonpaper formats Thus the dividing line between traditional ink on paper printing and electronic or computerized printing is no longer clear or perhaps even a valid or a feasible distinction A GPO procurement for electronic printing on behalf of the U S Army the 600-S program was terminated in part because of alleged contracting irregularities that are outside the scope of this study but more importantly because of possible conflict with the Brooks Act that governs executive agency procurement of automatic data processing computers and telecommunication-related equipment GPO took the position that the 600-S procurement like other GPO printing procurements was exempted from the requirements of the Brooks Act as provided for in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 1977 The House Committee on Government Operations took the position that the 600-S procurement in- 272 eluded a substantial amount of computerrelated technology and thus should have been procured under the Brooks Act and GSA contracting procedures rather than the Printing Act and GPO contracting procedures Congress subsequently in 1986 amended the Brooks Act to cover any agency procurement that included significant ADP or related technology or services The revised statutory definition of automatic data processing is and the House Committee on Government Operations which has oversight authority over GSA and Brooks Act procurements and possibly other committees with respect to major procurements on the scale of 600-S several hundred million dollars The much smaller Air Force 50-S electronic publishing procurement $10 million over 3 years was awarded by GPO in January 1988 without incident or controversy under existing GPO contracting procedures any equipment or interconnected system or subsystems of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition storage manipulation management movement control display switching interchange transmission or reception of data or information 1 by a Federal agency or z under contract with a Federal agency which a requires the use of such equipment or b requires the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product which is performed or produced making significant use of such equipment This issue highlights the ambiguity about the applicability of the Printing Act Brooks Act and Paperwork Reduction Act to agency electronic information dissemination systems and those systems in particular in which are imbedded conventional printing functions Since the major thrust of agency automation programs including automation of information collection and dissemination functions is towards integrated systems these statutory ambiguities and conflicting interpretations are likely to be aggravated over time thus providing even more impetus for further congressional review and perhaps of necessity statutory adjustments The term equipment is defined to include computers ancillary equipment software firmware and similar procedures services including support services and related resources as defined by regulations issued by the Administrator for General Services 30 GPO acknowledges that comprehensive electronic publishing systems include significant amounts of both printing and computer technologies and that procurement of these socalled mixed resource systems requires close cooperation between GPO and GSA The Public Printer has called for the development of a GPO-GSA joint procurement program for major electronic publishing systems that would satisfy GPO's obligations under the printing provisions of Title 44 of the U S Code and GSA's obligations under the Brooks Act 31 This may require involvement of the JCP which has approval authority over GPO procurements The third GPO institutional issue is whether the statutory basis for GPO and JCP control over executive branch printing activities is constitutional The U S Supreme Court 1983 decision in INS v Chadha struck down the legislative veto as unconstitutional 32 This decision has been interpreted by the U S Department of Justice DOJ as invalidating provisions of the Printing Act that provide for control over and prior approval of executive branch printing by the JCP 33 lNS v Chadha was also cited as part of the basis for DOJ opposition to JCP proposals for revising the Government Printing and Binding Regulations in 1983 and 1984 34 Based on this DOJ inter32 103 S Ct 2764 1983 Office of Legal Counsel U S Department of Justice Memorandum for William H Taft IV Deputy Secretary of Defense Re Effect of INS V Chadha on 44 U S C 501 Public Printing and Documents Mar 2 1984 ' office of U S Department of J@@ Memorandum for Michael J Horowitz Counsel to the OMB Director Re Constitutionality of Proposed Regulations of Joint Committee on Printing Under Buckley V Valeo and INS V Chadha Apr 11 1984 and Re Government Printing Binding and Distribution Policies and Guidances of the Joint Committee on Printing ' Aug 21 1984 33 30 U S Congress Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal 1987 Title VIII--''Paperwork Reduction Reauthorization Part B-Amendments to the Brooks Act Sec 822 a Amending Section 11 l a of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 40 U S C 759 a p 357 31 Ralph E Kennickell Jr Public Printer of the United States testimony before the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations Committee on Appropriations U S Senate GPO Appropriations Estimates for Fiscal Year 1989 Mar 10 1988 Leg counsel 273 pretation the Federal Acquisition Regulations FAR were revised in 1987 and provided that executive agencies need only give the JCP advance notice of agency printing plans--not seek JCP approval Further agencies with their own printing plant or printing procurement capability would not be required to obtain their printing from or through GPO 35 The DOJ interpretation and FAR revisions were disputed by the JCP and GPO 36 The Public Printer testified that the FAR revisions would o be inconsistent with the legislative intent of Title 44 substantially increase the government's printing costs and jeopardize the GPO sales and depository library programs 37 While the legal issues remain unresolved Congress included a provision in the fiscal year 1988 Continuing Appropriations Resolution that mooted the FAR revisions and was intended to maintain the status quo This provision is also included in the Legislative Branch Appropriation Bill for fiscal year 1989 H R 4587 38 NTIS The major institutional issue concerning NTIS is the Administration's proposal to 'See Federal Register vol 52 No 54 Mar 20 1987 pp 9036-9038 Letter to Terence C Golden Administrator General Services Administration Caspar W Weinberger Secretary of Defense and James C Fletcher NASA Administrator from Senators Wendell Ford Ted Stevens Dennis De Comcini Albert Gore Jr and Mark O Hatfield and Representatives Frank Annunzio Joseph M Gaydos and Leon E Panetta June 5 1987 Also see letter to Rep Frank Annunzio Chairman Joint Committee on Printing from H Lawrence Garrett I I 1 General Counsel U S Department of Defense June 15 1987 For general background see Morton Rosenberg American Law Division Congressional Research Service Memoranda to the Joint Committee on Printing Effect of Legislative Veto Decision on the Joint Committee on Printing and Possible Congressional Responses Apr 16 1985 and Legal Propriety of Amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation Respecting the Conduct of Field Printing Operations by Executive Agencies May 21 1987 'TKennickell Appropriations Estimates footnote 31 ' U S Congress Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal 1988 Sec 309 100th Congress 1st sess p 324 Also see letter to Rep Vic Fazio Chairman Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch House Committee on Appropriations from OMB Director James C Miller Nov 16 1987 Also see U S Congress House Committee on Appropriations Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill 1989 Report No 100-621 100th Congress 2d sess May 12 1988 privatize the agency In late 1985 the Office of Management and Budget OMB asked the Department of Commerce-to develop proposals for privatizing NTIS While OMB did not initiate a formal contracting out procedure the initial impetus for NTIS privatization can be viewed in part in the context of OMB Circular A-76 which states that the Federal Government shall rely on commercially available sources to provide commercial products and services if the product or service can be procured more economically from a commercial source As noted earlier A-76 requires detailed cost comparisons and explicit determination of inherently government-functions that are not subject to contracting out Based in part on the results of Department of Commerce studies conducted in 1986 OMB decided in 1987 to pursue a substitute contracting out procedure for NTIS known as Fed Co-Op discussed later rather than follow the formal A76 process These proposals have become very controversial The Administration has argued that NTIS provides what is essentially a commercial service performed by the Government and that it should be contracted out or otherwise privatized The Administration has asserted that privatizing NTIS would maximize reliance on and minimize competition with the private sector reduce the cost of government and or increase the quality and effectiveness of NTIS services Several private firms have expressed interest in operating NTIS The academic research and scientific communities however have argued in general that NTIS performs an important and inherently governmental function that is not suitable for privatization and that no cost savings or service improvements have been demonstrated to occur if NTIS were to be privatized The Federal scientific and technical agencies the source of NTIS information have expressed concerns about the the viability of NTIS if privatized and whether U S and foreign government agencies would continue to cooperate with a privatized NTIS As an agency of the U S Department of Commerce NTIS operates under the statutory authority of the Secretary to collect exchange 274 and disseminate scientific and technical information Title 15 U S Code Sections 11511157 At OMB direction the Department of Commerce has conducted numerous studies and public meetings over the past 2 years to develop and evaluate proposals for NTIS privatization A review of all available documents indicates that the cost-effectiveness of privatizing NTIS has not been established and that the departmental task force studying the matter recommended against privatization on various grounds A 1986 departmental analysis of the entire range of options concluded that only minor adjustments were warranted and recommended against privatization on the grounds that it would not be cost-effective and could jeopardize important government functions 39 Consequently OMB directed that privatization proceed not via the usual A-76 contracting out procedures but through the new Federal Employee Direct Corporate Ownership Opportunity Plan known as Fed Co-Op procedures issued in early 1987 by the Office of Personnel Management Under Fed Co-Op Federal employees are transferred into a private company or organization and receive stock ownership Opponents argue that the Fed Co-Op approach is circumventing otherwise unattainable A-76 requirements and is essentially another privatization mechanism with unproven value to the government Nonetheless the Department of Commerce issued a request for information in January 1988 held a pre-bidders meeting on January 29 1988 and proceeded down the Fed Co-Op path 40 A congressional hearing held February 24 1988 by the House Committee on Science Technology and Space Subcommittee on Science Research and Technology revealed widespread opposition to the Fed Co-Op privatization plan including notably opposition from the Informa- '9U S Department of Commerce Privatization Proposal for the National Technical Information Service October 1986 transmitted from Assistant Secretary of Administration Kay Bulow to Carol T Crawford OMB Associate Director for Economic and Government letter dated Nov 13 1986 'OU S Department of Commerce Request For Information Privatization of the National Technical Information Service Jan 20 1988 tion Industry Association 41 Subsequently the Secretary of Commerce rejected the plan The controversy over NTIS has precipitated legislative action by the relevant House and Senate authorizing committees to block privatization Both the House Committee on Science Space and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation have enacted language prohibiting the contracting out of NTIS or any major NTIS activities without explicit statutory approval This prohibition was included as part of Title V Technology Competitiveness' of the comprehensive trade legislation H R 4848 signed into law on August 23 1988 Other congressional actions included language incorporated by the House Committee on Science Space and Technology in the National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act for fiscal year 1989 that would convert NTIS to a government corporation within the Department of Commerce to be known as the National Technical Information Corporation 42 The House Committee on Energy and Commerce on a sequential referral reported out the NBS Authorization Act with amendments that would prohibit NTIS privatization and would authorize NTIS use of net revenues for capital investment However the amendments would retain NTIS as a line agency of the Department of Commerce not as a government corporation 43 Government reorganization The NTIS controversy has been one more factor contributing to heightened interest in proposals for reorganization of the major Federal information U S Congress House of Representatives Committee on Science Space and Technology Subcommittee on Science Space and Technology National Technical Information Service Hearing 100th Congress 2d sess U S Government Printing Office Washington DC Feb 24 1988 'zU S Congress House of Representatives Committee on Science Space and Technology National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1989 Report 100-673 Part 1 100th Congress 2d sess U S Government Printing Office Washington DC June 3 1988 ' U S Congress House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce National Bureau of Standards Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1987 Report 100-673 Part 2 100th Congress 2d sess U S Government Printing Office Washington DC July 8 1988 275 institutions Such proposals have been considered over the past 8 years As early as 1979 an advisory group appointed by the JCP considered the possibility of establishing a new central office combining the functions of GPO NTIS and OMB with respect to public information policy in order to facilitate public access and eliminate duplication A National Publications Act of 1980 was introduced to establish a National Publications Office along with a Commission that would replace the JCP but the bill was not enacted In the past two Congresses legislation was introduced that would combine the information dissemination functions of GPO NTIS and the dissemination or sales offices of major agencies into one governmentwide Government Information Office GIO 45 The legislation would also establish a Joint Committee on Government Information in Congress In 1987 the National Academy of Public Administration completed a study that favored an NTIS corporation 46 Subsequently legislation was introduced to reorganize NTIS into a government corporation and now incorporated into the House Science Committee version of the NBS Authorization Act as noted above 47 In 1987 hearings on these and other related bills the Public Printer testified that GPO would be pleased to provide an institutional home for NTIS as an alternative to privatization 48 And in 1988 the Librarian of Congress suggested that the Library of Congress also could serve as a home for NTIS 49 'tU S Congress National Publications Act of 1980 96th Congress 2d sess ' 'U S Congress II R 5412 Government Information Act of 1986 99th Congress 2d sess Aug 13 1986 H R 1615 Government Information Act of 1987 100th Congress 1st sess Mar 16 1'387 Also see Rep George E Brown Jr Congressional Record Mar 16 1987 E952-955 'bNational Academ r of Public Administration An Assessment of Alternati re Organizational Structures for the National Technical Information Ser ice Washington DC Feb 1987 'W S Congress H R 2159 National Technical Information Act of 1987 100th Congress 1st sess Apr 23 1987 ' See statement of Ralph E Kennickell Jr Public Printer of the United States before the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch Committee on Appropriations U S Senate Mar 10 1988 ' letter to Iionorable Doug J$'afgren Chairman Subcommittee on Science Research and Technology Committee on Science Space and Technology U S House of Representatives from Honorable James H Billington Librarian of Congress Apr 12 19 The legislation introduced specified that the Joint Committee on Government Information would consist of 8 members 4 from the House and 4 from the Senate and would not have legislative authority but would have the authority to hold hearings and conduct other nonlegislative functions The relationships with existing joint and standing committees were not specified Depending on its jurisdiction anew joint committee could be designed to essentially supercede and replace the existing JCP or it could complement the JCP A new joint committee would be unlikely to supercede the functions of standing legislative committees unless Congress were to depart from a now well established tradition that joint committees not be assigned legislative authority The current JCP consists of 10 members 5 from the Committee on House Administration and 5 from the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration A new or reorganized joint committee could draw from a larger number of committees There are many possible combinations For example with a total membership of 10 2 members could be selected from each of the House Committee on Administration and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration 2 members could be selected from each of the House Committee on Government Operations and Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs 1 member could be selected from the House Committee on Science Space and Technology and 1 from the Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation There are several other committees with potentially relevant jurisdictions depending on the scope of the new joint committee's charter including the House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Other alternatives include establishing Special or Select Committees on Government Information in the House and Senate and or strengthening existing subcommittees such as the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information Justice and Agriculture or establishing new subcommittees such as within the Senate Committee on Government Affairs 276 The primary rationale for a new joint committee would be that government information issues are becoming or already are priority national issues in their own right cut across the jurisdictions of several legislative committees reflect the merging of information technologies along one continuum from collection and processing to storage and dissemination in a variety of printed and electronic formats and need a broad cross-cutting forum and focal point in Congress As in any congressional reorganization the actual jurisdiction and scope of a new joint com- mittee or special or select committees would need to be agreed upon by the various existing affected committees and of course by the House and Senate leadership Achieving such a consensus has proven to be a formidable task in prior congressional reorganizations but has been accomplished Other alternatives include limiting the scope of a new joint committee to government information dissemination or possibly revision of relevant provisions of Title 44 The JCP's statutory responsibilities could be revised to more accurately reflect the broader concept of government information dissemination in-contrast to the typically narrowly understood concept of printing IMPROVEMENTS IN INFORMATION DISSEMINATION MANAGEMENT OTA has identified several alternatives which could improve the management of Federal information dissemination irrespective of other policy or institutional actions These management improvements could be implemented by executive action using existing statutory authority with the concurrence of Congress but with no required statutory action One or any combination of these alternatives could be incorporated into a legislative package as amendments to various statutes should Congress determine that a stronger mandate is necessary Electronic Publishing Dissemination Technical Standards As discussed in chapters 2 3 and 4 the government is increasingly adopting electronic publishing technologies and systems and a variety of electronic dissemination formats There is consensus in and out of government that appropriate technical standards are essential if the government wishes to realize potential costeffectiveness and productivity improvements Technical standards could facilitate electronic connectivity between the various agency sys- tems and those of the central information dissemination agencies such as NTIS and GPO and flexibility among different formats so that the same electronic text or database can be outputted in a variety of formats--paper microform and or electronic as appropriate Electronic publishing can also serve to connect office automation systems publishing systems database systems records management or document storage systems and the like Since the initial keyboarding or inputting of material can be the most expensive step in the process capturing this input for purposes of later processing revisions composition and reproduction is very important Standards developed through the widely accepted governmental-private industry cooperative standards-setting mechanisms should be adequate but the process may need to be accelerated Key standards-setting areas include optical disks text markup and page document description languages and electronic data interchange including the open systems interconnection concept as discussed in chapter 3 -- 277 It is important that the lead government agencies coordinate closely on standards-setting activities These agencies include the National Bureau of Standards NBS for the civilian executive branch units a designated DoD unit that can integrate and represent the activities of numerous DoD components and a designated representative s of the legislative branch With respect to text markup and page document description standards and perhaps other areas GPO should be centrally involved All major text markup languages including Standard Generalized Markup Language and the GPO's Full Text Database language and hybrids thereof should be considered in developing an agreed upon Federal Government standard This standard along with others agreed to could be issued concurrently by NBS as a Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS by DoD as a Milspec standard and possibly by GPO and the JCP as an amendment to Federal printing and binding regulations Congress may need to accelerate the standardsetting process and or assign responsibilities although the standards setting itself would presumably be delegated to the technical specialists See chs 3 and 4 for related discussion Governmentwide Information Index There is also consensus in and out of government for the establishment of a government wide index to major Federal information products--regardless of format Scholars researchers and librarians have for years pointed out the need for improved indexing of Federal information The results of the GAO surveys summarized earlier indicate strong support for an index among the depository libraries other libraries scientific and technical associations and general associations surveyed Also OTA meetings with Federal agency officials identified considerable