OMB A-130

The Federal Office of Management and Budget issued its Circular A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources" in December 1985. The Circular marked a continuation of the Reagan Administration's effort to systematically reduce the flow of information from the federal government. The impact of thc Circular is discussed both in terms of its effect on federal government information gathering and reporting programs, and the reference service offered by libraries.     

Policy perspectives on electronic collection and dissemination of information

This article discusses the relationship of OMB Circular No. A-130, the Management of Federal Information Resources, to the Paperwork Reduction Act. Information collection and information dissemination are treated unequally in the Act. OMB's proposed policy guidance on electronic collection enumerated conditions favorable to electronic collection, and criteria for design and development of electronic collection systems. Issues raised by commenters included the response burden for electronic collection, the importance of benefit-cost analysis, and the advisability of waivers. Policy issues to be treated in forthcoming proposed OMB policy guidance on electronic collection include requirement of agency inventories of information dissemination products and services, the meaning of adequate notice prior to initiating or terminating dissemination, and other general guidance.     

Does the Federal government need an A-130 for STI?

The article argues that the Federal government needs to develop special government-wide policies, similar to OMB Circular No. A-130, which would be applicable to scientific and technical information (STI). After exploring the relation between government information and government STI, the author points out that Federal statistics has its own special set of policies known as Statistical Policy Directives. STI's situation is different from other government information because it is carried out in the culture of science and academia, in the culture of classified information and export controls, and in the international arena. A policy circular for STI would touch on Federal research and development, technology transfer, classified and export control information, international considerations, interagency sharing, and several existing areas of policy. The Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or the National Science and Technology Council could issue the policy.     

OMB Circular No. A-130, the management of federal information resources: Its origins and impact

An OMB circular is a policy directive that tells Federal executive agencies how they shall implement laws or presidential policies. OMB Circular No. A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources, prescribes a general policy framework within the Paperwork Reduction Act for developing uniform and consistent Federal information resources management policies. The need for the policy framework was identified by the Commission on Federal Paperwork, and reaffirmed by the General Accounting Office and the Congress. The Circular enunciates some policies regarding dissemination of information for which Congress has not provided explicit statutory guidance. The Circular is quite general in its policy statements and does not subdistinguish various categories of government information. The principal impact of the Circular will be a continuing emphasis on planning for information resources management.     

U.S. office of management and budget circular no. a-130: Old and new

In June 1993, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget issued a formal revision to OMB Circular No. A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources. This article examines what has changed and what has remained the same in Circular A-130 as compared with the original circular issued in December 1985. The 1993 revision changed principally those parts of the circular dealing with information management policy. It added new materials on the role of state and local governments and on records management. It eliminated most of the language concerning OMB Circular No. A-76. and provided clearer direction with respect to user charges. The 1993 revision contained new emphases on planning, information dissemination management systems, electronic collection and dissemination of information, depository libraries, and enforcement. In September 1993, OMB also proposed new revisions concerning federal information technology management. The article concludes that the revised Circular A-130 has come a long way toward being a viable framework for managing federal information resources.     

Women Library Users and Library Users of Traditional Women's Subjects

In the studies of general library use, women use libraries more than men. When use studies of particular subjects are done, women nearly always are more likely to use libraries for information on that subject than men. Yet there are few studies on women's information needs or use studies of traditional women's subjects. When women's subjects are written about in the library literature, the articles are nearly always on collection development, not on information needs. Information on women's subjects is primarily requested in public libraries and is not considered worthy of scholarly concern. Five specific categories of women's subjects: traditional women's subjects like needlework, practical information for the home, information related to a change in life like returning to school or to work, information on women's health issues, and information about parenting are reviewed. Current trends in commercial electronic information systems and telecommunications technology make the issue of information needs research and analysis urgent.     

