A tip of the FGI hat to the 13th Floor blog of Governing Magazine for bringing the world news of an unusual but helpful remix of government information: The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (Hardcover) by Sid Jacobson (Illustrator), Ernie Colon (Illustrator) That's right, a comic book version of a government report. And one I think would be useful in libraries. Currently sold by Amazon, the graphic novel is being serialized by Slate. I'd strongly suggest looking at the Slate version if you have any doubt your library could use this item. According to CBS News, this version has been endorsed by the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission:

The 9/11 panel’s co-chairs, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, have written a foreword for the graphic novel that praises “the talented graphic artists of this edition for their close adherence to the findings, recommendations, spirit and tone of the original commission report.”

Aside from its worth in explaining the findings of the 9/11 Commission, I think this volume will be useful in explaining the value of permanent no-fee access to fully functional government information. If the report had been done by a private group, a graphic novel would have been much harder to produce because it would be considered a "derivative work" under copyright law and the would be creators would have had to negoiate with the copyright holders who might have felt that a graphic novel would "demean" their serious work. If the report was crippled with (Digital Rights Management) DRM, the creators wouldn't have been able to copy and paste text from the report into their manuscript which would have stretched out its creation. And finally, what would have happened to their idea for a graphic novel if the 9/11 Commission report had been reclassified and/or taken off the web because the government was uncomfortable with its findings? Having public domain, non-DRM'd gov't information distributed in many places helped grow this graphic novel which will likely introduce more people to the report's findings. Will the future be as productive? Look through our issues pages and judge for yourself. Continue reading →

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Two recent posts on the beSpacific blog that should be of interest to FGI readers:

• The Nation: Librarians at the Gates - To quote from the article, "While the ethic of secrecy often prevails in the gathering and dissemination of corporate and governmental information, the work of a librarian is imbued with just the opposite."
• Appeals Court's Website Features RSS, Audio Recordings - From the press release, "The next time you see someone pop on the headphones and get that faraway look in his or her eyes, don't be so sure it's a tune that's beguiling them. It just may be the latest oral arguments from the Seventh Circuit."

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This post, all earlier postings in this series, and my "not a lawyer" disclaimer can be found at http://freegovinfo.info/title44 or through our library under Nonlawyer's Journey through Title 44. Sec. 1707

TITLE 44--PUBLIC PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 17--DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS Sec. 1707. Reprinting of documents required for sale The Superintendent of Documents may order reprinted, from time to time, public documents required for sale, subject to the approval of the Secretary or head of the department in which the public document originated. The Revolving Fund shall be reimbursed for the cost of reprints from the moneys received by the Superintendent of Documents from the sale of public documents. (Pub. L. 90-620, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1280; Pub. L. 101-520, title II, Sec. 208, Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 2274.) Historical and Revision Notes Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., Sec. 79 (Mar. 28, 1904, No. 11, 33 Stat. 584). Amendments 1990--Pub. L. 101-520 substituted ``The Revolving Fund'' for ``The appropriation for printing and binding''.

This section of the law seems to simply authorize multiple printings of government documents that prove to be be popular. The issuing agency is given veto power over reprinting documents, but I'm not sure how often this has been done. Perhaps one of our GPO readers would be willing to share if they know of times where GPO has wanted to reprint a document for sale but the agency forbade it. Not much here, but interesting. Next time we'll look at pricing government documents. Continue reading →

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For the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I decided to look up some reports that have been issued by the government in the past year. Along the way I came across some documents from the Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. Among those documents was this report that has been written about in the media: Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared After searching the GPO Catalog, Open WorldCat, and Google, I have concluded that the report is only available online as a 105 MB pdf file. Even on a high-speed connection, it could take over an hour to download this file. Using the download estimation tool from HP and figuring 1024K to a Megabyte, download times for this file can vary from 5.3 hours on a 56K modem to 10.3 hours for a 28.8K modem, still used in parts of the country. With an hour download time even for a ISDN/DSL connection, this file is basically unviewable. If the report had been in HTML format, you could start reading before the file finished downloading, but with a pdf file you have to wait for a sizable portion of the file to load before being able to read the pdf. I can't think of anybody who would wait 15 minutes to be able to view the first part of a report. So, although the report is supposedly accessible because it was posted to the Internet, it is less accessible than if it had been distributed to depository libraries. If it had been, then a patron could request a copy of the table of contents or the executive summary of the report. As it is, it may as well be locked in a basement. Citizens deserve better. Continue reading →

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An earlier FGI post inspired me to write a column about efforts to link documents to the news about them. Take a look at The Government Domain: Government Documents and the News in the August issue of LLRX.com. (Actually, as I write this, the full August issue is not up yet--will be soon--but you can get to my column via the link I just provided.) I give FGI credit in the column so, if people read to the end of it, I may spread some FGI awareness. Continue reading →

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