State Documents Interest Group
SDIG

Documents Association of New Jersey
State Documents Interest Group
Meeting Minutes
June 7, 2002

Present: Don Carlo, Bloomfield Public Library; Mary Fetzer, Rutgers Univ.; Shirley Knight, Ramapo College; Susan Kadezabek, Monmouth Univ.; Robert Lupp, New Jersey State Library; Deborah Mercer, New Jersey State Library; Wen-Hua Ren, Rutgers Univ.; Susan Sabatino (Chair), William Paterson Univ.; Rebecca Silverstein, Seton Hall Univ. Law Library; Ella N. Strattis, Rowan Univ.; Dorothy Warner, Rider Univ.

The agenda was approved.

The minutes of the April 7, 2002 meeting were approved.

The group asked Bob if he had other suggestions for sending our report to others who might be interested in it. Bob suggested that we send a copy to someone at the New Jersey Office of Information Technology. OIT is a separate government agency. We should look for someone there to work with. But, they really have no control over what is done at the individual agencies and departments of New Jersey state government.

It wouldn’t hurt to send a copy to the State Historical Records Advisory Board, (SHRAB).

The history of the State Depository Library Program was raised. How it began, how long it has existed, etc. From what Bob knows, the program was started during the late 1950s. About 23 libraries were part of the initial group. The State Library received 25 copies of documents for distribution in the system. The current law (Statutes 52:14-25 through 52:14-25.2) was written in 1967.

Bob explained that the program requires a dedicated staff person and an assistant. Ten years ago there was a much larger staff. Now there is only Bob Lupp and Peggy. When they both retire at the end of the month, there will be Deborah Mercer and Casey Convoy managing the depository library system. Colleen Daze, in the State Library Information Center, oversees this operation. Regarding the documents now included for distribution, there is some reluctance of the state departments to make many copies of their documents for the depository system. The reasons could be issues of time, staff, and definitely money. Bob recommended that we think about the future of the depository program and the role of the depository libraries.

Regarding the web page that Bob started and has maintained for a number of years, there are some problems with electronic listing of documents: changing URLs, no one notifies the State Library and the links from Bob’s list may not work. There is no central list of the "webmasters" at the many departments and agencies. May be more that one person at each, some are overworked and simply cannot respond to requests. Some have limited authority. Others may make their own decisions about the department’s web page.

It would not be in the best interest of DANJ to assume responsibility for maintenance of Bob’s list. It would remove responsibility from those who should maintain it. Also, the members of DANJ are not stable over time and have other job responsibilities.

Discussion of .pdf documents : for archival purposes it depends on the paper they are printed on. For longevity, it depends on the server on which they are stored. Bob wanted the State Library to have its own server. Mary said that distributed servers make sense.

Deborah Mercer commented that she has used a software called Mind IT to monitor web sites and indicate when something new has been added.

There will be no August meeting due to vacation schedules. The next meeting will take place on Friday, October 4 at 12:00 noon. The place will be the same as the Executive Board meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Sabatino