From GPO Administrative Notes, Vol. 28, no. 03-04:
The final analysis report of the GPO LOCKSS Pilot Project is now available on GPO Access at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/lockss/index.html.
GPO launched the GPO LOCKSS Pilot Project in June 2005 to investigate how LOCKSS might be used for digital distribution. LOCKSS (for “Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe”) is open source [...]
Archive of entries posted on May 2007
GPO LOCKSS Pilot Project Report Now on GPO Access
Leahy Presses For Passage Of FOIA Reforms, Urges Secret Hold On Bill Be Lifted
Press Release:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Thursday called on the Senate to pass bipartisan reforms to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act before adjourning for the Memorial Day recess.
Following up on their efforts last Congress, Leahy and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) teamed up again this year to introduce the “Openness Promotes Effectiveness [...]
Los Alamos Says Lab Archives Now Available to Researchers
From Secrecy News:
Historians and other researchers may continue to access archival records at Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials said last week. But they also affirmed strict new limits on such access.
A story in Secrecy News (May 3) describing new restrictions on researchers was based on a misunderstanding by Lab personnel, Department of Energy and Lab [...]
Librarians use ‘wiki’ for updates on EPA consolidation
From Government Executive:
As lawmakers and the library community continue prodding the Environmental Protection Agency for details about its plans to consolidate the regional EPA library system, one organization has launched a collaborative “wiki” to let federal librarians anonymously air what they know about the changes.
Since the 109th Congress, House Democratic leaders have expressed fears that [...]
Web Sites Listing Informants Concern Justice Dept
From the New York Times:
There are three “rats of the week” on the home page of whosarat.com, a Web site devoted to exposing the identities of witnesses cooperating with the government. The site posts their names and mug shots, along with court documents detailing what they have agreed to do in exchange for lenient sentences. [...]
MySpace agrees to share sex offender data with states
From the Mercury News:
Faced with legal demands from state attorneys general, MySpace.com said Monday it will release data on registered sex offenders it has identified and removed from the popular social networking Web site.
In print forever? Sometimes, authors would rather go out of print
From the Seattle Times:
The offer from Simon & Schuster seems ideal: Let us publish your book and it will never go out of print. Even if it sells just one copy a year, we’ll keep it available, thanks to digital technology.
And that, says the Authors Guild, which represents thousands of published writers, is unacceptable.
More access to committees
From The Hill:
The work of congressional committees, the vital organs of Congress, remains difficult for citizens to access, despite their central public role in developing policies that guide this nation. Their centrality to the legislative process may be generally underappreciated because of a lack of meaningful public access. To address this, committees should post their [...]
Libraries of Alexandria burn all the time
From the Contra Costa Times:
New technologies push digital data into extinction, and the U.S. government is cutting funding from efforts to preserve it
It is commonly agreed that the destruction of the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt was one of the most devastating losses of knowledge in all of civilization. Today, however, the digital information [...]
Group Defies Smithsonian Copyright Claim
From the Houston Chronicle:
Grabbing pictures of iconic Smithsonian Institution artifacts just got a whole lot easier.
Before, if you wanted to get a picture of the Wright Brothers’ plane, you could go to the Smithsonian Images Web site and pay for a print or high-resolution image after clicking through several warnings about copyrights and other restrictions [...]