support for an index although some agency officials were concerned that an index might be used to thwart rather than enhance agency information dissemination and or that a governmentwide index might unnec- essarily duplicate agency indices Information industry representatives participating in the OTA study supported the concept of improved indexing of government information but some were concerned that an index developed by the government could discourage private sector indexing initiatives and might result in a more costly lower quality product At present GPO prepares an index to official Federal publications primarily printed reports pamphlets and periodicals NTIS prepares an index to the so-called gray literature that is scientific and technical reports and papers prepared by government staff and contractors These materials are primarily in paper or microfiche format and generally have very limited demand There is a small amount of overlap between the GPO and NTIS indices Some individual agencies prepare indices to their own information products and services including all of the major information dissemination mission agencies such as the Bureau of the Census Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS DOE's Energy Information Administration EIA Bureau of Justice Statistics BJS and U S Geological Survey USGS Coverage of electronic formats is irregular and incomplete GAO at one time prepared an index to Federal information products and services but this effort has been terminated There is no complete index NTIS indexes some electronic products Several private vendors have prepared directories to Federal databases and or various categories of Federal information The agency response to OMB Bulletin 87-14 could lead to the development of improved agency indices and provide the basis for an integrated governmentwide index While there is support for an index there are differences of opinion on how and by whom the index should be implemented Respondents to the GAO surveys were not asked to specify whether an index should be provided by the government commercial vendors or not-forprofit organizations One possible alternative would be for either GPO or NTIS to consolidate the various agency indices into one integrated index The index could then be pro- 278 duced in a variety of formats-ranging from paper and microfiche to optical disk and online Should Congress conclude that an index is warranted and should be provided by the government Congress may need to assign responsibility for developing the index and require that a detailed implementation plan be prepared The plan would need to consider the different bibliographic and indexing methods currently employed by NTIS GPO and other Federal agencies the cumulative experience of the library and information science communities with respect to indexing and the successes and failures of prior governmental and private sector indexing initiatives Since the index information would not be copyrightable private sector vendors would be able to add value to repackage and or resell the information on the commercial market As noted earlier OMB Bulletin 87-14 directs agencies to establish and maintain an electronic index or inventory of all their information dissemination products and services and to make the index available to the public directly or through another Federal agency or the private sector The bulletin directs agencies not to offer information services already available from the private sector or other agencies It is unclear whether this restriction is intended to apply to the indices themselves Also the bulletin does not address whether and how the agency indices should be consolidated into a governmentwide index and or maintained in a centrally-accessible location Congress may need to define the government's interest and establish how if at all any pre-existing privately developed indices would need to be accommodated Government Information Dissemination Innovation Centers Committees Federal agency officials expressed strong support for much improved mechanisms to exchange learning and experience about technological innovations Federal agencies are involved in a very wide range of research development and operations activities with respect to information dissemination To this end 114 -- civilian departmental agency components reported having conducted studies as indicated in Table 11-5 There appears to be a substantial knowledge base within the civilian sector of government and this is paralleled by a similar or if anything greater level of knowledge-generating activity in the defense sector Table 11-5 -- Federal Civilian Agency Research or Evaluation Studies Percent of agencies that conducted a research or evaluation study Technology -- -- Electronic Collection filing Electronic data transfer computer to computer Floppy disk Electronic mail Magnetic tape disk Computerized telephone calls 544 52 6 482 456 167 Non-paper Storage Floppy disk Magnetic tape disk Micrographics microfilm microfiche CD-ROM Optical disk WORM Videodisk CD 1 Optical disk erasable 51 8 456 412 21 9 18 4 14 0 79 4 4 Printing Laser and other nonimpact printing Computer graphics Desktop publishing systems Computer-aided page make-up Electronic publishing systems Electronic photocomposition Photo-offset printing Microform printing 54 4 52 6 465 430 30 7 28 9 24 6 16 7 Electronic dissemination Floppy disk Electronic data transfer computer to computer Electronic mail E l e c t r o n i c b u l l e t i n b o a r d Magnetic tape disk Teleconferencing Videotape CD-ROM Expert systems Film Videoconferencing Videodisk Digital cartographic systems Selective dissemination of information systems Broadcast television CD 1 Videotext teletext One-way cable television Interactive cable television SOURCE GAO Survey of Federal Agencies 1987 48 2 47 4 44 7 42 1 42 1 24 6 23 7 17 5 14 9 132 13 2 10 5 7 9 7 0 7 0 5 3 4 4 44 2 6 279 However Federal officials at all levels from technical specialists to program managers to senior policy makers in both the civilian and defense sectors agree that current mechanisms for the sharing and synthesis of this knowledge are very seriously deficient This view is corroborated by OTA staff and contractor research Typically knowledge is not shared effectively even within a single agency component let alone between several agency components within a single department or between departments There are some noteworthy efforts to address part of this problem such as by the Federal Publishers Committee and the Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications and Technology SIGCAT both of which are quasiofficial interagency groups Other examples are CENDI Commerce Energy NASA Defense Information an interagency group of Federal science and technology agencies concerned with scientific and technical information dissemination and the Depository Library Council an advisory group to the Public Printer that has devoted attention to electronic dissemination pilot projects Also several agencies have recently established laboratories for the testing evaluation and demonstration of new technologies These include the CD-ROM and Electronic Publishing Laboratories at NBS and the Artificial Intelligence Video Laser Disk High Density Information Storage and Defense Information Gateway Laboratories operated as an activity of the Defense Technical Information Center GPO has established a prototype dial-up microcomputer-based electronic publishing and training program Also the Public Printer has proposed that GPO establish a Federal Publishing Institute to provide a cohesive training program for Federal printing and publishing officials And there are a variety of relevant training programs and courses offered in support of agency IRM activities As commendable as these activities are further efforts seem necessary Congress may wish to consider legislating or directing the establishment of information dissemination innovation centers in each branch of government These could be located at DTIC for the defense sector NTIS and NBS for the civilian executive branch GPO for the legislative branch and possibly the Federal Judicial Center for the judicial branch These major centers could be complemented by agency innovation centers perhaps operated as part of a strengthened and revised agency IRM program see later discussion and possibly by an academic research center funded to provide outside input to agency innovation Also Congress may wish to consider establishing or otherwise directing the formation of an interagency information dissemination task force or coordinating committee with a primary task of encouraging innovation and exchange of knowledge gained from studies pilot projects and operational experience For examples of pilot projects see chs 2 3 4 5 7 and 8 Finally Congress may wish to encourage or require agencies to conduct planning studies similar to that conducted by DTIC to creatively explore and develop their own visions of future information dissemination activities In 1984 DTIC completed its DTIC 2000 study and concluded that by the year 2000 50 DTIC will be a highly automated operation where the vast majority of data transfers are electronic It will be situated in an environment where all users have access to computer work stations where computer storage has the density access speeds and reliability to permit full-text storage of all items where mailing of paper products has been replaced by electronic transmissions and where the power speed of computers and the sophistication of software eliminate the need for both manual indexing and development of intricate search strategies Today DTIC is already beginning to implement this vision Although few Federal agencies have conducted a formal Agency 2000 study many are experimenting with electronic information dissemination And variations on the year 2000 scenario projected by DTIC 'U S Department of Defense Defense Logistics Agenc ' Defense Techniml Information Center DTIC 2000 4 Corporate Plan for the Future DTIC TR-84 3 JUly 1984 280 could be helpful to many other agencies in planning their information future Revised Information Resources and Personnel Management The Information Resources Management IRM concept as originally conceived and debated in the 1970s was intended to include all phases of the information life cycle--collection processing analysis storage and dissemination The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 essentially enacted the IRM concept but the original statutory language was vague as to coverage of information dissemination 1986 amendments to the act removed most of the ambiguity by including 'information dissemination in the statutory language However numerous Federal officials have observed that information dissemination is still not an effective part of many agency IRM programs or if information dissemination is included it is not well understood by many senior IRM officials These observations have been confirmed by OTA staff and contractor research and by studies by nongovernmental groups For example a 1987 National Academy of Public Administration study titled Federal Information Resources Management Bridging Vision and Action found that roughly half of agency IRM offices surveyed did not include responsibility for library services printing or reproduction Of the 16 departmental IRM offices surveyed only 8 covered library services and 9 covered printing and reproduction while 15 of 16 covered paperwork reduction and 14 of 16 covered computer operations and data telecommunications Eleven of 16 covered voice telecommunications and record management Two situations appear to warrant congressional attention The first concerns senior IRM officials typically with ADP computer and or management information system backgrounds who are viewed as frequently failing to understand or appreciate their agency's information dissemination functions including library printing publishing and public information activities among others These in many cases appear to be the less understood or supported members of the IRM family Congress may wish to encourage or direct agency actions to remedy this problem Possible actions include requiring that either the senior agency IRM official or his her deputy have information dissemination training and experience establishing or designating continuing education programs for senior IRM staff to learn more about information dissemination strengthening the role of already existing cross-cutting groups such as the Federal Publishers Committee the Federal Library and Information Center Committee and the Interagency Advisory Council on Printing and Publishing Services involving senior IRM officials directly in agency or innovation centers and interagency task force that may be established and establishing new or revised job definitions and career tracks for information dissemination professionals working in the government Developing career tracks for information dissemination professionals could be particularly important since new technological applications are changing the nature of many printing publishing writing public information library and related jobs However there is little focused effort or agreement on how these job definitions should be revised There is growing attention to the need to reclassify computer-related positions and to develop appropriate training and career advancement opportunities as evidenced by Office of Personnel Management course offerings on this subject However the focus to date has been on traditional automated data processing positions and not on information dissemination positions There are no definitive estimates of the number of Federal employees involved with information dissemination However if the definition is applied broadly to include some portion of writers editors librarians printers public 281 affairs personnel computer and communication operators and the like the total would appear to be in the tens of thousands of employees The number of total Federal employees in relevant job categories is shown in Table 11-6 along with OTA's estimate of the percentage directly involved with information dissemination Based on the assumed percentages of each job category involved with information dissemination 100 percent of printing public affairs and librarians 50 percent of audio-visual writing editing and archiving 10 percent of computer and communications about 30 000 Federal employees are included This is about 30 percent of the total employees for the job categories listed and undoubtedly understates the actual number since significant but unknown numbers of engineers technicians analysts statisticians and administrators in other job categories are involved with information dissemination The Office of Personnel Management OPM the General Services Administration and GPO could be assigned responsibility to review all Federal job categories potentially relevant to information dissemination assess the need for reclassification redefine the jobs as needed and establish necessary training and career development programs To be most effective these activities would be carried out with full participation of employees and employee organizations including relevant labor unions Involvement of GPO labor unions would be particularly important for printing and related occupations GPO is the third largest Federal blue-collar employer in the Washington D C area as shown in Table 11-7 Also GPO has Table 11 7 --ToP 10 Federal Blue-Collar Employers in Washington DC Metropolitan Statistical Area Fiscal Year 1985 Number of employees Employer Department of the Navy 3 647 Department of the Army 3 257 Government Printing Office 2 942 General Services Administration 2 752 Department of Health Human Services 2 178 1 891 Department of the Treasury Architect of the Capitol 1 634 Department of the Air Force 1 157 Department of the Interior 979 Smithsonian Institution 967 SOURCE Office of Personnel Management 1988 Table 11-6 --Federal Employees in Job Categories Relevant to Information Dissemination Fiscal Year 1985 -- Job category Computer operation Computer specialist Computer clerk assistant Printing Printing management Printing clerical Communications management General communications Communications specialists Communications clerical Public affairs Audio-visual production Writing and editing Technical writing and editing Editorial assistance Librarian Library technician Technical information services Archivist Archivist technician Totals Total employees 10 256 40 122 10 291 4 617 1 490 311 1 933 3 287 2 950 636 3 286 984 2 138 1 789 2 358 3 507 3 619 1 530 403 1 024 Employees involved with information dissemination Percent Number 10 1 026 10 4 012 10 1 029 100 6 617 100 1 490 100 311 10 193 10 329 10 295 10 64 100 3 286 50 492 50 1 069 50 895 50 1 179 100 3 507 100 3 619 1 530 100 202 50 512 50 98 531 SOURCE Office of Personnel Management and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 31 627 282 the largest number of printing positions of all Federal agencies as indicated in Table 11-8 These figures include printing occupations and not supporting occupations such as carpentry maintenance mechanic and industrial equipment operator For further discussion of the GPO labor force see ch 4 A second situation meriting congressional consideration is management information especially budget and contracting data about information dissemination activities Annual as well as 5-year agency and governmentwide information technology plans generally do not break out expenditures for information dissemination The agency responses to OMB Bulletin 87-14 may help in this regard since OMB asked for agency expenditure data for all dissemination products and services including electronic formats However the responses are not yet available If this process does not work Congress may wish to establish a reporting requirement Also the OMB bulletin may have excluded significant DoD activities For example DoD officials estimate that of the $85$100 billion total annual weapons systems procurement 5 to 10 percent is spent on technical information i e the creation maintenance updating and dissemination of technical documentation for design maintenance and operation of weapon systems This translates into an annual expenditure of $4-$10 billion for technical information just within the Table 11-8 --Top 10 Federal Agencies With Largest Printing Workforce Fiscal Year 1985 Number of employees Agency 1 783 Government - Printing Officea 1 042 Department of the Army Department of the Navy 920 b 527 Department of the Treasury 496 Department of the Air Force 474 Other Defense Agencies 189 General Services Administration 164 Department of Commerce 137 Department of Agriculture 113 Department of the Interior a Includes only direct printing occupations such as composing platemaking letb terpress offset press and bindery and not general support technical and management occupations Primarily the Bureau of Printing and Engraving SOURCE Off Ice of Personnel Management 1988 weapons procurement accounts The problem is that there is no separate reporting of contractual costs for technical information and information systems Therefore DoD officials are at a severe disadvantage in managing technical information and information systems procurement monitoring contractual performance negotiating contract modifications and follow-ens and evaluating actual capabilities against planned or projected performance Even though DoD officials recognize the need for improved reporting management of the DoD bureaucracy is so difficult that congressional action may be needed For changes in information resource and personnel management to be successful a clear understanding by senior agency officials that the new information dissemination technologies can and probably will significantly change organizational structures job definitions and administrative procedures is necessary The successful senior official will likely have a good strategic sense of where the agency is or should be headed and will define and implement the necessary training career development and managerial reporting techniques needed to move the agency in the desired direction Finally to the extent that agency press and public information activities are included with the IRM umbrella then IRM provides a possible focal point for electronic dissemination of press releases and other perishable information Federal agency public information officials and members of the press interviewed by OTA generally supported the concept of electronic press releases although not as a total substitute for the paper format Several agencies already provide electronic press releases directly to the press and or via private electronic news and wire services The major question seems to be not whether but how the electronic press releases should be provided Of particular concern are the relative advantages of various electronic formats and the equity implications of alternative delivery and pricing mechanisms For example while small outof-town newspapers could be major beneficiaries of electronic releases since mailed press ---- -- ---- 283 releases arrive several days late these small newspapers may be the least able to pay for electronic services This suggests the possible need for consideration of action to minimize economic barriers to access For further discussion see ch 10 IMPROVEMENTS IN CONVENTIONAL PRINTING Despite the rapid increase in use of and demand for electronic formats the results of the GAO surveys and various other studies see chs 2 3 and 4 indicate that paper is likely to remain the format of choice for many purposes because of convenience and portability There is likely to be significant demand for conventional ink-on-paper printed copies of a broad range of Federal reports and other printed materials Even with advances in electronic publishing as outlined in chs 3 and 4 many of these will require conventional ink-on-paper printing As a consequence for at least the next 5 years and probably longer there will be a need to continually improve the Federal Government conventional printing capabilities currently carried out largely by or through GPO except as specifically exempted by law or by the JCP or GPO In obtaining printing from or through GPO Federal agencies seek competitive costs quick turnaround and high quality the agencies also desire accurate and timely cost estimates and billing information These three aspects of GPO's conventional printing work are discussed below along with identification of possible alternatives for improvement cost With respect to cost some Federal agencies have asserted that they could obtain printing more cheaply by procuring directly from the private sector rather than from or through GPO To evaluate this assertion OTA asked GPO to prepare cost estimates for 20 sample printing jobs printed at the GPO central plant the GPO regional plants and procured from the private printing industry by the GPO printing procurement office OTA also asked three of the major agency printing plants at the Departments of the Army Commerce and Energy to prepare cost estimates on the same 20 printing jobs Finally OTA asked several private printing companies to prepare cost estimates on the same 20 printing jobs The 20 sample jobs are described in Table 11-9 followed by cost estimates in Tables 11-10 and 11-11 The results indicate that GPO-procured printing is substantially less expensive than either GPO inplant or agency inhouse printing for these sample jobs GPO central plant printing is generally more expensive than GPO regional inplant printing and agency inplant printing is generally but not always more expensive than GPO inplant central or regional printing Several caveats are in order here These results hold for the sample jobs only Many of these jobs would not normally be done at agency plants and the conclusion cannot be drawn that current agency work is necessarily more expensive than it need be For example for short reports and press runs the Army's printing plant is less expensive than the GPO main plant but still more expensive