I got to thinking about all the changes and initiatives launched by the Obama Administration during its first week in power — which sources of information should transcend the political elections? In other words, as librarians shouldn’t we argue that certain categories of federal government information should remain consistent and accessible regardless of which political party rules the White House or in the halls of Congress. For instance, shouldn’t there be a standard and predictable form for a press briefing transcript? Compare how the White House handles this with the approach of the State Department. With the State Department the form of the briefing as an actual transcript remains the same from Secretary of State to another. With the Obama press briefings, we get summaries (blog posts) rather than actual transcripts (which were more common with the Bush and Clinton administrations.)
Preservation of individual web sites is important. Continuity of essential civic information from one political change to another is equally important.
See you on day 7.
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