AALL members are invited to join the Professional
Development Program-sponsored listserv discussion
on permanent public access to government information
moderated by the Government Relations Committee
from May 12-16.
Titled Permanent Public Access to Government
Information: Who’s Responsible, and Why
Should We Care?, the listserv discussion will
explore how to preserve electronic government
information that often vanishes in cyberspace.
As states and the federal government make more
and more official information available only electronically,
it is time for AALL members to educate policymakers
before more electronic government information
is lost.
For the purposes of this discussion, permanent
public access (PPA) is defined as the process
by which applicable government information that
has been disseminated on the Internet is preserved
for current, continuous and future access. Some
of the issues intrinsic to any discussion of PPA
include the following: Do librarians want to define
what “authentication” means in relation
to information? Do they care? Should law librarians
be concerned that Web pages can and do disappear
overnight, leaving them with no source documents
that can be cited in court opinions? How can librarians
improve the accessibility of this digital information?
How problematic are current file formats, such
as large PDF files, for dial-up and physically
disabled researchers? What technical requirements
are needed to provide for the transparency of
information, making it easier for librarians to
locate related documents? How can they ensure
that the democratic process that the United States
takes pride in continues to be served by permanent
public access to official electronic government
information?
Please join moderator Jerry Stephens of the U.S.
Courts Library in Oklahoma and members of the
Government Relations Committee for a provocative
discussion among AALL, members of the Government
Printing Office, and others involved in the electronic
dissemination of government information.
The Government Relations Committee monitors
all federal and state legislative, regulatory,
and judicial developments, with the exception
of copyright, that would affect the Association,
law librarianship, law libraries, or the dissemination
of information. The GRC also advises the AALL
Executive Board and the AALL Washington Affairs
Office about these issues.
