ALA Annual 2017

Library of Congress Exhibit Booth

The Library of Congress Exhibit Pavilion is no. 1819 at McCormick Place Convention Center External (2301 S. King Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60616).  The Library’s Pavilion manager is Michelle Spezzacatena. Exhibit hours are:

• Friday, June 23: 5:30-7:00 pm; ribbon-cutting and opening reception
• Saturday, June 24: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Sunday, June 25: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Monday, June 26: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Special appearances by the Librarian of Congress

Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress and a former president of the American Library Association, will be available at several events:

• “Happy Hour with the Librarian of Congress”—at the Pavilion on Friday evening, 5:30-7:00 pm
• “Ask the Librarian of Congress”—at the Pavilion on Saturday morning, 10:00 to 11:00 am
• “Coffee with Carla”—at the Pavilion on Sunday morning, 9:00 to 10:00 am.  Coffee and croissants will be served.  The first 144 guests will receive complimentary Library of Congress coffee mugs.
• “In Conversation with the Librarian of Congress: NY, SF, and Chicago”--in Convention Center Ballroom 375b on  Sunday morning, 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. Dr. Hayden will interview library directors Tony Marx (New York Public Library), Luis Herrera (San Francisco Public Library), and Brian Bannon (Chicago Public Library).

View a schedule of all pavilion theater presentations

The Pavilion theater also features presentations by Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) and his digital director and policy advisor Andrew Aydin (Sunday, 1:00-2:00 pm); and authors Natasha Trethewey (Saturday, 3:00-4:00 pm), Scott Turow (Monday, 12:00-1:00 pm), and Gene Luen Yang (Saturday, 11:00 am-12:00 pm). 

Library of Congress staff making presentations in the Pavilion theater include Neil Bernstein, Colleen Cahill, Megan Halsband, Megan Harris, Patricia Hayward, Ahmed Johnson, Jaime Mears, Shelly Smith, and Stephanie Stillo.  Information technology support will be provided by the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

The schedule of Pavilion theater presentations is available on the “Library of Congress at ALA” Web site, URL <https://www.loc.gov/ala>. Demonstrations of Cataloging Distribution Service products are available on a walk-in basis, and formal presentations will be held daily in the Pavilion theater.

Giveaway items at the Pavilion include Library of Congress nametag ribbons, bookmarks, National Book Festival posters, and a limited number of autographed copies of The Card Catalog (see under NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH/Publishing Office in this document). 

The Library of Congress Exhibit Pavilion Program is one way that the Library reaches the public that it serves as the de facto national library. The Pavilion’s presence at ALA highlights the Library as a civic center, aligning with the mission and goals of the Library.  In the Pavilion visitors learn about the world of creativity, innovation, and information represented in the Library’s collections (onsite and online) and about the Library’s history, architecture, and the broad range of current efforts and forward-thinking initiatives that place the Library as a leader in meeting information demands of the 21st century.

AWARDS to LIBRARY OF CONGRESS STAFF at ALA

Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, is the recipient of the 2017 Melvil Dewey Medal.

Jeanne Drewes, chief of the Binding and Collections Care Division, is the recipient of the 2017 Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award from ALCTS, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, a division of ALA. 

Anne Harrison, FEDLINK network program specialist, is the recipient of the 2017 Federal and Armed Forces Libraries Round Table Achievement Award.

OFFICE of the LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

Personnel Changes in the Office of the Librarian

David S. Mao resigned as Deputy Librarian of Congress on Feb. 10, 2017, to accept a position at Georgetown University Law Center.  Robert R. Newlen continues as Deputy Librarian of Congress. 

Ryan P. Ramsey was appointed advisor to the Librarian, effective Feb. 19. Jeff Yake was appointed Executive Officer for Administration, effective Feb. 27.

Other personnel changes are reported under each service unit in this document.

DC Pride Week

The Library marked DC Pride Week, June 2-10, 2017, with an exhibition from its extensive LGBTQ+ collections, a film screening, Law Library panel discussion on “Youth, Gender, and Law”, an oral history workshop focusing on LGBTQ+ veterans, and a book talk by David France, author of How to Survive a Plague. The bibliography of collection items in the exhibition is available at URL < pride-masterlist-exhibition-2017.pdf> (PDF, 1MB).

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

The Omnibus Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, fiscal 2017, which became law on May 5, 2017, provides $632 million for the Library of Congress, an increase of $32 million above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.  In the largest increase, $20 million will support migration of the Library's Primary Computing Facility to an alternate facility.  The bill also provides $6.56 million for IT security enhancements; $1.35 million for digital collections management; $4.04 million in three-year funding for shelving replacement in the Law Library's collections storage areas; $1.89 million for the Veterans History Project; and $8.44 million in no-year funding for the Teaching with Primary Sources program. The Copyright Office received funding for its ongoing modernization efforts, with $9.8 million in support of six new Copyright Office initiatives that address registration backlogs and information technology issues.  The bill also includes an increase of $1 million for the Congressional Research Service.  The bill further encourages the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to move forward with implementation of the braille eReader program.  In addition, the bill provides for the establishment of a National Collection Stewardship Fund to support collections preservation and storage.

CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS OFFICE (CRO)

Appropriations Update for Fiscal 2017

The government operated under a series of continuing resolutions for the first seven months of the fiscal year.  On May 4, 2017, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 (H.R. 244), which funds the government through the remainder of fiscal 2017 until September 30. H.R. 244 provided a total of $1.07 trillion in base discretionary funding, maintaining the spending cap set under the most recent bipartisan budget agreement.

The Library received a 6.54 percent increase in spending authority over its fiscal 2016 funding level, bringing its total budget authority to $684.04 million.  This figure included $52.08 million in offsetting receipts and prior year funding.  It is below the Library’s funding request of $719.26 million.

Summary of Final Fiscal 2017 Appropriations

(Includes direct appropriations, offsetting authority, and unobligated prior year funding):

Library Account	Fiscal 2016 Enacted	Fiscal 2017 Enacted
LC Salaries & Expenses	$425,971,000	$457,017,000
Copyright Office	$58,875,000	$68,825,000
CRS	$106,945,000	$107,945,000
NLS	$50,248,000	$50,248,000
Total Budget Authority	$642,039,000	$684,035,000

Within the above subtotals, the funding bill notably provided:

• $20 million to migrate the Library's Primary Computing Facility (PCF) in the James Madison Memorial Building to a new Tier 3 facility offsite
• $8.44 million for the Teaching with Primary Sources program
• $6.56 million for IT and cyber security enhancements
• $4.04 million for Law Library compact shelving
• $3.4 million to support the Searchable Historic Copyright Records Project
• $1.12 million to develop a comprehensive data management plan for the Copyright Office
• $1.62 million for Copyright Office hardware and software upgrades
• $1.35 million for digital collections management.

The Architect of the Capitol received funding of $47.080 million for Library Buildings and Grounds, advancing several important projects in fiscal 2017.

Account	Fiscal 2017 Enacted
Minor Construction	$2,000,000
Garage Structural Repairs & Entry Improvements, JAB	$8,722,000
Emergency Generator Replacement, TJB	$4,901,000
Elevator Modernization, JMMB MC1-MC4, JAB 13-14	$4,292,000
East and West Main Pavilion Roof Replacement, TJB	$2,222,000
Project Budget Subtotal	$22,137,000
Operating Budget	$24,943,000
TOTAL	$47,080,000

H. 244 also included the following administrative provisions and report language:

National Collection Stewardship Fund. The bill contained an administrative provision to create a National Collection Stewardship Fund in which the Library may transfer available appropriations from any year for the purpose of preparing collections for long-term storage. Funds may also be transferred to the Architect of the Capitol to provide resources for preservation and storage facilities.

Subject Headings. In lieu of report language instructing the Library to continue to use the term “illegal alien” in its catalog subject headings, H.R. 244 included report language directing the Library to make its process for changing subject headings publicly available.  The language specifically provided that the process should be “clearly defined, transparent, and allow input from stakeholders including those in the congressional community.”  Changes must also “consider appropriate sources of common terminology used to refer to a concept, including current statutory language and other legal reference sources; and other sources, such as reference materials, websites, and titles in the Library of Congress' collection.”

Cybersecurity. Report language directed the Library to study requirements and constraints in implementing multi-factor authentication for Legislative Branch agencies.  The study must be completed before the Library can implement the multi-factor authentication component of the IT and cyber security enhancements funded by the bill.

Digital Collections Management. Report language expressing a need for a comprehensive, Library-wide digital collections management plan.

Copyright Office Modernization. The bill increased the Copyright Office's authority to spend fee receipts and included accompanying language that “it is expected that the additional funds made available will be used towards the modernization effort.”  The Committees also required updates to the Copyright Office’s IT modernization plan in collaboration with the Library's CIO (chief information officer). Appropriators did not speak to proposals on where the Copyright Office should reside organizationally, but said it is recognized that there must be integration with the Library of Congress given the Copyright Office is currently a part of the Library.  They further added that “it is expected that the Copyright Office consult with the Library of Congress’ CIO on its modified IT plan and use of shared services, where practicable, should be reflected in the plan.  However, with regard to copyright specific IT systems and larger Copyright issues, it is expected that the Library continue to defer to the expertise of the Register of Copyrights.”

Fiscal 2018 Appropriations

On May 18, 2017, the Library presented its budget to the House Appropria­tions Subcommittee for the Legislative Branch. Librarian Carla Hayden testified (PDF, 123 KB), along with Deputy Librarian Robert Newlen, Congressional Research Service (CRS) Director Mary Mazanec, and Chief Information Officer Bud Barton.  During the budget hearing, appropriators inquired about IT modern­ization, making collections more accessible, CRS staffing, copyright registration, and public access to CRS reports.  On May 3, 2017, the House Legislative Branch Subcommittee held an outside witness hearing, during which organizations testified in support of making CRS reports publicly available.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee held its hearing on the Library’s budget request on June 7. The Subcommittee welcomed the Librarian to provide testimony (PDF, 125 KB) at the hearing. CRS Director Mary Mazanec (PDF, 150 KB) and Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett (PDF, 167 KB) submitted written statements for the record.  As in the House subcommittee, IT modernization and CRS staffing capacity were of interest to Senate appropriators, as well as the Library’s legislative priorities and funding to support Library custodial services.
The Library’s fiscal 2018 budget requests $737.6 million in total budget authority, including $687.71 million in annual appropriations and $49.92 million in offsetting receipts authority. The budget represents a 7.8% increase over fiscal 2017, or $53.69 million in budget authority. Of the increase, $43.28 million would fund mandatory pay and price-level increases. The request includes critical IT investments to support modernization, with a particular focus on:

• Enterprise Investment in IT Modernization, OCIO ($9.693 million/funding for 11 FTE) – To upgrade the Library’s enterprise technology infrastructure;
• Copyright IT Modernization ($3.629 million) – To assess requirements for a next generation registration system and maintain legacy systems while modernization is underway; and
• Integrated Research and Information Systems (IRIS), Congressional Research Service ($4 million for the first year of a five-year investment of $20 million) – To modernize Congressional Research Service (CRS) IT applications used in fulfilling congressional requests.

The Library also seeks support in fiscal 2018 for important workforce capacity needs, which include funding for eight NTE appointments for junior CRS analysts in areas of heavy congressional demand; one FTE in the Inspector General’s Office to bolster oversight of IT investments; and 22 additional FTE in the Copyright Office to provide registration services, legal expertise, and public information staffing.

Legislative Update for the First Session of the 115th Congress

House Passage of H.R. 1695, the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017.  On April 26, 2017, the House passed the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017 ( H.R. 1695) in a 378-48 vote.  The bill would make the Register of Copyrights a presidential appointee subject to Senate confirmation.  Under the bill, a recommending panel comprised of congressional leaders and the Librarian would provide a list of three candidates to the president. H.R. 1695 was amended on the House floor with a provision of construction, ensuring that nothing in the bill impacts mandatory deposit to the Library’s collections.

According to statements from the House Judiciary Committee, the bill was developed in coordination with Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Diane Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A companion bill, S. 1010, awaits action in the Senate and has been referred the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Oversight Hearings before the Committee on House Administration. On Feb. 6, 2017, Librarian Carla Hayden participated in the first Committee on House Administration (CHA) oversight hearing of the 115th Congress: “ Priorities of the House Officers and Legislative Branch Entities for FY 2018 and Beyond.”  In her testimony (PDF, 319 KB), Dr. Hayden highlighted the Library’s importance to the Congress and to the American people.  She also spoke to her priorities to increase access, strengthen strategic planning, and make progress on modernization, including the development of a Library-wide digital strategy.

CHA held a second hearing titled “ Oversight of the Library of Congress' Information Technology Management” on June 8, 2017.  Librarian Carla Hayden, CIO Bud Barton and Library Inspector General (IG) Kurt Hyde provided testimony on the Library’s progress in closing Government Accountability Office and IG report recommendations to improve IT within the Library.  The Library reported progress on instituting IT leadership and tightening governance procedures, both of which are strengthened through IT centralization.  Members of the committee took particular interest in strategic planning, copyright modernization, cybersecurity, and customer service.  Chairman Gregg Harper (R-MS) closed the hearing by noting that “some good progress” has been made.  The Committee intends to revisit the topic early next year.

Several Bills Reintroduced

H.R.2335 - Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2017 [reintroduced since 114th Congress]

Date Introduced:  5/3/2017 Introduced by: Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ-7)
Latest Action: On 5/3/2017, referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

The Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2017 would direct the Government Publishing Office (GPO) to establish and maintain a public website with searchable, sortable, and downloadable CRS reports. The bill language states that no fee may be charged for access to these reports.

H.R. 2335 further stipulates that CRS may remove the name and contact information of any CRS employee before transmitting a report to the GPO for publication on the website.

