National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
Government Electronic Information Products Assessment
Agency Meeting Discussion Questions
revised September 16, 1998

1. Does your agency have preferred medium and format standards for government electronic information products at the permanent public accessibility stage? If so, what are the top three? What factors does your agency consider in determining preferred standards? (e.g., user needs, agency's dissemination requirements or policies, cost, security etc.) What about specific standards for CD-ROMs as they relate to user documentation, installation, search software, etc.?
2. Can you give us any examples of particularly innovative and creative product formats, mediums and/or on-line approaches? We have in mind formats, mediums or on-line approaches that may well point to the wave of the future for not only a particular product but also for other kinds of products, yet is neither an agency-mandated standard nor even a common agency practice.
3. Is there any difference between your agency's preferences for mediums and formats as opposed to the preferences of intermediary distributors? If so, what are those differences, and why are the two preferences different?
4. Has your agency involved external user groups in assessing the value and effectiveness of the dissemination of government electronic information products? If so, are there formats and mediums that seem particularly appropriate for public dissemination to users who may be economically, technically or physically disadvantaged?
5. Does your agency follow any internally or externally prescribed guidelines for the presentation and organization of products in on-line formats? If so, what are they (e.g., WWW Federal Consortium, FIPS Guidelines, agency or departmental publication specifications or guidelines)?
6. Has your agency undertaken any kind of cost benefit analyses for producing or creating products in preferred or emerging formats, mediums or on-line approaches for distribution to the FDLP? If so, which ones appear to be the most cost-effective?
7. What factors does your agency consider in deciding to create or retain products in more than one medium? Is this a common agency practice?
8. Are there trends with respect to migrating specific families of products from pre-electronic mediums to electronic mediums or formats? For example, are loose-leaf publications, training manuals, annual reports, conference proceedings, newsletters, rules and regulations, scientific journals, etc. targeted for migration to a particular medium? If so, which mediums and formats are used for specific families of products?
9. Has your agency identified any medium and format standards that seem particularly appropriate for use throughout a products entire information life cycle, not just at one stage (i.e. creation, storage and retrieval, communication and dissemination, archiving and disposition) for government electronic information products? If so, which ones?
10. How do you determine whether a product should be made permanently publicly accessible when you create or produce it? If so, what criteria do you use to determine which products will be permanently publicly accessible? Can you give us any examples of how you ensure permanent public accessibility for a given product?
11. Does your agency routinely provide locator tools (e.g., GILS, or specific agency locators) to enhance access to information sources and services available to external users and customers? If so, is this an official policy, common agency practice, or both?
12. Are there trends for facilitating public access to your agency products by including them in broad federal government electronic information services such as GPO Access, LOC Thomas, and NTIS FedWorld? Are you using any particular guidelines to facilitate that decision, and, if so, what are they?