ALA Midwinter 2019
Update for 2019 ALA Midwinter Meeting: June - December, 2018
Joseph A. Puccio, Acting Associate Librarian for Library Services
Service units, divisions, and offices within the Library have submitted the information in this briefing document, which is being issued in advance of the American Library Association (ALA) 2019 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Washington, January 25-29, 2019. The document covers initiatives undertaken at the Library of Congress since the ALA 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. June 21-26, 2018. This document will be updated regularly until the close of the Midwinter Meeting. Information in the printed document is valid as of January 25, 2019.
As of Jan. 11, 2019, the U.S. federal government was under a partial shutdown because of lapse of funding. The Library of Congress, however, is operating normally. The U.S. Congress enacted a full-year budget for all legislative branch agencies, including the Library of Congress, in time for the beginning of fiscal year 2019 on Oct. 1, 2018. The law is “2019 Appropriations Minibus (H.R. 5895).” The Library’s operations are not affected by the partial shutdown, with the exception of some activities in the Human Capital Directorate and in the overseas offices that are dependent on executive branch agency functions.
Library of Congress Table
The Library will feature a table in the SkyBridge Lobby of the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. (The Library will not exhibit its full Pavilion in Seattle). Table hours are:
- Friday, January 25: 1:30 pm-5:00 pm
- Saturday-Sunday, January 26-27: 10:00 am-4:00 pm
- Monday, January 28: 10:00 am-2:00 pm
Michelle Spezzacatena and Kahin Mohammad will be at the table to hand out promotional items and documents and to respond to questions from ALA attendees. They will also be collecting recommendations from attendees regarding the Library’s programming at the 2019 ALA Annual Conference. A survey to compile further information is available at URL < www.surveymonkey.com/r/LOCat2019ALA > through February 10, 2019. The Library looks forward to hearing recommendations from ALA members!
User-Centered Organizational Realignment/New Strategic Plan
In late September, Librarian of Congress Carla D. Hayden issued a new five-year strategic plan for the Library of Congress, Enriching the Library Experience. The new plan puts forth our commitment to making our unique collections, expertise, and services available when, where, and how people use them. The plan is the culmination of an extensive envisioning and planning initiative that explored how best to fulfill our mission to engage, inspire, and inform Congress and the American people. It presents the Library’s roadmap to expanding our reach and deepening our impact so that users who find information and inspiration from this remarkable institution get the most out of their experiences.
As the Library embarks on an exciting journey to put users first, we have refined our mission statement and agreed upon a bold aspirational vision – that All Americans are connected to the Library of Congress .
We have identified four strategic goals for the coming years, all of which build upon unifying themes and are relevant to every service unit, office, and staff member, allowing us to work together to realize our strategy in a more powerful way:
Expand Access: Increase Discoverability and Availability –
Use Connectors to Extend Reach – Expand Physical Presence.
Enhance Services: Elevate Digital Experiences – Transform In-Person
Experiences – Develop User-Centered Content.
Optimize Resources: Align Core Library Activities – Modernize Operations
– Invest in Talent for the Future – Diversify and Expand Funding.
Measure Impact: Understand Our Users – Communicate Impact – Promote
a Culture of Continuous Improvement.
The better to accomplish these goals, the Librarian also announced a user-centered realignment of the Library’s organizational structure. The realignment established the Center for Exhibits and Interpretation and the Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement within the Office of the Librarian; brought Library Services, the Law Library of Congress, and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped into a single Library Collections and Services Group that also includes the Internship and Fellowship Programs and the John W. Kluge Center; established the Digital Innovation Lab; and established the Library Enterprises Directorate. The latter was established in May 2019. The remainder of the user-centered realignment was concluded by October 1, 2018.
COPYRIGHT OFFICE
Personnel
The U.S. Copyright Office appointed Gustave Schlesier deputy director of the Copyright Modernization Office and Sylvester Simpkins head of the Records Research and Certification Section. The Office of the General Counsel appointed Jordana Rubel and Steve Ruwe assistant general counsels. The Registration Program added 25 new examiners in September.
Modernization
The Copyright Office continued its modernization efforts, working with Deloitte Digital to build an Enterprise Copyright System (ECS). Office and Deloitte staff incorporated information gathered on their listening tours in Nashville and Los Angeles and through remitter and Office staff surveys into wireframes for the new registration and recordation sections of the ECS. User testing has begun.
The Copyright Modernization Office hosted a two-day Industry Day event, welcoming venders who responded to the Request for Information (RFI) that was sent in early May. The event gave vendors a chance for hands-on guidance across the Office. After the event, the Office received thirteen proposals from vendors offering a solution for the government at no, or exceptionally low, cost. The vendor wants to do this, for their part, because it allows them a large, highly visible platform upon which to build a cutting-edge, fully functioning, high-profile, symbiotic solution.
In October, the Copyright Office published a notice of inquiry requesting written comments on how to improve the regulations and practices related to the registration of copyright claims in the digital age. Specifically, the Office sought input on three areas of reform: (1) the administration and substance of the application for registration, (2) the utility of the public record, and (3) the deposit requirements for registration.
Legislation
On October 10, 2018, the President signed the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act into law. On June 27, 2013, the international copyright community adopted the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, and the treaty entered into force on September 30, 2016. The United States signed the Marrakesh Treaty as a contracting party on October 2, 2013, but needed to take additional steps to amend its national legislation before becoming a treaty member. Congress needed time to consult with various stakeholders, including those representing the blind communities, the publishing sector, and the library communities, among others, on the proposed legislative language.
On October 11, 2018, the President signed The Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act into law. This bipartisan and unanimously-enacted legislation represents the realization of years of effort by a wide array of policymakers and stakeholders, and the U.S. Copyright Office itself, to update music licensing to better facilitate legal licensing of music by digital services. The legislation addresses Congress’s determination that copyright law had not kept pace with changing consumer preferences and technological developments in music. The law has three key components, Title I—Music Licensing Modernization; Title II—Classics Protection and Access; and Title III—Allocation for Music Producers. The law is effective as of October 11, 2018, but some aspects become applicable later. The Copyright Office and stakeholders must undertake several implementation steps during this process.
Rulemakings and Regulations
On May 24, the Office issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on a new fee schedule, with proposed changes to fees for services in the following areas: registration, recordation, record retrieval, search, and certification, the Licensing Division, and other ancillary services. The proposed fee schedule aims to improve the rate of cost-recovery for the Office’s fee-based services.
On October 15, the Office adopted a final rule to streamline the administration of digital audio recording technology royalty accounts and electronic royalty payment processes. First, the final rule codifies a procedure for closing out DART royalty payments accounts under section 1005 of the Copyright Act, which gives the Register discretion to close out royalty payments accounts for a calendar year four years after the close of that year. In addition, the final rule updates the Office’s regulations governing online payment procedures for cable, satellite, and DART statements of account to no longer require single lump sum payments when multiple statements are submitted. These modifications are intended to improve the efficiency of the Copyright Office’s Licensing Division operations and simplify royalty payment procedures for filers.
On October 16, pursuant to the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (MMA), the Copyright Office issued an interim rule and notice of inquiry regarding sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972. As required by the MMA, the interim rule that establishes a mechanism for rights owners to file schedules listing their pre-1972 sound recordings with the Office, for individuals to request timely notification of when such filings are indexed into the Office’s public records, and for the submission of contact information by entities publicly performing pre-1972 sound recordings by means of digital audio transmission as of October 11, 2018. In the notice of inquiry, the Office sought public comment regarding the MMA’s noncommercial use exception. The Office solicited comments regarding the specific steps that a user should take to demonstrate she has made a good faith, reasonable search to determine if a pre-1972 sound recording is being commercially exploited. The Office also solicited comments regarding the filing requirements for the user to submit a notice of noncommercial use, and for a rights owner to submit a notice objecting to such use.
On October 25, the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Acting Register of Copyrights, published a final rule adopting exemptions to the statutory prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Publication of the final rule marks the completion of the seventh triennial rulemaking proceeding under 17 USC § 1201. As in prior section 1201 proceedings, the Copyright Office administered the rulemaking through an extensive public process. For this seventh triennial proceeding, the Office implemented a new streamlined process enabling members of the public to seek renewal of existing exemptions to which there was no meaningful opposition. The Acting Register ultimately recommended readoption of all exemptions granted in the 2015 rulemaking. The Office then invited public input on proposed new or expanded exemptions through three rounds of written comments and seven days of public hearings in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. As required by statute, the Office also consulted with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce. Based on this record, the Acting Register recommended the granting of several additional exemptions, as discussed in her formal recommendation to the Librarian. The Librarian adopted the Acting Register’s recommendation in full.
On November 20, the Office adopted a final rule (PDF, 233 KB), effective December 30, 2018, to update its regulations governing group registration options for newsletters and serials. The final rule requires applicants to file online rather than use a paper application and upload a complete digital copy of each issue through the electronic registration system instead of submitting them in physical form. To satisfy the mandatory deposit requirement, if the newsletter or serial is published in the United States in a physical format, two complimentary subscriptions must be provided directly to the Library of Congress (unless the Library notifies the publisher otherwise). In addition, for group newsletters, the rule eliminates requirements that each issue be a work made for hire and be registered within three months of publication. For group serials, the rule clarifies registration requirements, including that serials must generally be published at intervals of at least a week and that the publication dates need not match the dates on the issues themselves.
On December 7, pursuant to the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, the Copyright Office issued an interim rule to amend the Office’s existing regulations pertaining to the compulsory “mechanical” license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works available under 17 USC § 115 so as to conform the existing regulations to the new law, including with respect to the operation of notices of intention and statements of account, and to make other minor technical updates. This interim rule is generally directed at the present transition period before a blanket license is offered by a mechanical licensing collective and does not include regulatory updates that may be required in connection with the future offering of that blanket license; such updates will be the subject of future rulemakings.
On December 21, pursuant to the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (MMA), the U.S. Copyright Office issued a notice of inquiry seeking public comment regarding the designation of a mechanical licensing collective and a digital licensee coordinator to carry out key functions under the updated section 115 “mechanical” license for the reproduction and distribution of musical works; specifically, the creation and administration of a new blanket licensing system governing licensed uses by digital music providers. As required by the MMA, the Copyright Office solicits information to assist in the Register designating an entity as the mechanical licensing collective (MLC) to administer the newly created blanket license, build and maintain a comprehensive database of musical works and sound recordings, and distribute collected royalties to songwriters and music publishers. The Office also solicits information to assist the Register in designating an entity as the digital licensee coordinator (DLC), which will represent digital music services in the administration of the license and in the determination of the administrative assessment fee paid by digital music providers for the reasonable costs of establishing and operating the new MLC.
On December 21, the Office published a notice of proposed rulemaking to create a group registration option for short online literary works. To qualify for this option, each work must contain at least 100 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual, and that individual must be named as the copyright claimant for each work. The works must all be published online within a three-calendar-month period. If these requirements have been met, the applicant may submit up to 50 works with one application and one filing fee. The applicant must complete the online application designated for a “literary work” and upload a digital copy of each work.
On December 26, the U.S. Copyright Office proposed to update its regulations governing the procedures for registering architectural works. Applicants will be required to submit their claims using the online Standard Application and will be encouraged to upload digital copies of their works through the electronic registration system rather than submitting physical copies. The proposed regulation also clarifies under what circumstances applicants must provide a date of construction for a building as well as the meaning of the phrases “overall form of the building” and “interior arrangements of spaces and/or design elements,” which are the aspects of the architectural work that must be perceptible in a deposit copy submitted by an applicant.
To reflect technical upgrades to its current electronic registration system, on December 27, the Copyright Office adopted a final rule [PDF, 222 KB], effective January 28, 2019, updating its regulations regarding the eligibility requirements for the Single Application. Among other things, the rule confirms that the Single Application may be used to register one work that is created and solely owned by one author and is not a work made for hire. It also confirms that the Single Application may be used to register one sound recording and one musical work, literary work, or dramatic work—notwithstanding the fact that a sound recording and the work embodied in that recording are separate works. In addition, as explained in the notice of proposed rulemaking, the rule eliminates the “short form” version of the Office’s paper applications. The rule will also allow for paper applications to be certified with an electronic signature by removing the requirement that certification includes a “handwritten” signature of the certifying party.
