This article was downloaded by: [University of Chicago Library]On: 20 December 2014, At: 00:48Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number:1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street,London W1T 3JH, UK

The Serials Librarian:From the Printed Page tothe Digital AgePublication details, including instructionsfor authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wser20

GENERAL SESSIONNancy Hannum a & Birdie MacLennan ba Workshop Leader; and Serials Coordinator,University of Vermont, Burlington, VTb RecorderPublished online: 22 Oct 2010.

To cite this article: Nancy Hannum & Birdie MacLennan (1995) GENERALSESSION, The Serials Librarian: From the Printed Page to the Digital Age,25:3-4, 5-9, DOI: 10.1300/J123v25n03_02

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J123v25n03_02

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PRECONFERENCE PROGRAM:

INTERNET TOOLS AND RESOURCES:

AN ELECTRONIC BUFFET

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GENERAL SESSION

Issues in Information Policy and Access

Nancy Hannum

Workshop Leader

Birdie MacLennan Recorder

SUMMARY. The federal governments of Canada and the U.S. are the largest producers of infomation in North America. This presen- tation offers an overview of current Canadian and U.S. climates in the development of new technologies to provide access to govem- men1 information and the ongoing debate in working toward a national policy for equitable and affordable dissemination of and access to this information.

The Legal Resource Centre of the Legal Services Society of British Columbia is a government-funded program with a statutory

Birdie MacLennan is Serials Coordinator at the University of Vermont, Bur- lington, VT.

[Hawathc~indcxing m y note]: "lssues in InfomationPolicy md Access." MacLerman, Biiic. Cc-publkhcd simullancously in The S e r i n l s L i b r a ~ m (TheHaworlhPrcss. Inc.) &I. 25. No. 314.1995, W. 5-% 4: A Kalcido~cope of Choiccr: Reshaping Rolcs and Opporlulunilics for Serialists (ed: Beth Hdley and Mnq A m Shcblc) The Hawach h a s , k., 1995. pp. 5-9. Multiple capics of this Miclcl chnplc~ may be phased ban The Haw& Document Dclivcty Cclacr [I-800-3-HAWORTH: 9:00 a.m. - 500 p.m. (EST)].

O 1995 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights resewed. 5

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6 A KALEIDOSCOPE OF CHOICES

mandate to provide legal information and advice to the citizens of British Columbia L.egal information needs and g o v e m t informa- tion as a whole play an important role in shaping a democratic society. The belief that democracy requires an informed public and that an informed public is fundamental to a free society was espoused by Thomas Jefferson and others in the 18th century, and has since become one of the basic tenets of librarianship. In this opening preconference presentation, Nancy Hannum, director of the Legal Resource Centre of the Legal Services Society of British Columbia and member of the British Columbia Library Associa- tion's Task Force on Information Policy, offered an overview of current Canadian and U.S. climates in the development of new technologies to provide access to govemment information and the ongoing debate in working toward a national policy for equitable and affordable dissemination of and access to this information.

The Canadian and U.S. federal governments are the largest pro- ducers of information in the information-producing sector of North America In recent vears. the federal governments have realized that the ability to sell hfokation rep&ents potential for substantial sources of revenue. The basic assumption that citizens of a demo- cratic society have "a right to know" and thus should have equita- ble and affordable access to government information is being over- shadowed, in many instances, by a shift in assumptions that view information as an economic commodity. Several examples of this trend were noted at both the provincial and federal levels.

The British Columbia Library Association's (BCLA) Informa- tion Policy Task Force was formed in 1991, as the provincial gov- ernment began working on Freedom of Information legislation. One of the documents that emerged from the govemment was "A Policy on Tradeable Information," which would have allowed the govern- ment to sell information that was not necessary for the enactment of government programs. The BCLA and others argued that a govern- ment's function is to maintain government and enact programs; therefore, most of the information would not be "tradeable." The proposed policy was defeated.

