Part-Time Policy Wonk

From The News Leader:

House Resolution 1664 once again has reached the U.S. Senate, and voting on the bill once again has been postponed.

Bursting at the seams, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library has the materials to expand its operations, but the bill it needs to gain funding for that expansion has hit another roadblock.

Though it has passed the House of Representatives twice, H.R. 1664, which asks that the federal government recognize the museum as a worthwhile organization, was stalled again at the Senate level this week, despite support from U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th.

Posted by Anne at 08:45 PM | Permalink

From OMB Watch:

In response to a federal arbitrator's decision in February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) establishing procedures for the reopening of recently closed EPA libraries and bringing the union to the planning table for any future changes to the library network.

The agreement, which takes effect upon review by the head of EPA or within 31 days of its July 10 signing, addresses some of the concerns raised by Congress and watchdog groups over EPA's library plans. . .

. . . Although several of the concerns expressed by watchdog groups are mentioned in the agreement, many remain unaddressed or unclear. Beyond inclusion of the employee union, there is no mention of additional stakeholder input in the planning process for the library network. The exact amount of physical space and other resources that will be allotted to the libraries is not clear, and the plans for digitizing the library materials remain uncertain.

Posted by Anne at 08:31 PM | Permalink

From SLA's Public Policy Connections blog:

. . . SLA believes that the EPA still has not adequately addressed many of the necessary details to ensure that the libraries reopen successfully; specifically, that three important points, laid out in EPA’s National Library Network Report to Congress, need to be further examined.

Read letter.

Posted by Anne at 08:52 PM | Permalink

From the EPA:

As a backdrop to the National Dialogue, we conducted a review of existing reports to summarize what we have learned in the past about the needs of EPA's audiences. Past focus groups, usability studies and general information about audience needs and preferences for environmental information can help inform current information collection and validate findings. This report summarizes existing information needs for five of EPA’s major audience groups: government officials; news media; environmental and community groups; industry; and educators, students, researchers and librarians. Specifically, we report on their basic needs for information, information quality preferences, important information topics and uses of environmental information.

Review of Reports, Focus Groups and Other Resources on Information Access, from 1997 to 2008 (PDF) (15 pp, 242K)

From the EPA page, be sure to also see the Listening Sessions and June 9-13 Partner Blog summaries.

Posted by Anne at 08:54 PM | Permalink

From the Public Policy Institute of California:

This survey is the first in a new five-year PPIC Statewide Survey series focusing on information technology issues, funded with grants from the California Emerging Technology Fund and from ZeroDivide. The series’ intent is to inform state policymakers, encourage discussion, and raise public awareness about a variety of information technology issues. For this benchmark survey, we draw upon earlier PPIC Statewide Surveys for California trends over time and recent surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project for national comparisons.

Although the use of the Internet and information technology is expanding nationally, with California a global leader in this arena, we know from past studies that a number of large and important subgroups in the California population do not have access to information technology. Given the role of the Internet in modern society, and the reality of the digital divide, this survey seeks to inform and improve public policy choices involving this disjunction between large populations who are and are not “connected.” We examine both access and use of information technology as well as the public’s perceptions and attitudes.

Posted by Anne at 08:51 PM | Permalink

From Secrecy News:

The cost of implementing the national security classification system in government and industry reached an all-time high of $9.91 billion last year, according to the latest annual report (pdf) from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO).

The 2007 classification cost figure, which includes physical security, computer security and other aspects of classified information security, was a 4.6 percent increase over the year before and is the highest amount ever reported by the ISOO.

Posted by Anne at 06:31 PM | Permalink

From the SLA Public Policy blog:

Today, 16 June 2008, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) distributed a news release, EPA Library on Effects of New Chemicals will Remain Closed. SLA was immediately in contact with EPA staff for a response, which follows below.

Posted by Anne at 07:56 PM | Permalink

From the SLA Public Policy blog:

SLA is in ongoing communication with the EPA, and has been inquiring about the recent reports regarding the space being allocated to the reopening of EPA libraries that were closed in 2007. On 9 June 2008 EPA staff provided SLA with an update on EPA library activities regarding some recent press articles.

