LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is coming under fire for discontinuing its policy of taking a "digital snapshot" of all federal agency and congressional public Web sites at the end of congressional and presidential terms.

NARA, which until this year had collected a "harvests" of federal Web sites at the end of presidential and congressional terms, said in a recent memo that it would discontinue the practice at the end of George W. Bush's presidency.

Responding to congressional demands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is re-opening libraries that the agency closed over the past several years. However, it appears that the content of the libraries will be more limited, and the facilities will be subject to stricter central supervision, raising concerns from critics about the role politics will play. The agency submitted the EPA National Library Network Report [PDF] to Congress on March 26. More @ OMBWatch.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to reopen five closed libraries to the public by this fall, the agency said in a report last Thursday.

Three of the EPA's 10 regional libraries and two libraries at the agency's Washington headquarters were closed because of limited public use and resources being available online, EPA officials had said. The closings prompted criticism from lawmakers. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he welcomed the EPA promise to again make all its libraries available to the public, but he cautioned that "important questions about how these libraries will be staffed remain unanswered."

FCW Reports The Environmental Protection Agency moved too quickly in closing some of its research libraries and may have lost some files as a result, government auditors recently testified before a House panel.

EPA’s push to digitize its libraries led to the rushed closings, said John Stephenson, director of natural resources and environment at the Government Accountability Office in testimony March 13 before the House Science and Technology Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee.

From the Boston Globe: 'If the nation's first subway system had a wise old uncle, it was George M. Sanborn.
Mr. Sanborn, who died Saturday, spent hours holed away in the state's quirky transportation library - where he worked nearly four decades - rummaging through tattered public documents to figure out the history of a manhole cover, the origin of a train station, or the portion of Massachusetts law that required conductors to wear hats. He was 77.' He had a typewriter on his desk, and spent his spare time restoring old trolleys.

Gov. Easley's baffling misperception of the state public records law is one more bizarre moment in this troubling episode. He was willing to fire an employee for counseling Ms. Hooker Odom not to talk, yet he had so little regard for Ms. Hooker Odom's letter that he threw it away because he didn't consider it worth saving.
http://www.charlotte.com/opinion/story/536041.html

EPA Closure of Libraries Faulted For Curbing Access to Key Data A plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to close several of its 26 research libraries did not fully account for the impact on government staffers and the public, who rely on the libraries for hard-to-find environmental data, congressional investigators reported yesterday.

One From The UK The first national survey of local authority archive services has revealed that arrangements for the permanent preservation of digital records are presenting a significant challenge for councils.

National Archives, the organisation which sets standards and supports innovation in information and records management, found that local government is a long way behind Whitehall in making arrangements for digital preservation. None of the more than 100 councils taking part in the Local authority archive survey has an operational digital preservation system.

Good news if your looking for DoD info. The Federation of American Scientists has used the Freedom of Information Act to reopen access to the Army's on-line Reimer Digital Library. There is however a warning certificate if you do try to enter the site.

Here's the story--from two days ago-- of the library's closing: "The Army has shut down public access to the largest online collection of its doctrinal publications, a move criticized by open-government advocates as unnecessary secrecy by a runaway bureaucracy." Both articles are from the Washington Post. Additional commentary from the New Civilization Network.

The Associated Press Reports The National Archives wants a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking quick access to records about a health care task force Hillary Rodham Clinton headed as first lady, or delay the release for about a year.

Judicial Watch, a conservative public interest group, has complained in a lawsuit that the National Archives isn't moving fast enough on its April 2006 request to see the documents. The archives says Judicial Watch is trying to jump ahead of those who made earlier requests under the Freedom of Information Act.