- Email: [email protected]
Books and other materials received
Reviews
313
materials and the ability to interpret and disseminate the information to the public; 4) The agency must make “an assessment, based upon information provided by the requester, as well as information independently available to the agency, of any personal interest of the requester”; and, 5) If the requested information is already “in the public domain,” such as in the agency’s reading room in Washington, DC, there will be no fee waiver granted. The implementation of these policies is seen as being used to deny legitimate requests for information, or at least to make it more difficult to obtain information under FOIA. Stephen Unger is a professor of computer science at Columbia University, and from 1981 to 1984 was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, for which he chaired the subcommittee on National Security and Scientific Communication. The crux of this issue, as Unger sees it, is that there is no way to stem the flow of technical information to the Soviet Union without also adversely affecting the information environment in the United States. The situation is complicated and the effects of Reagan Administration efforts are rendered negligible by the fact that other western nations do not follow the same restrictive policies. Indeed, Unger sees the concern for controlling information seriously hampering decision-making processes; likewise, the absence of certain technical information makes intelligent discussion of issues less effective. Unger’s view is that the control of scientific information is more harmful to the U.S. than the occasional piece of information that proves to be of value to many. Proposed remedies are suggested that put the burden of proof for classification need on the advocate of secrecy instead of vice versa; it is suggested that there be congressional oversight of secrecy regulations. The role of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its assumptions of power in matters of information policy under the guise of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 is explored and couched in an overt Orwellian context by Donna Demac. Demac is an attorney and educator who specializes in issues of copyright law, information regulation, and media, and will be known to readers of GPR as having previously published in this journal. Her analysis of the OMB is based on what is perceived to be OMB’s overstepping of its legitimate authority to the extent that it routinely has supplanted agency decisions; because of its budget authority its tenacles extended into all levels of government, eliminating by 1985 one-fourth of the government publications that had existed four years earlier. Demac’s concern that OMB’s preoccupation with the cost of information collection too often overlooking matters of content and thereby creating information gaps is astute. Demac also briefly discusses Reagan Administration efforts to privatize various government titles, but under the rubric of the privatization of government information oddly neglects to mention proposals to privatize the National Technical Information Service. The codification of the administration’s efforts to manage (or regulate) information in the form of OMB circular A-130 is glossed over with the comment that the circular’s main problem was that it made sweeping changes while complicated issues were still being discussed. Indeed, Demac argues that OMB was not the agency that should establish guidelines for government information policy. While this may or may not be true, it is unfortunate that Demac chooses not to place the issue in the all important larger context of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches of government for the power inherent in the control of government information. The other essays in the volume are perhaps less focused on the central issues of government information that fall squarely within the scope of this journal. However, they are all interesting and provocative, and all, as is the case with the four essays previously discussed, are of a liberal bent. Topics run the gamut from the issues of censorship and secrecy, the uncertain future of the First Amendment, national security, drug testing, FBI domestic surveillance, the sanctuary movement, attacks on the media, disinformation tactics, to the Reagan Administration and the courts. The volume closes with a 24-page selected bibliography, which, while useful, tends toward more popular discussions while generally eschewing the scholarly literature. In spite of the book’s evident political bias and its consequent inability to deal with many issues in a truly balanced or objective manner, Professor Curry is to be complimented on compiling a provocative and intelligent group of essays. Freedom ofRisk will serve best as a casebook on information issues from which debate can be engaged. BRUCE MORTON Assistant Dean for Public Services Montana State University Libraries Bozeman, MT 597 17-0022 USA BOOKS
Biographical
AND OTHER
MATERIALS
RECEIVED
Directory of the Council of Economic Advisers. Edited by Robert
Sobel and Bernard
S. Katz. Westport, $49.95.
CT: Greenwood
Press,
1988. 320~. ISBN: 0-313-22554-O.
LC: 86-14984.
Cetzsus Cat&g a?ld Guicl’e, 1988. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington: Gov~mment Printing Office, 1988. 396~. SuDoc: C 3.163/3:988. GPO stock number: 003-024-06785-4. $19 (U.S.): $23.75 (elsewhere). Director;\* qf Educational Documentation and Information Services, 5th ed. Paris: UNESCO, 1988. 1 14~. ISBN: 92-3-002518-6. $8. (Exclusively distributed in the United States by UNIPUB). Enqclopedia of Business Injormation Sources, 7th ed. Edited by James Woy. Research. 1988. 896~. ISBN: o-8103-2764-3. LC: 84-643366. $220.
