68 Days to Government Information Liberation
As I watch and read the what is happening at the national level (presidential transition, financial crisis, two major world wars, a major meeting of the 20 largest economies in Washington, D.C.), I wonder if government/civic information librarians can learn and sustain a collective knowledge building effort that captures the added value, bibliographic structures, and shape of the policy narrative I refer to in earlier posts. What I have in mind is modeled on the weather alerts here in the Midwest -- trying to get early word out about violent weather nearby; are the various community alerts issued about missing people or crime nearby. So, what I suggest is something that I call an Adelaide Alert (in honor of Adelaide Hasse.) The purpose of these alerts would be to put together web tools or resources that help explain and track major complicated public policy and government events. These events are so profound (and at times, predictable) that if an organized group of government information librarians can get their act together to cooperate across geographic and institutional lines, they could sustain a major reference source that would be free to anyone with access to the web. Think of it as an information grange or cooperative. These tools would list significant official sources that discuss the event; would provide a timeline or outline of how the event came to be and what might happen; would list secondary or authoritative non-government resources. It would be updated on a regular basis and maintained by the cooperative. Yes, they could by wikis, they could be web pages, they could be whatever social software we would choose to use. If we truly get radical, these large-scale reference cooperatives could be coming the cutting edge for preservation. In other words, for those of us so inclined, we could be sure that the important government/official sources part of the Alert are preserved in some coordinated fashion (much along the lines LOCKSS project.) This kind of collaborative large-scale work would mean we are not reacting to our community's need for information, but actually anticipating them -- liberation might be the easy compared to sustaining the fruits of that liberty. See you on day 67. And Jim, thanks for the substantial response to Day 69 -- I am composing a reply to be posted in the next couple of days. Continue reading
69 Days to Government Information Liberation
So, where are we at? Yesterday and today were one of those Rubicon moments -- reminding me once again how librarians repeatedly throw themselves across the chasm that lies between the digital and paper shores; a kind of human bridge to bear the burden of our user's information needs. Digital tools are great, and add greatly to the strength or span of our bibliographic structures -- but in the end, it more often than not comes down to just how much the librarian in the breach knows about both worlds that makes the journey across either a success or abject failure. Let me be specific. Yesterday morning I finally met a person who was only an exchange of emails to me. He was searching for a digital copy of the Treaty of Vienna. I couldn't find it, so we agreed to walk into the paper world together and we met at the old fashioned reference desk. Reflecting on the insights of Thomas Mann's two articles about the essential connections between reference and cataloging -- it took me about 15 minutes to find a set of reference books that contained the original text of the treaty. It was really a matter of "generalizing" the LC subject headings and finding the one that referred to a collection of the treaty texts in five easy volumes. I know for us librarians this is a cake walk; but I am surprised how much the use and influence of the web and ubiquitous key word searching has wiped this once common research practice from our user community's collective experience. The other public service moment remains virtual as well and involved the grand jury report on the shooting of Fred Hampton. Using the web, he found a link to the report on the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, but he wasn't sure how to get a copy of the report through this mechanism. After a day or so of sorting through the confusing title information, I finally located the relevant information using the shorter version of the title -- REPORT OF THE JANUARY 1970 GRAND JURY -- which then leads us to a bibliographic record and then a SuDoc number, and then to the volume on the shelf. I actually found the SuDoc number first through a discards and offer list -- irony so noted. The patron will be arriving tomorrow to take a look at the document. So, these two small examples speak to what we do as civic librarians. We make connections. We think in a pragmatic fashion that sees the gap of knowledge between what the user wants and what he or she knows. We know it is not sequential, linear, or straight forward. Just because you can ask a question does not mean you can get an answer. As we use to say in reference class back in the day -- the best reference interviews never begin with the first question posed or end with the last source consulted. The tools of civic engagement mentioned and exchanged so far during this blog conversation speak from librarianship's ad hoc approach to the cross the information bulwarks -- something we will need to constantly fashion and refashion in this blended world of many formats. As we speak of education, teaching and outreach -- is it our ultimate goal to make our users "mini-librarians?" Much of the discussion of egovernment is freighted with promises of self service and empowerment of the user. As Thomas Mann points in his articles -- the heart and purpose of librarianship aims to sustain an information ecosystem for users he calls the "researcher" and not the "information seeker." Does the fate of government/civic information librarianship depend the same duality? See you on day 68 Continue reading