At the federal level, constituents from the Canadian Library Association, the information technology industry, and the federal govemment met in Ottawa in December 1992 to discuss national

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General Session 7

information policy. As government and business discussed potential for new technologies and efficient methods for collecting informa- tion and packaging it for sale to the private sector, librarians voiced concern about the future of government depository programs, copy- right issues, and the increasing cost of government information.

In Ottawa there is an interdepartmental working group on data- base industry support with a mandate to work for quick release of government info'rmation to the private sector. There is currently no estimate of the cost of creating the information, the proposed sale price, justification for its release through private vendors, or an assessment of the impact on public access to this information. There is no comparable coordinating government agency to assure that information will be distributed to the public.

In the meantime, British Columbia has privatized the government distribution arm of the Queen's Printer and the government is in the position of having to buy back government materials to make them available through library depository programs. Products from vari- ous government sources continue to rise in price.

Similar trends were noted in the United States. where various government agencies have privatized information. This has resulted in higher costs of the information to end-users and the government has been placed in the position of having to buy back its own information to make it available to the public.

In October 1993, concerned members of the government informa- tion library community met in Chicago. They were responding, in part, to a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives which would transfer the position of the Superintendent of Documents and the Library Depository Program to the Library of Congress. Their meeting resulted in a document entitled, "Reinventing Access to Federal Government Information: A Report on the Conference of the Future of Federal Government Information." In their repon they noted that "the need for provision of timely, equitable, and no-fee access to government information requires a cooperative network of producing agencies, participating libraries, and a central coordinating government authority." A major concern is that, as government is taking initiatives to sell andlor privatize information, the essential principle of public access to information is getting

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8 A KALEIDOSCOPE OF CHOICES

sidelined and, in fact, the information is becoming less accessible and more costly.

Hannum drew an analogy from Herbert Schiller, a communica- tions economist at the University of California, who, at the 1992 BCLA Information Policy Conference, remarked on a steady shift of power from public interests to private interests since World War I1 and noted that the shift was particularly troubling in the cultural consciousness sector of society (e.g., schools, libraries, museums) in that it leads to a "production of consciousness." The analogy was taken a step further in considering the perspective of Ursula Franklin, professor emerita at the University of Toronto, who remarked that the development of monoculture in the agricultural sector, or the planting of fewer, rather than more, kinds of crops for profitability mass production is similar to what is o c c w h g in today's information sector.' The advent of the profitability factor in the production of agricultural crops andlor of information resources means fewer possibilities in the realm of biodiversity or "food for the mind."

What is the role of librarians in the current information policy climate? They are the experts on information and have a responsi- bility to become involved in the discussion and debate in order to ensure that their users will have timely and equitable access to information. Hannum quoted U.S. science fiction writer Bruce Ster- ling, who noted that, "Information is not power. If information were power, librarians would be the most powerful people on the planet."2 If information is not power, information has power, and librarians have an obligation to learn about the dynamics of power, while advocating for the rights of their users in having equitable access to information.

In closing, Hannum commented on ways in which librarians have been getting involved in making technological advances work for library-related and public sector interests. The FreeNet move- ment was discussed as a free public access community computer network that provides a wide-range of information and services to the community it serves. The FreeNet movement started in Cleve- land, Ohio in 1986 and has grown steadily since its inception to include some thirty-three sites in four countries. In Canada, Free- Nets are being started in at least eighty communities, with three

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General Session 9

sites currently in operation in Ottawa Victoria, and Vancouver. Services offered by FreeNet include healthcare, education, govem- ment, recreational information, community calendars, and elec- tronic mail for direct communication and public discussion. The Vancouver FreeNet was recently launched by an active set of com- mittees that work together to focus on information content and technological planning. Librarians and many other representatives from the public community sector have been involved in planning and implementation.

The presentation concluded with the National Public Telecommu- nications Network video, "If It Plays in Peoria," which describes the Heartland FreeNet's origins and implementation in Peoria, Illinois.

NOTES

1. Ursula Franklin Private conversation with Nancy Hannum. 2 Quote of the day, Globe and Mail. 1 June 1994.

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