Detroit:
Gale
E~~~~clopedi(l oj’ ~~~orrnat~o~zS~ste~;zs and Services, 9th ed. Edited by Amy Lucas. Detroit: Gale Research. 1989. 2.330~. (3 ~01s). ISBN: o-8103-2646-9 (set). $420 (set); $210 (International vol.); $240 (United States vol.). The Executive Branch c$the U.S. Government: A Bibliography (Bibliographies and Indexes in Law and Political Science. No. 1I}. Compiled by Robert Goehlert and Hugh Reynolds. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988. 389~. ISBN: o-313-26568-2. LC: 88-24704. $49.95. Go\,ernment Publications for School Libraries. By Donald J. Voorhees. New York: Government Documents Roundtable, New York Library Association,l988. $7. (Available from Government Documents Roundtable, New York Library Association, 14 Park Row, Suite 434, New York. NY 10038). Hundbook of Business Information: A Guide for Librarians, Students, and Researchers. By Diane Wheeler Strauss. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1988. 537~. ISBN: 0-87287-607-l. LC: 88-23093. $37.50 (U.S.); $45 (elsewhere). Hearing on Sewitive Information Science.
Bur Not Classi~ed ~r~~rrnut~on. By Nationat Commission on Libraries Washington: NCLIS. 1988. 116~. SuDoc: Y 3.L 61:2 H 35.
and
Hispanic Resource Directory. By Alan Edward Schorr. Juneau, AK: Denali Press, 1988. 347~. ISBN: O-938737-35-5. LC: 88-70503. $37.50 (plus $2.50 shipping). How ro Find Business intelligence in Washington, 9th ed. By Washington Researchers, Washington: Washington Researchers, 1988. 491~. ISBN: o-934940-53-3. $125. Index to Health Irtformation: A Guide to Statistical and Congressional Publications Health. Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service, Inc., 1988- . (quarterly abstracts). $1,120 (index); $5,875 (index and microfiche). International Energy Annual, Government Printing Office,
Ltd.
on Public index and
1987. By U.S. Energy Information Administration. Washington: 1988. 100~. SuDoc: (E 3.11/20:987). GPO stock number: 061-
315
Reviews
003-00586-l.
$8 (U.S.);
$10 (elsewhere).
1988 Federal Funding Guide, 10th ed. Arlington, VA: Government Information Services, 1988. 880~. ISBN: O-933544-18-9. $139.95 (plus $6.50 postage and handling; includes monthly grant updates and two binders).
Patent Information and Documentation in Western Europe: An Inventory of Services Available to the Public, 3rd ed. By Brenda M. Rimmer. New York: K.G. Saur, 1988. 219~. ISBN: 3-498-10744-7. $75.
The Prune Book: The Toughest Management and Policy-Making Jobs in Washington. By John H. Trattner. Lanham, MD: Madison Books, 1988. 625~. ISBN: O-8191-7000-3. $34.95.
Public Access to Government Information: Issues, Trends, and Strategies (Information, Policy, and Services) 2nd ed. By Peter Hemon and Charles R. McClure. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1988 554~. ISBN: O-89391-522-X. LC: 88-19249. $60 (cloth); $29.95 (paper).
Records of the Presidency: Presidential Papers and Libraries from Washington to Reagan. By Frank L. Schick, Renee Schick, and Mark Carroll. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1989. 344~. ISBN: O-89774-277-X. $49.50 (North America); $59.40 (elsewhere).
Review of Developments in the Trading System, October 1987~March 1988. Geneva, Switzerland: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1988. 206~. ISBN: 92-870-1037-4. $21. (Exclusively distributed in the United States by UNIPUB).
The Right to Know, Volume 2. Edited by Zoia Horn. Oakland, CA: Data Center, (plus $1.50, 4th class shipping).
Sourcebook Government $30.
1988. 224~. $15
of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1987. By Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington: Printing Office, 1988. SuDoc: J 29.9/6:987. GPO stock number: 027-000-0131603.
Statistics Sources, 1989, 12th ed. Edited by Jacqueline Wasserman O’Brien and Steven R. Wasserman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. 3045~. (2 ~01s.). ISBN: 0-8103-2586-l. LC: 84-82356. $290 (set).
Unpublished U.S. House of Representatives Committee Hearings, 1833-1936. Bethesda, Congressional Information Service, 1988. $695 (index); $4890 (index and microfiche).
