According to Scott A. Hodes, bringing a FOIA case often results in a more timely release of information, more information being released then the agency would have released if it wasn’t in litigation and more information going to the requester about agency decisions and withheld documents.
Various federal government agencies make canned “state profiles,” tables of data for a specific state, available on their sites. These tables are quick and easy, and Peggy Garvin demonstrates how to find them.
For librarians and educators planning programs for Constitution Day, Peggy Garvin’s column links to a variety of web resources for online versions of the United States Constitution and related teaching materials.
Paul Jenks explains voting, a finely orchestrated legislative process that is full of arcane and ancient precedents and many mechanisms to get around the rules.
Peggy Garvin reviews the strengths, weaknesses and range of source material offered by several free online federal contracts and awards information databases.
Scott A. Hodes maintains that there are pros and cons to setting up an ombudsman’s office, and the overall scheme may not be the answer in resolving the number of disputes that arise in the disclosure of public records.
Scott A. Hodes recommends four substantive ways in which agency accountability will lead to more effective and efficient processing of FOIA requests.
Beth Wellington reviews the administration’s position on FY 2008 funding for nuclear power programs, as well as the impact of these programs on climate change.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has for the first time released a massive two-part compilation of Comptroller General decisions and opinions that are included in two Excel spreadsheets. The first spreadsheet contains decisions from 1990 through present The second spreadsheet contains decisions prior to 1990. Michael Ravnitzky reports the details.
Sabrina I. Pacifici has revised and updated her guide to a core group of reliable, content rich resources for researchers. Highlighted topics include: a new search engine for legal blogs, one for free federal district court filings, and one for Wikipedia; an updated legal research guide from M.G. Gallagher Law Library, government sponsored e-waste and recycling services, a filmology of librarians in the movies, the 10 best corporate intranets of 2007, the launch of the Anglo-American Legal Tradition Project Website, and much more.