GODORT Chair

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What is the future of the regional library and services in the Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia FDLP region? After a long time coming the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) has finally released “Report of the University of Maryland Libraries Government and Geographic Information Services Task Force to the Library Executive Council.” UMCP has been working on this for several years and has come up with what I believe is a reasonable response to the changes in the FDLP and how our clients access government information while being responsive to the needs of their immediate community. While they are to be faulted for not involving the selective libraries in their region from the outset when first undertaking their analysis once staff at UMCP were made aware of our concern they moved quickly to involve Jim Gillispie, Head, Access Services and Government Publications at Johns Hopkins University – one of the largest selectives in our region. In light of the shared regional proposal from GPO I think UMCP’s recommendations are worth studying and I encourage you to review the documents at:

[[1]]Report -

[[2]]Appendix - please note that this second PDF includes a lot of empty pages – read online don’t print it out

Sleeman 10:37, 6 February 2008 (CST)


Dan Cornwall and his colleagues over at FGI have initiated an exciting project to “tag” some of the documents captured by GPO during their test harvesting of the EPA Internet site. See: FGI [[3]]

This is a brilliant and simple method to test the value of social tagging for speeding and improving access to these EPA documents and to perhaps help GPO get these resources out to the public sooner rather than later. I want to encourage those of you who have not looked at this to do so. It is a great idea although it might have been more inclusive if it had sought to include other tagging communities.

A neat idea from the smart folks at FGI. Sleeman 12:00, 1 February 2008 (CST)



On FGI John Shuler has been blogging this past month and one of his topics was “What to Teach Government Information Students” in grad school. I wanted to share with GODORT my response as I think it is also an area where we in GODORT can and should make a contribution – professionalism and a commitment to the profession. You can read the entire thread of John’s blog at FGI [[4]] :

“An interesting question but since I don’t teach government information I am hesitant to weigh in on specific topics that students should cover in class. But your question did force me to think back over my own career and consider what was the most helpful of topics covered in library school. I think what I have come to value the most about my own coursework was the emphasis that was always present on making a commitment to the profession. Similarly, I hope that your students would leave your class with a commitment to the profession and to the government information community. I was extremely fortunate to work with the wonderful Joan Durrance when I attended University of Michigan. Although I can’t recall her ever saying it outright Professor Durrance instilled in us a sense of responsibility to the community we were seeking to join. I left her docs class not just interested in documents but convinced of the importance of access to government information and committed to ensuring it.

“Professionalism” isn’t something that can be taught really but modeled; it comes from mentors and fine teachers, like you John, who are committed to the profession. What do I think you should teach to government information students – t hat our profession and our cause is a noble one. I think that you (and others who teach government information) are in a unique position to not just teach the content and resources but to nurture that sense of commitment that will help us to create professional leaders for our future. “ Sleeman 11:42, 30 January 2008 (CST)


Colleagues,

It was wonderful to see so many of you in Philadelphia earlier this week. It was quite a conference and I appreciate all of the hard work and effort that each of you contributed to making the GODORT meetings and events successful.

By now you may have heard that all three of our resolutions were passed by ALA Council. I understand that the three will be forwarded to GPO. As soon as I get the official approved version I will also forward the Tribal Colleges resolution to those interested parties that helped bring this issue to our attention.

The GODORT Update was very well attended and I am especially appreciative of the attention to detail that went into planning that program. The speakers were great!

Kevin McClure attended the ALA/WO breakout session on E-government and came back with a better understanding of how we can be a part of the conversation within ALA about this important service. One immediate outcome was a request to work with LRRT on their program devoted to E-government for Annual 2008.

At Steering two on Monday we approved both the ballot for officers of the Round Table and the recipients of our various awards. These will be presented at ALA Annual in Anaheim at what sounds as if it will be an excellent reception. I hope that you are planning to be there. The Program and Pre-Conferences are coming together nicely and I am grateful that the Program Committee has found a way to work around the spread out nature of the next ALA Conference site. The downside of a successful business meeting is that as Chair I come back with less paper but more things to do. I am busily trying to resolve the spacing issues that the Anaheim Conference site for Annual presents. Our Past-Chair Aimee Quinn is doing a great job trying to make everything fit in the abbreviated time frame that ALA is employing for the Conference. I have also been busy following up with letters and in trying to craft a statement on the ALA Draft Protocol for Responding to Requests from Outside Organizations for ALA’s Official Position.