MD:
313
materials and the ability to interpret and disseminate the information to the public; 4) The agency must make “an assessment, based upon information provided by the requester, as well as information independently available to the agency, of any personal interest of the requester”; and, 5) If the requested information is already “in the public domain,” such as in the agency’s reading room in Washington, DC, there will be no fee waiver granted. The implementation of these policies is seen as being used to deny legitimate requests for information, or at least to make it more difficult to obtain information under FOIA. Stephen Unger is a professor of computer science at Columbia University, and from 1981 to 1984 was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, for which he chaired the subcommittee on National Security and Scientific Communication. The crux of this issue, as Unger sees it, is that there is no way to stem the flow of technical information to the Soviet Union without also adversely affecting the information environment in the United States. The situation is complicated and the effects of Reagan Administration efforts are rendered negligible by the fact that other western nations do not follow the same restrictive policies. Indeed, Unger sees the concern for controlling information seriously hampering decision-making processes; likewise, the absence of certain technical information makes intelligent discussion of issues less effective. Unger’s view is that the control of scientific information is more harmful to the U.S. than the occasional piece of information that proves to be of value to many. Proposed remedies are suggested that put the burden of proof for classification need on the advocate of secrecy instead of vice versa; it is suggested that there be congressional oversight of secrecy regulations. The role of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its assumptions of power in matters of information policy under the guise of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 is explored and couched in an overt Orwellian context by Donna Demac. Demac is an attorney and educator who specializes in issues of copyright law, information regulation, and media, and will be known to readers of GPR as having previously published in this journal. Her analysis of the OMB is based on what is perceived to be OMB’s overstepping of its legitimate authority to the extent that it routinely has supplanted agency decisions; because of its budget authority its tenacles extended into all levels of government, eliminating by 1985 one-fourth of the government publications that had existed four years earlier. Demac’s concern that OMB’s preoccupation with the cost of information collection too often overlooking matters of content and thereby creating information gaps is astute. Demac also briefly discusses Reagan Administration efforts to privatize various government titles, but under the rubric of the privatization of government information oddly neglects to mention proposals to privatize the National Technical Information Service. The codification of the administration’s efforts to manage (or regulate) information in the form of OMB circular A-130 is glossed over with the comment that the circular’s main problem was that it made sweeping changes while complicated issues were still being discussed. Indeed, Demac argues that OMB was not the agency that should establish guidelines for government information policy. While this may or may not be true, it is unfortunate that Demac chooses not to place the issue in the all important larger context of the struggle between the executive and legislative branches of government for the power inherent in the control of government information. The other essays in the volume are perhaps less focused on the central issues of government information that fall squarely within the scope of this journal. However, they are all interesting and provocative, and all, as is the case with the four essays previously discussed, are of a liberal bent. Topics run the gamut from the issues of censorship and secrecy, the uncertain future of the First Amendment, national security, drug testing, FBI domestic surveillance, the sanctuary movement, attacks on the media, disinformation tactics, to the Reagan Administration and the courts. The volume closes with a 24-page selected bibliography, which, while useful, tends toward more popular discussions while generally eschewing the scholarly literature. In spite of the book’s evident political bias and its consequent inability to deal with many issues in a truly balanced or objective manner, Professor Curry is to be complimented on compiling a provocative and intelligent group of essays. Freedom ofRisk will serve best as a casebook on information issues from which debate can be engaged. BRUCE MORTON Assistant Dean for Public Services Montana State University Libraries Bozeman, MT 597 17-0022 USA BOOKS
Biographical
AND OTHER
MATERIALS
RECEIVED
Directory of the Council of Economic Advisers. Edited by Robert
Sobel and Bernard
S. Katz. Westport, $49.95.
CT: Greenwood
Press,
1988. 320~. ISBN: 0-313-22554-O.
LC: 86-14984.
Cetzsus Cat&g a?ld Guicl’e, 1988. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington: Gov~mment Printing Office, 1988. 396~. SuDoc: C 3.163/3:988. GPO stock number: 003-024-06785-4. $19 (U.S.): $23.75 (elsewhere). Director;\* qf Educational Documentation and Information Services, 5th ed. Paris: UNESCO, 1988. 1 14~. ISBN: 92-3-002518-6. $8. (Exclusively distributed in the United States by UNIPUB). Enqclopedia of Business Injormation Sources, 7th ed. Edited by James Woy. Research. 1988. 896~. ISBN: o-8103-2764-3. LC: 84-643366. $220.
