Government Information Quarterly Contents

Government Information Quarterly

Volume 9, Number 1, 1992

CONTENTS

Discussion Forum: The Public
Peter Hernon and Cheryl Metoyer-Duran ........................................ 1

The Role of Government Information during Periods of
National Crisis: The Energy Information Administration and
the Persian Gulf War
Calvin Kent and Mark Rodekohr ................................................... 11

An Overview of Computer Matching, Its Privacy
Implications, and the Regulatory Schemes of Select
Jurisdictions
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario ................................ 35

Inspector General Reports as Instruments of Governmental
Accountability
Thelma Freides ............................................................................................... 53

SPECIAL FEATURES

Access to Government Information
Kenneth B. Allen .................................................................................................... 67

Willing to Provide But Unable to Support: The Dilemma of
Smaller Depositories in an Electronic Era
Bert Chapman .......................................................................................... 81

Contributors ......................................................................................................... 89

Reviews
John A. Shuler, Editor

The Documentation of the European Communities: A Guide
By Ian Thomson
Reviewed by Bert Chapman ................................................................ 91

Expert Systems Technology and Its Implications for Archives
Prepared by Avra Michelson
Reviewed by Megan Sniffin-Marinoff ...................................................... 92

Monthly Catalog Previews, January, 1990--
International Archives Institute, Inc.
Reviewed by Claire T. Loranz ....................................................................... 92

Scientific and Technical Literature: An Introduction to
Forms of Communication
By Richard D. Walker and C.D. Hurt
Reviewed by Joel Zucker ....................................................................................... 93

Surveillance In the Stacks: The FBI's Library
Awareness Program
By Herbert N. Foerstel
Reviewed by Peter Hernon ...................................................................................... 94

Theodore Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of Militant Decency
By Robert V. Friedenberg
Reviewed by Tom Howard .................................................................................... 95

News in the Mail: The Press, Post Office, and Public
Information, 1700-1860s
By Richard B. Kielbowiscz
Reviewed by John A. Shuler ........................................................................ 96

Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional
Research Service: 1916-1989. Index by Subjects and
Names: Bibliography & Supplementary Indexes
University Publications of America
Reviewed by John A. Shuler ................................................................... 97

The Role of Government Information during
Periods of National Crisis: The Energy Information
Administration and the Persian Gulf War

Calvin Kent
Mark Rodekohr

This article reviews the role of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) during the Persian Gulf War in providing the energy data and analyses used to minimize the impact of this crisis. The article is divided into three major sections. The first discusses the impact of petroIeum suppIy disruptions on the economy and provides background material about previous petroleum supply disruptions and why these events are considered to be important fom the national perspective. The second section describes the EIA's response to the 1990 Persian Gulf Crisis. The last section provides conclusions which can serve as guidelines for maximizing the effectiveness of statistical information agencies during national emergencies.

An Overview of Computer Matching, Its Privacy
Implications, and the Regulatory Schemes of
Select Jurisdictions

Office of the Information and Privacy
Commissioner/Ontario

This articIe examines the issue of computer matching and its privacy implications. Computer matching involves the computerized comparison of automated systems of records or databases.
The main benfits of computer matching are increased detection and deterrence of fraud, waste, and abuse. However, critics of computer matching argue that the benefits are overstated and unsubstantiated.
The central issue in the debate about computer matching is whether there are adequate safeguards associated with the technology to prevent violations of personal privacy. The main privacy implication is that matching may result in a loss of control over p ersonal information.
There is a pressing need to determine the extent of computer matching in those jurisdictions not currently regulating the practice and to then bring a degree of public accountability to bear on this important emerging issue.

Inspector General Reports as Instruments of
Governmental Accountability

Thelma Freides

Inspectors General in all major Federal agencies report semiannually to Congress on the integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness of program management in their agencies. The reporting mechanism is intended to serve as an instrument or governmental accountability to Congress and the public, but there is evidence that it falls short of that goal. The study examines the semiannual reports from the perspective of their usefulness in conveying inform ation about the character and quality of administration in Federal agencies. Negative factors are unclear definition of the role and responsibilities of Inspectors General, proliferation of detail and paucity of generalization in the reports, and inadequa te public distribution. Nonetheless, the reports contain large quantities of significant information unavailable from any other public source.

Access to Government Information

Kenneth B. Allen

A fundamental tenet of American democracy is that citizens have a basic right of access to information collected and produced by the Federal government. Contrary to general perception, however, a statutory right of public access to government information only goes back to 1966. Rapidly changing technologies, severe economic strains, and emerging policy issues now threaten to erode the right of public access to government information. The author describes a number of the key challenges to preserving public access and suggests a set of principles to serve as the basis of government information policies which will preserve a right of access to government information.

Willing to Provide but Unable to Support:
The Dilemma of Smaller Depositories in an
Electronic Era

Bert Chapman

The increasing influence of government information in electronic format poses acute problems for smaller depositories facing financial and personnel shortages. These constraints will increase the dependence of smaller depositories on regional depositorie s and may compel the smaller institutions to reassess the viability of their depository status. This cumulative predicament will make some government information inaccessible to users of smaller depositories.

Recognition of this should be augmented by acceptance of the reality that existing Federal budgetary pressures, coupled with trends toward user fees in other sectors of librarianshitp, make free and unimpeded access to all government information an unreal istic public policy option. This, in turn, will increase the importance of regional depositories as clearinghouses for technical support and resource sharing and require selective depositories to place even greater emphasis on determining the government i nformation of greatest relevance to their constituencies.

Contributors

Kenneth B. Allen is Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the Information Industry Association, a trade association representing over 650 companies involved in the creation, distribution, and use of information products, services, and technologies. Prior to joining the IIA in 1986, Mr. Allen spent nine years with the Office of Management and Budget where, among other things, he was responsible for developing Federal information policies. He has authored several articles on emerging information policy issues and is a frequent speaker on the subject. Mr. Allen has also frequently testified before Congress.

Bert Chapman is Reference/Documents Librarian at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He received a B.A. in history and political science from Taylor University, an M.A. in history from the University of Toledo, and an M.S.L.S. from the University of Kentucky.

Thelma Freides is Head of Readers Services in the Library of the State Universltv of New York at Purchase. She is the author of Literature and Bibliography of the Social Sciences (Wiley, 1974), "The Federal Information Controversy from an Economic Perspective" (College & Research Libraries, September 1986), and other articles and reviews in the field of social science and government information.

Peter Hernon, who is the founding editor of Government Information Quarterly, is Professor at Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts. Among his many publications are Federal Information Policies in the 1980s (Ablex, 1987) and Use of Government Publications by Social Scientists (Ablex. 1979).

Calvin A. Kent is Administrator of the Energy Information Administration in the U.S. Department of Energy. He was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in the summer of 1990. Dr. Kent is on leave from Baylor University, Waco, Texas, where he held the Herman Lay Chair in Private Enterprise and directed the Center for Private Enterprise and the National Center for Entrepreneurship Education.

Cheryl Metoyer-Duran is Assistant Dean, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of California (405 Hilliard Ave., Los Angeles, California 90024- 1520). She received her Ph.D. from Indiana University and serves on the Executive Boards of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles and the Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian.

Mark E. Rodekohr is Director of the International and Contingency Information Division in the Energy Information Administration (EIA). He has been with EIA or its predecessor agencies for the last 17 years, serving as an economist in various positions. Dr. Rodekohr received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado in 1974.

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