Ensuring the survival and integrity of government information has always been an important role for research libraries. The digital revolution, however, radically changed the ways in which government information is produced and distributed, upending longstanding library models for preservation and access. Today, we must find new ways to ensure that the information governments gather and provide to their constituents, and the records of the workings of governments, remain available to researchers for the long term.
Research libraries have always played an important role in ensuring the survival and integrity of government information. In the print era, research libraries acquired and preserved the publications and historical archives of U.S. and foreign governments. CRL, for one, preserves the records as diverse as the files of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and the archives of the French colonial government in Senegal.
The digital revolution, however, radically changed the ways in which government information is produced and distributed, upending longstanding library models of preservation and scholarly access. Therefore new ways must be found to ensure that the information governments gather and provide to their constituents—and the records of the workings of governments—remain available to researchers for the long term.
CRL’s 2014 Global Resources Collections Forum brought together representatives of national archives, government agencies, publishers, historians, and members of the research library community, to explore what role libraries, collectively and individually, can play today in ensuring the long-term integrity and accessibility of the electronic records, data and publications of domestic and foreign governments.
This event was part of CRL’s 2014 Annual Meeting and Collections Forum, held in Chicago at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center. CRL assembled reports and documents as recommended background reading [1] for attendees at the Forum.
Thursday, April 24, 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Today most government records are created and managed in a multitude of digital systems and platforms, many of them in “the cloud.” With the availability of digital media, moreover, the volume of the records produced has mushroomed. (The Bush administration alone generated over 200 million emails and 11 million digital photographs.)
Both the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service have raised concerns about the long-term integrity of U.S. agency electronic records and data. Add to this the growing frequency of unofficial disclosures of internal communications by WikiLeaks, media organizations like The New York Times and The Guardian, and other third parties, and a number of policy issues surface. This session explored the policy and political challenges the “digital government” ecosystem presents for libraries and the implications of this new reality for the stewardship of important historical evidence.
1:00–1:45 p.m. Welcome and Keynote: Information, Transparency, and Government Records in the Digital Age: A Public Policy Perspective
Watch Video [3]
Speaker: Thomas S. Blanton [4], Executive Director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Dr. Blanton is a leading advocate of government transparency and disclosure. Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars, the National Security Archive is a distinguished research and advocacy organization that defends and expands public access to government information.
1:45–2:30 p.m. Historical Research and Government Records in the Era of Big Data: A Historian’s Perspective
Watch Video [5]
Speaker: Matthew J. Connelly [6], Historian, Columbia University
2:45–4:15 p.m. Panel Discussion: Preserving the Electronic Records of Governments: Issues and Challenges
Watch Video [7] | Slides [8]
Panelists:
Friday, April 25, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 noon
In the print era, many CRL libraries served (and continue to serve) as regional or selective federal depositories, bearing the responsibility for providing local access to published government documents and information in print and microform. And most academic libraries also acquired or subscribed to commercially produced databases of government documents and information.
Today, the public information landscape is being transformed: by government agencies’ widespread adoption of social media, their embrace of “cloud” services for storage and management of records and information, and by Open Government mandates that make oceans of agency data freely available on the Web. This session examined the new government information “supply chain” and explored:
9:00–9:30 a.m. Keynote: Leviathan: The Dangers and Opportunities of “Big Data”
Watch Video [13] | Slides [14]
Speaker: John S. Bracken [15], Director, Journalism and Media Innovation, Knight Foundation. The Foundation is a leading funder of new journalism technologies and platforms for mining and exposing government information and data, such as The Texas Tribune, News21, and the Knight-Mozilla OpenNews project.
9:30–10:00 a.m. Government Records and Information: Real Risks and Potential Losses
Watch Video [16] | Slides [17]
Speaker: James A. Jacobs [18], Data Services Librarian Emeritus, University of California San Diego, and technical advisor for CRL’s Certification Advisory Panel
10:00–10:45 a.m. The Digital Future of FDsys and the Federal Depository Library Program: A Public Policy Analysis
Watch Video [19] | Slides [20]
Speaker: R. Eric Petersen [21], Specialist in American National Government, Congressional Research Service
11:00–11:45 a.m. Panel Discussion: New Models of Access: The Role of Third Party Aggregators and Publishers
Watch Video [22] | Slides [23]
Panelists:
11:45 a.m.–12:00 noon Q&A and Session Summary
Friday, April 25, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
Attendees and presenters explored what stewardship means in an age of digital government and big data. Desired outcomes included: consensus on the appropriate role of research libraries regarding government-produced information and records; recognition of how that role relates to the parts played by government, the media, and the commercial sector; a new strategic framework for the collective work of US and Canadian research libraries; and new multi-year strategic priorities for CRL.
