The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and other federal libraries and information services are facing severe cuts. Details from the Canadian Library Association (CLA) press release, 2 May 2012:

At Library and Archives Canada, 430 people have been given notices, with more than 200 jobs to be cut over the next three years, representing a reduction of 20% of their workforce. They have also had to cut their acquisitions budget, end their role in national inter-library loan activities, and cut the National Archival Development Program, which has provided funding to Canadian archival organizations to increase their capacity to preserve archival materials and make them available to Canadians. These cuts will negatively impact Library and Archives Canada’s ability to provide front-line services, resulting in reduced access to information for Canadians. …

CLA has also received reports that many libraries in federal government departments will be losing staff; some will be shuttering their libraries altogether. Not only does this result in less support for departmental staff and researchers to access relevant information; but as many of these libraries also provide direct services to the public, Canadians will be prevented from having access to that information. Affected departments identified so far include Agriculture Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Industry Canada, the National Capital Commission, National Defence, Public Works and Government Services, the Public Service Commission, and Transport Canada. Earlier this year, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada had already announced their intention to close that department’s library.

Canadian archivists plan to protest the cuts with an “On to Ottawa Trek” on 28 May 2012. For details, see: http://archiviststrek2012.tumblr.com/

Check the CLA Government Library and Information Management Professionals Network blog for more information and news updates.

Canadian government librarians, please feel free to comment on this post with additional information.

We hope you’ll add all of this great DGI programming to your schedule at this year’s Annual Conference in Chicago, July 16-18!

**Session room locations are not yet available**

DGI Programming @ SLA 2012

Sunday

1:30pm - Government Information Division Board Meeting
Meeting of the Government Information Division board to discuss division business.

Monday

8am – Spotlight Session: Wikileaks Controversy
The Wikileaks scandal headlined worldwide news in 2010 – 2011 and highlighted issues of government classification, information policy, and information ethics. This session will explore various facets of the controversy.  Speaking: Patrice McDermott, OpenTheGovernment.org.  Sponsor: Dow Jones & Company, Inc

4pm – Patent Research 101
Take the plunge into the world of intellectual property. Find out how to do patentability searches, litigation research, and state-of-the-art-searches. 
Speaking: Chris Vestal, ASRC MS; Kristin Whitman, Landon IP.  Sponsors: Bloomberg BNA/Bloomberg Law, Dialog, LexisNexis, and Springer

Tuesday

10am – Spotlight Session: Cross-Cultural Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence (CI) practices are being adopted by more organizations throughout the world, increasing interest in the diversity, differences and commonalities in CI practices to foster both competitiveness and cooperation among firms and government agencies. In this session, the presenters will describe and discuss differences and commonalities in CI practices across a number of countries and trends in new programs as they explore the demand and requirements for stronger intelligence education.
Moderating: Dr. Craig S. Fleisher, Aurora WDC; Speaking: Dr. France Bouthillier, School of Information Studies, McGill University; Dr. Andrew Dillon, School of Information & Professor of Information, Psychology and Risk & Operations Management; Tao Jin, Louisiana State University.  Sponsor: Dow Jones & Company, Inc

2pm – Business Meeting & Career Agility Panel
Annual business meeting followed by an exciting and thought-provoking discussion on  career agility in the government information sector.
Speaking: Jessica Hernandez, FDA Biosciences Library; Richard Huffine, U.S. Geological Survey.  Sponsor: Gale/Cengage Learning

8pm – Joint Reception @ 312 Chicago
Please join the Government Information, Solo Librarians, and Transportation Divisions for a lively joint open house. Speak with members from a variety of fields and experiences, all in one place. Please meet at the event location: 312 Chicago, Downtown Loop.  Sponsors: Elsevier and WT Cox

Wednesday

10am – Open Data in Chicago
Chicago has recently launched major government transparency efforts.  Learn more about open data initiatives in the Windy City, particularly the work of the Metro Chicago Information Center.
Speaking: Virginia Carlson, Metro Chicago Information Center.  Sponsors: WT Cox, LexisNexis, and Thomson Reuters, Westlaw

12pm – Gov on the Go: Mobile Apps
Government information is now being made available on the go via smart phone applications.  This session will explore creating mobile applications using government information as well as one government library’s experience evaluating mobile applications for use in an agency setting.
Speaking: Heidi Peters, DARPA Support Contractor; Katrina Stierholz, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.  Sponsor: LexisNexis

Co-Sponsored Programs

Tuesday @ 2pm – Opening the Vault: International Economic Resources from the World Bank, IMF, and OECD
Lead Sponsor: Business & Finance Division

Tuesday @ 4pm – Adding Value to Content through Linked Data
Lead Sponsor: Taxonomy Division

Wednesday @ 10am – Combat Memories: Collecting Veterans’ Histories
Lead Sponsor: Military Division

DGI Chair Kim Lyall Schultz just announced details on DGI conference programming via an email to all members on the DGI email discussion list. If you are a member of the division but have not joined the discussion list, please do! We have plenty of communications channels, but the list is the official channel for communications to membership.
And now, a word from Kim…

Greetings DGI Members,

Will we C U in Chicago?  We sure hope so!  The SLA Annual Conference is taking place in the Windy City July 15-18 and is shaping up to be a great event!