Litigation
The Office advised the U.S. Dept. of Justice in filing an amicus brief in two patent cases before the Supreme Court, WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. and Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC. In both cases, the Supreme Court opinions largely cohered with the government’s positions. The Office has also advised regarding a pending petition in Iancu v. Brunetti, concerning whether the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the federal registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” marks is facially invalid under the free speech clause of the First Amendment.
In Syngenta Crop Protection LLC v. Willowood, LLC currently pending before the Federal Circuit, the Office advised the DOJ on whether “me-too” labels on generic-brand pesticides approved for use by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) pesticides infringe the copyright of the pesticide manufacturer that created the pioneer pesticide and label and obtained original approval for it under FIFRA.
Outreach
The Copyright Office participated in the Library of Congress’ Open House in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building over Memorial Day Weekend. The Office displayed copyright deposits featuring vintage children’s toys from Sesame Street, The Muppets, and more.
The Copyright Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) cohosted the 2018 International Copyright Institute in Washington, DC, June 4–8. Officials from seventeen countries heard from a cross section of experts from government, private industry, and civil society, and they participated in panel discussions focused on international copyright harmonization and emerging challenges posed by new technologies. Participating officials came from Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Bhutan, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Jordan, Kiribati, Lebanon, Micronesia, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. On June 18–21, Office staff members attended the American Association of Independent Musicians (A2IM) Indie Week in New York City. They spoke to musicians, producers, record label owners, and other representatives of the independent music industry about registration, copyright law, and the Music Modernization Act.
On July 20, the Acting Register and staff welcomed Senator Orrin G. Hatch to the Copyright Office. Senator Hatch spent many years leading the Senate Judiciary Committee and has sponsored and supported many pieces of legislation amending the Copyright Act. The Acting Register displayed items connected to important copyright cases, such as the lamp from Mazer v. Stein, as well as special materials reflecting elements from Hatch’s home state of Utah, such as the first registration by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the original copyright registration of the Book of Mormon.
On August 11, the Office of Public Information and Education represented the Office at Otakon, an annual convention celebrating Asian pop culture (anime, manga, music, movies, and video games) and its fandom. Staff members spoke in a panel discussion about the importance of copyright registration and staffed a table where convention goers learned about Library of Congress services.
On August 17, staff members of the Public Information Office exhibited at
the U.S. Patent and Trade Office’s Annual Independent Inventors
Conference.
On September 1, the Copyright Office participated in the Library of
Congress exhibit at the National Book Festival. Copyright Office staff
members handed out information about the Copyright Office and described
what the Office does and the benefits of registering a work for copyright
protection and hosted Copyright Office trivia.
On September 24–30, the Acting Register of Copyrights participated at WIPO Assemblies of Member States 58th Series of Meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, and was moderator of the panel “Empowering Women in the Creative Industries.”
The Copyright Office held its new course, “Copyright Academy: Introduction to the 1976 Act,” October 2–December 13. This survey-level course offered a basic introduction to fundamental concepts and principles of United States copyright law for those without any prior structured classes on copyright law.
On October 15, the Copyright Office hosted the Copyright Matters event, “Extra! Extra! The Scoop on Copyright & the News,” on October 15 in the Coolidge Auditorium. This discussion on the unique relation between journalism and the free press and copyright included a panel comprising Jonathan Band, technology law and policy advocate; Michael Carroll, American University professor of law and director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and a co-founder of Creative Commons; Tom Curley, associate general counsel at Gannett Co., Inc.; Sharon Farmer, former director of the White House Photography Office; and Robert Levine, Billboard reporter and author of Free Ride. Each panelist opened with an overview of his or her work. Panelists discussed how copyright has affected their work, both what they’re able to write and what others can take from their writing and photography.
On October 22–23, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Copyright Office co-organized the Experts’ Meeting on Copyright Registration and Infrastructure in the Digital Age. The two-day meeting was held in Washington, DC. This event brought together senior officials from ten national copyright offices and one regional organization. Participants discussed a variety of topics, including: the registration examination process and user experiences, the role of public and private registries, the use of standards and identifiers in registration systems, the interaction between legal and registration deposits, and the relevance of a voluntary registration system. Officials from the following offices attended: Argentina, Bermuda, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Nigeria, Peru, Republic of Korea, Spain, Uruguay, and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO).
Throughout the year, Office staff members attended the STOPFakes Roadshows throughout the United States. They presented Copyright & Your Business’s Creative Works: How Copyright Impacts You, and they answered questions from small business owners and assisting them with copyright registrations.
Website
On July 18, the Copyright Office upgraded searching and results tracking in the proof of concept of the Virtual Card Catalog (VCC). In this upgraded version, users now can perform simple and advanced queries based on the raw datasets captured from the images; may narrow the number of results from browsing (in addition to browsing drawers); have more images from which to search (for a more complete search)—this new release contains approximately 99.6 percent of the images from the two indexes; can select multiple drawers from multiple indexes to browse and can click on a card to enlarge an image along with the set of images for easy scrolling; and may also select specific drawers for additional queries, in addition to saving up to twenty-five cards to a folder during a browsing session.
Copyright Lore Online
The Office published its archive of “Copyright Lore” articles online. These articles capture one small piece of copyright history and cover a wide variety of topics—law and policy, the Copyright Office through time, treasures found in the Office, and many different copyrighted works. Every Copyright Lore since 2002 is now onlinein the History and Education section of copyright.gov, and new entries are added each month. Lores are searchable by title or by keywords in the descriptions.
OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN
See also User-Centered Organization Realignment/New Strategic Plan
Personnel
Ryan Ramsey was appointed Chief of Staff to the Librarian of Congress, effective June 26.
The Librarian of Congress selected David S. Mandel as director of the Center for Exhibits and Interpretation, effective Aug. 5, 2018. The Librarian selected Shari Rosenstein Werb as the director of the Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement, effective Aug. 19, 2018. These key posts are at the helms of newly established offices that are central to executing the Library’s strategy of informing, inspiring and engaging the public.
CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS OFFICE (CRO)
The New 116th Congress
The 116th Congress convened on Thursday, January 3, 2019, welcoming 98 new Members of Congress (nine Senators and 89 House of Representatives Members) in the incoming freshman class. Republicans retained control of the U.S. Senate after the November 2018 elections, gaining two seats in the chamber, while Democrats won 40 seats to become the controlling party of the U.S. House:
| Senate | House | |
|---|---|---|
| 115th Congress | R: 51
D: 49 (including two Independents) D: 193 |
R: 235
Vacant: 7 |
| 116th Congress | R: 53
D: 47 (including two Independents) D: 235 |
R: 199
Vacant: 1 (disputed race, NC-9th district) |
Key Leadership and Committee Changes
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) continue to lead their parties in the Senate. Generally, Republican and Democratic leadership in the Senate remains largely unchanged, with the exception of two positions. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) succeeds John Cornyn (R-TX) as majority whip, and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) assumes the position of Senate President pro tempore, succeeding retired Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
In the House, there are limited changes to party leadership other than the Democrats gaining the Speakership under Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Occupants of the top Democratic leadership positions move up a notch in their leadership ranks. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) leads the Republican conference as the new minority leader.
Some committee assignments are officially adopted via resolution at the beginning of each Congress, while others can take several weeks to be assigned. At this time, the top positions for the Library’s key oversight committees have been announced. They are:
Senate Rules and Administration Committee
Chair: Roy Blunt, Missouri
Ranking: Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Senate Appropriations Committee (full committee)
Chair: Richard Shelby, Alabama
Ranking: Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
Chair: Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi
Ranking: To be determined
Senate Judiciary Committee
NEW Chairman: Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
(Replacing Chuck Grassley, Iowa, who is new chair of the Finance Committee)
Ranking: Diane Feinstein, California
In the House, all committees will have new Democratic chairpersons, most of whom have served for many years as ranking members. Roughly half the Republican ranking members will be new. (Members who have not previously held the top committee position for their party are labeled as NEW, as they are new to that committee’s leadership.)
House Appropriations Committee (full committee)
Chair: Nita Lowey, New York
NEW Ranking: Kay Granger, Texas
Replacing Rodney Frelinghuysen (retired)
House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
Chair: Tim Ryan, Ohio
Ranking: Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington
Committee on House Administration
NEW Chair: Zoe Lofgren, California
Replacing Bob Brady, Pennsylvania (retired)
NEW Ranking: Rodney Davis, Illinois
Replacing Gregg Harper, Mississippi (retired)
House Judiciary Committee
Chair: Jerry Nadler, New York
NEW Ranking: Doug Collins, Georgia
Replacing Bob Goodlatte, Virginia (retired)
House Rules Committee
Chair: Jim McGovern, Massachusetts
NEW Ranking: Tom Cole, Oklahoma
Replacing Pete Sessions, Texas (defeated in general election)
For more information on how the 2018 election and congressional retirements impacted congressional leadership and the Library’s oversight committees, see the lists in Congressional Leadership & Library Oversight Committees in this document. Appropriations
Fiscal 2019 Appropriations
The Library’s fiscal 2019 budget requested $761.93 million in total budget authority for the agency, including $706.11 million in annual appropriations and $55.82 million in authority to spend offsetting receipts and prior year unobligated balances.
Just before the end of fiscal 2017, Congress passed an appropriations ‘minibus’ on September 13, 2018 that provides final funding for the Legislative Branch and two other parts of the federal government. H.R. 5895, the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act of 2019 (Public Law 115-244) provides $696.11 million in appropriations for the Library, an increase of $26.22 million above the fiscal 2018 enacted level. The Act also authorizes the Library to use $55.82 million in offsetting receipts and prior year unobligated balances for a total budget authority of $751.93 million in fiscal 2019. The minibus was signed into law on September 21. (H.R. 5895 did not include Visitor Experience funding in fiscal 2019, effectively removing $10 million in no-year authority from the requested base of $761.93 million.)
Congress continued to invest in the Library’s information technology, providing over $12 million for IT enterprise modernization within the Copyright Office, $5 million to complete the development of the Copyright Office searchable historic records database, and $823,000 to digitize critical parts of the Law Library’s collections. Other programmatic Increases include:
- Library Services Special Collection Arrearage Reduction (40 FTE) – $4.02 million
- CRS Strengthening Capacity (20 FTE) – $2.74 million
- Copyright Office Registration Staffing (15 FTE) – $2.06 million
- Copyright Office Warehouse Move Preparation – $1.33 million
- OCFO System Improvements and Standardization of Legislative Branch Financial Management System – $1.13 million
- Copyright Office Public Records and Recordation – $1.1 million
- Law Library Strengthening Capacity - Staff Expertise & Foreign Specialists (7 FTE) - $933,000
- OCIO Workstation Centralization Support - $250,000
While the fiscal 2019 funding bill did not allocate additional funding to the Thomas Jefferson Building Visitors Experience project, it made substantial investments totaling more than $40 million in building repairs and improvements that had been re-requested for several years.
During the fiscal 2019 budget cycle, appropriators expressed interest in several areas of the agency’s budget including progress in modernizing enterprise IT systems; Copyright Office IT modernization; completing the CRS (Congressional Research Service) public reports website as mandated in the previous year’s funding bill; relocating the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped closer to Capitol Hill; and learning more about the Thomas Jefferson Building Visitor Experience project.
Bills Recently Acted Upon
S.2559 - Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act
Date Introduced: 3/15/2018
Introduced by: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Latest Action: On 10/09/2018, became Public Law No. 115-261.
This legislation amends federal copyright law to implement the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (Marrakesh Treaty). Specifically, it modifies the limitations and exceptions to federal copyright infringement that allow published works to be reproduced and distributed in accessible formats for individuals with print disabilities. The bill:
- makes such limitations and exceptions applicable only to activities in the United States,
- broadens the scope of published works that may be reproduced and distributed in accessible formats, and
- modifies certain terms and definitions to conform with the Marrakesh Treaty.
Additionally, the bill adds a new section to allow published works in accessible formats to be exported and imported for individuals with print disabilities.
S.3530 - Museum and Library Services Act of 2018
Date Introduced: 9/28/2018
Introduced by: Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
Latest Action: On 12/31/2018, signed by the President.
S.3530 reauthorizes the originating statute for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Museum and Library Services Act. Specific to the Library, the bill expands interagency collaboration with IMLS to include working with the Library of Congress, along with several other executive and legislative branch agencies, under 20 U.S.C. 9103(g). Areas of interagency collaboration are specified as:
“initiatives, materials, or technology to support workforce development activities undertaken by libraries; ” “resource and policy approaches to eliminate barriers to fully leveraging the role of libraries and museums in supporting the early learning, literacy, lifelong learning, digital literacy, workforce development, and education needs of the people of the United States”; and “initiatives, materials, or technology to support educational, cultural, historical, scientific, environmental, and other activities undertaken by museums.”