than GPOprocured costs Also costs vary widely depending on the match between specific jobs and specific printing facilities and on the allocation of indirect and overhead expenses to printing costs Only gross generalizations are possible based on these data The results also suggest that GPO-procured printing is less expensive than or at least competitive with printing obtained by individual agencies directly from private printers The cost comparison suggests that private printing is rarely less expensive than GPO procured typically more expensive than GPO-procured but less expensive than main plant inhouse printing and occasionally even more expensive than GPO inhouse printing Again several caveats apply These results hold for the 284 Table 11-9 --Description of 20 Sample Printing Jobs Used for Estimating Costs a Number Number of copies of pages 1 30 11 200 2 44 32 018 3 500 220 4 3 500 142 5 65 000 36 6 8 30 257 32 7 10 000 1 201 16 8 24 2 919 9 40 2 200 10 11 1 300 108 454 1 800 12 102 619 13 36 46 14 2 834 400 15 122 4 905 16 52 17 17 985 196 18 175 019 20 19 1 139 320 20 1 000 304 a lnk color black for all jobs text stock 50 lb white Turnaround time c weeks Job Number b C 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 3 6 4 1 2 4 2 4 1 4 2 3 3 4 4 Trim size inches 8 1 2 x11 8 1 2 xll 8 1 4 x10 3 4 8 1 2 xll 8 1 2 Xll 8 1 2 xll 8 1 2 Xll 8 1 2 Xll 8 1 2 xll 57 8x4 1 4 8 1 4 x10 3 4 77 8x 10 1 4 4x5 1 4 8 1 2 xll 6x9 77 8x10 1 4 6x9 8 1 2 xll 8 1 2 Xll 77 8X10 1 4 Binding Drill and band Drill and side stitch Drill Perfect Saddle stitch Drill and side stitch Perforate and saddle stitch Shrink wrap and saddle stitch Drill and saddle stitch Side stitch Drill and saddle stitch Drill and perfect Saddle stitch Saddle stitch Perfect Saddle stitch Perfect Saddle stitch Drill and side stitch Drill and side stitch offset for all jobs except numbers 4 8 9 which are 60 lb white offset and numbers 17 and 18 which are 70 lb white matte coated Cover stock varies but was specified Quality levels per GPO standards N O surcharges SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1988 Table 11-10 --Cost Estimates for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars GPO Regional and Main Plants GPO main planta Job number Procured In plant In plant special rate GPO regional plantb Procured In plant 1 $3 020 $4 291 $12 046 $ 2 503 $ 9 800 2 4 361 17 745 7 492 5 107 12 400 3 872 5 785 1 732 960 3 500 -- 4 2 239 7 515 3 152 2 698 5 11 375 21 005 15 854 12 114 14 500 6 759 5 880 1 736 893 2 400 7 1 017 3 192 3 026 1 179 2 520 8 241 954 351 270 645 9 569 1 971 862 633 1 260 10 448 1 816 690 472 1 515 11 949 3 466 1 401 1 128 2 800 -- 12 3 868 12 046 6 550 4 630 13 13 597 14 299 14 299 18 271 18 500 14 744 3 128 1 152 769 2 100 -- 15 764 1 109 3 014 741 16 1 336 2 976 1 879 1 406 2 885 -- 17 24 248 27 100 27 100 19 411 -- 18 25 585 45 342 53 248 24 004 19 2 301 4 488 9 676 2 542 2 765 20 1 724 6 419 2 375 1 838 5 800 a Main plant procured estimates based on general usage contracts using the average Price Of the lowest 5 bidders in-Plant b estimates based on GPO price scale as of Dec 1 1987 in-plant special rate is equal to the 10th lowest bid plus 10% Estimates are for Chicago regional plant calculated on the same basis as for the main plant SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1988 -- 285 Table 11 11 --Cost Estimates for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars Agency Plants and Private Printers Agency plants Job number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 SOURCE Departments of the Army Commerce $ 5 140 21 555 1 683 7 604 35 802 3 703 4 896 294 1 072 673 2 148 12 503 28 261 1 995 747 3 902 53 873 53 556 5 577 4 651 $16 403 19 647 10 154 11 770 46 133 3 532 5 794 1 846 1 898 1 289 3 962 18 876 38 525 3 192 2 699 5 443 87 291 80 545 10 158 8 264 Private printers direct bid Energy $ - -- 2 339 6 414 -- -- -- 681 1 743 1 078 2 221 9 209 -- 2 474 1 446 3 571 -- -- 4 553 4 120 1 2 3 4 $ 7 835 2 242 3 098 7 027 20 054 7 270 2 497 898 2 148 2 169 4 897 11 920 17 977 3 248 1 908 3 890 27 096 44 348 10 834 8 412 $ 8 256 14 641 4 880 5 731 17 451 4 600 2 385 833 1 471 1 489 2 188 10 195 9 485 2 093 2 034 2 674 24 000 33 785 -- -- $ 3 757 5 823 1 454 2 711 13 114 1 004 1 434 239 567 530 1 149 4 981 17 867 933 585 1 515 24 624 37 514 2 938 2 307 $ 3 700 12 125 6 265 16 100 3 100 2 050 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Army Commerce and Energy private printers 1988 sample jobs only and since independent estimates were obtained from only four private printing firms the results while appearing reasonable may not be representative Also as with GPO and agency inplant printing private printing costs vary widely depending on the equipment workload specialty jobs and the like The GPO special rate discussed in ch 4 for main plant inhouse printing appears to approximate roughly the cost agencies might pay if obtaining bids directly from private vendors The special rate inconsiderably less than the full inhouse cost but considerably more than the GPO procured cost To further evaluate the cost of GPO procured printing the GPO cost--which GPO estimated by using the average price of the lowest five bidders for each job-was compared with both the average and lowest price per job of the private printers submitting bids directly to OTA The results indicate that the total GPO main plant procured cost of $100 107 is considerably less than the total average private printer cost of $158 440 and is very competitive with the lowest private printer cost of $98 658 And the latter figure may be unrealistically low since it is based on the low bid for every job Thus as shown in Table ll-l2 the total estimated cost of the 20 sample jobs ranges from a high of $213 281 for GP0 main plant inplant printing to a low of $100 017 for GPO main plant procured printing The cost of GPO regional plant procured printing was almost identical at $101 569 The costs for private printers No 1 and No 3 the only 2 that bid on all 20 jobs along with the cost for GPO special rate printing fall in the middle Table 11-12 --Estimated Total Costs for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars Source of printing GPO main plant inhouse regular rate GPO main plant inhouse special rate GPO main plant procured GPO regional plant procured Private printer No 1 Private printer No 3 a For 20 sample jobs specified in Table 11-9 Cost of printinga $213 281 144 881 100 017 101 569 189 768 125 046 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office and private printers 1988 286 whereas the GPO estimate is based on an average of the lowest five bids a better approximation of reality according to GPO The detailed comparisons are shown in Table 11-13 In addition the results of a recent Department of Commerce study indicated that establishing a printing procurement capability at the Bureau of the Census would not be costeffective compared to using GPO procurement 51 GPO charges cost plus six percent for procured printing The Commerce study indicated that the costs of establishing and maintaining a printing procurement capability and the likely diseconomies of scale would far exceed the GPO six percent service charge Britain's governmental printing office Her Majesty's Stationery Office found that centralized printing procurement reduced costs by roughly 15 to 30 percent through economies of scale and 'i U S Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary for Administration Printing and Disseminating Census Bureau Publications April 1987 Table 11-13 --Estimated Costs by Job and Total for 20 Sample Printing Jobs in Dollars GPO Main Plant Procured and Private Printer Job number a GPO Main Plant Private printer Private printer low bidd average bidC procured b 1 $ 3 020 $ 5 887 $3 700 2 242 2 4 361 8 708 1 454 3 3 924 872 2 711 4 7 892 2 239 3 100 13 430 11 375 5 1 004 759 3 731 6 1 434 2 105 1 017 7 239 657 241 8 1 395 567 9 569 1 396 448 530 10 1 149 2 745 11 949 4 981 12 3 868 9 032 9 485 15 110 13 597 13 744 2 091 933 14 1 509 585 764 15 1 515 1 336 2 793 16 24 000 24 248 25 240 17 33 785 38 549 18 25 585 2 938 6 886 19 2 301 2 307 1 724 5 360 20 Totals $100 017 $98 659 $158 440 a For 20 sample jobs specified in Table 11-9 Based on average price of 5 lowest bids submitted to GPO Based on average price of private printers submitting bids to OTA d Based on low bid selected from among private printers submitting bids to OTA more competitive bidding 52 Also OTA's independent printing consultant concluded that dispersing GPO's printing procurement operation among numerous Federal agencies or separating the procurement function from the GPO main plant printing function would o result in diseconomies of scale increase overall procurement personnel staffing and cost and or reduce familiarity of printing procurement personnel with the state-of-the-art and operational realities of printing GPO obtains competitive bids for procured printing in part because of the large number of potential bidders roughly 15 000 eligible a smaller but still significant number of active bidders 3 809 active contractors during the 12 months ending March 31 1988 of which 936 were used by the main plant procurement office and the large percentage of smaller firms about 85 percent of all GPO printing contractors Larger more expensive firms tend to minimize printing for the government which is understandable given that the Federal Government accounts for only about one percent of the total U S printing market and many private clients especially corporate clients will pay premium prices for printing GPO uses a computerized system to select potential bidders and is testing an online bid information service whereby potential contractors can check pending solicitations via an electronic bulletin board In sum based on information available to OTA the cost of GPO's procured printing appears to be competitive and there appears to be no financial basis for dismantling the GPO printing procurement program However there is a basis for agency concern about the cost of GPO main plant inhouse work This work is more expensive than procured work based on the cost comparisons presented above and at least some agencies prefer not to pay the extra cost For example both the Air Force and the Navy indicated that they were very b c SOURCE U S Government Printing Office Private printers and Office of Technology Assessment 1988 52 Alex Smith The Latest Developments in Print Procuremerit Government Printers Conference 1984 Conference Report September 1984 pp 9-11 287 dissatisfied with the cost of GPO printing As excerpted from the GAO survey responses the Air Force said that GPO's inhouse costs greatly exceed commercial contractor prices for the same service The Navy said that GPO's inhouse prices are much too high compared to the Navy Publications and Printing Service inhouse and commercial contractors GPO's Audit Group conducted a survey of agency customers in 1983 and found that as shown in Table 11-14 the majority of respondents felt that GPO inhouse work was more expensive than GPO contractor work This survey has not been updated since 1983 and it should also be noted that while overall agencies preferred GPO contractors on cost and timeliness they preferred GPO inhouse work over contractors with regard to quality and responsiveness solving problems These survey results are highlighted in Table 11-15 The 1983 GPO survey results suggest greater concern about GPO inhouse costs than the 1987 GAO survey with about 14 percent of respondents indicating dissatisfaction with cost but about the same level of concern as the 1987 Federal Publishers Committee FPC survey with about 40 percent of respondents indicating cost as a continuing problem As discussed in chapter 2 all of these surveys are subjective and qualitative and the results have not been validated But the cost comparisons presented earlier provide independent documentation of the higher GPO inhouse costs and could by themselves-irrespective of survey results--be considered as Table 1 l-14 --Agency Views on Cost of GPO Work 1983 Survey of Agency Customers Question Do you feel that a job will be more expensive if done within GPO or by a GPO procured contractor Percent of respondents Answer 57 6 GPO GPO contractor 8 8 No difference 9 6 Undecided 18 4 No response 5 0 SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1983 Table 1 l-15 --Agency Views on GPO Inhouse v GPO Contractors 1983 Survey Question For the most part who would you prefer to - produce your printing jobs ------------ Answers GPO GPO contractor No preference No response Why would you prefer one over the other -- Prefer GPOa Quality 56 5 Timeliness 47 8 cost 39 1 Easier to have problems rectified 69 6 Other 43 No response 4 3 a Based on 23 responses b Percent of respondents 18 4 49 6 28 0 4 0 Prefer contractor b 32 3 72 6 74 2 22 6 16 3 2 Based on 62 responses SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1983 sufficient justification for cost-reduction initiatives There are several alternatives for reducing the cost to the agencies of GPO inhouse work continue to use the special rate mentioned earlier that roughly splits the difference between full inhouse costs and contracted costs and covers GPO marginal costs plus some contribution to overhead reduce indirect costs by limiting the types of printing work done at the main plant in order to increase economies of scale similar to the approach used by many private printing companies reduce main plant overhead including the possibility of reducing overnight operations if the Congressional Record and or Federal Register are extensively disseminated in electronic formats rather than in paper and microfiche continue to look for opportunities to incorporate cost-saving technology into the conventional printing process and to make further upgrades in the efficiency of the main plant building and seek congressional approval of an annual appropriation to cover some or all GPO overhead costs 288 Timeliness The timeliness and quality of GPO printing are two other aspects included in the 1983 GPO survey and 1987 GAO and FPC surveys The survey results vary and are difficult to interpret and compare given the different survey methodologies utilized OTA's review of GPO data on the timeliness of printing jobs measured as the percentage of jobs that are late or delinquent suggests the following First the timeliness of GPO procured printing appears to be relatively constant with about seven percent of all procured printing jobs delinquent over the fiscal year 1983 to fiscal year 1987 period Second there is little difference in deliquency rates between GPO regional and central office procurement Over 90 percent of GPO procured printing jobs appear to be completed on time regardless of whether printing is procured through the central or a regional office Third the data do not suggest a widespread delinquency problem although these delinquency data do not reflect delays due to paperwork and signoff requirements prior to the actual printing procurement An evaluation of how serious the seven percent delinquency rate really is requires information not available to OTA Such an evaluation would require information on the degree of delinquency how many days or weeks late the reason s for the delinquency the impact s of the delinquency on the GPO customer and the general performance level of the private printing industry in performing comparable work GPO procured printing delinquency data are shown in Table 11-16 OTA also reviewed delinquency data for jobs printed inhouse at the GPO mainplant The data indicate that for fiscal year 1987 the delinquency rate for main plant printing jobs was about double that of procured printing jobs And the delinquency rate for executive agency printing jobs was about triple that of Table 1 I-16 --GPO Procured Printing Percent of Jobs Delinquent by Fiscal Year Fiscal year GPO Regional Office procured jobs 1983 6 7 1984 6 8 1985 6 4 1986 6 5 1987 6 8 1988 January-June 6 6 SOURCE U S Government Printing Off Ice 1988 GPO Central Office procured jobs 7 8 7 5 6 4 6 8 8 2 7 6 procured printing jobs This suggests that at least relative to GPO procured printing timeliness is a significant problem for GPO main plant printing However several caveats are in order First GPO data indicate that more than half of the delinquencies are 5 days or less Second a complete evaluation would require the types of information noted earlier for procured printing Third central plant printing is subject to unique circumstances that require assigning high priority on short notice to certain congressional work Priority congressional jobs thus can delay other congressional jobs as well as executive agency work which contributes to a higher delinquency rate Solving this problem could necessitate congressional action to smooth the work flow encourage realistic delivery estimates and limit priority work In any event GPO routinely could provide customers with explanations of any delays over say five days in order to facilitate customer understanding and target improvement efforts when needed The main plant delinquency rates are shown in Table 11-17 Quality In addition to timeliness data OTA examined GPO data on the quality of printing jobs GPO has developed a Quality Assurance Through Attributes Program QATAP Under this program five quality levels are defined ranging from Level 5 duplicating or lowest quality to Level 1 precise or highest quality GPO has defined an acceptable defect or error rate as 6 5 defects per 100 items i e publication pamphlet book etc The results of GPO quality audits for fiscal year 1987 in- 289 Table 11-17 --GPO Main Plant Printing Percent of Jobs Delinquent Fiscal Year 1987 Total Main Plant Jobs 9 739 1 492 Delinquent jobs Percent delinquent Total Congressional jobs 7 558 Delinquent jobs 1 006 Percent delinquent Total Executive Agency jobs 2 181 Delinquent jobs 486 Percent delinquent Degree of delinquency all jobs 3-5 days 6-10 days 11-15 days 16-20 days 21 or more days 15 3% 13 3% 22 3% 58% 25% 9% 3% 5% SOURCE U S Government Prining Office 1988 dicate very low defect rates for procured printing averaging about 1 7 defects per 100 items for the 540 jobs sampled well within the acceptable rate Only 9 of the 540 sample jobs were rejected due to unacceptable quality For GPO central office inplant printing the defect rate was somewhat higher at about 4 3 defects per 100 items but still within the acceptable rate However the quality of inplant congressional work was somewhat better than inplant executive agency work 2 5 versus 5 6 defects per 100 items respectively Also a comparison of quality levels for inhouse versus procured agency work for fiscal year 1988 through May indicates that procured printing quality is higher than inplant printing quality and that the inplant defect rate exceeded the acceptable level in some reporting periods These results warrant further study by GPO to determine why these quality differentials exist and whether they present any problems to customers The detailed comparative data for inplant versus procured agency work are shown in Table 1118 for the most common quality levels Cost Estimating and Billing Procedures Cost estimating is another area that appears to be in need of improvement based on the 1983 GPO survey and 1987 FPC survey GAO did not survey agencies on this item The GPO survey found that about half of the respondents did not receive accurate and timely cost - estimates most or all of the time as summarized in Table 11-19 Since this survey is 5 years old an update survey by the GPO Audit Group appears to be warranted The updated results would provide some indication of whether and how much agency perceptions may have changed in this and many other areas With regard to details on actual cost and billing information GPO makes such information available on request to GPO customers However this places the burden on the customer to take the initiative One possible solution would be for GPO to provide itemized billing for all inhouse printing and for procured printing when the actual printing cost differs significantly i e plus or minus 10 percent from the estimated cost The itemized detailed billing information might eliminate most agency concerns o help agencies better understand the economics of printing and o facilitate followup when serious cost estimating or billing errors are thought to have occured GPO also could encourage greater agency use of the existing Billing Information Center telephone hotline to resolve billing questions and the online Procurement Information and Control System PICS which provides assistance in developing job estimates and tracks the status of procured printing jobs According to GPO 35 agencies have direct electronic access to PICS with several more on the waiting list to be connected Should GPO opt for itemized billing it is possible that only modest modifications to existing management information systems would be needed General Themes The first general theme that emerged from OTA's study is the need for even stronger cooperative working relationships between agency printers and publishers and GPO staff The membership and mission of the Public Printer's Interagency Advisory Council on Printing and Publishing could be reviewed to ensure appropriate balance To some extent FPC has been 290 Table 11-18 --Results of GPO Quality Audits Number of Defects Per 100 Items Inplant v Procured Agency Printing Quality level 3 Procured In plant Time perioda 3 8 July 87-Oct 87 3 5 8 2 6 0 Aug 87-Nov 87 7 1 5 2 Sept 87-Dee 87 7 2 Oct 87-Jan 88 3 0 1 4 Nov 87-Feb 88 6 7 1 3 Dec 87-Mar 88 3 5 1 2 Jan 88-April 88 3 5 2 6 1 2 Feb 88-May 88 a - Quality level 4 Inplant Procured 2 3 3 8 3 3 1 9 3 5 4 5 4 9 6 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Four-month Moving Average SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1988 Table 11 -19 --Agency Views on GPO Cost Estimates 1983 Survey Question How often are the GPO cost estimates accurate and when received timely Timely Accurate Always most of the time Some of the time Infrequently Never Do not receive estimates Do not know Undecided No response SOURCE U S Government Printing Office 1983 42 4 34 4 7 2 2 4 5 6 2 4 0 8 4 8 38 4 30 4 14 4 8 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 6 4 attempting to compensate for the limited representation of agency publishers on the Public Printer's Advisory Council Also GPO may wish to consider establishing an advisory council for the Superintendent of Documents SupDocs One early objective of such a group could be to advise SupDocs on the completion of a marketing information system now under development At present it is difficult for SupDocs to generate information on the results of marketing efforts for specific agency products Also such a council could be even more important to the extent SubDocs extends its sales program to include a significant offering of electronic formats The second general theme is the need for better coordination and cooperation between publishers printers public information officers financial and procurement officers responsible for billing and cost control and the like within the agencies While this is outside the direct purview of GPO it is directly relevant to GPO since coordination problems within customer agencies can create or aggravate problems between the agencies and GPO This topic could be addressed by the Public Printer's Advisory Council a SupDocs advisory group if created the Federal Publishers Committee and agency IRM officers OTA identified several other areas for potential improvement in conventional printing operations that while outside the scope of this study warrant attention These include Use of nonacidic paper for printing of books reports and other materials with archival value As discussed in OTA's separate May 1988 report on Book Preservation Technologies the use of acidic paper for printing has contributed to extensive deterioration of older books and other documents This is considered one of the major problems facing the library and archival community One part of