Librarian of Congress Gets CRS Wrong, But In A Good Way

Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington said, “The public has unfettered access to the full inventory of CRS Reports for the Congress at no cost through the office of any Member or committee.” As Steven Aftergood points out, “that assertion is quite wrong…. There is not even a public index of CRS reports that would enable people to request specific reports by title.”

And yet, Aftergood continues, the Librarian’s statement “tends to confirm that providing such access to non-confidential CRS Reports is a sensible and achievable goal. Indeed, otherwise well-informed people like the Librarian of Congress assume that it must already be true.”

• In Search of “Unfettered Access” to CRS Reports, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (April 7th, 2011).

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