PATRIOT Act still alive and well

My legislative tracing experience is still impacting me every time I think about how such a huge piece of legislation was pushed through so quickly (again fear and panic...) Saw this on my weekly email from EFF:

In-Flight Confrontations can Lead to Charges Defined as Terrorism

At least 200 passengers have been convicted of felonies under the Patriot Act, often for behavior involving raised voices and profanity. Some experts say airlines are misusing the law.

Ok not the smartest things to be doing on the plane I agree, but are they terrorist?

Advocacy Rant

I am a big believer in taking responsibility and advocating for what I believe in.

That is why I was glad to hear that as a major theme at the ALA Washington Briefing and at the AASL meetings attended. I am probably naive to think it actually matters, but there are time I feel that I actually might be making a difference - ex. the CPSC calling ALA and saying "call them off!"

Yet then there are times I read things like this post on the GaMedia listerv on proposed budget issues for Ga. school library media centers:
Mr. Perdue is prosing to place a temporary (yeah right) waiver on the expenditure controls found in GaCode that state that money designated for media centers only be used to buy items for the media center. So yes that means that media centers will never see that money.

So I immediately go to email and call House and Senate Appropriations Education Subcommittee members to explain the importance of expenditure controls to them.

THEN I see the following post and want to scream:
"What concerns me is this: in this economic crisis. . .if we raise our visibility by complaining about waivers and cuts and such, I wonder if they'd decide to just cut media programs and media specialists completely, but I'm wondering if, in this present situation, staying under the radar and accepting what comes down might be the best course. AND another one agrees with him saying "why are we complaining? Everyone and all programs will need to make sacrifices, including school library media programs. In my humble opinion, GLMA paid lobbyists need to tread lightly in these economic times or we could all be out of a job."

(hmmm fear and panic seems to have been a theme last week in our discussion)

YES of course if we all hide our heads in the sand it will be much better....come on!

CPSC

Well looks like sometimes our voices are heard - especially when in great numbers...

(CNN) -- Librarians across the United States are making noise about new federal restrictions on lead that could take books out of the hands of children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act requires all products, including books intended for children younger than 12, to meet new standards calling for lower lead content.Commission regulations, written in response to the law, take effect February 10. Even stricter limits will become effective in August.Paper, ink, covers and glues would need to pass lead content standards.

So go read the article - make sure to notice David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division comments....just makes you wonder what some of these "supposed" watchdog groups are really watching!

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008

So the saga continues with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ... ALA and AASL have put out the call for action...

A public meeting was held January 22 with Kristina Hatlelid, Directorate for Health Sciences, and other Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff to allow Allan Robert Adler, of the Association of American Publishers, and major publishing companies to discuss the lead content of books. The meeting was a time for the publishing companies to explain their research to the CPSC staff that proves that normal books (non-play, paper books) do not contain lead in the amount specified under the CPSIA. The publishing companies have compiled a group of 300 test results that can be viewed here.

After the meeting, Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel for the CPSC, stated that a decision should be made by the first week of February. She advised libraries not to take any action at this time, and we are hopeful that the Commission's decision will exempt libraries.

Even with her assurances, we must let the CPSC know how important an issue this is to libraries. You can visit their Web site, found here, to submit your comments to the Commission. Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for libraries to remove all children's books from the shelves and/or ban children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of service that is needed.

I am just amazed at this! It almost reads like a spoof or something that you would read online at the Onion or something...

What is Information Policy and Why Should We Care?

Information policy impacts my ability to do my job and that is why I have always been active in following what is going on in regards to national and state government. I found out early on in my career that, especially in education, it is very important to know what is going on that can impact my profession. I realize through the various historical aspects that we have read about that while staying informed on current events I have neglected the past and we all know what happens when we don’t learn from the past. Relyea (2008), McDermott (2007), and Herndon et al. (2002) present a comprehensive historical look at public policy as it relates to information and access to information. It was interesting to see while they all presented information on some of the same legislation they each had their own slant on the issues. While it seems that there is some agreement on the past, there is no exact agreement as to which constitutes a definition of “information policy.” Duff (2004) goes back to the argument that maybe we first need a definitive idea of what information is before we can define information policy.