This year our conference programming features sessions on all aspects of government information, from conducting patent searches to exploring the recent open data movement, learning about the explosion in mobile apps for research, and discussing the thought-provoking Wikileaks controversy and its impact on government information security.

In addition to all of this great educational programming, DGI is the lead planner for the Joint Reception, co-hosted with the Solo and Transportation divisions.  This Tuesday evening cocktail reception at an upscale venue promises to offer an elegant escape from the hustle and bustle of the convention center.  More reception details to follow soon!

We would also like  to take a moment to thank all of our vendor partners who are helping to make this year’s conference such a success!  Please visit our Sponsorship page and say thank you to all of our amazing vendor partners. We truly could not offer this programming without them!

And finally, please don’t forget to register ASAP, early bird registration ends May 11!

C U in Chicago,

Kim Schultz, 2012 DGI Chair

DGI member Kathy Kelly checked out the U.S. Interior Department Library Open House and reports back:

The Department of the Interior (DOI) Library marked National Library Week this year with a full-day Open House on 17 April 2012, which included library tours, vendor demos, Park Ranger Speaker Series talks, and other forms of outreach to regular users of and visitors to its DC library. Library staff were available to provide overviews of the Library online catalog and various subscription electronic resources at public access PCs. The Library also had on display a variety of attractively formatted flyers promoting its services and collections, and announcements of upcoming training sessions in its popular training program. The DOI Library is well-known for its trainings on not only databases but research practices such as Legislative History research, and it had on display its useful “Worksheet for Legislative History Using Supporting Documents”.

The Open House ran 9 a.m. through 4 p.m., and featured database demonstrations on Lexis Advance, Proquest Congressional, WestlawNext, and the the Library’s subscribed EBSCOHost Online Databases. Representatives from DOI’s National Park Service presented sessions on the Doolittle Raid, the first air raid by American forces to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II; and another on Baseball and the Presidency, covering Presidential first pitches at Opening Day games, and the comments of presidents on the value of baseball. During the baseball session the speaker provided copies of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Green Light Letter” to the Commissioner of Baseball voicing approval for continuing baseball during World War II.

The DOI Library is open to DOI employees and members of the public (with a photo ID), Mondays-Fridays, 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Federal holidays. Visit the DOI Library homepage to link to information on its resources, programs, and services: http://www.doi.gov/library/index.cfm

–Submitted by Kathy Kelly

From the Canadian GOVINFO list, via freegovinfo.info:

Government of Canada Publications – it’s about access, not format

On Friday the Depository Services Program of Canada (DSP) announced that, by 2014, it would, “no longer be producing, printing, or warehousing hard copies of publications.” (The announcement was distributed on INFODEP, a list for depository libraries, and appended to this post). The Library of Parliament will stop distributing paper publications with the end of September’s session. Library and Archives Canada will stop obtaining Government of Canada (GOC) publications in print format by 2014. Many GOC agencies have moved exclusively to born digital publishing.

For those of us on the privileged side of the digital divide, the main problem with the transition to digital is not format, it’s the absence of any comprehensive GOC policy on digital integrity, preservation, and long-term access. To make matters worse, the intellectual organization and capital of the GOC information landscape is increasingly fractured through policy decisions including, but not limited to, government cutbacks. …

Read the full post.

ProQuest has announced it will step in and begin publishing the Statistical Abstract starting in 2013. Teaming up with Bernan Press, ProQuest will take over the publication after the U.S. government announced it will cease producing the 134-year-old publication after the 2012 edition. For more information, read “Statistical Abstract Saved by ProQuest and Bernan Press” from Library Journal.

The annual Computers In Libraries conference begins this week in Washington, DC. Among the presenters are Government Information Division members Deborah Balsamo, Teri DeVoe, Julie Hillskemper, Karen Krugman, Karen White, Kristin Vajs, and Chris Zammarelli. If you are coming to the conference, be sure to make time to see their presentations.

D203: Discovering Innovative Practices Through Benchmarking
1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Karen White, Team Lead, Library, LAC Group Assigned to USAID
Karen Krugman, Chief, Research Library & Archives, Export-Import Bank of the United States
Kristin Vajs, Chief Librarian, Research Library, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Benchmarking against other libraries is an excellent way to discover innovative practices for your library. Three federal librarians who have recently conducted benchmarking projects discuss: advantages of benchmarking for libraries; how to choose benchmarking partners, write questions, structure the conversation during the meetings, and identify best practices;. best practice findings from three recent benchmarking projects; which innovative practices the federal libraries decided to adopt; and how the new practices worked out.

