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
Powerpoint to the people
Thanks to Carl Malamud for the heads-up about this new article by Fred Kaplan at Slate entitled "PowerPoint to the People: The urgent need to fix federal archiving policies." Basically, according to Kaplan, the National Archives (NARA) are a mess. "Electronic records ... are generally not disposed of in accordance with federal regulations," and NARA is "still unable to accept M$ Word docs and PowerPoint slides." This endemic problem has been known for a long time. Kaplan links to a 2003 NARA study titled "Records Maintenance and Disposition in Headquarters Air Force Offices," (report written in January 2005) that had been FOIA'd -- oddly all of the recommendations were blacked out?! This shows that government agencies are not following protocols for digital records management and the agencies charged with preservation are not doing enough to either build solid preservation systems or work with agencies to help them get into the 21st century. Is this really the "end of history?" ["retweeted" from Carl malamud!] Continue reading
Guide of the Week: Transition to Digital Television
Sad to say, for the second time during this Guide of the Week: Transition Edition, I've come up empty. While the General Accountability Office identified the Transition to Digital Television as one of 13 critical transition issues, there appears to be no librarian-produced guides linked to ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki to inform people about this issue. If you know of one, please post it to the Handout Exchange. As a consolation prize, it turns out that the phrase "Digital Television Transition" is a good way to kick the tires on the public beta of GPO's new FDSys at http://fdsys.gpo.gov. Type in the words without quotes and you'll get 2,654 results. That seems too many to look at once? Then use the "narrow your search" options in the left hand column. You might start with "congressional hearlings (761)" That brings you a new list of "narrow your search" options. From there you might choose "House appropriations committee (81)" After that, try clicking on "see more" under "keywords." Try clicking on "public broadcasting" and you'll find four hearings. The search results contain snippets with your search terms and come from several different congresses. As long as I'm talking about FDSys, I want to say THANKS to GPO for including "find in a library" links that are equal in effectiveness to their "purchase this item" links. Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "Defense Readiness" So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week. Continue reading
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 yesterday to ensure equal pay for all, which guarantees that there will be discrimination on the basis on gender, age or race. The remarks of the President are available on the White House website. There is also a short video clip on the site. The full text of the law is available for public review. Ideas, thoughts, and comments from the public are invited. Continue reading