Access to Presidential Records Diminished
Yesterday, there was a hearing on the problems of access to Presidential records: "The Presidential Records Act of 1978: A Review of Executive Branch Implementation and Compliance," held by the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The Chronicle of Higher Education says,
Public access to presidential records came under scrutiny in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday as a panel of archivists, historians, and lawyers told a subcommittee about threats to access, and lawmakers introduced two bipartisan bills that would reform key aspects of how presidential documents are preserved and controlled.
- In Testimony and New Bills, Historians and Lawmakers Urge Protection of Access to Presidential Records, by Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 2, 2007) [subscription required] (Available without subscription for a few days here)
According to Thomas Blanton, the Executive Director of the National Security Archive, the government has added five years of delay into the process of releasing presidential records.
- The Presidential Records Act in Crisis National Security Archive (March 1, 2007)
Welcome Gary Price to the blogger-of-the-month podium!
This month we've got a special treat for FGI readers, Gary Price will be our BOTM for March! I'm sure Gary needs no introduction, but in case you've been living under a library rock or haven't had internet access for the last 10 years and so haven't seen Gary's ResourceShelf and Docuticker, here's his bio. Gary will start posting on Monday. Welcome Gary! I'd also like to thank Chris Zammarelli for being our BOTM for February. We really appreciate his taking time out of his busy student schedule to start some really good conversations! Don't forget to catch Chris at his regular haunts: Libraryola and SuckMyCaucus. Thanks Chris!! In case you missed them, below are Chris' posts:
- GAO report on EPA proposal to change TRI threshold
- Expect more from ExpectMore.gov
- Victorian Government's eGovernment Resource Centre
- NARA to release ERA in September
- The burden e-gov puts on libraries
- FOIA hearings held this week
- Transparency and the President's Management Agenda
- FEC aims to restrict Inspector General reports
- So What's the Big Deal About Climate Change?
Gary Price, BOTM for March, 2007
** Note: Bio reproduced from Gary's site, ResourceShelf ** Gary Price is a librarian and the Director of Online Information Resources at Ask.com. Gary is the founder and chief editor/compiler of ResourceShelf (http://www.resourceshelf.com). This daily electronic newsletter is where he and the ResourceShelf team post news and other new resources of interest to the online researcher. He is also the founder and a contributor to DocuTicker (http://www.docuticker.com). This is another daily update with direct links to a variety of new reports from goverment agencies, think tanks, ngo’s, universities, and other groups. Both of these sites and services are independent of his work at Ask.com. A native of the Chicago area, he earned his Masters of Library and Information Science degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He also holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. From August 2004 through January 2006, Gary was the News Editor of Search Engine Watch. He is a frequent speaker at professional and trade conferences, a contributor to Searcher magazine and the co-author (with Chris Sherman) of The Invisible Web, published by CyberAge Books. Price has also compiled several well-known web research tools including Price’s List of Lists and direct search. These and other compilations have been mentioned in numerous publications including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Gary was awarded the 2004/2005 Distinguished Alumnus of the Award from the Wayne State Library and Information Science Program. In June 2004 he was the co-recipient of the Agnes Henbry Award from the News Division of the Special Libraries Association and in the summer of 2002 he received the Innovations in Technology Award from the Special Libraries Association From February 1995 through April 2001 Price worked as a Reference Librarian at The George Washington University. He is based in suburban Washington D.C. Gary can be contacted at gary.price AT resourceshelf DOT com Continue reading
Agencies that block search engines
Peter Suber reports on National Library of Medicine and National Science Foundation sites that limit access to indexing of those sites and a possible explanation for that limitation.
- Government OA sites that limit crawling, by Peter Suber, Open Access News, (3/01/2007)
We've reported on this before, See: Do agencies exclude search engines?.
Continue readingHouse Testimony of Tim Berners-Lee on Net Neutrality
Berners-Lee: Congress should consider net neutrality by Grant Gross, ITworld.com (3/1/07)
Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, advocated that the U.S. Congress protect net neutrality and questioned the value of digital rights management Thursday. Berners-Lee, speaking before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in the U.S. House of Representatives, said it was "very, very important" for lawmakers to protect the ability of users to access the Web content they want regardless of their Internet service provider.Continue reading