FBI Agent’s ALA Midwinter Talk “Censored”
Library Journal Academic Newswire reports that Bassem Youssef, the Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unit responsible for administering two warrantless search programs, who was scheduled to discuss "a number of critical failures within the FBI's counterterrorism program undermining the basic Constitutional rights of American citizens and threatening the effectiveness of America's counterterrorism effort" on Saturday, January 12, at the ALA's Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia will now "only be allowed to answer selected questions."
The FBI cited "rules concerning prepublication clearance of any potential speech." Youssef's lawyer says that these "are not the formal rules", that the FBI has not previously published them or incorporated into employment agreements, that they are secret, that they "constitute secret censorship requirements", and that "Mr. Youssef is prevented from showing these rules to anyone outside the FBI."
- FBI Agent's ALA Midwinter Talk "Censored." Library Journal Academic Newswire, January 10, 2008.
Weeding libraries. Hello, Grisham — So Long, Hemingway?
Hello, Grisham -- So Long, Hemingway? With Shelf Space Prized, Fairfax Libraries Cull Collections. Lisa Rein, Washington Post, January 2, 2007 This is probably the saddest, most telling story about libraries I've read in years. It all is pitched as 'strategic' and 'popular' and 'data-driven' as if it is inevitable and unavoidable, but the real reason is clearly stated in the article: these changes are "driven by a $2 million cut to the budget" and "...circulation, a sign of prestige and a potential bargaining chip for new funding." Once again it looks like libraries have correctly defined a problem and instituted a completely wrong solution :-| There's plenty of literature that says that building collections based solely on popularity doesn't work over the long run, but there are plenty of people (including I guess ALA president Leslie Burger) who, instead of being creative in highlighting their collections, would rather rely on some piece of software to tell them when a book hasn't checked out for 24 months. I also found the bit about "it's not here, but we can get it to you in a week" lame and dishearteningly parallel to the FDLP "shared collections" weeding plans (see for example, Govt Printing Office Draft guidelines for shared regionals (PDF), GODORT/AALL/SLA letter commenting on the draft, and ARL Draft support). I would agree that you don't need 40 shelf feet of books on tulips (unless you're the SF Botanical Garden or Longwood Gardens), but the public interest in much fiction and non-fiction (not to mention government documents) looks like a sine wave, not a long tail. Continue reading
Do you twitter?
Do you use twitter? We're experimenting with using the service -- sort of a microblog that lets you also post to it from your cell phone and other cool features. We've just set up a twitter acct -- freegovinfo of course! -- so go on over and subscribe to the RSS if you're so inclined. Also, if you user twitter, drop us a comment telling us your twitter acct. You can expect some twitter posts from Philly as I'm off to ALA until next tuesday.
Continue readingWhite House ordered to provide millions of missing email
This issue has been around for a while (see "White House eschews email." and "What's worse than 18 1/2 minutes of deleted audio?" previously posted on FGI). According to the SF Chronicle, the White House today is being ordered to provide information on millions of missing email from White House servers. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has more background and a link to the judge's order.
A federal magistrate ordered the White House on Tuesday to reveal whether copies of possibly millions of missing e-mails are stored on computer backup tapes.
The order by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola comes amid an effort by the White House to scuttle two lawsuits that could force the Executive Office of the President to recover any e-mail that has disappeared from computer servers where electronic documents are automatically archived.
In their lawsuits, the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington suggest the e-mails were improperly deleted from White House computer servers. Over 5 million White House e-mails are missing, CREW alleged. Recently, the group said it has been told by reliable sources that the actual figure of missing e-mail is over 10 million.
In asking that the complaints be dismissed, the Bush administration says the president’s record keeping practices under the Presidential Records Act are not reviewable by the courts. Also, the Federal Records Act does not allow the far-reaching action the two private groups are demanding, the administration contends…
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Back to the future: Jefferson’s 1815 Library records and Preservation of 21st Century State Digital Information
Thanks James! And greetings to FGI readers! A couple of recent posts piqued my interest over the last few days ---
The first is from the wonderful community of booklovers at the LibraryThing about Thomas Jefferson: a fascinating exercise in "social bibliographic control."
The second is an announcement from the institution that owes much to Jefferson's library, the Library of Congress, and its news release that describes its efforts to preserve state government information -- Digital Preservation Program Adds New Partners To Preserve State Government Digital Information. Just another indication that the best preservation efforts are often multi-institutional.
Finally, not to leave the civil rights stones unturned, here is an article that describes the legal troubles over border inspectors asking folks coming into the United States to turn on their laptops and show the officials what is on the hard drive. Setting Boundaries at Borders: Reconciling Laptop Searches and Privacy.
Looking forward to much discussion and reading, and thanks for the opportunity to join the conversation.
jashuler
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