Static: Wednesday, March 02, 2005
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Beltway Gymnastics

That odd noise Static hears emanating from the nation’s capital sounds like someone trying to rapidly back-pedal. The Government Printing Office riled librarians across the nation last month (“Governing in the Dark,” Feb. 23, 2005) by announcing draconian cuts to be made in the number of printed documents available at depository libraries, such as those at several local universities and Fort Worth’s public library. Uncle Sam says the same info — which includes such things as transcripts of congressional committee testimony, geological maps, and IRS documents — eventually will be available on the internet. But librarians, who moved to the front of the civil liberties battle after 9/11, are worried that too little will be made available too late and that the public won’t have info it has grown accustomed to getting.
The growing uproar over the GPO’s announcement apparently prompted a little gulping of words. Superintendent of Documents Judith Russell, who made the announcement, said in a statement released last week after the Weekly’s article was already in print, that the people in her office “respect and value’’ their relationship with the depository libraries and “will make no change in [federal depository library policy] without first consulting with the community and Congress.’’ Sounds like what she probably should have done in the first place.

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