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| Course Description |
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Introduction to the nature and scope of government information issued by the Federal government as well as by the state, municipal and international governments. Bibliographic control, acquisition, organization, maintenance, and their reference use. Problem oriented approach. (UCLA General Catalog, 2005-2007)
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| Course Learning Objectives |
I envision a graduate of this course, understanding the public trust given to documents librarians to ensure the preservation and access to government information and hope that such a graduate will adopt an appropriate advocacy role. Hence, these are my learning objectives for this course: |
| 1) To present a government information paradigm which will: |
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| A) define the scope of the government information specialist's concern; and |
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| B) explain the specialist's clarification and classification procedures for answering government information questions; |
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| 2) To describe the various formats (including paper, near print, microformats, CD-ROM, and Internet sources, but especially the World Wide Web) of government information and their value to users of libraries and information centers; |
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| 3) To examine the acquisition, organization, and administration of these various formats by visiting a local depository; |
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| 4) To develop basic skill in the procedural techniques of manual and electronic bibliographic and literature searching appropriate to government information; |
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| 5) To demonstrate the ability to construct useful WWW pages, pathfinder, or a research oriented approach to government information; and finally, |
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6) To foster a knowledge-based, problem-solving approach to government information questions asked in library and information centers.
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| Course Requirements |
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| In order to accomplish these objectives, the following requirements are necessary: |
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| 1) attendance at lectures and field trips as well as handing in all assignments on time. See class schedule for dates. Do the assigned and/or optional readings to supplement lectures, to fill in details, and to pursue areas of special interest to you. Study the weblinks provided below as well as any class handouts which are intended to clarify complex relationships. |
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| 2) Satisfactorily complete two exercises related to government information: a) a bill tracing exercise; and b) answering a set of reference questions or undertake a foreign government information analysis. You may work in groups (up to three) on each these exercises. |
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3) Complete a major project: either A) a publishable quality, research
paper or B) build an OCLC Connexion
pathfinder on any government related topic, or C) a webpage
for a federal government cabinet level agency citing government
information resources. Again, you may work in groups of up to three
people on either A or B or C. Note, however, that if you are trying
to fulfill the departmental major paper assignment, you should work
alone on the paper option (A).
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| Grading Criteria |
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Attendance and class contributions are not formally graded; however, in borderline cases, I will consider these in determining the final grade. As you know, the final grade is subjective--merely the opinion of the instructor. |
| For all papers, my evaluation will include: 1) content foremost; 2) appearance (e.g., conformance to a particular journal's house style); 3) bibliographic style (remember to use a government information journal's house style); 4) clarity of presentation; and 5) avoidance of the ten common errors . All papers are subject to a half-letter grade reduction for not heeding the above ten points.. Webpages will be grading according to rigorous webpage design criteria . Grading is necessarily subjective; if my standards are not clear, please ask for further clarification at any time. |
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No extra credit is given. Incompletes are not awarded in this class; plan accordingly. |
Plagiarism, the unattributed use of other people's work, will be reported to the UCLA Dean of Students and a DR grade assigned pending final resolution.
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| Grading Weights |
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Two Exercises (25% for the bill tracing and 25% for the reference questions or foreign government analysis), Research Paper, WWW Pathfinder, or Government Agency Webpage, preferably cabinet level (50%); a total of three different assignments for 100% of grade. Grades are reported to the Registrar via My.UCLA.edu , so check it upon receiving a graded paper. Letter grades are assigned where a B (3.0) is good; a B+ (3.3), very good; an A- (3.7), excellent; an A (4.0) is superior; and an A+ is extraordinary. If you are a graduate student taking this class as S/U, then S = B (3.0) or higher.
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| Due Dates and Penalties |
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| See the class schedule below for due dates (right hand column). Many of the assignments are due toward the end of the course. Again, please plan accordingly. |
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Unexcused late papers will be penalized substantially (i.e., a half letter grade per session). Be sure to see the instructor well in advance of last due date, if you don't think you can complete the course. No late final papers will be accepted without written permission from the instructor. To repeat: incompletes for this class are not available. Disabled students must present the appropriate form from the Office of Student Disabilities at the beginning of the quarter, if they wish special accommodation. You may drop the class up until the last class.
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| Course Textbooks |
| (Optional) Garner, Diane L. and Diane H.
Smith. The
Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources: A Manual
For Writers & Librarians. .Washington, DC: CIS, 1993. |
| (Required) Joe Morehead,
Introduction to United States Government Sources,
Libraries Unlimited, (latest). |
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| (Optional) Peter Hernon, John A. Shuler,
and Robert E. Dugan, U.S.
Government on the Web: Getting the Information You Need.
3rd ed. Libraries Unlimited, 2003. For updated links, click here.
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(Optional) National Archives and Records Administration. United
States Government Manual. Washington, DC: GPO, 2007-08.
(Optional) "UNT
Libraries: CyberCemetery Home"searchable website for defunct
agencies and commissions.
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Current Awareness |
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The professional listserver is GOVDOC-L
and GODORT maintains their own wiki.
