PEGI Project Comments on the National Collection Strategic Plan

In June, the Superintendent of Documents released a draft version of the National Collection of U.S. Government Public Information Strategic Plan for FY 2023 ― FY 2027 and requested public feedback. The PEGI Project submitted the following comment: 

The PEGI Project commends the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) on its June 2022 draft of the National Collection of U.S. Government Public Information Strategic Plan for FY 2023 — FY 2027, which seeks to increase the capacity of the Office of the Superintendent of Documents, including Library Services and Content Management, to address the challenges posed by born-digital government information. The document acknowledges the urgency of coordinating and applying lifecycle management principles in cooperation with depository libraries in order to ensure “free, equitable, and convenient access” to federal information into the future.

We commend GPO on making significant progress toward establishing the ecosystem needed to build and sustain the National Collection. Overall, we concur with the Guiding Principles for Federal Government Information and Assumptions, as well as the Definition, Scope, and Major Challenges identified for the National Collection. 

We suggest clarifying that providing born-digital collection development, access, and discovery services requires cooperation among libraries and institutions, just as with the print collection. No one organization can do all that is required for preservation; and access to preserved digital content demands an equal level of cooperation. (Assumption, point 3)

We agree that the proliferation of digital public information not published through GPO represents a major challenge for developing the National Collection. Agencies share government public information not only on agency websites, but also by publishing directly to commercial websites, social media services, and other outlets. GPO should explicitly acknowledge the breadth of the issue and develop tactics that ensure this information is made available as part of the National Collection. (Major Challenges of the National Collection, point 4)

We appreciate the proposal to expand LSCM’s operations to include a new unit for digital lifecycle management, and note that while accessibility issues partially overlap with access, the overlap is only partial. We also note that working at scale applies to collecting born-digital content equally if not more so than traditional print collection development. It would be advantageous to evaluate how this Plan aligns with NARA’s recently released Digital Preservation Strategy 2022-2026 to ensure coordinated effort.

In addition, please consider the following:

  • Developing flexible, custom metadata that is needed for discovery and access in addition to investigating new delivery methods for metadata and bibliographic records. (National Collection, Goal 1)

  • Acknowledge the limitations of web harvesting,1 address challenges associated with commercial platforms, explore opportunities to better utilize web-harvested materials, and include depository libraries in collaborative FDLP web harvesting activities. (National Collection, Goal 2)

  • The DLC Digital Deposit Working Group recommended digital deposit as a key digital preservation and access strategy for the FDLP. As such, we urge the swift implementation of a pilot project to meet Goal 4, Objective 1 and further measures to develop a successful pilot into a supported program. (National Collection, Goal 4)

  • Adopt a strategy to include in the National Collection declassified NARA records and executive agency records posted to agency FOIA reading rooms in partnerships with host agencies. (National Collection, Goal 5)

  • In addition to the recommendations of the Task Force on a Digital FDLP, we suggest that the recommendations of the Depository Library Council working groups on PURLs, Digital Deposit, and collections and discovery services also be addressed.2 


Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important strategic document.


Sincerely,

The Preservation of Electronic Government Information (PEGI) Project

Robbie Sittel

Shari Laster

Scott Matheson

James Jacobs

Lynda Kellam 

Deborah Yun Caldwell


1. See PEGI’s blog post “Web Archiving and Government Information.” July 6, 2022. https://www.pegiproject.org/blog/2022/7/6/web-archiving-and-government-information↩
2. The reports of DLC working groups can be found on the Depository Library Council page of fdlp.gov. It should be noted that the PURL working group final report is forthcoming. https://www.fdlp.gov/about/depository-library-council↩


Deborah Caldwell