H.R.890 - Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act [reintroduced since 114th Congress]

Date Introduced:  2/6/2017                             Introduced by: Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA)
Latest Action: On 2/6/2017, referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

The Copyright Office for the Digital Economy (CODE) Act would establish the U.S. Copyright Office as a separate independent agency in the Legislative Branch.  The Office would be headed by a presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed Director/Register.
This is the same bill introduced last Congress except that H.R. 890 would make an additional amendment to the Register’s duties under 17 U.S.C. 701 to ensure the prompt registration of copyright claims. Other key bill provisions would:

• Limit the Director's term of office to 10 years.
• Allow copyright owners to register copyrights for unpublished works deposited under 17 U.S.C. 408 by delivering “examination copies” to the Copyright Office.  Published works deposited under 17 U.S.C. 407 would remain available to the Library, and would be the subject of a Copyright Office report to Congress mandated under the bill.
• Require the Copyright Office to: (1) submit a report to Congress within one year of enactment on the future administration mandatory deposit under 17 U.S.C. 407 in the digital era, and (2) conduct studies to ensure that it has the technology and staff to establish and maintain a modern copyright system.
• The study of mandatory deposit would be required to include the Library’s preferences in one specifically named area--with regard to “deposits for preservation efforts.”
• Establish a Copyright Advisory Board to advise the Copyright Office and to provide information on emerging technology practices.

H.R.1729 - Statutes at Large Modernization Act [reintroduced since 113th Congress]

Date Introduced:  3/27/2017                          Introduced by: Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA)
Latest Action: On 3/27/2017, referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

The Statutes at Large Modernization Act would provide the public with access to the United States Statutes at Large.
The bill would direct the Librarian of Congress to make searchable statutes available on Congress.gov/LIS.

H.R.1217 - To direct the Librarian of Congress to obtain a stained glass panel depicting the seal of the District of Columbia and install the panel among the stained glass panels depicting the seals of States which overlook the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. [reintroduced since 113th Congress]

Date Introduced:  2/24/2017                          Introduced by: Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-At Large)
Latest Action: On 2/27/2017, r eferred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management .

H.R. 1217 would direct the Librarian to add a stained glass panel depicting the seal of the District of Columbia in the Main Reading Room in the Jefferson Building.  The bill was reported favorably out of committee last Congress and amended to require the installation of the seal to occur concurrently with the renovation and replacement of existing glass panels.

H.R.842- EDIT Act [reintroduced since 114th]

Date Introduced:  2/2/2017                             Introduced by: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
Latest Action: On 2/2/2017, referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

The Establishing Digital Interactive Transparency (EDIT) Act would instruct the Library to ensure that each version of a bill on Congress.gov permits the viewer to follow and track changes made from its previous versions within the same document.

The Establishing Digital Interactive Transparency (EDIT) Act would instruct the Library to ensure that each version of a bill on Congress.gov permits the viewer to follow and track changes made from its previous versions within the same document.

Congressional Leadership & library Oversight Committees

House Republican Leadership
Speaker of the House Majority Leader Majority Whip Conference Chairwoman Conference Vice Chairman Policy Committee Chairman Conference Secretary NRCC Chairman	Paul D. Ryan, Wis. Kevin McCarthy, Calif. Steve Scalise, La. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Wash. Doug Collins, Ga. Luke Messer, Ind. Jason Smith, Mo. Steve Stivers, Ohio
House Democratic Leadership
Minority Leader Minority Whip Assistant Leader Caucus Chairman Caucus Vice Chairman DCCC Chairman Steering & Policy Committee Co-chair (Steering) Steering & Policy Committee Co-chair (Policy) Policy & Communications Co-chairwoman Policy & Communications Co-chairman Policy & Communications Co-chairman Senior Chief Deputy Whip Caucus Leadership Rep. of Five Terms or Less	Nancy Pelosi, Calif. Steny H. Hoyer, Md. James E. Clyburn, S.C. Joseph Crowley, N.Y. Linda T. Sánchez, Calif. Ben Ray Luján, N.M. Rosa DeLauro, Conn. Eric Swalwell, Calif. Cheri Bustos, Ill. David Cicilline, R.I. Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y. John Lewis, Ga. Tony Cárdenas, Calif.
Senate Republican Leadership
President President Pro Tempore Majority Leader Assistant Majority Leader (Majority Whip) Conference Chairman Policy Committee Chairman Conference Vice Chairman NRSC Chairman Chief Deputy Whip	Vice President Mike Pence Orrin G. Hatch, Utah. Mitch McConnell, Ky. John Cornyn, Texas John Thune, S.D. John Barrasso, Wyo. Roy Blunt, Mo. Cory Gardner, Colo. Michael D. Crapo, Idaho
Senate Democratic Leadership
Minority Leader Assistant Minority Leader (Minority Whip) Assistant Leader Policy and Communications Committee Chairwoman Conference Vice Chair Conference Vice Chair Conference Secretary Steering & Outreach Committee Co-chairwoman Steering & Outreach Committee Co-chairmen	Charles E. Schumer, N.Y. Richard J. Durbin, Ill. Patty Murray, Wash. Debbie Stabenow, Mich. Mark Warner, Va. Elizabeth Warren, Mass. Tammy Baldwin, Wis. Amy Klobuchar, Minn. Bernie Sanders, Vt. Chris Van Hollen, Md.

Joint Committee on the Library of Congress
House members: Gregg Harper, Mississippi, Chairman Kevin Yoder, Kansas Barry Loudermilk, Georgia Robert Brady, Pennsylvania Zoe Lofgren, California	Senate members: Richard Shelby, Alabama, Vice-Chairman Pat Roberts, Kansas Roy Blunt, Missouri Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Patrick Leahy, Vermont

Committee on House Administration
Republican Representatives: Gregg Harper, Mississippi, Chairman Rodney Davis, Illinois, Vice-Chairman Barbara Comstock, Virginia Mark Walker, North Carolina Adrian Smith, Nebraska Barry Loudermilk, Georgia	Democratic Representatives: Robert Brady, Pennsylvania, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren, California Jamie Raskin, Maryland

Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Republican Senators: Richard Shelby, Alabama, Chairman Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Thad Cochran, Mississippi Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Pat Roberts, Kansas Roy Blunt, Missouri Ted Cruz, Texas Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Roger Wicker, Mississippi Deb Fischer, Nebraska	Democratic Senators: Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota, Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, California Dick Durbin, Illinois Chuck Schumer, New York Tom Udall, New Mexico Mark Warner, Virginia Patrick Leahy, Vermont Angus King, Maine Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada

House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee
Republican Representatives: Kevin Yoder, Kansas, Chairman Mark Amodei, Nevada, Vice Chairman Dan Newhouse, Washington John Moolenaar, Michigan Scott Taylor, Virginia Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey, Ex Officio, Voting	Democratic Representatives: Tim Ryan, Ohio, Ranking Member Betty McCollum, Minnesota Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Nita Lowey, Ex Officio, Voting

Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee
Republican Senators: James Lankford, Oklahoma, Chairman Marco Rubio, Florida John Kennedy, Louisiana Thad Cochran, Mississippi, Ex Officio, Non-Voting	Democratic Senators: Chris Murphy, Connecticut, Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Patrick Leahy, Vermont, Ex Officio, Non-Voting

Senate Judiciary Committee
Republican Senators: Charles E. Grassley, Iowa, Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Lindsey Graham, South Carolina John Cornyn, Texas Mike Lee, Utah Ted Cruz, Texas Ben Sasse, Nebraska Jeff Flake, Arizona Michael D. Crapo, Idaho Thom Tillis, North Carolina John Kennedy, Louisiana	Democratic Senators: Dianne Feinstein, California, Ranking Member Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Al Franken, Minnesota Chris Coons, Delaware Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Mazie K. Hirono, Hawaii

House Judiciary Committee

Republican Representatives: Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr., Wisconsin Lamar Smith, Texas Steve Chabot, Ohio Darrell Issa, California Steve King, Iowa Trent Franks, Arizona Louie Gohmert, Texas Jim Jordan, Ohio Ted Poe, Texas Jason Chaffetz, Utah Tom Marino, Pennsylvania Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Raúl Labrador, Idaho Blake Farenthold, Texas Doug Collins, Georgia Ron DeSantis, Florida Ken Buck, Colorado John Ratcliffe, Texas Mike Bishop, Michigan Martha Roby, Alabama Matt Gaetz, Florida Mike Johnson, Louisiana Andy Biggs, Arizona

Democratic Representatives John Conyers, Jr., Michigan, Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, New York Zoe Lofgren, California Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Steve Cohen, Tennessee Hank Johnson, Jr., Georgia Ted Deutch, Florida Luis Gutierrez, Illinois Karen Bass, California Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Hakeem Jeffries, New York David Cicilline, Rhode Island Eric Swalwell, California Ted Lieu, California Jamie Raskin, Maryland Pramila Jayapal, Washington Brad Schneider, Illinois

House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet
Republican Representatives Darrell Issa, California, Chairman Doug Collins, Georgia, Vice Chairman Lamar Smith, Texas Steve Chabot, Ohio Trent Franks, Arizona Jim Jordan, Ohio Ted Poe, Texas Jason Chaffetz, Utah Tom Marino, Pennsylvania Raul Labrador, Idaho Blake Farenthold, Texas Ron DeSantis, Florida Matt Gaetz, Florida Andy Biggs, Arizona	Democratic Representatives Jerry Nadler, New York, Ranking Member Hank Johnson, Georgia Ted Deutch, Florida Karen Bass, California Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Hakeem Jeffries, New York Eric Swalwell, California Ted Lieu, California Zoe Lofgren, California Steve Cohen, Tennessee Luis Gutierrez, Illinois

COPYRIGHT

Personnel

The Copyright Office named Sy Damle as general counsel in July 2016 and Regan Smith as deputy general counsel in December 2017.  Sy Damle was formerly the Office’s deputy general counsel and Regan Smith was formerly the Office’s associate general counsel.  Denise D. Wofford has been named as director of Public Records and Repositories.

Blog Launch and Website Update

On March 9, 2017, the Office launched the blog, Copyright: Creativity at Work. Blog posts will feature such topics as Office news, registration practice updates, law and policy developments, copyright basics, and copyright lore.  In the inaugural post, Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple Claggett reintroduced the people and the work of the Copyright Office.

On March 1, 2017, the Copyright Office launched its updated website, URL < www.copyright.gov>. The website has been redesigned to be more organized, more responsive, and easier to digest.  It now features a new header with global navigation and search, and expanded width in all sections to maximize screen usage.  Several individual pages have been consolidated for improved navigation.  A new page, History and Education, includes a wealth of information such as the History of Copyright Law, Past Reports and Publications, and Past Announcements.

Discussion Document: Updating Section 108

The Copyright Office anticipates issuing a discussion document on updating the section 108 exceptions for libraries and archives, including a proposal for nearly new statutory language.  In 2016 the Office held nearly 40 meetings regarding the future of section 108, speaking with library associations, individual librarians, authors, and other interested stakeholders. The discussion document will likely address issues such as the organization and scope of section 108, the inclusion of museums, the ability of institutions to make preservation copies of all works in their collections, and online access to copies made for users.

Legislation

On April 26, 2017, the House passed H.R. 1695, the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017, which would amend Title 17 of the United States Code to require the Register of Copyrights to be a U.S. citizen with a professional background and experience in copyright law and capable of identifying and supervising a Chief Information Officer.  The Register would become a presidential appointee, approved by the Senate, and chosen from a list of three individuals recommended by a panel consisting of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate, and the Librarian of Congress.  The bill was sent to the Senate for consideration, and Senate Bill S. 1010 was introduced on May 2.

Outreach

The Copyright Office cohosted a World Intellectual Property Day celebration with the Copyright Alliance on April 26, 2017, at the Library of Congress.  Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA-9) delivered opening remarks about creators’ rights to protect their works, after which a panel of songwriters explored the theme of “Innovation—Improving Lives.”  World Intellectual Property Day is observed internationally each April 26 to mark the date in 1970 when the World Intellectual Property Organization Convention entered into force.

The Office hosted an information booth at the Library’s Bibliodiscotheque event on May 6, 2017.  The display included the copyright application for the words and music to Gloria Gaynor’s hit song “I Will Survive” and sound recording applications for Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” single and her album Love Tracks, which included the hit.  The display also included applications for other sound recordings and derivative works of the song, showing how one submission for copyright protection can spur many creative opportunities.

Rulemakings and Regulations

In November 2016, the Copyright Office published a final rule to govern use of a new online registration system for service providers to use to designate agents to receive notifications of claimed infringement pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  The final rule also updates what contact information must be provided to the Office and other requirements that must be satisfied to maintain a compliant designation.  The new system replaced the previous paper-based one and resulted in a significantly reduced filing fee for users.  In May 2017, the Office issued non-substantive technical amendments to this rule, revising the system user account creation process to make it simpler and easier to complete.
The Copyright Office published a final rule in February 2017 allowing authors, claimants, or their authorized representatives to replace or remove personally identifying information in the Office’s online registration catalog for a fee. The information will be retained in the Office’s offline records as required by law.  The rule also codifies an existing practice that removes from both online and offline records, free of charge, extraneous sensitive personally identifying information that applicants erroneously include on registration applications even though the Office has not requested it.

The Office published a final rule in February 2017 making numerous technical amendments to its regulations governing registration, recordation, licensing, and other services the Office provides. The amendments update cross-references, replace outdated terminology, reflect structural changes to the Office and its senior management, including the addition of a chief financial officer position and revision of the description of the Office of the Chief of Operations, eliminate expired or obsolete provisions, and correct non-substantive errors.

The Office adopted an interim rule in February 2017 amending its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations. The amended regulations incorporate changes required by recent legislation, including, among other things, improving readability and accessibility for the public and extending the time for filing an administrative appeal.  They also formalize Office practices of multitrack processing and aggregation and provide for enhanced customer service.

In May, the Office published a final rule amending its regulations addressing the effect of a disruption or suspension of any Office electronic system on the Office’s receipt of applications, fees, deposits, or other materials.  The amended regulations specify how the Office will assign effective dates of receipt to materials attempted to be submitted during a disruption or suspension of an Office electronic system, upon receiving satisfactory evidence that a person actually attempted to deliver materials during the disruption, and also how the Office will assign effective dates of receipt when a specific submission that is physically delivered or attempted to be physically delivered to the Office is lost or misplaced .

The Copyright Office adopted a final rule in May 2017 permitting statements of account filed with the Office by cable systems operating under the section 111 statutory license (which permits cable operators to retransmit a performance of a copyrighted work embodied in a transmission made by a television station) to be submitted electronically. The rule also permits statements to be signed electronically, whether submitted electronically or on paper.

The Office introduced a pilot program in May 2017 that allows for the bulk submission of copyright registration applications for certain limited types of literary works, specifically claims to single literary works that have a single author, where all content that appears in the work was created and is owned solely by that single author.