70 Days to Government Information Liberation
Though my initial reasons to launch this blog conversation stemmed largely from last week's U.S national elections, there is still much to say about American state and local government information -- as well as government information in other countries and from international government and non-government organizations. With 70 days left on the game clock -- I can say something significant about all levels of government -- several times. Today, my focus is on the "local governments" perspective, specifically something near and dear to my bibliographic heart -- urban and metropolitan planning -- through a trip on the way back machine ... My point with this particular thread is that we can use "ancient" -- but digitized -- government information to keep those discussions going in our communities. This coming Friday I will be lead a book disussion about Plan of Chicago by Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett. I will be talking with urban planning and public administration students who are part of the University of Illiniois at Chicago's College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. A week later I talk about the Plan at panel discussion of the American Planning Association's Metro Chapter: APA-IL CMS Event: On the Eve of the Centennial: Daniel Burnham, Big Thinkers, and the Future of a Metropolis One can not over-emphasize how much the Chicago Plan, even a century after its publication, still holds sway over the imagination of local and regional government planning throughout the Chicago metropolitan area -- as well as enjoying a special place in the hearts and minds of urban planners in general. Burnham was no slouch when it came to public outreach and education. A couple of short years after it was published, it was adopted as the official blueprint (a government document) for Chicago, along with its own official bureaucracy: the Chicago Planning Commission. In fact, Chicago is sponsoring a year long celebration of the Plan. Check out the Burnham Centennial Plan website (and note how it is hosted at the University of Chicago's library server spaces.) What I find so delightful about organizing this kind of book discussion is that the digital copy of the Plan (courtesy of the google book project) makes it readily accessible to more students. It is also a useful way to think about how we can talk to the community about other digital resources from the government (I bet you were wondering when I would get back to the whole Government Information Liberation theme...) Oh, sure, you might say -- that is Chicago -- one of the urban planning hot spots in the world! What chance does my city or region will have it is ancient plan's digitized? Well, here is a short list of other major historic city plans to start your own book club discussion -- Minneapolis San Francisco San Diego Newark, N.J. Detroit St.Louis Seattle Pittsburgh Replanning Small Cities: Six Typical Studies -- here you get a package deal, which includes the city plans for Glen Ridge, NJ; San Diego, CA; Roanoke, VA; Montclair, NJ; Reading, PA and Madison, WI Go ahead, find an ancient city plan for your nearest big or little city, and get a conversation going about the importance of local government planning and the need for government information access. From another direction, consider the following series from the Green Channel that focused on the rebuilding of Greensburg KS after a devastating toronado back in 2007. All right, time to move on. See you all on Day 69. Continue reading
71 Days to Government Information Liberation
Just picked up a story I haven't read in years -- "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" -- a remarkable meditation on endurance, choice, and ultimately freedom. If you can't find the book, published back in 1958, check out your local library and see if they have the 1962 movie version on DVD. But the story's underlying theme, a young man trapped in correction institution's web of obligations and limitations -- and he has to make choices -- got me thinking about the comparable net of choices and obligations we librarians take on when we decide to integrate government information services into our own organizations. Point taken in regards to J. Jacobs comments about my earlier blogs. He says in particular: "And perhaps that's what you meant by the high ground. It's nice to be reminded that libraries and librarians are working toward a higher goal of free and permanent access to government information. We've never left that conceptual high ground, but have to continually remind those that do not work with govt information on a daily basis of its inherent worth in the democratic process." In another comment