SLA Government Information Division

Remodeling the Depository Library Program for the 21st Century

The consulting service Ithaka S+R, specializing in libraries and digital scholarship issues, has been conducting research on the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) under a contract with the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). Ithaka S+R describes their work  on their project website, Federal Depository Library Program: Modeling for the Future:

In this project, Ithaka S+R will conduct an environmental scan, examine other library networks, identify a practical and sustainable model (or models) for the FDLP going forward, analyze the value proposition for the FDLP in the 21st Century, and provide regulatory and legislative recommendations to guide possible implementation.

Ithaka S+R has been soliciting feedback on the public drafts of their reports. The latest release is a report on findings from the research phase of their work; a description and report link are provided in their site post Summary of Research Phase Findings and Implications. The initial deadline for the final report is March 2011; however, Ithaka S+R recently blogged about the schedule, noting:

As many of you will know, our client GPO has had a number of significant leadership changes [new Public Printer, new Superintendent of Documents--pg] in the past month. Consequently, although GPO has already accepted the next draft deliverable as complete and ready for public comment, GPO has asked that Ithaka S+R take a temporary pause in releasing any documents publicly at this time. At this point we do not yet know exactly how long this pause will need to last.

The drafts are still available on the project website for comment. The FreeGovInfo blog has posted a series of reports and comments on the work which may provide helpful context.

Ithaka S+R previously analyzed the FDLP program in a report for The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), Documents for a Digital Democracy: A Model for the Federal Depository Library Program in the 21st Century, released in December 2009.

 

Global Think Tanks Rankings, New Edition

Those of us in the U.S. can easily name a handful of influential think tanks here, such as the Brookings Institution or the Heritage Foundation. But what are the best thinks tanks in other countries?

A fourth edition of the Global Go-To Think Tanks report was issued on 22 January 2011 and is available online for free. (It is labeled as the 2010 edition.) The report is edited by James McGann, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania International Relations Program, where he is director of the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program.

The report lists what McGann has selected as the top think tanks by world region and by research area based on a survey of experts, scholars, journalists, other think tanks, intergovernmental organizations, and others. In the report, McGann describes his methodology for nominations and rankings.

Institutions listed in the book include Transparency International in Germany; the Free Market Foundation in South Africa, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in China; the Centro de Estudios Publicos in Chile; and many more.

[hat tip to National Press Club Library]

Mary Alice Baish Named GPO Superintendent of Documents

Public Printer of the United States Bill Boarman, new on the job himself, has selected library advocate Mary Alice Baish to be the Assistant Public Printer, Superintendent of Documents. Baish has been the Director of Government Relations for the American Association of Law Libraries and has long advocated for improved access to government information. According to the Government Printing Office press release, "Baish will oversee GPO's Library Services & Content Management unit, Publication & Information Sales unit and the management of GPO's Federal Digital System." Congratulations, Mary Alice!

Related GPO press release: William J. Boarman Becomes Public Printer, 5 January 2011

Related SLA/DGI post: New U.S. Public Printer Affirms the Value of Keeping America Informed, 11 January 2011

New OpenGovernment.org Site for State Legislative Info

The team at OpenCongress.org has launched the open source OpenGovernment.org website to bring their transparent and open data approach to the U.S. state level. Like OpenCongress.org, OpenGovernment.org only covers legislative activity at this point. At launch, the site has information from official and supplementary sources for the state legislatures of California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin.

OpenGovernment.org is a joint project of the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation. The Sunlight Foundation's press release describes the project:

The data sources currently available on OpenGovernment are: state legislature information, including bills, member listings, official actions, votes and committees; news and blog coverage; campaign contributions; issue group ratings and official member contact information; Twitter mentions; legislator bios; video and U.S. congressional information...More data and additional states and cities will be added as they become available.

 

Future Ready: Let's Get Real

Hello all!  The SLA Leadership Summit is in full swing here in DC.  Follow the action on Twitter with #slasummit. I'm currently overwhelmed with information- in a good way!  More to come today. 

Yesterday's sessions followed SLA President Cindy Romaine's theme of making ourselves, our chapter, and our Association "Future Ready", with a sub-theme of "Building Community".   Mary Ellen Bates kicked our brain cells into gear with an exercise you could also use with your local chapter, other volunteer organizations you belong to, and even at work.

