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GoDIG
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Present: Bette Siegel (Co-Chair), State Library; Len Adams, Univ. of Mass, Amherst; Sonia Ensins, Boston College; Betty Febo, Wellesley College; Gail Fithian, Boston Public Library; Bob Kehner, MIT; Meg Ragland, Boston College; Ralph Szymczak, Brandeis University.
The meeting began with a general discussion concerning the appropriations budget crisis for GPO. It appears that the Senate may restore funding for GPO and that with the tremendous outcry and intensive lobbying by constituents and members of the library community that the House is even reconsidering some of its choices. It was noted that Judd Craig a Republican Senator from New Hampshire and a member of the Appropriations Committees is a supporter and has a great web page.
Bette summarized the GPLNE meeting and expressed awe with the beauty of the Yale Library. She also gave a short report on the meeting of the Council of State Librarians in the Northeast (COSLINE) which was held in Hartford, CT, May 11-12, 2000. Margaret Lane was honored by a state proclamation making the day Margaret Lane Day. All the proceedings will be up on the Connecticut State Library Homepage. Bette noted that Massachusetts is the only state that creates a checklist of its documents and has them microfilmed for preservation. One of the big issues of COSLINE is the development of GILS. It was noted that most states seem to be using the Washington State model although Illinois was recognized as having a good GILS site. Massachusetts will be getting into it. Rhode Island is already involved and wants to be the coordinator for New England.
Betty Febo discussed updates to the GoDIG website and requested suggestions for improvements. She asked that any members who have changes to their directory entry on the website contact her and she will make the appropriate changes. She has deleted some out of date material noting that portions of the site hadn't been updated since 1997. A discussion followed regarding the advantages of listing linked websites and the problems of proprietary databases. While it was agreed it was worthwhile to maintain some databases, there were questions about who would use these pages since most member libraries have their own homepages with linked sites. Unique additions are especially welcome and should be advertised. It was unanimously agreed that GoDIG meeting minutes should be posted on the website and archived. Agendas would be distributed on the GoDIG listserve and not placed on the website.
Bette Siegel approached BLC about doing a Tuesday program and we have tentatively committed to doing a program. A two hour program was sketched out that included an overview of GoDIG and the GoDIG homepage (20 min.); demonstration of BPL's state and local documents index (40 min.); demonstration of MassBedRock (a business and economic development database developed at UMass Amherst) (1 hr.).
Bette also brought up the possibility of creating a Massachusetts state plan. She handed out some relevant material related to a previous attempt in the early 1980s and asked that members read and digest them for discussion at the next meeting. However, she said that we should not pursue it without the endorsement of Boston Public Library. Gail did not object and supported a revisiting of the issue. In addition to reading the handouts we should look at other state plans that are available via the Internet.
Michigan: http://www.libofmich.lib.mi.us/publications/mifedplan.html
Louisiana: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/govdocs/laplan2.html
Missouri: http://www.missouri.edu/~govdocs/fdl_plan.htm
Oregon: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/resources/govdocs/stpln.html
At the next meeting in addition to discussing the possibility of developing a state plan, we would also develop a letter to send to all 42 federal depositories in Massachusetts to invite their assistance and participation at a future meeting.
The next GoDIG meeting will be held as Boston Public Library on Friday, October 6, 2000, at 10:00am.
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