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Bill to mandate online access to federally funded research
A new Senate bill introduced by John Cornyn (R, Texas), would require that taxpayers receive free online access to journal articles containing federally funded research within six months of the articles’ publication. Agencies would have to preserve the manuscripts in a stable, digital repository that provides free public access, interoperability and long-term preservation.
Is USGS Seamless website down?
Is USGS Seamless website down? The USGS Seamless website (Seamless Data Distribution System, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)), which has provided high-resolution satellite imagery of several dozen US cities without restriction and which has always been publicly accessible, now has a message on the homepage that says "The system is currently experiencing an interruption of service. All Seamless servers and services will be unavailable until further notice." Links are still active on the home page, though, and some still work and link to other servers. It is unclear what is online and what is not available. Cryptome (29 April 2006) wonders if we are about to lose access...
Seamless began to go insane about a week ago, at times freezing, or delivering a variety of messages, and at one point requiring a password for access. Here's hoping Seamless has not been targeted for public closing by the secrecy-obsessed.Continue reading
Unclassified articles no longer available on web — print only
A series of reports recently have noted an apparent change in policy that makes articles in the government publication Studies in Intelligence, published by the Central Intelligence Agency's Center for the Study of Intelligence available only in print. Articles freely available in the printed version of the journal have not been posted on the web site of the journal.
In Excessive secrecy hurting CIA studies, Shaun Waterman reports "Web publication of 'Studies in Intelligence' itself appears to have ceased as well, at least for the time being -- no articles from the last three issues of the journal are on the agency's Web site, although hard copies are available from the U.S. Government Printing Office." (Washington Times, Apr. 27, 2006)
Steven Aftergood reports that "the editor of the somewhat respected CIA journal Studies in Intelligence has resigned, and so has the chairman of its Editorial Board." (CIA Expands Operational File Secrecy, Secrecy News, April 19, 2006.)
And Max Holland, in a substantial article on the state of the intelligence community, goes into more detail (Lessons Not Learned, Washington Spectator, April 15, 2006.
The problem erupted in the fall of 2005, when Studies published an excerpt from a post-mortem on the intelligence community's failure to assess accurately Iraq's WMD capabilities. Seven months later, the offending issue still has not been posted on-line, even though unclassified articles in Studies are normally put up within weeks of publication.Continue reading
The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and the state of the OPAC
Some serious questions about the role of libraries and the functionality -- or lack of functionality -- of library online public access catalogs (OPACs) are in the news lately. These questions fit in well with the recent release of the new Government Printing Office online Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP). The announcement (Enhanced version of the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)/OPAC now available by John S. Dowgiallo, 9 Mar 2006) and subsequent discussion on the govdoc-l mailing list (see various entries in March and April 2006) focused largely on the acceptable functionality of an OPAC rather than the needs and expectations of users in the age of Google and other Internet search engines. A broader range of discussion of the place and functionality of OPACs can be found in the following recent articles:
- How OPACs Suck, Part 1: Relevance Rank (Or the Lack of It), by Karen G. Schneider, 03/13/2006, ALA TechSource.
- How OPACs Suck, Part 2: The Checklist of Shame by Karen G. Schneider, 04/03/2006. ALA TechSource.
- The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools. Prepared for the Library of Congress by Karen Calhoun.
- A Critical Review [of the above report] (PDF) by Thomas Mann. April 3, 2006, Prepared for AFSCME 2910 The Library of Congress Professional Guild
- The Future of the Catalog, [comments on the above report and review] April 10, 2006, Catalogablog.
CRS on Sensitive But Unclassified
Steven Aftergood (Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists) has obtained a CRS report that examines "sensitive but unclassified" information of the federal government. 'Sensitive But Unclassified' Information and Other Controls: Policy and Options for Scientific and Technical Information, by Genevieve J. Knezo, Congressional Research Service, dated February 15, 2006 (published March 14, 2006). (86 page PDF document)
This report traces the evolution of SBU-related controls; summarizes actions taken to protect certain types of scientific and technical information; describes critiques of some control policies; and summarizes proposals and actions, including congressional, executive and other initiatives, to clarify these issues and develop policies that serve various stakeholders. It also raises issues that may warrant further attentionFor more documents and links see A Focus on "Sensitive But Unclassified" Information by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, Volume 2006, Issue No. 34 March 15, 2006. Continue reading
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