ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 214 / C&RL News ■ M arch 2002 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley and Patrice McDermott Restricting access to governm ent inform ation One of the hottest issues at AIA’s 2002 Mid­ winter Meeting, as well as here in Washing­ ton, D.C., concerns the government’s restric­ tions on access to previously publicly available government information. Following September 11, a number of federal agencies, citing terror­ ist concerns, removed information from their Web sites. The U.S. Geological Survey re­ quested that GPO instruct depository libraries, including a number of academic libraries, to withdraw and destroy a CD-ROM on surface water characteristics. Additionally, the National Archives and Records Administration is care­ fully screening documents in its holdings for sensitive information; one document has been withdrawn from public availability. Such restrictions of access are of great con­ cern, especially for college and university students, faculty, and researchers. As government informa­ tion plays an essential role in research and learn­ ing, limitations on access cannot help but have a deleterious effect on the quality of education on college campuses. Such restrictions also limit the possibilities for public oversight of government activities and responsibilities, as government in­ formation provides a key means for informing the public of what industries are doing and what their government is doing to protect public health, safety, and security. Heated debate is occurring about what cri­ teria should be applied before information is removed from public availability. Could sensi­ tive information be used by a terrorist to iden­ tify a target? Who makes such a decision? How does one apply pressure to ensure improved public safety? Will government information re­ moved from public access be permanently pre­ served and made publicly available in the future? One proposal is that information about un­ safe facilities should only be available on a need-to-know basis to local emergency plan­ ners. This answer puts an untenable political burden on local officials and prevents research- Lynne E. Bradley is Office of Government Relations director of ALA's Washington Office, e-mail: leb@alawash.org, and Patrice McDermott is assistant director of the ALA Office of Government Relations, e-mail: pmcdermott@alawash.org ers from identifying problems endemic to an industry or to a particular company in multiple locations. Moreover, this response does not address the reality that much of this informa­ tion is already widely available and would be no secret, even if it were not on the Web; perhaps, most importantly, it prevents local communities from easily finding out about nearby risks. Few people argue that all government in­ formation should always be available to the public. Some portions o f the information taken down or withdrawn may have been at a level of such detail as to provide a roadmap. But there is no obvious reason, except in the case of the CD-ROM, that the specific information could not be excised (with some documenta­ tion of the excision) and the bulk of the infor­ mation returned to public availability. The ALA Council endorsed two key resolu­ tions on these issues at Midwinter. One, “Con­ cerning Information and Security,” urges Con­ gress and government agencies “to ensure that public access to government information is main­ tained absent specific compelling and documented national security or public safety concerns regard­ ing the information in question.” The second resolution concerns President Bush’s Executive Order 13233 “Further Imple­ mentation of the Presidential Records Act.” This resolution, though not directly related to post- September 11 issues, urges “Congress to amend the Presidential Records Act as necessary to reaffirm the intent of Congress that Presiden­ tial records be made generally available to the public with limited statutory restrictions by the end of 12 years.” To follow-up on these access issues, ACRL is being asked to appoint a representative to work with the ALA Committee on Legislation, GODORT, and other ALA units to review and outline possible actions and policies for ALA. ALA’s Office of Government Relations would also appreciate receiving reports on “missing” government information from Web sites or other sources. Please contact us at (800) 941- 8478 or e-mail: pmcdermott@alawash.org. Special note: Visit http://www.ala.org/ washoff for recent materials about the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. ■ mailto:leb@alawash.org mailto:pmcdermott@alawash.org mailto:pmcdermott@alawash.org http://www.ala.org/