That’s all for now. Again, thanks for all of your hard work in Philly. Sleeman 14:42, 28 January 2008 (CST)



A very good report from OMB Watch - Hiding in Plain Site on how commercial search engines fail to fully identify government information. Take a look at this report if you have not as it is yet another example of how we can all do better if agencies (at all levels) made greater use of the technical resources available to them. [5]Sleeman 14:26, 17 December 2007 (CST)



If you have not seen this article by Greg Lastowka on the nexus of Google and intellectual property it is worth taking a look at. [6]

As I have said several times, I think what Google is doing to the established practice of Fair Use (as it 'works' in libraries) is a danger to libraries. If the Google position that scanning the entire book and only making small portions available online is fair I would expect to see push back from the publishing industry; push back that could fall on our ILL and reserves practices. Personally, I don't think what Google claims is an accurate presentation of the concept of fair use (but I'm not a lawyer).

Anyway, the Lastowka article is an excellent piece of analysis. Sleeman 10:08, 16 November 2007 (CST)




A couple of thoughts on the developing "Hillary Gate" -

As Hillary Clinton continues her campaign for President access to her papers at the Clinton Presidential Library has been much in the news of late. In response to the questions about these papers NARA staff plead poverty claiming that they don't have enough staff to process all of the material so journalist interested in these resources will just have to wait. Interestingly, the former President, Bill Clinton, claims that if it were up to him all of the materials would be released but then he relies on the November 2001 Executive Order (E.O. 13233) of President Bush as an excuse for not releasing the material.

In the past few months ALA and many of our colleagues in other library organizations have been pushing for the passage of H.R. 1255 - the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. Many of the arguments used to advocate for the passage of the bill have hinged, rightfully, on the understanding that the papers of the president are essential for an informed citizenry and should not be blocked. Yet I have heard no similar swell of anger over the lack of access to the Hillary Clinton papers by the library community. I wonder if this is because she is perceived as one of us while Bush, a conservative Republican, is not.

It seems to me that the Hillary Clinton "paper gate" offers the American Library Association an opportunity to continue to agitate for the passage of H.R. 1255 while simultaneously demonstrating that our commitment to the issue isn't tied to a particular political philosophy but transcends parties. Sleeman 10:08, 16 November 2007 (CST)



10-19-07

Communicating with ARL

Colleagues,

It was good to see so many of you at FDLC this past week. Although there is a lot that I need to follow up from that conference I wanted to let you know that Cass Hartnett, Chair-elect, and I had a very good meeting on Wednesday afternoon with Prue Adler, Associate Executive Director of ARL. She had a number of suggestions and ideas about GODORT and government information many of which were in line with my own stated goals for GODORT.

I know that in the past the Roundtable's relationship with ARL has been a matter of concern with many of our members and I want to assure you that I will be taking Prue's recommendations to heart. One area that I will try to immediately work into my routine is to share with Prue issues that may directly affect ARL libraries but I need those of you in ARL institutions to help me recognize those issues.

As always I welcome your recommendations on how to work more effectively with those organizations that I am not directly "plugged into." By working together with our fellow professional organizations we can build a stronger GODORT and more effectively influence the future of access to government information.

Thanks, Bill



9-26-07

I had a chance earlier in the month to travel to GPO (the advantages of being in Baltimore) and see a brief presentation - "proof of concept" - of the FDSys for agencies. It was very well thought out and seemingly effective. The biggest concern expressed by those who attended seemed to be less about the product and more about the inability of GPO to get the agencies to participate. As suggested by one GPO official a change in how Title 44 is applied would help this but I, for one, am reluctant to open up Title 44 for revision until we have a closer agreement on what sort of outcome we would like. Getting back to FDSys another concern was the creation of two silos of data. While GPO officials claim that a search in the Catalog of Government Publications would turn up FDSys publication submission data they were not exactly clear on how, or at what point in the process it would happen.