In May 2017, the Office issued a notice proposing omnibus revisions to current recordation regulations governing transfers of copyright ownership, notices of termination, and other documents pertaining to a copyright.  This proposal is being made in anticipation of the development of a new online recordation system through which remitters can submit materials electronically, instead of in paper hardcopy as they currently do.  Some of the proposed changes will likely be adopted as an interim rule following the conclusion of the public comment period so that helpful updates can still go into effect while the new electronic system is being developed.  One of the more significant proposed changes is for the Office to begin accepting electronically signed documents for recordation; this change updates the Office’s previous policy of requiring a handwritten, wet signature.

The Office adopted an interim rule in June 2017 memorializing its special procedures for examining secure tests for registration purposes.  A “secure test” is “a nonmarketed test administered under supervision at specified centers on specific dates, all copies of which are accounted for and either destroyed or returned to restricted locked storage following each administration.”  The interim rule also includes a new workflow that will increase the efficiency of these examinations.

In December 2017, the Office proposed three registration-related rules amending regulations governing group registration of photographs, group registration of contributions to periodicals, and supplementary registration.  These rules are being proposed to reflect certain technical upgrades that will soon be made to the electronic registration system.

Studies

The Copyright Office issued its report Software-Enabled Consumer Products in December 2016. The report studied how copyright law interacts with copyrighted software found in a wide range of everyday consumer products—cars, refrigerators, cellphones, thermostats, and more.  The Office also published a notice of inquiry in January 2017 announcing a study to review how U.S. law treats authors’ moral rights and inviting public comments.  Moral rights refer to certain noneconomic rights considered personal to an author, including the right to be credited as the author of one’s work and to prevent prejudicial distortions of it.  The Office currently is reviewing comments and may announce one or more public meetings in furtherance of the study.

The Copyright Office continues its study of section 1201 of Title 17, which prohibits the circumvention of technological measures employed by or on behalf of copyright owners to protect access to their works, as well as the trafficking in technology or services that facilitate circumvention.  Section 1201 also establishes a triennial rulemaking process through which the Librarian of Congress, following a public proceeding conducted by the Register of Copyrights in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce, may grant limited exceptions to section 1201(a)(1)’s bar on the circumvention of access controls.  The Office has completed two rounds of public comment and public roundtables, and hopes to conclude its study in advance of the commencement of the seventh rulemaking later in 2017.

The Copyright Office also has an ongoing study of the Internet service provider safe harbors under section 512 of Title 17 of the United States Code.  Enacted in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, section 512 established a system for copyright owners and online entities to address online infringement, including limitations on liability for compliant service providers to help foster the growth of Internet-based services.  The Office initiated the study at the request of the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee as part of the Committee's review of the Copyright Act. The study seeks to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of section 512, including, among other issues, the costs and burdens of the notice-and-takedown process on large- and small-scale copyright owners, online service providers, and the general public.

Supreme Court Cases

On March 22, 2017, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc.The Court held that Varsity Brands’ graphic designs—various arrangements of colored stripes, chevrons, and geometric shapes—could be imagined separately from the cheerleading uniforms and were, therefore, eligible for copyright protection.  The Court fundamentally clarified the test for examining the separability of artistic features from useful articles, and the Office is incorporating this opinion into its practices.

On May 4, 2017, the United States filed an amicus brief on which the Copyright Office was a signature recommending the Court deny certiorari in Lenz v. Universal.  The case, also known as the Dancing Baby case, began in 2007 when the plaintiff posted a video of her children dancing to a Prince song on YouTube.  Universal filed a takedown notice pursuant to Section 512 of the DMCA and YouTube removed the video.  The plaintiff subsequently reposted the video and sued Universal for misrepresentation in its takedown notice.  The plaintiff argued that the standard for a misrepresentation should be objective and that a fair use analysis is required prior to filing a takedown notice.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the standard for a misrepresentation is subjective but also held that a fair use analysis was required. Although the government’s brief did not recommend Supreme Court review of the case, the brief reflected the Office’s views that the standard for a misrepresentation of a takedown notice is subjective and that a fair use analysis is not required prior to filing a takedown notice.

LAW LIBRARY

Jane Sánchez was appointed Law Librarian of Congress, effective Feb. 5, 2017.

Digital Resources Division

This has been a year of growth, innovation and recognition for the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library.  Since January 2017, the web site Congress.gov has experienced a record-breaking increase in traffic.  The peak was 1.2 million page views on Jan. 22, 2017, indicating a high level of public demand for authoritative congressional information.  Faced with the challenge of making the large collection of recently acquired U.S. government documents accessible from web site Law.gov by September 2017, the Law Library turned to crowdsourcing as an innovative solution.  Seventy volunteer interns were recruited from law and library schools across the nation to create the descriptive metadata required to make this collection searchable online.

The Law Library’s blog, In Custodia Legis, was selected for the third consecutive year to be included in the American Bar Association’s Annual Blawg 100.  The blogs included on this list are considered to be among the best for legal audiences.  This year, so far, the Law Library has posted a total of 78 blogs spanning a wide variety of legal topics from “The Treaty that Saved Plymouth Colony” to “The Masquerade King and the Regulation of Dancing in Sweden.”

Global Legal Research Directorate

The Global Legal Research Directorate in 2017 organized special legal research orientation programs for teams participating in international Moot Court competition; conducted trainings and workshops on foreign parliaments for staff of the Capitol Visitor Center; presented at the annual conference of the American Society of International Law; contributed a chapter to a book on comparative legal research methodology published in Switzerland; and initiated professional collaboration and staff exchanges with the European Parliamentary Research Service.
Barbara Bavis, Bibliographic and Research Instruction Librarian, published an article in the ABA Senior Lawyers Division e-newsletter, Voice of Experience, at URL:  < www.americanbar.org/publications/voice_of_experience/20160/december-2016/how-to-conduct-free-legal-research-online-using-law-gov.html External >.  The article focused on Guide to Law Online and on In Custodia Legis. 

Foreign Law Citation Project

The Law Library’s Global Legal Research Directorate is moving forward with a project to examine foreign law citation practices around the world.  This will culminate in the development of a new foreign law citation guide for use within the Directorate.  The goal: developing a system of legal citation that is more consistent and easier to apply across multiple jurisdictions.  Drawing on in-house expertise and the work of an outside contractor with foreign, comparative, and international law experience, the Law Library plans to produce:

1. a report on foreign law citation guides currently in use within the US, comparing and contrasting such guides;
2. a table reflecting foreign-country citation practices; and
3. the first draft of a new foreign law citation guide, or components of such a guide, for use within the Law Library. 

Project status will be reported on the Law Library’s blog, In Custodia Legis.  Final work products will be publicly available on Law.gov.

LIBRARY SERVICES

Sandra Lawson, Deputy Associate Librarian for Library Services, retired April 28, 2017.  Alvert (Al) Banks, Director for Technology Policy, is serving as acting Deputy Associate Librarian.

American Folklife Center/Veterans History Project

The American Folklife Center was established on Jan. 2, 1976 by the American Folklife Preservation Act (Public Law 94-201). According to the law, the Center receives policy direction from a Board of Trustees that is made up of representatives from departments and agencies of the federal government concerned with some aspect of American folklife traditions and the arts; the heads of four of the major federal institutions concerned with culture and the arts; persons from private life who are able to provide regional balance; and the director of the Center.  Included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 1999 are provisions for the board to be expanded to include four new members appointed by the Librarian of Congress, and, ex officio, the president of the American Folklore Society and the president of the Society for Ethnomusicology.  The board meets twice a year to review the operations of the Center, engage in long-range planning and policy formulation, and share information on matters of cultural programming.

Veterans History Project

The Veterans History Project continues to meet its congressional mandate to collect, preserve and make accessible the war stories of America’s veterans.  The project now holds more than 101,000 first-person narratives in the archive; more than 40,000 of them include digitized content.  Congressional offices, libraries, educational institutions, houses of worship and individual volunteers across the country continue to help gather and submit oral histories and supporting materials for VHP.  The relatively new VHP Facebook page is steadily increasing constituent engagement and is frequently used to highlight collections, cross promote events and support content on VHP’s website, URL < www.loc.gov/vets>, “Folklife Today” and the Project’s RSS feed.

Among many notable recent activities was VHP’s national Memorial Day 2017 radio media tour, during which VHP’s director, Col. Karen Lloyd, U.S. Army (Ret.), was interviewed by 17 radio stations over a two-day period, resulting in 8.5 million gross media impressions.  The focus of the interviews was to encourage listeners to contribute stories of deceased veterans, and to help VHP meet the requirements of the recently-passed Gold Star Family Voices Act (HR4511). VHP also hosted an in-depth discussion panel to shed light on the plight of veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who come in contact with the criminal justice system; a video recording is available on both the Library’s webcast page and Facebook. The Veterans History Project is proud to both support and have several World War One collections included in the Library of Congress’ multi-year exhibit, “Echoes of the Great War.”  Additionally the most recent, and the next two installments of the Experiencing War Web features on the VHP web site offer complementary online exhibits.

The Veterans History Project encourages all organizations and groups, especially libraries, to continue to play a pivotal role in VHP’s success by distributing information, coordinating interviewing events and making their facilities available to local VHP volunteers.  For additional information, see the Project web site, URL < www.loc.gov/vets>, Email < vohp@loc.gov> or Phone 202-707-4916.

Collection Development Office (CDO)

Digital Collecting Plan

The Library’s Digital Collecting Plan, containing six Strategic Objectives, 23 goals and 69 targets over a five-year period, was approved in January 2017.  Since then, the following has occurred:

• The document “Collecting Digital Content at the Library of Congress” was placed on the Library’s public web site at URL < www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/CollectingDigitalContent.pdf> (PDF, 92 KB).
• A blog post on this topic by the Collection Development Officer was published by The Signal.
• The Digital Collecting Plan Matrixwas finalized and posted on the staff Intranet.  The 69 targets from the plan are listed along with each action’s lead unit and all supporting units.

Foreign Newspapers

As part of a multi-faceted foreign newspapers project, CDO completed the compilation of a list of current foreign newspapers being received by the Library.  Since the acquisition of these newspapers is decentralized (in multiple acquisitions sections in Washington plus the Library’s six Overseas Offices), as is the custody of the publications (in four different custodial divisions), simply gathering and confirming this information was a challenge.

Foreign Newspapers Currently Received at the Library of Congress (January 2017) has been posted at URL < https://guides.loc.gov/foreign-newspapers/current-foreign-newspapers>.

This marks the first time since the mid-1990s that an updated consolidated list of currently received foreign newspapers has been available.

Web Archiving

The Web Archiving Collection Development Group (WACDG) held its first meeting in March 2017.  WACDG is convened by CDO.  Its goals include:

• Increasing the engagement of all Library staff with the web archiving program;
• Encouraging the growth of the collection through outreach and guidance to Recommending Officers (staff whose responsibilities include recommending additions to the Library’s collections);
• Ensuring that the collection appropriately complements the entire Library collection of analog and digital materials.

The WACDG includes representatives from a number of Collections and Services divisions as well as the Congressional Research Service and the Law Library.

Customized Approval Plans

The Library has approval plan purchase agreements with vendors around the world to supply materials for the collection. The Library provides the vendors with selection guidelines as part of each agreement. In 2016, CDO began working with Recommending Officers and librarians from the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate of Library Services to customize by country the selection guidelines.  Since January 2017, customized guidelines have been completed for Argentina, Ukraine and Canada, bringing to thirteen the total number of countries covered thus far in this ongoing effort.

New Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BFI)

see also ACQUISITIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS DIRECTORATE

Library Services / Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA)

Staffing and Personnel Changes

Stacey Devine was appointed program manager for Literature and CYAC (Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging Program) in the US Programs, Law, and Literature Division (USPRLL) of ABA, effective June 9, 2017. Rick Fitzgerald is a temporary serials section head in the US Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Division (USASH) during summer 2017.  Monique Graham was appointed permanent head of the Benelux, France, and Italy Section (BFI) of the African, Latin American, and Western European Division (ALAWE) after serving as interim section head since Jan. 19, 2017.

Several changes in management of the Library’s overseas offices, administered in ABA, are expected to be complete by Sept. 5, 2017.  Debra McKern, who has served as the director of the Library’s Office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the past eight years, will be returning to Washington for a year to carry out special projects in support of collection development, working with the Collection Development Office and others.  Pamela Howard-Reguindin, who has served as the director of the Islamabad Office for the past three years, will rotate to Rio as the next director there.  She previously served as the Rio director from 1996-2005.  Fehl Cannon, currently the deputy director in the New Delhi (India) Office, will take an interim appointment as the director of the Islamabad (Pakistan) Office.  Phong Tran, a senior librarian in the Asian & Middle Eastern Division of ABA, will take an interim appointment as the deputy director in the New Delhi Office.

The Islamabad director position will be posted and permanently filled in the coming months.

BIBFRAME (Bibliographic Framework Initiative)

This initiative is an investigation of the emerging Linked Open Data environment for sharing of bibliographic descriptions that currently use the MARC Format. Documentation of the project is available from the BIBFRAME web site, URL < www.loc.gov/bibframe>.

In fiscal 2016, the Library of Congress continued development of the Bibliographic Framework model and vocabulary to replace MARC 21 as a cataloging metadata standard in order to reap the benefits of newer technology, particularly data linking. The Library built on the work and tools developed in 2015 to begin a BIBFRAME Pilot at the beginning of fiscal 2016 that enabled input of native BIBFRAME descriptions by experienced catalogers in ABA and the Library’s motion picture, music, prints and photographs, and recorded sound processing units. The Network Development and  MARC Standards Office (NDMSO) and Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division (COIN) collaborated to make the pilot a groundbreaking effort to have production catalogers use a linked data oriented system to create bibliographic descriptions. The Pilot continued officially for six months (October 2015 through March 2016), achieved its aim and was considered a success. BIBFRAME catalogers in the ABA Directorate and other Library processing units have continued to produce BIBFRAME 1.0 descriptions one day a week in order to maintain their skills in using the new framework. 

Based on findings of the 2016 BIBFRAME pilot and feedback from the linked open data community, NDMSO revised BIBFRAME extensively and published BIBFRAME 2.0 in March-April 2017.  An upgrade to the MarkLogic datastore server software to MarkLogic Version 8 was installed and data conversion to BIBFRAME 2.0 began.  This upgrade enables the inclusion of native handling of RDF triples in the database and security updates.  In June 2017, ABA began training the 40 former pilot participants in BIBFRAME 2.0.  In July, an additional 27 cataloging staff will be trained in BIBFRAME 2.0.  By August, the BIBFRAME Pilot will resume with approximately 65 catalogers and copy catalogers using BIBFRAME 2.0.  In contrast to the 2016 pilot, the BIBFRAME 2.0 phase will feature a simulated dynamic BIBFRAME environment, achieved by converting all bibliographic and authority records in the Library of Congress Online Catalog to BIBFRAME 2.0.  The new phase of the BIBFRAME Pilot will test: input of bibliographic data using BIBFRAME 2.0 vocabulary; name authority work (using RDA as the cataloging standard) with MODS vocabulary; and non-Latin bibliographic description in native scripts. Participants will create descriptions of each resource in both MARC 21 and BIBFRAME 2.0. 

To encourage experimentation with BIBFRAME by the community, BIBFRAME 2.0 and all BIBFRAME tools developed at LC are made available for download on the software sharing site, GitHub.

Cataloging Distribution Service

See under NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH/National Enterprises Directorate

CIP in Publication (CIP) and Dewey Program

CIP Production Statistics

As of the close of April 2017, the CIP Program had cataloged 26,397 ECIP and CIP print galleys in the first seven months of federal fiscal year 2017.  In addition, our partner institutions in the ECIP Cataloging in Partnership Program had cataloged 4,212 CIP records, for a total of 30,609 CIP records available for titles most likely to be acquired by libraries in the United States.

2017 CIP Data Block Survey

In January 2017, a survey was released to several email lists of communities that use the CIP Data Block for cataloging or bibliographic verification. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether the user communities found the new layout of the data block, which was released in October 2015, useful and an improvement over the previous layout.  Two hundred and sixty responses were received, primarily from academic, school, and public libraries.  Overall, the survey results were quite positive. Eighty-five percent of the respondents and one hundred percent of school libraries (the principal users of the data block for cataloging) found the new layout “useful”, “rather useful”, or “very useful.”  The respondents preferred the labeled layout (vs. the previous card catalog layout), the additional subject terms and classifications made available, and the inclusion of both print and electronic data elements, among other features.

Cataloging in Publication E-books

The fiscal 2017 target for the CIP E-books Program is to ingest 4,000 new CIP e-books.  As of April 2017, we have ingested 1,145 e-books. The CIP/Dewey Program has a goal to create accounts for 70 e-book publishers, and these accounts will enable those publishers to submit CIP e-books via SFTP and Signiant accounts.  With those additional publisher accounts, the CIP Program will be able to receive even more e-books.  Beginning in June 2017, there will be a concentrated “SWAT” effort to reach out to 200 CIP e-book publishers for this purpose.

Electronic Cataloging in Publication Partnership

The CIP Program has plans to reach out to a number of NACO institutions to ask if they might want to join the program beginning in June 2017.  Meanwhile, CIP Program staff are working with new partners—University of Maryland, University of Iowa, Mississippi State University, and Abilene Christian University—and investigating possible subject expansions with specific partner libraries.  If your institution might be interested in joining the ECIP Cataloging Partnership Program, please email Caroline Saccucci, CIP and Dewey Section Head, at csus@loc.gov.

Collaboration with Harvard University Library for an OAQ Pilot

The CIP Program is collaborating with Harvard University Library to implement Harvard’s Online Author Questionnaire (OAQ) External , a web application that automates the way publishers gather author data prior to publication of a title and then enables libraries to use that information to create and update name authority metadata.  As an ECIP Cataloging Partnership Program member institution, Harvard University Library will be working with Harvard University Press (HUP), a CIP publisher, to implement OAQ in its cataloging of forthcoming HUP titles.  As part of the pilot, HUP will add links to OAQ in the applications for CIP data.  The CIP Program plans to expand the pilot to several selected CIP publishers cataloged by LC staff once the Harvard pilot is underway.  Harvard University Library and the CIP Program will collaboratively promote OAQ to publishers.

Dewey assignment production statistics

From September 2016 through April 2017, a total 63,564 titles processed by the Library of Congress received Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) numbers.  This number includes the 2,416 Dewey numbers assigned to works by and about individual authors of poetry, fiction, and drama and individual biographies of athletes by the AutoDewey program. CIP/Dewey Section staff assigned 1,003 LCC numbers to ECIPs cataloged at the National Library of Medicine.  Beginning in November 2017, Dewey staff began adding Library of Congress Subject Headings and Library of Congress Classification numbers to CIP records, primarily in the subject areas of social sciences and technology; as of April 2017, Dewey staff had assigned LCSH and LCC as well as DDC to 404 CIP records.

Dewey Editorial Policy Committee (EPC)

Caroline Saccucci, LC representative to EPC, attended EPC 140, held at the Library of Congress June 12-13, 2017. She gave the report of the LC Dewey Program.  Dewey Program librarians were invited to audit the sessions. On June 14, CIP Program staff met with Jo Maxwell, training manager at Bibliographic Data Services Limited (BDSL) and the UK DDC Forum representative to EPC, to discuss the LC CIP process.  BDSL has the contract to provide CIP data on behalf of the British Library.

WebDewey Training Outreach

In March 2017, Caroline Saccucci presented an all-day workshop on WebDewey to librarians at the Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois, Technical Services Section (LACONI-TSS).  In July 2017, Caroline will give WebDewey training to catalogers at the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). This will enable GPO staff to provide Dewey numbers to the titles they catalog in the CIP Program.

Cataloging Policy

See under Policy and Standards

Cooperative Cataloging Programs/Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)

The Cooperative Programs Section of COIN continues to serve as the secretariat for the PCC, an international consortium of more than 900 libraries and other institutions that sets cataloging standards, delivers training, and supports innovations in cataloging and bibliographic formats. The four components of the program include: NACO, the Name Authority Cooperative; SACO, the Subject Authority Cooperative (includes cooperative contributions to Library of Congress Classification); BIBCO, the monographic Bibliographic Cooperative; and CONSER, the serial bibliographic record component.

Since the start of 2017, four new NACO institutions, two new SACO institutions, and one new NACO funnel, coordinated by the University of Oklahoma, have joined the PCC. An online NACO training workshop and a BIBCO Music Funnel webinar were hosted by the PCC Secretariat in early 2017.  Online LCSH training, developed by the Policy and Standards Division in ABA and made available to all via the Cataloger’s Learning Workshop web site, was enhanced with new content at URL < www.loc.gov/catworkshop/lcsh/>.

The PCC Operations Committee Meeting was held May 4-5, 2017, at the Library of Congress.  Presentations can be accessed via the agenda at URL < www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/OpCo-2017/Agenda-OpCo-2017.docx> (MSWord, 42 KB).  The meeting featured an update from David Van Kleeck (University of Florida) and Steven Riel (Harvard University) on the activities of the PCC BIBFRAME Task Group.  The group is charged with overseeing the two subgroups mapping the PCC standard records to BIBFRAME 2.0 and monitoring BIBFRAME and other linked data projects to identify issues relevant to the work of the PCC.  Updates from the two subgroups were given by Barbara Bushman (National Library of Medicine), co-chair of the BIBCO BIBFRAME Task Group, and Tina Shrader (National Library of Medicine), co-chair of the CONSER BIBFRAME Task Group.  The groups are finalizing their data mappings and have identified several issues that will require further discussion by the PCC community.  Their final reports are expected in June 2017 and will be made available from the PCC website.

Looking ahead, the PCC Policy Committee will conduct a strategic planning session at its November 2017 meeting, and a new online PCC directory is scheduled to be completed by the end of fiscal 2017 (Sept. 30, 2017). The new system will be used to conduct PCC elections, report PCC statistics, and maintain accurate PCC contact information.

Dewey Decimal Classification (DCC) at the Library of Congress

see Cataloging in Publication (CIP) and Dewey Program

ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)

Karl Debus-López, chief of the US Programs, Law, and Literature Division at the Library of Congress, continues his third two-year term as Chair of the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) Governing Board.  Regina Romano Reynolds is director of the U.S. ISSN Center, located in USPRLL.

At the ALA 2017 Annual Conference, the ALCTS Continuing Resources Cataloging and Continuing Resources Standards committees will present a joint program, “The Once and Future ISSN,” featuring Dr. Gaëlle Béquet, director of the ISSN International Centre, who will speak about developments at the ISSN International Centre, including plans to make some ISSN data freely available.  Regina Romano Reynolds, director of the U.S. ISSN Center, will speak about revision of ISO 3297, the ISSN standard.  A publisher representative will also provide perspective on these developments.  The program will take place Sunday, June 25, 2017, 8:30 – 10:00 a.m., McCormick Place Room S101.  Dr. Béquet will also give an ISSN update at the NISO Update session on Saturday, June 24, 2017. 

ISSN Directors Meetings

The 47th meeting of Directors of ISSN Centres [sic] will be held in Rabat, Morocco, the week of Nov. 7, 2017.  The U.S. ISSN Center is beginning to plan for the 2018 Directors meeting, to be held in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of the Library of Congress.

IEEE Project

With help from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California San Diego, and the University of Colorado, the project to catalog and assign ISSN to more than 500 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) conference publications is continuing. IEEE has sought guidance from the NISO PIE-J Standing Committee on how best to present its proceedings, including appropriate display of ISSN.

ISSN accountability project

In anticipation of the opening of some ISSN data, the U.S. ISSN Center is working on a project to account for every ISSN the center has been allocated since its inception in 1972.  In some cases, records for ISSN assigned early in the center’s history are being recreated in OCLC WorldCat.  In others, determination is being made that the ISSN was assigned at the prepublication stage but the serial was never published.  Help in identifying prepublication records deleted from WorldCat is being sought from OCLC.  The project will contribute to the comprehensiveness of the ISSN Register in Paris, France, a strategic goal of the ISSN International Centre.

ISSN for digital repositories

The U.S. ISSN Center has been receiving increased ISSN requests for institutional repositories.  ISSN assignment provides identification and exposure for institutional repositories via the creation of a metadata record that appears in the Library of Congress integrated library system (LCILS), OCLC WorldCat, the ISSN Portal, and the ISSN International Centre’s ROAD database of open-access scholarly publications.  To apply for an ISSN for a U.S. publication, complete the application form at URL < www.loc.gov/issn>.

PRESSoo

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Committee on Standards recently approved a new IFLA standard, “The Definition of PRESSOO: A conceptual model for Bibliographic Information Pertaining to Serials and Other Continuing Resources.” The ISSN International Centre was involved in developing this standard that IFLA describes as “a formal ontology designed to represent the bibliographic information about continuing resources, and more specifically about serials.”  It is an extension of the FRBROO model (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records – Object Oriented). FRBROO is an extension of CIDOC (International Committee for Documentation) CRM, the conceptual reference model for cultural heritage information. The director of the U.S. ISSN Center is part of the review group charged with maintaining the standard. The standard is available at URL < www.ifla.org/files/assets/cataloguing/PRESSoo/pressoo_v1-3.pdf External > (PDF, 2.1 MB).

Revision of the ISSN Standard

An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ballot to open the ISSN Standard, ISO 3207, for a systematic revision was approved before ALA 2017 Midwinter Meeting.  ISO/TC 46/SC 9/WG 5, the working group representing various ISSN stakeholder communities that has been charged with reviewing and updating the standard, held an organizational meeting in March 2017.  The group, which includes Regina Romano Reynolds, director of the U.S. ISSN Center, will update the standard to better accommodate developments in the digital environment that have taken place since the last revision in 2007.  The ISSN International Centre’s proposed revision topics include clarifying how many ISSN to assign for multiple digital formats; providing interoperability with emerging identifiers such as ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) and with ONIX for serials mandatory metadata; and preparing ISSN for a role in the linked data environment.

Law Cataloging

Starting in March 2017, the USPRLL Law Section began hosting regional quarterly legal cataloging discussion forums.  In addition to Law Section staff, colleagues from the Library of Congress Law Library, Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Policy & Standards Division, Georgetown University Law Library, George Washington University Law Library, and American University Law Library attend the meetings.  In May, the second forum was held to coincide with the Program for Cooperative Cataloging BIBCO/OpCo meeting to allow law catalogers from outside the D.C. area to participate.  The forums provide a venue for the participants to exchange ideas and discuss emerging areas of law cataloging, including new classifications, subject headings, and genre/form terms. 

Network Development and MARC Standards Office

Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME)

See under ACQUISITIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS DIRECTORATE

Policy and Standards

Merger of PSD and COIN divisions

The work begun in July 2016 to merge the Policy & Standards Division and the Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division continues. These divisions are prime candidates for merging because of the overlap, intersection, and related tasks carried out by the staff of both divisions.  These include the focus on standards; sharing cataloging policy decisions; responding to queries from the cataloging community; interacting with internal and external constituents as LC experts; providing training and briefings; and producing/maintaining documentation.  A new organizational structure is under consideration for completion by the close of 2017.

Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements (LC-PCC PSs)

The RDA Toolkit release in February 2017 contained 30 revised LC-PCC PSs developed by PSD staff in conjunction with the PCC Standing Committee on Standards.  There were 68 new, revised, or deleted statements in the April 2017 Toolkit release.  Summaries for each LC-PCC PS release are available at URL < www.loc.gov/aba/rda/lcps_access.html>.  The next release will be in August 2017.

RDA 2017 Update

The 6th annual update to RDA: Resource Description & Access (RDA) was published in April 2017, containing the changes based on constituency proposals discussed at the 2016 meeting of the RDA Steering Committee. To assist catalogers applying the new and revised instructions, PSD provided a summary table that highlights changes to RDA, available on the PSD website, URL < www.loc.gov/aba/rda/pdf/summary_rda_changes_2017.pdf>, (PDF, 135 KB).  Note that the English version of the RDA Toolkit is frozen until April of 2018 in order to incorporate changes resulting from the RDA Restructure and Redesign (3R) project.

LC Guidelines Supplement to the MARC 21 Format for Authority Data

In April 2017, the LC Guidelines were expanded to include fields and subfields for which no implementation decision has been made yet.  These fields and subfields contain instructions not to use them with the additional text “implementation decision not yet made.” They will be updated to reflect implementation decisions when appropriate.

Headings for Bulgarian jurisdictions

LC has completed a project to update geographic name headings for Bulgarian oblasts and okrugs so that the relationships between earlier/later entities and subject usage are correct.

Before 1987, Bulgaria was divided into okrugs.  These okrugs were combined into large oblasts in 1987.  In 1999, these large oblasts were split into smaller oblasts and renamed.  In addition, some oblasts have experienced linear name changes since 1987.  The history of each okrug and oblast was individually examined and each authority record now accurately indicates the subject usage for the name heading, based on policies in Subject Headings Manual instruction sheets H 708 and H 710. 

In keeping with standard policy, all the headings for Bulgarian okrugs and oblasts are valid for descriptive usage.

Law of Indigenous Peoples (in General)

Library of Congress Classification Subclass KI, Law of Indigenous Peoples in general, is now in its final form and is fully authorized for use.  Proposals for additions or changes to KI may now be submitted through the proposal system in Classification Web following normal procedures.

Online Training for LCSH

In cooperation with the Simmons College School of Library and Information Science, PSD is developing free online training in Library of Congress Subject Headings.  The training is being developed primarily to meet internal training needs of the Library of Congress, but it is also being made freely available through the Cataloger’s Learning Workshop web site as a service to the library community.  Training units are divided into two or more modules, each of which consists of a lecture and one or more exercises or quizzes.  Technology requirements include an Internet connection and the ability to play audio and video files.  Six units totaling 51 individual modules have been mounted on the CLW at URL < www.loc.gov/catworkshop/lcsh>.  Since ALA 201 Midwinter Meeting, units on the principles of subject heading assignment and the use of subdivisions have been added.

The instructors are Janis L. Young, MA MSLS, senior cataloging policy specialist in PSD, and Daniel N. Joudrey, MLIS Ph. D., an associate professor at Simmons.  Please send questions or comments about the training to Janis L. Young at jayo@loc.gov.

Subject headings for atlases

The LC Subject Heading Atlases is now eligible for assignment to all geographic atlases, regardless of coverage, instead of being limited solely to world atlases. Atlases may also now be subdivided geographically to reflect the place of publication of the atlas.  As a result, all headings of the type Atlases, [nationality] (e.g., Atlases, American), were cancelled and replaced by the formulation Atlases—[country] (e.g., Atlases—United States).

The geographic or topical coverage of an atlas will continue to be assigned headings of the type [place]—Maps and [topic]—[place]—Maps (e.g., Pennsylvania—Maps and Real property—Pennsylvania—Maps).

Works about atlases published in a specific place may now be assigned the heading Atlases—[place]—History, regardless of the geographic coverage of the atlas.

The revised policy went into effect in May 2017; existing bibliographic records are being revised as time permits.

Subject Heading Illegal aliens

In 2014 and again in early 2016, the Library of Congress was asked to change the LC subject heading Illegal aliens.  The proposal was not accepted in 2014.  When the Library was asked in 2016, cataloging policy specialists again examined the ways that illegal activities and objects are represented in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH).  The Library has done extensive research on alternate headings based on survey feedback and additional research based on literary warrant.  The Library has not yet posted a decision as we are still conferring with interested parties.   A final decision will be announced through the normal process.

The Library received the following direction in the FY2017 Omnibus Bill regarding subject headings:

“Subject Headings: In lieu of report language related to the Library of Congress' subject headings, the Library of Congress is directed to make publicly available its process for changing or adding subject headings. It is expected that the Library use a process to change or add subject headings that is clearly defined, transparent, and allows input from stakeholders including those in the congressional community. The process should consider appropriate sources of common terminology used to refer to a concept, including current statutory language and other legal reference sources; and other sources, such as reference materials; websites; and, titles in the Library of Congress' collection.”

The Library is in the process of implementing this language to make publicly available the Library’s process for changing or adding subject headings.  What is envisioned is a publicly available webpage providing step-by-step instructions on how to prepare and submit a proposal, a high level description of the proposal review process, and the mechanisms used to publish summary decisions.  Embedded in the process description will be hyperlinks to relevant sections of the Subject Heading Manual.  The manual describes appropriate sources of common terminology and other resources helpful in developing subject heading proposals.  This guide should be available this summer.

Art Genre/Form Project

PSD continues to partner with the Art Libraries Society of North America to develop art genre/form terms that will be added to Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT).

Demographic Group Terms

Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) is intended to describe the creators of and contributors to resources, and also the intended audience of resources.  Terms may be assigned in bibliographic records and in authority records for works.
PSD has extended Phase 3 of the LCDGT pilot through the end of 2017.  Only proposals for terms that are needed in new cataloging are being accepted.  Because of PSD staffing and workload considerations, proposals that appear to be made as part of retrospective projects, or projects to establish terms that are not needed for current cataloging, will not be considered.  All proposals should follow the guidelines on form of authorized term, references, scope notes, research, etc., presented in the draft Demographic Group Terms Manual, at URL < www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCDGT/freelcdgt.html>.

SACO members should use the Proposal System when making proposals and send an email to saco@loc.gov to inform Coop staff that the proposals are ready, according to the normal procedure.

Cataloger’s Desktop

Over the past six months, the focus on Cataloger’s Desktop development has been on enhancing search and retrieval through two major projects.  The first project, called “Related searches,” enables Desktop to provide the searcher with suggested searches that may more precisely reflect the information they are seeking without reference to the search keywords.  This service is based on a machine analysis of all successful searches performed over the past three years.  For example, if the searcher types in “uniform title,” suggested related searches include “6.2.2” and “130.”  A search for “part” suggests “LC-PCC PS 2.1” and “multipart.”

The second project, called “ Classification Web integration,” enables subscribers to both Cataloger's Desktop and Classification Web to search both resources simultaneously within the Desktop search environment.  A search for “music biography” will provide hits in the Subject Headings Manual, LCSH, and the LC Classification schedule.  Additionally, links in Classification Web to Subject Headings Manual instruction sheets will be live hyperlinks instead of merely text references. As of late May 2017, it is projected that this important enhancement will be available in late June or early July.

Suggestions for improving Cataloger’s Desktop should be sent to Bruce Johnson (Policy & Standards Division) at bjoh@loc.gov.  Subscribe to the free Cataloger’s Desktop discussion list at URL < www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/ugroup.html>.

ALA-LC Romanization Tables

A proposed new Uzbek table was developed by Library of Congress staff and has been sent to the constituent community for comment.

All current ALA-LC romanization tables are available on the Web at URL < www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html>, as well as in Cataloger’s Desktop.  Any questions about romanization table development should be directed to Bruce Johnson (Policy & Standards Division) at bjoh@loc.gov.

Acquisitions Work	FY17 Sept.-Mar.	FY2016	FY2015
Items purchased for LC collections	343,676	667,923	650,293
Items acquired for LC by non-purchase (FY17 excludes copyright receipts)	181,387	2,528,371	2,207,385
Expenditures for collections purchases	$14,499,251	$26,500,000	$22,799,388.91

Bibliographic Records Completed	FY17 Sept.-Mar.	FY2016	FY2015
Original	81,104	156,012	183,979
Collection-level cataloging	562	1,260	1,660
Copy cataloging	39,288	69,707	74,940
Minimal level cataloging	18,798	55,609	11,398
Total records completed	139,752	282,588	271,977
Total volumes cataloged		424,053	268,250

Authority Work	FY17 Sept.-Mar.	FY2016	FY2015
New name authority records	31,471	78,612	84,659
New LC Subject Headings	N/A	3,084	4,934
New LC Classification Numbers	N/A	2,716	3,901
Total authority records created	31,471	84,412	93,494

Library Services / Collections and Services Directorate (CS)

Major activities of the Collections and Services directorate include developing the Library’s collections in all languages, subjects areas and formats; organizing and managing the secure storage of over 160 million items in the Library’s collections; physically serving requested collections and currently providing on-site as well as off-site reference/information services through 17 research centers and collection access points on Capitol Hill and via the Internet; and coordinating collections-based digitization projects to increase public access to high-research value Library materials.  The Library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va., home of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC), consolidates, develops, preserves and provides broad public access to a comprehensive collection of the world’s audiovisual heritage of moving images and recorded sounds.  With its new systems for born-digital collections acquisition, preservation and reformatting, and playback-on-demand access, NAVCC significantly increases the amount of Library audio-visual collections digitized for preservation and available for public service.  CS divisions also play a critical role in effective collections inventory control, essential to the security of collections.  As part of the space management program, CS manages collections storage on the Library’s Capitol Hill campus, at the state-of-the-art high density storage modules at Ft. Meade, Md., at the Packard Campus, at the Landover annex in Landover, Md., and at the Cabin Branch storage facility near Clarksburg, Md.  

African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED)

Fentahun Tiruneh, a reference specialist in AMED, was named a grand officer of the Order of the Star of Honor of Ethiopia by the Crown Council of Ethiopia on Feb. 25, 2017, in recognition of his work in promoting and preserving Ethiopian culture.

Geography and Map Division (G&M)

Since June 2016, G&M has acquired a total of 45,854 cartographic items including; 22,351 maps, 3,645 atlases, 3,705 computer data files containing over 16,000 maps, and 144 publications.  Starting in fiscal 2018, “geographic atlases” will be included in all LC general approval plans with foreign vendors.

G&M’s online map website was visited 269,121 with 112,510 downloads and 97,684 unique visitors.  In May 2017, the division placed online more than 23,600 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, which depict the structure and use of buildings in U.S. cities and towns.

Social Media Twitter Account

@LOCMaps posted 705 tweets since June 2016 that garnered 2,521,100 total Impressions in that time. The number of average monthly impressions since June 2016 is 240,100. The account has collected 17,520 total followers since its launch.

Three G&M senior cataloging specialists continue to participate in the BIBFRAME Pilot Phase II, including 6 months of intensive format specific training and working in BIBFRAME 2.0.  The G&M Cataloging Team also participates in the Linked Data for Production (LD4P) project led by Stanford University Libraries.  The LD4P Project is a multi-institutional effort that explores applying LOD (Linked Open Data) models, including BIBFRAME, to natively describe library resources.

Two major conferences were sponsored or cosponsored by G&M.  Cheryl Fox presented her paper on Phillips’ First Acquisitions Trips on February 22, 2017.  Peter Doyle, geologist and military geographer, lectured on the Gallipoli Campaign and other events of World War I on May 25, 2017.

Prints & Photographs Division (P&P)

With more than 15.5 million pictures to explore, it can be hard to know where to start looking for what you need.  The best bet is the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, which describes all the collections and has more than 1 million digitized items at URL < www.loc.gov/pictures>.

You can also enjoy collection highlights through the blog Picture This!, URL < blogs.loc.gov/picturethis>.  Fascinating images offer stories with such serious themes as World War I and African American Women activists in the 1800s as well as lively glimpses of circus posters, kite flying, and more.  Useful research aids provide handy summaries and pathfinders for popular topics at URL < /research-centers/prints-and-photographs/about-this-research-center/>.

Visual Literacy video and exercises

"Every Photo is a Story" is a five part video series in which reference librarian Kristi Finefield and architecture and landscape historian Sam Watters discuss the ways to uncover the story in a photograph.  The photographs in question are hand-colored lantern slides created by Frances Benjamin Johnston in the early 20th century showing historic gardens and homes.  Viewers will learn the many ways to research and understand photographs.  "Try It Yourself" exercises accompany each part, giving viewers a chance to apply skills learned from the video.  See URL < Every Photo is a Story>.

New online reference aids

American National Red Cross Collection, URL < www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/red-cross-photographs.html>, with almost 20,000 images online, including many related to World War I.  See also URL < www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=anrc&st=gallery>.
World War I in Pictures: An Overview of Prints & Photographs Division Collections, at URL < https://guides.loc.gov/world-war-i-images/>.
C.M. Bell Studio Collection, URL < https://guides.loc.gov/c-m-bell-studio-images> with 25,000 images online, URL < www.loc.gov/photos/?q=bellcm&st=gallery>.

Cataloging & Digitizing Toolbox

Tips for technical services are available at URL < www.loc.gov/rr/print/cataloging.html>.

Flickr Commons Project

Crowdsourcing has resulted in descriptions for more than 11,000 photos and improved access overall.  The Library’s photos can be seen and tagged at URL < www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress External >.

Serial and Government Publications Division (SER)

The Serial and Government Publications Division (SER) performs a wide range of collection development, collection description, collection preservation, and reference service activities for its temporary and permanent collections.  SER’s permanent collections include: newspapers, comic books, pulp magazine, and several government document collections.  The newspaper collection consists of approximately 1,100,000 current loose newspaper issues, over 38,000 bound volumes, and more than 757,000 microfilm reels.  The newspaper collection also includes many original print holdings of commemorative and anniversary editions, and first printings of significant United States documents.  The comic book collection includes more than 11,000 titles and more than 139,000 issues.  SER’s pulp magazine collection is based on original print issues that have been reformatted to microfilm or preserved through facsimile reproduction; additionally, the original color covers of over 9,000 issues have been preserved.  The Division is the official repository of archival sets of U.S. Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) documents, holding approximately 69,442 items.  SER also houses master copies of U.S. Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) documents distributed on microfiche.  As of FY 2013, SER is also custodial for bound serials with minimal level cataloging (WMLC), a collection of approximately 5,000 volumes stored off-site.  SER holds the complete United Nations working document set in multiple formats.  SER is also the custodial stakeholder for digitized newspapers acquired through the National Digital Newspaper Program, now approximately 12 million pages from 2200 titles.  The current periodical collection includes more than 40,000 domestic and foreign titles, including government serials, and 1,176,000 loose items that reside temporarily in the Division prior to binding or microfilming and transfer to the general collection.

Collection activities

With an increased funding allocation for microfilm reformatting of newspapers beginning October 2015, SER has begun to address the backlog of newsprint issues (newspapers and periodicals) needing preservation microfilming. The division participates in the Library’s preservation microfilming program, filming titles that are not available for commercial purchase. Many of the titles filmed are from developing countries and ethnic US communities and are held by few if any other US institutions. Filming SER’s issues makes these unique titles available for Interlibrary Loan.

To make room for the installation of compact shelving to expand existing storage space in the vault for rare and valuable materials, the division is moving its entire newspaper and comic book special collections to temporary locations for the duration of the installation.  The division expects to move back into the redesigned vault by the end of calendar 2017.

