Government Information Quarterly
Volume 5, Number 2, 1988
Discussion Forum: The Rich Get Richer--Again
Ellen Altman ................................................ 93
The Coming of Secret Law
Harold C. Relyea .........................................................97
A Walk Down a Dangerous Road: British Press Censorship
and the Spycatcher Debacle
Jane E. Kirtley .............................................. 117
Scientific and Technical Information Policy and the Future of NTIS:
Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology
James H. Paul .............................................. 137
Does Privitization Affect Access to Government Information?
Joseph F. Caponio and Janet Geffner ............................ 147
Providing Access to Local Government Information: The Nature
of Public Library Activity
Joan C. Durrance ........................................... 155
Contributors .................................................................................... 169
Communication: Clearing up the Confusion .......................................171
Reviews
David C. Heisser, Editor
CIS Index to Presidential Executive Orders and Proclamations
Reviewed by Judith Schiek Robinson ......................................... 175
Directory of Federal Libraries
By William R. Evinger
Reviewed by Claire T. Loranz .................................176
Encyclopedia of Governmental Advisory Organizations 1988-89
By Denise M. Allard
Reviewed by Deborah Mongeau ................................ 177
Federal Health Information Resources
By Melvin S. Day
Reviewed by Valerie Florance .................................. 177
Free Flow of Information: A new Paradigm
By Achal Mehra
Reviewed by Joel Zucker ..............................................178
Government Information, Education and Research, 1927-1986
By John Richardson, Jr.
Reviewed by Charles A. Seavey ..........................................179
Government Infostructures: A Guide to the Networks of Information
Resources and Technologies at Federal, State, and Local Levels
By Karen B. Levitan
Reviewed by Charles R. McClure ...............................................180
Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information
Reviewed by Jane E. Kirtley ................................... 181
Linking the U.S. National Technical Information Service with
Academic and Public Libraries
By Charles R. McClure, Peter Hernon, and Gary R. Purcell
Reviewed by Cynthia E. Bower ................................. 181
Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920
By William Thorndale and William Dollarhind
Reviewed by Jim Walsh ....................................... 182
Map Librarianship
By Mary Larsgaard
Reviewed by Michael Dulka ................................... 183
NTIS Privitization Study Responses to April 28, 1986, Federal
Register Notice Request for Public Comment
Reviewed by Jean Slemmons Stratford ........................... 183
Preservation Needs in State Archives
By Howard P. Lowell
Reviewed by Charles E. Lee ................................... 184
Scenario of Five Federal Agencies (1991-95) as Shaped by
Information Technology
By Henry H. Hitchcock
Reviewed by Sarah T. Kadec ................................... 185
Unobstructive Testing and Library Reference Services
By Peter Hernon and Charles R. McClure
Reviewed by Terence Crowley ................................. 187
The Urbana Municipal Documents Center Manual
By Jean E. Koch
Reviewed by Russell Castonguay ............................... 189
List of Titles Received ........................................... 189
The Coming of Secret Law
Harold C. Relyea
The founders and early practitioners of government in the United States inaugurated publication of the statutes and publication practices for the Federal legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Largely perfected during the nineteenth century, they became a norm of government. The rise of the administrative state during the early years of the twentieth century produced a flood of new law that became fugitive because of the lack of appropriate publication arrangements. This deficiency was corrected with the creation of the Federal Register system. With the subsequent arrival of the national security state and its penchant for secrecy, publication of the law has become impaired as a consequence of concealment by design. Examined here, against the background of the public law tradition, is the coming of secret law.
Since assuming off ice in 1979, Margaret Thatcher's government has utilized three methodologies to control the publication of government information by the press: "Self- censorship:' used most frequently against the BBC and other broadcasters; threat of the Official Secrets Act, used primarily against civil servants; and judicial action (civil breach of contract and criminal contempt) to punish the media for publishing government information. These three techniques have been used with varying degrees of success. Most recently, the Thatcher government has attempted to enjoin publication and distribution of Spycatcher, a book by former MI5 agent Peter Wright, in Australia. Several London newspapers were found in contempt for publishing summaries or extracts from the manuscript. Temporary injunctions, upheld by the Law Lords in July 1987, forbade the newspapers to publish details of the Wright trial as well as the contents of his book. Attempts by the government to obtain permanent injunctions have so far been unsuccessful, but await formal disposition by the House of Lords in July 1988. In the face of virtually world-wide distribution of Spycatcher outside of Great Britain, the futility of government censorship is underscored, as is the need for a written bill of rights in the United Kingdom to guarantee freedom of the press.
This article summarizes the key policy issues raised in the hearings on "Federal Information Policy Mechanisms" held July 14 and 15, 1987 by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Science, Research, and Technology.
The opinions and views stated in this article are solely those of the author, and do not reflect in any way the opinions of the members of the committee.
This article defines and discusses privatization of government information. As the authors note, privatization is effective when it is used appropriately, and ineffective when it is applied as a panacea to all management problems.
This article focuses on the problems associated with providing access to local government information. The research on which it is based is from a 1986 survey conducted by the author of 265 public libraries in six library systems in northern Illinois, the largest comparative study of public library providers of local government information conducted to date. Fifty-five active providers of local government information (those that received requests for this information at least every two weeks) were identified: the findings are based on telephone and group interviews with key staff of those libraries. The article examines a variety of methods that might be used to increase access to local government information. It analyzes the nature of requests received and the types of responses given by these libraries. It examines the major problems associated with providing access to local government information and discusses the reasons given by librarians for providing access to local government information sources. The article concludes that a serious local government information gap exists and that librarians who seek to overcome it must articulate a role that addresses the serious barriers that must be overcome before a library can provide meaningful access to local government information.
Ellen Altman is a Professor at the Graduate Library School, University of Arizona. She is the former director of the school. She has been on the faculty at Indiana University, University of Toronto, and University of Kentucky. She received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University.