the solution is to increase the use of nonacidic paper which has greater longevity Even though GPO consumes a very small percentage of the nation's annual paper production GPO could take a leadership position in promoting the use of nonacidic paper for Federal Government printing and in so doing provide an element of leadership to the private and international printing and publishing community Also GPO experience to date suggests that nonacidic paper can be cost competitive and meet other technical requirements Accordingly GPO has prepared and sub- 291 mitted to the JCP on interim specification on nonacidic paper Use of alternative printing inks such as soy-based Concern over disposal of hazardous wastes generated in part by conventional printing inks has generated increased interest in alternative inks One alternative is soybean-based ink While early GPO tests were unsuccessful soybeanoil based inks are licensed by the American Newspaper Publishers Association available at competitive prices and used successfully by various newspapers GPO is conducting at congressional request an economic and technical feasibility study of printing the Congressional Record and Federal Register with soy ink Use of expert systems software for printing management Effective management of printing activities involves the optimal selection of equipment for a given document type length press run and the like multiplied in the case of GPO many times over due to the wide variety of types of equipment printing and staffing require- ments and customer demand in terms of document type and cost timeliness and quality considerations GPO uses a complex process to make decisions on whether to produce a job inhouse or procure it commercially and must take into account such factors as the requested delivery date security classification availability of paper and or materials and production capacity The latter is a function of workin progress at various stages of the printing process and the projected progress of jobs toward completion This type of decision framework appears ideally suited to expert systems software GPO could experiment with several types of off-theshelf expert systems software available from private vendors and develop its own application starting with one of the commercially-available expert system shells Expert systems software should be able to improve GPO decisionmaking and could eventually be offered to customer agencies to assist their decisionmaking Chapter 12 Setting Future Directions for the Superintendent of Documents and National Technical Information Service CONTENTS Page Summary 295 Introduction 296 The Competitive Electronic Environment 296 Institutional Alternatives for SupDocs and NTIS Electronic Information Dissemination 300 Centralizing Government Electronic Information Dissemination 300 Privatizing SupDocs and NTIS 301 Reorganizing SupDocs as Part of a Legislative Printing Office 303 Consolidating NTIS with SupDocs and or Reorganizing as a Government Information Office'' or Government Corporation 305 Authorizing SupDocs or the Consolidated SupDocs NTIS to Produce and Disseminate Electronic Formats 307 Broader Implications of SupDocs NTIS Electronic Information Dissemination 309 Government Productivity and Cost-Effectiveness 309 Agency Missions and the Role of SupDocs and NTIS 310 Private Sector Economy 312 Other Implications 316 Chapter 12 Setting Future Directions for the Superintendent of Documents and National Technical Information Service SUMMARY Any electronic future for the Superintendant of Documents SupDocs within the U S Government Printing Office GPO and for the National Technical Information Service NTIS must take into account the increasingly decentralized competitive environment that characterizes the electronic information marketplace The Federal Government is moving in the direction of electronic information systems at the heart of most agency activities Of particular significance for SupDocs and NTIS are the technological advances that are changing or blurring the traditional distinctions between printing and dissemination reports and databases and the roles of individual mission agencies and the private sector versus governmentwide dissemination agencies This chapter addresses current and future opportunities for these two agencies and the broader implications of expanded roles in electronic dissemination In the long-term 10 to 20 years the myriad of possible information dissemination alternatives facilitated by technological advances could transcend the current institutional framework Full understanding of long-term alternatives will require several years of pilot tests demonstrations and experiments and related evaluation studies Consideration of various alternatives needs to accommodate the results and lessons learned or run a high risk of failure In the short-term 3 to 5 years and possibly medium-term 5 to 10 years the future is more certain and the basis for setting directions better established Over at least this time frame the need for some governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms is likely to con- tinue In the short- to medium-term there are a number of institutional alternatives for SupDocs NTIS electronic information dissemination ranging from a highly centralized information dissemination infrastructure to fully privatized approaches and all with various advantages and disadvantages The middle-ground alternative of including selected electronic formats in the SupDocs and NTIS sales programs with individual agencies disseminating electronic products as well as private vendors reselling or further enhancing Federal electronic products would appear to have significant favorable impacts on public access government productivity and costeffectiveness agency missions the private sector economy and international leadership However to implement this alternative both SupDocs and NTIS would need to obtain the necessary additional technical expertise strengthen strategic planning capability increase participation in governmentwide standard-setting and innovation activities strengthen pilot testing and demonstration programs and invest in state-of-the-art electronic equipment The middle-ground alternative is likely to have generally beneficial effects on business users of Federal information especially small businesses The information technology equipment and services industry and the printing industry are not likely to be significantly affected Nor does it appear that SupDocs NTIS offering electronic formats would pose any significant competitive or economic threat to the 295 296 commercial information industry as a whole However there could be a significant impact ion a small segment of the industry--those firms that specialize in government information The impact could be favorable if new opportunities for repackaged or further enhanced private offerings would result And there is also the option of the SupDocs or NTIS contracting with various of these firms perhaps at volume discount rates where direct competition might exist INTRODUCTION Previous chapters have discussed overall trends in technology applications user needs and public policy issues that are relevant to the future of GPO and NTIS The purpose here is to present a broader framework for setting directions for GPO and NTIS with respect to electronic dissemination This chapter begins with a discussion of the increasingly competitive environment that faces GPO and NTIS with respect to electronic dissemination as contrasted with dissemination of paper formats The chapter then considers a number of institutional-alternatives for implementing GPO and NTIS roles in electronic dissemination The future of these two institutions needs to be considered together if for no other reason than the potential overlap with respect to sales of electronic formats The institutional alternatives range from a fully centralized consolidated governmentwide approach to electronic dissemination to separate roles for GPO and NTIS for the legislative and executive branches respectively to a consolidated SupDocs and NTIS possibly within a new Government Information Office or the equivalent and to a privatized SupDocs and NTIS Finally the chapter discusses some of the implications of an electronic GPO and NTIS for government productivity agency missions and impacts on the private sector among other areas THE COMPETITIVE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT A major trend relevant to designing an electronic future for GPO and NTIS is the increasingly decentralized competitive environment that characterizes the electronic information marketplace Whereas the technology and economies-of-scale of paper formats tend to favor centralized approaches at least for larger press runs and or more complex documents electronic formats lend themselves to decentralized approaches The Federal Government is moving in the direction of employing electronic information systems at the heart of most agency activities including the collection processing and dissemination of information The nature of this transition was discussed in earlier chapters especially chs 2 3 4 5 and 6 and is driven by the following key technological factors a series of technological breakthroughs that make electronic dissemination of Federal information a viable option for many purposes development of technology and related technical standards that offer for the first time the near-term prospect for integrated information systems utilizing the ' 'information life cycle' concept whereby the collection processing analysis storage and dissemination and ultimately retention or archiving of information in multiple formats paper microfiche and electronic are viewed and implemented as interrelated 297 functions rather than separate unrelated activities a significant increase in the demand for Federal information in electronic formats among various user groups and especially the library community private industry Federal agencies themselves and various groups or individuals with specialized needs such as disabled or handicapped persons educators and rural citizens a substantial ongoing investment by the Federal mission agencies in agency automation that if planned and implemented properly can incorporate multi-format information dissemination at little additional marginal cost compared to the total cost of automation and with significant net cost savings for agency information functions and a rapidly growing base of Federal agency experience with pilot tests and applications of new electronic technology to Federal information dissemination Technological advances are changing or blurring the traditional distinctions between printing and dissemination reports and databases an-d the roles of individual mission agencies and the private sector versus governmentwide dissemination agencies This trend is particularly significant when considering alternative futures for GPO and NTIS First technological advances are changing or even eliminating the distinctions between information creation storage printing and dissemination The integrated information system using the ''information life cycle concept' is a plausible template for future Federal and private sector information dissemination This means that information is captured in electronic form when collected or created and is retained in electronic form through whatever revision and processing cycles are needed The information can then be converted into multiple output formats from the same electronic database Illustrative output formats include laser printing for proof copies and short press runs of paper documents phototypesetting and offset press print- o ing for higher quality and or longer press runs of paper documents remote printing-on-demand using telecommunications and laser printers optical disks including high volume Compact Disk-Read Only Memory CD-ROM production magnetic tape and diskettes microform and online electronic access Second technological advances arc changing or even in some cases eliminating at least the technical distinctions between reports publications databases records and the like One template for the future is that almost all types of Federal information will exist in electronic form as an electronic database on a computerized system The government and or user will have a wide variety of output formats to choose from For example a typical 200 page OTA report could be available as a high quality printed report Z a microfiche an online electronic file for information retrieval and selective printing-on-demand and o one of several electronic files on a CD-ROM All of these products could be derived from the same electronic database The type of output format would vary of course depending on the type of information and the desired use Third technological advances are blurring the distinctions between the institutional roles of Federal agencies involved with information dissemination For example today the Federal mission agencies generally collect and create Federal information products that are disseminated in paper formats via the SupDocs Depository Library Program DLP NTIS and or Consumer Information Center CIC depending on the nature of and demand for each particular document A small portion of paper or microfiche documents are reprinted by private publishers and an even smaller percentage are placed online or in other electronic formats In contrast an agency electronic database whether a report model or statistical series 298 could from a technical feasibility standpoint be electronically disseminated directly from the agency to agency clients to information users and to the depository libraries bypassing the SupDocs NTIS and CIC Or the agency database could be disseminated via one or more governmentwide clearinghouse mechanisms These could be the SupDocs GPO or NTIS or CIC but could also be the National Library of Medicine NLM National Agricultural Library NAL Library of Congress LOC and or any of a variety of commercial electronic ''gateways' used by the government Also since the electronic form of the agency database would not be copyrightable and assuming it is accessible under the Freedom of Information Act FOIA if not directly available the database could be repackaged or enhanced by private information vendors There are many possible combinations In sum the myriad of possible information dissemination alternatives facilitated by technological advances could transcend the current institutional framework The current framework including the roles of GPO and NTIS and the relevant statutory provisions was developed over decades largely to accommodate an historical era when Federal information was collected stored printed and distributed only in paper format The advent of electronic information technology has contributed to the complexity and competitiveness of the current Federal information environment While there is an urgent need for setting future directions consideration of various alternatives needs to accommodate this complexity or run a high risk of failure Thus planning the future of such institutions as the GPO and NTIS is both blessed with many new opportunities but fraught with new uncertainties and complexities since their future is inextricably tied to that of the overall Federal information dissemination enterprise In setting future directions for GPO and NTIS a two-track strategy warrants serious consideration long-term and short to mediumterm For the very long-term 10 to 20 years the advancing technology and the by then almost fully automated Federal information infrastructure are likely to facilitate Federal electronic information dissemination in several different ways These possibilities include dissemination of Federal electronic information products directly from Federal agencies to customers using agency or Federal telecommunication networks for online products and the U S mail and or private courier services for offline products e g CD-ROM floppy disk paper copies electronic online dissemination as above and or the use of commercial or nonprofit electronic gateway or networking services including those offered by telephone and value-added carriers electronic online dissemination by Federal agencies using one or more governmentoperated electronic gateways clearinghouses or switching centers-operated by GPO NTIS or another agency--not unlike those being developed by NLM and the Defense Technical Information Center DTIC production of offline electronic information products e g tapes and disks by Federal agencies directly or by agency contractors and or by GPO or the equivalent central government electronic publishing office sale of offline information products by Federal agencies directly or by agency contractors and or by GPO or NTIS or the equivalent central government information sales office and sale of repackaged and value-added Federal information products by a wide range of private vendors including both online and offline information products and both profit and nonprofit sales outlets The range of technologies and technical trends discussed in earlier chapters see especially ch 3 could in the long-term be deployed to support a wide range of institutional roles and responsibilities in Federal information dissemination It is likely that most sectors of American society will in the long-term make -- 299 extensive use of microcomputers in the home community and office There will also be easy access to desktop publishing and online information retrieval capabilities interconnected via a plethora of governmental commercial and nonprofit networks gateways and database services These electronic interconnections will be facilitated by a robust offering of satellite fiber optic microwave cable and hybrid transmission systems It is also likely that most sectors of American society will have or have access to microcomputer-based expert systems software to assist with information search retrieval and management and optical disk systems for storage and manipulation of large volumes of information A full understanding of the long-term alternatives and implications for Federal information dissemination will require several years of pilot tests demonstrations and experiments and related evaluation studies These demonstrations will provide information crucial to setting future long-term directions including future directions for GPO and NTIS Many Federal mission agencies GPO and various private sector commercial and nonprofit organizations have tests and demonstrations underway More are planned And NTIS is giving attention to a demonstration program as well In the short-term within 3 to 5 years and possibly the medium-term 5 to 10 years the future is more certain and the basis for setting directions better established In setting short-term directions for GPO and NTIS the issues discussed in chapter 11 and ch 7 regarding depository libraries need to be considered as well as the electronic alternatives discussed in chapters 4 5 and 7 The key directions involve the following elements GPO provision of electronic publishing support to Federal agencies recognizing that GPO will be competing with both agency inhouse capabilities and private sector electronic publishing service bureau capabilities SupDocs sales of electronic formats recognizing that SupDocs will be competing with some private vendors some Federal agencies who choose to sell their own electronic products unless directed otherwise and possibly NTIS unless close coordination with SupDocs is maintained NTIS sales of electronic formats recognizing potential competition with SupDocs vendors and agencies as above and SupDocs distribution of electronic formats to the depository libraries recognizing that libraries may also be receiving Federal electronic information from commercial vendors and nonprofit organizations as well as direct from some agencies Possibilities for GPO electronic publishing support have been discussed in chapter 4 and electronic dissemination to depository libraries in chapter 7 Technical aspects of SupDocs and NTIS electronic document sales were discussed in chapters 4 and 5 The remainder of this chapter considers a variety of institutional alternatives for and broader implications of implementing SupDocs and NTIS electronic sales programs This discussion assumes that the basic need for sales of government information continues as reflected in the statutory and other congressional policy guidance applicable to GPO and NTIS and that some kind of governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms are needed for at least the medium-term This latter assumption reflects the reality that the information life cycle concept multi-format output decentralized networking and the like will take many years to fully implement in the Federal Government Governmentwide dissemination approaches are needed to minimize the burden on and hopefully the cost to the customers and also to ensure broad public access Also the results of the GAO surveys of Federal agencies ch 2 and Federal information users chs 4 and 5 suggest a significant and continuing need for the kinds of functions performed by SupDocs and NTIS in the dissemination of Federal information 1 ' For further relevant discussion of GPO DLP and NTIS see for example Peter Hernon and Charles R McClure Fed ' 111 Irlue i on n J k J ilgt'1 300 -- continued from previous pagej eral Information Policies in the 1980 's Conflicts and Issues Ablex Norwood New Jersey 1987 Charles R McClure Peter Hernon and Gary R Purcell Linking the U S National Technical Information Service With Academic and Public Libraries Ablex Norwood New Jersey 1986 and Peter Hernon Charles R McClure and Gary P Purcell GPO Depository Library Program A Descripti 'e Analysis Ablex Norwood New Jersey 1985 For discussion of longer-term technological and societal futures see for example Alvin Toffler The Third W'a 'e William Morrow New York NY 1980 John Naisbitt Megatrends Warner Books New York NY 1980 Benjamin M Compaine Information Technology and Cultural Change Toward A New Literacy Harvard University Program on Information Resources Policy Cambridge MA 1984 U S Congress Office of Technology Assessment Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information OTA-CIT302 April 1986 Clement Bezold and Robert Olson The Information Millenium Alternative Futures Report prepared by The Institute for Alternative Futures for the Information Industry Association Washington DC November 1986 and U S Congress Communication Systems for an Information Age OTACIT forthcoming Spring 1989 INSTITUTIONAL ALTERNATIVES FOR SUPDOCS AND NTIS ELECTRONIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION The following institutional alternatives for SupDocs and or NTIS are discussed in this section centralizing all or most government dissemination functions in one office or agency privatizing SupDocs and NTIS reorganizing SupDocs as part of a legislative printing office consolidating NTIS with SupDocs and or reorganizing as a Government Information Office' or 'Government Information Corporation and authorizing SupDocs or the consolidated SupDocs NTIS to produce and disseminate Federal information in all formats Centralizing Government Electronic Information Dissemination Under this alternative dissemination of Federal electronic information products whether for sale or for free would be permitted only through SupDocs or the equivalent NTIS and mission agencies would no longer be authorized to disseminate electronic information directly to the public This alternative was strongly opposed by many Federal executive agency officials Agency officials believe that Federal information activities and users are so diverse and complex that centralizing expertise on these information activities and users would be very difficult They argue that close interaction between information providers and users is essential not only for effective dissemination but also for effective de- velopment of the information products and services The major benefits of totally centralized electronic information dissemination are easier public access