Government Information Quarterly
Volume 16, Number 2, 1999
DISCUSSION FORUM
Is Implementing the EU Data Protection Directive in the United
States Irreconcilable with the First Amendment?
Jane E. Kirtley .............................................................##
ARTICLES
Proposals for Freedom of Information in the United Kingdom
Patrick Birkinshaw
..................................................................................... ##
Becoming Cyberactive: State and Local Governments on the
World Wide Web
Genie N.L. Stowers
................................................................................... ##
Public Printing Reform and the 105th Congress
Harold C. Relyea
................................................................................... ##
Internet-Related Work Activities and Academic Government
Documents
Librarians' Professional Relationships
Ann Roselle
..................................................................................... ##
Developing a Mission for the National Education
Network:
The Challenge of Seamless Access
R. David Lankes and Stuart A.
Sutton .............................................................
##
About the Authors ................................................................. ##
Reviews ..................................................................................... ##
Proposals for Freedom of Information in the United Kingdom
Patrick
Birkinshaw
ABSTRACT: In December 1997, the New Labour Government published its plans to introduce legislation on freedom of information in what many presumed would be the second parliamentary session of its regime. This legislation was to be an important component of the government's plans for constitutional change in the U.K. which, in their entirety, amount to the most dramatic constitutional development the British have witnessed since the 17th century. Government in the U.K. has been steeped in a tradition of secrecy and zealous protection of official information, unthinking conservatism, and enduring allegiance to tradition and hierarchy. The government's emphasis on openness and access to information is seen as a central feature of a constitution fit for a new millennium. What precisely is envisaged in this program of openness?
ABSTRACT: Internet activity has been growing at a rapid pace during the past several years. Much of this activity has been in the private sector and in education but many U.S. state and local governments have also moved onto the World Wide Web (WWW). The purpose of this empirical research is to provide baseline descriptive data on the current level and type of state and local public sector activity on the WWW. Governments have emphasized information and services for business and other economic development activities rather than dissemination of policy information, encouraging policy discussions, or delivering services. Like many other social science phenomena (e.g., public opinion, electoral behavior, and public policy itself), the WWW and Internet activity are dynamic phenomena, constantly changing and reorganizing. This study recognizes that and assumes that the empirical data gathered here are a snapshot in time of the entire public section WWW phenomena.
ABSTRACT: Statutory provisions governing federal printing largely constitute the opening chapters of Title 44 of the United States Code. The Government Printing Office (GPO) is designated the principal agent for almost all federal government printing. Oversight responsibility for the GPO printing system is vested principally in the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP), which also is authorized to exercise discretionary remedial powers to improve public printing operations and the distribution of government publications. Much of the content of the public printing chapters of Title 44 derives from the Printing Act of 1895, the first comprehensive government printing law. This body of law has been amended and modified by Congress from time to time to accommodate changing technology and policy developments. During the past two decades, however, major challenges to current printing policy and practice have arisen. Consequently, early in the 105th Congress, staff of the JCP and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration began deliberations concerning public printing reform. Those discussions proceeded on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, with participation by representatives of the Clinton administration. Subsequently, a consensus reform bill emerged, S. 2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government Publications Reform Act of 1998. Although this proposal initially appeared to enjoy broad support, several developments in the closing weeks of the 105th Congress mitigated against its enactment. Recounted here is the record of this reform effort.
ABSTRACT: This article examines specific Internet-related work activities of academic government documents librarians in the United States, and how these activities are affecting academic government documents librarians' professional relationships. Findings are reported from a nationally distributed mail survey of 226 academic government documents librarians, with an 83% return rate. Descriptive statistics indicate that, as a result of the Internet, closer professional relationships are being formed, especially with library systems/automation units, documents librarians at other institutions, and government representatives. Multivariate analysis results show that participation in Internet-related work activities is a key factor in explaining some of the variation among these changing professional relationships. Background characteristics and institutional characteristics are generally not significant. Implications of expanding professional relationships are discussed.
Developing a Mission for the National Education
Network:
The Challenge of Seamless Access
R. David Lankes and Stuart A.
Sutton
ABSTRACT: The National Library of Education (NLE) recently created the National Education Network (NEN). This article explores the potential mission of the NEN in light of the merging global learning infrastructure made possible by the Internet. Given the NEN membership of Internet-based collection holders of educational resources, the article develops a five-part framework for exploring the nature of education information provision in a networked digital environment. It examines a number of government sponsored and private sector initiatives that stand as exemplars of the elements of the framework. Once defined, the framework provides the mechanism for framing a policy-based mission for the NEN in which it advocates for education information collections, educates its constituents in terms of the emerging education object economy, and promotes collective dissemination of information regarding the digital learning infrastructure.
Patrick Birkinshaw is Dean of the Law School of Hull University and Professor of Public Law at the University, He was formerly the Director of the Institute of European Public Law at Hull University. He is currently a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration in its examination of the British government's reforms on Freedom of Information laws.
R. David Lankes is Director of the Information Institute of Syracuse and is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies. He is a founder of the AskERIC service, the Gateway to Educational Materials, and the Virtual Reference Desk project. His research areas concern human intermediation and Internet information services.
Harold C. Relyea is a Specialist in American National Government with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress, and is, as well, the head of the executive and judiciary section of the CRS Government Division. A member of the GIQ Editorial Board since the founding of the journal, Dr. Relyea is the author of numerous articles on government information policy and practice. His most recent book, The Executive Office of the President, was published in 1997.
Ann Roselle is Reference and Government Documents Librarian at Eastern Washington University. She received a M.A. in Sociology at Northwestern University and a M.S. in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Prior to her position at the University, she was the Government Documents Librarian at Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Genie N.L. Stowers is Director of the Public Administration Program and Associate Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at San Francisco State University. Dr. Stowers's research interests relate to how governments use technology (including the Internet), and her work has been published, for example, in Public Productivity and Management Review, Public Manager, and Public Administration Review.
Stuart A. Sutton is an Associate Professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and directs the School's MLS degree program. He is a Senior Research Scientist with the Information Institute of Syracuse and leads the research, design, and development work of the U.S. Department of Education's Gateway to Educational Materials project. His research areas concern knowledge representation and the organization of information in heterogeneous, distributed information systems.
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