SER acquired several significant additions to its collections in the past year.  In addition, by way of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Small Press Expo (SPX), the Division continued to acquire by donation additional items (including award-winning websites) from creators participating in the 2016 SPX annual expo.  At the Division’s annual SPX program, Gary Groth, editor and publisher, recounted the history of Fantagraphics Books as part of the celebration of its fortieth year.   His talk, “Fantagraphics Books and the Advent of the Graphic Novel,” discussed the struggles, achievements and highlights of the influential comic book publisher. The division is in its sixth year of collaboration with SPX. 

SER also acquired some rare and valuable original newspaper and comic book issues, including:

• An early issue of The Boston News-Letter, June 12, 1760, with reporting of the French and Indian War.
• 14 Golden and Silver Age comics purchased on our behalf by a Madison Council member:  six early Superman issues from its first year of publication (no.3-4, 7-10) and eight comic books featuring Silver Age firsts for the Fantastic Four (no.1-4), X-Men (no.1-2, 4), and the Incredible Hulk (no.1).
• By way of Memorandum of Understanding with the Small Press Expo (SPX), acquired by donation 893 items from the SPX annual expos of 2016. In addition, two websites of Ignatz award-winning creators were added to the Small Press Expo web archive.

SER continues to house and serve United Nations and US Government Publishing Office depository document sets.  Staff provide orientations to SER’s special US Federal Advisory Committee Collection four times a year at training sessions held by the General Services Administration for federal advisory committee officers.  In addition, SER staff curate a Library Federal Advisory Committee web archive.

The Division will host several unpaid interns and fellows this summer. Interns from the University of Georgia will work on some of the newspaper special collection and produce Topics Pages for Chronicling America. The Division will host a Junior Fellow.

National Digital Newspaper Program

Begun in 2004, the National Digital Newspaper program (NDNP) is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC) to provide free public access to historic American newspapers through the Chronicling America web site, URL <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/>.  Applying digital technologies for enhancing and sustaining access to this important primary source of American history, the program will, over the long-term, fund digitization of historic newspapers in all U.S. states and territories.  To support access to newspapers not available in digital form, the site also offers a bibliographic directory of 154,000 American newspapers published from 1690 to the present, including library holdings.  In addition to providing enduring access, the Library’s responsibility to sustain NDNP content over time provides a testing ground for the viability of new digital acquisition and preservation strategies and architectures at the Library.

Each two-year NEH award provides funding to a state library, historical society, or university library. The institution is responsible for selecting 100,000 pages from public domain newspapers published prior to 1964 and representing its state and regional history.  Awardees digitize and contribute content to the program using technical specifications established by the Library.  In 2016, four new awardees--Alaska, Colorado, Maine and New Jersey--joined 40 other states and territories that have participated in the program.  Active states and territories include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  Other states – Arizona, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Utah and Washington have “graduated” from the program, no longer receiving awards, but continue to be involved in program activities.

Library participation in the program, a joint operation by the Office of the Chief Information Officer’s (OCIO) Repository Development Group and Library Services’ Serial and Government Publications Division (SER), continues to be successful in meeting program goals.  Project teams (technical and quality assurance) in these service units worked together to develop technical guidelines and requirements, monitor operations, improve data infrastructure, and provide access to the content.  A joint LC/NEH oversight committee also actively worked on other ongoing program management, outreach, and awardee support. Currently, the program supports 26 active awardees in various stages of data production, receiving approximately 100,000 images per month (5.2 TB).

In specific accomplishments since June 2016, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers added approximately 1 million pages to provide full-text access to almost 12 million newspaper pages published between 1789 and 1924 (approximately 48 million digital items), representing 2200 selected newspapers from 40 states and territories and the District of Columbia.  The site now hosts more 143 non-English ethnic newspapers (425,000 pages), searchable in French, German, and Spanish.  Additional search indexing will be added shortly for pages in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Italian, Polish, and Slovenian, with more (Arabic, Czech, Dakota, Norwegian and Swedish) expected later this year.  More than 1200 newspaper history essays written by awardees describe the background and significance of each digitized title.
In addition, in August 2016, NDNP announced the extension of the program scope to include any public domain American newspapers published before 1964, whereas the scope was previously limited to material published between 1836 and 1922.  Many more newspapers are now eligible for awardee selection.

New content is added to the site as it is accepted into the collection.  To stay updated on new additions, view the Recent Additions RSS feed at URL < chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/feed>.

Chronicling America distributes another general interest RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed through the Library’s GovDelivery service, notifying subscribers of interesting NDNP program news and content updates, and announces new Topics Guides created by SER staff.  Interested members of the library community and the public may subscribe at URL < www.loc.gov/rss/>.  Twitter users can follow @librarycongress, using #ChronAm to discover highlights of the collection.

Newspaper Topics Pages

SER continued producing its series of research pages called Topics in Chronicling America, commonly referred to as Topics Pages, designed to aid users of the NDNP’s Chronicling America.  Topics Pages(URL < /research-centers/newspaper-and-current-periodical/about-this-research-center/>) focus on newsworthy historic events reported in the American press between 1789 and 1924, currently, and searchable in Chronicling America.  Topics Pages consist of three parts: the timeline, which lists important dates related to the topic; a list of suggested search terms or search strategies to locate stories; and a bibliography of between ten and fifteen sample stories from Chronicling America’s digital newspaper collections. SER now provides Topics Pages for more than 300 subjects, with newly added guides for Women in Aviation, Bicycle Craze of the 1890s, John D. Rockefeller, Theft of the Mona Lisa and more.

Orientation and outreach

sER sponsors an orientation to its collections and its reading room, the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, the final Tuesday of each month at 10:00.  Members of the general public are welcome. In addition, SER organizes special orientations and tours for university classes and other groups with interests related to the collections. In mid-November 2014, SER joined the Library’s Twitter feed, providing tweets on a daily basis under the #ChronAm and #NewsRR hashtags.

Library Services / Preservation Directorate (PRESERV)

The mission of the Preservation Directorate at the Library of Congress is to ensure long-term, uninterrupted access to the intellectual content of the collections in original or reformatted form.  The Preservation Directorate fulfills this mission directly through the provision of conservation, binding, mass deacidification, reformatting, materials testing, and staff and user education; and indirectly through the coordination and oversight of all Library-wide activities relating to the preservation and physical protection of the collections.

Jacob Nadal, Executive Director of The Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP), has been named Director for Preservation at the Library of Congress.  He will begin his new position on July 10, 2017.

Education Opportunities

The Preservation Directorate planned and managed programs that brought professionals at different levels of their careers to the Library for practical experience and training in areas of preservation and preservation research expertise. Opportunities ranged from simple ad hoc short-term volunteer arrangements to more involved year-long professional fellowships with other important cultural heritage organizations.  All of these opportunities provided Directorate staff an opportunity to contribute toward the development of a new generation of preservation experts while also accomplishing needed work with the Library’s collections.  Successful examples include:

The Binding and Collections Care Division has four volunteer/interns, two working in Collections Care Section learning treatment protocols and two working with the Chief on statistical updating.

Two conservation program interns will complete their one-year internship in August 2017.  Emily Williams (paper conservation) and Xiaoping Cai (book conservation) have successfully worked on a number of projects including the complete conservation of a badly damaged Armenian prayer scroll.  Details of this challenging project will be added to the Library’s Preservation website in the near future. See URL < www.loc.gov/preservation/conservators>.

Bailey Kinsky (book conservation) from the Buffalo Conservation Program will start her one-year program internship in September 2017.

The first Harper-Inglis Post-Graduate Conservation Fellow, Emilie Duncan, will start in October 2017.  Ms. Duncan completed her master’s degree at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation and plans to focus her research at the Library into the use, deterioration, and treatment of blackened lead-white.

Outreach

The Library’s preservation website (URL < www.loc.gov/preservation> is the Library’s main portal into its many collections preservation activities.  Recent work to the site includes improvements to better integrate the Library’s digital preservation efforts across the Library.  The new section of the site is at URL< www.loc.gov/preservation/digital>.

Between January 2017 and May 2017, the Preservation Directorate hosted four Topics in Preservation Series (TOPS) lectures and one international symposium.  All were filmed and are or will be accessible via the Preservation and main Library web sites in the near future. (URL < www.loc.gov/preservation/outreach/tops/index.html>)

Select Presentations and Publications by PD Staff Include

Drewes, J. “Saving at-risk Audiovisual Materials.” A merican Libraries 48, no. 3/4 (March/April, 2017): 54-59.

Jeanne Drewes presented at the FEDLINK Spring Expo May 9th on the topic of disaster planning, and she will present on the same topic at the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference, June 20, 2017.

Fenella France, Chief of Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) presented on “Online Scientific Reference Sample Collections and Shared Linked Data for Heritage Science and Related Disciplines”, at the Coalition of Networked Information (CNI), Albuquerque, NM, April 2017.

Fenella France, Luca Pezzati (National Institute for Optics, National Research Council, Italy), and Joseph Padfield (National Gallery, London) presented at the Research Data Alliance (RDA) 9th Plenary, Barcelona, Spain, April 2017, on “Open Data for Heritage Science - Strategies for Opening Data in Heritage Science.”

Fenella France held workshops on “Spectral Image Capture and Processing”, International Conference on Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T), Latvia, May 2017. 

Binding and Collections Care Division & Mass-Deacidification Program (BCCD)

The BCCD Chief participated in the IFLA Global Vision project workshop in April 2017.  IFLA launched a conversation to form a global vision of how a connected library field can meet the challenges of the future. She also attended the regional program held at the Library of Congress in May.

The Conservation Division represented the Library in a Heritage Emergency National Task Force (HENTF ) Steering Committee meeting. HENTF is a consortium of Federal and non-profit cultural organizations that serves FEMA in national and regional disasters. HENTF is jointly run by FEMA and the Smithsonian Institution. Past efforts of HENTF include the creation of an emergency wheel and emergency DVD. The most recent planning meeting focused on future efforts such as mapping cultural institutions and restarting telephone conference calls in large emergencies.

Conservation Division (CD)

The Book Conservation Section (BCS) Head provided an initial assessment of the Emily Howland photograph album, a carte de visite album recently acquired in an historic joint purchase by the Library and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.  The album contains a previously unrecorded photograph of Harriet Tubman and the only known photograph of John Willis Menard, the first African American man elected to the U.S. Congress.  The album was received in a damaged state; the front cover and spine were completely detached, and the back cover was tenuously attached by a partially split hinge, making handling and access to the album and the photographs within very awkward and potentially harmful to the album.  The BCS Head constructed a custom-made display cradle out of clear acrylic, and strapped the unstable album in place so that the photograph of Harriet Tubman could be viewed without risking further damage to the album.

The Special Formats Conservation Section completed work to stabilize and complete image documentation of 173 contact prints in Diane Arbus’ photodocumentary project of Social Security recipients in St. Petersburg, Fla., that she did for the Social Security Administration in 1969.  (See URL < www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010632420/>).  Unfortunately the contact prints are a type of black-and-white photograph known as stabilized prints; they were processed quickly using heat rather than fixing solutions and over time are vulnerable to deterioration.  This is the case with these prints–they have become brown and highlight details have faded.  Treatment of this problem is theoretical and has not yet been done in the field, and the only known investigation of stabilized prints in this process recommends cold storage and a specific unbuffered.  SFCS staff followed these recommendations and rehoused each contact sheet in an unbuffered folder and prepared the collection to be stored in the cold (below freezing) vault at the Library’s Ft. Meade, Md., offsite storage facility to arrest further deterioration. Since the photographs will be offsite in cold storage, SFCS staff took images of each contact sheet as a reference for Library staff as they pursue possible exhibit and publication interests.

Preservation Reformatting Division (PRD)

The Preservation Reformatting Division (PRD) finalized planning of a pilot project to digitize foreign newsprint from the originals. The pilot will center on up to three sample sets of deliverables, each from a different vendor, both to test the vendors’ ability to produce the intended product and to evaluate the Library’s internal processes.  PRD is working with stakeholder Library divisions to select content that will provide each vendor content with similar characteristics (language, size, physical condition, etc.), and a similar page count (50,000-100,000 pages per vendor).  In addition to JPEG 2000 master files, Metadata (XML, using NDNP schema) and OCR (ALTO) project deliverables include a final report from each vendor detailing (though not limited to) summary results of the project, successful workflow strategies employed and conclusions and lessons learned.

PRD has expanded its Tangible Media workflow by adding additional equipment and with planned acquisitions for this fiscal year.  The addition of one rip station increases capacity by 50 percent.  This provides more throughput for a single project and/or the needed flexibility to run more than one job at a time.  PRD is also acquiring a new FRED (Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device) system from Digital Intelligence, along with a KryoFlux device used for forensic recovery.  The added capacity in this area allows PRD to process collections that it was previously unable to process.

Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD)

PRTD continued progress on CLASS-D, an online resource for the collection of information about sample materials and specific preservation analytical work performed at the Library and contributing partner institutions.  Staff linked and shared CLASS-D scientific data with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia Online (CAMEO) database.

Fujifilm Industries research staff from the Japan research site visited PRTD to report out on collaborative research into degradation of magnetic tape, including some interesting results in relation to the impact of temperature and humidity.  Further research on already degraded (non-collection) tape samples will continue.

Library Services / Technology Policy Directorate (TECH)

Digital Collections Management and Services Division (DCMS)

The Digital Collections Management & Services Division (DCMS) is tasked with providing leadership, infrastructure, support, and coordination for the acquisition, management and preservation of digital collections.  Primary areas of responsibility include lifecycle management of digital collections not within scope of other curatorial divisions in Library Services, digital lifecycle management support for other curatorial divisions, formulation and administration of policy related to the Library’s digital collections, and web harvesting and digitization support, including execution of digitization contracts and formulation of digitization specifications.  DCMS will play a critical role as the Library expands its digital collections. 

Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative (FADGI)

Since 2007, FADGI, a collaborative group of 20 federal agencies led by the Library of Congress, has focused on developing technical guidelines, methods, and practices for the digitization of historical content in a sustainable manner.  After 10 years and many successful projects, the FADGI Still Image and Audio-Visual working groups are expanding their scope to include selected aspects of born digital content alongside content reformatted through digitization.  To reflect this growing area of interest and FADGI’s broadened scope, members approved a proposal in September 2016 to change the meaning of the acronym “FADGI” from the “Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative” to the “Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative.”  The name change went into effect in early 2017 and is supported with a new logo and a streamlining of the FADGI Web site, which retains the same URL < www.digitizationguidelines.gov>.

