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United States government information policies: Views and perspectives
336
GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
QUARTERLY
Vol. ~/NO. 3/1991
and some sectors of the labor movement were all opposed to communism. Fried suggests that because of this attitude, combined with a weak adherence to the importance of individual civil liberties, the time was ripe for McCarthy. In his discussion of the period after the McCarthy era, Fried speculates on the reasons for the absence of another Red Scare during the Reagan years. In a time reminiscent of the McCarthy era with a president who had a strong hold on the anti-communist dogma of the Cold War age, Fried suggests that Americans are simply more savvy to threats of communist infiltration. Nightmare in Red is a valuable contribution to the vast amount of literature on McCarthy and McCarthyism. Fried fulfills his promise of putting this period in historical perspective. His bibliographic essay follows consistently with the work itself as it puts the scholarship on this subject in perspective. In this essay he effectively traces the major writing on anti-communism, McCarthy, and McCarthyism. Fried’s commentary on the literature provides an insightful overview of the attitudes and opinions on this subject. * Mallory L. Stark is Government Hill, Massachusetts 02 167.
Documents
Librarian,
Boston College, 140 Commonwealth
Ave., Chestnut
United States Government Information Policies: Views and Perspectives. Edited by Charles R. McClure, Peter Hernon, and Harold C. Relyea. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1989. 352~. ISBN: O-89391-563-7. LC 8835081. $49.50 (Institutional); $29.25 (Individual). U.S. Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Policies: Views and Perspectives. Edited by Charles R. McClure and Peter Hernon. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1989. 432~. ISBN: O-89391-571-8. LC 89-278. $49.50 (Institutional); $29.25 (Individual). Reviewed by Jack Sulzer* Taken together, these two volumes are intended to complement another work by the editors, Federal Information Policies in the 1980s. also published by Ablex (1987), and represent the latest contribution by these noted authors on government information issues. Either volume can stand alone, however, or as a complete text for its intended audience of Federal information policy makers or researchers, government information professionals, specialists dealing with government information, as well as educators and students. Each book is comprised of a collection of articles by government policy analysts, researchers, educators, practicing government information professionals, and representatives of various interest groups as well as government officials. These contributors are well known to the community of government information specialists, but a nice feature of the two volumes is the biographical sketches provided for the fourteen authors-a usual and bothersome omission from other sources of this type. Consequently, these books are particularly helpful to students who may be unfamiliar with the participants in the information policies debate and their biases. In addition, each of the fifteen chapters of the Information Policies, and the fourteen chapters of the STZ Policies, is a complete article with a bibliography, which is an additional aid to students and researchers. Each volume has a comprehensive subject index, and an index of authors cited or mentioned, including any of the contributors who were cited in the text. As stated by the editors, the purpose of these volumes, along with the 1987 publication, is “to provide an overview and assessment of U.S. government information policies and suggest possible strategies for reassessing that policy system.” As a concise compendia of writings on current government information policy issues, these books succeed in that purpose. This review, however,
337
Reviews
will discuss mainly United States Government Information Policies, since it has the broader focus and carries the additional purpose of recognizing the development of government information policy as a field of instruction and scholarly investigation. Furthermore, given the abortive attempts during the 1Olst Congress to re-authorize and amend the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and modernize the government publishing sections of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the contents have particular relevance for anyone trying to understand the issues involved with these recent legislative initiatives. In the final chapter of Government Information Policies, Hernon and McClure sum it up very nicely when they say that “. . .the formulation of a national information policy is a formidable task, given the multiple facets such a policy would embrace and the complexity of the Federal policy making process...“(pp. 321-322). And, further,
that
“...the study of government information comprises an area of interest to individuals in different disciplines and fields. Much of that current interest is guided more by practice than theory and research” (p. 322). In these two statements one finds the basis for this work. The book can be seen on two levels: one dialectic, and the other more academic. In the former, it stands the test of a good compendium of Federal information policy issues and the debate surrounding those issues. It is an excellent primer for students of government information issues and anyone else interested in a good, concise discourse on the wide and intricate complexity of the development of Federal information policies. In the latter, it is somewhat less convincing of its value in encouraging the development of crossdisciplinary curricula and scholarly research in the field of government information policy development. Nevertheless, the editors deserve praise for suggesting that information policy research is a legitimate area of academic labor and for attempting to deal with the difficulty of removing information policy analysis and development from its usual political context. A few of the chapter highlights will serve to illustrate