Target Audience: Law librarians from all types of libraries, interested or involved in digital collection development, digital preservation, and freedom of information issues Learning Outcomes: 1. Participants will be able to identify, evaluate, and incorporate into their legal research strategies collections of declassified government documents secured through FOIA requests and made available online by agencies, libraries, whistle blowers, and watchdog groups. 2. Participants will be prepared to plan, preserve, provide access to, and publicize their own digital government documents collections. Participants will also be able to articulate how to establish a unique special collection by integrating FOIA requests with other collection development resources.
Many law libraries are looking to develop distinctive digital collections of materials that aren't available through commercial publishers. Collecting documents secured through FOIA requests offers a unique opportunity for these institutions. As government secrecy has increased, the number of FOIA requests has escalated, making procuring previously restricted government documents for public use an important goal. Law libraries are poised at the intersection of scholarship, freedom of information, preservation, and collection development, standing in a pivotal position to help scholars and practitioners access this hard-to-find content. This program will present a cross-section of perspectives on building, contextualizing, publicizing, and preserving a digital archive collection of materials secured through FOIA. Discover how these declassified documents in digital formats can be collected, archived, and made accessible for current and future research.
