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40 to 38 Days to Government Information Liberation
2. Seek to establish the most effective techniques individual bibliographic institutions can contribute to a national system of government information access, preservation and organization. Repeating cycles (sometimes called feedback loops)are important to any professional group or institution. Based on standards and protocols, these cycles often sustain efficiency and predictability. As Daniel Cornwell points out in an earlier comment -- loops keep the machinery going at some level. When we have to reinvent the wheel everytime -- that is where it becomes more curse than cure. For the next couple of weeks, among other points I want to raise, I will point out where the Hoduski and McKnelly argument for a full fledge study of the depository system is not a feedback loop. I will document just how many times the depository system in particular, and GPO in general, has been studied, analyzed, investigated, and heaped with recommendations. For instance, many of Carl Malamud's recommendations stand on the shoulders of earlier policy iniatives -- especially something called the Government Information Locator Service -- an early world wide web initiative to establish some kind of standardized descriptions of federal information resources. For another ancient link (1994) to this effort from (how many of us remember this group?) Taxpayer Assests Project -- desribes some of the rich policy history of GILS. In this case, the feedback loop shared by GILS and Malamud's recommendations is one that tries to come up with a form of government information organization, classification and accessibility that is clear and open to any and all systems. See you on Day 37. Continue reading
41 Days to Government Information Liberation
1. Recognize the importance of librarians and their institutions in the sustainability of a dynamic civic culture. I was looking through an ancient artifact this afternoon called "An information agenda for the 1980s: a summary report". All this blog chatter about flickr projects in the Library of Congress, and innovative proposals from Carl Malamud, kind of made me nostalgic for "library big thinking" before the rise of the computing machine. This report is one of those dreadnoughts of library research that went on to frame much of the policy and research challenges of the early 1990s. It describes 101 specific projects that can help frame the research and understanding of how libraries must change in the crazy days of technological and economic revolution of the early 1980s. It is very interesting reading, especially when reads the summary of the research topics with the eye of how far we have come, and how little we haven't. Throughout the report there is an aching need to understand how and why our communities use our bibliographic institutions. There are early stabs at trying to frame the potential impacts of multimedia and digital transmissions on what the authors term the "knowledge gap" in society (which they define through education mostly, and not the income lens of today's (information have and have nots".) Many of the proposed research topics also examine the economic implications of a "knowledge economy" and possible future roles libraries might play in economic and social contexts where they might compete with other community information distributors. Just the post card from the past to remind us how much the technology has changed, but how little the fundamental human aspects of our business remain as elusive as they were 25 years ago. Perhaps we should ask those who participated in the research to come back to the table and reflect on what remains of their effort -- much like the Miller Center of Public Affairs does for important public policy and legal issues -- such as climate change, the American President, and the National War Powers Commission. Perhaps they could do it digitally? The point being, I suppose, that if we don't remember, as a profession, what we suggest or recommend from one decade to another, than we are doomed to repetitive cycles that cover the same ground again and again. See you Day 40. Continue reading
42 Days to Government Information Liberation
1. Recognize the importance of librarians and their institutions in the sustainability of a dynamic civic culture. One simple question to pose tonight -- is it possible for federal depository libraries to tap into the critical relationship they share with either their designated congressional districts or senate sponsors? Much of our tradition and practice aims to serve the communities defined by our depository's host institutions -- academic, public, special or law libraries. But, in this time of digital democratic transition and transparency, what if a major new goal for the federal depository library program was to shift the depository library obligation from our bibliographic institutions? What if we were to focus our energies on the civic and democratic communities represented by the districts and states they serve? For instance, imagine all the depositories in the Chicago metropolitan area collaborating with each other and through their respective House of Representative districts. This could involve using not only physical collections, but innovative digital tools to reach out to the constituents and local neighborhoods through the congressional district offices. Imagine reference tools designed to meet the particular social, economic, and cultural needs of these communities. In the case of the Seventh Congressional District in Illinois, these communities could be as varied as part of Chicago's Gold Coast along Lake Michigan through the impoverished streets of the Austin neighborhood to the west, and along the inner suburbs of both the upper and middle classes found in River Forest and Oak Park. In rural areas, where many of the congressional districts must somehow overcome both geography and infrastructure issues, imagine how the designated depository libraries might work together, hand in hand, with the congressional district offices to assure that the citizens and communities are kept informed in an affirmative fashion through technology and inter-library cooperation. This kind of civic renewal, I think, is a better way to strike at the "digital divide" issue. If our discussions about the program's future began from these kinds of assumptions, rather than focusing on how much paper and how digital we should keep, I think the community of government information librarians will be in a much better place to take advantage of the civic possibilities made apparent during these days of liberation. After all, its about documents to the people, not documents to the libraries. Something to think about. See you on Day 41. Continue reading
43 Days to Government Information Liberation
1. Recognize the importance of librarians and their institutions in the sustainability of a dynamic civic culture. Good of McKnelly and Hoduski to post their thoughts on the future of regional libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program. After I have had a chance to review and consider their analysis, I will offer my own thoughts on this important issue. I encourage everyone to chime in -- this topic is going to be at the top of the agenda for the Public Printer's Depository Library Council. For today's post, I want to follow-up on the theme of the enduring values shared by journalism and libraries as mediators between the community and their civic machinery. The seizure and forced federal court appearance of Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris on corruption charges represents again where librarians and other media are in a race to get "government information" sources out to the public. I first got a blip of the arrest through a Chicago Tribune email alert at around 8:30am on Tuesday. One or two people posted the information on University wide email lists shortly after. I went into the web pages for the Northern District of Illinois District Attorney, and found the 12 page news release about an hour later and posted it to email lists of the University. About an hour later, I located and posted the link to the seventy-six page complaint. By 11am central name, most of the major news sources were linking to the same sources. After 1pm central time, there was no contest -- the web and other mass media sources were swamping the internet with stories, analyses, links to relevant documents and web pages. Though a bit rushed and breathless at first, much of the reporting by early evening had begun to place the charges in the larger context of corrupt Illinois politics in general (for instance, the number of sitting Illinois governors either been charged or sent to prison in last 50 years). So, my observation that it would be most difficult for government information librarians to match the revelations unleashed in some kind of hopeless race with a reporters engaged in a feeding frenzy. Rather, they should take a step back from the "breaking news" and begin to craft web resources and links that direct users to specific sources and contexts that discuss the history of corruption in Illinois, constitutional succession in Illinois state government, impeachment processes in Illinois, who can and can not be seated in the U.S. Senate, implications of a powerful federal attorney taking on the powers (and corruptions) of local and state government.... You get the idea. I think digital government information librarians will play for the middle and long game, rather than the short chip shots of the daily media, preparing their users for greater understanding of what are, frankly, quite stunning events. See you on Day 42 Continue reading
44 Days to Government Information Liberation
1. Recognize the importance of librarians and their institutions in the sustainability of a dynamic civic culture. Recent posts talk about how to render America's federal civic machinery transparent, accessible, and permanent (here, here and here). Each of these posts indicate some kind of "positive" authority either inherent or assumed by the national government in order to keep the civic machinery as open and accessible as possible. This is good -- and something I want to add to the mix is the critical role various organizations, especially library organizations, might play in shaping the future of one critical player in the mix -- the Government Printing Office. Let me be more specific. I think there is going to be more than a few opportunities to discuss and debate the future of the Government Printing Office in general -- (after all, Obama gets to nominate a Public Printer and Superintendent of Documents for Senate consideration and approval -- these two appointments alone will kick up the dust and debate in the near future) -- and the depository library program in particular. In regards to the program, the last two years have been dominated by discussions of * a strategic plan; * a draft report on the future of regional libraries in the program; * several demonstrations and rollouts of a proposed new system to replace GPOaccess ; * a growing number of innovative and positive partnerships with depositories that show how these libraries and GPO work together redefine the traditional boundaries of "depository library" obligations. Each of these partnerships represent a mutual amount of self-interest and collaboration. Included on this list, in particular, are several partnerships that capture many of the qualities sought in earlier FGI blog posts -- permanence, transparency, and distribution -- @Cybercemetery @DOSFAN @Historic Government Publications from World War Two @Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights * what's more, GPO is working with depository libraries on test beds and applications that seek to establish protocols for authenticity, digital distributive storage and preservation, and web harvesting So, while we sharpen our rhetorical arguments for an open government that is both well preserved and accessible and seek to influence the incoming powers that be with position papers and agendas, let's not forget how much progress has already been made in the last two years. We should continue to build on this efforts, with the clear recognition that same may not meet our far-reaching expectations. See you on Day 43. Continue reading
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