Guest blogger for February is … Shari Laster!
Let's welcome Shari Laster to the podium for the month of February! Shari's a govt documents/reference librarian at the University of Akron (Here's Shari's full bio). With the shift to a new administration and so much buzz about government transparency, we're sure that Shari will start some interesting conversations. And while we have your attention, we want to thank Chella Vaidyanathan for her work for the month of January. Below are the threads that she wove into our FGI fabric. Thanks again Chella! Continue reading
Shari Laster: BOTM for February, 2009 and July, 2010
Shari Laster is the government documents/reference librarian for University Libraries at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. She earned her MSLS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her interest in the world of government information was sparked by her work as a student assistant at what is now the Kelley Center for Government Information at Rice University, where she discovered that governments produce nifty, pervasive, and useful information. Other professional interests include metadata, intellectual property law, and good design. [update July, 2010: besides all of those other things listed above, Shari has just been named to Depository Library Council for a 3 year term (2010 - 2013)!] Continue reading
Won’t Get Fooled Again: Day 10
The political and social mix continues to churn across our layers of government. Impeachment of a sitting governor in Illinois (the first in the land of Lincoln in over a century); budget crisis in California forcing unpaid furloughs of government workers and loss of funding for critical medical, social, and education programs. Not to mention the further widespread layoffs throughout all sectors of the economy. Library opportunities for civic engagement abound -- if we can just organize ourselves and our institutions to do so. Though, I well know from experience, the pressures bearing down outside the library are wreaking their own pressures on our own bibliographic decisions. This internal tension may suggest that we duck and cover during the storm. I would suggest that, in a profoundly contrary way, it may be the best time to reach out to our communities and engage them. I am sure there are hundreds of examples out there where special, public and academic libraries alike are reaching out to their communities in specific ways to help deal with the cascading social, economic and political turmoil. Here is one instance, from the Oak Park Library, that speaks to this -- watch the videos here and here. And this rather well designed web page about the event here. Note the emphasis on access to demographic and census information. See you on Day 11. Continue reading
Thank you from BOTM
Time just flew by so quickly and January is already over. I would like to thank the FGI folks for giving me the wonderful opportunity. I really enjoyed being the BOTM. Continue reading
Smithsonian formally adopts new FOIA-like policy
The Smithsonian Institution is not subject to FOIA but has been using a policy for releasing records modeled on FOIA since November. On Monday the Institution formally adopted a new policy for responding to records requests, bowing to pressure from the Senate and open government groups.
- Smithsonian formally adopts new FOIA-like policy, Hannah Bergman, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 27, 2009.
"When considering requests for Smithsonian information, the Smithsonian will apply a presumption of disclosure. It will be the policy of the Smithsonian to disclose information unless this Directive clearly provides otherwise, except where disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by an exemption. Where release would not be harmful to the Smithsonian or to an interest protected by an exemption, the Smithsonian may choose to release information that falls within an existing exemption."But...
"Smithsonian trade secrets and Smithsonian commercial or financial information directly related to the Smithsonian’s revenue-generating activities, including fund-raising and development activities, and where release of the information would be likely to cause the Smithsonian substantial competitive harm or impair its ability to carry out its charitable and educational mission by raising private funds."Continue reading