by Blakeley, a similar point is made: "In regards to recapturing...perhaps you meant pushing for more civic engagement rather than just talking the talk and not walking the walk? I know I have been guilty of it. I need to be more of an advocate and participate in civic engagement rather than just spouting out what I believe in. I have become more brave in speaking out...contacting government officials, spreading the word about this "higher ground". FGI has certainly inspired me to do this..." The point I wanted to make is that yes we occupy this elavation -- as government information professionals -- but, imagine that as we stand there looking over the civic topography -- the clouds and mist drift away --and see the road continues on to the mountain top far above; we are not there yet after all (not to get all Thomas Merton on you or anything.) When I think about government information services in libraries I imagine the whole institution to be energized/transformed by these civic obligations. In my writings of the late 1990's, I argued that the changing dynamics of politics, policy, technology demands a new kind of librarianship -- something I called "civic librarinship." I imagined this librarianship transcended both format and distribution mechnanisms, and our professional obligations would become more directed toward putting together long knowledge narratives anchored with specific information sources. We would be the storytellers who would weave the political perspective with the policy perspective with the governmental structure perspective. And we would embroided it all with the heavy stichery of history. My inspiration for this vision, if truth be told, came from Ray Bradbury's short story "Farenheit 451." I think many librarians consider this to be a tale of information dystopia. But the story's last few paragraphs describe a community of people walking around reciting the books that were burned and lost -- I took this as a metaphor of hope and remembrance -- that knowledge and connections live beyond format and technology. In a very real way, the library and its readers become one during the closing scenes of the story. I think this point is driven home by the way change.gov was one thing on Thursday and Friday last week, and then entire parts of the web site were inexplicably changed or removed with no good explanation on Saturday. People noticed this, commented on it, and even captured what as lost. This is going to be the new price and reward of civic librarianship -- steady, deliberative, and engaged observation and remembrance. Another way to think about this -- what I do in my classes about policy and legislative history, is to remind the students that major programs and legislation often stretch back decades -- back into the paper universe. That if you really want to understand why Cheney happened and how he could argue for the resurgence of a dominant Presidency (much less a Vice-Presidency) -- you most go back and understand his service and political growth during the early to mid 1970s, and how he came to some sound conclusions about executive from the rise and fall of Richard Nixon. And don't get me started on what Richard Nixon's influence on all this might be.... And I don't mean to imply any particular partisan or political party perspective in my remarks. Democrats and Republican administration alike are equally likely to sacrifice the purpose of free speech and transperency in the name of political expediency or shameless pandering to patriotism. So, to put another spin on it -- we are all government information librarians now. I think a major goal of our community over the next few years should be to find ways to turn our bibliographic insitutions into the engines of democracy and civic discussion. See you on Day 70. Continue reading
72 Days to Government Information Liberation
Ok. It just hit me. I just set myself up with the goal of blogging for each of the next 72 days about government information that will court and spark, to steal a line from Joni Mitchell, in order to get people excited about their constitutional structures and the best values of civic information. What was I thinking? So, here is what caught my eye today, from the Nov. 9, 2008 "After the Imperial Presidency" article in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html.) But it wasn't just this article, there was another that, juxtaposed with the Presidency one -- Check Cashers, Redeemed -- that struck me there might be some lessons here about government information and neighborhood services. In a very real sense the constitutional functions work because it requires the president and congress to exhcange trust and information -- much like a bank's liquidity -- and either part of the relationship freezes up, or ignores the other -- then we have severe information dislocation. Libraries and other cultural institutions are like local branches in this national information exchange. The technology and social organization of these institutions should work hand in hand to keep the citizens constantly informed of what is happening inside their governing bodies. Again, the opportunities are out, if we can just risk and grab at the opportunity. Talk to you on Day 71 -- an hope we start getting some two-way traffic going.... Continue reading
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