In her "Lets Get Real session" each table (and there were lots of tables) was challenged to address one of two questions:  "How does your unit add value to your members?"  or "How do you build membership?" (substitute "how does your library or information center add value to your clients" or "how do you build custmers" or something similar for other uses.)

After discussion we had to distill our conclusions into one or two "tweets".  (Okay, okay, our table addressed both questions and developed a half dozen marketing tweets, like "information architecture your thing? Come to SLA, the information and networking group."

But you get the point - 20 minutes of lively discussion and then bam! spit out the 140-character (or less) summary statement.  In the middle of the action it occurred to me that this exercise could be a lively  "mini-strategic thinking" session for a work group.  Or even a kick-off for a more full-fledged strategic planning session. What do you think?

Again, follow the leadership summit action on Twitter - #slasummit.  See you there!

 

 

 

 

Plunging into deep water - review of the BP Deepwater report

Plunging into Deep Water is the GPO Government Book Talk blog post about the recently released report of the BP Deepwater oil disaster.  The report, Deep Water: the Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling, provides the results of a national commission study of the causes of the disaster.

Government Book Talk says the causes can be summarized in one word - complacency!  On the part of all parties involved.  The blog post provides a very good review.  Check it out!

And the Blog itself - Government Book Talk - is one you might want to bookmark.

New U.S. Public Printer Affirms the Value of Keeping America Informed

William J Boarman, the new Public Printer at the Government Printing Office (GPO), has submitted a statement to the American Library Association Midwinter Conference sharing his views on the importance of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the role GPO plays in providing public access to government information.

Boarman describes FDLP as the nation's original form of Open Government, comprising more than 1,200 physical library locations and the online system GPO Access and its successor, FDsys, the Federal Digital System. Completing the development of FDSys is a top priority. Additional goals are improving GPO's ability to "harvest" online government publications to ensure long-term access to them, and digitizing historical print materials. Boarman also is committed to providing continued print access to government materials and to meeting the needs of all government depository library users, from the digitally savvy to those who are new to information technology.

Read Boarman's full statement to the ALA conference, available at the FDLP Desktop.

Read more about Boarman's professional background (GPO press release, PDF format).

ForeignAssistance.gov: U.S. Foreign Assistance Dashboard

The State Department's new website, Foreign Assistance Dashboard, is intended to "make all U.S. Government foreign assistance investments available in an accessible and easy-to-understand format." The challenge is that understanding foreign assistance data is rarely all that easy.

Before doing anything else, researchers will want to review the seven sections under the What You Should Know tab: The Top 10 Things You Should Know; About the Dashboard; Understanding the Data; The Budget Process; About Aid Transparency;  U.S. Global Development Policy; and Glossary of Terms. The site also has a FAQ section that includes the answer to the important question "What does U.S. Government foreign assistance mean?"

At launch, the Dashboard had only Department of State and USAID budget and appropriation data. The What's Coming section explains that "future versions will incorporate budget, financial, program, and performance data in a standard form from all USG agencies receiving or implementing foreign assistance, humanitarian, and/or development funds."

For more background, see the Publish What You Fund blog post US launches foreignassistance.gov, 16 December 2010.

New Facebook Terms for State & Local Governments

U.S. state and local governments can take advantage of new terms of service (TOS) for their use of Facebook Pages. The new terms modify Facebook's standard click-through TOS so that, for example, state and local governments are not subject to the requirement that legal disputes be heard in California courts and adjudicated under California law. The U.S. federal government has already negotiated modified terms with Facebook; these are online, along with other federal negotiated TOS, on the Web Content Managers Forum TOS Agreements page.

National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Social Media Legal Workgroup and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) negotiated the revised TOS for state and local governments. Related documents and coverage:

• Facebook's Amended Pages Terms of Service for State and Local Governments in the United States
• Press release from NASCIO and NAAG, 5 January 2011
• Facebook reaches agreement with state governments, The Hill blog post, 6 January 2011
• Facebook and States Work Out a Safe Place, techPresident, 6 January 2011

Business.gov Moves to SBA.gov

The Business.gov website content is being incorporated into the Small Business Administration (SBA) website. Business.gov has provided "small business owners with information and resources they need to comply with laws and regulations, and to take advantage of government programs and services to help them start, expand and run their businesses." The site has aggregated state and local business information (how to register a business name, filings and licenses, etc.) along with federal government information on business assistance and compliance. It has also provided a search engine for state government websites related to business.