FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: PUBLIC ACCESS ISSUES

During the last decade of the 20th century, there was an exponential growth of electronic Federal government information. This has generally provided more timely access and increased availability to the citizens of the United States. Many citizens and information professionals have applauded the increase of this digital information. However, serious problems have arisen as government agencies began to use the Internet as the sole or primary tool to deliver their information to the American public. During the last 8-10 years, the long-term accessibility and preservation concerns of information professionals have increased as much of the publicly accessible electronic government information has vanished. Nevertheless, there has been no Federal legislation enacted to preserve and provide permanent public access to this Internet-only information.

Recent events such as the first change in Presidential administrations during the Internet era, the removal of the Department of Interior’s web site for several months, and the “take down” of Federal government Internet sites and subsequent government actions regarding new Federal information policies and other legislation in the post September 11th environment have and will likely continue to remove accessibility to large amounts of Federal government information both temporarily and permanently. Although all types of government information have been affected by these events, there has been extensive removal of scientific and technical information, including geoscience information. The paper will discuss some of the broader issues concerning the accessibility of electronic Federal government information and examine some recent problems in the accessibility of geoscience electronic Federal government information.