these points. First, as a primer on government information policy development, Hernon, McClure, and Relyea compile a solid collection of essays which articulate the perspectives of information policy development, discuss key policy areas, and outline the challenges to and directions of policy making. Of particular note are the chapters written by Relyea, who is Specialist in American National Government for the Congressional Research Service, and has written and spoken extensively on government information policy. Relyea’s introductory chapter on how Federal publishing and information dissemination evolved is a worthy replacement for Joe Morehead’s venerable analysis in his Introduction to United States Publications (Libraries Unlimited, 1987, 3rd edition) on the same topic. Although somewhat repetitive, Relyea’s second chapter covers the restrictions on public access to government information and enlightens us to the fact that there is really no constitutional or statutory guarantee of the right of public access to government information. In short, the Relyea chapters give the reader the background necessary for understanding the arguments posed in the others. No less noteworthy are chapters by Fred Weingarten, Program Manager of Communication and Information Technologies for the Office of Technology Assessment, on “Federal Information Policy Development: The Congressional Perspective”; and “The Role of the Office of Management and Budget” by McClure, Ann Bishop, and Philip Doty, two of McClure’s students at Syracuse University School of Information Studies. In addition, David Peyton, Director of Government Relations at the Information Industry Association, gives the private sector perspective in a chapter which is more a polemic against the depository library program than a clearly stated argument
338
GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
QUARTERLY
Vol. ~/NO. 311991
supporting the involvement of private industry. However, he makes the point that development of policy is more often due to events than it is the outcome of conscious foresight and planning, and his chapter stands along side “A Citizen’s Perspective” by Steven Katz and David Plocher, as a good characterization of the ongoing debate between the public and private sectors, and the political perspectives from which each side argues and often which determine the information policies put into place. At the time of the writing, Katz was legislative counsel for The People of the American Way. He is now Chief Counsel for the Senate Subcommittee on Government Information and Regulation, and one of the shepherds of Senate Bill 1742 to re-authorize the PRA. Plocher is now Assistant Counsel, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. To digress for a moment, and comment a little on STZpolicies, one chapter that should be mentioned is the one on “NTIS and the Privatization of Government Information” by Harold Shill, Librarian at the Evansdale Library in Morgantown, West Virginia, and associate professor of Library Science at West Virginia University. Shill has testified numerous times before congressional committees as an expert witness. Shill’s chapter is important not only because it is a well written discourse on the privatization issues, but also because it provides a link between the two sources by covering the background on the effects of policies of privatization on the dissemination of scientific and technical information. It leads the reader very nicely into the section of the STZpolicies which contains chapters on “ST1 Policies and Issues in Selected Federal Agencies.” Additional sections cover “Introduction and Background,” which contains a good foundation chapter analyzing major Federal ST1 policy studies; “Key ST1 Policy Areas;” and “Strategies and Recommendations” on increasing access to STI, the congressional role, and research needs and issues for managing ST1 in the 1990s. Getting back to Government Information Policies, its second goal, namely to encourage the development of information policy research and analysis as an academic discipline, is less clearly illustrated by the organization of its content. The first chapter, “Government Information: A Field in Need of Research and Analytical Studies” by Peter Hernon, given its position unfortunately, does not set the proper tone for the rest of the book. The reader is advised to move beyond this chapter and deal with it in the context of the final three chapters in part IV of the book, in which it can be seen as part of a textual unit. Nevertheless, it is an important element in the examination of the question: Is there a core of knowledge, skill, and competency for educating and producing government information professionals? Part IV of the book, “Challenges and Directions,” deals with this question and developing the cross-disciplinary curricula necessary for scholarly analysis of information policy development and policy making. It is an issue that could probably stand a volume of its own, and may be lost here as an argument to introduce this area into higher education curricula on public administration and policyespecially into lihrary and information science which is much in need of such direction. In summary, the disadvantage of a book, that is the disadvantage of a major academic work, is that it is only current while it is being written. Consequently, these books must compete with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) studies, Informing the Nation (1988) and Helping America Compete: The Role of Federal Scientific and Technical Information (June 1990). Nevertheless, they are important historical texts which should be on the reading lists, along with the OTA documents, of librarians and library school and information science students. They provide an excellent overview and representation of the issues, arguments, and challenges surrounding government information policy, and one can hope that they will succeed in their goal of bringing the serious study of government information policy development forward as a recognized branch of knowledge. * Jack Sulzer is the current Table, and Head of General Pennsylvania 16802.
