Sunshine Week 2018 (Early) Recap

Sunshine Week Program
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) gives the keynote address during the National Archives’ 2018 Sunshine Week celebration. Photo by Jeffrey Reed.

There are still a few days left in Sunshine Week 2018, but we wanted to go ahead and share a recap of some exciting events that have already happened!

On Monday, we were honored to host the third annual National Archives’ Sunshine Week 2018 celebration in the William G. McGowan Theater. After a kick-off introduction by the Archivist of the United States, the afternoon featured three lively panels that generated stimulating discussions about the role of innovation in government, the opportunities and challenges surrounding digital civic engagement, and the roadmap for open data. We were particularly pleased and honored to have Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) present the afternoon’s keynote address. If you missed the event, you can watch the video on the National Archives’ YouTube Channel (unfortunately we did have a technical glitch at the beginning of the program that prevented us from livestreaming opening remarks from the Archivist of the United States and the beginning of the first panel; we hope to be able to post a video of the whole event soon).

On Tuesday, Director Semo testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on progress on implementation of the FOIA Improvement Act. You can find Director Semo’s testimony, and video of the hearing on the Committee’s webpage.

We are also very happy to announce that this week we published our Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Report. Please download the report to learn more about demand for our dispute resolution services, trends we have noted through our agency compliance assessments, summaries of our work with the FOIA Advisory Committee and Chief FOIA Officers Council, and much more!

Looking ahead, we want to remind you that this afternoon (Wednesday, March 14) from 2:00 to 3:30 pm you can catch the livestream for Access and Transparency—Records Held at the National Archives. During the event, a panel of our National Archives colleagues will explain how they can help you request and access the restricted and non-restricted Federal records held at the National Archives. All week, you can also log on to the Citizen Archivist Dashboard to participate in the transcription challenge focused on the Pentagon Papers.

We hope you all have a great Sunshine Week, and we look forward to celebrating with you again next year!

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