Androit's guide: A flawed classic?

Androit's guide: A flawed classic?

Government Publications Review, Vol. 13, pp. 473-489, 1986 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. ANDROIT’S 0277-9390/86 $3.00 + .OO Copyright 0 1...

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Government Publications Review, Vol. 13, pp. 473-489, 1986 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.

ANDROIT’S

0277-9390/86 $3.00 + .OO Copyright 0 1986 Pergamon Journals Ltd

GUIDE:

A Flawed Classic? WILLIAM

L. OLBRICH,

JR.

Government Documents Department, Moody Library, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76706 USA

Abstract-This essay will discuss the evolution of the Andriot family’s major bibliographic work, the rationale for its use in government information bibliography, and how the Andriot family can improve its Guide to U.S. Government Publications to make it a more widely accepted resource.

INTRODUCTION The Guide to U.S. Government Publications is one of a series of classic documents tools produced by John Andriot and his immediate family. The Guide stands as a monument to the Andriot family’s 40 years of bibliographic work in the field of government documents. Seldom, however, has such a monument been so misunderstood by its users, The Guide, unlike other Andriot tools, is not really a bibliographic guide, but is, rather, an archival guide based on provenance. Because John Andriot first produced his unique work for government documents at a time when few adequate bibliographic tools for government documents existed, librarians modifled his Guide for bibliographic uses other than those for which it was designed. They even called the Guide “Andriot” (as will be done here) in tribute to its seemingly universal utility. Between 1959 and 1979, both the Andriot family and its librarian customers grew blasC about the eccentricities and shortcomings produced by attempts to remake this provenance/series authority file into an index-cum-catalog [ 11. When more specialized government documents bibliographic tools began to appear during the 197Os, doubts about any need for, let alone heavy reliance on, Andriot emerged [2]. Such doubts exist more from librarians misunderstanding Andriot’s real purpose than from actual textual flaws. John Andriot’s monumental Guide still compares favorably with the newer works in the field. His work ranks among the best the library profession has ever produced. Nevertheless, Andriot cannot remain competitive in the library marketplace unless the Andriot family undertakes major textual revisions and unless librarians, especially government documents librarians, understand the principle of provenance in government information. THE CONCEPT OF PROVENANCE As established by Adelaide R. Hasse and William Leander Post during the first years of this century, the Superintendent of Documents Classification System (SUDOCS) utilizes provenance to arrange federal government documents. The principle of provenance dictates that publications be cataloged according to “that office or administrative entity that created 473

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or received and accumulated records in the conduct of its business” [3]. The content matter of the records is of lesser import bibliographically than is the office responsible for its creation. Moreover, the creating office provides the internal control of its own records in the form of series. Agencies create series of publications “in accordance with a filing system or maintains them as a unit because they relate to a particular subject or function, result from the same activity, have a particular form, or because of some other relationship arising out of their creation, receipt, or use” [4]. The bibliographic form of the publications for the SUDOCS system is more important than the content. Arrangement within a series derives from the function of the series for the office: sequential numbers for works received over time, volume numbers and issue numbers for periodicals, and cuttered numbers for series not received sequentially. Understanding the function of agencies, series, and arrangement within series allows the knowledgeable searcher to locate specific contents from a variety of government sources. Andriot is not the only bibliographic tool currently available that allows searching by provenance. The Numerical Lists and Schedule of Volumes of the Reports and Documents of the Congress, which provide access to the Serial Set, retains its series and sequential numbering after nearly two centuries of use. The U.S. Government Printing Office’s (GPO) Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications has utilized arrangement by series since 1895 and provenance in the strictest sense since July, 1976. These concessions by the GPO to the archival theories of government information seem to have been lost on the documents community in general. While arguments over different content-based cataloging systems and the problems of provenance changes have surfaced intermittently over the last 30 years, the issue of archival theories versus contents theories classification of government documents has yet to be tested objectively. Richard Lytle ran retrieval tests on Baltimore city manuscript archives and concluded that provenance arrangement and contents indexing are about equal for the retrieval of specific information [5]. A similar objective test comparing the archival-based tools such as Andriot and contents-based library cataloging tools such as the Library of Congress schedules would be of tremendous use to librarians. THE EVOLUTION

OF ANDRIOT GUIDES

John Andriot’s documents career began in Cincinnati, Ohio. He took B.A. degrees in librarianship from the University of Cincinnati and Columbia University (1942). After a stint as a librarian in the U.S. Eighth Army in Tokyo, he returned to Cincinnati to work in the documents collection of that city’s public library. He and his wife, Jeanne attracted the attention of the Library of Congress with their independently published bibliography, Motion Pictures and Books (Cincinnati: Motion Pictures Index, 1947), and the two moved to Washington, D.C., to catalog music for the Library of Congress on a contract basis [6]. By 1950, John Andriot had become Documents Expeditor in the Library of Congress’ Gifts and Exchange Division. He created a Classified Checklist of United State Government Publications Available for Selection by Depository Libraries (Classified List) [7]. He also reported to the library profession on the post-war boom in technical reports and other government serials [8]. These early works express Andriot’s concern for bibliographic control of government agency information through the identification and description of its published series. The Classified List did not use agency hierarchy for provenance, but rather simply assigned accession numbers to agency series (see Figure 1). Andriot’s chief intention was to provide information “to learn what types [read ‘series’] of processed publications are currently