H.R. 1551, the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act
Date Introduced: 9/18/2018, as amended in the Senate.
Introduced by: Tom Rice (R-SC) (unrelated underlying bill, H.R. 1551);
Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in the Senate and Rep. Bob Goodlatte
(R-VA) (H.R. 5447)
Latest Action: 10/11/2018, became Public Law No. 115-264.
CLASSICS Act. Beginning on the date of enactment, the Act extends federal copyright protection to pre-1972 sound recordings and preempts state copyright law regarding digital audio transmission, mechanical and distribution rights for those works. It also extends the fair use exception for libraries, educators and archives to pre-1972 works.
In addition to creating a new performance right for pre-1972 works, the Act establishes a term of copyright protection for these works of at least 95 years, and moves these works into the public domain on a gradual basis through several transition periods. The last transition period covering recordings published between Jan. 1, 1957, and Feb. 15, 1972, keeps those works under federal protection until Feb. 15, 2067, at which point they will enter the public domain.
The legislation includes language to ensure that libraries and archives are able to immediately use pre-1972 sound recordings under certain conditions in 17 USC 108(h). During the last 20 years of any term of copyright of a published work, a library or archives may reproduce, distribute, display, or perform a work for purposes of preservation, scholarship, or research if the institution has first determined that the work is not subject to normal commercial exploitation, cannot be obtained at a reasonable price, and that the copyright owner has not provided notice to the contrary.
Music Modernization Act. The legislation creates a blanket license for digital music providers to make permanent downloads, limited downloads, and interactive streams of sound recordings.
The Act also creates a new Music Licensing Collective to administer licenses and distribute royalties for digital music services/providers, among other responsibilities. The collective shall be a non-profit entity created by copyright owners. The Register of Copyrights shall have the authority to designate the body, with the approval of the Librarian of Congress pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 702. The Register shall make the initial designation within 270 days (approximately nine months) of enactment, and periodically review the designation every five years.
AMP Act. The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act allows copyright owners to distribute a portion of their statutory royalties to a producer, mixer, or sound engineer involved in the creation of the work.
H.R.1695 - Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act
of 2017
S.1010 - Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act
of 2017
Date Introduced:
3/23/2017 in the House (Introduced by: Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA))
5/02/2017 in the Senate (Introduced by: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA))
Latest Action: On 4/26/2017, passed the House by a 378–48 vote (
Roll no. 227).
On 5/2/2017, referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
The Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017 would make the Register of Copyrights a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed office. Consistent with other presidentially appointed officers, the President would have the power to remove the Register. The bill would institute a term of office for the Register of ten years. Near the end of the second session of the 115th Congress in September 2018, the Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on S. 1010 at which outside witnesses were invited to testify. The Committee scheduled markup of the bill in December that was later postponed. The bill received no further congressional action before the conclusion of the 115th Congress.
Congressional Leadership: Results of 116th Congress Leadership Elections
| House Democratic Leadership | |
|---|---|
| Speaker of the House | Nancy Pelosi, Calif. |
| Democratic Leader | Steny H. Hoyer, Md. |
| Democratic Whip | James E. Clyburn, S.C. |
| Assistant Democratic Leader | Ben Ray Lujan, N.M. |
| Caucus Chairman | Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y. |
| Caucus Vice Chairman | Kathleen Clark, Mass. |
| DCCC Chairwoman | Cheri Bustos, Ill. |
| Steering & Policy Committee Co-chair | Rosa DeLauro, Conn. |
| Steering & Policy Committee Co-chair | Eric Swalwell, Calif. |
| Steering & Policy Committee Co-chair | Barbara Lee, Calif. |
| Policy & Communications Chair | David Ciciline, R.I. |
| Policy & Communications Co-chair | Ted Lieu, Calif.> |
| Policy & Communications Co-chair | Debbie Dingell, Mich. |
| Policy & Communications Co-chair | Matt Cartwright, Penn. |
| House Republican Leadership | |
|---|---|
| Minority Leader | Kevin McCarthy, Calif. |
| Minority Whip | Steve Scalise, La. |
| Conference Chairwoman | Liz Cheney, Wyo. |
| Conference Vice Chairman | Mark Walker, N.C. |
| Policy Committee Chairman | Gary Palmer, Ala. |
| Conference Secretary | Jason Smith, Mo. |
| NRCC Chairman | Tom Emmer, Minn. |
| Senate Republican Leadership | |
|---|---|
| President | Vice President Mike Pence |
| President Pro Tempore | Chuck Grassley, Iowa |
| Majority Leader | Mitch McConnell, Ky. |
| Assistant Majority Leader (Majority Whip) | John Thune, S.D. |
| Conference Chairman | John Barrasso, Wyo. |
| Policy Committee Chairman | Roy Blunt, Mo. |
| Conference Vice Chairman | Joni Ernst, Iowa |
| NRSC, National Republican Senatorial Committee (Chairman) | Todd Young, Ind. |
| Senate Democratic Leadership | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Leader & Conference Chair | Charles E. Schumer, N.Y. |
| Democratic Whip | Richard J. Durbin, Ill. |
| Assistant Democratic Leader | Patty Murray, Wash. |
| Policy and Communications Committee Chairwoman | Debbie Stabenow, Mich. |
| Conference Vice Chair | Mark Warner, Va. |
| Conference Vice Chair | Elizabeth Warren, Mass. |
| Conference Secretary | Tammy Baldwin, Wis. |
| Steering & Outreach Committee Co-chairwoman | Amy Klobuchar, Minn. |
| Steering & Outreach Committee Co-chairman (Outreach) | Bernie Sanders, Vt. |
| DSCC, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (Chairman) | Chris Van Hollen, Md. |
Impact of November 2018 Election on 115th [sic] Congress Oversight and Appropriations Committees
Noting
NEW Chairs and Ranking Members
(as of 1/10/2019)
House committee control switched to the Democrats as the majority party in the 116th Congress.
| Joint Committee on the Library of Congress | |
|---|---|
| The JCL chairmanship moved to the Senate in the 116th Congress. | |
|
House members:
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Senate members:
|
| Committee on House Administration** | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Representatives:
Rodney Davis, Illinois, NEW Ranking Member Mark Walker, North Carolina Adrian Smith, Nebraska Barry Loudermilk, Georgia |
Democratic Representatives:
Zoe Lofgren, California Jamie Raskin, Maryland |
| Senate Committee on Rules and Administration | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Senators:
Richard Shelby, Alabama, Chairman Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Pat Roberts, Kansas Richard Shelby, Alabama Ted Cruz, Texas Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Roger Wicker, Mississippi Deb Fischer, Nebraska Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi |
Democratic Senators:
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota, Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, California Charles Schumer, New York Dick Durbin, Illinois Tom Udall, New Mexico Mark Warner, Virginia Patrick Leahy, Vermont Angus King, Maine Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada |
| House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee** | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Representatives:
Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington NEW Ranking Member Mark Amodei, Nevada, Vice Chair Dan Newhouse, Washington John Moolenaar, Michigan |
Democratic Representatives:
Tim Ryan, Ohio, Betty McCollum, Minnesota Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida |
| Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Senators:
Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi, Chair Richard Shelby, Alabama(ex officio) |
Democratic Senators:
Chris Murphy, Connecticut, Ranking Member OR Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin (*Potential Leg Branch Ranking) Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Patrick Leahy, Vermont (ex officio) |
| House Appropriations Committee | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Representatives:
Kay Granger, Texas, NEW Ranking Member Hal Rogers, Kentucky Robert B. Aderholt, Alabama Michael K. Simpson, Idaho John R. Carter, Texas Ken Calvert, California Tom Cole, Oklahoma Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Tom Graves, Georgia Steve Womack, Arkansas Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee NEW Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington David Joyce, Ohio Andy Harris, MD, Maryland Martha Roby, Alabama Mark Amodei, Nevada Chris Stewart, Utah Steven Palazzo, Mississippi Dan Newhouse, Washington John Moolenaar, Michigan |
Democratic Representatives:
|
| Senate Appropriations Committee | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Senators:
|
Democratic Senators:
|
| Senate Judiciary Committee | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Senators:
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, NEW Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa, Lindsey Graham, South Carolina John Cornyn, Texas Mike Lee, Utah Ted Cruz, Texas Ben Sasse, Nebraska Michael D. Crapo, Idaho Thom Tillis, North Carolina Joni Ernst, Iowa ( New to committee) John Kennedy, Louisiana Josh Hawley, Missouri ( New-elect) Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee ( New-elect) |
Democratic Senators:
|
| **House Judiciary Committee | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Representatives:
|
Democratic Representatives
|
| House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet | |
|---|---|
|
Republican Representatives
Doug Collins, Georgia, Vice Chairman Steve Chabot, Ohio (Possible new ranking member) Jim Jordan, Ohio Tom Marino, Pennsylvania (Possible new ranking member) Ron DeSantis, Florida Matt Gaetz, Florida Andy Biggs, Arizona John Rutherford, Florida |
Democratic Representatives
Hank Johnson, Georgia, Ted Deutch, Florida Karen Bass, California Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Hakeem Jeffries, New York Eric Swalwell, California Ted Lieu, California Brad Schneider, Illinois Zoe Lofgren, California Steve Cohen, Tennessee David Cicilline, Rhode Island Pramila Jayapal, Washington |
LIBRARY COLLECTIONS AND SERVICES GROUP
Jane Sánchez is Deputy Librarian of Congress for Library Collections and Services. She also continues as Law Librarian of Congress. Within the Library Collections and Services Group, Colleen Shogan is Assistant Deputy Librarian, focusing on the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and Internship and Fellowship Programs. Joseph Cappello is Director for Operations.
INTERNSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS (IFP)
One Portal, Many Opportunities
Internship and Fellowship Programs (IFP) supports the placement of new talent throughout all of the Library of Congress. In fiscal 2018, the Library hosted more than 300 interns across the agency, which would have been impossible without IFP’s coordination and management efforts. IFP supports Library staff and interns, and provides a one-stop shop for opportunity seekers through the Internships and Fellowships Portal, a publicly accessible website designed to promote opportunities and recruit candidates for the Library's many fellowship, internship, residency and volunteer opportunities. The Portal is available at URL: < www.loc.gov/ifp>
Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced Internship Pilot Project
This spring the Library will pilot a new internship, in collaboration with Howard University, providing qualified master and doctoral students the opportunity to augment their academic studies through experiential learning, professional development, and mentoring while helping to organize and catalog many items in the Library’s collections. The interns will side-by-side with Library staff to learn the standards and techniques to properly arrange and provide online descriptions for three significant collections related to African-American history and culture--Rosa Parks Papers, Bruce Jackson Collection, and Alvin Ailey Dance Collection.
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities 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 280 students. In spring 2019, the Library will host 17 interns across several service units, where they will work on valuable projects including those focused on communications, information management, outreach, and program management. IFP offers educational enrichment sessions that enhance each intern’s experience beyond on-the-job training and provide opportunities to explore a wide range of professional development activities and mentorships with former HNIP interns who went on to careers in federal service. Interested undergraduate and graduate students may apply from URL < www.hacu.net/hacu/HNIP.asp >
Junior Fellows Summer Internship Program
In 2018, the Library hosted 40 participants in the Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program for a ten-week internship to explore the Library’s collections and tackle a range of 21st-century information management challenges. The Junior Fellows were assigned to 33 projects across the agency. The Junior Fellows’ efforts broadened access to and awareness of the Library’s unique collection, while simultaneously extending their own educational portfolios. The Library celebrated their work at the annual Display Day in late July, which showcased their projects. For more information, please visit URL < www.loc.gov/item/internships/juniorfellows>.
Librarians-in-Residence at the Library of Congress Program
The Library of Congress is pleased to continue an exciting new program into its second year: Librarians-in-Residence at the Library of Congress. The program gives early-career librarians the opportunity to gain meaningful work experience in the following areas of specialization: Acquisitions and Collection Development, Cataloging and Metadata, Collection Preservation, Reference and Instruction, and Systems and Standards. The program is open to emerging professionals who have earned, or will complete, their master’s degree within an ALA-accredited program after December 2017 and by June 2019. Applicants and other interested parties can read details of the application process on the program website, available at URL < www.loc.gov/librarians/librarians-in-residence>.
