Illinois Libraries/OCLC Tackle Government Information Online

Federal depository librarians link questions to answers

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 6/1/2005

The Illinois State Library, University of Illinois at Chicago (UI), and OCLC have banded together to sponsor what is being described as a virtual reference desk for government information. Administered by the Government Printing Office(GPO), Government Information Online (GIO) sets up more than 30 librarians from federal depository libraries as liaisons between patrons with questions and government libraries than can supply the answers.

John Shuler, documents librarian and associate professor at UI, has pushed the project and now serves as its primary overseer. Shuler told LJ that the pilot program is proceeding well. "We doubled the number [of questions] during March over the previous two months," said Shuler. "Getting about 30 different depository libraries to work together on a national basis along public service lines has been a rich and rewarding experience."

Shuler proposed the basis for GIO back in 2001–02. "I talked it over with my colleagues down at the State Library in Springfield," he said. "They had launched a comparable product for deaf and blind libraries using OCLC's QuestionPoint virtual reference service software to link these different libraries that were supported by federal funds to meet the needs of users with those disabilities."

In 2003, the state library contacted Shuler with the idea of doing a similar project for government information. "It took us six months to put it together, put up the guidelines, learn the software, and finish the training," Shuler said. "By early November, everything was in place."

OCLC has donated the software, and each institution volunteers staff time. The service is jointly managed by Shuler and the state library. Participating libraries cover the entire country. "We were as careful as possible in getting a big geographic spread," said Shuler. "We also have multitype institutions, which I think is unique in that we have a state library and academic and public libraries."

After the pilot project is completed, Shuler hopes that the multi-institutional cooperation will stand as a model for other depository librarians. "Anybody can figure out what's going to happen with the GPO…it's moving to a depository system that isn't based on collections but on service." Shuler asserts that depository librarians "have to figure out how we're going to work together on a national service level." The single aspect of librarianship, he says, that does not have national standards is reference service. "Software, such as QuestionPoint, offers us an opportunity to establish those national standards. I'm hoping the GPO and my colleagues will sit up and take notice."

When this phase of the program wraps in November, Shuler hopes he can convince the GPO or OCLC to put up the resources to make it a regular part of these libraries' routines as depository facilities. He believes that the project is an opportunity for librarians to think about "an evolving reference culture." Librarians, he said, should work with government agencies "to look at their customer culture and the software that they are using to answer questions from the public and see if these two cultures can get together."

As a researcher, Shuler says the project demonstrates that government information librarians can work together. "Just as we used to marshal our collections and share things readily across borders, so, too, our expertise isn't bound by our local institutions."

Libraries assisting in Government Information Online include the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records; Boston Public Library; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL; Library of Virginia; and University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.