Public letter re the firing of the Archivist of the United States
[Patrice McDermott sent the following to GOVDOC-L. In the interest of time, I’m pasting her message below with just a touch of editing of the email addresses.] As you may know, Trump has fired the Archivist of the United States, Colleen Shogan. Even though it is extremely unlikely Trump will reconsider firing Dr. Shogan, we […]
Call to arms: What government information librarians can do to help save critical federal information from being lost
What is a government information librarian to do during these times when the very public information we base our daily work around is being redacted, cleansed, and deleted? First, make yourself aware of all the work that is already being done (and has been being done since 2008 and before). Our friend and PEGI colleague […]
The government information crisis is bigger than you think it is
[This post is adapted from our forthcoming book, Preserving Government Information: Past, Present, and Future.] Today we want to clarify something important about preserving government information. There is a difference between the government changing a policy and the government erasing information, but the line between those two has blurred in the digital age. When a […]
Federal information scrubbing has begun. Please support the End of Term Archive and Environmental Data Governance Initiative (EDGI)
It seems that the scrubbing of public information and communication from Federal government websites has begun. But along with erasing information that the new administration does not like (mostly centered on climate change and the environment, science, health, DEI, civil rights, immigration, and the like), they have also signed a raft of executive orders overturning […]
Maryellen Trautman
The great government documents librarian Maryellen Trautman died on November 17, 2024. She was a pioneer and a protector of government documents as a regional depository librarian in Oklahoma and as a government documents librarian at the National Archives and Records Administration. She was one of the founders of the American Library Association Government Documents […]