and reduced overlap and duplication in government information functions However attempts to centralize electronic dissemination to this high degree would likely be heavily resisted with chaotic and possibly detrimental net impacts on public access Also the central dissemination agency probably would require increased financial and organizational resources which probably would not be offset by cost and organizational reductions in the mission agencies Agencies would be likely to retain as many functions as they could on the grounds that most extant personnel and capabilities are necessary to the creation of the electronic information products regardless of how and by whom the products were disseminated The centralized alternative was also criticized as increasing the risks of excessive or improper control over or manipulation of Federal electronic information dissemination and as inconsistent with the checks and balances inherent in diversity and decentralization of information control In addition if the central information office were located in the legislative branch the alternative would be likely to exacerbate separation of powers issues Many Federal agency officials participating in the OTA study expressed considerable support for the central index and standards discussed in 301 ch 11 but not as part of a totally centralized institutional alternative Another variation of the centralized alternative would be to combine the electronic information sales functions of the mission agencies in one central office such as SupDocs or a Government Information Office Agencies could continue to otherwise disseminate their own information as they do today At present agency electronic information product sales are handled directly by the agency or in some cases by the NTIS clearinghouse and or by interagency agreement with NTIS or in a very few cases by SupDocs Agency sales of paper formats are handled by SupDocs for items accepted into the SupDocs sales program including subscriptions to agency periodicals by the agency for other paper formats and by NTIS for items included in the NTIS clearinghouse Under a more centralized arrangement all sales functions for both paper and electronic formats would be combined in one office which could be SupDocs NTIS a consolidated SupDocs NTIS or a Government Information Office Agencies would still handle free dissemination of their own information products except for items handled through CIC This partially centralized alternative is viewed by many Federal executive agency officials participating in the OTA study as less threatening than a fully centralized government information dissemination function However any mandatory requirement to sell electronic formats solely through a central government office would conflict with numerous existing agency activities be likely to meet considerable agency opposition and could precipitate legal and political challenges to the statutory basis for such a requirement A third variation of the centralized alternative would be for SupDocs or NTIS or a consolidated SupDocs NTIS to include selected agency electronic information products in the SupDocs or NTIS or combined sales program but not to the mandatory mutual exclusion of agency sales Under this alternative agencies could decide to rely entirely on a centralized sales office but this would be at agency dis- cretion While this alternative would mean some degree of overlap and duplication in sales activities it would strengthen the governmentwide information dissemination mechanisms while at the same time preserving a considerable degree of agency independence with respect to their own information dissemination activities This alternative is discussed further later in this chapter Privatizing SupDocs and NTIS Privatizing NTIS has been advocated by the Administration over the last several years and from time to time privatizing GPO has been suggested Some other countries have privatized both government printing and document sales functions Theoretically a Federal electronic information sales program could be contracted out to the private sector Three major criteria for evaluating privatization proposals are the inherently governmental versus commercial nature of the government activity the cost-effectiveness of privatization to the government and the impact of privatization on the commercial marketplace Inherently Governmental v Commercial Functions NTIS and SupDocs activities are generically similar to private sector functions Certainly private firms can and do carry out information clearinghouse printing marketing sales and dissemination activities However NTIS and SupDocs are arguably inherently governmental because they operate pursuant to public law carry out important public responsibilities in promoting public access to Federal information facilitate an informed citizenry assist the mission agencies in carrying out their statutory responsibilities and advance scientific and technical progress in the United States as is especially the case with NTIS Second NTIS and SupDocs receive almost all of their source materials from other Federal agencies on a voluntary basis in the case 302 --- of NTIS and subject to Title 44 requirements for SupDocs There is no guarantee or requirement that Federal agencies would continue to provide information to a privatized NTIS and indeed some Federal science agencies have said that they would not The possibility of requiring Federal agencies to participate in a privatized publication sales program in lieu of the SupDocs program would appear to raise serious legal problems including the necessity to amend Title 44 and possible ramifications for numerous statutes and some agencies might be expected to not cooperate with a privatized SupDocs Third both NTIS and SupDocs have active programs for the international exchange of reports and materials with various countries This is an important element in the free and open flow of information between governments and across national boundaries There is no guarantee or requirement that foreign countries would continue to cooperate with a privatized NTIS and SupDocs In the debate over NTIS privatization some foreign governments indicated serious concerns about cooperating with a privatized NTIS Fourth both NTIS and SupDocs carry out a variety of other functions some explicitly required by statute others on a voluntary reimbursable basis for various Federal agencies For example NTIS is responsible for technology transfer patent licensing and Japanese literature translation programs and also for reimbursable information processing and sales for other agencies Also NTIS serves as an outlet for FOIA requests for materials placed by agencies in NTIS and as the repository for OMB-mandated agency inventories of electronic information products SupDocs is responsible for administering DLP and also operates the CIC on a reimbursable basis for the General Services Administration GSA The debate over NTIS privatization suggests that many of these kinds of activities are not amenable to privatization In sum both NTIS and SupDocs have developed a complex intricate web of relationships with Federal agencies and other govern- ments and carry out numerous functions that are either required by law or that support the ability of other agencies to fulfill their statutory obligations Cost-Effectiveness The cost-effectiveness of privatizing NTIS or SupDocs has yet to be established With respect to NTIS analyses conducted by the Department of Commerce concluded that privatization would cost--not save--the Government money A cost-effectiveness study would need to consider not only transition costs and residual costs to the government but also the costs to all relevant government agencies-- not just the Department of Commerce for NTIS or GPO or Congress for SupDocs For example NTIS performs roughly $1 million worth of reimbursable production services per year for other agencies and also performs billing and collection services through reimbursable agreements with NLM DTIC and NAL The financial impact on these and other agencies would need to be considered As another example SupDocs is able to obtain copies of agency reports at marginal rather than full cost by riding the agency orders for the additional copies needed for SupDocs sales and depository library distribution If SupDocs were privatized and many agencies no longer cooperated the SupDocs cost of obtaining copies would be likely to increase significantly thereby increasing the cost to the customers of SupDocs sales and taxpayers who finance DLP distribution In addition a cost-effectiveness study would need to consider NTIS and SupDocs privatization in light of the plans and activities of other Federal agencies with respect to Federal information dissemination Most of these agencies are pursuing a variety of technical options with numerous possible implications for the future of NTIS and SupDocs--whether privatized or not For example DTIC which accounts for roughly one-quarter of NTIS source materials is planning to shift to an optical diskbased electronic printing-on-demand operation This and similar actions by other Federal agen- 303 cies could have major implications for how and what information is transmitted to NTIS and or SupDocs The opportunities to improve cost-effectiveness e g via the information life cycle with multi-format output could be complicated if NTIS and SupDocs were privatized Finally both NTIS and SupDocs operate with no public appropriations for their basic sales functions NTIS operates on a break-even basis with annual revenues and costs of roughly $22 million and no appropriation for the basic NTIS collection archiving clearinghouse and dissemination functions The SupDocs sales program is totally self-supporting and in recent years has actually been returning a net annual profit of several million dollars on annual sales in the $70 million range This makes it especially difficult to establish the costeffectiveness of privatization Impact on the Private Marketplace Most NTIS and SupDocs documents are not copyrightable since documents prepared by or for the Federal Government at public expense cannot be copyrighted This means that any individual or organization can resell NTIS and SupDocs reports without authorization from or reimbursement to the government and that the government has no legal basis for preventing such sales Indeed some private vendors do resell various NTIS and SupDoCs documents based on their own evaluation of the marketplace Vendors need only buy one copy of the government document and can and do use it as camera-ready copy with anew cover and title page In this way the vendor eliminates the keyboarding layout and composition costs which could otherwise be substantial When documents are available in magnetic tape format from SupDocs some vendors buy the tapes and convert them into online formats and more recently CD-ROM formats Thus privatizing NTIS and SupDocs would appear to make a difference at least with respect to private marketplace availability of paper formats since these are already readily available at very nominal cost to any vendor who wishes to resell or enhance these materials not With respect to NTIS privatization views of the information industry span a broad spectrum including those that oppose full privatization due to concern about adverse effects on those firms that are already in the market of reselling or adding value to NTIS documents The same generic concern could apply as well to SupDocs privatization Several private firms already realize several million dollars in annual revenues from selling the NTIS bibliography in electronic online format and reselling various NTIS products To the extent that NTIS or SupDocs privatization provided market advantages to a prospective contractor such as the opportunity to develop and sell value-added products and services as long as certain core functions were carried out it could have adverse effects on those firms that are or would like to resell or enhance government materials A potential problem from an industry point of view is that one firm the contractor would be granted a preferred competitive position by the Government From the governmental and public access perspective a potential problem is that significant user groups could be priced out of the value-added market unless there is some kind of effective information lifeline' or information safety net protection There is also concern within the information industry about the competitive impacts of governmental electronic offerings Possible effects of NTIS and SupDocs electronic sales on the private information marketplace are discussed in a later section Reorganizing SupDocs as Part of a Legislative Printing Office Another institutional possibility is to limit SupDocs to legislative branch information products NTIS would remain in the executive branch This legislative branch SupDocs alternative would require statutory changes and would presumably be part of a legislative branch GPO sometimes referred to as a Legislative Printing Office or LPO The rationale for an LPO is as follows 304 At present GPO is a statutory agency of the legislative branch of the government but with its chief officer the Public Printer appointed by the President and with roughly seven eighths of its total printing work done for the executive branch The split between legislative and executive printing is about 50 50 for the GPO main plant and almost all procured work is done for executive agencies If key governmental process items such as the Federal Register Budget of the United States passports postal cards are included with the congressional work then the legislative to executive split would be about 75 25 at the main plant One possible scenario would be to transfer the GPO procurement function to GSA in the executive branch gradually phase out executive branch filler work at the GPO mainplant or place such work on an agency discretionary basis and limit GPO's inplant work to congressional and specified key governmental items This alternative would eliminate any separation of powers issues especially if the Public Printer were made a congressional rather than presidential appointment This also would permit GPO to focus or refocus on legislative branch needs and avoid the frequently conflicting requirements of the executive branch GPO began as almost exclusively the legislative branch printer with the few executive branch items produced as congressional documents But executive branch work has gradually increased to the point today where only about one-eighth of total work is purely congressional This alternative might also make it somewhat easier for GPO to actively pursue a variety of electronic options for congressional information dissemination by focusing attention and resources on just one branch of government However this so-called legislative branch alternative has several limitations First separating the printing procurement function from printing operations may over time reduce the competence and effectiveness of the procurement staff Establishing a separate executive branch printer in addition to the existing GPO might solve this problem but at a substantial additional cost Second the cost of congressional printing would increase significantly all other things being equal Executive agency work done at the GPO main plant helps to take up slack capacity during periods of lower congressional work load GPO must staff up to handle peak congressional work load and thus executive branch work helps utilize some of this capacity during off-peak periods Without executive agency work total GPO costs would be spread over a smaller base thus increasing the per unit cost of the remaining work The cost impact would be lessened to the extent a legislative branch GPO was able to retain adequate executive branch work on a voluntary basis perhaps partly through the use of special rates for GPO main plant work that more closely approximate procured printing rates see discussion in chs 4 and 11 Third the cost increases would probably necessitate significant GPO labor force reductions which in the worst case could be as much as 40 percent of the main plant employees see ch 4 for further discussion A fourth potential problem is the reduction in congressional control over agency printing and information dissemination While the executive branch might view this as an advantage congressional oversight committees might find it more difficult to keep abreast of agency activities absent more effective reporting by and cooperation from the executive branch While some executive agencies are critical of what they perceive as inappropriate micromanagement by some oversight committees it is not clear whether the agencies and OMB would support other substitute oversight mechanisms Congress could address oversight concerns in part by strengthening and restructuring committee jurisdictions e g by creating a Joint Committee on Government Information and by statutory amendments providing more specific guidance to the executive agencies The implications for SupDocs are several SupDocs is dependent on the central role of GPO vis-a-vis all government printing to be aware of what is being printed assess market potential ride the printing order for additional 305 copies as needed and ensure proper distribution to depository libraries If responsibility for executive branch printing is moved to the executive branch provision would need to be made to ensure that functions now carried out by SupDocs for the executive branch are continued This could involve reorganizing existing executive agency public information or printing offices into agency sales offices or creating new offices if needed all at what could be significant additional costs Having the equivalent of multiple SupDocs offices throughout the government might complicate the indexing cataloging marketing quality control ease of public access to and international exchange of government documents In addition to preserve the integrity of the depository library program executive agencies would need to advise the legislative branch SupDocs of their publishing activities and provision would have to made to produce and pay for enough copies to meet depository library needs Consolidating NTIS with SupDocs and or Reorganizing as a Government Information Office or Government Corporation The consolidation of NTIS and SupDocs is a key element of government information legislation introduced in the past two Congresses The consolidated entity could be located in either the legislative branch or executive branch An NTIS-GPO consolidation in the legislative branch has received more attention recently in part as an alternative to NTIS privatization As noted in chapter 11 the Public Printer has publically stated his willingness to consider and implement this alternative and the Librarian of Congress has suggested consolidating NTIS with the Library of Congress In the debate over NTIS privatization some agency officials and users have stated a preference for NTIS-GPO consolidation over NTIS privatization NTIS-GPO consolidation would appear to offer several significant advantages but also create some problems On the plus side a consolidation would retain NTIS as a govern- mental entity and this is thought to be critically important by Federal science agencies These agencies are very uncomfortable from procedural legal and philosophic perspectives with the prospect of dealing with a privatized NTIS While a consolidated NTIS presumably located within GPO in the legislative branch may not be ideal it appears to be preferable to many when compared with privatization Also a consolidation would increase the possibilities of economies of scale and synergy between NTIS and SupDocs marketing sales and distribution programs A consolidation should eliminate public confusion about their respective roles and could lead to a more efficient and rationale approach to Federal information dissemination NTIS and SupDocs have a lot in common They are both essentially resellers of information products generated by Federal mission agencies They both operate on a financially self-sustaining basis SupDocs actually made a significant profit in recent years with no public appropriation except for specially mandated activities Both NTIS and SupDocs are small although the SupDocs sales program has about three times the total revenues about $70 million per year versus about $22 million for NTIS They both develop bibliographic products The major differences are that NTIS handles largely scientific and technical material with limited demand 10 copies per item spread over a large inventory about 60 000-70 000 items added yearly and a total inventory of roughly 2 million titles while SupDocs handles the entire range of government publications but selects items with a larger demand typically in the several hundreds to thousands of copies per item and maintains a much smaller inventory about 20 000 titles NTIS has a major archival responsibility while SupDocs does not although some of the depository libraries do With respect to technology NTIS is constrained due to the absence of a revolving fund or other mechanism to finance capital investment in new technology although this would 306 be partially remedied in pending legislation Since SupDocs printing is done by GPO SupDocs is an indirect beneficiary of any technology enhancements that GPO finances for its own purposes out of the GPO revolving fund Also SupDocs can finance its own capital investment needs out of the GPO revolving fund with the cost recovered as a depreciation charge against sales It is also possible that SupDocs and by extension NTIS would be permitted to contribute some portion of net revenues if any to the revolving fund to finance new dissemination technology and experiments In general the combined activity and resource base of NTIS and SupDocs would appear to offer potential opportunities for testing implementation of new technologies such as CD-ROM printing on demand and marketing techniques A NTIS-GPO consolidation would also appear to provide potentially fruitful cross-fertilization of staff expertise and would meet congressional concerns about retaining direct control over vital Federal information dissemination functions The major potential problem would appear to be the actual transfer of NTIS from an executive branch agency Department of Commerce to a legislative branch agency GPO The Department and OMB are likely to oppose this alternative It could be viewed as further exacerbating concerns about separation of powers and executive control There would be some costs associated with the transition although they might be minimal The cooperation of the Federal science agencies would be essential to make this transfer work Rather than moving NTIS to the legislative branch SupDocs could be transferred to the executive branch and combined with NTIS Legislation introduced in the past two Congresses would consolidate NTIS and SupDocs along with a few other agency information sales units into a Government Information Office to be established as an independent agency of the executive branch First of all this legislation would transfer only SupDocs and not the printing procurement and inplant printing functions of GPO Theoretically the entire GPO could be transferred although this ap- pears unlikely so long as GPO operates as the congressional printer with highest priority assigned to congressional work Part of the rationale for moving SupDocs to the executive branch is to minimize separation of powers problems and facilitate relationships with executive agencies It is not clear whether separation of powers is really a problem with respect to SupDocs functions The ongoing debate over the applicability of Chadha v INS to certain provisions of Title 44 of the U S Code has focused primarily on the constitutionally of the requirement for Joint Committee on Printing advance approval of executive agency printing and related activities not on the constitutionality of SupDoc functions Transfer of SupDocs or any or all of