The burden e-gov puts on libraries
James Jacobs commented on the post I published on e-government. He said:
"Evidently (and I haven't checked on this so this is purely an anecdote!), libraries are beginning to be seen as e-govt resources. Good you say, but the worry comes in when librarians are more and more expected to help their patrons fill out the govt forms that they've downloaded from library public computers. In other words, librarians are being seen as defacto public information officers."
From the discussion on this subject that I had in one of my classes, I think what James is saying is true. I'm not a public librarian, so I am basing this opinion off of what I heard my class. My professor, Paul Jaeger, co-wrote an article in Library Journal last year on this subject. He and his co-authors took a poll of librarians to investigate the growing reliance on libraries as an e-gov source. From the article:
"So, as libraries become valuable community access points to e-government services and resources, especially in post-hurricane emergency relief, their efforts as agents of e-government represent an unfunded mandate. The library community must respond with better training and education. However, government agencies that both fund libraries and rely on them for their public access computing and Internet access also must provide greater support." (Bertot 35)
Here is the citation for the article: Bertot, John Carlo, et al. "Drafted: I Want You to Deliver E-Government." Library Journal 131.14 (15 Aug. 2006): pp.34-39.
Continue readingNARA to release ERA in September
Wade-Hahn Chan reported in Federal Computer Week this week that the first part of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) will make its debut in September. ERA is the system that the National Archives is designing to preserve the federal government's electronic records. The first release, according to NARA CIO Martha Morphy, will allow federal agencies to transfer their electronic records directly to the ERA. Four agencies currently submit their records to NARA for archiving; in addition, NARA's Electronic Records Management Initiative has provided all agencies with information on how to handle the formating of electronic documents. The White House has requested a $12 million increase in the budget for ERA for FY2008. Speaking of the Bush administration, a second version of ERA will be developed for the George W. Bush Presidential Library to archive the administration's electronic records. The FY2008 budget requests $38 million to archive these documents. You can learn a bit more about ERA in a video [WMV] linked to on the project's website. I found the FCW article at the eGovernment Resource Centre. Continue reading
FDLP – The Final Frontier
Here is the latest video from "Obsessive Documents Librarians" Productions: This video highlights NASA publications available at many Federal Depository Libraries. Like our other community videos, this one is posted to our videos page. Think you can do a better job? So do I! Please create your own video celebrating Federal Depository Libraries or government information resources. Post it to the web and share the link with us so we can post it to the community videos page! Update 2/12/2007 - Changed video source to Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network for higher video quality. Continue reading
Historians ask school to reject presidential library unless Bush voids privacy order
The Dallas Morning News recently published quite a thorough article about the controversy surrounding Southern Methodist University (SMU) and their proposal to build/host the George W. Bush Presidential Library and policy institute. In a growing storm, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) has called on the University to reject the Bush library "unless the administration reverses an executive order that gives former presidents and their heirs the right to keep White House papers secret in perpetuity." Especially worrisome for SAA and other library and academic groups is a provision allowing a president's heirs to assert claims of executive privilege after his death, with no time limit. SMU finds itself in the middle of a high-stakes battle for access to presidential records. After Bush signed Executive Order 13233, a still-pending lawsuit was brought by a group including the Society of American Archivists, watchdog group Public Citizen, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Political Science Association. Please read to the end of the article, as it includes a concise description of the Presidential Records Act and how it was changed by the Bush EO. "SMU pressed to fight Bush's secrecy." The Dallas Morning News. Monday, February 5, 2007. Todd J. Gillman. Continue reading
Happy 50th to Lamar University
While surfing the 'net I came across the news that the Mary and John Gray library at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a federal depository library. From the press release, it looks like the University is the only depository library in the 2nd Texas Congressional District. The press release also contains this description of the library's collection and importance to the local community that I hope is picked up by other media outlets:
The federal depository at Lamar contains more than 416,000 items, including print documents, maps, microfilm, microfiche, and electronic. Status as a federal depository is important not only to the region, it is a significant value to academic research and scholarship on campus as well. Faculty teaching courses in history and government make extensive use of the materials while undergraduate and graduate students find the resources invaluable for research as well. Patrons interested in researching their genealogy may use the genealogy link for family history research. "As the only federal depository in the region, the Mary and John Gray Library has done its part to safeguard the public's right to know by collecting and maintaining 64 percent of the documents available from the federal government," U.S. Rep. Ted Poe said in recognition of the Lamar milestone on Capitol Hill. "Since 1957, this library has served as one of the vital links between students, Southeast Texas residents and the government." Eastern district director Kristin Barrs attended the ceremony at Lamar University and read a copy of the representative's letter there.Recently, at least in the world of depository libraries, the headlines are dominated by other libraries celebrating their 100th anniversaries. Hopefully, the Mary and John Gray library will still be providing valuable government information services to their community in 2057 for their 100th anniversary. If any of the depository Centurions out their would like their library highlighted on FGI, would you either post a link to a news release or story in comments or e-mail me at dnlcornwall AT alaska.net with a description of your anniversary celebration? Thanks! Continue reading