Chair of the American Library Association’s Government Documents Round Reference at the Pennsylvania State University Pattee Library, University Park,
GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
QUARTERLY
Vol. ~/NO. 3/1991
and some sectors of the labor movement were all opposed to communism. Fried suggests that because of this attitude, combined with a weak adherence to the importance of individual civil liberties, the time was ripe for McCarthy. In his discussion of the period after the McCarthy era, Fried speculates on the reasons for the absence of another Red Scare during the Reagan years. In a time reminiscent of the McCarthy era with a president who had a strong hold on the anti-communist dogma of the Cold War age, Fried suggests that Americans are simply more savvy to threats of communist infiltration. Nightmare in Red is a valuable contribution to the vast amount of literature on McCarthy and McCarthyism. Fried fulfills his promise of putting this period in historical perspective. His bibliographic essay follows consistently with the work itself as it puts the scholarship on this subject in perspective. In this essay he effectively traces the major writing on anti-communism, McCarthy, and McCarthyism. Fried’s commentary on the literature provides an insightful overview of the attitudes and opinions on this subject. * Mallory L. Stark is Government Hill, Massachusetts 02 167.
Documents
Librarian,
Boston College, 140 Commonwealth
Ave., Chestnut
United States Government Information Policies: Views and Perspectives. Edited by Charles R. McClure, Peter Hernon, and Harold C. Relyea. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1989. 352~. ISBN: O-89391-563-7. LC 8835081. $49.50 (Institutional); $29.25 (Individual). U.S. Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Policies: Views and Perspectives. Edited by Charles R. McClure and Peter Hernon. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1989. 432~. ISBN: O-89391-571-8. LC 89-278. $49.50 (Institutional); $29.25 (Individual). Reviewed by Jack Sulzer* Taken together, these two volumes are intended to complement another work by the editors, Federal Information Policies in the 1980s. also published by Ablex (1987), and represent the latest contribution by these noted authors on government information issues. Either volume can stand alone, however, or as a complete text for its intended audience of Federal information policy makers or researchers, government information professionals, specialists dealing with government information, as well as educators and students. Each book is comprised of a collection of articles by government policy analysts, researchers, educators, practicing government information professionals, and representatives of various interest groups as well as government officials. These contributors are well known to the community of government information specialists, but a nice feature of the two volumes is the biographical sketches provided for the fourteen authors-a usual and bothersome omission from other sources of this type. Consequently, these books are particularly helpful to students who may be unfamiliar with the participants in the information policies debate and their biases. In addition, each of the fifteen chapters of the Information Policies, and the fourteen chapters of the STZ Policies, is a complete article with a bibliography, which is an additional aid to students and researchers. Each volume has a comprehensive subject index, and an index of authors cited or mentioned, including any of the contributors who were cited in the text. As stated by the editors, the purpose of these volumes, along with the 1987 publication, is “to provide an overview and assessment of U.S. government information policies and suggest possible strategies for reassessing that policy system.” As a concise compendia of writings on current government information policy issues, these books succeed in that purpose. This review, however,
337
Reviews
will discuss mainly United States Government Information Policies, since it has the broader focus and carries the additional purpose of recognizing the development of government information policy as a field of instruction and scholarly investigation. Furthermore, given the abortive attempts during the 1Olst Congress to re-authorize and amend the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and modernize the government publishing sections of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the contents have particular relevance for anyone trying to understand the issues involved with these recent legislative initiatives. In the final chapter of Government Information Policies, Hernon and McClure sum it up very nicely when they say that “. . .the formulation of a national information policy is a formidable task, given the multiple facets such a policy would embrace and the complexity of the Federal policy making process...“(pp. 321-322). And, further,
that
“...the study of government information comprises an area of interest to individuals in different disciplines and fields. Much of that current interest is guided more by practice than theory and research” (p. 322). In these two statements one finds the basis for this work. The book can be seen on two levels: one dialectic, and the other more academic. In the former, it stands the test of a good compendium of Federal information policy issues and the debate surrounding those issues. It is an excellent primer for students of government information issues and anyone else interested in a good, concise discourse on the wide and intricate complexity of the development of Federal information policies. In the latter, it is somewhat less convincing of its value in encouraging the development of crossdisciplinary curricula and scholarly research in the field of government information policy development. Nevertheless, the editors deserve praise for suggesting that information policy research is a legitimate area of academic labor and for attempting to deal with the difficulty of removing information policy analysis and development from its usual political context. A few of the chapter highlights will serve to illustrate these points. First, as a primer on government information policy