Government Information Quarterly
Volume 4, Number 2, 1987
Discussion Forum:
Federal Records and Archives
James Gregory Bradsher ...................................................127
Protecting Personal Data in the Public Sector:
A Quebec Commissioner's Toolbox
Hon. Caroline Pestieu....................................................135
The 1985 Report of the Committee on the Records of
Government: An Assessment
Anna Kasten Nelson....................................................143
Federal Field Archives: Past, Present, and Future
James Gregory Bradsher .............................................151
Maintenance and Management of Local Government
Documents Collections: Survey Findings
Russell Castonguay ............................................... 167
OMB Circular No. A-130, The Management of
Federal Information Resources: Its Origins and Impact
J. Timothv Sprehe ................................................ 189
Reviews
David C. Heisser, Editor
African Population Census Reports: A Bibliography and Checklist
Compiled and Edited by John R. Pinfold
Reviewed by Gretchen Walsh ...................................... 197
Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements
By Edmund ]an Osmanczyk
Reviewed by Sophie A. Welisch .............................................199
FEDfind: Your Key to Finding Federal Government Information.
A Directory of Information Sources, Products and Services.
Second edition.
By Richard J. D'Aleo
Reviewed by Katina Strauch .......................................................200
Guide to U.S. Map Resources
Compiled by David A. Cobb
Reviewed by Diana H. Rivera ...............................................................201
State Library Services and Issues: Facing Future Challenges
Edited by Charles R. McClure
Reviewed by Beth I. Perry ......................................................... 202
The Untapped Power of the Press:
Explaining Government to the People
By Lewis W. Wolfson
Reviewed by Robert A. Walter ......................................................... 204
List of Titles Received ................................................. 205
Guidelines for Reviews ................................................ 206
Protecting Personal Data in the Public Sector:
A Quebec Commissioner's Toolbox
HON. CAROLINE PESTIEAU
This article explains the Quebec Commission's work in protecting personal data in
the public sector. The Commission is an administrative tribunal, a regulatory
agency, and an advisory body. The article examines its three most important oversight tools: the judicial revision of agencies' refusals to let a person access his/her
personal data, the analysis of the declarations of personal data systems agencies are
obliged to file, and the Commission's use of compliance audits.
The Report highlights the problems of administering government records in the age of electronic information. It notes fragmentation in information policies governing the records of Federal agencies and the failure to coordinate these policies. The recommendations of the Committee were designed to point the way toward devising solutions, rather than specifying them. In spite of widespread interest in the Report it has had very little impact since its release in March 1985.
Each year thousands of researchers, including government officials, lawyers, journalists, genealogists, and historians, among others, visit one of the eleven National Archives Field Branches to conduct their research. Many thousands more, desiring to use Federal Archival resources, are unaware of these archival depositories and their varied resources. Unfortunately, most Americans, when they think about their nation's archives, envision the main National Archives building located in Washington, D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the Capitol and the White House. Yet, since the late 1960s, the National Archives has, in its regional branches, stored and serviced many of the nation's archives and other research material. This article explains why these regional archives branches were established, what research resources they hold and make available, and their value to researchers.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the National Archives & Records Administration, the joumal ,Editorial Board, or publisher.
This article examines the nature of local government documentation and presents the results of a national survey. These results provide current data on local government document management and maintenance practices of university and public libraries in the areas of administrative policy, collection profile, classification, descriptive and subject cataloging, indexing, reference service, archival retention, depository status, and computer-related information. The results are also compared to four previous surveys.
An OMB circular is a policy directive that tells Federal executive agencies how they shall implement laws or presidential policies. OMB Circular No. A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources, prescribes a general policy framework within the Paperwork Reduction Act for developing uniform and consistent Federal information resources management policies. The need for the policy framework was identified by the Commission on Federal Paperwork, and reaffirmed by the General Accounting Office and the Congress. The Circular enunciates some policies regarding dissemination of information for which Congress has not provided explicit statutory guidance. The Circular is quite general in its policy statements and does not subdistinguish various categories of government information. The principal impact of the Circular will be a continuing emphasis on planning for information resources management.
James Gregory Bradsher is a supervisory archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration's Planning and Policy Evaluation Branch. Previously Dr. Bradsher served as an archivist with the National Archives' Office of the National Archives and Office of Federal Records Centers. During 1981, while detailed to the Office of Presidential Libraries, he participated in the appraisal of all of the records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In the summer of 1986, he was a Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library.