Emily Feldman, AALL Advocacy Communications Assistant who is working with the White House’s Open Government working group, is asking AALL members to contact her with specific types of information and datasets that you’d like to see Federal government  agencies publish. The working group is also very interested in any cross-agency datasets you’d like to see added to Data.gov (e.g., crime data from DOJ/DHS, health data from EPA/HHS).
Some of the suggestions received so far include:

• All historic content that agencies have digitized (presuming that agencies followed the Paperwork Reduction Act and didn’t make exclusive deals)
• All the legislative histories that have been digitized by the Department of Justice Library
• Dataset on “charges of discrimination” filed from the EEOC

Are there other information holdings or datasets that you’d like to see added? Please email Emily (efeldman@aall.org) the title and name of the publishing agency by close of business today,  Wednesday, March 17.

The O’Reilly Gov 2.0 technologies group is offering a free 2 hour conference on March 11 that may be of interest to some CS-SIS members.  The conference is called “Gov 2.0 International: Global Innovation Meeting Local Challenges – The O’Reilly Gov 2.0 Online Conference”. According to the conference blurb, “Gov 2.0 is a worldwide revolution—from the United States to Australia and everywhere in between. Members of government are interacting with citizens via social media and open data efforts are spreading from city to city. At this Gov 2.0 Online Conference, you’ll hear about open government efforts in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Israel. The speakers will share stories and lessons learned, and answer your questions. Learn about some of the Gov 2.0 best practices that have helped effect important change in other countries, and discuss effective ways to use specific tools and processes in other settings.”

The free 2 hour online conference will be held on Thursday March 11 at 9 am Pacific time, 11 Central, 12 Eastern. Information and registration links are at http://en.oreilly.com/gov2-international.

Gov 2.0: a free 3-hour online conference that will show off some of the brightest examples of Web 2.0 technologies creating greater collaboration, transparency and efficiencies in government will be held on Thursday, Dec. 10 from 12 – 3:30 Eastern time.  The event is sponsored by O’Reilly Media and will feature the five Gov 2.0 award winners from their recent Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington DC:

• Peter Koht (City of Santa Cruz) – City of Santa Cruz Budget Crisis: A Blueprint Using Social Media
• Merrick Schaefer (UNICEF) – txts 4 africa
• Melissa Jordan (Bay Area Rapid Transit) – Transit 2.0 at Bart.gov
• Jeff Nigbur (State of Utah, Department of Public Safety) – Utah Department of Public Safety Media Portal
• Rita King (Dancing Ink Productions) – Digital Diplomacy: Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds

You can register for the free conference at the O’Reilly Gov 2.0  website.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced on November 2 that it is looking for feedback on PACER through an online survey to assess user satisfaction and generate suggestions for future improvements to the system. The survey is part of the Administrative Office’s year-long, comprehensive assessment of PACER. According to the announcement, the survey will be open for approximately 30 days.

It’s  important for the Courts to hear from law librarians. AALL is encouraging all of us to participate in the survey, and  share this info with your chapters and colleagues.

There are 7 questions in the survey, and you must have a valid PACER account to take the survey.

1. Are you a PACER user? (If no, you can’t take the survey.)
2. If Yes, What is your account number? (If you don’t have an account number, you aren’t permitted to continue with the survey.)
3. What is your name? Please enter first and last names.
4. Which of the following best describes you?

   I am a plaintiff, defendant, or debtor in a case, or the family member of a plaintiff, defendant, or debtor in a case

   I work in the legal sector (such as attorney, paralegal, Office of the Clerk of Court, Trustee’s office, librarian)

   I work for a commercial business (such as financial institution, data aggregator, claims agent, publisher, auto dealer)

   I am a creditor or work for one

   I work for a service provider to the legal sector (such as legal software vendor, consultant)

   I work at an educational or research institution, or am a student

   I am a member of the media

   Other (Please specify)

5. Overall, how satisfied are you with PACER :
   Very satisfied
   Somewhat satisfied

   Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

   Somewhat dissatisfied

   Very dissatisfied.

6. Why did you give the rating“somewhat dissatisfied”? (there is a text box to fill in)
7. If you could make one change to PACER, what would it be and why? (Another text box to fill in.)

The Congressional Research Service has published a report (37 page pdf) entitled Congressional Printing: Background and Issues for Congress. It is a must-read for gov docs librarians (and law librarians who deal with Congressional documents). The report gives an overview of the GPO and the statutory requirements it must fulfill, as well as the actual practices of the GPO and statistics of what it publishes and how much it spends.
Some tidbits from the Summary:
“In current practice, more than half of all government documents originate in digital form, and are distributed electronically. As a consequence of electronic production and dissemination, some congressional materials are now more readily available to wider congressional, governmental, and public audiences than when they were only produced and distributed in paper form.”
and ” (T)he transition to electronic distribution of materials may raise questions about the capacity of current law and congressional practices to effectively oversee GPO’s management and distribution responsibilities regarding congressional information.”
Finally, the report lists “Potential Options for Congress”, should Congress believe that action on government printing practices might be necessary or desirable, (p. 16) which include:
1. Maintain the status quo.
2. Conduct studies related to congressional printing policies on such topics as how users access congressional documents; whether current distribution practices for GPO-printed and electronic documents are effective or efficient; the costs of creating paper and electronic documents, including retention of archival documents, and disposal of obsolete materials; the extent to which current congressional printing and document distribution practices support Congress in its work; and what potential changes to congressional rules and practices might be necessary if Congress were to transition to “paperless” operations.
3. Consider legislation to amend current printing authorizations, found in 44 U.S.C. 906 and 44 U.S.C. 701 , to reflect current printing practices.

This Friday, November 6, at 3:00 PM Eastern Time, The Law Librarian on BlogTalkRadio will welcome Carl Malamud, founder of EDGAR, FedFlix, and Public Resource dot org to discuss  his newest project, Law.Gov.  Host Richard Leiter,  co-host Marcia Dority-Baker, Margi Maes, (Executive Director of LIPA) and Roger Skalbeck, Associate Librarian of Electronic Resources, will delve into the subject of Open Access to Law, and explore the nuances of the “nation’s operating system.” You can call in and/or join the chat room to participate. (Follow the link above  for phone numbers and log in information.) The transcript of the chat room will be posted online after the show.