Libraries and Government
st
Information in the 21
Century
Hui Hua Chua
U.S. & International Documents Librarian
Michigan State University
chua@mail.lib.msu.edu
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Government Information: Current Policy
and Publication Environment
 Official documents and publications primarily online and
often online only beginning in mid-1990s (US)
 UN, EU, GPO, individual agencies or regional agencies,
Department of Energy, cross-agency or cross-organizational
portals, private re-publishers.
 Better interfaces (sometimes): FDSys
 Open Data and Open Access
 World Bank’s Open Data Initiative
 President Obama’s Open Government Initiative
 NIH Public Access Policy (PubMedCentral) and Federal
Research Public Access Act
 Bulk data
 GPO (CFR and FR in XML format)
 Carl Malamud’s public.resource.org
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Government Information: Current Policy
and Publication Environment

Open Data and Open Access (contd.)

FOIA and (de)classified documents
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Government use of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies
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National Security Archive and other vendors
FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Wikileaks
Internal business
External communication and “publishing”
E-government services for citizens
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Tax forms, Medicare Part D, FAFSA, grants.gov
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Implications and Issues for Academic
Libraries
 Greater direct access to current and future publications than ever
before
 Authenticity, authentication and version control
 Larger number of entities involved in publishing government
information: formats, interfaces, sustainability, permanent access
 Role of libraries and librarians
 Provision and services for e-government activities
 Opportunity for libraries and other entities to create more flexible,
specialized tools with bulk data
 Depository programs in flux
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Government Information: Historical
Collections
Mass digitization
 Many players, many models, many scales
United Nations, Government Printing Office,
individual agencies (USDA, USAID, NOAA, etc)
Google Books, Google-CIC/Hathi, Internet Archive
Library consortia and individual libraries
• TRAIL technical reports (GWLA), League of Nations
(Northwestern)
Commercial publishers and vendors
• Serial Set, Hearings, FBIS, Congressional Record
Cataloging historical publications
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Implications and issues for academic
libraries
 Greater direct access to historical publications for users through
better metadata or full text access
 Comprehensiveness?
 Permanent access and digital preservation of multiple formats
 Sustainability
 Why and when to buy vendor products?
 Many online copies and collections; fewer print copies and
collections
 Depository programs in flux
 Integration with other resources
 Opportunities to create value added tools and services to support
research and teaching.
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Government Information: Electronic
Archiving
 Archiving born-digital publications and data
Is it necessary?
Many players, many models, many scales, many
formats
 Library of Congress, NARA, GPO, IGO and agency
publishers
 Internet Archive
 Library consortia and individual libraries
 UNT Cybercemetery, Chesapeake Project (Legal
Information Archive), LOCKSS-DOCS, state libraries and
state government information, digital deposit, OCLC and
Archive-it!
 Vendor products
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Implications and issues for academic
libraries
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Most problematic area.
Comprehensiveness? Multiple formats?
Authenticity?
Permanent access and archiving?
Sustainability?
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Government Information: Services
 Greater integration of government information services into general
library services; Fewer government information specialists and
departments
 reference and cataloging
 Government Information Online collaborative email and chat
reference service for all users
 2,254 sessions with the public (1/2010-4/2010); 6,939 in 2009; 5,779 in
2008
 Partnership with GPO for promotion and support
 http://govtinfo.org
 Training
 Government Information in the 21st Century (Gi21) grant to train nongovernment info. librarians
 E-government Librarianship Scholarship Program
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Implications and issues for academic
libraries
 Need for government information specialists? Future
training and education?
 Use of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 to deliver services and
promote collections
 Integration with other resources and the creation of
value-added services
 Changing user expectations and behavior
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
…looking for "job densities" of
geographic areas---quantifying
how many jobs are in a
localized area, the Michigan
Ave corridor in Lansing and
East Lansing. His research
topic is about locating a transitoriented business.
- Graduate student (Urban
Planning)
…looking for historic Gini ratios by
state for the years 1949 and 1959.
- Faculty member (Economics)
For consideration of installation of the
Danish Salmonella control program in the
US I needed a comparison of poultry
farmers in Denmark and the US.
- Graduate student (Food Science)
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
…a doctoral student
writing a dissertation
on the
pianist/composer
Mana-Zucca who
appeared in the
Congressional Record
twice within one week
in both houses
according to a quote
by Sen. Jacob Javits.
…gathering statistics for an
award that MSU Bikes is pursuing
related to MSU being a “bike
friendly community”.
- MSU Staff
I am trying to find a
source that would
list the
Immigration Laws
recently passed
by the various
State General
Assemblies, that
go (or in effect) this
year.
- News Librarian
I've been asked to find out the
number of US businesses (any size)
that are owned by immigrants.
- CNN News Librarian
For a Summer Reading Program for
all incoming freshmen they have
chosen the book "The Ghost Map" by
Steven Johnson about the Cholera
epidemic in London in 1853. The
coordinator is trying to include
materials from ALL collections in the
library.
- Librarian creating exhibit
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
I am currently working on
coding weight discrimination
cases, and I am in search of
information on the political
affiliations of judges.
- Graduate Student (Labor &
Human Resources)
…a research project on the
"traceability of fresh
produce". I am wondering
about what is hot right now,
what is expected to
happen, and what
…documents about U.S. technical
regulations are already in
assistance programs to
place regarding if the event
underdeveloped countries from 1950
of a 'recall of cherries', for
to the present. Material that discusses
the effectiveness of these programs
instance, occurs.
would be particularly welcome.
- Undergraduate (Packaging)
- Graduate student
I was wondering about women
working in the auto
industry in the 1920's.
- Undergraduate (Tier I
Writing)
Is there a place that aggregates all
current funding opportunities for
local governments looking for
environmentally-focused
funding?
- Local govt employee
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010
Questions?
http://www.flickr.com/groups/besttitlesever/
pool/show/
LAMP @ MSU, May 22, 2010