The major journal in this field is Government
Information Quarterly. ALA GODORT's Documents
to the People is the professional's newsletter; note there
is a student paper award. A website called "Free Government Information"
(or FGI) is a UCSD-ASL
librarian initiated site to discuss such matters. In addition, you
probably should read the New York
Times, the Washington
Post and the Sacramento Bee
on a daily basis to be current on federal and state government information
matters in the news. The following links are provided for your edification;
please check them out in a timely fashion.
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| Class Schedule |
Topic and Readings (M=Morehead) |
Due Date |
| Session 1 |
Orientation to Course; Introduction to Government Information;
US Government Printing (44
USC 1901and 504);
M, chapter 1 and Nord
and Richardson, forthcoming 2008) ; Gray
Literature
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| Session 2 |
Bibliographical Control (M, pages 31-33)
, especially GPO's Monthly
Catalog; NTIS's GRA/I; Department
of Education's ERIC. See also,
DoE's Information Bridge
GPO, new Public
Printer; "Strategic
Vision," "TurnAround
at the GPO," SuDoc,
and Depository
Library Council;
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Field
Trip and Guide |
| Session 3 |
Organization and Use (M, chapter 3); in the context of Paperwork
Reduction Act (44 USC 3501) and e-Government
Act of 2002; "Essential
Titles for Public Use in Tangible Format"
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PaperTopic, WWW Pathfinder, or Agency Website
for approval |
| Session 4 |
Management (M, chapter 3); Copyright
and "fair
use" as well as the Digital Millenium Copyright
Act; Google's Uncle
Sam or Firstgov.gov?
Instructions to Depository Libraries (2000)
Guidelines
for Depository Libraries (February 1996)
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| Session 5 and 6 |
Official US Website: POTUS;
U.S. Executive: 2008
Election and Ray
C. Fair Presidential Vote Equation; and Results.gov's Scorecard
and OCLC Connexion Pathfinder 7105;
see theory of unitary
executive; Vice
President
Commerce (Census Bureau, American
FactFinder, CIMR;
ICSPR; and ISSR
Data Archives); Justice (USA PATRIOT
ACT; Labor (CPI)
and OOH; OMB
and Circular
A-130; OMB Watch as well
as FFAT
and FedSpending.org; NSDD
(EO's defined
and the role of Executive Orders plus the missing
13292); Presidential
Records; State's America.gov
(Cultural Diplomacy; and
Best Items; Foreign
Relations); and finally, NARA (FR
and CFR);
Popular
Names of US Government Reports; and OCLC
15221 on Presidential Libraries and Collections.
U.S. Legislative: CBO; GAO;
FOIA,
Privacy Act,
LoC the
RDA Update and Bib
Control future as well as its CRS
and OpenCRS.com; FLICC
and USAJobs.opm.gov (M
5, 6, and 7)
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Exercise
1 (questions) or Foreign Government Analysis
(due Session 8) |
| Session 7 |
US Congress: House of Representatives;
House Speaker; House
Clerk ; US Senate (glossary)
(workload)
(VR
desk);
Biographical Directory of Congress
Other useful links (YRL,
OCLC 2941, a Pathfinder
on Federal Legislative History, and Congressional
Worksheet and "How
are Our Laws are Made"); Common
Abbreviations and Congresspedia.com
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| Session 8 |
State
Documents: (Center
for Research Libraries; State bibliographies
and LC's MCL
(1909-1994); state
bluebooks; state
copyrights; see CA, Office
of State Publishing and CSL
and its GPS
and CSP;
Council of State Governments,
National Conference of State Legislators)
and Local Documents (ICUD;
Los Angeles);
Supranationals (UN, UN
Library, UN collection
arrangement, and UNESCO
as well as Article 51,
G-7/8, 2003,
2004, and 2005
summit, G-20 group, BRIC,
and World Bank); and NGOs
or NGOs
(e.g., CFR, IMF,
Paris Club, Trilateral
Commission)
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| Session 9 |
Foreign Government
Documents: Great Britain (Parliament:
House
and Lords;
PM and Cabinet,
HMSO); Canada
(Parliament: House
and Senate;
PM; and Governor-General;
govt
pubs and bookstores),
Mexico (President
and Cabinet;
and 2002
FOI); Middle
East; Hong
Kong and Singapore; Russia
and parties;
Regional governments: European
Union and Council of
the European Union and OAS
(Official
Documents and the (IACHR);
Summit of the Americas;
Foreign holdings (CRL)
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Exercise
2 (Bill tracing) (Due Session 10) |
| Session 10 |
Selected Demonstrations of Webpages and Paper Presentations |
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| EVERYTHING IS DUE END OF WEEK 10 |
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Selected Quotes
"Government documents are stiff, graceless things, scarcely the
happiest subject for spirited discourse among polite people." --
J. H. Powell
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| "There exist no sources of historical information in a free and enlightened country, so rich and so valuable, as its publick journals, and the debates of its publick bodies and associations." --Peter Force |
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| "...no modern library can give adequate reference service without access to the publications of the U.S. Government." --Boyd and Rips |
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| "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or perhaps, both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." --James Madison |
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| "We are getting 'documents to the libraries' but the slogan of GODORT is 'Documents to the People.'" --Ronald P. Haselhuhn |
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Revised: 31 August 2009; I reserve the right to change the content
of this syllabus for any reason including the accommodation of guest
speakers.
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