Starting in 2017, published FADGI guidelines carry the CC0 1.0 Universal External license to declare unambiguously that the work is available for worldwide use and reuse.  Because FADGI work is the product of U.S. federal government personnel in the scope of their employment and therefore not subject to copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. §105), FADGI work products have always been in the public domain.  The inclusion of the CC0 1.0 Universal license, however, clarifies the Public Domain Dedication for both U.S. and international users of the FADGI guidelines.

FADGI Audio-Visual Working Group Activities

The Audio-Visual Working Group continued its development on the new draft of the AS-07 MXF application specification.  AS-07 provides a detailed profile for a digital file "wrapper," one key part of a digital file format for audio-visual preservation.  The specification includes a list of permitted encoded content bitstreams; defines a means for the carriage of multiple timecodes; the handling of captions, subtitles, and timed text; a minimal core metadata set; program segmentation metadata; and embedded content integrity data.

In December 2016, the Audio-Visual Working Group released for public comment draft embedded file metadata recommendations for the DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) format, most often used to store imagery data from scanned motion picture film.  This project is led by the FADGI Film Scanning Subgroup with active participations from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, NARA, NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Library of Congress including DCMS, the American Folklife Center, and Packard Campus.  Comments were accepted through February 2017 and are being reviewed.

Integrated Library System Program Office (ILSPO)

Integrated Library System

The Library is currently running the LC Integrated Library System (ILS) on Voyager 8.2.0 and is planning to upgrade to Voyager 10.0 in fiscal 2018.

The Library is conducting market research for a next generation library management system with vendors to learn about technology trends and developments in order to identify the Library’s business needs for a next generation system.

Electronic Resource Management System (ERMS)

The Library’s Electronic Resource Management System provides access to electronic journals, e-books and databases from 1,927 resource collections, totaling more than one million titles.  The Library maintained metadata for 1,037,300 titles and updated journal coverage entries, typically loading 1,700,000 coverage records monthly.  The ERMS successfully fulfilled 1,549,378 search requests in fiscal 2016.

LCCN Permalink

LCCN Permalink (URL < lccn.loc.gov>), a web service that allows users to create permanent URL links to bibliographic and authority records in the Library's Online Catalog (URL < catalog.loc.gov>), enables researchers to reference materials from the Library's collection in blogs, reference guides, web pages, emails, bibliographies, and more.  As a subset of the nearly 450,000 Z39.50/SRU searches processed daily by the Library against its catalogs, LCCN Permalink requests account for more than 32,000 searches daily.

LC EAD (Encoded Archival Description) Archival Finding Aids

Since January 2017, divisions in the Library’s Collections and Services Directorate created 29 new EAD archival finding aids, bringing the total number of LC EAD finding aids to 2,375.  At URL <findingaids.loc.gov>, users can access 63.9 million archival items in LC's collections through these documents.  More than 5,000 digital objects in 29 finding aids are also integrated with the Library’s digital collection presentations.  The EAD Technical Team is also working on LC’s EAD2002 to EAD3 conversion requirements.

LC persistent identifiers

As of May 2017, the LC handle server contained 3,857,955 handles–persistent identifiers assigned by the Library to born-digital resources stored by the Library’s digital repository applications and to content digitized for LC cooperative projects, U.S. legislation searchable in congress.gov, and digital books created by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.  LC’s handle server processes over 2 million requests each month.

Metadata management

In the interim while conducting market research, the ILS Program Office has stepped up its efforts to migrate legacy descriptive metadata into the ILS from silos.  In fiscal 2016 the ILS Program Office completed the migration of approximately 50,000 bibliographic records from standalone databases to the LC ILS.  In addition ILSPO corrected 60,000 records representing musical scores.  These PREMARC records were incorrectly coded as books, but now can be searched and displayed as notated music (scores) in the LC Online Catalog.  This will also improve retrieval in Project One search as these records will now appear when filtering by “notated music” instead of being included in book results.

In fiscal 2016 the ILS Program Office pioneered the use within the Library of OpenRefine, an open source software application that uses data remediation algorithms developed by Google to edit and enhance datasets. This application is widely used by librarians to prepare metadata to be served as linked open data on the web.  The ILSPO is currently using it to support new workflows for editing legacy metadata record sets for migration to the ILS, an effort which is prerequisite to the migration to a Next Gen system.

Staff in ILSPO staff worked closely with Business Enterprises to implement MDSConnect, which makes available MARC metadata sets from the ILS to the public via Data.gov.  This free service from the Library will enable scholars, developers and others to analyze the Library’s data and use the information in new, innovative ways.

See also under NATIONAL ENTERPRISES DIRECTORATE/Business Enterprises/Cataloging Distribution Service

Acquiring content for the Library’s digital collections

A major focus for ILSPO in 2016 was the ingest and management of digital collections.  Holdings records for digital e-journals deposited through the Copyright eDeposit Project are updated in the LC ILS and persistent identifiers (handles) are assigned as the content is ingested from publishers.

The Library continued its intake of e-books through the Cataloging in Publication (CIP) Program, adding 2,367 books in EPUB and PDF formats to the Library’s collection.  The CIP e-book program also expanded the number of participating publishers to 727, including large, small and academic publishers.

See also under COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

See also under ACQUISITIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC ACCESS DIRECTORATE/Cataloging in Publication (CIP) and Dewey Program

HathiTrust Authentication via Shibboleth

In 2016, the Library of Congress implemented a new method for staff and patrons to access materials in the HathiTrust.  The Library is a member of the HathiTrust, a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.  The HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository that provides access to digital content.  Library of Congress staff and patrons have access to Library of Congress titles that are in the public domain and that have been digitized by the Library or another member of the HathiTrust.

The new method of authentication uses a system called Shibboleth to authenticate users for access to the full range of services offered in the HathiTrust Digital Library. Authenticated users may:

• Download full-PDFs of public domain works
• Access the Collection Builder application, which makes it possible for users to aggregate works into permanent collections either for private use or to share publicly with others
• Access content for researchers with a print disability (only in the U.S.; see URL < www.hathitrust.org/accessibility>).
• Access works held in print by partner institutions that are missing or brittle and also out of print (only in the U.S.; see URL < www.hathitrust.org/out-of-print-brittle External >).

Detailed information on Shibboleth access and how to log in to the HathiTrust Web site is available at URL < www.hathitrust.org/shibboleth>.

LC patrons with Reader Identification Cards and LC staff with patron accounts in the LC ILS will be prompted to select the Library of Congress from a drop-down menu and then provide the first two letters of their surname and their account number in order to access the full functionality of the HathiTrust Digital Library.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

Pam Jackson, director of the Center for the Book, left the Library on June 9, 2017, in a family-related move abroad.  Rebecca Brasington Clark, the Library’s director for publishing, is also interim director of the Center for the Book.  The Library plans to conduct a national search to fill the position of director permanently.

THE GEORGIAN PAPERS PROGRAMME

See also SCHOLARLY AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS DIRECTORATE/Intern and Fellowship Programs

NATIONAL ENTERPRISES DIRECTORATE

Business Enterprises / Cataloging Distribution Service

The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) worked with Library Services and OCIO to make 25 million records in the Library’s online catalog available for free bulk download at URL < www.loc.gov/cds/products/marcDist.php>.  This is the largest release of digital records in the Library’s history.  Produced from 1968 through 2014, the records also will be easily accessible at URL < data.gov>, the open-government website hosted by the General Services Administration(GSA) .  Until now, these bibliographic records have only been available individually or through a paid subscription. The new, free MDSConnect service will operate in parallel with the Library’s fee-based MARC Distribution Service, which is used extensively by large commercial customers and libraries.  In addition to their traditional value to libraries, the rich data included in these records can be used for a wide range of cultural, historical and literary research.

CDS will be distributing Library of Congress Classification system posters at the LC Pavilion.  Expert catalogers will make two presentations: “Classification Web 101: A Brief Introduction” and “Cataloger’s Desktop 101: A Brief Introduction.”

Business Enterprises / LC Shop

The Library’s Retail Shop has relaunched its online store at URL < www.loc.gov/shop>. The online store has dozens of new items and the improved design makes searching even easier.  The Shop features exclusive items inspired by the Library’s architecture, collections and exhibitions.  To celebrate, ALA attendees can stop by the LC Pavilion and pick up a bookmark that features a 15% off coupon code for use online.

FEDLINK

The Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) is an organization of federal agencies working together to achieve best use of the resources and facilities of federal libraries and information centers by promoting common services, coordinating and sharing available resources and providing continuing professional education for federal library and information staff.  FEDLINK serves as a forum for discussion of the policies, programs, procedures and technologies that affect federal libraries and the information services they provide to their agencies, to the Congress, the federal courts and the American people.

Awards

FEDLINK’s national awards for federal librarianship recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of government, business, scholarly communities and the American public.  FEDLINK awards are given to both small library/information centers (with staff of 10 or fewer federal and/or contract employees) and larger library/information centers (with staff of 11 or more federal and/or contract employees).  The award winners were honored for their contributions to federal library and information service at the FEDLINK Spring Expo in Washington, D.C., on May 9, 2017.

This year’s winners for outstanding, innovative and sustained achievements during fiscal 2016 are:

• 2016 Federal Large Library/Information Center of the Year. NASA Goddard Information and Collaboration Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, is recognized for its efforts to transform its physical space and expand its services to meet the evolving needs of its cutting-edge research community.
• 2016 Small Library/Information Center. Federal Communications Commission Library, Washington, D.C., is recognized for serving the research needs of staff based at the facility’s headquarters, as well as those located at FCC field offices around the country. 
• 2016 Federal Librarian of the Year. Michael Steinmacher, director of the Barr Memorial Library, Fort Knox, Kentucky, is recognized for his innovation and promotion of meaningful and creative library services, programs and events.
• 2016 Federal Library Technician of the Year. Jennea Augsbury, lead library technician for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dallas, Texas, is recognized for her extraordinary dedication to serving the needs of the medical center staff and veterans during a 13-month period when her library went without a service chief or professional medical librarian.

Publishing Office

The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures

A new history of the card catalog from the Library of Congress Publishing Office puts the spotlight on the central role of librarians in organizing and sharing mass quantities of information.  Lauded by Booklist as “an irresistible treasury for book and library lovers,” The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures External features a forward by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.  Dr. Hayden and Publishing Office writer-editor Pete Deveraux were interviewed by NPR’s Andrew Limbong for Morning Edition External and they will participate in a book signing at ALA Annual Conference.

More books coming soon

Look for more library-centric books in coming months from the newly energized Publishing Office, including Kenneth Breisch’s American Libraries: 1730-1950 External (September 2017) and John Cole’s America’s Greatest Library: An Illustrated History of the Library of Congress External (December 2017).

NATIONAL PROGRAMS DIRECTORATE

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)

Duplication-on-demand pilot

NLS is working to decentralize the process of creating digital talking-book files (DTBs) on cartridge.  Duplication-on-demand allows the NLS network libraries across the country to create customized cartridges at their own location, based on the specific requests of the patrons whom they serve on the front line.  It makes all the titles in the NLS collection totally available all the time for all patrons without requiring libraries to get their supply of prepared cartridges shipped from NLS headquarters.

Text-to-Speech (“Synthetic” speech) discovery/R&D

Current synthetic speech technologies can now read with lifelike intonation.  This means that many textual materials previously unavailable as part of a talking book—the introduction, pages of lengthy notes, or even bibliographies—may now be made available in a listenable format.  More “breaking news” or time-sensitive materials can also be produced more quickly.

Wireless initiative pilot

NLS is exploring new technology that will allow wireless transmission of talking-book files directly to the patron in a method similar to the ease of obtaining an album from iTunes or Amazon, then playing it on your own device—as opposed to the complexities of getting in the car or using mail to obtain DVDs or videocassettes from a library or store.

Refreshable braille pilot

Refreshable braille displays—devices which can turn a digital braille file instantaneously into braille for tactile reading—have improved in ease of use (and price point) to the point where NLS is considering them for wide use among NLS patrons.  NLS is working with the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., to study the viability of using these refreshable braille displays more widely.  Patrons can download digital braille files from BARD (the “Braille and Reading Download” software platform created by NLS) or get them on SD cards (“secure digital” cards).

Center for the Book (CFB)

Center for the Book Turns 40

In October 2017, the Center for the Book will mark its 40th anniversary with special programming.

Books & Beyond

The Center for the Book continues with its popular book series, Books & Beyond, which features authors who have researched their works at the Library of Congress.  Previous discussions can be found in webcasts at URL < www.read.gov/webcasts>.

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Gene Luen Yang, the Library’s National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, will continue in his role through December 2017.  He will be at ALA Annual Conference and will present at the LC Pavilion to introduce his reading without walls challenge External .  Gene will also be at the National Book Festival again in September 2017.

Poet Laureate

Juan Felipe Herrera concluded his second term as U.S. Poet Laureate in April, with a daylong celebration of poetry at the Library.  The Librarian of Congress will announce the 22nd Poet Laureate soon.

Helping Chicago Students Find Their Voice Through Verse

PBS NewsHour did a special segment on Juan Felipe Herrera’s second term project as Poet Laureate: Wordstreet Champions and Brave Builders of the Dream–the effort with the Chicago Public Schools and the Poetry Foundation, along with dozens of Chicago high school teachers, to teach poetry in new and exciting ways.  You can see the full PBS news spot at URL < www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/one-poet-helping-chicago-students-find-voice-verse/ External >.

Read.gov

The Center for the Book’s website, Read.gov, continues to be popular for its digitized versions of classic books, its webcasts and its specialized pages for kids, teens, adults, educators and parents. 

National Book Festival

Plans are well underway for the 2017 National Book Festival, to be held Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017, at the Walter Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington, D.C.  This is the Library’s largest event, and is always free and open to the public.  The program will include more than 100 authors. For the full program and ongoing updates, see the book festival website at URL < www.loc.gov/bookfest>.  Free National Book Festival posters will be available at the LC Pavilion at ALA any time.

Renowned historian David McCullough—recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—will open the Main Stage at the National Book Festival.  Bestselling fantasy author Diana Gabaldon, Hillbilly Eulogy writer J.D. Vance, journalist, author, and three time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman, the first female African-American Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and American thriller writer David Baldacci will also appear.  All six Main Stage presentations will be live-streamed on Facebook.

