Reason #273 for why working at Stanford is pretty cool! YesWeScan!!

Letter from Michael A. Keller, Stanford Universiity Librarian

We're live blogging from the Spring '09 Depository Library Council meeting (April 20 - April 22, 2009) from the glorious Hyatt Regency Hotel in Tampa Bay, FL. The Public Printer is to address GPO's role in Government Transparency at 10:30am EST today (monday). You can also track the twitter hashtag #dlc09.

Check here for agenda and schedule.

On 02.24.2009, FGI "wholeheartedly and without reservation" endorsed the YES WE SCAN campaign of Carl Malamud for Public Printer of the United States. Mother Jones unequivocally endorsed Malamud one week later: "President Obama, Appoint Carl Malamud!" (Jonathan Stein | Mon March 2, 2009):

"Carl Malamud is a badass. If you are a techie or a transparency geek, you probably already know who he is. If you've never heard of him, he is an internet pioneer who has worked for decades, at times using renegade means, to make government information public. He fought to make the information in the SEC's "EDGAR" database free and public (which it now is) and is currently leading a similar fight over the court records database PACER. Today, Malamud has another campaign. He wants to become the Public Printer of the United States, i.e. the head of the Government Printing Office (GPO)..."

The Lede Blog, NYTimes.com, looks at Malamud's campaign in "Yes He Scan" (03.04.2009): "To show that he’s the people’s choice, Mr. Malamud is asking for support in the form of links to his site. So far he says he’s got more than 700 endorsements, like these tweets, and this blog post by Lawrence Lessig, which says, in part:

'I can’t imagine a more exciting appointment. Sometimes an agency needs STASIS. Sometimes it needs CHANGE. Gov’t tech is certainly in the second category, and no one I know of could more effectively deliver on the commitment to open government than he.'" [Lessig Blog | 02.27.2009]

Now that Dan, Jim, James and I are done with our latest skirmish – let’s get back to the future of government information. With people actually expressing interest -- with such openness – in becoming America’s Public Printer (obviously FGI’s great hope); and with a current Public Printer still actively engaged in the job -- I figure this is the best of all possible worlds -- suddenly the idea of becoming Public Printer of the United States is hip and desirable.

Setting aside any of my own thoughts about what qualifies someone for the office that may differ from FGI’s leadership -- here are a few points any sitting and potential Public Printer ought to keep in mind. It’s what I have said and would say to a Public Printer (I have spoken to a few of them over my 25 years as a federal depository librarian) – think of it as a four point elevator speech.

1. Technology is a wonderful thing. GPO is making great strides in several critical areas. One would hope these efforts will continue to embrace openness, standardization, preservation, authority and sustainability.

2. Libraries and librarians are wonderful things. If we tear our eyes from technology’s dazzle, I think there is a greater power to sustain a true engagement of civic culture through the retention, recruitment and collaboration with the over 1,200 existing depository libraries. Right now Library directors, governing boards, and librarians themselves want some sense from GPO about how it is going to act on this century and half cultural investment in their local institutions. We know, from long experience with earlier Public Printers, command and control (it comes from Washington and it shall be done) no longer works in this distributive age of power and access. We also know librarians and their institutions can be surprisingly nimble in their adaption of technological solutions to situations both unique to their community as well as beneficial to the rest of the system. Public agencies and libraries can deliver the data, indeed, and some power users can take that raw data and turn it into knowledge. But the will investment brought to the table is the ability of librarians and libraries to add there own social value to the raw public knowledge -- through organization, preservation, community outreach, and civic advocacy to involve the community in critical civic decision points. If a Public Printer's portfolio does not clearly take advantage of this long-standing local civic value to enliven a national system, then the depository library community needs to put it back at the top of his agenda.

3. The engaged civic aspects of the government’s intellectual property is a wonderful thing. Sustained by the intersection of GPO’s historic purpose to print and publish and the commitment of the library community. It is a collective bargain to keep the democratic discussion open, free, and at least interesting. If federal government is in the public domain, depository libraries are the information commons that thrive not because of the technology du jour, but because of the century long traditions of government information librarians, their home institutions, and the federal government. Any Public Printer worthy of the title would embrace this concept without reservation.