the rest of GPO to the executive branch would be likely to aggravate congressional concerns about control over government information dissemination policy These concerns might be mitigated to a degree by strengthening congressional oversight A change in name to 'Government Information Office would help demarcate the already well advanced transition of the Federal Government from a world of paper documents and reports to a world of information in all formats electronic as well as paper and microfiche A name change need not be limited to an NTISSupDocs consolidation On the down side in the American political system there has always been some reluctance to establish central governmental information offices for fear they will become or at least be perceived as government information control or propaganda instruments This of course need not and presumably would not be the case for the institutional alternatives discussed above but it is a concern that warrants attention Yet another possibility would be to establish a Government Information Office as a government corporation This alternative has been seriously proposed and studied for NTIS The National Academy of Public Administration has reviewed the history and nature of NTIS functions and concluded that NTIS met the commonly accepted criteria for a government 307 corporation including the need to be revenueproducing be self-supporting and conduct a large number of transactions with the public The academy also concluded that despite the requirement to be self-supporting NTIS is not provided the operational flexibility for staffing and capital investment in particular necessary to respond to market forces The House Committee on Science Technology and Space largely concurred with the Academy's findings and has included the incorporation of NTIS as a provision of the NBS Authorization Act for fiscal year 1989 See ch 11 for discussion The government corporation approach for NTIS would appear to capture some of the benefits that had been suggested from an NTISSupDocs consolidation especially with respect to capital investment Also providing NTIS with an explicit statutory charter presumably would strengthen the ability of NTIS to carry out its mission with less interference from OMB and others who have questioned the existence of NTIS as a government entity On the other hand the corporation approach as currently proposed would not capture possible marketing staffing and technology synergies that might result from an NTIS-SupDocs consolidation Another alternative would be to extend the current National Technical Information Corp '' concept to include SupDocs and perhaps some other related government activities such as those of the Consumer Information Center to become a National Government Information Corp A full analysis of these alternatives is beyond the scope of this study but would necessitate consideration of all the factors discussed previously including the implications for the cost-effectiveness of NTIS and SupDocs functions the intricate web of relationships between NTIS SupDocs and the mission agencies which are the source of NTIS and SupDocs sales items the implementation of relevant statutes including various provisions of Title 44 of the U S Code and the private sector firms that currently or might in the future make a market in reselling or adding value to NTIS and SupDocs materials It should be noted that in 1986 the Department of Commerce not only recommended against wholesale NTIS privatization but also recommended against consolidation with GPO or creation of a corporation Authorizing SupDocs or the Consolidated SupDocs NTIS to Produce and Disseminate Electronic Formats The convergence of several trends has opened up a window of opportunity for SupDocs or a consolidated SupDocs NTIS should that alternative be implemented with respect to the production and dissemination of Federal information in electronic formats as well as paper and microfiche While paper is expected to be the dominant format for years to come the GAO survey results see ch 2 4 and 5 document the transition that is already underway The volume of Federal information products in electronic formats is increasing rapidly Also automation of the document creation process in most Federal agencies is proceeding rapidly such that electronic capture of the original keyboarding should be possible a large percentage of the time given the necessary technical standards GPO already receives roughly 70 percent of incoming material in electronic format primarily magnetic tape and has converted entirely from hot type to electronic photocomposition between 1976-1986 GPO has the capability to accept input in a wide range of floppy diskette formats and is experimenting with both dial-up desktop publishing input and mainframe computer-based electronic data transfer GPO electronic output is currently limited to several dozen magnetic tape products including some major products such as the Congressional Record and Federal Register OTA's independent printing consultant concluded that as much as 60 percent of the GPO's current publications could be produced in an electronic database-oriented format and that about half of that or 30 percent is releasable in electronic format in that the material is 1 suited for electronic receipt 2 not con- 308 fidential or otherwise restricted and 3 has an audience with or access to the technology needed to use the material in electronic form While one can debate these percentages and the methodologies used to estimate them the results suggest significant levels of potential electronic penetration GPO has questioned the basis for these estimates but the difference if any cannot be resolved in the absence of a detailed review of a statistically valid sample of GPO's printed products Such a review appears to be warranted and could be conducted by SupDocs With respect to NTIS constraints on capital investment have limited its deployment of new electronic technology NTIS does serve as a clearinghouse for a variety of electronic format machine readable products including about 300 computer software items 800 numeric and statistical databases 300 textual databases and 10 bibliographic databases all provided by mission agencies These represent only a small fraction of total agency electronic products in these categories NTIS could be positioned to take advantage of relevant technology applications under development and demonstration at various civilian and military agencies Some technologies appear to offer large potential for both SupDocs and NTIS One of these is compact disk read only memory CDROM The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Bureau of the Census and U S Geological Survey USGS have prototyped CD-ROMs and found that disks with about 500-600 megabytes of data equivalent to about 250 000 pages of double- spaced typed text can be recorded on a single disk at a full cost of about $50 disk at a volume of 600 This includes $15 000 for data preparation converting the electronic data into the format suitable for CD-ROM $5 000 for software development preparing the software needed for CD-ROM access and $10 000 for the actual mastering of the first 600 disks At a larger volume of say 2 000 the total would increase to about $40 000 but the per disk cost would drop to about $20 At a volume of 5 000 the total cost would be about $50 000 and per disk cost about $10 SupDocs and or NTIS could take a lead role in facilitating the preparation and dissemination of CD-ROMs for individual agency databases and for a consortia of agencies who might wish to place a variety of databases on a single disk The combination of CD-ROMs optical disk storage for large scale archiving and electronic print-on-demand systems could revolutionize NTIS and or SupDocs dissemination operations especially for low volume out-of-print and or reference or bibliographic material While governmentwide standards for these and other technological applications are critical it is not clear to what extent centralized production is more cost-effective In other words the conventional printing procurement model may not necessarily apply to electronic information product procurement In general however once the content of a document publication or other information product is captured in a compatible electronic format then it is easy to manipulate the contents into a variety of outputs--paper microfiche and electronic In this way the output formats can be cost-effectively tailored to particular types of products and user needs and capabilities See chs 3 4 and 5 for further discussion 309 BROADER IMPLICATIONS OF SUPDOCS NTIS ELECTRONIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION Some broader implications of SupDocs NTIS electronic dissemination irrespective of the particular institutional structure are considered in this section The impact areas discussed include government productivity and cost-effectiveness agency missions and the role of SupDocs and NTIS private sector economy and other areas Government Productivity and Cost-Effectiveness major continuing concern of government officials and taxpayers is that government functions be conducted as cost-effectively as possible consistent with other governmental objectives such as public access and open government With respect to Federal information dissemination and related activities there appear tO be substantial opportunities for SupDocs and NTIS to improve the productivity and cost-effectiveness of government information activities This could occur directly through their own activities and indirectly by encouraging or stimulating agency produc- tivity improvements and without compromising other important goals such as public access Indeed there is the possibility of financing enhanced public access to Federal information largely out of productivity i m provements Numerous vendors and business users report productivity improvements of ty'pically 30 to 50 percent and similar rates of return on investment Payback periods are in the 2 to 3 year range Various Federal agencies have projected similar returns in justifying equipment and systems acquisitions and these estimates should be applicable to SupDocs and NTIS information products These estimates do not include other important elements of cost avoidance such as pa- per and postage Electronic publishing facilitates the use of typeset text and tables for reports or other documents rather than typewritten or word processed text and tables The result is that the length of reports can be reduced by on the average about 35 percent and thus the cost of printing including paper would be corresponding reduced The reduced length and weight of the report would also reduce the cost of postage for mailing the report Again these kinds of savings should accrue to SupDocs and NTIS information dissemination as well as to individual mission agencies Another potential area of cost reductions for SupDocs and NTIS document sales involves the use of CD-ROMs for dissemination of scientific statistical and other kinds of information that are best suited for electronic formats For example the full texts of patents are currently sold by the Patent and Trademark Office PTO at a cost of $2 250 per week for paper format and only $345 per week in magnetic computer tape format all priced to recover the marginal cost of reproduction PTO estimates that the same information could be sold in CDROM format one disk per week for only $50 per week depending on sales volume or about 2 percent of the cost in paper format The NOAA USGS and Bureau of the Census have estimated that scientific and statistical information totally unsuited for paper formats could be provided on CD-ROM at about 1 percent or less of the cost of the same information in magnetic tape format $50 for one CDROM compared to $500 to $625 for 4 or 5 magnetic tapes at $125 each These kinds of cost reductions should apply as well to electronic products sold by SupDocs and NTIS However the realization of these benefits by the Federal Government is hampered by the general lack of or confusion about common technical standards to ensure compatibility and interconnectivity inadequacy of effective mechanisms to share expertise and experience 310 - and the like As noted in chapters 2 3 and 11 there are some efforts ongoing in all of these areas but the total effort appears to be moving too slowly especially when considering the substantial yearly investment of the Federal Government in these technologies and the large number of tests demonstrations and operational applications SupDocs and NTIS electronic dissemination programs could help stimulate faster progress in these areas mates and experience would translate into a potential $600 million per year productivity improvement Even if only partially realized this would provide a substantial opportunity for cost avoidance budget reductions and or new or improved dissemination activities For example a one percent productivity improvement would equate to $60 million per year which by comparison is an amount about triple the depository library program appropriation In addition to beneficial productivity impacts on the creators and disseminators of Federal information other alternatives that could be implemented by SupDocs and NTIS such as the governmentwide information indexing see ch 11 should help improve the productivity of Federal as well as other users of Federal information At present it is difficult and time-consuming for many Federal employees to determine what relevant information is available from elsewhere within their own agency let alone from other agencies While there are no known estimates of the total time spent searching for information it must be substantial Moreover while an improved index to major government information in all formats is only one part of a total solution it should be of significant help if done well Other methods of estimating productivity improvement also give significant results For example a conservatively estimated 30 000 Federal employees are involved with information dissemination-related activities as discussed in chapter 11 Assuming an average salary including benefits of $40 000 per year the total cost would be $1 2 billion Assuming further an average productivity improvement of 25 percent when using electronic publishing equates to a payback period of 4 years the potential productivity improvements or cost avoidance would be about $300 million per year for Federal salaries alone As another example an estimated 100 000 scientific and technical reports are produced by or for the Federal Government each year Assuming that the average report length is 125 double-spaced typewritten pages and the average press run is 400 copies per report then the total printing and postage cost per report would average about $1 400 per report at $3 50 per copy or 1 6 cents per page plus $1 50 postage or $140 million total for 100 000 reports Using the estimated 35 percent savings figure the potential savings by using electronic publishing would be about $50 million annually for printing and postage alone Estimating the productivity improvements from SupDocs and NTIS electronic dissemination activities including related standards innovation and index initiatives is very difficult if not impossible However given the very large government investment in relevant areas even a small productivity y improvement translates into large savings or cost avoidance There are several ways to estimate savings for the government although estimating an allocation of savings to SupDocs NTIS versus the individual mission agencies is difficult and beyond the scope of this analysis One way to calculate savings is as a percentage of total government expenditures in relevant areas Assuming that the government spends at least $6 billion annually on information dissemination-related functions see ch 2 even just a 10 percent productivity improvement which is at the very low end of private sector esti- Agency Missions and the Role of SupDocs and NTIS As discussed throughout the report Congress has assigned numerous information dissemination responsibilities to Federal agencies in the performance of their statutory missions In general agency statutory missions would be enhanced by those SupDocs NTIS alternatives that facilitate and improve the dissemi- 311 nation of mission-specific information to agency clientele e g users researchers media interest groups To the extent this could be done more cost-effectively agency missions would also be enhanced Overall the scenario that seems to have broadest support among mission agencies is the alternative that retains agency discretion to disseminate electronic information directly to agency clients but with the central governmentwide dissemination offices SupDocs NTIS or a combination thereof having the discretion to include agency items in governmentwide sales archiving and distribution programs This is somewhat similar to the way paper documents and publications are handled now The agencies are able to distribute printed copies directly to their own clients SupDocs ''rides the printing order for additional copies for the GPO sales program and depository library distribution if the particular report is judged to be suitable for inclusion NTIS receives scientific and technical information STI documents from the agencies and places the materials in the archives for dissemination on demand At present while many agency reports are transmitted in electronic format to GPO for printing SupDocs does not disseminate electronic formats with the exception of some magnetic tapes NTIS on the other hand receives and disseminates about 1 400 electronic format products although demand per product is generally low Some agency officials expressed concern about having SupDocs disseminate their electronic format products This appears to reflect a desire to retain control over their own electronic products to the extent possible concern about possible competition with SupDocs and potential reduction in agency revenues from electronic sales and a perception that SupDocs could not effectively maintain an electronic dissemination program On the other hand under a decentralized scenario NTIS and or SupDocs activities would augment and supplement not supplant agency activities Also agency sales of electronic information products are in many cases quite modest so the involvement of NTIS and or SupDocs might actually stimulate greater sales and therefore greater dissemination of agency materials The agencies probably would not receive any additional direct revenues which would presumably be retained by NTIS SupDocs returned to the Treasury or applied to offset public appropriations elsewhere As for concern over the capability of SupDocs and NTIS to handle electronic formats both SupDocs and NTIS would need to obtain the necessary additional expertise GPO as a whole is averaging about a 5 percent annual net attrition rate 250 persons a year from a current base of about 5 000 which provides considerable flexibility to hire persons with electronic information skills to the extent needed Beyond this as many as 10 to 15 percent of the employees in several major GPO work groups are at or near retirement age see ch 4 There may be additional attrition through higher retirement rates in the next few years which would provide GPO with additional staffing flexibility In sum GPO is in a favorable position with respect to any necessary personnel adjustments within the current statutory ceiling on full time equivalent staff levels Changes in or removal of the ceiling would require congressional action The NTIS personnel situation is in a state of flux due to the uncertainties associated with the privatization debate Morale has been adversely affected and many employees apparently are prepared to retire or transfer to another Federal agency A complete evaluation of NTIS personnel resources would seem prudent With respect to equipment hardware software systems needed for electronic dissemination activities there would likely be the need for significant capital investment requirements on the part of SupDocs and NTIS for such things as additional desktop and high-end electronic publishing units graphics work stations magnetic tape and floppy disk conversion and duplication equipment 312 possibly online database support capability and possibly CD-ROM premastering equipment However for GPO the cost of these items is in many cases comparable or less than the cost of conventional printing and binding equipment GPO currently spends about 1 percent of total revenues on capital investment $8 million out of $800 million which is equivalent to about 4 percent of inplant revenues Over time one scenario is a gradual shift in the GPO capital expenditure budget from conventional to electronic printing and publishing equipment All major expenditures whether for new conventional presses or CD-ROM premastering equipment and the like would need to be carefully scrutinized to validate need and costeffectiveness relative to other options and taking into account estimates of future demand NTIS has not had a significant capital investment program in the past and would need a capital program to support electronic dissemination activities Should SupDocs and NTIS seek a significant role in electronic dissemination several other actions appear to be prudent One would be the establishment of high level and well-staffed strategic planning offices in SupDocs or GPO and NTIS that would include expertise in technology economics marketing and human resources among other considerations These offices would need to be permanently established The planning offices could be tasked with developing short medium and long-range plans on a rolling basis At GPO the recent establishment of an Office of Financial Policy and Planning appears to be a step in this direction Congress could require that periodic SupDocs and NTIS planning reports be submitted to the appropriate oversight authorizing and appropriations committees A second action would be to enhance the SupDocs and NTIS research development and demonstration program The few pilot and research projects underway while noteworthy do not have the critical mass necessary to place SupDocs and NTIS on a par with various of the Federal executive agencies such as the Navy DTIC USGS If SupDocs and NTIS aspire to--or Congress desires SupDocs and NTIS to take- a leadership role in such areas as technical standards and state-of-the-art technical applications then a more aggressive program appears to be necessary A third action would be to further increase the profile of SupDocs and NTIS participation in various Federal Government standards-setting and technology development activities SupDocs and NTIS could seek formal participation in these activities and promote or train from within or hire from the outside the best available qualified persons to participate in these forums See chs 4 5 and 7 for related discussion Private Sector Economy A major concern of the information industry government and others is how SupDocs and NTIS electronic dissemination programs if implemented would affect the economic health of the U S private sector economy The private business sector has multiple interests in Federal information dissemination First many businesses are users of Federal information for a wide variety of purposes Second the equipment manufacturers and systems integrators sell the government the hardware software and related technologies and services that are needed to implement Federal information dissemination systems Third the printing industry sells composition printing and binding services to the government Fourth the information industry repackages resells and or adds value to government information The interests of the business users of Federal information are presumably generically the same as many other users--to get the information when needed and at a reasonable price The larger businesses with greater resources are likely to be less sensitive to price than independent small businesses and the larger businesses also are