From YubaNet:
Unannounced Move Hampers Agency Scientists’ Review of New Chemicals
Without any word to the public, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has closed its specialized library for research on the effects and properties of chemicals, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The library’s unique technical collection is being offered for [...]
Archive of entries posted on October 2006
Stealth Closure of Principal EPA Chemical Library
Another Fed Library bites the dust
Posted to SRRTAC-L:
The U.S. Army command in Hawaii closed Tripler Army Medical Center’s Hospital (patients’) Library on 31 August. Now neither patients or staff have any library service of any kind. It ended a tradition that went back to the first Tripler located at Fort Shafter after WWI. The present Tripler was [...]
A new map of NARA’s future
From the NARA Staff Bulletin:
As you know, NARA is operating under a new strategic plan that will take the agency through 2016.
The new plan—with its focused objectives and clear priorities—sets forth goals and explains the strategies developed for achieving them. It also gives all of us at the National Archives, as well as customers, stakeholders, [...]
Analysis: Secrecy board called ‘toothless’
From United Press International:
A special panel set up last year to reduce excessive secrecy in government is being labeled toothless after its chairman told lawmakers he could not act except at the request of the president.
“The statute under which we operate provides that the president must request the board undertake such a review before it [...]
Copying own CDs ’should be legal’
From the BBC:
A [UK] think-tank has called for outdated copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a “private right to copy”.
U.N. summit revives concerns about Net control
From News.com:
A long-simmering dispute over whether the U.S. government has too much control over the Internet’s underpinnings will heat up again next week at a United Nations summit in Greece.
Starting this weekend, about 1,200 diplomats and technology ministers will gather at a hotel in the outskirts of Athens to resume a debate that has often [...]
ACLU Withdraws Lawsuit Challenging Patriot Act
From the Washington Post:
The American Civil Liberties Union has dropped a three-year-old lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act, months after Congress rewrote parts of the law.
The ACLU said Friday it is withdrawing the lawsuit because of “improvements to the law.”
Documents Shed New Light on Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists
ACLU Press Release:
Defense Department Tracked Quakers, Student Groups
Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal new details of Pentagon surveillance of Americans opposed to the Iraq war, including Quakers and student groups. The documents show that the Pentagon was keeping tabs on non-violent protesters by collecting information and storing it in a military [...]
Underutilization Leads GSA To Close Library
From Library Journal:
In another case of a federal agency downsizing library service, the General Services Administration (GSA) closed its inhouse library in Washington, DC, on October 1, but in this case, GSA officials say there have been no complaints. “With Internet usage increasing, the utilization rate has diminished,” Gail Lovelace, chief human capital officer, told [...]
Google seeks better access to government information
From Government Executive magazine:
Officials from the leading Internet search engine are working to remove barriers that prevent their technology from reaching vast troves of information buried in government databases.