Still, they are clearly on the right track product wise and it was gratifying to see even a small portion of the effort getting underway.



8-23-07 UPCOMING GODORT/SLA PROGRAM AT FDLP

How Do Journalists Use Government Information?

Ever wonder how journalists find and use government information? On October 15, New York Times reporter Scott Shane (http://tinyurl.com/2nfugw) and Washington Post research editor Alice Crites, MLS (http://tinyurl.com/2mrybn) will address this question and related issues. Join us for a lively program sponsored jointly by ALA's Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) and SLA's Government Information Division (DGI).

DATE: Monday, October 15 TIME: 7:00 p.m. PLACE: Crystal City Doubletree Hotel. Room - TBA [[7]]


For more information contact Bill Sleeman, GODORT [bsleeman@law.umaryland.edu] or Peggy Garvin, SLA [peggy@garvinconsulting.com]



7-2-07

An excellent proposal for the future of government information can be found in Congressional Information & the Internet from the "Openhouse Project." [8]

This is a conversation that GODORT might want to be more involved in.



7-2-07

I wanted to let you all know that we had a very good meeting with staff from the Joint Committee on Printing on Tuesday during the ALA Day on the Hill event. Both Matt McGowan and Mike Harrison participated and the discussion was quite good. They were both engaged in the conversation and the Q&A was wide ranging. While I am not so naive as to believe that they rushed back to their office to change their approach I do think that they heard us and appreciated our frank comments. I hope that we can build on this initial successful contact in order to give JCP access to some new voices on the issue of access to government information.

I want to express my appreciation to Lynne Bradley and Tara Olivero for setting the meeting up and I hope that you will thank them too if you have a chance.



7-6-07

If you have not taken a look at the July 2nd report from the National Security Archive on FOIA you should. Like all of their efforts this it is an excellent review of the challenges faced in getting FOIA requests filled. 40 Years of FOIA, 20 Years of Delay[9]



Introductory comments from ALA Annual 2007

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the Chair of GODORT. It is indeed an honor and I appreciate the trust that you have placed in me. As many of you already know if you read my nomination statement when I ran for Chair and I hope that only a few of your are hearing this for the first time. I really intend for my tenure as Chair to be focused on positioning GODORT for the future. To that end I want to encourage all of you to think seriously about the type of organization we want GODORT to become in the next few years. The implementation of virtual membership, decreasing the number of meetings at annual 2008 (perhaps by relying more on e-mail and the GODORT Wiki in-between Midwinter and annual) and increasing the education and training opportunities for our members will be my priorities in the coming year. One very important effort that has just gotten underway is our Roundtable's strategic planning effort. The strategic planning process will be lead by Linda Johnson and Marianne Ryan and includes a mix of "old hands" and newer GODORT members who have been asked to focus on the needs of the organization and to help us improve our services and outreach efforts. As part of this process the Membership Committee will be sending out a survey to evaluate our services and mission. I know that many of us are bombarded with survey requests but I really want to encourage each of you to respond to this survey. It will help us to better prepare a plan for the future if we know with some degree of assuredness what our members value (or not) about GODORT. We will also be working with ALA to get the survey out to former members as well. Another challenge that I have asked Steering to consider is the question of virtual membership. I had several people ask me about this as an option when I approached them about serving in GODORT and it quickly became apparent that our organization must explore this opportunity for membership. I am calling on each Committee and Task Force Chair to communicate with your members about this so that by Mid-Winter we might be in a position to move forward on a plan to share with membership. Although you have been kind enough to elect me as your Chair I want to stress that I do not claim to be an expert on ALA or on the myriad of government information issues we will likely face in the coming year. I not only welcome in-put and guidance from the membership I will require it if we are to be effective. So please feel free to call on me if you have questions or just want to talk as I will certainly be calling on you. I am looking forward to a truly collaborative year. Bill Sleeman

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