Government Information Quarterly
Volume 7, Number 4, 1990
The Freedom of Information Act Needs No Amendment
to Ensure Access to Electronic Records
Patti A. Goldman
............................................................................................. 389
Planning for the Future:
The Leadership Role of the State Library Agencies
Patricia T. Fletcher
............................................................................................ 403
An Intellectual Utility for Science and Technology:
The National Research and Education Network
Stephen B. Gould
............................................................................................. 415
Government Publications as Bibliographic References
in the Periodical
Literature of International Relations:
A Citation Analysis
Margaret S. Brill
.................................................................................................. 427
STI and Government Information
in the Federal
Republic of Germany
Hans G. Klaus
..................................................................................................... 441
Summary of Administrative Conference Recommendations ............................................ 451
Contributors .................................................................................................................. 463
Reviews
John A. Schuler, Editor
Governing the Empire State: An Insider's Guide
Reviewed by Mary Redmond
.................................................................... 465
How to Use The Major Indexes to U.S. Government Publications
By John M. Ross
Reviewed by Joel Zucker ................................................................................. 466
Intellectual Freedom Manual, Third Edition
Reviewed by Mallory Stark ............................................................................. 467
OCLC GPO Search CD450 System
Reviewed by Kathleen J. Keating ....................................................................... 468
Official Publications of Western Europe, Vol. 2
Edited by Eve Johansson
Reviewed by Lucille W. Cameron ................................................................... 468
Presidential Directives and Records Accountability Act:
Congress and the Administration's Secrecy Pledges:
Reviewed by Tom Stave ............................................................................... 469
Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies
By David H. Flaherty
Reviewed by Peter Hernon ............................................................................. 470
Index/Volume 7 .................................................................................................... 475
PATTI A. GOLDMAN
The Freedom of Information Act establishes flexible public access principles that can be applied to computer records in a way that minimizes the burden imposed on agencies. Although agencies have sometimes misapplied the FOIA's principles to requests for access to electronic information, many of the erroneous positions can be attributed to a lack of understanding of how the Act can, and in some cases must, be applied to requests for electronic information. The administrative process itself often serves to educate the agency and correct the agency's misunderstanding of the Act's requirements. Thus, many agencies that initially contended that computer information is not covered by the Act or that agencies are not required to use their computer capabilities to search for responsive information retracted those assertions during later stages of the administrative process. Moreover, when requesters have challenged agencies' restrictive practices in court, the courts have generally rejected the government's position. Since the FOIA embodies workable principles that can promote public access to electonic information without unduly burdening government agencies, and many agencies have embraced applications of FOIA's principles that do, in fact, facilitate public access, new legislation is not needed to ensure public access to eletronic information. To the contrary, it is inherently risky for Congress to legislate in this area, since there is no guarantee that Congress can provide a better structure than the one that is already in place, and the reform effort may result in diminished rather than enhanced access rights. For these reasons, Congress should refrain from legislating new standards in this area, and instead should maintain vigilant oversight of agency practices to ensure that access to electronic information is provided to the public in accordance with the Act.
PATRICIA T. FLETCHER
A national study of information resources management (IRM) in the 50 state governments presented a picture of the strategic planning role of state library agencies. Their planning agenda incorporates an IRM orientation with a focus on the key challenges and issues they face as providers of information resources to the state. While they have demonstrated considerable expertise in planning, they have not positioned themselves to take a leadership role in IRM planning on a statewide basis.
STEPHEN B. GOULD
This article will provide a brief overview of the primary computer network structures serving the U.S. academic research community. Plans for transforming the Internet into a National Research and Education Network are moving forward under the leadership of the National Science Foundation and the Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee. The article outlines the scope of computational and information resources likely to be available to users through the national network, and highlights the role envisioned for the network in facilitating effective remote interaction by researchers with colleagues, scientific instruments, and data. When fully implemented, the national network can serve both as a powerful utility that extends the capabilities of scholars, scientists, and engineers, and as a testbed for an electronic information infrastructure available to every home, office and factory in the United States in the 21st century.
MARGARET S. BRILL
This article analyzed citations from a sample of international relations journals for 1964, 1974, and 1984. Results show significant citation especially to U.S. government publications. The most highly cited titles and types of U.S. government serial publications for international relations, and the most fequently cited agencies, were identified. Other findings suggest citation trends to US. government, international organization, and foreign government publications/documents; relative citation rates for publications of international organizations and foreign governments; and citation patterns for documents in 1anguages other than English.
HANS G. KLAUS
About 37 % of the funds spent in 1987 for research in the Federal Republic of Germany result from government sources. The Federal government's overall annual budget alone totals $291 billion per year (1989). This makes the government sector an important generator, distributor, and consumer of scientific, technica1, and government specific information. This article describes the role of the government in this context and discusses important government policy issues.
Margaret Brill is the State Documents and Maps Librarian at Duke University. She received her M. L. S. degree from North Carolina Central University and her B.A. from the University of London. Previously, she was librarian at the Forest History Society and an information specialist at the World Bank.
