FC: GPO replies to Politech article on libraries destroying data

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03137.html

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From: "Sherman, Andrew M." <asherman () gpo gov>
To: "'declan () well com'" <declan () well com>
Subject: GPO Statement on Withdrawal of USGS CD-ROM
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:32:00 -0500

I saw your story about the withdrawal of the USGS CD-ROM from Federal
depository libraries.  Sorry you didn't contact us about it before running
your story, but if you had I would have provided the following information
from a statement released by the Government Printing Office January 16,
2002, which has been distributed throughout the library community:

GPO STATEMENT ON REQUEST TO WITHDRAW
USGS SOURCE-WATER CD-ROM FROM
DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

The following is a statement of the facts regarding the October 2001 request
by the GPO's Superintendent of Documents to certain Federal depository
libraries to withdraw from public circulation and destroy their depository
copies of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) CD-ROM providing information on
water resources:

·       By letter dated October 12, 2001, Superintendent of Documents
Francis J. Buckley, Jr.  requested Federal depository libraries to withdraw
and destroy their depository copies of a USGS CD-ROM entitled Source Area
Characteristics of Large Public Surface-Water Supplies in the Conterminous
United States:  An Information Resource for Source-Water Assessment, 1999.
The Superintendent of Documents is the Government Printing Office (GPO)
official who by law is responsible for the operation of the Federal
Depository Library Program (FDLP), under which the GPO distributes copies of
Federal publications to designated libraries for the use of the public.

·       The Superintendent of Documents' letter was issued pursuant to a
letter from the USGS, dated October 5, 2001, which asked the GPO to "request
that depository libraries receiving the [Source-Water CD-ROM] be instructed
to destroy their copies."  When a member of the library community questioned
the USGS on the need for this action, a USGS e-mail reply dated October 31,
2001, said:  "Subsequent contact with the Government Printing Office and the
USGS Committee that sets official policy on restriction of sensitive
information has reconfirmed the validity of the original written instruction
from USGS and GPO to destroy the report."

·       The Superintendent of Documents' October 12 letter went to the 335
Federal depository libraries which had selected this document for their
collections (there are 1,310 Federal depository libraries nationwide).  The
letter was subsequently published in the Superintendent of Documents
publication "Administrative Notes," which is made available to the entire
depository library community and is posted online on the GPO's Web site, at
www.gpo.gov <http://www.gpo.gov>.  The Superintendent of Documents' request
applied only to copies of the Source-Water CD-ROM distributed under the
FDLP.

·       The Superintendent of Documents' request followed established policy
for the withdrawal of documents from the FDLP.  This policy has been
communicated in writing to all Federal depository libraries.  Under the
FDLP, the Government may request the removal of materials from depository
libraries since the law (chapter 19 of Title 44) indicates that all FDLP
materials remain Government property.  Requests to withdraw happen rarely,
however.  Since FY 1995, the GPO has distributed 230,019 tangible product
(print, microfiche, and CD-ROM) titles to depository libraries, and recalled
just 20 (16 to be destroyed, 3 returned to the agency, 1 removed from
shelves).  Such actions are taken only on the request of the issuing agency,
most commonly because the titles contain information that is erroneous or
has been superseded.  The Superintendent of Documents has no statutory
ability to deny agency document withdrawal requests, but instead serves as
the statutory conduit for carrying them out.  Prior to initiating any
withdrawal request, the Superintendent of Documents' policy is to carefully
review each request and ensure that all such requests to GPO are made in
writing.

In partnership with Federal depository libraries, the GPO has been the
Government's agent for providing public access to Government information for
nearly two centuries.  The GPO  takes very seriously any Federal agency's
request to restrict access to Government information that has been made
public.  However, the GPO also has a duty under the law to cooperate with
Federal agencies in the appropriate distribution of the official information
they publish.  Since the September 11 attacks, the USGS CD-ROM is the only
document that the Superintendent of Documents has requested to be withdrawn
from depository libraries.  Any future agency withdrawal requests will be
handled in accordance with law and established policy.

Andrew M. Sherman
Director
Office of Congressional and Public Affairs
GPO
202-512-1991




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