4. The civic operating system is a wonderful thing. Democracy’s “operating system” is not civic technology, it is not GPO, nor is it even the information infrastructure that supports the federal depository libraries. The civic operating system thrives on technology – but it is not of technology. This taps into my earlier blog entries about the comparability between power grids and information distribution. The operating system is really a combination of civic engagement and rhetoric unleashed by the Constitution. It is the electoral and civic conversation sustained between a community and the officials they elect to serve their individual and collective goals. This conversation is expressed through open meetings, robust exchange of information, accessible proceedings/decisions of public organizations that inform the public’s knowledge of services, security and justice. This aspect is further sustained by the constitutional values of a free press, freedom of assembly/petition, and the freedom of speech. What we are really talking about here is civic serendipity – the ability of people to engage their government on their terms and time. As the federal government develops web sites like recovery.gov to explain itself and its complicated policies, librarians must push back against displacement and they need to demonstrate how they can continue to keep people connected to their government.

As we debate, discuss, and move the depository program deeper into America’s 21st century digital age -- I hope once and future Public Printers will continue to embrace the indigenous civic culture already thriving throughout the depository library program. At the same time, I hope the depository library community can move beyond its own institutional divisions (academic, public, law, special, government) and reach some kind of national consensus on the program’s future and work with the current GPO administration to get the job done, finish the strategic plan, and start making the necessary changes any future depository librarians and public printers would welcome.

See you on Day 36.

Yes we scan! Carl Malamud, great good friend to govt documents librarians and to the public domain, wants to be the next Public Printer of the United States. He takes as his guides in this pursuit former public printers Augustus E. "Gus" Giegengack and Ben Franklin. His inspiration to public service and his stated plan (below) will have a great and prolonged positive effect on libraries, the Government Printing Office (GPO), government transparency, and access to and preservation of govt information. It is for these reasons that FGI wholeheartedly and without reservation endorses Carl Malamud for Public Printer of the United States.

Yes we scan!

Please allow me to highlight a few of the items that I think we all need to pay attention to, and I invite you to contact me so we can continue to talk about these issues. Publication is a two-way street, and I hope this is the beginning of a long-term dialogue about the public domain and how the United States of America presents itself to the world:

1. America's Operating System. The Government Printing Office serves all 3 branches of government and prints the Official Journals of Government. GPO should lead the effort to make all primary legal materials produced by the U.S. readily available.

2. Librarians. Librarians are the bedrock of the public domain and the defenders of our fundamental right to access knowledge. GPO should work even more closely with our libraries and reform the Federal Depository Library Program to support them better.

3. Jobs. As commodity printing goes the way of the PDF file and the copy machine, GPO must retrain and refocus its workforce, working with the unions and the employees so we may face the challenges of the future. If nominated and confirmed, I would work to establish a United States Publishing Academy, reviving the grand tradition of GPO being in the lead for workforce development, vocational training for students, and educating the rest of the U.S. government on how to print and publish effectively.

4. Security. GPO produces passports and other secure documents. The current design for passports uses an RFID chip, which means that an American can be picked out of a crowd merely by having a passport in their pocket. If nominated and confirmed, I would ask security expert Bruce Schneier to form a Blue-Ribbon Commission to reexamine the design of passports and other secure documents so we can better protect the privacy and security of all Americans.

5. Jobs. The GPO workforce includes some of the best master printers, bookbinders, and other professionals of the publishing profession. With our cultural institutions, writers and other artists, and using the historical archives of the United States, the GPO should create more materials for the public domain, both as fully produced books as well as freely available master files for others to use and remix.

6. Rebooting .Gov. There is no reason why the U.S. Government should not be one of the top 10 destinations on the Internet! GPO should work with the rest of the U.S. Government to radically change how we present information on the Internet. Some of the initiatives would include installing a cloud for .gov to use, enshrining principles of bulk data distribution into legislation, and a massive upgrade in the government's video capabilities.

7. Full Transparency. GPO serves all 3 branches of government. As the nation's service bureau, GPO must be fully transparent in its own financial affairs and should be a forceful and effective advocate for the public domain. Most importantly, the GPO must be fully transparent to its clients—the Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Judiciary. If nominated and confirmed, I would pledge to serve on the front lines of customer service, working to understand the needs of our clients and the public.