Government information policy in Canada

Two disparate trends have influenced Canada's long history of examining and developing government information policy. First, various publishing policies of the 1960s and 1970s recognized the public's right to government information. This trend culminated in freedom of information legislation in 1983. Following a transitional period in the mid-1980s, the advent of a corporate resource approach to government information resulted in information policies that emphasized information resources management, cost recovery, and commoditization. Recent attempts to merge the inherent contradictions between the concepts of the public's right to government information and information as a commodity have resulted in policy that leaves much to individual interpretation.     

Trends in information technology and private sector activities

As the largest single producer, consumer, and disseminator of information in the United States, the Federal government has enormous power to influence the development and diffusion of new information technologies. Through the use of electronic information systems, it also has the opportunity to make more government information readily available to more public users. Defining the appropriate uses of, and controls on, this power are of critical importance in determining whether the government will be a positive or a negative force, particularly with respect to the private sector. Although there has always been, and probably always will be, some competition between government and private sector information products and services, there is agreement that the laws and policies regulating government information practices do not, and should not, require or permit a Federal agency to provide information products and services in the same manner as a private company. Federal agencies must be careful not to exploit the power inherent in electronic data systems by providing nonessential services to the public simply because the capability to provide such services exists. Instead the government should assume an affirmative obligation to review each electronic information activity carefully in order to avoid unnecessary government interference in the marketplace for information products and services. Further, as the government becomes increasingly involved in the use of electronic collection and dissemination, it must also learn to differentiate among levels of service and requirements of various user communities. Positions of the Association of Research Libraries, the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Information Industry Association are presented and are shown to be in surprising harmony with the policies of OMB Circular A-130 and the views of the House Committee on Government Operations. The Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR system and recent development in distribution og government information on CD-ROM are reviewed as examples of the implementation of these policies.     

线上藏品图文布局对观众信息获取的影响——一项眼动研究

线上藏品不同的图文布局方式会影响观众的注意过程,进而影响观众对相应图文信息的获取效果。本文通过眼动实验,研究了观众浏览藏品页面文物图片与说明文字时上图下文、上文下图、左图右文、左文右图四种页面布局方式对观众注意行为的影响,同时关注了四种形式下观众对页面中所包含的文物大小、形制、纹饰、工艺、历史文化意义等多项信息的获取情况,从而探究线上藏品图文布局对观众信息获取的影响,进而为线上藏品页面的设置提供借鉴,使其更好地以观众的注意特点为导向促进藏品信息的传播。     

迎接我国科技情报事业的第二个春天

本文重点阐述了我国科技治理的三角模型和科技情报事业的三阶段历史演变,以及如何借助时代大势,转换好“建设者”的职能定位,全面提升科技情报功能,通过多项制度化建设,根本上破解我国科技情报事业面临的战略难题,以顺利迎接科技情报事业发展的第二个历史高潮。     

Mapping Information Systems and Services in Uganda: An Overview

This paper aims at defining and mapping the information sector in Uganda with regard to general awareness and comparative studies. It is written from the sociological perspective and is based on a review of literature, a survey of advertisements, guidelines for mapping the information sector of other countries and on the author's experience. Restrictions that hamper this sector's growth are outlined together with the government's aspirations for improvement. The article represents a rare attempt at mapping the information sector in Uganda for the purpose of wide information dissemination.     

Motivations and uses: Evaluating virtual reference service from the users' perspective

The questions of whether chat reference service is beneficial enough to users to justify the costs of offering it, and how valuable it is to users in fulfilling their information needs, have been primary concerns for librarians providing the service, for library administrators managing the service, and for funding agencies paying for it. The present study combines a traditional evaluation of the user's satisfaction with the reference encounter, with details of the user's information use and the user's motivation for using the chat reference service. This evaluation study assesses the effectiveness of chat reference service in meeting users' information needs.     

