In the past, CD-ROMs were a popular method for distributing Federal information to Federal depository libraries; however, the Internet has become a global medium for content dissemination. In order to provide the highest accessibility to Federal publications, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) staff are evaluating CD-ROMs that were distributed on behalf of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to Federal depository libraries. The goal is to determine if equivalent versions exist on Web sites. GPO is seeking assistance from the FDL community to help compare the content from CD-ROMs that reside within depository collections to online resources. GPO will be utilizing the FDLP Community site to collaborate with depositories on the project. Whether your library can commit to comparing 1 or 100 CD-ROMs, all input is helpful. GPO will work on quality control of the comparisons and provide feedback to participants.

Master lists of CD-ROMs have been posted to the FDLP Community site's forum. The master lists contain records from both the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and DDM2; therefore, duplicate records for each CD-ROM may exist. Volunteers will need an account on the FDLP Community site in order to post and reply to threads on the FDLP Community site forum.

Instructions

1. Download the latest version of the master lists of CD-ROMs from the FDLP Community forum. Only download when ready to begin the comparison in order to obtain the most current list.
2. Consider your subject matter expertise when selecting CD-ROMs to compare. You may choose to state or reserve which CD-ROMs will be compared by your institution on the FDLP Community forum. This allows GPO and others to know which CD-ROMs are currently under review.
3. Look for content on government Web sites or Web sites of their official partners. Locate a proposed online equivalent to the data contained on the CD-ROM. The master list contains some URLs; however, volunteers are encouraged to perform their own research and note additional sources.
4. Compare the contents of the CD-ROMs that reside within the depository collection to the online source. Remember to examine all portions of the CD-ROM content when comparing to the online equivalent. Post any questions that may arise to the FDLP Community Forum. When comparing, please note that the full title can be found in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) record. The entire contents for the full date range on the CD-ROM should be covered in the online version. Share any comments that you have about the formats such as different functionality that might be offered.
5. Report the results of the comparison. Volunteers may also add CD-ROMs that are not on the master list. Results can be reported either by:
   • Uploading the spreadsheet template with findings from columns A-F for the CD-ROMs that were compared.
   • Posting findings through the form below.

GPO will update the master list on a weekly basis to reflect community input.

Ways to Report Results