D202: Library-Based Online Training Programs
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Deborah Balsamo, National Program Manager, EPA National Library Network, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Teri DeVoe, EPA Library Network Coordinator, ASRC Primus
Julie Hillskemper, Technical Librarian, Sandia National Laboratories

EPA National Library Network’s webinar-driven National Training Program reaches hundreds of staff at their desks in more than 20 EPA locations across the U.S. Created in direct response to a 2009 Information Needs Assessment, the program showcases locally developed library training in a “class of the month.” Webinar set-up, promotion, technical troubleshooting, and reporting are centralized at the network level, and promotion and webinar technology is integrated with email and online calendars, so each class is virtually paper-free. At Sandia, a webinar calendar of database vendor events and short video tutorials keep researchers up-to-date on new resources and library services. Screencasting and calendar tools are used in everyday user education as well as virtual reference services. Get lots of ideas for your environment from these speakers!

D204: eLibraryUSA & Reaching Out to Pull In
2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Chris Zammarelli, Contract Librarian, ATSG &
Sheila Weir, Applied Technology Officer, U.S. Department of State
Bridget Burns, Acquisitions, Collections and Outreach Team Lead, LAC Group Assigned to NASA Goddard Library

These government libraries are going beyond the usual to meet users where they are. eLibraryUSA is an effort by the U.S. Dept. of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs to provide patrons of U.S. Embassy Information Resource Centers around the world with information access that’s the norm at U.S. public libraries and universities. Zammarelli and Weir discuss the technical, licensing and administrative issues and solutions in a global project management. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is a world-recognized center of innovation and discovery. Burns shares her experiences organizing various types of community outreach: mobile librarian services, symposia, online and digital promotion efforts, and community events.

[Today's blog post was written and submitted by our DGI student contest winner, Lisa Foster. Thank you, Lisa, and congratulations!]

As a citizen and a library student, I believe wholeheartedly in the right of citizens to access government information. As a local government lawyer, I am often confronted with balancing the right of citizens to access information, and the right of government agencies to withhold information for legitimate reasons. Finding the right balance of disclosure and nondisclosure is sometimes a difficult judgment call, but in most cases, the best practice for government agencies is to err on the side of disclosure. The federal Freedom of Information Act, and the state statutes that are modeled after the FOIA, all provide guidance about how to strike this balance. The FOIA provides:

“Except as otherwise required by statute, matters of official record shall be made available, in accordance with published rule, to persons properly and directly concerned, except information held confidential for good cause found.”
5 U.S.C. §552(d).

This raises the issue of when there is “good cause” to withhold records. While advocates for access to information may believe that there is rarely a justification to fully or partially withhold records, I have seen many instances where doing so serves an important interest. For instance, library circulation records are exempt from disclosure in California. This is an important exception that allows citizens the intellectual freedom to access library materials without fear of having their circulation records reviewed by others, such as law enforcement agencies. Likewise, when citizens send correspondence to government agencies, they should not have to worry about their personal contact information, such as their email address or home phone number, being disclosed to the media. The best way to balance the interest in transparency and the interest in personal privacy in this situation is to provide copies of the requested correspondence to the requesting party with the citizen’s contact information redacted.

Being an aspiring librarian and a practicing government lawyer gives me a unique perspective on the subject of government document disclosure, and hopefully, an ability to see both sides when confronted with a disclosure issue. I believe that this balanced perspective is something that will serve me in my future career as an information professional.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa A. Foster

The SLA Government Information Division is pleased to announce the winner of our SLA 2012 contest for graduate students: Lisa Foster, currently earning her MLIS degree at the University of Washington Information School. This contest for free student registration was announced on our blog back in October 2011.

Lisa submitted the winning SLA blog post. When you read it, you’ll definitely want to meet her. She will be introduced at the DGI annual business meeting in Chicago.

Lisa’s will be the next post we make to the blog, and it will be a very timely post for Sunshine Week 2012.

This week, 11-17 March 2012, is Sunshine Week in the U.S. The event traces its roots to the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors which launched “Sunshine Sunday” in 2002. A little more history from the Sunshine Week website:

With an inaugural grant from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has continued to support the effort, Sunshine Week was launched by the American Society of News Editors in March 2005. This non-partisan, non-profit initiative is celebrated in mid-March each year to coincide with James Madison’s birthday on March 16. In 2011, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press joined ASNE as a national co-coordinator of Sunshine Week.

The website has an events calendar page listing the week’s activities.

SLA is co-sponsoring a free webcast on Friday. From the SLA Public Policy Connections post:

On Friday, March 16 from 1:15pm to 3:30pm EDT, OpenTheGovernment.org, with support from several organizations including SLA, will present two panels featuring experts from both inside and outside government:

• Whistleblowers & the Press: Roles and Risks in Divulging Information Needed for Accountable Government Secret Government
• Secret Laws: Do claims of national security trump open and accountable government?

OpenTheGovernment.org provides the details on the event and webcast.

And what about you? Any Sunshine Week event or resource info to share? Let us know in the comments.

The SLA San Francisco Bay Region chapter is organizing its own Sunshine Week event, as is its custom, though not coincident with official Sunshine Week. A talk on 3 April will focus on the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. For more information, see the SF Bay chapter event page.