In reading Jones (1984), Anderson (2006), McDermott (2007) and McClure (1999) we are presented with the question of what is information policy and why should we care about it. I like McClure’s (1999) concise definition of “interrelated principals, laws, guidelines, rules and regulations, directives, procedures, judgments, interpretations, and practices that guide the creation, management, access and use of information” (p. 307). The “creation” part of this definition of information policy really struck me and caused me pause for thought. I guess I am on the other side of the coin, in that I am a librarian and always worried about access issues. Yet in this age of Web 2.0 and the participatory culture that is growing up because of it the “creation” aspect is becoming more and more important. In fact we are already seeing an increase in copyright and intellectual freedom issues coming to light.

I also found interesting the idea that information policy can be considered a sort of “meta” policy in that it affects all other policy systems. This makes sense to me because of the assumed multidisciplinary aspect of information science in general. As for the why we should care question, I have to say I am inspired by McDermott’s (2007) passion and identify with her cynicism! I am coming to realize that I need to be concerned more about the bigger picture of information policy. I tend to focus on my own small world of education and what I see as having a direct impact on my students and me as an educator. For example, when ALAWON sends out briefs or alerts that don’t relate to school libraries, education or children I tend to hit the delete key. Though through these readings it is becoming clear that everything trickles down and does impact me as an information professional.


References
Anderson, J. (2006). Public policy making (6th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Duff, A. F. (2004). The past, present, and future of information policy. Information, Communication & Society, 7, 69-87.

Jones, C. O. (1984). An introduction to the study of public policy (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA:Wadsworth Publishing Corp.

McClure, Charles R. (1999). United States information policy. In K. Allen (Ed.) Encyclopedia of library and information science [Electronic version] (vol. 65, pp. 306-314). New York: Marcel Dekker.

McDermott, P. (2007). Who needs to know? The state of public access to federal government information. Washington DC: Bernan Press.

Relyea, H. (2008). Federal government information policy and public policy analysis: A brief overview. Library & Information Science Research 30, 2-21. Retrieved January 5, 2009, from ScienceDirect database.

Lawmakers Behaving Badly

Not actually policy related, but a comment on our policy makers that sounds exactly like what we were talking about in class on Tuesday - a lack of civility. From the Washington Post: When the results from the election were officially read in a joint session of Congress on the House floor most rose to applaud. A notable exception was Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the Senate, on the front row. This comment from columnist Dana Milbank rings true: "There's nothing quite like public petulance by our leaders to make the current age seem small. And McConnell had company in his bad manners. McCain, the vanquished Republican presidential nominee, skipped the ceremony entirely, along with two-thirds of the Senate. On the Republican side of the aisle, 41 seats were empty."

Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009

Well looks like here we go again withe the issue of the presidential records. The House voted on and passed H.R. 35, Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009 and H.R. 36, Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2009.

H.R. 35 revokes President Bush’s executive order (E.O. 13233). This ruling invalidates part of E.O. 13233 that allows former Presidents and Vice Presidents to review executive records before they are released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2009 makes it mandatory to disclose all donations to charities set up to build presidential libraries. It passed the House (388-31).

Obama Links Ed Tech to Economic Growth

When catching up on reading some educational journals this week, I ran across this article: Obama Links Ed Tech to Economic Growth. This economic stimulus plan could mean funding coming to the schools for broadband internet access and computers.

"From the integral role that technology played in his campaign to indications that he will create a chief technology officer in the federal government for the first time, Obama has led many ed-tech experts to believe that the new administration will revolutionize the way technology is viewed and used in the United States, and, it is hoped, in K-12 education."

There were a few items that made me think of information policy. The Relyea article described and gave a brief history of the Presidential Records Act which requires that all presidential correspondence be made part of the public record. This article explains that Obama's favorite means of communication is his blackberry and unless a solution is found he may have to stop using it to send and receive emails. Also mentioned in reference to Obama's commitment to technology is his move to appoint a chief technology officer for the government.

Another item to watch for in regards to policy will be Obama's appointment of Arne Duncan as U. S. Secretary of Education and his attempts to lead the new administration’s effort to improve the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and to work with Congress to rewrite the law for reauthorization.

Federal Government Information Policy by Relyea

I liked the historical perspective of this article because it gave me a nice overview of where we have come from and how things have changed (or have stayed the same). We have all had basic government classes and know about the three branches of government and their checks and balances, but it is the dynamics between them where things get interesting. Also from this historical perspective you can see the back and forth changes that occur with the imposing of and then the reducing of restrictions on access to information.