freedom of information

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Mon 14 Mar 2005

Sunshine Week: California

Posted by head_librarian under freedom of information
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California’s Proposition 59, also known as the sunshine amendment, was passed overwhelmingly in the November 2004 election. The amendment was introduced by California State Senator’s John Burton (D) and Bruce McPherson (R). This gives California citizens legal access to more government information.

This amended the California State Constitution Article 1, Section 3:

(1) The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.
 

Fri 11 Mar 2005

Blogshine Sunday kicks off Sunshine Week

Posted by head_librarian under freedom of information
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Blogshine Sunday

On March 13, 2005, news organizations across America will participate in “Sunshine Sunday” by running stories supporting access to government information. This freedom of information is vital to our democracy.

The American Library Association Washington Office has posted an update on
the second FOIA-related bill introduced by Senators Leahy and Cornyn, called the Faster FOIA Act: ALA | 022mar11.


On the morning of March 15, during the first-ever national Sunshine Week, Senators Cornyn and Leahy will convene a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing to examine both the OPEN Government Act and the Faster FOIA Act.

Resources:
Website for SUNSHINE Week
Freedom of Information Act, 5 USC § 552
LII - Results for “freedom of information”
See ALA’s links and PDF files regarding Executive Order 13233.

 

Tue 1 Mar 2005

MLIS Government Documents Class

Posted by head_librarian under freedom of information
[2] Comments 

What we are learning is astounding. I never heard of “fugitive documents.” This refers to the more than 50% of tangible federal agency publications that are not sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) and therefore do not get indexed and cataloged or sent to libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

In addition, while reading the govdocs-l electronic list, I read that agencies publish documents on the Web and then may remove them or alter them. The pre-Web way was to have a complete paper trail. Now, our paper trail of what government is up to seems to be disappearing, never appearing, or can be easily altered without comment.

Background:
The GPO, acting under U.S. Code Title 44 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, are charged with the right and responsibility of collecting, cataloging, printing, and distributing qualified federal agency publications. As American citizens, it is our right, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to have access to non-classified publications from federal executive agencies.

Relevant links:
FDLP Desktop: About the FDLP
1997 Administrative note, Fugitive Documents: Scope and Solutions
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Federal Government Resources [Frame Enhanced] This is a very good starting point for accessing various types of government information.

 

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