Yes we scan!

According to today's Roll Call, the confirmation process for GPO's Nominee for Public Printer, Robert Tapella, seems to be progressing *very* slowly if at all. No confirmation proceedings have yet been scheduled. Might we have a recess appointment ala John Bolton?

Senate Takes Its Time With GPO Nominee - By Elizabeth Brotherton, Roll Call - June 6, 2007

(NOTE: Excerpts below since the Web site is subscription access only)

Nearly two weeks after President Bush revealed his choice for the next public printer, Government Printing Office Chief of Staff Bob Tapella is still waiting for Congress to schedule confirmation proceedings on his promotion.

But in the meantime, there remain a number of issues facing the GPO, from how its digital and technological transformation will continue to whether the agency will move into a new building - a primary goal of former Public Printer Bruce James.

..."A date for the hearing has not been set."? The GPO has been without a permanent head since James stepped down in January. Acting Public Printer William Turri has been leading the agency since that time - with Tapella as a close partner.

The agency is in the midst of a number of technology initiatives, from making more government documents available online to implementing its Future Digital System, which would allow users to preserve, authenticate, manage and deliver federal documents
digitally.

..."The Congress is dependent upon the ability of the GPO to provide printed and electronic versions of our legislative documents and the Congressional Record in a timely matter," he said. "With the increasing workload of Congress, the public printer needs to continue to assure the Congress that his agency
will have the available resources to meet our legislative demands so that we can carry out our duties."

..."Turri ... is doing a competent job, and I hope the Senators will not feel rushed," Brady said. "GPO is the U.S. government's premier printing organization, among the largest in the world. I urge the Senate to give the nomination the careful scrutiny it deserves."

Joint Printing ranking member Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) said he is "extremely pleased" with Tapella's nomination.

According to a White House Personnel announcement:

The President intends to nominate Robert Charles Tapella, of Virginia, to be the Public Printer. Mr. Tapella currently serves as Chief of Staff of the United States Government Printing Office. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the United States Government Printing Office. Earlier in his career, he ran Kelly Communications. Mr. Tapella received his bachelor's degree from California Polytechnic State University.

Update 5/25/2007, 5:20pm AST by Daniel

A little more background on Mr. Tapella can be found in GPO's press release issued on his appointment as Deputy Chief of Staff in January 2003.

He is described as having several assignments on Capitol Hill:

From 1996 to 2000, he served as professional staff on the House of Representatives Committee on House Oversight, where he supervised the Office of Member Services; Chief of Staff to Rep. Bill Redmond (R-NM); and Special Assistant to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, where he worked on strategic planning for re-engineering the information technology infrastructure of the House legislative process and developed plans for major information technology initiatives for the Office of the Clerk. Tapella gained his first legislative office experience from 1986 to 1993, when he worked as district representative for Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA).

And for whatever reason, in 2003, GPO thought it was important to note that Mr. Tapella was a Young Republican:

A California native, Tapella is a past National Board member and current member of the Young Republican National Federation, Inc., an alumnus of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and an alumnus of Leadership Sunnyvale’s Class of 1995. He resides in Alexandria, VA.

A November 2005 Seybold Report has a few comments from Mr. Tappella, although these appear to be simply GPO policy of the time:

Tapella said the GPO is beginning to evaluate how it will publish information in the future. The trend, he said, is toward an electronic delivery method because of an increase in demand for information in electronic form. "Half of all our documents are never printed," he said.

Tapella doesn't envision that print will disappear in the coming decade, but the GPO is developing a model for storage and output via the Web and is using print-on-demand technology. A very important aspect of this system will be maintaining the security and authenticity of all documents in electronic form.

AND

"The number of documents continues to grow," Tapella said. "It's not going down." To keep up with its mission of keeping the public informed, the GPO will need to continue to rely on external partners, which will mean plenty of opportunities for companies that can provide the services, supplies and printed materials the agency needs."

Source:
Title: Government Printing Office Needs a Few Good Printers.
Authors: Joss, Molly
Source: Seybold Report: Analyzing Publishing Technologies; 11/16/2005, Vol. 5 Issue 15, p18-19, 2p
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