The relationships between work roles and information gathering of the faculty at SUNY,college at Fredonia

A survey of the faculty at the State University of New York (SUNY), College at Fredonia provided data for an investigation into the effect of faculty work roles upon information gathering. Faculty roles of teaching, research, and service are the key components of academic work. The extent to which these roles influence the faculty member's use of six categories of information sources forms the basis of this investigation. The findings indicate that there are discernible patterns in the faculty's use of various sources of information and that one's commitment to teaching, research, and service are factors that influence information gathering, although not always in the manner that had been predicted. Additional investigation of the research role reveals that the faculty member's age, possession of a doctoral degree, and quality of the doctoral degree have a relationship with commitment to research.     

The Self-Study as an Information Literacy Program Assessment Tool

ABSTRACT

The J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University is engaged in a number of information literacy efforts. The library's new information literacy coordinators had many questions about the library's current activities and how to further develop its information literacy program. In the 2006–2007 academic year, the Library Education Committee obtained a more accurate understanding of the library's information literacy efforts through a self-study process. A survey instrument was created and distributed to all teaching librarians. The results of this study were contrasted with the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy That Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline in order to facilitate program assessment and long-term planning.     

A non-linear model of information sharing practices in academic communities

A new model of information sharing practices in academic communities is based on Latour's circulatory system of scientific facts, and some elements of Foster's non-linear model of information-seeking behavior. The main proposition of this model is that information-sharing practices and context simultaneously shape each other. The proposed model supports Foster's conceptualization of information practices as non-linear processes, but its emphasis on the interdependence between context and information practices provides a more effective means to capture complex negotiations involved in information-sharing practices. The proposition is that the major reason for nonlinearity in information practices is a continuous shifting of actors' interests, pressures, and concerns. Capturing these dynamic relations becomes possible through this model. The model also offers a way to generate a number of research questions and hypotheses, and as such it could be a useful tool for empirical studies on information sharing in academic communities.     

Comparative Optimism in Online Credibility Evaluation Among Parents and Children

This study investigates comparative optimism—whereby people perceive themselves as relatively invulnerable to risks as compared to others—in the evaluation of online information credibility by children and their parents. Results of a representative national survey of Internet users revealed significant antecedents of children's and parents' comparative optimism, including demographic characteristics, cognitive thinking style, and perceived self-efficacy. Parental optimism was also found to relate to the mediation strategies used to regulate children's Internet use, and comparative optimism in children was associated with tendencies to believe online information and specific evaluation behavior. Findings are considered in terms of their theoretical implications and with regard to the role of parents in children's digital information literacy development.     

Information management in federal agencies: The neglected piece of the IRM puzzle

In an attempt to highlight the importance of managing information as a corporate resource, this article presents several examples of recent attempts by Federal agencies to cope with information management issues. These examples include the Department of Defense's Corporate Information Management (CIM) program, the Federal Aviation Administration's Operational Data Management System (ODMS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Aspects of these information management activities are highlighted that demonstrate differential agency responses to system development needs and requirements.     

Mobile Library Service in Key Chinese Academic Libraries

Mobile Internet applications and service innovations are changing people's way of life. At the same time, they are also changing the way that people communicate and access information. People who visited libraries to find specific information in the past are now able to find the same information online. As the spectrum of human need grows, the opportunities for librarians to meet these needs are also growing. Libraries will need to be designed to accommodate the changing needs of their users. Mobile library services can meet users' information needs in a fast-paced society. In this investigation we identified 39 university libraries supported by the Ministry of Education's “Project 985” and evaluated their status as mobile library service providers.     

The European commission's online public databases

In the context of its role in providing the day-to-day administration of the European Union, the European Commission is responsible both for stimulating the development of interactive electronic information services in Europe and for providing public online databases of information on the Union's activities. Following a brief survey of the background to the Commission's activities, this article outlines the Union's current telecommunications policy and the ongoing transition towards closer integration of the various telecommunications networks in Europe. It then describes the various practical arrangements for obtaining access to the Commission's online services, presents two of its programmes, which are intended to stimulate the professional use of electronic information services, and lists the various databases that it provides for public access.