Riding the technology waves in search of electronic access: CD-ROM, gophers, the WWW and beyond: A viewpoint

Abstract In the past decade, there has been an explosion of electronic access to government information. The Government Printing Office (GPO) and other federal agencies began to provide access to digitized government information by embracing Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) technology in the late 1980s. In the ensuing time, the government has produced an increasing amount of materials in this format which in turn has required libraries to upgrade their technology and librarians to upgrade their technologic skills. CD-ROM has many advantages, but is essentially an interim technology with significant access drawbacks. The last few years have brought a groundswell of Internet usage, first via gophers and then via graphical browsers of the World Wide Web (WWW). Government resources are widespread on the WWW, but CD-ROM is still a factor. While CD-ROM has some value as an archival format and many government resources are best served by paper publications, a strong commitment to network resources is the best route for government depositories to take. GPO needs to assume a leadership role in the advances of technology. Phasing out federal CD-ROMs would be a good step in that direction.