Present: Sue Anderson (Eastern Washington University), Ramirose Attebury (Central Washington University), Robin Clausen (Tacoma Public Library), Carlos Diaz (The Evergreen State College), Sandra Dyer (Washington State Law Library), Linda Fredericks (King County Library System), Cassandra Hartnett (University of Washington), Herrick Heitman (Washington State Library), Peggy Jarrett (University of Washington Law Library), Rob Lopresti (Western Washington University), Zola Maddison (recent UW graduate) Lori Ricigliano (University of Puget Sound), Judy Solomon (Seattle Public Library), Janice Thomas (University of Washington), Marilyn Von Seggern (Washington State University).

Tour of Seattle Public Library
Following refreshments and a short meet and greet session, the fall meeting of the Northwest Government Information Network began with a tour of the new Seattle Public Library - Central Library. Judy Solomon hosted an informative tour of the architecturally impressive facility which included a walk up and down the books spiral, mixing chamber, meeting rooms, living room, world languages collection, children’s area. The group also experienced the 10 a.m. opening of the library and watched the crowd of individuals enter the building.

Current Digitization Projects
At 10:30 a.m. the group moved to the computer lab training room, where demonstrations of several digitalization projects were made. Marilyn Von Seggern, Washington State University Libraries presented the ‘Palouse Digital Project’ and the ‘Western Waters Digital Library’. Marilyn shared the history of the content of the Palouse Digital Project from its initial beginnings as the Palouse Bibliography on 3 x 5 cards, to its printed bibliography form in the late 1980s to the current digital form. The Palouse Digital Project makes accessible a variety of resources including documents, books, theses, photographs, maps, reports, studies, surveys, and oral histories about the Palouse bioregion.

Through the combined efforts of the Greater Western Library Alliance, the Western Waters Digital Library contains government reports, classic water literature, legal transcripts, water project records, personal papers, photographic collections and video materials about the Columbia, Colorado, Platte, and Rio Grande river basins. In addition, it includes the Kimble Northwest History Database and the background documents on the Columbia Basin Project and Grand Coulee Dam (now called the Grand Coulee Dam Collection).

Via telephone, Lenora Oftegahl, StreamNet Librarian, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in Portland shared her work on the StreamNet Library and responded to questions from the membership. This resource includes the Bibliography of Vancouver Lake Watershed including Burnt Bridge Creek, Flushing Channel, Lake River and Salmon Creek. It includes a history of restoration efforts of Vancouver Lake. The StreamNet Library provides access to technical information and research on the Columbia River basin fisheries, ecosystems and other relevant subjects.

Carlos Diaz, The Evergreen State College, presented his continuing work on the Census Publishing Information: 1790-2000 and the Checklist of United States Public Documents 1789-1909 He also shared his latest project, the Digital Maps Archives , which includes selected maps and other publications from the Evergreen collections that were deteriorating and digitized with the assistance of John Skierski. These publications include works from the U. S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of American Ethnology - Smithsonian Institution, the Washington Department of Ecology, the Washington Geological Survey and Water Supply Bulletins.

During the question and answer period, two additional online resources were shared which included the ‘Northwest Digital Archives’ (nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu) and the Washington State Digital Library Resources . The Northwest Digital Archives received additional grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities earlier in the year that will allow its contributing institutions to add additional resources. Along with its recommendations on digital best practices, the Washington State Digital Library Resources provides a list of digital projects/resources in libraries throughout Washington State.

Business Meeting and FDLP Update

• Treasurer's Report
  After lunch, the business meeting opened with the Treasurer’s Report. Treasurer Judy Solomon reported a balance of $913.74 as of November 6, 2005. She also issued a reminder to all members to pay their dues.
  
  
• Election of Officers
  It was determined that no election of officers was required at this meeting. The election of officers will take place at the Spring 2006 Meeting. Only one position, Vice President/Program Chair, will need to be filled at the next meeting. The new Vice President/Program Chair will begin his/her duties at the Fall 2006 Meeting.
  
  
• Fall DLC Report from the Regional Librarian
  Herrick Heitman gave a report from the Fall 2005 Depository Library Council Meeting held in Washington, D.C. With the continuing transfer to an electronic federal depository library system, unresolved issues still remain including the basic definition and requirements of a federal depository library, the print on demand concept and implementation, essential titles list, etc. This last DLC meeting was directed more by council members themselves than in years past and featured several brainstorming sessions conducted by individual council members themselves. The DLC identified four issues: roles of federal depository libraries in the non-exclusive environment of the Internet; managing collections and delivering content; deploying expertise; and, adding values. Due to a family emergency, Judy Russell was not in attendance at this meeting. In addition, another reorganization has occurred at GPO which has lead to unknown roles and some confusion. The New Mexico State Library was named Federal Depository Library of the Year.
  
  
• WLA 2006 Program Report
  Two of the three program proposals submitted by the Northwest Government Information Network for the 2006 Washington Library Association Conference were accepted. A word of appreciation was extended to Carlos Diaz for coordinating this effort. Judy Solomon made a motion to offer a twenty-five dollar honorarium to each of the presenters. It was seconded by Carlos Diaz and the motion passed. It was also suggested that a committee be established to work with the Program Chair on program proposals for the 2007 conference as the program proposal deadline is generally in July of the preceding year. Carlos Diaz volunteered to work on programming ideas.
  
  
• Report from the Washington State Plan Update Committee
  Prior to this meeting, a small committee consisting of Herrick Heitman, Carlos Diaz, Cassandra Hartnett and Robin Clausen worked on revising and updating the Washington State Plan for Federal Depository Library Service. The last revision to the state plan was made in October 1998. Following their efforts, the suggested revisions were incorporated into the draft document presented at the meeting by Herrick Heitman. It was decided that in order to obtain input on this cooperative document from all depository library and librarians, the plan would be divided into several parts and shared with the entire membership. Webmaster Carlos Diaz offered to set-up a blog to accomplish the review and comment process. All stakeholders would be invited to review and comment on each goal or section as it was released. It was suggested that each section have a comment deadline in order to expedite the review process.
  
  
• Membership Outreach
  A short discussion was held on how to draw more individuals into NGIN. It was suggested that the current membership think about ways to involve more individuals. It was also suggested that if the spring DLC meeting is held in Seattle that NGIN share information with the attendees and/or host training programs.
  
  
• Miscellaneous
  A question was asked regarding the usefulness of STAT-USA. It was mentioned that GLOBUS had better information on marketing, trade, starting a new business, etc. It was suggested that NGIN host a STAT-USA training session.