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AIR CC0RDlNATION COldMITTEE All processed publications

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Figure 1. The agency and series arrangement of the Classified Checklist. The left-hand number scheme is Andriot’s own accession number scheme for agencies and series. The agency listed in all capitals is the specific agency covered; the second agency listed is the parent agency. Some of the series designations are Andriot’s own creation to facilitate their distribution thru Dot Ex: “all processed publications” and “general processed publications.” Other series are agency creations: “speeches” and “releases.” Source: John Andriot, Classified Checklist of United States Government Processed Publications (Washington: DocEx, 1951), p. 6.

published” [9]. Most of the government documents of the Documents Expediting Project (DOCEX) were not distributed through the GPO and therefore in the Monthly Catalog. John Andriot correctly perceived that these often crudely printed “processed publications”usually newsletters and in-house investigations-were important to the documents community. Partly through his efforts, committee prints, General Accounting Office reports, and Central Intelligence Agency research works found their way into the GPO’s depository library system [lo]. At DOCEX, as at the GPO, the agency series remained the primary distribution unit. John Andriot apparently planned the distribution of DOCEX-procured documents to be as similar as possible to that of GPO. The Classified List provided no other bibliographic information save an occasional SUDOCS series number. The work appeared twice and did not survive John Andriot’s departure from the Library of Congress in 1954. In a 1952 article, Andriot defended the creation of new and specialized bibliographic tools to control the post-war glut of government scientific, technical, and foreign assessment reports. Librarians, he believed, had become “the archivists of the printed records” [ 111. He then described in detail 13 new government indexes reporting series and periodicals created by the U.S. government. All, he asserted, derived their bibliographic control from “having a uniform system of identifying the reports from its contractors doing research” [12]. In more precise terms, Andriot defended provenance as the logical bibliographic control principle for government documents. John and Jeanne Andriot left the Library of Congress in 1954 to pursue their vision of bibliographic control for government publications. From their home in McLean, Virginia, the Andriots’ independent Documents Index Company began a 30-year production of the government documents bibliographic tools that have become so familiar to librarians who deal with U.S. government publications. Their first effort represented an attempt at provenance control. Between 1954 and 1957, the “U.S. Agency History Cards” comprised a 3” x 5” card format (see Figure 2) similar to the Library of Congress distribution cards identifying agencies that produce public documents. The cards listed proper names for each agency according to prevailing Library of Congress practice, its date of establishment, the laws and regulations enabling its operations, the date of any reorganization, and its SUDOCS classification stem. The Andriots also attempted to include changes in SUDOCS stem numbers that resulted from agency reorganization [ 131. The purpose of the cards seems to have been to combine the GPO’s List of Classes of U.S. Government Publications Available for Selection by Depository Libraries with the Government Organization Manual melding the concept and content of the two to produce a new bibliographic format. However, the cards failed to pro-

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Figure 2. Example of a card from this card service. Source: John Andriot, “U.S. Agency History Cards” (McLean, VA [?I: Documents Index, 1954) Set A, Card 6. Both McKeldin Library, University of Maryland, and the Dallas Public Library have these card sets in their documents departments.

vide a full hierarchy for executive agencies, nor did they give information about published series. They ignored “processed publications” entirely, concentrating on the more accessible GPO-distributed series. The use of the cards was generally limited to shelflists arranged alphabetically by specific agency, although they could also have been used in traditional library card catalogs using the Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal classifications. The limited success of these agency cards first suggested to the Andriots that they must combine agency provenance control with series control in order to provide a truly successful documents bibliographic tool. Between 1956 and 1968, the Documents Index Company produced a spate of bibliographic works for government documents. Two of these efforts, Guide to U.S. Government Statistics and Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, helped inspire other commercial firms to venture into the business of providing detailed bibliographic data about executive agency statistics and congressional committee publications. Andriot’s hearings guide provided classification data, distribution information, and a brief summary of the substance of the hearing. Indexing for subjects, witnesses, bill numbers, and titles was established for what was to be a regularly appearing semiannual publication. Although the work received favorable reviews, the final edition took seven years to complete [ 141. Meanwhile, John Andriot continued to pursue the control of “processed publications” in U.S. Government Releases, a looseleaf service to Washington agency public relations blurbs, but only one edition was published. The Andriots attempted to increase public awareness of government documents with their Guide to Popular U.S. Government Publications (1960) and Selected U.S. Government Publications (1968). These works provided annotated bibliographies intended as acquisitions tools for small and medium-sized public and school libraries. Agricultural and household pamphlets dominated the former, while the latter merely compiled a year’s worth of GPO’s Selected United States Government Publications [15]. The two works provided the only competition at that time to William Philip Leidy’s A Popular Guide to Government Publications. A companion work to the popular guides, U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals, allowed Andriot to combine GPO serials and periodicals as listed in the February serials supplement of the Monthly Catalog and GPO’s Government Periodicals and Subscription Services price list into a useful guide for the identification, purchase, and classification of U.S. governmental serials. Only the statistics guide and the serials guide proved either financially or conceptually

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successful for the Documents Index Company. The firm abandoned the by-now crowded popular marketplace during the early 1970s for the more demanding and specialized needs of academic and research libraries. John Andriot focussed his attention on the expansion and fine-tuning of his serials guide while his wife and daughters turned their attentions from the statistics guide to census data and maps.

THE GUIDE

In 1962, John Andriot announced a three-volume bibliographic work designed to cover the entire realm of federal government publishing. The first volume of the set would cover serials and periodicals, the second “ephemeral publications” (i.e., processed publications), and the third volume would address “field” publications (i.e., those produced in regional and local agency offices outside the Washington, D.C. area). Volume I, U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals, appeared in 1962. It provided information on bibliographic details, purpose of publication, projected audience, and summarized contents for GPO periodicals. The volume received favorable reviews, with pleas for more data and better indexing in future editions [16]. Volume II appeared in 1964, providing the same information as did the first volume of the set but for 900 newsletters and other small-run serials. It received less favorable reviews than its predecessor [ 171. Volume III of this set does not appear to have been reviewed. Increasingly, the efforts to identify “processed” and “field” publications frustrated John Andriot, and he abandoned the attempt after 1975. Andriot’s original plan called for annual publication of all three volumes. However, no new work appeared until 1967. The Guide to U.S. Serials and Periodicals that appeared in 1967, in effect, consolidated the information in all three previous volumes into one volume. In one sequence under name of issuing agency, this new guide provided the added enhancements of indexing by agency, title, and subject. A second edition of this guide appeared in 1970, dropping Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal classification data and relying solely on the SUDOCS classification. Andriot arranged the 1970 edition in SUDOCS order rather than by alphabetic agency sequence as he had done with his original edition. The third issuance of the Guide (1971) contained three notable changes from its 1967 and 1970 forebearers: it finally achieved annual status, the definition of “series” was expanded to include monographic series, and John Andriot renamed the work Guide to U.S. Government Publications. Andriot cannibalized his two failed earlier popular works in order to provide example works for the series descriptions. Although he would make minor content and cosmetic changes with each succeeding edition, his 20-year struggle to create the basic authority and provenance tool for U.S. government publications had been accomplished. Librarians quickly dubbed the Guide to U.S. Government Publications, “Andriot,” in homage to its originator. Since 1970, Andriot has stressed two stated purposes: “1) to provide an annotated guide to the most important series and periodicals currently being published by the various U.S. government agencies as well as important reference publications issued within the various series; and 2) to provide a complete list of the Superintendent of Documents classification numbers” [ 181. The first purpose, carefully stated, permits John Andriot to peruse the entire range of federal government publishing making his own decisions as to what constitutes “the most important series and periodicals” and “important reference publications published within series.” He chose, for instance, not to attempt any coverage of the technical report literature, the prodigious production of which he had prophesied in 1952. Nor, for reasons explained above, does he take on the “field” publications, the existence of which still plague

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documents bibliographers and GPO procurement officers. Andriot decided to focus most carefully on the world of the GPO and Washington-based agencies for his in-depth coverage. He does not, in the content-based library sense, catalog government documents. Rather, he follows the archival practice of identifying series and employing illustrative examples where desirable. Andriot implicitly maintains that all government documents publishing is of a serial nature. A complete list of all SUDOCS classification numbers therefore reinforces the principle of arrangement by provenance which is the cornerstone of that classification system. To employ Andriot’s Guide to U.S. Government Publications effectively it is necessary to understand these principles. Andriot enters bibliographic data about United States federal government documents according to the SUDOCS classification system. A complete Andriot entry includes SUDOCS class number, title, availability, frequency of publication, inception date, contents summary, notes, and ISSN. Most entries, unfortunately, remain incomplete as will be shown later in this paper. Readers gain access to entries in Andriot’s Guide through its classic features-the title index and the agency index-and through an understanding of the SUDOCS classification system. Before the reforms of the Monthly Catalog in 1974, Andriot provided the only title access to most U.S. government documents. These two indexes refer users to a SUDOCS number, not to a page or sequentially numbered bibliographic entry. Changes in the SUDOCS number appeared in both indexes from 1961 to 1981: In 1982, Andriot added a separate index, the “Agency Class Chronology,” which lists the SUDOCS numbers and their dates of use since the inception of the system in 1904. Without this third index, even trained documents librarians will often experience problems locating government documents. The Guide (“Andriot”) gives careful consideration to many subseries and monographs hidden within the SUDOCS series structure. These subseries result from agency information practices and not from any quirks within the SUDOCS classification system itself. A good example of the Guide’s coverage of a subseries is the Bureau of the Census “Governmental Finance Series” (SUDOCS class C3.191/2). Andriot annotates and traces eight statistical subseries on federal, state, and local revenue and expenditures. Each annotation also notes changes in the subseries’ SUDOCS class number. Illustrative of Andriot’s coverage of a monographic series is the Bureau of Indian Affairs “General Publications Series” (SUDOCS class 120.2). The Guide annotates seven monographs published between 1838 and 1975 [19]. There is no doubt that John Andriot strove to create a resource that would assist highly trained professionals who would appreciate the intricacies and purpose of his Guide. The absence of a reader’s explanation of the work in its frontmatter must be viewed as a serious oversight by those less expert in the field of government documents. The continual cosmetic changes John Andriot imposed on the various editions of his Guide generated more problems than they solved. On one level, these changes constituted annoying eccentricities that had a negative impact on the work’s utility. On another level, the cosmetic changes reflect the questions confronted by John Andriot in his struggle to describe in bibliographic terms the constant flux of government information practices. The first question was what should be done with changes in provenance- with “new” or “dead” agencies or series. Andriot adopted a static guide to a fluid bibliographic situation with numerous updated editions, with extra space in the texts for user inserted revisions, and with section divisions that distinguised between “continuing” and “discontinued” SUDOCS numbers. The Guide appeared annually with a fair amount of regularity during the period 1959 through 1984. Its superior paper and binding caused Andriot to be an expensive standing order for most libraries; many opted to make a one-time purchase and do selfupdates or to purchase it at longer than annual intervals. Andriot himself implanted the idea

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for self-updating in the minds of librarians when, in his 1962 edition, he noted that the Guide contained conveniently placed blank spaces to allow librarians “to enter current numbers as they are published [20].” However, this convenience in the Guide’s second edition became a real nuisance by 1982. Documents librarianship moved past personal annotations in favor of more readily available printed resources. The expensive blank spaces that comprised a full fifteen percent of the 1980 Guide’s total volume had largely disappeared by the 1983 edition. The 1971 edition of Andriot began the unfortunate and hotly debated practice of dividing the work into two separate SUDOCS number sequences: one for current agencies and the other for agencies in the bureaucratic graveyard. The 1973 and 1975 editions were looseleaf in format to allow easy updating, yet they retained the current and noncurrent division concept. The 1976 and 1978 editions dropped the principle of division by agency status in favor of a multiple volume arrangement (four volumes: A, C-H, I-W, X-Z + indexes). Each volume would be published at a six-month interval thereby updating the entire set on a two-year cycle [21]. The 1980 and succeeding volumes returned to the two-volume “current/noncurrent” arrangement. As of 1981, the non-current volume became available only on microfiche, and did not include agency status changes that occurred after 1980. One of the most annoying problems with the Guide’s current/non-current concept is that its indexes do not give a SUDOCS number’s status. Thus, the searcher often searches to no avail in the wrong volume. After 1980, because the current agency volume was in paper and the noncurrent volume in microfiche, searchers had the added problem of logistics. Librarians who had long ignored Andriot eccenticities began to question the work’s validity, and younger librarians may begin to avoid it altogether [22]. What data concerning government documents series do libraries require? Early Andriot editions presented Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal, and SUDOCS classification numbers whenever possible. The 1962 edition adopted a stylized boxing of bibliographic data into ten separate fields (see Figure 3). The surge in government publishing caused increasingly long time lags between issue date and the availability of Library of Congress cataloging information. In 1970, as a result of this situation, Andriot decided to omit Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal classification fields. In 1971 he replaced the field boxes and the single-column page arrangement with a standardized bibliographic entry and a doublecolumn page arrangement (see Figure 4). Unfortunately, the Guide’s foreword also dropped the explanation of the data contained in each bibliographic entry. The 1983 edition condensed the two-column format into a three-column format, thereby economizing space and ultimately affecting the size and cost of the volume without sacrificing and data (see Figure 5). Over the years John Andriot’s cosmetic changes to the Guide often adversely affected its contents. Numerous gaps and omissions in the bibliographic data exist in all editions. During the ten years that Andriot employed boxed fields, very few series carried data in all ten fields. None of the 43 series in the Bureau of the Census section, for example, had data in more than five fields. The new “Agency Class Chronology” lacks SUDOCS number provenance for nearly 25 percent of the series listed therein. Some agencies are ignored; the American Republics Bureau (SUDOCS class AR) and its successor, the Pan American Union (SUDOCS class PA) appear only in the Class Chronology. Andriot omits the legislative calendars for six congressional committees, and subseries analysis in general has proven to be erratic throughout the various editions. In addition, many series contain superseded information. Andriot’s 1984 edition gives only 1967 data for the Annual Survey of Manufactures and the Census of Manufactures; it lists the 1969 edition of the Dictionary of Economic and Statistical Terms but not the 1972 or the 1976 editions. Andriot carefully lists the new SUDOCS numbers for Congressional bills, documents, and reports, yet, inexplicably, the

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Figure 3. Example of the “boxed” fields format used from 1962 to 1970. Source: John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, p. 49.

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Figure 5. Example of triple column format first used in 1983. Source: John Andriot, Guide to United States Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1985). p. 29.

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same edition notes that these publications “are not classified [by SUDOCS class] but instead are designated by Congress, session, and individual number” [23]. Other errors and inconsistencies too numerous to mention here exist, but the examples offered are representative and suggest the cumulative effect of the problem. Andriot’s coverage of government publishing remains uneven even after 30 years. John Andriot often incorporated some of his less successful projects to expand his Guide. Many annotations from the two earlier works (1960 and 1968) that had been targeted to a popular audience still appear in the 1984 Guide. The Department of Agriculture still receives more attention than any other agency, accounting for 7.5 percent of the 5000 series available through the GPO, yet it accounts for 13 percent of the Guide’s text-a similar imbalance that has been persistent in every edition of the Guide. The Agricultural Handbook series (SUDOCS class A1.76) has more annotations than any other series, most of them dating from the 1960s. Some insight into the reason for this disproportionate attention to the series of the USDA may be found in John Andriot’s last attempt at surveying popular documents, the Checklist of Major U.S. Government Series [24]. He aborted this work after producing only the volume that annotated USDA series. Economic necessity dictated that John Andriot abandon popular audience surveys like the Checklist for the more financially successful Guide. Perhaps economy of effort demanded he likewise absorb the Checklist’s annotations into the Guide. Minor content problems also plague Andriot. Typographical errors are the worst of these. In the 1982 edition, for instance, there was an average of one typographical error for every two pages, or approximately 584 “typos” [25]. Even SUDOCS class numbers seem to be prone to errors, e.g., SUDOCS class GS4.100 (the Office of the Federal Register), is listed in the non-current fiche as A4.100. Problems such as these threaten the integrity and the market for the Guide far more so than do its competitors. During the 1970s the marketplace began to recognize the potential for bibliographic control of government documents as a salable product. New commercial bibliographic indexes and finding aids emerged, some of them outperforming the utility of Andriot’s Guide. Under pressure from the government documents community, the GPO also improved its Monthly Catalog, List of Classes, and item selection cards. Other agencies, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Defense Documentation Center, among them, created new finding aids to the technical reports and other government publications never before adequately listed. All of these developments give rise to the question of the present viability of Andriot’s Guide to U.S. Government Publications as a useful tool to the government documents professional. VIABILITY OF THE GUIDE The new tools that have come into the market do not directly compete with Andriot’s Guide, but rather complement it. Most of the newer resources seek to establish what has been termed external bibliographic control [26]. The newer tools exist because traditional library cataloging-institutional bibliographic control-balks at the complexities of government publishing [27]. Andriot, on the other hand, provides internal bibliographic control at the series, not the individual document, level [28]. Andriot’s Guide allows the librarian who is cognizant of archival theory and practice to bypass the bottleneck that administrators and the demands of traditional book cataloging too often create. The Congressional Information Service, Inc. (CIS) products (CZS Index/Abstract and ASZ Index/Abstract), for example, maintain bibliographic currency at the cost of lengthy retrospective searches; Andriot’s Guide conversely excels at retrospective searches while usually sacrificing currency. Yet, even

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tools that ostensibly treat government publications in a retrospective fashion, Andriot fares well. Compare, for example, the bibliographic coverage of White House Conferences in three similar titles: Andriot, Poole, and Checklist 1976. Eighteen White House Conferences occurred between 1903 and 1977; Poole lists all 18, Andriot 16, and Checklist 1976 12 [29]. Each provides scope notes, but Andriot’s are longer. Poole and Checklist 1976 cite an annual report for the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health (1969-70); Andriot does not, but neither does GPO’s Monthly Catalog, the National Union Catalog, or the other publications of the conference. Because these tools each contain minor flaws, they may be considered roughly equal in their accuracy. However, Andriot is superior by virtue of its updated editions; Poole and Checklist 1976 are not likely to be updated past 1977 [30] (see Appendix 1). New guides to reference and popular documents definitely outperform Andriot. Government Reference BovF.> (GRB), for example, provides more current in-depth annotation to documents monographs than does Andriot [31]. Its scope and coverage, however, differ from that of the Guide. GRB identifies ready-reference works within documents series; Andriot maps an entire information system. Online bibliographic services probably pose the greatest competition to Andriot. Their seemingly infinite indexing capabilities, constant updating, ease of expansion, and speed of use allow them to cope with the fluid world of government information with less difficulty, and with less irritation to the user, than do John Andriot’s constant changes. If the GPO’s Publications Reference File (PRF) included documents other than only those sold by the GPO and provided retrospective SUDOCS information, then Andriot would be in dire straits. However, until such an online resource becomes available, Andriot’s Guide remains as useful as ever. If the Guide to U.S. Government Publications is a flawed classic, what improvements are needed to remove those flaws? Continuously reshaped and honed from 1959 through 1984, the 1985 edition of the Guide included an update of non-current agencies through 1980. This recent update would have been an ideal time for Andriot to consider a comprehensive revision of the entire work based on extensive user input, but Andriot has, to a great extent, insulated himself from the everyday documents librarian. The past quarter century of revisions of the Guide seems to have resulted from internal family decisions. Unlike their larger (and more affluent) competitors, the Andriot family neither runs exhibit booths nor haunts the corridors of library convention centers. An open dialogue between librarians and the Andriots would go a long way toward producing a more useful and marketable government documents resource. A comprehensive revision would allow the expansion of coverage to all government information series. This revision is particularly desirable as the GPO still excludes many government series from any bibliographic control. Pamphlet series, such as those appearing in the Consumer Information Catalog, are often excluded because of the expense and doubtful benefits. Other series, such as the reports and issue briefs of the Congressional Research Service, are excluded for political reasons. Another benefit from a complete overhaul of the Guide at this time would be an end to the splitting of SUDOCS classes into the current/non-current format. A microfiche edition of the entire Guide would comprise approximately ten microfiche. The microfiche product could be generated from a computerized data file thereby permitting easy and regular updating; one could see as a logical next step an online version. The chronic problem that John Andriot has always faced, and still must overcome, is a static communication form (paper) that is unable to address adequately a dynamic information base (government information). A change in attitude from both John Andriot and the government information community is necessary. Some professional reviewers have found that Andriot’s Guide is a luxury to be among

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reserved for larger GPO depositories [32]. This is not unreasonable, since John Andriot did much to foster such a view when he said, “the Guide is geared for the medium and large-sized depositories” [33]. It would be far better to emphasize that the unique nature of government information requires a unique method of bibliographic control. Such an attitude will recognize that Andriot’s Guide to U.S. Government Publications, although perhaps a flawed classic, provides an invaluable resource for control and access of U.S. government publications. Government publications librarians owe John Andriot and his family a great debt. Perhaps the best repayment is through the proper use of their guides. NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. Peter Gellately [review of Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals, 7th ed., Library Journal 97 (March 15, 1972): 993. 2. [Review of Guide to U.S. Guide to Government Publications, 1980 ed.], CHOICE 17 (March 1980): 47. 3. William L. Rofes et. al. (ed), “A Basic Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Record Managers,” American Archivist 37 (July, 1974): 430. 4. Ibid. 5. Richard Harold Lytle, Subject Retrieval in Archives: A Comparison of the Provenance and Content Indexing Methods (Ph.D. Diss. University of Maryland, 1979). See also Richard Lytle, “Intellectual Access to Archives: II. Report of an Experiment Comparing Provenance and Content Indexing Methods of Subject Retrieval,” American Archivist 43 (Spring 1980): 191-207. 6. Personal conversations with John Andriot, January, 1984. 7. John Andriot, Classtfied Checklist of United States Government Processed Publications, Preliminary Edition (Washington: Documents Expediting Project, 1951), p. i. 8. John Andriot, “Government Serials at Mid-Century,” Serials Slants: A Quarterly 2 (April 1952): l-10. 9. Ibid. 10. John Andriot, “Documents Expediting Project,” Library Journal 77 (15 April, 1952): 695. 11. John Andriot, “Government Serials at Mid-Century,” 2. 12. Ibid., p. 4. 13. Information based on cards still in use in the documents shelflist, McKeldin Library, University of Maryland. The author acknowledges the invaluable assistance of McKeldin staff member Sonia Bernard0 for this data. 14. Jeanne Andriot, Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, 85th Congress, 2nd Sess. (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1967), p. ii. See also Julius Marke, [review] Library Journal 83 (15 December 1958): 3525. Bernard Vavrek [review] Library Journal 92 (15 October, 1967): 3625. 15. Jean H. Mahler [review of Guide to Popular U.S. Government Publications], Library Journal 85 (1 November 1960): 3966. 16. Frederick Wezeman [review of U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals], Library Journal 88 (1 February 1963): 554. 17. Frederick Wezeman [review of U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals], Library Journal 90 (May 1964): 2068. 18. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, all editions), foreword. 19. These seven annotations appear unaltered in all editions from 1975 through 1985. 20. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents, 1962). p. iii. 21. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean VA: Documents Index, 1976), foreword. 22. Joe Morehead, Introduction to United States Public Documents, 3rd ed. (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1983), p. 127. 23. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1982), pp. 773-774. 24. John Andriot, Checklist of Major U.S. Government Series (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1975). 25. Based on a personal proofreading of all 1169 pages of the 1982 edition. Data supplied upon request. See entries for SUDOCS numbers “A13.13”, “EPl.35”, “M2”, and “TD4.15/7” for examples of individual entries having at least two typographical errors. 26. Peter Hernon and Charles McClure, Public Access to Government Information: Issues, Trends, and Strategies (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp., 1984), p. 12. The commercial indexes and finding aids often create their own data elements for government documents, violating the principals of provenance and series upon which government publishing is based. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid. 29. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1977); Mary Elizabeth Poole, Documents Office Classification, 5th ed. (Arlington, VA: Carrollton Press, 1977); Checklist of United States Public Documents, 1789-1976 (Arlington, VA: U.S. Historical Documents Institute, 1978).

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30. LeRoy C. Schwartzkopf [review of Documents Office Classification, 5th ed., American Reference Book Annual 10 (1979): 63. 3 1. Government Reference Books: A Biennial Guide to U.S. Government Publications (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1968- ). 32. Marta Dosa, [review of Guide to U.S. Government Serials And Periodicals], College and Research Libraries 33 (July 1972): 334. 33. “The Guide to U.S. Government Publications-Still Your Best Buy” (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1983). This flyer advertised the 1984 edition.

APPENDIX 1 White House Conferences, 1930-1976 Although the first White House Conference was called by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, the Superintendent of Documents did not begin bibliographic coverage of the Conferences as a separate class until 1930. Listed below are the White House Conferences held from 1930 until 1976. They are listed first by their SUDOCS number, according to the rule of provenance, then by name of the conference, dates, and series of publications. The letters following each conference series denote which bibliographic guide lists that series: (A) Guide to United States Government Publications “Andriot,” (C) Checklist of U.S. Public Documents, 1789-1976 “Checklist ‘76,” and (P) Documents Office Classification, Fifth Edition “Poole.” Y. 3. W58.

Child Health and Protection, 1930 : l/ Proceedings (A, P) : 2/ General Publications (A,C,P) : 3/ Bulletins (A,P) : 4/ Circulars (A,P) : 5/ Current Information (A,P) : 6/ White House Conference Happenings (A,P)

Y 3. W58/2.

Education, 1954-55 : l/ Annual reports (A,P) : 2/ General Publications (A,C,P) : 7/ Press releases (P) : 8/ Newsletter (A) : 9/ Conference Notes (P)

Y 3. W58/3.

Children, 1960 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y 3. W58/3-2.

Children, 1970 : I/ Reports (A, P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P) : 9/ Bibliographies (P)

Y3.W58/3-3.

Youth, 1970-7 1 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,P)

Y3. W58/4.

Aging, 1958-61 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications, (A,C,P) : 8/ Handbooks, manuals, guides (A,P)

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Y3. W58/4-2.

Aging, 1970-71 This White House Conference is not carried by any of the guides.

Y3. W58/5.

Narcotics and Drug Abuse, 1962 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,P)

Y3. W58/6.

Conservation, 1962 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/7.

National Economic Issues, 1962 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/8.

Export Expansion, 1963 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/9.

Mental Retardation, 1963 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/10.

Committee for the Preservation of the White House, 1964This is not a “White House Conference.”

Y3. W58/11.

International Cooperation, 1965 : l/ Reports (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/12.

Natural Beauty, 1965 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P) : 3/ Press releases (A,P)

Y3. W58/13.

Equal Employment Opportunity, 1965 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/14.

Health, 1965 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/15.

“To Fulfill These Rights,” 1966 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,C,P)

Y3. W58/16.

Food, Nutrition, and Health, 1969-70 : l/ Report (P) : 2/ General publications (A,C)

Y3. W58/17.

Industrial World Ahead, 1971 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,P)

Andriot’s guide: A flawed classic?

: 7/ Press releases (A,P) : 9/ Addresses (A,P)

Y3. W58/18.

Handicapped Individuals, 1976 : l/ Report (A,P) : 2/ General publications (A,P) : 3/ National newsletter (A,P) APPENDIX 2 An Andriot Family Bibliography

1. Donna Andriot and Laurie Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Maps (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1975). 2 volumes. 432 p. Volume One: Geologic and Hydrologic Maps, Preliminary Edition. Volume Two: Location Index. 2. Donna Andriot and Laurie Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Maps (Revised Edition) (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1977). 3. Donna Andriot and Laurie Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Maps: Geologic and Hydrologic Maps, 1978/79 Supplement Updated through June 1979 (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1979), 279 p. 4. Donna Andriot and Laurie Andriot, Guide to USGS Geological and Hydrological Maps (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1983), 644 p. 5. Jeanne Andriot, Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, 85th Congress, 2nd Sess. (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1958), 110, A77 p. 6. Jeanne Andriot, Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, 86th Congress (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1960). 7. Jeanne Andriot, Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess. Through the 86th Congr., 2nd Sess. (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1960), 433 p. 8. Jeanne Andriot, Checklist and Index of Congressional Hearings, 1958-1960 (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967), 433 p, 9. John Andriot, Checklist of Major U.S. Government Series. Volume One: Department of Agriculture (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1972). 10. John Andriot, Classified Checklist of United States Government Processed Publications (Washington: Documents Expediting Project, 1951), 86 p. 11. John Andriot, “Documents Expediting Project,” Library Journal 77 (April 15, 1952): 693-695. 12. John Andriot, “Government Serials at Mid-Century,” Serials Slants: A Quarterly 2 (April 1952): l-10. 13. John Andriot, Guide to the Building Inscriptions of the Nation’s Capital (Arlington, VA: Jay-Way Press, 1955), 57 p. 14. John Andriot, Guide to Popular U.S. Government Publications (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1960), 125 p. 15. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1973). Volume One: Current GovernmentAgencies. Looseleaf. Volume Two: NonCurrent Government Agencies. Loose-leaf. Index and Updating Supplement Six (December 1974), 324 p. 16. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1976 edition). Volume One: “A” (1976), 341 p. Volume Two: “C-H” (1977), Various pagination. Volume Three: ‘I-S” (1977), Various pagination. Volume Four: “T-Z” (1978), Various pagination.

488

WILLIAM

L. OLBRICH

17. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1978 edition). Volume One: “A-B” (1978). Various pagination. Volume Two: ‘C-H” (1978). Various pagination. Volume Three: “I- w” (1979). Various pagination. Volume Four: “X-Z” and Index (1979). Various pagination. 18. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Governmental Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1980 edition). Volume One: SuDocs Classes for All Agencies Currently in Existence. (1980), 1063 p. Volume Two: SuDocs Classes for Those Agencies Abolished Prior to And Including 1974. (1980), 589 p. 19. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1981), 22 microfiche. Volume One: SuDocs Classes for All Agencies Currently in Existence. Volume Two: [reprint of Volume Two, I980 edition.] Volume Three: Agency Class Chronology. 20. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1982 edition). Volume One: SuDocs Classes for All Agencies Currently in Existence and Agency Class Chronology, 1169 p. Volume Two: [Reprint of Volume Two, 1980 Edition], 11 microfiche. 21. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1983 edition). Volume One: SuDocs Classes for All Agencies Currently in Existence and Agency Class Chronology, 772 p. Volume Two: [Reprint of Volume Two, 1980 EditionJ, 11 microfiche. 22. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1984 edition). Volume One: Current SuDocs Classes, 789 p. Volume Two: [Reprint of Volume Two, 1980 edition], 11 microfiche. 23. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Publications (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1985 edition). Volume One: Current Agencies, Agency Class Chronology, Agency Index, and Title Index, 738 p. Volume Two: Non-Current Agencies [Abolished or Changed Prior to January 1, 19801, 456 p. 24. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1962). Volume One: Current Serials and Periodicals of Washington Agencies, 658 p. 25. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1964 edition). Volume One: Current Serials and Periodicals of Washington Agencies. (1964), 817 p. Volume Two: Releases and Ephemeral Publications. (1964), 372 p. Volume Three: Field Publications of Executive Agencies. (1965), 445 p. Volume Four: 1965 Supplement and Index to Volumes One thru Four. (19671, 352 p. 26. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1967 edition). Volume One, pages 1-1795. Volume Two, pages 1796-3884. Volume Three and Index pages 3885-4253. 27. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1968), 327 p. 28. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1969 edition). Volume One, pages 1-1922. Volume Two, pages 1923-3794. Volume Three: Supplement. (1970) 101 p. 29. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean: VA: Documents Index, 1970 edition). [main volume], 609 p. Supplement One, 104 p. 30. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1971). Volume One: U.S. Government Agencies, An Authority File, 188 p. Volume Two: Current Government Agencies, An Authority File, 188 p. Volume Two: Current Government Agencies, 578 p. Volumes Three and Four. Non-Current Gov-

Andriot’s guide: A flawed classic?

31.

32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37.

38. 39. 40. 41. 42.

489

ernment Agencies, Discontinued SuDocs Class Numbers, and Index, various pagination. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals, Eighth Edition (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1972), 1168 p. Volume One: Current Government Agencies. Volume Two: Non-Current Government Agencies and Discontinued SuDocs Class Numbers. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Statistics, Revised and Enlarged Edition (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1958), loose-leaf. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Statistics, Second Edition Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1961), 402 p. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Statistics, Third Edition Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1969), 402 p. John Andriot, Guide to U.S. Government Statistics, Fourth Edition (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1973), 431 p. John Andriot, Population Abstract of the United States (McLean, VA: Andriot Associates, 1980), 925 p. John Andriot, Population Abstract of the United States, Enlarged and Revised Edition (McLean, VA: Documents Index, 1983 edition). Volume One: Tables, 895 p. Volume Two: Index, 406 p. John Andriot, Township Atlas of the United States (McLean, VA: Andriot Associates, 1979), 1184 p. John Andriot, U.S. Government Releases (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1957), loose-leaf. John Andriot, U.S. Government Serials and Periodicals, Pilot Edition (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1959), various pagination. John Andriot, U.S. Government Statistics (Arlington, VA: Documents Index, 1956). John Andriot and Jeanne Andriot, Motion Pictures and Books (Cincinnati, OH: Motion Pictures Index, 1947).