Detroit:
Gale
E~~~~clopedi(l oj’ ~~~orrnat~o~zS~ste~;zs and Services, 9th ed. Edited by Amy Lucas. Detroit: Gale Research. 1989. 2.330~. (3 ~01s). ISBN: o-8103-2646-9 (set). $420 (set); $210 (International vol.); $240 (United States vol.). The Executive Branch c$the U.S. Government: A Bibliography (Bibliographies and Indexes in Law and Political Science. No. 1I}. Compiled by Robert Goehlert and Hugh Reynolds. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988. 389~. ISBN: o-313-26568-2. LC: 88-24704. $49.95. Go\,ernment Publications for School Libraries. By Donald J. Voorhees. New York: Government Documents Roundtable, New York Library Association,l988. $7. (Available from Government Documents Roundtable, New York Library Association, 14 Park Row, Suite 434, New York. NY 10038). Hundbook of Business Information: A Guide for Librarians, Students, and Researchers. By Diane Wheeler Strauss. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1988. 537~. ISBN: 0-87287-607-l. LC: 88-23093. $37.50 (U.S.); $45 (elsewhere). Hearing on Sewitive Information Science.
Bur Not Classi~ed ~r~~rrnut~on. By Nationat Commission on Libraries Washington: NCLIS. 1988. 116~. SuDoc: Y 3.L 61:2 H 35.
and
Hispanic Resource Directory. By Alan Edward Schorr. Juneau, AK: Denali Press, 1988. 347~. ISBN: O-938737-35-5. LC: 88-70503. $37.50 (plus $2.50 shipping). How ro Find Business intelligence in Washington, 9th ed. By Washington Researchers, Washington: Washington Researchers, 1988. 491~. ISBN: o-934940-53-3. $125. Index to Health Irtformation: A Guide to Statistical and Congressional Publications Health. Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service, Inc., 1988- . (quarterly abstracts). $1,120 (index); $5,875 (index and microfiche). International Energy Annual, Government Printing Office,
Ltd.
on Public index and
1987. By U.S. Energy Information Administration. Washington: 1988. 100~. SuDoc: (E 3.11/20:987). GPO stock number: 061-
315
Reviews
003-00586-l.
$8 (U.S.);
$10 (elsewhere).
1988 Federal Funding Guide, 10th ed. Arlington, VA: Government Information Services, 1988. 880~. ISBN: O-933544-18-9. $139.95 (plus $6.50 postage and handling; includes monthly grant updates and two binders).
Patent Information and Documentation in Western Europe: An Inventory of Services Available to the Public, 3rd ed. By Brenda M. Rimmer. New York: K.G. Saur, 1988. 219~. ISBN: 3-498-10744-7. $75.
The Prune Book: The Toughest Management and Policy-Making Jobs in Washington. By John H. Trattner. Lanham, MD: Madison Books, 1988. 625~. ISBN: O-8191-7000-3. $34.95.
Public Access to Government Information: Issues, Trends, and Strategies (Information, Policy, and Services) 2nd ed. By Peter Hemon and Charles R. McClure. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1988 554~. ISBN: O-89391-522-X. LC: 88-19249. $60 (cloth); $29.95 (paper).
Records of the Presidency: Presidential Papers and Libraries from Washington to Reagan. By Frank L. Schick, Renee Schick, and Mark Carroll. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1989. 344~. ISBN: O-89774-277-X. $49.50 (North America); $59.40 (elsewhere).
Review of Developments in the Trading System, October 1987~March 1988. Geneva, Switzerland: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1988. 206~. ISBN: 92-870-1037-4. $21. (Exclusively distributed in the United States by UNIPUB).
The Right to Know, Volume 2. Edited by Zoia Horn. Oakland, CA: Data Center, (plus $1.50, 4th class shipping).
Sourcebook Government $30.
1988. 224~. $15
of Criminal Justice Statistics, 1987. By Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington: Printing Office, 1988. SuDoc: J 29.9/6:987. GPO stock number: 027-000-0131603.
Statistics Sources, 1989, 12th ed. Edited by Jacqueline Wasserman O’Brien and Steven R. Wasserman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. 3045~. (2 ~01s.). ISBN: 0-8103-2586-l. LC: 84-82356. $290 (set).
Unpublished U.S. House of Representatives Committee Hearings, 1833-1936. Bethesda, Congressional Information Service, 1988. $695 (index); $4890 (index and microfiche).
MD: