4 to 3 Days to Government Information Liberation
I underestimated the groundswell of inauguration theater as the day of liberation dawns. I know serious policy decisions need to be made about the future of information policy -- and after nearly 15 years of inaction, misdirection, and simple inertia, to be so to the possibility of change almost hurts in its anticipation. But it is tough to run against the strong current of "history" in the making as Tuesday approaches. If some predictions hold true, it means well over a million people will crowd Washington, D.C.'s streets, parks, alleyways, the Mall, and corners just to catch a glimpse of some of the action or just to be able to say they were there. President Bush delivered his last formal public words yesterday -- not surprisingly -- making the claim he did all right with the problems he had to deal with it. In the meantime, insiders report that Obama is working hard on his first official words hoping to draw inspiration (and associations) from the speeches of Lincoln. As government information librarians we should step back for a few days and enjoy this moment of democratic theater. As I consider which policy points to make or programs to support to assure the free and permanent access to government information -- I had to stop for a moment when I saw the faces of some school children here in Chicago who got the unexpected opportunity to go to the big show on Tuesday. This was something special to them, something that gave flesh and joy to all of our dry reports and meetings. This was the spark of civic possibilites that much of our library advocacy only describes in a second or third hand. So, for these next few days let's just go with the moment. Something transformational happened nearly 70 days ago, and as we approach Tuesday, its full import and possibilities press on our sensibilities again. If you are working over the course of the next three days, I recommend this -- take a moment to talk to a patron and ask if they will be watching the inaugaration, and share some of the civic information possibilities this event might mean. Talk to them as if the government might still matter in their lives, that its thousands of of commissions, agencies, bureaus, committees, etc. are really trying to do something about all the problems and challenges we share. I do not mean to go all partisan or advocate political positions. I mean simply try to capture in brief human exchange the excitement and wonder this peaceful transfer of power implies. Wednesday will come soon enough and our obligations towards fulfilling this democratic promise can begin again. See you on day 3. Continue reading
Government Twitter Directory
There is a directory of government agencies using Twitter: GovTwit and you can, of course, follow GovTwit on Twitter: twitter.com/GovTwit. Mission:
"Looking for government agencies using Twitter or other social media? We want the GovTwit directory to include all facets of government on Twitter: state and local, federal, contractors, reporters, academics and more. The list will be a living list, and we hope to keep it updated via our own research, as well as your submissions...."Continue reading
Dept. of Labor Web Archiving Project
Starting on January 5, 2009, the Department of Labor (DOL) archived all DOL agency Web sites as they existed at that time.
- DOL Web Site Archive
- Labor Department launches digital snapshot project, By Wyatt Kash, Government Computer News, Jan 15, 2009.
Call to Action: Document Good Ideas at Change.gov
Throughout his "75 Days to Government Information Liberation", John Shuler has been exhorting documents librarians to look for ways to inject themselves into the transition-fueled interest in civics and citizen participation. I think one opportunity is upon us and I call on you to join me. Change.gov has established a Citizen's Briefing Book to give President Obama ideas from America at large. This site allows you to submit ideas, vote on others ideas and make comments. What I think we could be doing in a non-partisan way is to provide comments on ideas that point out studies and reports (especially govdocs!) that either support or detract from the proposed idea. For example, one idea is titled School Libraries need Librarians which requests federal funding for school libraries. I did a quick search in ERIC at http://www.eric.ed.gov and found two studies that appear to show the presence of school librarians is associated with academic achievement. I then posted a comment linking to the two studies and mentioning ERIC. So here is your mission, should you decide to accept it:
- Decide a subject that is important to you and that you have subject expertise in.
- Visit http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov and use the search box to find an idea in your area of passion.
- Vote the idea up or down and leave a short comment pointing to at least one resource that supports your vote.
- Tell at least one other librarian friend what you have done.
FOIA and other documents in the Government Attic
governmentattic.org describes itself this way:
governmentattic.org provides electronic copies of hundreds of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they're all here. Think of browsing this site as rummaging through the Government's Attic -- hence our name.Bruce Schneier says of one document that has recently show up at governmentattic, "Just declassified by the NSA, this document -- A History of U.S. Communications Security (Volumes I and II); the David G. Boak Lectures, National Security Agency (NSA), 1973 -- is definitely worth reading. The first sections are highly redacted, but the remainder is fascinating." Continue reading