Govt reducing access to information
From Sunday March 13, 2005 Guardian by Martha Mendoza writing on an Associated Press review of FOIA requests since 1998. Basically the review found that requests for information from the US federal govt are WAY up and percentage of information actually released is WAY down! Add to that scenario that more government information is being classified (or sensitive but unclassified), and the frequency of information being taken off of government websites is rising and you've got quite a recipe for dissaster. Continue reading
boingboing blogs article
boingboing has blogged our article about the future of the FDLP. Check out how many blogs have linked to it. By the way, congratulations on boingboing being named blog of the year!!! Continue reading
Historians ask Congress to suspend Nixon transfer
From the National Security Archive: Sixteen historians who were scheduled to speak at a now-cancelled conference at the Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California, today asked Congress to suspend plans for the transfer of the Nixon tapes and files from the National Archives in College Park, Maryland to the Yorba Linda facility. Read on... (Originally posted on the govinfo list!) Continue reading
GPO essential titles survey
Survey to Identify Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper or Other Tangible Format The Government Printing Office (GPO) seems to be hearing librarians' footsteps. In an effort to seem responsive to the FDLP community, GPO recently released a survey to "identify items that should be added to the "list of Essential Titles for Public Use in Paper Format." GPO requests that the survey be completed by March 18 so that they may compile the data and bring the results to the Depository Library Council (DLC) meeting in April. We'd love to hear your comments on the survey. Please post a comment here (they can be anonymous). We will bring these comments to DLC to share with the entire community. Continue reading
Government Information in the Digital Age: The Once and Future Federal Depository Library Program
March 10, 2005 / 8 Comments on Government Information in the Digital Age: The Once and Future Federal Depository Library Program
by James A. Jacobs, James R. Jacobs and Shinjoung Yeo. Published in the May, 2005 issue of Journal of Academic Librarianship. We would greatly appreciate it if, after reading this article, you post a comment. We'd like to collect all comments for collective input to Depository Library Council. Link to the entire article other copies >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ABSTRACT: Rapid technological change has caused some to question the need for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). We argue that the traditional roles of FDLP libraries in selecting, acquiring, organizing, preserving, and providing access to and services for government information are more important than ever in the digital age. In the United States, there are deeply rooted values that a democracy requires an informed citizenry, that government must be accountable to its citizens, and that citizens therefore must have full, free, easy access to information about the activities of their government.1 These values have led to the creation of the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP), Government Printing Office (GPO), and the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)2 to facilitate this process. Over the last several years, developments in publishing and Internet technologies have affected the way government information is produced, disseminated, controlled, and preserved. These changes have affected the policies and procedures of the GPO and, in turn, have affected the depository library program. Despite the often-heard promises that these new technologies will bring more information to more people more quickly and easily, the actual effects have been decidedly mixed. The few highly visible, short-term successes of rapid dissemination of single titles directly to citizens (e.g., the large number of downloads of the 9/11 report3) mask the loss of a secure infrastructure for long-term preservation of and access to government information.4 Continue reading...
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