46 and 45 Days to Government Information Liberation
1. Recognize the importance of librarians and their institutions in the sustainability of a dynamic civic culture. I think the toughest aspect of sustaining this kind of weeks long conversation is to try and keep all the different aspects of what we now call government information librarianship together into some kind of cohesive whole. In my last post I spoke about the underlying foundations of social capital shared by journalists and librarians that mediates between individuals or communities that want to know more about government institutions and sources of information produced by and about those institutions. In the case of librarians, the cumulative social capital comes from centuries old traditions of gathering and organizing a community's information artifacts. As an outcome of this gathering and organizing, librarians might also choose to become familiar with the substance and dynamics of how government organizations function, study or address problems, communicate with the public (and other government organizations), and eventually how the government organization might stash its information stuff over the long haul (or not, as the case might be.) In an open and democratic society these librarians also take on the express purpose to proactively work with other organizations, groups, and interested individuals to keep the civic machinery of government as transparent and accessible as possible. The term civic machinery is not widely used in the library traditions, but is a term that constantly pops in the professional and popular press. example, see here, here, here and here. I like the phrase "civic machinery" -- once used by Jane Addams to describe the critical role certain institutions might play in connecting a community to the democratic structures of their governments. Here is what Addams said specifically -- "As the policeman who makes terms with vice, and almost inevitably slides into making gain from vice, merely represents the type of politician who is living off the weakness of his fellows, so the over-zealous reformer who exaggerates vice until the public is scared and awestruck, represents the type of politician who is living off the timidity of his fellows. With the lack of civic machinery for simple democratic expression, for a direct dealing with human nature as it is, we seem doomed to one type or the other--corruptionists or anti-crime committees" What the civic expansion of public digital information over the last 15 years now demands of librarians and their professional associations is simply this -- take advantage of the technology to preserve our traditions of sustainability and transparency. See you on Day 44. Continue reading
FOIA Clinic
The Public Citizen Litigation group, a division of Public Citizen, launched the Public Interest FOIA Clinic, an online resource that helps nonprofit organizations obtain federal government documents. The Clinic provides "direct litigation assistance to public interest organizations, particularly those that have substantive expertise in their area but lack substantial FOIA litigation experience". Check out their FOI Clearinghouse, request legal assistance on behalf of a non-profit organization or public interest group, or add your non-profit FOIA work to the Public Interest FOIA Database. Continue reading
Action Alert: Please Write For Nevada Docs Position
Our friends at The Gov Doc blog have put out an emergency appeal to help save the Nevada State Library's Head of Government Publications. All of us on the FGI Volunteer team support asking the Nevada State Library to reconsider its position. Here is The Gov Doc post in its entirety. I'll have a few comments after: ===================== Greetings to all. We hope everyone had a fun & refreshing Thanksgiving holiday. Ours were well spent with family and plenty of good food however we received some distressing news upon returning to work. We learned that the Nevada State Library and Archives has decided to eliminate the position, Head of Government Publications. The reason we are distressed is because this position is crucial for the capturing, cataloging, and dissemination of state publications and we fear that without the leadership that this position provides Nevada publications will slip into oblivion to the detriment of the people – the people whose taxes pay for this research and are therefore entitled to the opportunity to access this information. Below is a letter of protest that you can cut & paste into a new message to send to Ms. Daphne DeLeon and Mr. Michael E. Fischer. Please feel free to edit the letter to personalize it or write your own. Don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom complete with your organization and title. Here are their email addresses, please include both in the “Send To” line: Daphne DeLeon, ddeleon@nevadaculture.org Michael E. Fischer, mfischer@nevadaculture.org One last thing, please send a blind copy of your email to Ian Campbell (icampbell@washoecounty.us) and Lisa Printz (lprintz@washoecounty.us). Thank you and hopefully together we can make a difference, Ian and Lisa Attn: Daphne DeLeon, Division Administrator, Nevada State Library & Archive Michael E. Fischer, Director, Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs It was with shock and dismay that we learned about the Nevada State Library's decision to eradicate the position, Head of Government Publications. And it is with the great concern stimulated by this decision that we are writing to request that the state reconsider what we believe to be a short-sighted decision that will negatively impact current and future Nevada residents' access to critical information. When one considers that the federal government produces 70% of the world's information it becomes apparent that federally funded information is invaluable and since tax-payers dollars purchase or support these research endeavors the citizens of this nation have a right to access this information. Much of the states' research receives partial funding from the federal government and therefore is included in the figure (70%) given above. Compounding traditional problems of access to government funded research are the changes in the dissemination of this information to the populous. Due to advances in technology and in an effort to save money most government funded research is only available online therefore, capturing and cataloging this information for the purpose of retrieval are vital to the community's information needs especially since governmental agencies are not obligated to maintain access to this information. So, much of this information is ephemeral in its availability unless someone captures and catalogs it. Currently, there is a phenomenal amount of previously released information that needs to be captured and cataloged in addition to the present research being released now and future research that will require capturing and cataloging for without this work preserving access to federal and state research will not be possible. While there are many individuals attempting to apply order to federal documents, there are far fewer that work towards capturing, cataloging, and disseminating state government publications. This position, Head of Government Publications, fulfills this role and provides much needed leadership in the enactment of the NRS 378.170 and for the state of Nevada in developing a Nevada state publications depository to ensure the permanent retention of state publications. We feel that this position, Head of Government Publications, serves a critical and vital gap in the public's information needs and we therefore, strongly urge the Nevada State Library to reconsider this decision. Thank you and sincerely, ===================== As someone who participates in government virtual reference, I can assure our readers that having stuff online is NOT the same as being able to lay your digital fingers on it. Doubly so when that stuff isn't actually online. As someone who used to run a state's document program, I can assure our readers that without someone whose primary role is state publications, a lot of stuff will fall through the cracks. This is based on the realization that a fair amount falls through the cracks even when there is dedicated staff. Ian and Lisa didn't say whether the docs duties currently assigned to the position were going to be parceled out to others or be eliminated. Either choice would be a bad one. Most libraries that I'm familiar with already have most librarians doing about two positions worth of work. So if you care about government information, especially if you live in Nevada, I hope you will consider joining this letter writing campaign. If you're familiar with the Nevada State Library, it would help if you could suggest some alternative cuts OR some alternative funding sources. Continue reading
Lunchtime Listen: Interview with Emily Sheketoff
Library Perspective. Interview with Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the Washington Office of the American Library Association, CSPAN, 11/06/2008. [30 minutes, Flash Video]. Sheketoff discusses federal copyright, privacy, and piracy policy and how those issues could be effected by President-Elect Barack Obama’s administration. Paul Sweeting, editor of Content Agenda was the guest host. Continue reading
Guide of the Week: Defense Spending
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified defense spending as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue. While there do not appear to be any guides that specifically address defense spending alone, the guides below and taken together should be helpful:
- Military Information Resources and Periodicals (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
- Resources for Weapons Systems Policy Research (John Hernandez, New York University, 1999) Last updated 6/2004
- Budget (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008
- U.S. Government Documents: The Budget Process (Jerry Breeze, Columbia University, 1999) Last Updated sometime in 2008