1:15–1:30 p.m. Government Records and Information: An Inventory of the Major Threats and Challenges
Watch Video [26]
Speaker: Bernard Reilly, President, CRL
1:30–2:30 p.m. Panel Discussion: Prospective Roles and Actions for Libraries and CRL
Watch Video [27]
Panelists:
2:30–3:00 p.m. Conclusions: A New Strategic Framework for Collective Action by North American Academic Libraries and New Multi-year Priorities for CRL
Thomas S. Blanton is Executive Director of the National Security Archive [36] at George Washington University, and a leading advocate of government transparency and disclosure. Founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars, the National Security Archive is a distinguished research and advocacy organization that defends and expands public access to government information. In 2000, the Archive won U.S. journalism's George Polk Award for “piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy, guiding journalists in search for the truth, and informing us all.”
John S. Bracken oversees the Knight News Challenge [37], Knight’s prototype fund, and the foundation's other journalism and technology investments. He has more then 12 years of experience as a philanthropic investor in digital media, media policy, and innovation, having previously worked at the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. He was named to Crain’s Tech 50 for 2013 and was a 2009 fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago. He serves on the board of the Illinois Humanities Council. He writes @jsb and johnbracken.net.
Susan Bokern is Vice President, Information Solutions, ProQuest. She works in product management for ProQuest Government databases. Before joining ProQuest, Bokern held senior leadership positions at NewsBank; New Century Network (NCN), an online consortia of major newspapers; and at Gannett and USA TODAY. She began her career at the U.S. Department of Commerce working for two Deputy Assistant Secretaries.
Mary M. Case is University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Case oversees operations of the Richard J. Daley Library and Library of the Health Sciences in Chicago. Prior to joining UIC in July 2004, Case was Director of the Office of Scholarly Communication of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in Washington, D.C. At ARL, Ms. Case was responsible for guiding the activities of the association related to the production, dissemination, use, and preservation of scholarly information and helped develop SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition).
Matthew J. Connelly is Professor of History at Columbia University, specializing in international and global history, and chair of Columbia’s Seminar on “Big Data and Digital Scholarship.” His research on declassification policies is profiled in “The Ghost Files” in a recent issue of Columbia [38]magazine. He has also published commentary on international affairs in The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, and The National Interest.
Robert Dessau is CEO of voxgox. First launched for subscription access in January 2014, voxgov is a unique “discovery platform” which aggregates a broad range of official and ephemeral information resources issued by individual representatives and organizations from all branches of the U.S. Federal Government, and links that content to publicly accessible government documentation.
James A. Jacobs is Data Services Librarian Emeritus, University of California San Diego. He is one of the co-creators of FreeGovInfo.info [39], and is a librarian, teacher, trainer, researcher, writer, and consultant. Jacobs is technical advisor to CRL’s Certification Advisory Panel.
William A. Mayer was named Executive for Research Services for the National Archives and Records Administration in 2012. He has more than 20 years of experience working in dynamic research environments, including having served as the University Librarian at American University in Washington, D.C. From 2001 to 2007, he was the Associate University Librarian for Information Technology and Technical Services at George Washington University.
Cecilia Muir is currently serving as the first Chief Operating Officer at Library and Archives Canada, a position created in 2012. She is responsible for all LAC operations spanning acquisitions, to preservation, to access of published and archival material from both government and private sources. She has held senior positions in social policy, program delivery, and operations in a variety of federal departments. Before joining Library and Archives Canada in 2010 as Assistant Deputy Minister, Resource Discovery Sector, Cecilia was Assistant Secretary to Cabinet at the Privy Council Office.
Robert Lee is Director of Online Publishing and Strategic Partnerships, East View Information Service. He oversees development of over fifty aggregated databases and data acquisitions focusing on government, military, and strategic information, with particular emphasis on Russia and the former USSR, China, North Korea, and the Middle East. He was formerly Director of Publishing at ProQuest Information and Learning.
Ingrid Parent is University Librarian at the University of British Columbia. She was formerly Assistant Deputy Minister for Documentary Heritage at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), responsible for the development, description, and preservation of Canada’s documentary heritage. She served as President of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) during 2011-2012.
R. Eric Petersen is Specialist in American National Government, in the Congressional Research Service. He is the author, with Jennifer E. Manning and Christina M. Bailey of the March 2012 report, The Federal Depository Library Program: Issues for the Congress [40].
Brent Roe is Executive Director, Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). At CARL he manages advocacy activities on such themes as copyright, open access, federal research support, broadband access, research data management, and documentary heritage digitization.
Paul M. Wester, Jr. was named as the first Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government in March, 2011. He leads records management throughout the Federal Government, with an emphasis on electronic records. He is responsible for issuing Federal records management policy and guidance; liaisoning with Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Government CIO Council, and other stakeholders on records management issues; and serving as an ombudsman to ensure that NARA and the agencies it serves meet their statutory mandates and records management requirements.
Governments and the Digital Record: the Historian's Perspective. [41] Report on a Panel Discussion on Government Information and Societal Memory Convened by the American Historical Association, January 2014. Center for Research Libraries, March 27, 2014.
