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Administrative Message - Support, CFR, New Access

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 Administrative Message - Support, CFR, New Access




PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE CAREFULLY AND SAVE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE



     This message is being sent to provide information on three areas of 
interest to most subscribers.


    

  1.  Self help instructions for dealing with subscribe, unsubscribe, 
retransmittals, etc.


  2.  Access information for the new portable document format (PDF) files 
available for Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations on the EPA public 
access gopher and WWW.


  3.  Updated information on information available directly from the 
Government Printing Office that is now FREE (except for a $15 software 
license fee).
    

    


  4.  The listserver operations are designed in a self help structure with 
all resources committed to providing information.  I have received a large 
number of personal requests that I have been unable to meet and get the 
backlog of information posted from the two government shutdowns that have 
disrupted service.  


You can perform many of the tasks that you have requested from your work 
station with the following information.  While I am happy to fill your 
personal requests the lag time will be significant.  If your e-mail address 
has changed you "will not" be able to do this for yourself and I ask that 
you mark your messages "PRIORITY ASSISTANCE REQUEST."


    
In no case can we send messages that were in multiple parts back to the 
listserver for people who did not get everything due to a glitch, and 
personal transmittal and retrieval are to labor intensive.  You need to get 
this information from the Archives or go to the gopher if you have that 
access capability.


    
People going on vacation or out of the office should not put automatic 
response messages on their systems without unsubscribing.  We are receiving 
a flood of automated responses to each document sent to a person with this 
feature.  I am glad you are on vacation, but the record is 962 notices back 
to my e-mail box telling me that fact.  It disrupts my ability to assist 
all subscribers.


    
For those who requested an explanation of the last administrative message 
about initializing the listserver for 1996 the message was required to set 
the date parameters for the public access gopher where the listserver 
information is posted automatically.  Those lists receiving the message had 
not been used to transmit 1996 FR documents and the gopher function needed 
to be set.  Hope this clarifies the issue.  Subscribers needed to do 
nothing in response.


    
COMMAND ASSISTANCE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS


    
The address for all "administrative type actions is the same for all lists:



    
listserver@unixmail.rtpnc.epa.gov


    
Please do not send messages to the list addresses themselves.  The 
following are sample messages using myself as the person making the 
request.  Insert your own name where appropriate, and select the name of 
the list you want to transact with.  Each list is an independent entity, 
but with messages on a new line they can be "batched."  Your actual e-mail 
address is recognized without including it in the message.  All messages go 
in the body of the e-mail.


    
To Subscribe:


    
Subscribe epa-pest John Richards


    
To Unsubscribe:


    
Unsubscribe epa-pest
    
Unsubscribe epa-tox
    
Unsubscribe epa-waste
    
Unsubscribe epa-air


    
NOTE: no name included.  this is a sample "batch" request.


    
To Get an Index of the Archives:


    
Index epa-pest


    
NOTE: this will be for all documents from October, 1994 to the present.


    
To retrieve a document from the Archives:


    
Get epa-pest 02FEB96


    
NOTE: this will retrieve all documents for that day as one message.  
documents sent during the shutdown recovery will be posted on the date sent 
to the listserver not the date of publication.  the EPA public access 
gopher is a better source if you have access.


    
Master list names:


    
epafr-contents
    
epa-meetings
    
epa-sab
    
epa-impact
    
epa-species
    
epa-general 
    
epa-air
    
epa-pest
    
epa-tox
    
epa-tri
    
epa-waste
    
epa-water


    
These commands also work for the press release listserver epa-press.



    
2.  EPA Pilot 1995 CFR files for Title 40 - Environmental Protection


    
     This information has been posted to the EPA public access gopher 
(gopher.epa.gov) and home page (http://earth1.epa.gov) as a companion to 
the Environmental Sub-Set of the daily issue of the FEDERAL REGISTER under 
the Rules, Regulations and Legislation heading.


    
     This pilot project does not contain graphic files at this
time, but does represent a major step forward in providing
electronic access to the CFR within the available resources.
ASCII files are not available because of the extensive work
required to remove the Government Printing Office (GPO)
typesetting codes from the files.  PDF is the only available
format option until GPO creates an "official" electronic version
of the CFR as a companion to the current daily issue of the
FEDERAL REGISTER we use to support the Environmental Sub-Set.


    
The following is the text of the "About" files that has been
posted explaining the project.


    
---
    
       1995 TITLE 40 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CFR PILOT


    
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed the 1995
Title 40 - Environmental Protection CFR Pilot in an effort to
expand access to environmental regulations prior to the release of
an official electronic version of the entire Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) by the Government Printing Office (GPO).


    
The files that have been used to create the information released
under this pilot were provided by the Office of the Federal
Register (OFR), and represent the data used by GPO to print the
July 1, 1995 edition of 40 CFR.


    
The technical issues related to development of a complete
"official" version of the entire 50 titles of the CFR, including
development of quality graphic files for the historical images for
which no original artwork exists, have prevented GPO from creating
an electronic CFR accessible as a parallel product to the
"official" electronic version of the daily issue of the FEDERAL
REGISTER.


    
As in the case of the electronic Environmental Sub-Set of the daily
issue of the FEDERAL REGISTER, provided elsewhere under this
section of the EPA public access gopher, an effort has been made to
provide public access to the best information available.  The
Environmental Sub-Set documents are downloaded from the GPO WAIS
server, which maintains the official electronic version of the
FEDERAL REGISTER.  The CFR files are taken from the OFR electronic
version of the GPO files used to print the paper volumes.  The
difference in these files being that these electronic CFR files
should not be cited as "official" or authoritative because they do
not represent a redistribution of a complete joint OFR/GPO
publication.



    
Several features have been built into the "Pilot" project that will
provide for the growth and testing of additional options in
releasing CFR material.  They include:


      

    1.  Structuring of the files by Part, or in the case of large Parts
by Subpart.  This will permit future updating of the electronic
files as individual Parts without replacing the entire database. 
An analysis area has been created to identify how much of 40 CFR
actually changes between CFR editions starting with 1995 data as
a baseline.  This feature is also something that could be used to
track quarterly electronic updates while maintaining the once a
year paper printing in the future.


    2.  The complete list of sections affected, arranged by Subchapter,
has been provided from the back of the appropriate volumes.  This
"restructuring" of the finding aids was necessary to parallel the
electronic display of the regulations.  Providing this listing has
the potential to build hyperlinks between the CFR and the
electronic daily issue in the future.


    3.  Portable Document Format (PDF) files are the only files being
provided at this time in an effort to preserve the integrity of the
GPO "microcomp" coded files.  No intervention was required other
than extracting and processing the specific blocks of data.  No
value added conversions have been applied to the files in an effort
to maintain the integrity of the source material.  Added features
in PDF technology will also provide enhancements to these files as
part of the overall development of the technology.  GPO developed
PDF files for the daily issue of the FEDERAL REGISTER and it is
reasonable to assume that this technology will also be an option
for the future "official" CFR.


Point of contact for further information on this section:


      
John A. Richards
      
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
      
401 M St., S.W.
      
Washington, D.C. 20460-0001
      
(202)260-2253
      
richards.john@epamail.epa.gov



      
3.  New access information for the Government Printing Office (GPO).


      
     GPO has made most of their databases available free, except for a $15 
charge for software access capability.  This is a major change from the 
$375 per year access charge.  There are still issues of telephone charges 
for the SWAIS access (users pay real time online to the phone company).  


      
     EPA will continue to maintain the Environmental Sub-Set service and 
post additional support documents, and related information.  For those who 
want access to the master database the following information should be 
helpful.



      
     The following is a list of all databases currently offered
via GPO Access.  


      
Congressional Bills          (103d and 104th Congress)
Congressional Calendars      (104th Congress)
Congressional Directory      (1995-96)
      
Congressional Documents      (104th Congress) 
Congressional Record         (103d and 104th Congress)
Congressional Record Index   (1992-1995)
Congressional Reports        (104th Congress)
Economic Indicators          (April 1995 forward)
Federal Register             (1994 and 1995)
GAO Reports                  (FY 1995 forward)
Government Manual            (1995-96)
      
History of Bills             (103d and 104th Congress)
Pubic Laws                   (104th Congress)
Unified Agenda               (1994 and 1995)

U.S. Code                    



      
ACCESS AND SUPPORT CONTACTS:  To obtain additional information, software or 
to establish access the following contact points at GPO will be helpful.


      
GPO Access User Support Team
      
help@eids05.eids.gpo.gov
      
phone: 202-512-1530
      
fax: 202-512-1262


      
Superintendent of Documents' home page
      
http://www.access.gpo/su_docs


      
on line databases can be accessed by adding:
/aces/aaces002.html


      
     I hope you find this information helpful, and I appreciate your using 
the self help commands to perform those administrative functions that I 
have been unable to assist with due to the volume of work and requests.


      
Thanks.


      
John

 
 

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