development, Hernon, McClure, and Relyea compile a solid collection of essays which articulate the perspectives of information policy development, discuss key policy areas, and outline the challenges to and directions of policy making. Of particular note are the chapters written by Relyea, who is Specialist in American National Government for the Congressional Research Service, and has written and spoken extensively on government information policy. Relyea’s introductory chapter on how Federal publishing and information dissemination evolved is a worthy replacement for Joe Morehead’s venerable analysis in his Introduction to United States Publications (Libraries Unlimited, 1987, 3rd edition) on the same topic. Although somewhat repetitive, Relyea’s second chapter covers the restrictions on public access to government information and enlightens us to the fact that there is really no constitutional or statutory guarantee of the right of public access to government information. In short, the Relyea chapters give the reader the background necessary for understanding the arguments posed in the others. No less noteworthy are chapters by Fred Weingarten, Program Manager of Communication and Information Technologies for the Office of Technology Assessment, on “Federal Information Policy Development: The Congressional Perspective”; and “The Role of the Office of Management and Budget” by McClure, Ann Bishop, and Philip Doty, two of McClure’s students at Syracuse University School of Information Studies. In addition, David Peyton, Director of Government Relations at the Information Industry Association, gives the private sector perspective in a chapter which is more a polemic against the depository library program than a clearly stated argument
338
GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
QUARTERLY
Vol. ~/NO. 311991
supporting the involvement of private industry. However, he makes the point that development of policy is more often due to events than it is the outcome of conscious foresight and planning, and his chapter stands along side “A Citizen’s Perspective” by Steven Katz and David Plocher, as a good characterization of the ongoing debate between the public and private sectors, and the political perspectives from which each side argues and often which determine the information policies put into place. At the time of the writing, Katz was legislative counsel for The People of the American Way. He is now Chief Counsel for the Senate Subcommittee on Government Information and Regulation, and one of the shepherds of Senate Bill 1742 to re-authorize the PRA. Plocher is now Assistant Counsel, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. To digress for a moment, and comment a little on STZpolicies, one chapter that should be mentioned is the one on “NTIS and the Privatization of Government Information” by Harold Shill, Librarian at the Evansdale Library in Morgantown, West Virginia, and associate professor of Library Science at West Virginia University. Shill has testified numerous times before congressional committees as an expert witness. Shill’s chapter is important not only because it is a well written discourse on the privatization issues, but also because it provides a link between the two sources by covering the background on the effects of policies of privatization on the dissemination of scientific and technical information. It leads the reader very nicely into the section of the STZpolicies which contains chapters on “ST1 Policies and Issues in Selected Federal Agencies.” Additional sections cover “Introduction and Background,” which contains a good foundation chapter analyzing major Federal ST1 policy studies; “Key ST1 Policy Areas;” and “Strategies and Recommendations” on increasing access to STI, the congressional role, and research needs and issues for managing ST1 in the 1990s. Getting back to Government Information Policies, its second goal, namely to encourage the development of information policy research and analysis as an academic discipline, is less clearly illustrated by the organization of its content. The first chapter, “Government Information: A Field in Need of Research and Analytical Studies” by Peter Hernon, given its position unfortunately, does not set the proper tone for the rest of the book. The reader is advised to move beyond this chapter and deal with it in the context of the final three chapters in part IV of the book, in which it can be seen as part of a textual unit. Nevertheless, it is an important element in the examination of the question: Is there a core of knowledge, skill, and competency for educating and producing government information professionals? Part IV of the book, “Challenges and Directions,” deals with this question and developing the cross-disciplinary curricula necessary for scholarly analysis of information policy development and policy making. It is an issue that could probably stand a volume of its own, and may be lost here as an argument to introduce this area into higher education curricula on public administration and policyespecially into lihrary and information science which is much in need of such direction. In summary, the disadvantage of a book, that is the disadvantage of a major academic work, is that it is only current while it is being written. Consequently, these books must compete with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) studies, Informing the Nation (1988) and Helping America Compete: The Role of Federal Scientific and Technical Information (June 1990). Nevertheless, they are important historical texts which should be on the reading lists, along with the OTA documents, of librarians and library school and information science students. They provide an excellent overview and representation of the issues, arguments, and challenges surrounding government information policy, and one can hope that they will succeed in their goal of bringing the serious study of government information policy development forward as a recognized branch of knowledge. * Jack Sulzer is the current Table, and Head of General Pennsylvania 16802.
Chair of the American Library Association’s Government Documents Round Reference at the Pennsylvania State University Pattee Library, University Park,