Posted by Anne at 07:54 PM | Permalink

From the EPA Partner Blog for the National Dialogue:

EPA is holding an on-line discussion among state, tribe, and other federal partners of EPA, as well as the public to foster collaboration on information access. For this discussion, we are using a blog which is a more interactive and personal form of technology. Everyone is invited to use this site to identify and share their best resources, tools, and ideas for improving access to EPA’s environmental information. This is a key part of the National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information – working with you to enhance information access.

This blog will be open for comment for one week (June 9-13, 2008). The blog will then be closed and a summary report will be posted on the “What We’ve Learned” section of the National Dialogue website by June 20th.

Posted by Anne at 08:47 PM | Permalink

From Federal News Radio:

The next eight years will be critical ones for the National Archives. As they prepare for a Presidential transition that will add to the more than 10 billion pages of documents they already hold, they'll also deal with funding issues and technology advances that will change the way they do business. The Archives says their mission is "to ensure the public can discover, use, and learn from the records of their Government," and they are circulating a document of their own to plan to keep doing just that.

The document is called "Strategy for Digitizing Archival Materials for Public Access, 2007-2016."

Posted by Anne at 04:44 PM | Permalink

From the Executive Office of the President:

The Federal Government continues to improve services and deliver results through the adoption and implementation of the E-Government (E-Gov) initiatives and common government wide solutions. The departments and agencies continue to make great improvements in the area of security and privacy with their implementation efforts underway for the requirements included in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) and the specific efforts for securing personally identifiable information. The United States Government continues to be one of the largest users and acquirers of data, information and supporting technology systems in the world, by investing approximately $70 billion annually on Information Technology (IT). The Federal Government has made improvements but continues to strive to be the world’s leader in managing technology and information to achieve the greatest gains of productivity, service and results. Implementation of the E-Gov initiatives and the common government wide solutions has delivered significant results to the taxpayer and federal employees alike with $508 million of actual cost saving being reported this past fiscal year.

Posted by Anne at 08:47 PM | Permalink

From Free Government Information:

In April, the New York Times broke a story about the now infamous Pentagon information apparatus that used retired military officers in a "campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance" (Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand By David Barstow, New York Times, April 20, 2008). The Times also published some of the documents it obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests on its web site (NY Times publishes some FOIA documents).

Now, the Pentagon has published documents it released. This collection appears more complete than what the NYT released.

Military Analysts "These documents were released to the New York Times regarding the Pentagon's Military Analyst program." (last updated 28-May-08)

Posted by Anne at 08:45 PM | Permalink

From Nextgov.com:

Chafing at Bush administration secrecy, congressional Democrats are handing the National Archives and Records Administration new jobs promoting government transparency. Officials at the records agency appear to be balking at taking on unfunded mandates beyond their traditional role. If Congress wants the Archives to become open-government cops, archivists may prefer to remain librarians.

"They have always had a narrow view of their mandate and have never been particularly inclined to seek any expansion," said Patrice McDermott of OpentheGovernment.org, a coalition of groups urging government transparency. "They see their mission as providing access to historical records. They see [overseeing] contemporaneous records as a shift."

Posted by Anne at 08:42 PM | Permalink

From Information World Review:

Microsoft has released its Citizen Service Platform (CSP) designed to help governments of all sizes deliver services to citizens via the internet.

The e-government application comes with free templates to help implement technological solutions to some of the most common issues faced by governments.

The CSP application framework, announced by Microsoft in January, claims to streamline processes and save time and taxpayer money.

A number of local governments, including London, Porto and all the municipalities of Denmark, are already using the technology to interact with citizens.

Posted by Anne at 08:43 PM | Permalink

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency released today found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported that they experienced political interference in their work over the last five years. The study, by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), follows previous UCS investigations of the Food and Drug Administration, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and climate scientists at seven federal agencies, which also found significant administration manipulation of federal science.

• Executive Summary (PDF; 828 KB)
• Full Report (PDF; 2.9 MB)

Posted by Anne at 08:38 PM | Permalink

From the Baltimore Sun:

The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating why a government-funded, reproductive health database operated by the Johns Hopkins University briefly blocked searches using the term abortion two weeks ago.

Here's a link to the USAID letter.

And here's a link to the Hopkins letter.

Posted by Anne at 08:12 PM | Permalink

From OMB Watch:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced changes to its process for assessing the human health effects of common chemical substances. The revised process will allow the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to play a larger role in the evaluation of the substances.

Posted by Anne at 05:58 PM | Permalink

From the Dallas Morning News:

Looking back almost 40 years, the director of Texas' first presidential library says he should have been tougher on Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Harry Middleton, 86, said he and fellow staffers in the 1971 opening of the LBJ museum at the University of Texas at Austin were too close to the former president to give a highly critical account of the controversies that defined his tenure – especially the Vietnam War.

It wasn't until 1982, when historians and other outside experts helped redesign the museum, that it fully explored how the war split the country.

"We really wanted to do a good job, but we also surely wanted to make sure it was OK with him," he said.

The second effort, made after LBJ died, was more objective than the first, Mr. Middleton said, convincing him that an advisory panel should have been used at the start.

The evolution of the LBJ library frames the task ahead for curators of the President Bush library at SMU in Dallas as they shape the legacy of another wartime president about to leave office with low approval ratings.

Posted by Anne at 09:10 PM | Permalink

From the Washington Post:

Freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R) is a stickler for rules, a plus of sorts when you are one of six lawmakers serving on that quaintest of House entities, the 18th-century-vintage Franking Commission, which decides whether lawmakers' constituent communications pass ethical muster.

He is also a Californian, a believer in the latest communications technology, especially video links to his own House performances. So when he discovered that embedding YouTube videos on his official Web site violated his commission's prohibition on links to commercial sites, he brought the issue to the commission's chairman, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.).

Capuano's response may have been a tad cavalier -- "just go ahead and do it; everyone else does" -- but it did set the antiquated Franking Commission on a technological journey. The result is that within a month, that most modern of institutions, YouTube, plans to create a government ghetto, free of advertising, where lawmakers can post the videos of their choice.

Posted by Anne at 09:00 PM | Permalink

From the Austin American-Statesman:

There is nothing unusual about an open-government group advocating new legislation that would shine a light on the secretive ways of Congress and the executive branch.

But rather than hire an army of lobbyists to push the proposal, as is the custom in Washington, the Sunlight Foundation is taking its measure directly to the public.

The foundation has posted its Transparency in Government Act of 2008 on the Web at publicmarkup.org and has invited the public to tweak, add to or criticize any aspect of the proposed bill. The goal, said Ellen Miller, executive director of the foundation, is to change the backroom, secretive way that legislation is typically passed in Washington.

Posted by Anne at 08:35 PM | Permalink

From the Carter Center:

Participants in a global conference on the right of access to public information released today the Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action to advance access to information as a fundamental human right.

The conference, held Feb. 27-29, 2008, brought together more than 125 representatives of government, civil society, media, private sector, international financial institutions, donors, and academics from 40 countries at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. . .

The declaration states that "access to information is a fundamental human right; it is essential for human dignity, equity and peace with justice; and a lack of access to information disproportionately affects the poor, women, and other vulnerable and marginalized people."

The final declaration is available now at http://www.cartercenter.org/documents/Atlanta%20Declaration%20and%20Plan%20of%20Action.pdf.

Posted by Anne at 08:12 PM | Permalink

From the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:

Consumers are bombarded with news and information every day. Important safety information may be missed by parents due to the hectic pace of the day. Now, caregivers and consumers in New York City and across the country have an easy way to keep their families safe in their homes.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) offers free safety information to the public through its Neighborhood Safety Network (NSN), an initiative designed to assist local organizations in providing lifesaving information to underserved members of their community. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a major health insurance company, fire departments, health clinics and numerous other organizations receive critical safety information from CPSC on poison prevention, carbon monoxide safety, bicycle safety and many other topics, which they provide to tens of thousands of parents and consumers across the country.

Today, The New York Public Library (NYPL) system announced that they have signed up to become a member of the NSN, joining a network of 5,200 grassroots organizations. In addition, CPSC encourages residents of New York City to join our “Drive To One Million” campaign – an initiative aimed at signing up one million consumers to receive free e-mail alerts on topics ranging from lead in toys to fire hazards with appliances to keeping babies and children safe at home.

Posted by Anne at 08:40 PM | Permalink

From the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index:

Citizen satisfaction with federal government websites declines for a third consecutive quarter, according to the first quarter report of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index. The Index aggregate score for the first quarter of 2008 fell to 72.4 on ACSI’s 100-point scale, its lowest score in three years and a full point lower than one year ago.

Posted by Anne at 05:16 PM | Permalink

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Four dozen groups spanning the political spectrum today sent a letter to the Senate urging lawmakers to include federal scientists in pending legislation designed to protect whistleblowers. The coalition of academic, consumer, environmental, government reform and health groups -- which includes the Consumer Federation of America, Common Cause, Federation of American Scientists, Liberty Coalition and Rutherford Institute -- was organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

Posted by Anne at 05:15 PM | Permalink

From the Sunlight Foundation:

Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University law professor and world-renowned expert in intellectual property, is announcing that he's going to invest a significant amount of his time and energy confronting the pervasive and corruptive influence of money in our democracy. You may have heard of the recent Draft Lessig movement that almost convinced him to run for Congress. He ultimately decided not to make the run, but he's not retreating from the fight.

Today, at a lecture here in Washington, sponsored by Sunlight and Omidyar Network, he's launching the ChangeCongress project where he'll focus his academic interests on the issue of the systemic corruption of American democracy. Lessig will outline his hopes for ChangeCongress and how it will help citizens reclaim their democracy from the culture of corruption.

A video of Lessig's Sunshine Week lecture is available at http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/video_of_lessigs_change_congress_launch.

Posted by Anne at 05:11 PM | Permalink

A congressional hearing titled EPA Library Closures: Better Access for a Broader Audience? was held March13th by the House Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

The prepared statements of the witnesses are available on the committee's site. Witnesses were:
• John Stephenson, Government Accountability Office
• Charles Orzehoskie, American Federation of Government Employees, Council 238
• Dr. Francesca Grifo, Union of Concerned Scientists
• Mr. Jim Rettig, American Library Association
• Molly O’Neill, Environmental Protection Agency

Click here for the Webcast (RealPlayer).

Posted by Anne at 06:50 PM | Permalink

New GAO Report (GAO-08-304):

GAO was asked to assess (1) the status of, and plans for, the network reorganization; (2) EPA’s rationale for reorganizing the network; (3) the extent to which EPA has communicated with and solicited the views of EPA staff and external stakeholders in conducting the reorganization; (4) EPA’s steps to maintain the quality of library services after the reorganization; and (5) how EPA is funding the network and its reorganization. For this study, GAO reviewed pertinent EPA documents and interviewed EPA officials and staff from each of the libraries.

GAO recommends that EPA continue its moratorium until it takes corrective actions to (1) justify its decision to reorganize the network, (2) improve its outreach efforts, (3) ensure sufficient oversight and monitoring of the reorganization, and (4) implement procedures for the proper dispersal and disposal of library materials. EPA agreed with GAO’s recommendations.

Posted by Anne at 06:37 PM | Permalink

From ZDNet:

A National Archives survey says that local authorities should introduce strategies to save digital information for posterity.

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.

Posted by Anne at 05:33 PM | Permalink

From the Office of Management and Budget:

This is OMB’s fifth annual progress report on implementation of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Pub. L. No. 107-347; Dec. 17, 2002) (the “E-Government Act”) as required by 44 USC 3606. This report describes activities completed in fiscal year (FY) 2007, and is among a series of reports produced by OMB to describe the Administration’s use of E-Government principles to improve government performance and the delivery of information and services to the public. . .

. . . This report comprises four sections. Section I describes the government’s efforts over the past year to implement certain technical requirements of the E-Government Act and also describes related activities complementing specific requirements and objectives of the Act. Section II includes examples of internal agency E-Government activities. Section III details use of the E-Government Fund established by Section 3604 of the E-Government Act. Section IV provides links to all reports or policies referenced in this report.

Posted by Anne at 05:29 PM | Permalink

From the United Nations:

The UN E-Government Survey 2008: From E-Government to Connected Governance assesses the e-government readiness of the 192 Member States of the UN according to a quantitative composite index of e-readiness based on website assessment, telecommunication infrastructure, and human resource endowment. ICTs can help reinvent government in such a way that existing institutional arrangements can be restructured and new innovative arrangements can flourish, paving the way for a transformed government.

Download Publication

Posted by Anne at 08:29 PM | Permalink

From OMB Watch:

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a report to Congress Feb. 14 that calculates the benefits of President Bush's 24 E-Government (E-Gov) Initiatives at approximately $508 million in Fiscal Year 2007, based on agencies' estimates. Congressional skepticism of the Initiatives, and subsequent reluctance to fund them, led OMB to develop a questionable funding mechanism using agency contributions from their annual budgets.

OMB released the report, Report to Congress on the Benefits of the President's E-Government Initiatives, as required by a section of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-161).

Posted by Anne at 08:54 PM | Permalink

From the Association of Government Accountants:

In January 2008, the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) commissioned a study by leading market research firm Harris Interactive, to conduct the first in a series of annual surveys of public attitudes to government transparency and accountability. The objective of this first survey was to establish a baseline understanding of public attitudes, concerning transparency and accountability progress—or the lack of it—which could be tracked annually. A secondary objective was to use the survey findings to raise the profile of this important issue and help to drive understanding of it among policymakers, government employees and the public. . .

. . . In this regard, a lack of government accountability and transparency undermines democracy and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust.

This result is reflected in the survey findings, which reveal deep dissatisfaction among the American public with both the availability of government financial information and the way it is delivered to the people. Much of this dissatisfaction has to do with issues of trust and a gap between what the public expects and what is actually delivered. The survey also captured information relating to how the public would use fiscal information, were it provided to them in a usable form.

Posted by Anne at 08:12 PM | Permalink

From The Sudbury Star:

Nearly 16,000 Canadian authors will share in more than $9 million for the public lending of their books by Canadian libraries.

The Public Lending Right Commission announced the payments Thursday. The commission operates under the Canada Council for the Arts and issues payments every February.

The more libraries in which an author's eligible titles are found, the larger the payment, to a maximum of $2,681.

Posted by Anne at 08:30 PM | Permalink

From the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library:

A study released today by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library describes the diverse contributions and quantifies the substantial value that the San Francisco Public Library provides to San Francisco. Through an examination of an array of library benefits, the study reveals that the SFPL generates an impressive return of $3.34 for every dollar spent on its operations and services.

Posted by Anne at 08:42 PM | Permalink

From Library Journal:

When in December we last documented public libraries’ election–education efforts—to see if anyone had stepped up to LJ publisher Ron Shank’s September 15 challenge to make 2008 the “year of election education”—things were at an even simmer. As tomorrow will be Super Tuesday, when 24 states hold primary elections to determine thousands of delegates’ fates, we wondered if those efforts would have risen to a boil. But a cursory survey of libraries’ election-education practices in a handful of Super Tuesday states suggests this is a cooling-off period.

Posted by Anne at 08:53 PM | Permalink

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Two shipping containers' worth of records created by Iraq's Baath Party that have been stored on an American naval facility for the past 21 months are about to find a new home at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank and library affiliated with Stanford University.

Hoover signed a deal on Monday with the Iraq Memory Foundation—a private, nonprofit group that has had custody of the documents since just after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003—for the transfer of about seven million pages of records and other artifacts from Saddam Hussein's tenure as Iraqi president. The deal came despite recent impassioned calls from Iraq's national archivist for the collections' immediate repatriation back to Baghdad.

Saad Eskander, the director general of the Iraq National Library and Archive, argues that the records of the Baath Party—which ruled Iraq from 1968 to 2003—are inalienable public property and belong in the national archive without delay.

Officials of the Iraq Memory Foundation say they received the blessing of Iraq's deputy prime minister and of the prime minister's office to carry out the deal with Hoover.

According to the terms of the deal, Hoover has agreed to hold the records for the foundation for the next five years. At the end of that period, the two parties will examine the possibility of repatriating the documents to Iraq.

Posted by Anne at 03:38 PM | Permalink

From Library Journal:

So, most people agree that free access to computers at public libraries is a good thing. But exactly how, and why? The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will work with the University of Washington Information School (iSchool) on a national study of the social, economic, personal, and professional value of such access. The iSchool will partner with the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization. The $1 million project is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Posted by Anne at 07:35 PM | Permalink

From the United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance:

The UN E-Government Survey 2008: From E-Government to Connected Governance assesses the e-government readiness of the 192 Member States of the UN according to a quantitative composite index of e-readiness based on website assessment, telecommunication infrastructure, and human resource endowment. ICTs can help reinvent government in such a way that existing institutional arrangements can be restructured and new innovative arrangements can flourish, paving the way for a transformed government.

The focus of the report this year, in Part II, is e-government initiatives directed at improving operational efficiency through the integration of back-office functions.

Full Report

Posted by Anne at 07:22 PM | Permalink

From The Hill:

The websites of many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are below par, and few are doing anything about it, according to a new report.

While the Internet has dramatically changed American politics over the last decade, a “majority of [congressional] websites remain stagnant,” the report states.

The websites of many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are below par, and few are doing anything about it, according to a new report.

While the Internet has dramatically changed American politics over the last decade, a “majority of [congressional] websites remain stagnant,” the report states.

Report Web page

Read the Full Report

Posted by Anne at 07:31 PM | Permalink

From the Open House Project:

As we’re looking through the reforms of the last year, I realized that the Office of Technology Assessment provision was recently passed in the consolidated omnibus appropriations bill. We pushed for the OTA’s reinstatement, and previously wrote about its impending passage.

Here’s the current relevant text, from govtrack, of HR 2764, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008.”

Posted by Anne at 07:38 PM | Permalink

From Radio Iowa:

You may now be able to go on-line and find out more about your local library thanks to a state project. State librarian Mary Wegner says the project called "PLOW," or "Putting Libraries on the Web," has helped give over 500,000 Iowans an electronic link to their library.

Wegner says the State Library of Iowa started out by creating a template for a basic website and then did training for all the libraries and helped them customize the site. Wegner says a grant of over $700,000 dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helped pay the cost of getting the libraries on-line.

Posted by Anne at 07:36 PM | Permalink

From Library Journal:

In our September 15 issue, LJ Publisher Ron Shank challenged libraries to make 2008 the “year of election education” by informing the public on election procedure, proposals for reform, and candidates’ backgrounds and positions. Certainly, Barbara Peterson, director of the Council Bluffs Public Library, IA (also VP/president-elect of the Iowa Library Association), speaks for a lot of librarians when she told LJ that she and her staff “just haven’t found the time to do very much” relating to election education.

But many of the libraries we surveyed have been making concerted efforts to educate their patrons—through such means as caucus training sessions, special displays, mock elections, and web site portals. While none of these efforts compare to what traditional news outlets like CNN and the New York Times can offer the inquiring citizen, some are definitely viable contenders. Here, we look to libraries in a handful of states with the earliest caucuses and primaries to see how they’ve been mobilizing voter engagement so far, both from within the library and online.

Posted by Anne at 08:45 PM | Permalink

From the American Customer Satisfaction Index:

Citizen satisfaction with e-government slips for a third straight quarter, according to the fourth quarter report of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction Index. The cross-departmental measure of over 100 federal websites fell 0.5 percent to 72.9 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, the Index’s lowest score since the second quarter of 2005.

Posted by Anne at 08:34 PM | Permalink

Somehow I don't think this is what the ALA had in mind for the use of its lists. . .

From The News & Observer:

After banning a popular coming-of-age tale, Johnston County school officials are scouring library shelves for other potentially offensive books to remove.

The district review was prompted by a parent challenge to "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," which was removed from school libraries and classrooms this fall. The novel by Julia Alvarez has faced challenges in at least four districts nationwide for its sexual content and profane language, though national observers knew of no other district where parents succeeded in having it banned. . .

. . . In the wake of the Johnston challenge, the school board asked administrators to check all of the books in high school libraries and classrooms against lists of commonly challenged books to weed out other offensive material. Several organizations compile these lists, including the American Library Association. The review is likely to last months.

Posted by Anne at 07:54 PM | Permalink

From the News-Democrat & Leader:

Kentucky public libraries are the most highly regarded local government service, according to a recent independent survey of Kentuckians.

In addition, more than 95 percent of Kentuckians surveyed agree that public libraries are a good investment of tax dollars.</