Boston, Massachusetts
May 17-19, 1995

Realizing Digital Libraries

Government Information in an Electronic Environment: ARL’s Role

Nancy Cline, Dean of University Libraries
Pennsylvania State University

First of all, I would like to focus on why this is an ARL issue.

As Jim mentioned, there are other libraries, and there are groups of library associations at work on some of the issues of government information, but take a moment and reflect on ARL’s mission statement. It says that the Association of Research Libraries’ mission is “to shape and influence forces affecting the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication. ARL programs and services promote equitable access to, and effective use of recorded knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and community service.”

With that as a basis, there really is no way to way to exclude one of the most significant bodies of information resources in this nation and, indeed, on the face of the globe.

Furthermore, within the framework of digital library efforts for the Association, we are seeing an ever-increasing need to focus on federal relations in areas relating to government information, copyright, and telecommunications. U.S. government information resources are a major category of information for researchers, and one of the most important things we have stressed over the years is that these resources continue to be excluded from copyright protection. Preserving that flexibility and freedom of use for this large amount of information is a significant factor for the well-being of the Association and the constituencies which we serve.

Also, the collaboration that goes on, and, indeed, the independent work that is being carried out by many researchers and scholars, depends upon access to large files of U.S. government information. I will just highlight a few of the more familiar ones. Census usually appears at the top of many lists because it is the basis upon which so much information and so many fields of work is founded. Then there are health and vital statistics, huge amounts of environmental data, and a whole arena of information in the areas of trade, commerce, and business.

Increasingly we are realizing how much federal information lies at the heart of our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) efforts, again, not only as we work within the construct of this nation, but also using U.S. information in a global sense to support research, ongoing commerce, trade, etc., and as a means to reflect that our involvement includes government information, copyright, and telecommunications.

In the area of telecommunications efforts, I think we need to be continually aware of the fact that the best efforts we can make and the greatest success we can hope for in providing equitable access to telecommunications and network resources will only be of a particular value if there is good content to sustain our digital library environment.

So we need to look at this body of U.S. government information in a very serious way, and, indeed, there are some factors at work right now that would cause us to believe that, if ARL does not take a more concerted focus on this, we may lose some of the advantages our scholars, students, and researchers have come to take for granted.

Over recent periods of time, with so much emphasis on so many key project areas and horizon issues for ARL, government information, at least with that nomenclature, may have slipped a little bit below the surface. But this is by no means a new factor for ARL; it is something that we have been concerned for a long time.

How many of you were directors in 1987 or 1988? Do you know where in your administrative offices your “Green Report” on government information is lurking? This was before ARL got its classy logo in place, so it is a humble-looking report, but it is really quite significant in our history. It is entitled, Technology and U. S. Government Information Policies: Catalysts for New Partnerships.

In essence, it was a commissioned by ARL, who asked several individuals to work on its development under the rubric of the Task Force on Government Information in Electronic Formats. The members included Kaye Gapen, who chaired the effort; Malcolm Getz, from Vanderbilt University; Jean Loup, who had been very much involved with government documents at the University of Michigan; and Barbara von Wahlde, from SUNY, Buffalo. This was the report from which ARL’s principles on government information evolved.

Many of you may remember those principles, have heard them quoted to you, or have used them in various contexts. Among the principles that we, as an Association, have endorsed is the open exchange of public information and a need to see that it is protected. We also stressed that federal policies should support the integrity and the preservation of government electronic databases. We asserted that U.S. government information should continue to be exempt from copyright, that a diversity of access sources to U.S. government information is in the public interest, and that entrepreneurship should be encouraged. That aspect of entrepreneurship, at the time we wrote the report six or seven years ago, was not only entrepreneurship from the commercial sector, but also from the nonprofit sector, intentionally including our own libraries.

Another principle is that government information should be available at a low cost to support the public’s needs, and that we needed to address a system to provide equitable, no-fee access to basic public information. It is fundamental to a democratic society. I have paraphrased these principles to highlight a framework that was valid for ARL in 1987, and is still valid for ARL today.

We recognized and endorsed these principles, at the same time saying that they would need to be pursued in the context of a changing environment, recognizing, as we wrote that report in 1987, that we could not begin to predict the pathways that technology would move in. We had to position the Association in a way that would protect its most important values and state its principles, but not lock it into a very prescriptive path.

In addition to the principles, this report included a taxonomy, a means of addressing policy issues by looking at information in terms of its key characteristics. I will briefly highlight some of those characteristics, because they are important to the next two speakers’ topics.

One characteristic is the volatility of information; the fact that not all information is the same, and that even electronic information has different characteristics in terms of how it is updated and its dynamics.

We considered public policy relevance, recognizing that some information systems would be of greater relevance than others, whereas other information might gain a different value over time.

We also looked at the characteristic called “value to research.” This is important, certainly for the Association of Research Libraries serving research communities, because some information that may cost a lot for government agencies to acquire, develop, or maintain, could be the most significant aspect of information for selective research or a specialized research program.

Another characteristic was what we termed a “state of system development,” which looked at what would be required in terms of adding value through specialized software; in other words, what type of support would be required to effectively utilize some of these information resources.

Looking at information with these components in mind could be very helpful in determining how ARL’s role will change in light of government information. We might change the words of this initial report a bit, but the taxonomy does provide a framework for looking at how the Association’s libraries might have a role in the access, distribution, or preservation of electronic information resources. There are many valid reasons for ARL to take a keen interest in what we are doing now in the United States with government information, and we have a platform from which to move forward.

Why is it important now? It is a very important time, in terms of leadership, for the entire digital library issue, and ARL is particularly well-positioned to claim a lead. Because the U.S. Government is one of the largest publishers of content, it is certainly an area we cannot afford to overlook. Now is a time when we know that Congress, the Administration, and the multiple federal agencies are all seeking change, some for the sake of survival, some for the sake of a more assertive role. Nonetheless, they are all going through heightened change, and if we intend to play a part in it all, now is the time for us, as an Association, to be prepared to act.

Before I close I would like to speak a bit about costs, because many think that, as we move to a new electronic delivery capability, that we are talking about new costs. However, in most of our institutions, there already are large costs embedded in managing dual streams of information, and there is a frustration growing out of our documents, reference, and technical service staff with the redundant downloading and cataloging work required when we have the opportunity to change the whole process. Congress and the Administration are seeking change, so now is a good time for us to be ready to do so. Are there new designs or capabilities we can bring about in a more cost-effective manner, either individually or collectively?

Why ARL? Because we have a long history of involvement with government information. We have committed people to work in numerous arenas, and we are spending money time and time again addressing these issues. It is now the time for us to engage in high-level discussion about ARL’s future role in fulfilling the mission we have crafted for ourselves.