ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION

The Senate and the House have been actively implementing openness to Committee meetings, publishing information on their webs, promoting transparency and adding public value in the process.

Together with these concerns, the Library is also working on establishing standards for document management, (records and archives), and networking with State organizations and NGOs.  It is a learning experience, as to the “what” and the “how” to implement this mandate.  The spirit behind is to make all information public, with as few restrictions as possible.

I  was invited by the State Department to a round of professional visits in Washington, to see how access to public information was implemented in diverse institutions. Our concerns were: what is the information for public access? What is offered in a proactive way and what is only on demand? Paper, on line? How were the services designed? Who offers? Who owns the information? How does the FOIA (freedom of information act) touch upon the legislative information and the library services?  Records and archives, including retention schedules? The questions grew and built upon each other, including issues such as preservation, the concern about electronic or digital documents, document management, processing, metadata, and life cycle issues.

Some of the visits included: National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped; Library of Congress, Law Library of Congress, CRS, Office of Information of the Department of Justice, National Security Archives, (an NGO), Legislative Archives within the National Archives and Record Administration; General Accountability Office, and the Department of State.

The visit was extremely productive and an important experience to consider possible approaches for our Library and  on  other shared concerns by all, such as preservation issues.