National Digital Initiatives

Library of Congress Hosts Innovation Fellows

In 2016, a Library of Congress staff developer designed a crowdsourcing application to identify illustrations in our historic newspaper collection as part of our inaugural Innovation Fellowship program.  This app, titled 1,000 words, will launch later this year.  In the second year of the fellowship, we’ve expanded our scope to work with a computer scientist and graduate student programmer to create playful and engaging visualizations with our collections and metadata, including our newly released MARC retrospective data set to feature on labs.loc.gov. (See also under NATIONAL ENTERPRISES DIRECTORATE /Business Enterprises/Cataloging Distribution Service in this document.) Next year we hope to advertise publicly.  Check our blog The Signal for upcoming announcements at < blogs.loc.gov/thesignal>.

Watch Collections as Data IMPACT on July 25, 2017

More relevant, more accessible, more visual, and more useful--these are some benefits of making digital collections available as data and ready for computational analysis.  The Library of Congress is hosting a day-long event that will feature case studies and impact stories of applying digital methods to analyzing and sharing collections.  Presenters will share how using collections as data reactivates the holdings of libraries and other centers of history and art to make deeper connections to the communities they serve.  The event will be livestreamed on July 25, 2017, and videos of the presentations will be available on the Library’s website.  Check The Signal blog for more details (< blogs.loc.gov/thesignal>).

Library of Congress Holds Hack-to-Learn Workshop

On May 17-18, 2017, the Library of Congress, George Washington University, and George Mason University joined forces to demonstrate research tools and provide library collection data sets to faculty, librarians, students, and members of the general public.  Collections included 52,000 transcribed index cards of Phyllis Diller’s jokes or gags provided by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Transcription Center, as well as the Library of Congress’ recently released 25 million retrospective MARC records (see also under NATIONAL ENTERPRISES DIRECTORATE /Business Enterprises/Cataloging Distribution Service in this document) and 8,000 documents from Eleanor Roosevelt’s “My Day” columns.  The event web site can be found at URL < www.digitalpreservation.gov/meetings/hack-to-learn/hack-to-learn-site.html>.

Librarians Learn to Code at Software Carpentry Workshop

The Library of Congress hosted 40 librarians, archivists and data wranglers to learn advanced skills in managing digital collections.  The National Digital Initiatives Division hosted a Software Carpentry workshop External , inviting staff from the Library, the District of Columbia Public Library and federal libraries for hands-on learning in the programming language Python, the version-control software Git, and the command-line interface Bash.  Software Carpentry is a volunteer, non-profit organization that provides short, intensive workshops to help researchers automate tasks and manage information.  NDI hosted the event as part of its mission to provide digital leadership for libraries and archives throughout the country and is considering hosting more Software Carpentry events in the future.

National Film and Recording Preservation Boards and Registries

National Film Preservation Board and Registry

The Film Board met in Washington, D.C. in October 2016 to discuss various ongoing preservation and access initiatives, as well as suggestions for the National Film Registry.  The newest 25 selections to the National Film Registry were announced on December 14, 2016, raising the number of films on the Registry to 700.  Films selected included The Princess Bride, Thelma and Louise, The Lion King, and The Breakfast Club.

National Recording Preservation Board and Registry

The Recording Board met in Washington, D.C. in November 2016 to discuss implementation of selected preservation and access recommendations found in the National Recording Preservation Plan and to review possible selections for the next Recording Registry.  The latest 25 titles for the National Recording Registry were announced in March 2017 to much fanfare.  The Library collaborated widely to promote the selections, including dedicated channels on both Pandora and Spotify radio.

SCHOLARLY AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS DIRECTORATE

Educational Outreach

The Library’s Educational Outreach Team, through its Teaching with Primary Sources Program (TPS), provides educators with methods and materials that build student literacy skills, content knowledge, and critical thinking abilities. 

Teachers-in-Residence

For the 2016-17 school year, we have welcomed Teresa St. Angelo, a kindergarten teacher from New Jersey, to serve as our Teacher in Residence.  She is helping us grow our outreach efforts to early elementary educators.  For 2017-18, we will be welcoming a World History/Geography Teacher.

New TPS Grantees Selected

Last summer (2016), panels comprised of 45 educators helped Library staff select 23 grant recipients (from 81 proposals that were submitted) to deliver teacher professional development, develop curriculum resources, conduct research and create apps founded on the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program.  In addition to receiving grants, these organizations joined six existing organizations in the TPS Consortium, a group that assists in the design and dissemination of the TPS program.

Online Conference for Educators

The Library offered its second annual online conference for educators, “Discover and Explore with Library of Congress Primary Sources,” on October 25-26, 2016.  Hosted by the Educational Outreach team, education experts and subject matter specialists facilitated 15 sessions, presenting resources and teaching strategies for using primary sources from the Library of Congress in the classroom.  We are making plans for another online conference in fall 2017.

Student Discovery Sets

The Educational Outreach team continues to address the needs of the growing tablet-based educational community by launching more Library of Congress Student Discovery Sets, free educational e-books.  These interactive e-books allow students to electronically draw on, analyze, and explore primary sources from the Library’s collections. Since summer 2016, the Library has published sets exploring scientific data, weather forecasting, Thanksgiving, and World War I. See URL < itunes.apple.com/us/artist/library-of-congress/id361683896?mt=11 External >.

Summer Teacher Institutes

Our professional development offerings include five Summer Teacher Institutes held at the Library. During the summer of 2017, one of the weeks will have a STEM focus; and one will focus on World War I. See URL < www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute>.

Young Readers Center and Educational Outreach are combining

In spring 2017, the Library began a small—but powerful—reorganization, to combine the Educational Outreach team and the Young Readers Center team. The mission of this newly combined unit is to inform, inspire, engage, and support the Library’s audience of learners and educators, whether at the Library, in educational settings, or wherever their curiosity takes them.  Through programs, publications, on-site experiences, and online initiatives, this unit informs learners and educators about the mission of the Library and the rich collections that are available to them; inspires a lifelong love of reading and research; engages audiences in creating and sharing knowledge; and supports educators in their professional work, as well as learners in their journeys of intellectual exploration.

Intern and Fellowship Programs

The Intern and Fellowship Programs (IFP) Division focuses on supporting experiential learning for America’s current and future workforce through a portfolio of programs and a small, resourceful staff. IFP’s activities promote use of the Library’s collections in both analog and digital formats, connect born-digital content to born-digital learners, and build expertise in critical digital preservation skills.

New Internship and Fellowships Portal coming soon

The current LC web page for promoting opportunities is undergoing a significant overhaul, and a new portal will be rolled out before the ALA 2018 Midwinter Meeting.  The new portal will increase awareness of the Library’s myriad fellowship, internship and volunteer programs, and increase participation in these programs for the mutual benefit of the Library and potential stakeholders.  A list of current fellowships, internships, and volunteer opportunities at the Library is available (URL < www.loc.gov/hr/employment/index.php?action=cMain.showFellowships>).

National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR)

NDSR was piloted at the Library of Congress in 2013, and since then has expanded beyond the nation’s capital to span the country. In addition to geographical expansion, more recent residencies have advanced the program beyond general practice to discipline-oriented iterations focused on art information and management, audiovisual content and life sciences data. In April 2017 the Library of Congress and the Institute of Museum and Library Services co-hosted the first-ever, pan-NDSR symposium to convene current and former administrators, mentors and residents from across the country to reflect on the program’s challenges, lessons learned and successes, and to envision its future. The outcomes of the symposium include a field experience model for digital stewardship residencies and a roadmap for how to sustain the dedicated community of professionals who are working to advance our nation’s capabilities to manage, preserve and make accessible the record of human achievement held in digital form.  For more about the NDSR program visit URL < www.loc.gov/ndsr>.

Georgian Papers Programme Fellow

The Library expanded the concept of the NDSR program and added an international dimension in early 2017.  Known as both NDSR UK and the Georgian Papers Programme, the project is a collaboration with the United Kingdom Royal Collection Trust and King’s College London, in which the Library and its partners will create a collection of shared resources to bring together the papers of King George III, Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and American Founders Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. This rich collection of content will bring to light significant historical documents created around the birth of the United States, and will be available to researchers and scholars all over the world.  The Library’s fellow, Charlotte Kostelic, is working on both sides of the Atlantic and is currently at Windsor Castle working on integrating these collections within the Europeana and the Digital Public Library of America frameworks.  The project involves a great deal of comparative analysis of metadata and crosswalking among platforms.  More information is available at URL < oieahc.wm.edu/lapidus/kinggeorge.html External >.

Junior Fellows Program

The latest cohort of the annual Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program is onsite and halfway through their paid, ten-week internships to explore the Library’s collections and tackle a range of 21st-century information management challenges.  Thirty-seven Junior Fellows were selected out of a competitive pool of 922 applicants, and have been placed in 20 divisions across the Library.  The Junior Fellows are working on projects that will broaden access to and awareness of Library resources, and extend their own educational portfolios.  They are planning for a Display Day in late July 2017 to showcase their projects, practice presentation skills and discuss the historical significance of the collection items that they have researched and processed over the summer.  Interested undergraduate and graduate students can apply in December 2017 to become Junior Fellows in May 2018.  For more information, please visit URL < www.loc.gov/hr/jrfellows>.

Digital Preservation Outreach and Education (DPOE)

DPOE wrapped up the 2016 DPOE Training Needs Assessment Survey in an effort to get a sense of current digital preservation practice, a better understanding about what capacity exists for organizations and professionals to effectively preserve digital content, and current training needs.  The respondents expressed an overwhelming concern for making their content accessible for at least a ten-year horizon, and showed strong support for continuing education opportunities.  DPOE fosters outreach and education about digital preservation on a national scale, and has conducted three needs assessment surveys to identify gaps, which feed into the program’s signature Train-the-Trainer Workshop.  The Workshop provides training to working professionals and has built a network of 217 topical trainers.  For more program information, please visit URL < www.digitalpreservation.gov/education>.

Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU) National Internship Program

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program (HNIP) has bolstered the Library’s commitment to diversity since 1999, and provided on-the-job training for more than 230 students.  This spring the Library hosted five student interns who worked on valuable projects to support Library activities including educational outreach, improved communication, program management support, and information technology investment planning. The Library’s instance of HNIP has made notable enhancements to enrich the interns’ experience beyond their on-the-job training, including opportunities to explore a wide range of professional development activities, mentorships with former HNIP interns who went on to federal service, public speaking engagements, resume clinics, and career coaching discussions.  Staff of IFP have built strong interdepartmental relationships to implement program enhancements, most notably with Deputy Librarian Robert Newlen who has recognized HNIP for fostering talent and emphasizing diversity.  Interested undergraduate and graduate students can apply for HNIP internships at the Library and other federal agencies at URL < /www.hacu.net/hacu/default.asp External >.

Kluge Center

The Kluge Center continues to bring top scholars from around the world into periods of residency at the Library of Congress.  Kluge Fellowships are open to scholars worldwide with a Ph. D. or other terminal advanced degree conferred within the seven years prior to the deadline.

To fulfill its mission to help inform Congress and the public, the Kluge Center continues to host near- weekly lectures and events showcasing the work of its scholars.  Visit the news page (URL < www.loc.gov/ kluge/news>) for the upcoming schedule, and read about the work of our scholars on the Kluge Center’s blog, Insights, at URL < blogs.loc.gov/kluge>.

Kluge Conversations

Beginning in January 2017, the Kluge Center has been hosting "Kluge Conversations" with targeted thought leaders and Members of Congress in an informal, off-the-record and bipartisan setting, over breakfast in the Library of Congress. These breakfast conversations have been well-attended and well-received.

Daniel K. Inouye Distinguished Lecture

On May 18, 2017, the Library hosted the 3rd Daniel K. Inouye Distinguished Lecture with Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, a former director of the Peace Corps, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, a former Peace Corps volunteer, reflecting on their experiences as leaders in government and business and discussing the need for a spirit of service and idealism. The discussion, “Inspiring a Sense of Service and Idealism,” was moderated by Anne Compton and highlighted the evolution of the Peace Corps and how its ideals remain relevant today—five decades after its founding.  You can find more about Sen. Inouye and the Lecture series at URL < Daniel K. Inouye Distinguished Lectures>.

Visitor Services Office (VSO)

LOC visits continue to grow

In fiscal 2016, a total of 1.42 million people visited the historic Thomas Jefferson Building to tour the Great Hall and exhibitions.  This was a 15% increase over the prior year. Overall, 1.8 million people visited the Library’s Capitol Hill Campus.

New activities for learners of all ages

VSO has created I Spy activity guides for families visiting the Library.  “I Spy Counting in the Jefferson Building” is intended for ages 3+, “I Spy Animals” is targeted for ages 6+, and “I Spy Presidential History” was rolled out in time for the inauguration celebration this year for ages 9+.  The team introduced a new Explore! Cart to offer hands-on activities that help visitors understand the architecture and construction of the historic Thomas Jefferson Building.  VSO offers a weekly Family Tour focused on elementary school age visitors with their families.  A brand new Tour for Blind and Visually Impaired visitors will be launched in September, but is being piloted now.

VSO continues its Professional Visitor Program, engaging professionals who have specific non-research reasons for coming to the Library of Congress.

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library (WDL)  (URL < www.wdl.org External >) remains focused on three priorities: adding historically and culturally important content from its worldwide network of partners; recruiting new partners; and building a growing community of engaged users.

WWI interactive timeline

WDL launched a new interactive timeline and map related to World War I, aimed at students and teachers, at URL < www.wdl.org/en/sets/world-war-i/timeline.new/ External >.  The presentation highlights the global nature of the war, and includes items contributed by partners in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.

Growing Collections

The WDL added a number of spectacular manuscript items contributed by partners in Italy, courtesy of the Ministry for Cultural Activities and Heritage.  They include Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of the Birds of 1505-1506, from the Royal Library in Turin, and the Codex Amiatinus created in around 688-713, the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate, from the Medicea Laurenziana Library in Florence.  These items can be seen at URLs < www.wdl.org/19477 External > and < www.wdl.org/20150 External >.

Growing use

Usage of the WDL continued to grow, propelled by a surge in visitors from the Spanish-speaking world in late March-early April 2017.  The total number of visitors in March 2017 was 1.37 million, in April 1.22 million.  The WDL registered 430,000 visitors on March 30, 2017, its third highest day on record, and the most since the publicity surrounding the initial launch in 2009.