James A. Jacobs, Born-Digital U.S. Federal Government Information: Preservation and Access, March 2014 [42]. Prepared for Leviathan, the Center for Research Libraries Global Resources Collections Forum.
David J. Craig, "The Ghost Files," Columbia Magazine [38], Winter 2013-14. Profiles Leviathan speaker Matthew Connelly’s research on U.S. government declassification policies
Wendy Ginsberg, Retaining and Preserving Federal Records in a Digital Environment: Background and Issues for Congress, CRS Report R43165. (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Research Service, July 26, 2012), accessed December 9, 2013, https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43165.pdf [43]
R. Eric Petersen, Jennifer E. Manning and Christina M. Bailey, Federal Depository Library Program: Issues for Congress, CRS Report R42457 (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Research Service, March 29, 2012), accessed December 9, 2013, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42457.pdf [40].
“The Evolving Supply Chain for Government-Produced Information” FOCUS on Global Resources [44] Fall 2013 (volume 33, number 4). Summary of a recent CRL webinar and Charleston session; also suggestions for a new cooperative strategy.
OBJECTIVES
Preservation of Electronic Government Information (PEGI) is a two-year initiative to address national concerns regarding the preservation of electronic government information by cultural memory organizations for long term use by the citizens of the United States.
MISSION
This project brings together librarians, technologists, and other information professionals from the Center for Research Libraries, the University of North Texas, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Arizona State University, the University of Missouri, Yale University, and Stanford University. The PEGI project has been informed by a series of meetings between university librarians, information professionals, and representatives of federal agencies, including the Government Publishing Office and the National Archives and Records Administration. The focus is at-risk government digital information of long term historical significance which is not being adequately harvested from the Web or by other automated means.
The project will conduct a multimodal environmental scan of at-risk federal digital content. An educational awareness and advocacy outreach program will take place in 2018, the second year of the project. Finally, the project will analyze and develop recommendations for a collaborative national agenda for future work to continue improving preservation and access to electronic government information.
For more on the PEGI Project, please go to the PEGI website [48]
Early PEGI Documents
Reflections. Digital Preservation Summit April 2016 [50]
March 2017 Conference Call Notes [51]
April 2017 Conference Call Notes [52]
Project Proposal [53]
Links
[1] https://www.crl.edu/node/10225
[2] https://www.crl.edu/focus/summer-2014
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXi03IDJvtk
[4] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#tblanton
[5] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQywKY_5128
[6] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#mconnelly
[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x1UQLccKNw
[8] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/events/Session%201%20Panel.pdf
[9] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#pwester
[10] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#wmayer
[11] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#cmuir
[12] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#pwagner
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aYiAmVs7dc
[14] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/events/John%20S%20Bracken.pdf
[15] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#jbracken
[16] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGD-6T3FkA0&list=UUCE6QMtCIBCRcr6XKpc6S9A
[17] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/events/Jacobs%20Slides%204-18.pdf
[18] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#jjacobs
[19] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnck-qzkSFM
[20] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/events/Petersen%20with%20Format%20updates2%20rep%20ok.pdf
[21] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#epetersen
[22] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRARIsDUFVQ
[23] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/events/Panel%20Session%202.pdf
[24] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#sbokern
[25] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#rdessau
[26] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akIB03t2wz4
[27] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKEH5iSD5kY
[28] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#mcase
[29] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#iparent
[30] https://www.crl.edu/node/10402#broe
[31] https://www.crl.edu/facets/law-and-government
[32] mailto:vkerr@crl.edu
[33] https://www.crl.edu/events
[34] https://twitter.com/hashtag/crl_leviathan
[35] https://twitter.com/CRL_global
[36] http://www2.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/
[37] http://www.knightfoundation.org/funding-initiatives/knight-news-challenge/
[38] http://magazine.columbia.edu/features/winter-2013-14/ghost-files
[39] http://freegovinfo.info/
[40] http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42457.pdf
[41] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/pages/AHA%20Meeting%20of%20Historians_final3.pdf
[42] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/d6/attachments/pages/Leviathan%20Jacobs%20Report%20CRL%20%C6%92%20%283%29.pdf
[43] https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43165.pdf
[44] https://www.crl.edu/focus/fall-2013
[45] https://www.crl.edu/collections/topics/government-records-and-archives-us
[46] https://www.crl.edu/collections/topics/government-publications-and-information-us
[47] https://www.crl.edu/collections/topics/government-publications-and-information-non-us
[48] https://www.pegiproject.org/
[49] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/Dec2016_PEGI_Meeting%20Notes%20Transcript.pdf
[50] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/2016_Digital_Preservation_Summit_ReflectionsReport.pdf
[51] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/PEGI%202017%20March%208%20Conference%20Call_0.pdf
[52] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/PEGIConferenceCall_28April2017_0.pdf
[53] https://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/Preservation%20of%20Electronic%20Government%20Information%20Project%202_amended.pdf