better able to use the information industry to obtain Federal information on a resale or enhanced basis The equipment manufacturers and related companies while probably users of Federal information are primarily interested in expanding and 313 developing the government market for their technologies and services Similarly the printing industry largely views the Federal Government as another market segment for sales of printing services The information industry however has a more complex view of its relationship to the Federal information infrastructure On the one hand that portion of the information industry that makes a market in Federal information is dependent on obtaining the information on a timely and relatively inexpensive basis so that it can be repackaged resold and or enhanced at a competitive price If Federal information is available too slowly at too high a price and or in a difficult format the potential market value and profit potential of repackaging and or enhancing that information declines accordingly Therefore there is a clear interest in obtaining Federal information on a timely and reasonable cost basis The industry appears to oppose along with others pricing of Federal information to recover some or all of the cost of developing the information because in many instances that would make it too costly to repackage resell and or enhance the information at a profit The industry and others including libraries researchers public interest groups and the like note that the development of the information is paid for with taxpayer dollars so charging for the information development costs would amount to paying twice The conflict arises when government information is made available in electronic form The information industry apparently does not see paper formats as a competitive threat but not so for electronic formats This is because it is the electronic form and format that permits the information industry and others to repackage and enhance the information Thus users who want and can afford the advantages of electronic information e g such as timely search and retrieval capability provide the primary market for information industry products and services As a result proposals to make Federal information available in electronic form directly from the government e g via individual agencies and the depository li- brary program as well as SupDocs and NTIS have raised serious concerns on the part of OMB information industry trade associations and some individual companies The primary information industry concern is over a possible adverse impact of governmentprovided electronic information on information market opportunities OMB and information industry representatives make a distinction between government dissemination of Federal information in raw electronic form e g on a magnetic tape or floppy disk without software enhancements or searching aids which OMB and the industry representatives support and government dissemination of enhanced or socalled value added information which at least some in OMB and the industry oppose This places information industry companies in the position of advocating dissemination of raw electronic formats which they can use as resellers and value adders because the electronic formats are much cheaper to work with and minimize costly rekey boarding but apparently resisting sales of enhanced electronic formats by individual agencies or governmentwide dissemination agencies such as SupDocs or NTIS directly to the public The industry position raises several issues First historically the government has produced and disseminated a wide range of enhanced or value-added information products in paper format These include for example statistical analyses and projections e g from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of the Census natural resource trends and projections e g from USGS domestic and international commodity demand supply and price fluctuations e g from the U S Department of Agriculture and domestic and international market trends and forecasts e g from the Department of Commerce Thus the government has a long-established role in providing enhanced information products Second increasingly users are seeking these information products in electronic formats in order improve the timeliness accessibility and or manipulability of the information and or because the information is available 314 -- only in an electronic format Limiting the government to electronic dissemination of only the raw information would be akin to distributing the words of a book without the page and chapter formats or the table of contents and index or to distributing statistical data without the tables figures or summary presentations and analyses Limiting the government's role to raw electronic data could aggravate concerns about equity of information access and impair the performance of agency missions and governmental functions Third although OMB circular A-130 asserts that information dissemination is subject to OMB circular A-76 on contracting out and that maximum feasible reliance should be placed on the private sector neither of these circulars nor any other governmentwide policy guidance define under what conditions enhanced or value-added electronic information products are inherently or appropriately governmental versus commercial in nature See ch 11 for further discussion In terms of the various alternatives discussed in chapter 11 it does not appear that the business community has any serious objections to and indeed supports technical standards innovation centers improved Information Resources Management IRM and electronic FOIA also see ch 9 as they relate to information dissemination Many of these would benefit the business community as taxpayers through improved government productivity and as corporate citizens interested in an open government The governmentwide information index and electronic press release service also see ch 10 likewise appear to raise relatively minor objections although information industry representatives have noted that these offerings could be and to some extent already are provided by private vendors independently or under contract to the government The major industry objections seem to arise with respect to electronic dissemination of enhanced Federal information via SupDocs NTIS and DLP also see chs 6 and 7 and also by mission agencies with respect to specific enhanced information products that are perceived as having significant market value Analysis of possible economic impacts suggests the following general results The general business user community would appear to if anything benefit from the availability of enhanced electronic formats via SupDocs and or NTIS especially small business Small business might also benefit from depository library dissemination Business users already are the major customers of both SupDocs and NTIS accounting for about 75 percent of SupDocs subscription sales customers 45 percent of SupDocs publication sales customers and 65 percent of NTIS customers Except as users of Federal information e g for strategic planning or research and development purposes it does not appear that the information technology equipment and services industry or the printing industry would be significantly affected The information technology industry already realizes conservatively $8 billion per year in sales to the Federal Government and it is hard to see how this would be affected by SupDocs NTIS electronic dissemination Also even the $8 billion is but a small fraction about 4 percent of the $200 billion annual U S market for computer and business equipment software and services Likewise the U S printing industry's current Federal market share is about $600 million annually or roughly one percent of total annual industry revenues of about $55 billion Conceivably this market share could decrease slowly over time should SupDocs NTIS increase electronic products at the expense of paper products However the impact on the printing industry's revenues would appear to be marginal to insignificant The information industry is the one area where some adverse economic impact might be anticipated While the information industry includes a variety of traditional paper document and microform services the most dynamic and dominant sector of the industry is the online database business CD-ROM business may also become significant but today is just emerging as a viable electronic format The online database industry provides a reasonable basis for estimating the relative im- 315 pact of SupDocs NTIS enhanced electronic offerings The growth of the online database market segment of the information industry has been phenomenal From less than $500 million in annual revenues in 1978 this segment has grown to about $3 billion total revenues in 1987 and is projected to reach about $4 billion by the 1990-1991 time frame This reflects in part an increase in the number of databases from about 400 in 1979-1980 to 1 350 in 1982-1983 to about 2 900 in 1986 and about 3 500 in 1987 As of early 1987 financial and credit information accounted for almost three-fifths of all online database revenues Business and industrial information including real estate and economics accounted for about another onefifth Legal information accounted for about one-tenth and scientific and technical information for about one-twentieth This leaves about 5 percent for all other types of information including library support about 2 percent consumer about 1 percent and governmental about 1 percent information Thus government information per se appears to directly represent a very small portion of total online database revenues However it should be noted that some of the other types of databases presumably utilize government information although not as a major product offering Taking as a rather improbable example if one-fifth of the NTIS and SupDocs sales were converted to online database sales this would amount to about $20 million annually or less than one percent of the 1987 online industry a very small segment of the total online market In reality it would take NTIS SupDoc several years to reach $20 million annual online revenues if then By that time say 1990-1991 the online industry likely would have grown to $4 to 5 billion and the NTIS SupDocs market share would be down to less than one-half of one percent Thus it would not appear that SupDocs NTIS offering of electronic formats would pose any significant competitive or economic threat to the online industry as a whole However the hypothetical $20 million SupDocs NTIS market share would be somewhat more significant about 4 percent when compared to the combined market share of legal scientific and technical and purely governmental online services all grouped together as loosely governmental about 15 percent of the total online market and would be very significant when compared to the purely governmental segment alone SupDocs NTIS involvement in enhanced electronic dissemination is not a realistic threat or even a significant potential competitor to the information industry as a whole but could have a significant impact on the small segment of the industry and those relatively few firms that specialize in government information Of course the impact need not necessarily be negative The availability of enhanced electronic products may open up new opportunities for repackaged and further enhanced private offerings and could stimulate the overall market with a net gain for the private firms Moreover there is also the option of government contracting with various of these firms The online Congressional Record illustrates how commercial vendors could be involved as government contractors The Record is printed by GPO sold by SupDocs and distributed in paper and some microform to members of Congress congressional committees and offices other designated government officials and agencies and participating depository libraries GPO also sells magnetic tapes of the Record to vendors Vendors then enhance the database and place the Record online as a commercial offering at typical yearly subscription rates of $3 000 As discussed in more detail in chapters 4 7 and 8 depository libraries and others have expressed strong interest in the Record online but many cannot afford the commercial rates One alternative would be for GPO the House Information Systems office the Library of Congress or some other congressional agency to provide the Record online at no or reduced charges to the libraries However another alternative would be for Congress to contract 316 with one or more vendors for some or all of this service Vendors have indicated that they would offer a heavily discounted bulk rate for the depository library program Indeed a pilot project testing this concept is underway with 50 depository libraries participating For example for 1 100 access accounts with a maximum simultaneous sign-on of 70 libraries the estimated annual fee would be about $300 per library or only 10 percent of the full rate If the number of simultaneous sign-on libraries were 280 the annual fee would be about $1 000 which is still only one-third of the full rate This type of scenario could benefit both the libraries and the industry Nonetheless the possibility-- however remote--of adverse effects on innovation and competition in the industry is yet another reason for consideration of congressional policy alternatives discussed in chapter 11 and in ch 8 with regard to congressional information and ch 7 on the depository library program Other Implications Electronic dissemination of Federal information by SupDocs and NTIS has implications for several other areas These areas are summarized briefly below State local government use OTA's commissioned research2 on state local government use of Federal information concluded that current Federal systems for disseminating information are not adequately serving state local needs State local officials were skeptical about major government reorganization and point to failed state efforts to establish strongly centralized information dissemination offices However officials were generally supportive of alternatives such as the electronic information index common technical standards as long as they were developed with meaningful state local participation and other measures to improve access to Federal information in all formats--including electronic The dissemination of electronic formats by SupDocs and NTIS should improve the ability of State and local governments to learn about and obtain desired Federal information In order to help ensure that State local information needs are considered SupDocs and NTIS could include representatives of State local governments as participants in user forums marketing surveys and advisory panels for electronic dissemination The related activities of some Federal mission agencies such as the Bureau of the Census and the Agricultural Extension Service could be used as prototypes for SupDocs and NTIS Also several States have their own innovative electronic dissemination activities which may be adaptable for use by SupDocs and NTIS as well as Federal mission agencies Access by disabled persons Another area of particular note is the potential of electronic formats to significantly improve access to Federal information by physically disabled persons OTA's staff research3 found that many impaired individuals are handicapped with respect to obtaining Federal information for example because paper formats cannot be read by the blind with the exception of the limited amount of material in braille or manipulated by those with serious impairment of the upper extremities With the advent of Federal information in electronic form the potential exists to geometrically increase the amount of information accessible to disabled persons through the use of specially adapted microcomputers optical disks floppy diskettes and related electronic technology The dissemination of electronic formats by SupDocs and NTIS should improve the ability of disabled persons to obtain and use Federal information as would electronic dissemination by Federal mission agencies Electronic access could significantly increase the functional mobility capability and productivity of these individuals 2 Mark Haselkorn Philip L Bereano and Barbara Lewton ''Perspectives of State and Local Governments OTA contractor paper October 1987 3 Carol Nezzo Access to Federal Information by Physically Handicapped Persons OTA staff paper June 1987 317 The primary technological window for disabled persons is the microcomputer Through use of a microcomputer disabled persons can access online databases electronic mail and bulletin boards CD-ROMs and the like Microcomputers can be adapted to make them useable through special applications software special systems software and hardware adaptations or devices such as a keyguard keylatch optical printer over and undersized keyboard or smart keyboard that permit the disabled person to use standard software running on a standard microcomputer The keys to realizing this potential are 1 availability y of Federal information in electronic formats 2 the availability of relatively low-cost microcomputers and adaptive software and devices 3 the development of standards for microcomputer keyboards and physical design to ensure that microcomputers are compatible with adaptive devices and 4 the development of standards on text markup and page description Items 2 and 3 above are being implemented through the joint efforts of the disabled community equipment manufacturers researchers and Federal agencies especially the General Services Administration Veterans Administration and Department of Education SupDocs and NTIS could play a significant role in items 1 and 4 along with the mission agencies and the National Bureau of Standards In order to help ensure that the needs of disabled persons are met disabled persons could be included in SupDocs and NTIS user forums marketing surveys and advisory panels the Electronic archiving To be complete the disposition of information should be included as an integral part of the information life cycle The National Archives and Records Administration has responsibility for archiving of Federal records that have permanent value NARA archives records in all standard formats-- including paper microform and machine readable As the Federal agencies increase their use of electronic formats archival procedures will need to be continuously reviewed and updated to ensure that the accuracy integrity and com- pleteness of the records are maintained even when in electronic form NARA is in the process of issuing updated draft regulations on the maintenance retention and disposition of electronic records The proposed regulations will cover such topics as creation and use of databases and numeric data files including the need for adequate and up-to-date documentation creation and use of text information in office automation systems selection and maintenance of electronic storage media including consideration of longevity cost portability and the like retention of electronic records and destruction of electronic records The implications of SupDocs and NTIS sales of electronic formats are two-fold First ideally technical standards should be consistent through all stages of the information life cycle--from creation to processing to dissemination to disposition SupDocs and NTIS involvement in electronic dissemination along with mission agencies could provide an opportunity to help ensure that dissemination needs are fully considered Second to the extent SupDocs and NTIS offer databases numeric data files and the like in a variety of electronic storage media SupDocs and NTIS sales programs could include a larger percentage of Federal information that currently is available primarily only through Freedom of Information Act requests for active databases or searches of NARA archives for inactive and archived databases International leadership OTA's commissioned research 4 on foreign government information dissemination activities concluded that the U S Government currently has a leadership position with respect to electronic dissemination followed by the European Economic Community Canada other European nations and Japan in that order SupDocs and NTIS involvement in electronic dissemination could 'Thomas B Rile ' A Survey of International Trends in Government Information Dissemination OTA contractor paper November 1987 318 help further strengthen this leadership position through SupDocs NTIS participation along with other Federal agencies in international standards-setting activities SupDocs NTIS demonstrations of how legal and institutional protections for public access can be extended to an electronic information environment and an enhanced SupDocs NTIS role in stimulating the domestic economy through improved government information dissemination and the creation of new value-added opportunities for the information industry On the other hand there is some concern that with a strengthened SupDocs NTIS role U S Government information might become even more accessible to adversaries As it is foreign nations and corporations have much easier access to U S information than does the U S Government and corporations to foreign information Since information is an important tool in international economic and political competition further increases in the information gap could adversely affect the U S competitive position While this concern has been strongly articulated by U S military and intelligence agencies the factual basis has not been well established The institutional technical management and policy alternatives considered in this report are focused on the dissemination of public information defined as Federal information that is not classified proprietary or private in nature or subject to any other exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act Thus for example classified information is screened out of SupDocs and NTIS sales programs at the outset so greater involvement of these dissemination agencies in electronic dissemination should have no effect on foreign access to U S Government classified information Concern has also been expressed about dissemination of Federal information that is unclassified but that is subject to U S export control laws Here again the governmentwide dissemination agencies such as SupDocs and NTIS are secondary sources of information The original sources are the mission agencies themselves Two problems have arisen One is the concern that foreign nations who are subject to export controls may be able to get restricted Federal information from third part y foreign nations or companies or from U S domestic nongovernmental sources A second is that the secondary dissemination agencies may not fully implement restrictions on source agency information While these may be legitimate policy problems they exist irrespective of the format of the information Access via third parties whether foreign or domestic is very difficult to control at best and electronic dissemination could aggravate this problem However limiting the roles of SupDocs NTIS as well as the mission agencies in electronic information dissemination would run a high risk of handicapping U S domestic companies and the U S public and U S allies far more than U S adversaries As for SupDocs and NTIS compliance with export control requirements interagency policy coordination would seem to be the appropriate avenue rather than across-the-board limitations on electronic dissemination Only a very small percentage of SupDocs and NTIS materials would seemingly be subject to export controls in the first place A final and perhaps most difficult dimension of concern involves unclassified and unrestricted but so-called ''sensitive' Federal information Some Department of Defense officials have argued that certain unclassified unrestricted Federal information such as economic or agricultural statistics when aggregated and disseminated in electronic formats especially online databases becomes sensitive for national security purposes Sensitive means that