Government Information Management in the 21st Century: International Perspectives

Citation

Gregory, S. (2012), "Government Information Management in the 21st Century: International Perspectives", Records Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 132-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/09565691211268199

This is a time of increasing interest in government information, with changing attitudes to its value and perceptions of ownership. This work provides a useful snapshot (ca. 2010) of the dual themes of providing access to, and managing, government information. Peggy Garvin's edited collection of 14 specially commissioned chapters from practitioners, academics and government officials is truly international, encompassing information from the Americas, Europe and Australasia. Many chapters also adopt a comparative approach, providing perspectives from a number of different countries.

The book is arranged in two parts. The first seven chapters are grouped under the theme of “Libraries as stewards and access points for government information”. In these chapters we are reminded that librarians require considerable skills and knowledge when helping users find and connect with government information. Increasingly, some librarians will also require new skills to enable users to successfully transact online with government departments and agencies. A fascinating chapter by Joanna Ptolomy uses British case studies to show how libraries can help bridge the information divide. Three chapters also provide practical examples on managing hard copy and digital government information collections. A strong case is presented for the need to evaluate and promote access to hard copy collections, which often reside uncatalogued and hidden away in their own collection areas. Marilyn Hawthorne describes the Australian Northern Territory Library DSpace repository, which preserves digital content for the future while also widening access to information. The US Government Printing Office FDSys provides solutions for the acquisition, bibliographic control, preservation and authenticity of official publications where more than 90 per cent of federal and agency published output is now digital.

Part 2 focuses on governments as information managers and providers, encompassing Freedom of Information, open government, crown copyright and the use of new technologies. Paul Byfield compares FoI legislation in Estonia, Hungary, Uzbekistan and the UK. Through this lens it is apparent that FoI legislation hasn't encouraged good information management practices within all governments. Similarly, civic society isn't always sufficiently developed to use, or lobby for, greater information disclosure, and citizens are not always aware of their information rights. A chapter on the important theme of authenticating digital government information provides examples of good practice from the USA, France and Australia, along with discussion on the technical solutions for authentication. Two chapters provide comprehensive analysis of open government data initiatives in their early stages of development. Both chapters argue that open government should not be driven by technologies, but should adapt to encourage collaboration, participation and accountability. A single repository for open government data (e.g. data.gov) is a risky strategy. If political imperatives change then dispersed models of open government data are more likely to persist. Australia provides the basis of an interesting, but now dated, case study into government use of the new web technologies such as blogs, RSS feeds and social media. This charts the evolution of government web usage from an information providing medium through to a fully interactive, transactional one, although also notes that uptake has not been consistent. In the final chapter Colima in Mexico provides the context for a successful e‐government initiative using street kiosks to enable citizen registration and delivery of e‐gov services, at a time of very low levels of domestic internet access. The deployment of appropriate technology also resulted in reduced levels of official corruption and improved citizen trust in the state, demonstrating the far‐reaching positive impacts of successful information collection and management.

Peggy Garvin provides a useful introduction to this work, highlighting the core themes that weave through many of the chapters, and updating information where change has been significant since first writing (e.g. crown copyright). Many chapters provide extensive reference lists, and those where rapid change is likely (e.g. open government) provides hints on future progress, and links to further resources including blogs, discussion forums and wikis. Garvin has edited this work with a skilled hand. The style of the chapters is consistent, making it plausible to read this text from cover to cover with much enjoyment and benefit. Equally, each chapter is self‐contained, making selective reading, or non‐sequential reading of chapters, just as beneficial.

I enjoyed reading this work but I have a few, hopefully, constructive criticisms. This edited collection of chapters with its recurring themes, challenges and issues, may be too repetitive for some readers. Furthermore, as a visual learner I would have appreciated greater use of diagrams, screen‐shots, flow‐charts and tables. Abbreviations are used frequently throughout the work and I would have benefited from a collated list of these, together with their full meanings. Similarly, a more comprehensive and consistent index would be of benefit to many readers. Perhaps more significantly, the book focuses exclusively on government information that is in the public domain. This is a narrow perspective, ignoring the vast collections of government information held for internal use, including information that will be released into the public domain in the future. Some content providing context, current issues and case studies of internal information management within government would have been, in my view, a welcome, enhancing addition.

This work is directed towards librarians, information professionals and government information policy leaders, and is designed to provide a “state of the art review” of current issues in government information management. In rapidly changing areas such as open government information and government use of social media, the description “state of the art” is a dangerous one, and so should be treated with some caution. There are certainly lots of interest and relevance in this work for librarians and archivists who specialise, or are interested in, official publications. However, relevance to the wider information profession, and specifically government information managers, is regrettably more tenuous.