Upward Bound Program
Since 2000, the Library of Congress has hosted interns participating in the Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound Program-Georgetown Internship to provide mentoring that helps students understand and appreciate the opportunities available to them by earning a bachelor’s degree. In 2019, the Library will continue supporting this important learning experience where students are inspired to develop and hone their academic and professional skills. The Internship is the zenith for program participants from Harvey Mudd College, which culminates in the intensive, five-week summer session. While in D.C., students engage in a number of activities in addition to their internship, including coursework in U.S. history and literature, supervised study halls, seminars, and field trips to national monuments, historic landmarks, and colleges and universities. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
LAW LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
In fiscal 2018:
- 1,426 digitized NTSB Opinions and Orders were published on the law.gov website.
- Digitized volumes 43-64 (1923-1950) of the Statutes at Large were published on the law.gov website.
- The digitized U.S. Reports for 1754-2004 were published on the law.gov and loc.gov “Digital Collections” websites.
- The Law Library completed five two-minute videos concerning items of historical interest selected from the Law Library’s Rare Book Vault. The videos are now available on the Library’s YouTube channel. The videos discuss: George Washington's copy of the Acts of the First Session of the First Congress under the Federal Constitution of 1789; the trial of Richard Lawrence for his assassination attempt on President Andrew Jackson; the trial of Captain William Kidd for murder and piracy; the trial of Rep. Daniel Sickles for shooting Philip Barton Key; and a writ of process drafted by Abraham Lincoln during his career as an attorney.
- The Law Library recently announced an update to the Library’s U.S. Congressional Web Archive, URL < blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/12/the-united-states-congressional-web-archive-now-includes-content-for-the-113th-and-114th-congresses/>
The release updated the collection to include the 113th and 114th Congresses, and also some earlier content that was acquired in a purchase of “backfile” older captures from the Internet Archive which has helped fill in some gaps in our “.gov” collections. Therefore there are also now facets for 105th and 106th archive content. Prior to this release, we had records going back to the 107th archive.
LIBRARY SERVICES
Joe Puccio continues as acting Associate Librarian of Congress for Library Services while a nationwide search is underway to fill the position permanently.
LIBRARY SERVICES / Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA)
Randall Barry, chief of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division, ABA, retired on June 29, 2018. Paul Min Soo Hahn is serving as acting chief. The vacancy for a permanent chief was posted on USAJOBS; the application period closed on Jan. 17, 2019.
Zbigniew Kantorosinski, chief of the Germanic and Slavic Division, retired on Dec. 31, 2018. Lucy Barron is serving as acting division chief.
Linda Geisler, chief of the US/Anglo Division, retired on Jan. 3, 2019. Diana Snigurowicz is serving as acting division chief.
Cooperative cataloging program specialist Hien Nguyen left the Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division in March 2018 to become head of the Bibliographic Control Section, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Dave Reser, after almost 20 years as a cataloging policy specialist, accepted a new position in the ILS Program Office in July 2018. In November 2018, Veronica Ranieri joined the Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division as a cooperative cataloging program specialist after working as an assistant editor in the Data Integrity Section of the Policy and Standards Division.
Ivey Glendon joined the Policy and Standards Division as a senior library automation specialist on January 7, 2019. She replaces Bruce Johnson, who retired in December 2017, as the Cataloger’s Desktop product manager.
BIBFRAME (Bibliographic Framework Initiative)
The Network Development and MARC Standards Office (NDMSO) and the Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division (COIN) continue to work together on BIBFRAME development and testing. Approximately 60 Library of Congress catalogers are currently participating in BIBFRAME Pilot Phase Two. During fiscal 2019, the number of participants will be expanded to 100.
Pilot participants have been creating bibliographic descriptions in both BIBFRAME and MARC 21 for each resource they catalog. Testing includes input of bibliographic data using BIBFRAME 2.0 vocabulary, input of non-Latin scripts, and the ability to incorporate authority data. Development of a policy decision on inputting non-Latin script with limited romanization is a goal for the 2019 fiscal year.
Work has also focused on providing a fuller level of interaction with a live BIBFRAME 2.0 database consisting of the complete BIBFRAME conversion of the Library of Congress bibliographic file. Features of the database include user search capability and use of linked data queries to highlight relationships between resources. Merging and matching BIBFRAME 2.0 work descriptions in the database is underway and will continue to be refined throughout 2019.
With feedback from COIN, NDMSO has developed, refined, and tested code for a number of improvements to the tools that are used in the BIBFRAME Pilot. This work included improved validation and posting of new descriptions to the BIBFRAME database from the BIBFRAME Editor, retrieving and editing previously posted descriptions (primarily brief descriptions called Initial Bibliographic Control data, or IBC), and posting the updated descriptions back to the database from the Editor. NDMSO has also worked on developing a “cloning” function for existing descriptions, to streamline the batch creation process, and has made constant improvements to the profiles for various formats of materials within the BIBFRAME Editor. Plans for the rest of 2019 include continuing to improve user interaction with these BIBFRAME Editor profiles and continuing to improve access to name/subject authority data. The bibliographic data in the BIBFRAME 2.0 database is used in combination with authority data from the LC Linked Data Service: < id.loc.gov>.
COIN and NDMSO staff members continued to exchange ideas about BIBFRAME with partners in the LD4P (Linked Data for Production) project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, and are preparing initial BIBFRAME training for the 17 Program for Cooperative Cataloging member institutions that were recently announced as members of the LD4P Cohort for the second phase of that project.
Cataloging in Publication (CIP) and Dewey Programs
In fiscal 2018, Library of Congress staff cataloged 45,733 CIP titles. Libraries and other members of the CIP Partnership Program contributed an additional 7,324 CIP records in fiscal 2018. The total of all CIP records cataloged in fiscal 2018 was 57,573. In October and November 2018 (fiscal 2019), an additional 7,478 CIP records were completed by Library of Congress staff and CIP Cataloging Partners contributed 1,136, for a total of 10,112 new CIP records in the first two months of fiscal 2019.
CIP E-Book Program
The fiscal 2018 annual performance target for the CIP E-books Program was to ingest 5,000 new CIP e-books, but the CIP Program received 20,275 e-books. In fiscal 2019 through December 31, 2018), the CIP Program has received 5,023 e-books. The number of participating e-book publishers increased in fiscal 2018 by 75, for a total of 920 publishers. An additional 13 new publishers have been added to the CIP E-Book Program as of December 31, 2018.
CIP Partnership Program
Douglas County Libraries (DCL) in Colorado resigned from the CIP Partnership Program in June 2018, upon the retirement of DCL senior cataloger Nancy Kall. During its years of membership (2015-2018), DCL cataloged 139 CIP titles from selected publishers and assigned Dewey numbers as part of the cataloging. The CIP and Dewey Program heartily thanks Nancy Kall and DCL for this service to the nation’s libraries.
PrePub Book Link
PrePub Book Link is the name of the cloud-based system that will replace the aging ECIP Traffic Manager. The implementation date has been postponed to spring 2019. PrePub Book Link will run on a Unicode-compliant ServiceNow platform and will include enhanced functionality, such as the use of MS Word and PDF file formats for galley attachments and a MARC editor tool to convert application data to a MARC record and import into the LC Integrated Library System or OCLC. Collaborations with Bowker/ProQuest, the Book Industry Standard Group (BISG), and the ONIX Best Practices Group produced a mapping from the ONIX schema to the CIP application; this will enable a publisher to search an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and have the ONIX metadata prepopulate much of the CIP application. Publishers participating in the Harvard Online Author Questionnaire (OAQ) will be able to include the unique URL to the OAQ entry for that author, providing richer background information about the author. Publishers can also include ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) and ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) identifiers for authors.
Dewey production
In fiscal 2018, the Library of Congress Dewey Program assigned Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) to 47,059 bibliographic records; an additional 16,977 CIP e-book records also were assigned Dewey numbers. Northwestern University, Douglas County Libraries, Queens Library, and the U.S. Government Publishing Office, all members of the CIP Cataloging Partnership Program, assigned DDC to 1,780 CIP records. A total of 4,637 DDC numbers were semi-automatically assigned by the AutoDewey software program, and 4,651 were added to ISSN records. In addition, 43,990 records processed via the copy cataloging workstream included DDC, identified in the MARC 082 field with a second indicator 4. The fiscal 2018 total for all DDC assigned in LC records was 119,094. As of December 31, 2018, DDC had been assigned to 19,610 LC records in fiscal 2019.
In addition to DDC assignment, Dewey classifiers added Library of Congress Classification to 1,442 ECIPs cataloged by the National Library of Medicine. Dewey classifiers also completed the subject cataloging (assignment of LCSH, LC Classification, and shelflisting) for 598 ECIPs.
DDC Editorial Pilot Project
The OCLC Dewey editors are starting a pilot to provide community members with an opportunity to assist in the editorial process; as members of this community, LC’s Dewey classifiers are taking a more active role in editorial work. Dewey editors perform most of their editorial projects in the Editorial Support System (ESS). Dewey editors have provided LC classifiers with read-only access to ESS and a training session on its use. The editors continue to send the agenda and related documents for the weekly editorial meeting to keep Dewey classifiers informed of projects, and classifiers have an open invitation to attend these meetings and provide comments on documents. Classifiers and editors continue to meet as a group at monthly meetings.
Professional activities
Caroline Saccucci, CIP/Dewey Program Manager, serves on the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Standing Committee on Subject Analysis and Access (IFLA SC SAA), is on the planning committee for the open session to be held at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2019 in Athens, Greece; this will be a joint open session with the IFLA Art Libraries Section.
Caroline Saccucci attended the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (EPC) meeting 141 at OCLC Headquarters, Dublin, Ohio , October 15-16, 2018, as the Library of Congress representative to the EPC. She gave the reports for the Library of Congress and the LC Dewey Program. She also submitted an article for the December 2018 [PDF] issue of the IFLA Metadata Newsletter about the activities and decisions at EPC-141; her co-author was Elise Conradi, National Library of Norway, European Dewey User Group (EDUG) representative to EPC, and secretary of the IFLA SC SAA.
Hispanic Colleges and Universities National Intern Program (HACU/NIP) intern Amanda Martinez served her internship in the LC Dewey Program, August 27-December 7, 2018. She was fully trained to assign Dewey classification for works selected for the Handbook of Latin American Studies. During her internship, she classified 1,084 books, primarily in Spanish, with some in English. She also took advantage of shadowing opportunities with Library staff who perform selection for the Handbook as well as the editorial staff of the Handbook.
Cataloging Policy and Standards
“Multiple” Subdivisions
The better to support linked-data initiatives, the Policy and Standards Division has begun a project to cancel “multiple” subdivisions from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). “Multiple” subdivisions are a special type of subdivision that automatically gives free-floating status to analogous subdivisions used under the same heading.
Staff in PSD will cancel the multiple subdivisions from LCSH and create individual authority records for each valid, complete heading string that was created based on a multiple subdivision. PSD wishes to be as comprehensive as possible when making authority records based on heading strings used in bibliographic records; OCLC Research is assisting in this effort by providing lists of the headings used in bibliographic records in OCLC.
The authority records generated by this project are being added to LCSH in batches beginning in the first quarter of 2019, and the records will be distributed through the MARC Distribution Service’s Subject‐Authorities product. Subject‐Authorities subscribers should expect that some weekly distributions may total more than 1,000 records. More information, including interim instructions for catalogers using these subdivisions, is available at URL < www.loc.gov/aba/cataloging/subject/multiplescancellationproject.html>.
Statistics in Summaries of Decisions
Summaries of decisions explain why individual proposals for classification numbers, subject headings, genre/form terms, etc., that appeared on LCSH Tentative Lists were not accepted, and they occasionally also contain announcements related to subject cataloging and classification. Beginning with the Summary for October 2018, summaries of decisions now include statistics on the approximate number of proposals that were approved on the list, as well as the number that were not approved, not necessary, or marked resubmit.
Qualifiers in Subject Headings for Individual Kurd, Arab, and Berber Groups
In LCSH, the general policy is to qualify headings for individual ethnic groups by the adjective for the continent, region, or country of the group, followed by the word “people”, e.g., Aro (African people; Chrau (Vietnamese people). Practice for Kurds, Arabs, and Berbers has been mixed, however, with some being qualified by ([Arab, Berber, Kurdish] tribe) and others by ([Arab, Berber, Kurdish] people). Going forward, all new headings of this type will be qualified according to the latter formulation.
Catalogers making proposals to edit existing headings for another reason (e.g., to add another UF reference) should also propose that the heading be revised if necessary to follow the new guidance. LC will undertake a project to systematically revise existing headings whose qualifiers include the word “tribe.” PSD therefore requests that catalogers not submit proposals merelyfor this purpose, and that they not purposely seek out headings to which other revisions can be proposed, solely to justify changing the heading.
Genre/Form Terms for Filmed and Televised Works
Genre/form terms in the form Filmed […] and Televised […], along with some others that were constructed in a similar style (e.g., Filmed plays; Televised operas; Radio debates), were approved during the early stages of the development of Library of Congress Genre-Form Terms (LCGFT) because the base term (e.g., Drama; Operas; Debates) did not yet exist, and the terms were needed to catalog audio-visual materials. With the completion of the literature, music, and general LCGFT projects, many of the terms are no longer necessary and were cancelled on Tentative List 12 (2018). Each of the 37 cancelled terms has been retained as a “former heading” UF (reference) to its replacement term(s). For example, Filmed interviews has been cancelled and is now a former heading UF to Interviews and Nonfiction films, which should be assigned instead.
Terms of this type that represent high-level collocation points (e.g., Filmed performances) remain valid for use, as do terms for which it is not possible to make a base term. As an example of the latter, Filmed baseball games is still valid because a baseball game is not a genre or a form.
Scope Notes for the “Broadest Terms” in LCGFT
Eleven “broadest terms” in LCGFT–the terms that represent the top level of a discipline, such as Radio programs and Law materials–were given scope notes indicating that they could be used only for collections “that are composed of multiple genres and/or forms to which more specific headings” cannot be applied. The scope notes essentially restated the principle of specificity, which is explained in instruction sheet J 110 of the draft manual for LCGFT. The notes were unnecessary and were removed on Tentative List 12 (2018).
Moratorium on LCDGT Proposals
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 and expressions.
The moratorium on proposals for new and revised terms that was enacted in February 2018 is still in place while PSD thoroughly evaluates LCDGT’s structure and principles.
Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements
Since the text of the RDA Toolkit is currently “frozen” while the preparations for the 3R (RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign) Project continue (see URL < www.rdatoolkit.org/3Rproject >), the LC-PCC Policy Statements are frozen as well. Should it become necessary to issue new or revised policy statements prior to the release of the 3R Project, they will be posted at URL < www.loc.gov/aba/rda/lcps_access.html>.
LC Guidelines Supplement to the MARC 21 Format for Authority Data
In October 2018, an appendix was added, describing the process by which changes to the MARC 21 Format for Authority Data are implemented in the LC/NACO name authority file (LC/NAF) as well as the authority files for LCSH, LCGFT, Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus (LCMPT), and LCDGT.
Descriptive Cataloging Manual
Z12, Special Projects for Name Authority Records and Bibliographic Records was added to the Descriptive Cataloging Manual in October 2018. DCM Z12 provides background information and instructions about special projects for authority records in the LC/NAF such as the Dance Heritage Coalition Access Project and the Pinyin Conversion Project. Z12 also contains information about LC bibliographic records changed during these projects. Z12 should be used in conjunction with Z1 and other appropriate cataloging documents for authority work.
Cataloger’s Desktop
Work is currently underway to incorporate the updated RDA: Resource Description & Access into Cataloger’s Desktop. As many are aware, the organization of and access to RDA are being significantly revised on the RDA Toolkit site. This has significant implications for Cataloger’s Desktop subscribers who subscribe to both services. The Cataloger’s Desktop team is working with ALA to account for these changes so that seamless access is provided and full Cataloger’s Desktop functionality is provided to RDA. Once the new RDA is ready for use within RDA Toolkit, it will be provided to Desktop subscribers who are also Toolkit subscribers. Both the legacy RDA file, as well as the new version, will be available during the transition period. More information will be provided as ALA publicizes its plans for rolling out the new RDA file.
The new Cataloger’s Desktop product manager, Ivey Glendon, would be happy to hear from subscribers to know how we can improve Cataloger’s Desktop. Suggestions for new content or improved features should be emailed to: ivgl@loc.gov. Subscribe to the free Cataloger’s Desktop discussion list at URL < www.loc.gov/cds/desktop/ugroup.html>.
Children’s and Young Adults Cataloging (CYAC)
Summer Teachers’ Institute
For the first time, librarians from the U.S. Programs, Law, and Literature Division Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging (CYAC) Program had a table at the Summer Teachers’ Institute Open House. The Summer Teachers’ Institute provided an opportunity for the CYAC team to promote and discuss their work with teachers and junior fellows. It was an opportunity for them to learn about what the CYAC Program has to offer teachers, particularly those from elementary, middle, and secondary schools. The CYAC librarians connected teachers and junior fellows to program resources available on the CYAC website, URL < www.loc.gov/aba/cyac>, and provided a contact for future questions.
Open Access At-Risk Children’s Literature eBook Pilot
The USPRLL Literature Section collaborated with the Library’s Digital Content Management Section to catalog 25 at-risk open access children’s literature eBooks. The results of this pilot will be used to assess whether additional at-risk eBooks can be cataloged in production mode.
Cooperative Cataloging
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC)
The Cooperative and Instructional Programs Division (COIN) continues to oversee the NUCMC program, through which catalogers at the Library of Congress create bibliographic records in OCLC WorldCat, and associated authority records, for the archival collections of repositories that meet the program’s eligibility requirements. A NUCMC cataloger and a COIN staff member have been trained to contribute data to the Social Network in Authority Context (SNAC) project, hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration and the University of Virginia, and during this pilot phase will be evaluating the SNAC interface for its potential usefulness for describing NUCMC collections.
Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)
The Cooperative Programs Section in COIN continues to serve as the secretariat for the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), an international consortium of approximately 700 libraries and other institutions that sets cataloging standards, delivers training, and supports innovations in cataloging and bibliographic formats. The PCC has four component programs: NACO, the Name Authority Cooperative; SACO, the Subject Authority Cooperative (including cooperative contributions to LCSH and Library of Congress Classification); BIBCO, the monographic Bibliographic Cooperative; and CONSER, the Serial bibliographic record component. A list of the 71 institutions and funnels that joined these programs during Library of Congress fiscal year 2018, including 12 from outside the United States, is available on the PCC website, URL < www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/stats/NewMembersByProgram.pdf> (PDF, 53 KB).
The PCC Policy Committee met November 1-2, 2018, at the Library of Congress. Highlights of the meeting included updates on the PCC ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) Pilot Project, BIBFRAME development, changes to RDA: Resource Description & Access as a result of LRM (Library Reference Model, a recent standard from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) and the 3R Project (RDA Toolkit Restructureand Redesign Project), plans for moving forward with the optional omission of ISBD punctuation in new PCC bibliographic records, and reports on the work of standing committees and task groups on such topics as linked data, identity management, and engaging and broadening the PCC community. A summary of the outcomes of the meeting has been posted: URL < www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/PoCo-2018/PoCo-2018-Outcomes.pdf> (PDF, 133 KB).
Seventeen PCC institutions have been selected to participate in the second phase of LD4P (Linked Data for Production), a project based at Stanford University and funded by the Mellon Foundation to foster adoption and implementation of linked data. Representatives of these “LD4P Cohort” institutions met with the LD4P project partners (Cornell, Harvard, and Stanford) on Oct. 15-16, 2018, at the Library of Congress. A cloud-based sandbox environment, called Sinopia, is being developed for use in the creation of linked data by LD4P participants, and it will eventually be open to all PCC members for experimentation. Training is also being developed.
A new PCC Communication Board has been appointed, for a one-year pilot project. The Board is producing a quarterly bulletin called the “PCC Comm Channel” to keep the PCC membership informed of program developments. The first two issues have been posted: URL < www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/communication>.
Implementation of a new PCC Directory system was completed in fall 2018. All PCC member institutions and funnel coordinators are now using their Directory profiles to maintain contact information, record PCC statistics, and participate in PCC elections.
Dewey Program
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
43rd Meeting of Directors of ISSN Centres
The U.S. ISSN Center [sic], part of the USPRLL Division in ABA, hosted the 43rd Meeting of Directors of ISSN Centres [sic] at the Library of Congress during the week of September 17, 2018. Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, and Principal Deputy Librarian, Mark Sweeney, opened the meeting and greeted the 30 participants who represented 23 ISSN centers worldwide. Participants came from as far away as Nepal, Japan, Indonesia, and China. Among the ISSN centers participating remotely were Vietnam and Iran.
The working meeting included technical discussions on enlarging the scope of publications eligible for ISSN, the current revision of the ISO ISSN standard, and how to deal with multinational and predatory publishers in a global environment and country-based ISSN Network. The week also included presentations about BIBFRAME and the Library’s digital strategy, tours of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building and the preservation labs, and a display of serial treasures from the Library’s Serial and Government Publications Division.
Social events included a walking tour of the national mall, an afternoon reception for participants and LC staff in the Whittall Pavilion, and an evening “Wild West Barbeque” in the Jefferson Building that was sponsored in part by donations from the American Psychological Association, Annual Reviews, Bloomberg Law, EBSCO, Elsevier, the H.W. Wilson Foundation, JSTOR, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Springer Nature, and Wiley.
The Library of Congress is one of the earliest members of the ISSN Network and hosted the first directors meeting in 1974. The Library also hosted meetings in 1983 and 2000. As Mark Sweeney noted in his remarks, hosting this meeting was an example of LC’s strategic theme of connecting. The meeting enhanced the Library’s international outreach, demonstrated support for its commitment to international standards, and helped to publicize its digital strategy and BIBFRAME projects.
ISO Ballot on ISO/FDIS8, Presentation and identification of periodicals
This ballot to approve a final draft of ISO 8 closes on February 14, 2019. The ballot states: “This document establishes the minimum characteristics required for the presentation and identification of periodicals including not only the obvious traditional elements that print periodicals typically display (e.g. title, ISSN, publisher, date), but also the “footprints” of periodicals published on digital dynamic media that enable them to be traced along the path of their history, such as changes of URL and publisher or content provider. Furthermore, this document provides information about persistent identifiers, using ISSN, and citation of periodicals (especially when published online or digitized and when titles have changed). It also makes specific recommendations for presentation and identification aspects of retrospective digitization of periodicals.” Regina Reynolds, director of the U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress, is a member of the ISO working group.
This document defines and promotes the use of a standard code (ISSN) for the unique identification of serials and other continuing resources.
ISO Ballot “Approval of ISO/DIS 3297 for Publication”
This first ballot on the draft of the revised version of the ISSN Standard closes March 14, 2019. ISO/DIS 3297, Information and documentation - International standard serial number (ISSN) “defines and promotes the use of a standard code (ISSN) for the unique identification of serials and other continuing resources.” Regina Reynolds is a member of the ISO working group.ISSN and Copyright for U.S. Newspapers
The U.S. ISSN Center is working with the U.S. Copyright Office by assigning ISSN to U.S. newspapers that deposit “e-prints” as part of new group registration requirements. A workflow is also being determined for assigning ISSN to newspaper e-prints under special relief agreements.See also Copyright Office /Rulemakings and Regulations
See also “Changes in Copyright Deposit Requirements for Print Newspapers” under Serial and Government Publications Division
Law Cataloging
Legal Cataloging Forum
Clara Liao, head of the USPRLL Law Section, hosted the 3rd Legal Cataloging Forum. Ms. Liao presented information on BIBFRAME vs. MARC in the legal cataloging environment. Jesse Lambertson, Georgetown Law Library and Robert Bratton, George Washington Law Library, presented on “How do we get there from here” about library ILS system migration process and issues. More than 40 law institutions now participate in the forums either onsite or via WebEx.
2019 AALL Preparations
The USPRLL Law Section is actively engaged in preparations for the 2019 AALL (American Association of Law Libraries) conference which will be held in Washington, D.C. Clara Liao’s program proposal “Things You Need to Know Before Moving to a New ILS” has been accepted as a deep dive program for the conference.
Overseas Operations
Muthoni wa (Alice) Gichuru, a Kenyan author who writes books for children and young adults, was declared the winner of the CODE Burt Prize for African Young Adult Literature Kenya 2018 on Sept. 28, 2018, for her story “The Carving.” The prestigious literary prize focuses on acknowledging creative writing in the overlooked genre of young adult fiction. Muthoni wa Gichuru is an administrative assistant in the Library’s Nairobi Office. The ABA Directorate manages the six overseas offices in Cairo, Egypt; Islamabad, Pakistan; Jakarta, Indonesia; Nairobi, Kenya; New Delhi, India; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The offices provide acquisitions, cataloging, and selected preservation services in countries where the book trade is not well developed and in languages for which the Library does not have expertise on its Washington, D.C., campus.
Fehl Cannon was appointed field director of the Library’s office in Islamabad, Pakistan, effective July 22. He had served as acting field for the previous year.
The Library plans to merge the Washington-based staff of the Overseas Operations Division with the Acquisitions Fiscal and Support Office in 2019. Both these small ABA units handle fiscal and statistical activities, making it logical and efficient to merge them.
Library of Congress Acquisitions and Cataloging Production
| Acquisitions Work | FY2018 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Items purchased for LC collections | 559,467 | 647,999 |
| Items acquired for LC by non-purchase | 1,470,000 | 1,472,501 |
| Expenditures for collections purchases | $22,700,000 | $23,900,000 |
| Bibliographic Records Completed | FY2018 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|
| Original | 189,255 | 209,213 |
| Collection-level cataloging | 1,060 | 1,395 |
| Copy cataloging | 77,598 | 85,623 |
| Minimal level cataloging | 25,222 | 75,976 |
| Total records completed | 293,135 | 372,207 |
| Total volumes cataloged | 305,955 | 389,040 |
| Authority Work | FY2018 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|
| New name authority records | 88,411 | 72,991 |
| New LC Subject Headings | 2,221 | 2,664 |
| New LC Classification Numbers | 2,100 | 2,306 |
| Total authority records created | 92,732 | 76,927 |
LIBRARY SERVICES / Collection Development Office
The mission of the Collection Development Office (CDO) is to support the Library’s strategic goal to acquire and maintain a universal collection of knowledge and the record of America’s creativity to meet the needs of Congress, researchers and the American public. It also ensures that the Library's analog and digital collections reflect the breadth and depth of knowledge published in all media, languages, and regions of the world.
In fiscal 2018, CDO continued its program to review and update on a cyclical basis all of the Library’s Collections Policy Statements and associated Supplementary Guidelines. Ten documents were updated and reposted. Two new documents were developed, approved and posted: Classics and the Ancient, Medieval, and Byzantine Worlds; and Independently Published & Self-Published Textual Materials (Supplementary Guidelines).
CDO facilitated the customization of fourteen different foreign acquisitions approval plans, including those for China, Germany, Japan (Humanities and Social Sciences), Japan (Sciences) and the United Kingdom.
As part of its focus on foreign newspapers, CDO issued a report, “LC’s Foreign Newspapers Holdings: Discovery Challenges and Recommended Actions.” Targeted actions were recommended to address specific issues, including the fact that many existing foreign newspaper microfilm holdings do not appear in the Library’s catalog.
Progress continued in implementing the Library’s Digital Collecting Plan:
- Copyright group registration of newspaper e-prints was established
- A group was formed to develop and pilot workflows for the routine acquisition of digital content via purchase and gift. The group has submitted its report with recommendations.
- The Openly Available, Endangered Content Working Group was formed to examine issues regarding the Library’s acquisition of such materials. The group has submitted its report with recommendations.
- The Data Sets Working Group was established to address related targets in the Digital Collecting Plan.
- The records for all electronic resources represented in the Electronic Resources Online Catalog were updated by CDO to show their acquisition source – purchased ownership, subscription, etc.
LIBRARY SERVICES / Collections and Services Directorate
See also General and International Collections Directorate (Library Services)
See also Special Formats Collections Directorate (Library Services)
The Collections and Services Directorate was reorganized, effective October 1, 2018. Its fourteen divisions remain intact but are now organized within two new directorates, with one division realigned to the office of the Associate Librarian for Library Services.
The new General and International Collections directorate is led by Eugene Flanagan, formerly Director of National Programs in NIO. The new Special Collections directorate is led by Helena Zinkham, formerly director of Collections and Services. The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, including the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, is now part of the office of the Associate Librarian for Library Services, with specific focus on the acquisition, cataloging and preservation of our audio-visual formats.
The re-organization is intended to provide Library Services and its staff with more manageable supervisory, operational, and administrative responsibilities as they continue to build, steward, and share the collections with researchers and the general public.
LIBRARY SERVICES / General and International Collections Directorate
Donna Brearcliffe was appointed special assistant to the director for General and International Collections, effective October 29, 2018.
Asian Division
The division is overseeing the cataloging and digitization of the Yong Le Encyclopedia collection of 41 volumes, setting the stage to make the collection available on the Library’s website. By late 2019 the Asian Division will increase access to Chinese Rare Books Collection by launching the online presentation of 500 of 1,039 titles of our eHan-scanned Chinese rare books. The division intends to introduce the ACS (Automated Call Slip) system to allow users to request Asian Division materials directly through the LC catalog.
African and Middle East Division
The Omar Ibn Said Collection is a 2017 acquisition of the African Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress. It contains 42 items. In the center of this collection is the manuscript autobiography of Omar Ibn Said (ca. 1770-1863), a Muslim scholar who was captured in West Africa and brought to Charleston, South Carolina, as a slave in 1807 at the age of 37. Accompanying his autobiography are 41 items, most of which were originally assembled by Theodore Dwight, an abolitionist and a founding member of the American Ethnological Society. The items have been undergone major conservation, and have been digitized and made available online. The official launch is January 14, 2019, at URL < www.loc.gov/collections/omar-ibn-said-collection/about-this-collection/list-of-items-in-the-collection>.
The Sultan Abdul Hamid II Collection is an 1884 gift to the Library of Congress from the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul. It consists of Ottoman Turkish, Persian and Arabic works of native authorship and also includes translations from European languages of works on medicine, history, law, mathematics, arts, drama, and fiction, etc. In 2018, a total of 309 books and serials were digitized and the official launch of the website makes these rare items available to the world at URL < www.loc.gov/collections/abdul-hamid-ii-books/about-this-collection>.
European Division
The European Division digitized 75 Ukrainian telephone directories and several Croatian directories and made them available online, after clearing digital rights. They will soon be listed on the webpage European Address/Telephone Directories at the Library of Congress: Indexes and Digitized Versions, URL < https://guides.loc.gov/european> but at present can be viewed at URL < www.loc.gov/search/?q=group%3Ageneral-collections-scan-on-demand-new&fa=subject%3Atelephone+directories&sb=title_s>. These directories are of great interest to Americans tracing their family history, as well as to historians, biographers, and genealogists.
The European Division is developing, through web archiving, the East European Government Ministries Web Archive, which seeks to capture federal-level government sites for Eastern European countries. For Russia, the project goes further, reaching into administrative districts, including coverage of the annexed “Republic of Crimea” and the republics in the Caucasus; more than 1,500 Russian government websites have been crawled so far. For future researchers, the project provides detailed information produced by the governments of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as also snapshots of the complicated structures of these governments.
Hispanic Division
Georgette Dorn retired as chief of the division in September 2018. Suzanne Schadl is the new chief of the Hispanic Division. The division will be more involved with REFORMA and is in the process of requesting an event for ALA 2019 Annual Conference.
Researcher and Reference Services Division (RRS)
Michelle McSween Sellars was appointed head of the History & Genealogy
Section, Researcher and Reference Services Division, effective July 22,
2018. She was formerly a supervisor in the Washington, D.C., Public
Library system.
Marissa Ball was appointed head of the Humanities & Social Services
Section, Researcher and Reference Services Division, effective August
18, 2018. She formerly was head of reference and information services
at Florida International University.
The division has reorganized to align services more effectively with demand, and has integrated 27 librarians into new teams; reassigned subject specialties; hired new staff members; aligned reader registration and congressional and interlibrary loans; implemented electronic scheduling software; and established a Saturday duty officer role and rotation for the Library’s general reading rooms.
The division is working to improve reader registration as an integral first step of the research process for on-site researchers in the Library by providing registration in two buildings, hiring additional staff, and conducting a survey, that yielded 3,124 responses, to better understand users and create an enhanced users experience. Additionally, RRS created new informational tools including two videos to inform researchers about library resources available to them with a Reader Registration Card.
The division shared the national collection with an increasing number of users by: loaning/circulating 254,060 items to Congress, congressional staff, special groups, national and international libraries, and onsite researchers; interacting with 506,502 Library users across formats, locations, and mediums; hosting 9,268 people during two holiday open houses; and issuing more than 70,000 new reader registration cards in fiscal 2018.
Serial and Government Publications Division (SER)
SER continued the Library’s participation in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and selected 94 percent of physical items offered to depository libraries.
In late May 2018 the Library announced that collector and entrepreneur Stephen A. Geppi had donated to LC more than 3,000 items from his vast personal collection of comic books and popular art. In August 2018, the division received 930 items, comprised of newspapers, magazines, and comic books.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Small Press Expo (SPX),
the Division continued to acquire by donation items--including award-winning
websites--from creators participating in the 2018 SPX annual expo.
On May 1, 2018, the new division blog,
Headlines and Heroes, went live, with 26 weekly updates in total
for the remainder of fiscal 2018.
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) currently has 46 states and territories contributing, with LC, more than 14.5 million pages published between 1789 and 1963 to the collection, including ethnic news press from across the country in 18 languages. In 2018, the NEH announced the addition of the University of Alabama to the program as well as supplemental funding for 17 existing participants. Interested members of the library community and the public may subscribe at URL < www.loc.gov/subscribe/#newspapers >. Twitter users can follow @librarycongress, using #ChronAm to discover highlights of the collection.
The division continued 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 and searchable in Chronicling America.
Changes in Copyright Deposit Requirements for Print Newspapers
In March 2018, the U.S. Copyright Office began requiring deposit
of digital facsimiles in place of microfilm for print newspapers registering
for copyright protection using the Group Registration of Newspapers option
(i.e., a registration process where newspaper publishers are able to
register copyright for 1 month of newspaper issues at one time under
a single registration and at reduced per issue cost). See final Notice
of Rulemaking in US Federal Register, URL <
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-01-30/pdf/2018-01838.pdf
> [PDF]. These digital deposits, referred to as
e-prints, must be submitted in issue-level PDF format and include
searchable text, among other technical requirements as described in the
rule. Publishers may continue to deposit microfilm, in addition to the
required e-prints, until December 2019. In addition, in the near future,
the Library will accept similar newspaper e-prints in fulfillment of
mandatory deposit obligations (under special relief agreement) for publishers
who no longer produce microfilm.
LIBRARY SERVICES / Office of the Chief Operating Officer
Stephen Short was appointed Supervisory Business Analyst, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Library Services, effective Aug. 18, 2018.
Integrated Library System Program Office (ILSPO)
LC 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 10.1 in 2019.
Planning for the Future
The Library is conducting market research for a next generation library services platform with vendors to learn about technology trends and developments for library collection management products. Staff throughout the Library have identified high-level business needs with the goal of issuing a Request For Information (RFI) in 2019.
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 2018 the ILS Program Office completed the migration of 168,000 bibliographic records from stand-alone databases to the LC ILS.
The ILS Program Office has pioneered the use within the Library of technology tools to edit and enhance datasets. The ILS Program Office is working with colleagues in the Digital Collections Management and Services Division (DCMS) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to plan for the ingest, management and description of e-newspapers and e-books via Copyright e-deposit.
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 of Congress Online Catalog (URL < catalog.loc.gov>) and the Library’s Handbook of Latin American Studies Catalog (hlasopac.loc.gov), enables researchers to reference materials from the Library's collections in blogs, reference guides, web pages, emails, bibliographies, and more. In 2018, the LCCN Permalink web service supported more than 264 million requests for bibliographic and authority metadata found in the LC Online Catalog, the LC Authorities Service, and the Handbook of Latin American Studies.
LC EAD (Encoded Archival Description) Archival Finding Aids
In 2018, custodial divisions created 60 new EAD archival finding aids, bringing the total number of LC EAD finding aids to 2,493. Included among the new finding aids is the Henriette D. Avram MARC development collection, 1964-1989, the first finding aid of the LC Archives collections. Users can access 69.1 million archival items in LC's collections through these documents at URL: findingaids.loc.gov. More than 70 finding aids are also integrated with the Library’s digital collection presentations. In June 2018, the Library made available EAD3 transformations of all its EAD2002 finding aids at the findingaids.loc.gov site.
LC Persistent Identifiers
The Library uses handle server technology to assign persistent identifiers and manage LC’s born-digital content. LC staff registered 50,042 handles since January 1, 2018. As of January 2019, the Library’s handle server contained 4,043,972 handles. Over the past year, LC staff assigned handles to: born digital resources stored in the Library’s digital repository and materials digitized by the Library and its partners; U.S. legislation searchable in congress.gov; and digital books created by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
In April 2018, the Library upgraded its handle server platform, enabling support for multiple IP-based resolution of LC handles. In 2018 more than 9.6 million requests were processed by LC’s handle server.
Electronic Resource Management System (ERMS)
The Library’s Electronic Resource Management System provides access to electronic journals, e-books and databases from 1,818 resource collections, totaling over a million titles. The Library maintained metadata for 1,545,489 titles and updated journal coverage entries, typically loading 1,900,000 coverage records monthly.
The ERMS successfully fulfilled 1,300,000 search requests in fiscal 2018.
OAI-PMH (Open Archive Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting)
ILSPO completed a survey of the historical and current use of OAI-PMH and found that usage has declined sharply due to the improved utility of APIs for accessing the Library’s data. See LC for Robots at URL < labs.loc.gov/lc-for-robots>. In light of these findings Library Services has decided to deprecate OAI-PMH access to its metadata.
LIBRARY SERVICES / Preservation Directorate
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. The directorate has five divisions: Binding and Collections Care (BCCD), Collections Management (CMD), Conservation (CD), Preservation Reformatting (PRD), and Preservation Research and Testing (PRTD).
Outreach
The Preservation website (URL < www.loc.gov/preservation>) is the Library’s main portal into its many collections preservation activities.
Between June 2018 and January 2019, the Preservation Directorate hosted five (5) Topics in Preservation Series (TOPS) lectures and one international symposium, all of which were recorded and are or will be accessible via the Preservation and main Library websites in the near future. (URL < www.loc.gov/preservation/outreach/tops>)
The Library of Congress will present a programming series in celebration of Preservation Week, April 21-27, 2019, with a special focus on baseball and other sports memorabilia to coincide with the Library’s Baseball Americana exhibit (URL < www.loc.gov/exhibitions/baseball-americana/about-this-exhibition>). Behind the scenes tours of the preservation labs will take place as well. Registration details and other information will be posted on the preservation website (URL < www.loc.gov/preservation>) and distributed through library email lists and social media in the coming weeks.
Educational Opportunities
The Library of Congress has an active program of internships, fellowships, and training opportunities in preservation to support individuals at many points in their professional and academic careers:
- BCCD had four volunteers or interns during the past year, learning treatment protocols and housing and working on Oral History projects that will be available through the American Folklife Center Occupational series.
- Two CD interns completed their one-year graduate program internships in August 2018. Claire Volero worked in the Paper Conservation Section (PCS) where she engaged in conservation treatment and completed a special project on image processing of transmitted light images. She presented this protocol at the 2018 AIC (American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works) Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas. Bailey Kinsky completed her internship in August 2018 in the Book Conservation Section.
- Grace Walters from Buffalo State University completed a three-month internship in the Paper Conservation Section where she worked on the treatment of the Ibn Said manuscript collection.
- Natalia Maliga from West Dean College in the U.K. started her one-year internship in the Book Conservation Section in September 2018. Mari Kitomura from the Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon-Tyne, U.K., also joined Conservation in September 2018 and will spend the year in the Paper Conservation Section.
- Emilie Duncan, the first Harper-Inglis Post-Graduate Conservation Fellow, left the Library in April 2018 to start a new position at the Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia. A new fellow is expected to start in CD in September 2019.
Highlights from the Preservation Directorate
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a grant to the Library to evaluate systemic risk in the collective collection of American libraries and support decision making for shared print archive programs. This will entail comparison of approximately 500 bibliographically identical books from libraries in a variety of regions across the U.S. The project will develop more reliable methods of evaluating preservation needs and evaluate degree of accuracy and risk in national collections metadata.
The Preservation Directorate participated in the inaugural year of the Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HMCU) Library Alliance (LA) Preservation Internship Program, by hosting Miranda Clinton, a rising junior at North Carolina Central University. Diversity has been identified as a critical issue in many cultural heritage professions and, in addition to this new partnership with HBCU LA, Preservation has ongoing partnerships with the American Chemical Society SEED program and the Hispanic American Colleges and Universities National Internship Program. These programs enact the guidance from Congress that the Library should “increase cooperative partnerships, fellowship opportunities, and curriculum program associations with post-secondary institutions that have significant percentages of minority students” (H. Rept. 115-199, 115-696).
Director for Preservation Jacob Nadal was honored to give the keynote for the 2018 HBCU LA Membership meeting, held in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 2018. Mr. Nadal’s remarks for the conference, whose theme was Revisit, Reflect, Reframe, spoke to the potential of cooperative efforts among libraries to share common burdens so that the libraries and librarians in groups like the HBCU LA can focus their resources on deeper engagement with their user communities and ensuring that their distinct collections, expertise, and viewpoint are integral to the national awareness of our collective cultural heritage.
Director Nadal continues to represent the Library in the Eastern Academic
Scholars Trust (EAST) Shared Print Monograph Summit, joining librarians
and invited experts to discuss national-level opportunities for broader
collective access to printed materials and risks to the comprehensive
preservation of print monographs. EAST Participants agreed to form a
new governance group, and Library involvement will continue as this program
develops.
The BCCD chief represented the Library at the International Federation
of Libraries and Archives (IFLA) meetings in August 2018. She gave public
talks at the National Diet Library of Japan, and full-day workshops on
preservation through the Government Libraries of Cambodia and at the
National Indonesian Conference on preservation.
Preservation staff continue their work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Heritage Emergency National Task Force (HENTF) calls related to deployment of Federal staff conservators from the National Archives and Records Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Park Service to Puerto Rico under the National Response Framework (NRF)/ National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) Recovery Support Function for Natural and Cultural Resources. In addition they participated in preliminary discussions about the status of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two members of the Preservation Directorate support the AIC National Heritage Responders program and through ALA offices. This support included phone reference for the Butte County, California, Library System, where the Paradise Public Library had smoke damage but otherwise remained intact.
In March 19-24, 2018, two CD staff members traveled to the National Library of the Republic of Moldova (Biblioteca Naţională a Republicii Moldova, BNRM) to conduct a three-day preservation workshop covering broad topics including planning and policies, environmental control, collection housing and storage, digitization preparation, emergency response, collection security and display. A second four-day workshop was conducted by two senior CD conservators in December 2018. They provided hands-on training in basic preservation strategies for rare materials. This workshop was made possible through funds granted to BNRM by the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, Moldova, under the auspices of the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (see URL < eca.state.gov/cultural-heritage-center/ambassadors-fund-cultural-preservation>), which was established at the request of the 106th Congress of the United States (Public Law 106–553) and is administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Preservation represents the Library on the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee (CHCC; see URL < eca.state.gov/cultural-heritage-center/cultural-heritage-coordinating-committee>), established as “an interagency coordinating committee to coordinate the efforts of the executive branch to protect and preserve international cultural property at risk from political instability, armed conflict, or natural or other disasters” in accordance with the sense of Congress expressed in Public Law 114–151. CHCC held a series of public events and invited-stakeholder meetings at the Smithsonian in October 2018. The final public program, featuring U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies, U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Maureen Cormack, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Alaina Teplitz, and Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joan Polaschik, is available online (URL < eca.state.gov/video/chcc-cultural-heritage-and-foreign-policy-panel-discussion>).
Conservation staff treated the “Danbury Baptist Letter” addressed to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802, in which the phrase “separation of church and state” is first used. After in-depth examination, documentation and testing, PCS staff removed old repairs with application of enzyme solutions and heat to break down the adhesive and aid in their removal. The letter was washed in pH-adjusted water-ethanol baths; treated with solutions of calcium phytate and calcium bicarbonate that contained proportions of ethanol; re-sized with gelatin in ethanol and placed between felts to dry. The document received additional treatments so that the letter can be handled more safely and was exhibited in a rotation of the Religion in Early America exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Eight CD staff members participated as part of a team with the Prints and Photographs and Serials and Government Publications divisions and external art handlers to pack 3,100 objects from the Geppi Entertainment Museum that were donated to the Library at the end of fiscal 2018. Conservation staff tasks included de-framing and housing all works of art including posters, drawings, sheet music, and printed ephemera. The team fabricated housings and custom packed objects including 300 buttons and pins, games, action figurines, other pop cultural memorabilia, printing blocks, and more than 200 small-format volumes with appealing graphic covers related to popular characters and stories such as Dick Tracy, Popeye, and hosts of Disney figures. Staff in CD arranged for consultation with a local objects conservator and mount maker to ensure that the G.I. Joe prototype was safely exhibited in an agile case display in November 2018 and will be stored and accessed properly in the future.
The Conservation Division coordinated the design, fabrication, testing, and final installation of the new Gutenberg Bible display case, installed in November 2018. The final case is unique in its approach to create an optimum environment for an artifact on long-term or permanent display. The Library’s Gutenberg Bible volumes are printed on vellum, and special case fabrication and mechanical equipment design were needed to ensure the ability to maintain required conditions (50°F and 50 percent relative humidity) throughout the 24-hour daily cycle. The final case incorporates mechanical equipment and fire detection systems in the back of the case, easily accessible for maintenance. The artifact chamber is also easily accessible through an over-sized door that opens the entire front of the case. This enables one person to access the case in event of an emergency. (The old case required three people to be present to access the Bible.) The conditions of the artifact chamber are monitored continuously by three monitors. One sensor is tracked by the fabricators of the mechanical equipment. An alarm for the second sensor goes directly to the U.S. Capitol Police Command Center. A third sensor is tracked 24/7 by CD staff who, through an iPhone app, can monitor case conditions at any time.
Throughout fiscal 2018, the CD Collections Stabilization Section contributed to multiple aspects of construction planning for the Secured Storage Facilities (SSFs) built to ensure the long-term preservation of the Musical Instrument and Music Treasures collections. This project encompassed many activities such as providing guidance on a range of issues, including correcting the finish and sealing of the concrete floor in the Treasures SSF after the initial application, defining alarm thresholds and Architect of the Capitol response for both SSFs, and determining the schedule for installing final particulate and gaseous pollutant filters during the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) commissioning period. Conservation staff also determined the safest sequence for–and subsequently executed--the move, working with the curator to relocate critical objects in advance of the art movers, and then proceeded with the relocation of 1,600 flutes, stringed instruments, decorative objects, historic leather flute cases, works of art on paper, and archival materials dating from the 16th to 20th centuries, while tracking records of all objects moved and updating location database records accordingly.
PRD completed its pilot project for large-scale digitization of foreign newsprint from print originals and will use the results to guide a transition away from microfilming to digitizing foreign newsprint during the current strategic planning period, fiscal 2019-2023. The Newspaper Digitization Pilot project successfully demonstrated digitizing newspapers directly from the paper originals using JPEG2000 specifications. The pilot consisted of three sample sets, each run by a different vendor. Approximately 272,366 pages from 113 titles in 19 languages were collected from the five stakeholder divisions and divided into the three sample sets. As of this writing, all three vendors have completed their sample sets and submitted their final reports. Close-out documentation for the pilot is expected to be finalized in January 2019.
The Library and the Architect of the Capitol received funding for an additional module at Ft. Meade, Maryland, the Library’s preservation repository and remote storage facility. The Collections Management Division is responsible for operation of the facility and the orderly transfer of collections into secure, inventory controlled storage, and for the circulation of materials outside the reading rooms. Over the past year, CMD placed an additional 700,000 items into inventory controlled storage and circulated more than 100,000 items to borrowers including Congressional offices, the Federal Government, the U.S. Services Academies, and through interlibrary loan.
Staff of PRTD have been working with the HNIP program to support and encourage young scientific researchers. Projects have included assessing the specific volatiles that cause odor in damaged paper-based materials, and how this can be mitigated. As part of this research, a continued focus for PRTD is assessing sorbent materials, what compounds they absorb, and rates of uptake and release.
LIBRARY SERVICES / Special Collections Formats Directorate
The Library of Congress is hiring 15 archivists for its special collection divisions, which represents a partial return to former staffing levels. A new initiative is underway to concentrate on organizing and describing for research use a backlog of an estimated 25 million unprocessed physical items in more than 1,000 different collections, ranging in size from less than 50 items to more than 1 million items. The formats of material comprise personal papers, corporate records, music, photographs, architectural drawings, and audiovisual materials, primarily from the 1800s and 1900s and related to American history, life, and culture. The application period closed on January 14, 2019. These permanent positions were open to all qualified applicants.
Geography and Map Division
In just over six months, the first six story maps have attracted more than 34,500 visits. The Story Map tool leverages an existing software suite (ArcGIS) licensed from Esri and provides, at no additional cost, a way for Library staff to share collections to a broader audience. Promoting the use of the ArcGIS tools for data visualization and story narration increased the ArcGIS user base by ten-fold, thus maximizing our resources.
In FY18, maps were included in LC approval plans, which has expanded G&M’s breadth of maps published in foreign countries and increased the number of cartographic items obtained in these areas. This inaugural effort resulted in additional funds being allocated for the annual acquisition of foreign cartographic items and far exceeded the number of items added annually to the collection in previous years.
All the pre-1900 Sanborn maps scanned by the Historical Information Gatherers (HIG) are now online for every state. The post-1899 maps will be going up over the next few years and currently the following states also have these maps online: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The other states will be added online based on when the Library’s contract agreement with HIG allows; all maps will be online by the end of 2020. Currently 18,875 cities have 25,228 maps sheets online.
The Geography and Map Division contributed to a Library Pop-Up exhibit, entitled “Spring Fling.” Staff provided content and subject matter expertise to over 8,500 visitors, throughout the span of the event. In addition, the Geospatial Information System (GIS) staff showcased their historic geospatial data. The “Tornadoes in the United States: 1950-2016” application was so engaging that the Librarian’s staff asked to use it for a local TV spot promoting the event.
Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center (VHP)
The Veterans History Project meets its congressional mandate to collect, preserve and make accessible the war stories of America’s veterans, and will launch 20th anniversary commemorations beginning in fall 2019. Reliant on the voluntary participation of individuals and organizations across the country, the Project now holds more than 108,000 accounts of U.S. veterans’ first-person narratives. Congressional offices, libraries, educational institutions, organizations and individual volunteers across the country continue to help gather and submit oral histories and materials documenting first person experience for VHP. In addition to now twice yearly national radio tours, the Project’s Facebook page, “Folklife Today Veterans History Project” Blog, and the Project’s RSS feed all highlight collections, cross-promote events and support content on VHP’s website, URL < www.loc.gov/vets>, which continues to host four online curated exhibits per year.
Among many notable recent activities was VHP’s national Veterans Day radio media tour, during which VHP’s director, Col. Karen Lloyd, U.S. Army, (Ret.), was interviewed by 18 radio stations over a two-day period, resulting in 6.5 million gross media impressions, up from 2.5 million last year. The focus of the tour was to encourage listeners to interview the veterans in their lives and understand about existing VHP collections. In helping VHP to meet the requirements of the Gold Star Family Voices Act (HR4511), VHP increased its visibility among Gold Star advocacy groups by engaging with them directly at conferences and meetings across the nation, contributing content to their publications, and hosting webcast panels at the Library. To date over 35 collections have been accepted under its aegis. The Project’s advancing collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian around the National Native Veterans Memorial facilitated VHP participation with Tribes and Nations across the country including in AK, AR, IL, MT, OK, OR, and WA. As a result of this collaboration, 78 additional collections have been donated since fiscal 2017, whereas the total from 2001 until that point was only 288. VHP’s newly relocated public space in the Library’s Jefferson Building not only allows for more convenient access to veterans, visitors and Members of Congress, but enables expanded outreach activities such as workshops, briefings and video teleconferences. Additionally the two converted alcoves overlooking the Main Reading Room have enabled more than 50 onsite VHP interviews of local and traveling visitors.
The Veterans History Project encourages all organizations and groups, especially libraries, to continue to play a pivotal role in VHP’s success by hosting our free workshops either online or in-person, distributing information, coordinating interviewing events and making their facilities available to local VHP volunteers. For additional information, see the project Web site, www.loc.gov/vets, email vohp@loc.gov or phone 202-707-4916.
NATIONAL LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED
Jason Yasner was appointed deputy director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, effective July 22.
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER (OCIO)
LOC.gov
The Library’s flagship website, loc.gov, delivers content and services to patrons of all types, across the world. The hub for dozens of programs, loc.gov provides access to the Library’s unique subject matter expertise and millions of digitized items, including photos, videos, audio, books, newspapers, maps, and more. Over the last year, OCIO made significant design, content, and functional improvements to the site, improving content and services for researchers, students, educators, librarians, and the public. In 2018, visits to loc.gov increased by 10 percent over the previous year, from 74.7 million to 81.8 million, with 396.1 million pages served to 56.2 million unique users. Mobile visits to loc.gov were up 20 percent from fiscal 2017, from 23.6 million to 28.3 million. Top search terms included “Civil War,” “Great Depression,” “World War I,” “slavery,” “baseball,” “Japan,” and “Dust Bowl.” In October 2018, much of site received a design refresh as part of the Library’s new Visual Identity, including the LC logo. New site features included a new Jobs site; a new application and site for Library Events; enhancements to LC Labs; a new Serials and Government Publications blog; new Podcasts from the Hispanic Division and Poetry Office; a redesigned and upgraded site for the Kluge Center; enhancements to Email and RSS subscriptions; new livestreaming capabilities on loc.gov’s home page; and exhibitions including Drawn to Purpose and Baseball Americana. New content for teachers and classroom use included Baseball and Alexander Hamilton Primary Source Sets.
One of loc.gov’s essential functions is to provide access to digital versions of the Library’s collections. In 2018, dozens of new and enhanced collections were added to loc.gov, including:
- The papers of Presidents James Buchanan; Woodrow Wilson; and Theodore Roosevelt
- Thousands of digitized books, including the Rare Book Selections Collection; African American Perspectives; Selected Digitized Books Collection; The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection; Japanese Censorship Collection; and Department of Defense Annual Reports and Military Branch Budget Justification Books
- Significant new Legal and Legislative collections, including the United States Code Collection and United States Reports Collections
- An advanced search feature for Newspapers and the World War History: Newspaper Clippings, 1914 to 1926 Collection
- Rare Manuscripts from the Monasteries of Mt. Athos
- The rare 18th and 19th century documents in Arabic and English of the Omar Ibn Said Collection
- Music and Theatre materials including the Lars Schmidt Collection; and a major expansion of the Leonard Bernstein Collection in conjunction with Bernstein’s 100th birthday
- Historic Manuscripts collections, including the William A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection; Benjamin Franklin Papers; E.B. Washburne Papers; Joseph Holt Collection; Susan B. Anthony Papers; Elizabeth Cady Stanton Papers; Branch Rickey Scouting Reports; National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection; Betty Herndon Maury Maury Papers [sic]; Thaddeus Stevens Papers; John Carvel Arnold Papers; Robert Lansing Papers; and Mary Church Terrell Papers
- Collections from the American Folklife Center, including Ancestral Voices; After the Day of Infamy: “Man-on-the-Street” Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor; the Occupational Folklife Collection–Western Folklife; and, Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories
- A new “Free to Use” feature on the LC Home Page, to highlight public domain items, including popular photographs
- Full length films from the Library’s collections in the new National Screening Room
By the People: Crowd.loc.gov
The Library launched By the People (URL < crowd.loc.gov>) in the autumn of 2018. The application invites the public to transcribe, review, and tag digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials from the Library’s collections. Everyone is welcome to take part! You do not need to create an account, but if you do, you will have access to additional features such as tagging, and reviewing other people's transcriptions. All transcriptions are made and reviewed by volunteers before they are returned to loc.gov, the Library's website. These transcriptions will improve search, readability, and access to handwritten and typed documents for those who are not fully sighted or cannot read the handwriting of the original documents. By the People runs on Concordia, new open source software developed by the Library to power crowdsourced transcription projects. The code is visible and free to reuse; URL < visit our Github repository > for more information. The platform was built utilizing user-centered design principles based around building trust and approachability. This project is a partnership between the Library and a growing community of volunteers who help us to iteratively improve the platform. Everyone is welcome to take part in transcription and tagging and to give feedback about how we can improve the code base and the project itself.
National Digital Initiatives
In 2018, the Library’s National Digital Initiatives (NDI) division was organizationally transferred to report to the Director of Digital Strategy. Select NDI highlights from 2018 are presented below.
Labs Experiments and Pilots
NDI partners with Library staff and external users to develop demonstration projects that help show what is possible when we facilitate the creation of new tools, visualization, games, artwork and applications that utilize Library of Congress digital collections. In fiscal 2018 new experiments, in addition to those from the Innovator in Residence (see below) included: Political Cartoon Visualizer , Free to Use Browser Extension , Mapping an American Pastime , and Southern Mosaic . Additionally, NDI developed a procedure for evaluating and hosting experiments for Library staff on the Labs site at URL < labs.loc.gov>.
Code4Lib 2018
NDI led planning efforts for the 2018 Code4Lib conference, an annual gathering of technologists from around the world, who largely work for and with libraries, archives, and museums and have a commitment to open technologies. Code4Lib 2018 was a national event with the highest annual attendance in its history--over 450 attendees, over 2,700 virtual attendees. The conference website is available at URL < 2018.code4lib.org >.
Congressional Data Challenge
NDI sponsored a legislative data challenge to advance the discovery, use, and exploration of the collection of legislative information the Library offers to the nation and the world through the website Congress.gov. Submissions were evaluated based on creativity, usefulness, and design. Entries were judged by a four-person panel, composed of experts in data visualization, application development, the U.S. Congress and congressional data. During the fiscal year NDI issued the challenge and awarded three groups of winners based on their applications. Details about the challenge can be found at URL < labs.loc.gov/experiments/congressionalchallenge>.
Inside Baseball: Labs Week
NDI hosted a continuation of their popular event series, Collections as Data. This year it was designed as a hackathon that brought collection items from across divisions and across institutions in order to develop new ways to discover the Library’s holdings. The “Inside Baseball: Labs Week” event brought together the Library of Congress, JSTOR, Wikidata, and National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) baseball collections and data. The goal was to go through a rapid-prototyping flash build to create something with our baseball collections and to learn the process and evaluate it for future use by the NDI team with internal and external groups. Details about the event and the flash build tool can be found at URL < labs.loc.gov/experiments/mapping-an-american-pastime>.
International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) Conference
NDI co-hosted 350 people from around the world at the annual conference for the IIIF with the Smithsonian Institution and the Folger Shakespeare Library. IIIF is a set of standards and a supporting community that provides a way for cultural and scientific organizations to provide interoperable access to their images. This international standards community discussed how IIIF can be fully utilized in digital newspaper, image, and audiovisual formats, and how tools like search and annotation can be implemented. These innovations provide new services for researchers and students using digital collections on the web. Event details can be found at URL < iiif.io/event/2018/washington >.
Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) Beyond Europe
NDI hosted a DARIAH conference aimed to initiate collaborations and to exchange knowledge and experience in digital scholarship on an international level. Conference sessions focused on digital newspapers and text analysis, web archives, and public humanities.
Innovator in Residence Program
During fiscal 2018 Jer Thorp, the current Innovator in Residence, produced a podcast entitled Artist in the Archive; created seven experiments including applications and visualizations designed to expose our collections to the general public; and hosted a live podcast event with over 740 views. Jer Thorp is continuing as the Innovator in Residence, prototyping a “serendipity engine” to discover collections. An open call for new applications to the program will be released in 2019.
Public CRS Reports
OCIO worked with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to create a new public website for CRS Reports, URL < crsreports.congress.gov>. The new site leverages existing Library of Congress technology to provide a home for research that CRS makes public.
GIS Support
The OCIO Research and Development Directorate continued to support and expand the Library’s geographic information services (GIS) and geospatial capabilities. An initial set of multimedia presentations featuring interactive StoryMaps were published on loc.gov, including Holy Land Photography; Maps That Changed Our World; A Treasure Trove of Trials; and Behind Barbed Wire, a historical look at the lives of Americans in the WWII era Japanese Internment camps.