CIA selective on publications
"A Tangled Web Woven," by David E. Kaplan, US News and World Report, January 30, 2006 Practiced in the art of deception, it seems that the Central Intelligence Agency is being selective in what official govt reports it releases to citizens. According to the US News, "since 2003, at least three unclassified CSI reports--all critical of the agency--have been withheld from the CIA's website ... During that same time, the agency has placed online three other CSI reports, all of those relatively positive or neutral." I'm sure these reports would make valuable additions for any library collection. To obtain the reports, contact the Center for the Study of Intelligence at 1-703-613-1753, or order through government publication vendors listed on CSI's website. Interestingly, GPO is one of those vendors listed, so perhaps libraries can request it as part of the FDLP. The titles are: Continue reading
Hundreds of libraries waiting for digital deposit
The Government Printing Office (GPO) presented an update of their recent work to a Mid-Winter meeting of the American Library Association last week in San Antonio. As part of that update, Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell made partial results of the biennial survey of federal depository libraries public. Ms. Russell shared the results of two questions related to digital deposit of federal electronic publications, based on 987 responses to the biennial survey. There are approximately 1250 libraries in the program, so at least 261 libraries have not yet been heard from. By law, all depository libraries must complete this survey, so I expect full results later this spring. On to the questions themselves and their results. Question 65 was related to current depository efforts at local collection of federal electronic publications. Currently there is no distribution mechanism, so depositories have to actively gather and store materials.
65: My library systematically downloads, stores online publications identified from GPO Access or through GPO-created PURLS, and makes them accessible to the general public from local servers. This past year my library downloaded the following number of digital publication files (this does not include shipping lists, Web pages, or datasets): 0 = 823 libraries 1-25 = 90 26-100 = 25 101-500 = 26 501-1000 = 7 1001-5000 = 11 More than 5000 = 4Even in the absence of a distribution system for federal electronic publications from GPO, 163 libraries are storing local copies of federal pubs. Based on a depository community of 1,250 libraries, this represents 13% of all depository libraries. One in ten libraries are already doing more than what GPO is asking of them. The other "digital deposit" question asked libraries how many digital documents they might be willing to store and serve locally, if GPO provided them. No distribution mechanism was proposed.
66. My library is willing to receive Federal digital publication files on deposit from GPO, store them, and make the accessible to the general public from local servers. My library is willing to receive the following number of digital publication files per year (this does not include shipping lists, Web pages, or databases): 0 = 652 libraries 1-25 = 176 26-100 = 56 101-500 = 41 501-1000 = 26 1001-5000 = 14 More than 5000 = 21This question tells me that 334 libraries are willing to at least make a trial of storing and serving electronic materials locally. These libraries represent more than a quarter of the depository community. Surely this should be a call to establish a formal deposit system for electronic publications for depositories to try. Even without a formal digital deposit proposal, over a hundred libraries are willing to store and serve more than 100 documents per year. Even if these hundred libraries are the only ones to step forward, that's a far higher level of backup and redundancy than the current system has. I believe that's worth GPO committing to a system of local, distributed system of electronic deposit such as the one described in Government Information in the Digital Age: The Once and Future Federal Depository Library Program, today. Continue reading
What is the Federal Depository Library Program?
Non document-librarian readers of FGI might be interested in this fact sheet about the Federal Depository Library Program. The fact sheet is somewhat dated (2001?), but still gives a decent idea of what the program is and why it benefits citizens around the country. Briefer, but more recent information about the system can be found at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fdlp.html. To find a Federal Depository Library near you, just point your browser to http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html. Continue reading
More on Google vs. DOJ
Declan McCullagh has a good, very short post that includes several useful links to more about the Justice Department subpoena of Google search records and why it is a privacy issue that should concern us.
Perhaps visits to a search engine can be thought of as somewhat akin to thumbing through a dictionary, or an encyclopedia, or a phone book. You'd want privacy in those cases, especially when doing financial or medical research. But because the Supreme Court has said you don't have privacy when your records are held by others, the virtual equivalent of thumbing-through information is available to curious prosecutors or divorce attorneys. Thanks a lot, Supremes...Continue reading
New Podcast – Office of National Drug Control policy
We have added podcasts from the White House Office of National Drug Control policy (ONDCP) to our Government Podcasts directory. According to the first podcast, dated December 29, 2005, the purpose of this new ONDCP series is to allow users to "download speeches, interviews, and other audio content regarding National drug policy and the negative impact drugs have on our country." Unlike many other podcasts, the ONDCP provides full printed text of their podcasts, although I personally find them formatted poorly for easy reading. This might be a good podcast for classes with a drug abuse component. So might the SAMSHA podcasts that are also available from our directory page. Continue reading