One of the presentations I was able to attend at ALA was Libraries & Government: Issues, Services and Strategies. Notes and handouts to this session should eventually be available on ALA's 2008 Conference materials site at http://presentations.ala.org/index.php?title=Monday%2C_June_30#Monday_10:30am_Start_Time.

The presenters were John Carlo Bertot, Mary Alice Baish, Suzanne Sears and Pat Ball. The presentation was a good mix of policy level and library level ideas on egovernment as it affects libraries. All libraries, not just Federal Depository Libraries.

John Bertot introduced the session and suggested people look at his college's E-Government for Public Librarians site at http://www.libraryegov.org/.

Suzanne Sears' part included tips on how to assist people looking to use egovernment services while respect most libraries time limits on Internet computers. The tip that most stood out to me was to have worksheets (like the ones for student aid FAFSA forms) available in the library. Encourage patrons to complete the worksheet prior to getting on the computer. This seems like it would decrease frustration for everyone.

Mary Alice Baish provided an overview of the E-Government Services Act of 2002 and of efforts to renew this expiring Act. Among other things, this is the Act that brought us usa.gov. If the Act ultimately expires, a lot of things could go away, including usa.gov. That would be bad.

There is a good chance that the Act will be renewed, since a recent OMB report said that while e-government initiatives cost agencies $121 million/year, the federal government is collecting $340 million in fees from egovernment sites. So it's a great deal for the government, if not for taxpayers. That's why Mary Alice's organization, the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is working with ALA and other stakeholders for improvements in the legislation. She asked librarians to help in the reauthorization movement and offered several suggestions including:

• Contact your Senator, especially if they serve on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and tell them you support S. 2321
• Assess government web sites and services and publish your findings.

Pat Ball gave an overview of ALA's efforts regarding the egovernment issue. Among other things, an association-wide committee on e-government has been formed. You can learn more about its work at http://www.wo.ala.org/egovservices/index.php?title=Main_Page.

This isn't a complete summary of the session, but hopefully it is interesting enough to inspire. Please keep an eye out for presentation materials at the ALA conference site listed above.

If you were at the e-gov session and would like to add stuff, please leave a comment.

Another note from abroad reminding us that the importance of accessing government information is recognized worldwide:

Title: Promise of technology is for everybody (By HESSA AL JABER)
Source: The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English daily, 5/17/2008
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/commentary/commentaryother.asp?file=maycommentary482008.xml

In article otherwise on technology for the disabled, the head of Qatar's Information and Communications Technology had this to say about government information:

Because people with disabilities cannot participate in government processes or benefit from government services if they don’t know what government offers, ictQATAR looks forward to setting a timeframe in which all public government information is universally accessible. This will include information that the government provides through radio and television programming, kiosks, and websites. And I call upon other government entities to begin incorporating into their websites accessibility functions such as media players, specially designed web browsers, and other assistive technologies.

In the near future, ictQATAR will work to establish a Fund to offset the costs of both individual and organisational adoption of ICT to benefit the disabled. Although the details have yet to be fully developed, we expect that disabled individuals will apply for grants or vouchers to help pay for technologies and/or services that will enable them to benefit from the same opportunities as everybody else. Similarly, government organisations, corporations, and other organisations will be entitled to grants to encourage the universal provision of services and employment of disabled individuals.

To the extent the government's goals are in line with the desires of Qatar's people, we wish them well in their efforts to place government information online. For more information about Qatar, please see the US State Department's Background Notes for Qatar, last published in July 2007.