foreign adversaries would gain significant advantages from accessing the information in electronic form presumably on a more timely and integrated basis than would otherwise be possible Defense and intelligence agency efforts to monitor foreign access to U S commercial and governmental unclassified online electronic databases have met with heavy opposition from the civilian agencies library and research communities and U S information 319 industry The industry has responded that such monitoring and potential control of unclassified legally unrestricted Federal information is not only a threat to open government and a freely competitive marketplace but could have a seriously adverse economic effect on the industry Nonetheless a significantly enhanced SupDocs NTIS role in electronic dissemination could aggravate defense community concerns Related issues are examined in five prior OTA reports Federal Government Information Tech- nology Management Security and Congressional Oversight OTA-CIT-297 February 1986 The Regulatory Environment of Science OTA-TM-SET-34 February 1986 Commercial Newsgathering From Space OTA-TM-ISC-40 May 1987 Defending Secrets Sharing Data OTACIT-31O October 1987 Science Technology and the First Amendment OTA-CIT-369 January 1988 These reports should be consulted for further discussion Appendixes Appendix A Acknowledgments OTA acknowledges with appreciation the contributions of numerous individuals and organizations to this report The contributions ranged from review of draft materials to participation in meetings and workshops to the provision of technical information The views expressed in the report are however those of OTA and not necessarily those of participants reviewers and other contributors The participants in several OTA project working groups are listed below followed by listings of reviewers and other contributors with separate listings for the U S Government Printing Office General Accounting Office and other OTA staff in addition to those listed in the front of the report Note that two OTA contractors Stephen Frantzich of Congressional Data Associates and Jacob Ulvila of Decision Science Consortium Inc participated in most working groups A Project Working Group Participants 1 Federal Agency Information Dissemination Working Group 2 Information Industry Working Group 3 Federal Statistical Agency Working Group 4 Survey Research Working Group 5 Government Printing Office and Joint Committee on Printing Working Group 6 Library Working Group 1 Federal Agency Information Dissemination Working Group December 12 1986 Robin Atkiss Chairman Federal Publishers Committee John Cavanaugh Manager Electronic Systems Division Government Printing Office Earl Joseph Contractor Anticipatory Sciences Incorporated John Karpovich Branch Head Plans Policy and Technology Navy Publications and Printing Service Henry Lowenstern Associate Commissioner for Publications Bureau of Labor Statistics Joseph Mihokovich Acting Director for Bibliographic and Document Services National Technical information Service R F Milwee Jr Director of Publications Department of the Army Kurt Molholm Administrator Defense Technical information Center Bruce Scaggs Asst Public Printer for Operations and Procurement Government Printing Office Barry Schaeffer Contractor Forrest Williams Project Coordinator Data Users Division Bureau of the Census 2 Information Industry Working Group JuIy 31 1987 Margaret Grisdela President Charles E Simon and Company Henry Freedman Contractor Electronet Information Systems Corporation Karen Myers Government Affairs Representative Electronic Data Systems Corporation Minge Bishop Reprographics Program Manager Department of the Air Force Peyton Neal President PRN Associates 323 324 -- David Peyton Director of Government Relations Information Industry Association Ron Plesser Attorney Nash Railsback and Plesser Alice Denson Manager of Internal Affairs Association of Data Processing Service Organizations Morris Schur Program Development Manager Eastman Kodak Mark Vonderhaar Product Development Manager Congressional Information Service inc 3 Federal Statistical Agency Working Group July 27 1987 Marie Argana Assistant Division Chief Bureau of the Census Tom Bold Director Office of Programs Markets and Acquisition National Technical Information Service Constance Citro Study Director Comittee on National Statistics National Academy of Sciences Larry Herrmann General Accounting Office Peter Hernon Professor Simmons College Stuart Kaufman General Accounting Office Charles McClure Professor Syracuse University Judith Myers Librarian University of Houston Library 5 U S Government Printing Office and Joint Committee on Printing Working Group August 4 1987 Jim Bradley Professional Staff Member Joint Committee on Printing Roy Breimon Professional Staff Member Joint Committee on Printing Dean Coston Assistant to the Staff Director Committe on House Administration Bernadine Hoduski Professional Staff Member Joint Committee on Printing Henry Lowenstern Associate Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics Stuart Foss Executive Advisor to the Public Printer Government Printing Office Stan Prochaska Chief Special Programs Division Department of Agriculture Gerald Kleiman Professional Staff Member Joint Committee on Printing Katherine Wallman Executive Director Counsel of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics Faye Padgett Assistant Staff Director Joint Committee on Printing John Mounts Chairman Federal Publishers Committee Mitchell Phelan Chief Document Technical Support Group Government Printing Office 4 Survey Research Working Group July 23 1987 Andrew Sherman Staff Assistant Financial Policy and Planning Government Printing Office Brenda Dervin Chair Department of communications Ohio State University John Wenstrup Auditor Joint Committee on Printing --- ------ -- 5 Library Working Group July 28 1987 Jane Bortnick Congressional Research Service Kaye Gapen Francis J Buckley Jr Detroit Public Library Director University of Wisconsin Libraries James Nelson State Librarian and Commissioner Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives Diane Smith Federal Documents Librarian Pennsylvania State University Libraries Susan Tulis Documents Librarian University of Virginia Law Library Julia Wallace Head Government Documents Department Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center B Reviewers and Other Contributors Kay Bulow Department of Commerce Sally Burke National Library of Medicine James H Burrows National Bureau of Standards Joseph Caponio National Technical Information Service William McCaren U S Newswire Eleanor Chase University of Washington Joseph Clark National Technical Information Service David O Cooke Department of Defense 1 General Reviewers Contributors 2 GPO Reviewers Contributors 3 GAO Reviewers Contributors 4 Other OTA Staff Reviewers contributors Ben Cooper Printing Industries of America 1 General Reviewers Contributors Tom Cox National Technical Information Service Allan Adler American Civil Liberties Union Andrew Aines Consultant Marie G Argana Bureau of the Census Robin Atkiss Federal Publishers Committee Jaia Barrett Association of Research Libraries Dean Coston Committee on House Administration Joseph G Coyne Department of Energy Mary Culnan The American University John Czekner Department of the Army Melvin S Day Herner Company Patricia Berger National Bureau of Standards Adelaide Del Frate National Aeronautics and Space Administration J E Biesecker U S Geological Survey F Anne Diamond Library of Michigan Ben Blankenship Department of Agriculture Richard Ehlke Congressional Research Service Tom Bold National Technical Information Service Paul Estaver National Institute of Justice 325 326 John J Elsbree National Technical Information Service Toni House U S Supreme Court Col John V Ferry Department of the Army Rosamond Jacob St Paul Public Library David Farber Department of Commerce Sarah T Kadec Consultant Susan Finsen Congressional Research Service Stanley Kalkus Washington Navy Yard Russell Forte Department of Agriculture John J Karpovich Navy Publications and Printing Service Stephen Frantzich Congressional Data Associates Gail Kohlhorst General Services Administration Henry B Freedman Consultant Elizabeth Knauff Department of the Treasury Robert Galpin Department of Commerce Maurice St Laurent Eastman Kodak Company Kaye Gapen University of Wisconsin Libraries Bernard G Lazorchak Joint Committee on Printing Robert Gellman Subcommittee on Government Information Justice and Agriculture U S House of Representatives Terrence J Leahy Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P C Henry J Gioia Department of Defense Patricia Goldstein Public Citizen Harry Hammitt Access Reports Armand R Lienard Department of the Air Force Henry Lowenstern Bureau of Labor Statistics George Lord Joint Council of Unions U S Government Printing Office Robert Hanson Legi-Slate Inc Jean Loup University of Michigan Mark P Haselkorn University of Washington Marilyn Marbrook Bureau of Justice Statistics Jim Hawkins Eastman Kodak Company Katherine Mawdsley University of California Davis Stephen M Hayes University Libraries Notre Dame Sandra McAninch University of Kentucky Libraries Philip Haymond Department of the Interior Marilyn McLennan Department of Commerce Anne Heanue American Library Association Charles McClure Syracuse University Peter Hernon Simmons College Adoreen McCormick Library of Congress Clyde Hordusky State Library of Ohio Francis McDonough and staff General Services Administration 327 E J McFaul U S Geological Survey Karen Renninger Veterans Administration Michael F McGrath Department of Defense Henry W Riecken Council on Library Resources Gary L McMullin Department of the Army James P Riley Federal Library and Information Center Committee Joseph D Mihokovich National Technical Information Services David Mitchell Department of the Army Kurt N Molholm Defense Technical Information Center Sandy I Morton Special Libraries Association John E Mounts and members Federal Publishers Committee Karen Myers Electronic Data Systems Corp Peyton Neal PRN Associates Burt N e w l i n Department of Defense Richard Oleszewski and staff Joint Committee on Printing James H Paul Committee on Science Space and Technology U S House of Representatives John Roach Department of the Army Michael M Roberts EDUCOM Hope Robinson Department of the Army Ken Rosenberg National Technical information Service Ernest Russell National Labor Relations Board Judy Russell Russell Associates John A Schmehl Department of Energy Elliott Siegal National Library of Medicine Kent A Smith National Library of Medicine Sandra Smith National Center for Health Statistics University of California Berkleley J Timothy Sprehe Office of Management and Budget David Peyton Information lndustry Association John P Springett Department of Defense David Plocher OMB Watch Ruth Anne Stewart Library of Congress William J Poad Lester B Knight and Associates Herbert Strenz Drake University Dana Pratt Library of Congress Nell Strickland Department of the Army Shirley Radack National Bureau of Standards Tony Tatum Department of the Army Mary Redman New York State Library Charles F Treat Department of Commerce Franklin S Reeder Office of Management and Budget Susan Tulis University of Virginia Law School Library Gary R P e e t e 328 Philip Van De Voorde Iowa State University Library Donald Ladd Production Department Mark Vonderhaar Congressional Information Service Inc June Malina Documents Marketing Julia Wallace Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center Deanna E Marlow Office of the Executive Advisor Camille Wanat University of California Berkeley Claudine J Weiher National Archives and Records Administration Forrest B Williams Bureau of the Census Roxanne Williams Department of Agriculture 2 U S Government Printing Office Reviewers Contributors partial listing Ralph Kennickell Jr Public Printer M Joseph Cannon Assistant Public Printer Financial Policy and Planning Joseph McClane Library Inspection Team Charles McKeown Documents Marketing R A Morrison Controller Grant Moy General Counsel Mitchell Phelan Documents Technical Support Group Samuel B Scaggs Assistant Public Printer Operations and Procurement Robert Schwenk Production Department Mark Scully Library Programs Service Robert G Cox Customer Service Department Andrew Sherman Financial Policy and Planning William H Cox Operations and Procurement Drew Spalding Deputy General Counsel Russell Duncan Production Department Tom Sullivan Printing Procurement Department Janet Erickson Information Technology Program Bonnie Trivizas Library Programs Service Stuart M Foss Executive Advisor to the Public Printer Anthony Valentine Operations and Procurement Donald E Fossedal Superintendent of Documents David Wein Production Department Paul Gianni Quality Control James D Young Document Sales Service Joseph E Jenifer Deputy Public Printer James Joyner Customer Service Department William F Klugh Special Assistant for Productivity Improvement 3 General Accounting Office Reviewers Contributors Larry Herrmann General Government Division Stuart Kaufman General Government Division -- 329 Allen Louderback General Government Division Other Office of Technology Assessment Reviewers Contributors Susan Koch Vince DeSanti Information Management and Technology Division Mark Nadel Joan Winston Appendix B Contributing Authors This report is the product of several contributing authors Fred B Wood OTA wrote chapters 1-5 11 and 12 Prudence S Adler OTA wrote chapters 6 7 and 8 And Jamie A Grodsky OTA wrote chapters 9 and 10 Chapter 3 incorporated the results of an OTA staff paper on information formats prepared by Darlene Wong Chapter 4 incorporated results of an OTA staff paper on GPO operations and services prepared by Carol Nezzo And chapter 8 drew on OTA contractor papers on congressional information prepared by Stephen Frantzich The results of the GAO surveys of Federal agencies and Federal information users OTA contractor papers including those listed in Appendix C and information provided to OTA directly by GPO and NTIS and others listed in Appendix A were incorporated to the extent appropriate in drafting the various chapters 330 Appendix C List of Contractor Reports Copies of the following contractor reports completed in support of this assessment will be available in late 1988 from the National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield VA 22161 703 487-4650 The views expressed in these reports are those of the contractors and not necessarily those of the OTA Technology Assessment Board or U S Congress 1 Gregory Giebel University of the District of Columbia Technological Changes 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 at the Government Printing Office and Their Impacts Upon Workers contractor report prepared for OTA January 1988 Stephen Frantzich Congressional Data Associates Public Access to Congressional Information in the Technological Age Case Studies contractor report prepared for OTA September 1987 Stephen Frantzich Congressional Data Associates Public Access to Congressional Information The Potential and Pitfalls of Technology Enhanced Access contractor report prepared for OTA January 1987 Stephen Frantzich Congressional Data Associates Public Access to Congressional Support Agency Information in the Technological Age Case Studies contractor report prepared for OTA November 1987 Mark P Haselkorn Philip L Bereano and Barbara Lewton University of Washington Perspectives of State and Local Governments on Federal Information Dissemination contractor report prepared for OTA October 1987 Thomas B Riley Riley Information Services A Survey of International Trends in Government Information Dissemination contractor report prepared for OTA November 1987 Frank J Romano Decision Analysis Framework for GPO Strategic Alternatives contractor report prepared for OTA January 1988 Jacob Ulvila Decision Science Consortium Inc Decision Analysis of Alternatives for Federal Information Dissemination contractor report prepared for OTA December 1987 331 Appendix D Some Key Terms and Definitions This report uses a number of terms whose definitions are important in order to facilitate understanding Some of these key terms are introduced here The definitions provided are functional not legal Federal information-information collected and or developed by agencies of the U S Government as part of official agency responsibilities Federal information includes knowledge or intelligence such as facts data or opinions in numerical graphic or narrative forms regardless of mode or medium by which it is maintained or communicated Thus Federal information can be statistical data on a floppy disk or in a hardback book or agency regulations on a CD-ROM or in a paper pamphlet This report focuses primarily on Federal information that is public e g not subject to FOIA exemptions for personal proprietary or classified information Printing-Federal information can be printed published and disseminated although the distinctions between the latter two terms can be rather artificial Printing is the process of stamping impressing or copying information in the form of letters numbers graphics and the like on some kind of surface such as paper or microform In traditional ink-on-paper printing paper is pressed against an inked printing surface to make copies or impressions of the original informational material The inked printing surface or plate is typically made by creating a picture of the original on a photosensitive surface the plate Printing as a term is typically used to include all steps in the printing process from layout and composition to binding Layout is the planning or designing of the arrangement of material to be composed and printed Composition is the production and arrangement of typographic characters or type for printing Binding is the tieing together or compiling in a bound form of the printed pages of a book pamphlet and the like Publishing-is the overall process of creating reproducing and releasing or issuing informational material for sales or distribution In the Federal Government the publishers are generally considered to be the agencies that originate or create the material for sales or distribution The publishing agencies provide the original material to be typeset or camera-ready specify the format and number of copies to be printed usually by or through 332 GPO for ink-on-paper printing and occasionally by agency inhouse print shops and handle the sales and distribution of copies from the agency Sales and distribution of some documents are handled by the Superintendent of Documents For scientific and technical material copies may be provided to NTIS for archiving and sales on demand Information dissemination-the process by which information is actively distributed to the public by government agencies or through other mechanisms or channels including the private and not-for-profit sectors Information is disseminated in a variety of formats and media and in such a way that the interested public can readily become aware of the availability of such information Thus dissemination focuses on the output part of the informational process while printing focuses on the processing or reproduction of the information into a form suitable for distribution and publishing includes the creation of the information as well as its reproduction and distribution Examples of Federal dissemination mechanisms include the SupDocs and NTIS sales programs Consumer Information Center for distribution of consumer pamphlets produced by agencies Depository Library Program for distribution of agency publications to participating libraries and the various agency information centers and information clearinghouses Information access-the process by which individuals can obtain Federal information on their own initiative The most frequently cited mechanism for such access is the Freedom of Information Act FOIA However this report uses the broader concept of information access to include anything that facilitates the ability or freedom of the public to obtain Federal information In this sense facilitating public access to Federal information is accomplished in large measure by Federal printing publishing and dissemination activities as well as by access mechanisms such as FOIA The major part of this report examines the alternatives and issues associated with extending the concepts of printing publishing and dissemination from traditional ink-on-paper forms of informational material to electronic forms In this report electronic printing electronic publishing and electronic dissemination are defined as follows 333 Electronic printing- the process of electronically creating or copying images of information in the form of letters numbers graphics and the like on some kind of surface For example in laser printing the digitized information is fed to a laser that creates a dot-matrix image either directly on photosensitive paper or indirectly on a photo-receptor device in the printer that transfers or prints ' the image onto paper In impact printing the digitized information is fed to a microcomputer chip that drives a printing head e g a daisy wheel which in turn impresses or stamps the information on a surface such as paper Since both ink-on-paper printing and electronic printing typically use electronic photocomposition the major difference is that electronic printing eliminates the need for creating photo-negatives and printing plates and using printing ink and mechanical presses to transfer images onto paper Another major difference is that with electronic printing the images can be transferred to a variety of other surfaces besides paper These include magnetic tape floppy disks and optical disks where the digitized information is transferred in digital form onto a surface that is magnetically or optically sensitive and then printed by electromagnetic or laser devices Electronic publishing--is the use of electronic forms of information throughout the entire publishing process from creation editing and revision to printing and distribution Electronic publishing is frequently used synonymously with electronic printing Thus so-called desktop publishing is a version of electronic printing that permits iterative electronic composition and page layout by the author or originator of the informational material its display on a computer screen i e in so-called soft' electronic form its reproduction on paper or in electronic form and the distribution of the printed material electronically if desired e g remote locations and or by printingon-demand The term desktop' simply means that all of this can be done with relatively low-cost microcomputers terminals laser printers telecommunication lines if needed and the necessary software So-called high-end electronic publishing systems perform the same generic functions but can handle more complex higher volume and or longer informational materials These systems usually can handle considerably more information and require specialized expertise on the part of equipment operators See ch 3 for further technical discussion of desktop and high-end electronic publishing and related technologies Electronic dissemination--the active distribution of information to the public by government agencies or through other mechanisms and channels including the private and not-for-profit sectors using electronic formats such as magnetic tapes floppy disks optical disks online and remote printing-on-demand It also includes advising the public of the availability of such information Electronic dissemination presumes electronic printing of the tapes and disks and the distribution of copies printed remotely Electronic dissemination is compatible with but does not require electronic publishing in the sense that the information does not have to be created in electronic form for it to be converted later into an electronic format suitable for distribution For further discussion of technical terms used in this report see chapter 3 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu