Taking on the challenges of academic publishing in the age of Web 3.0, Michael Jensen, director of strategic Web communications for the National Academies, describes what he calls "Authority 3.0".

• The New Metrics of Scholarly Authority, [subscription required] by Michael Jensen, The Chronicle of Higher Education "The Chronicle Review" Volume 53, Issue 41, Page B6 (June 15, 2007). Also available for a few days without subscripion

What he describes is very relevant to government information. He says that the old models we've used in the past to regulate, authenticate, and authorize information don't work in a world of digital information abundance. Publishers (and I would include government agencies in this assessment) need to work with "repositories" and allow the public "to interact with material."

I also don't know whether many, or most, scholarly publishers will be able to adapt to the challenge. But I think that those who completely lock their material behind subscription walls risk marginalizing themselves over the long term. They simply won't be counted in the new authority measures. They need to cooperate with some of the new search sites and online repositories, share their data with outside computing systems. They need to play a role in deciding not just what material will be made available online, but also how the public will be allowed to interact with the material. That requires a whole new mind-set.