President Richard Nixon Shaking Hands with Chairman Mao Tse-tung. National Archives Identifier 194759 Today is Ombuds Day and we at the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) celebrate our role as the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Ombuds. The OPEN Government Act of 2007 established OGIS and elevated the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution … Continue reading OGIS Celebrates Ombuds Day!
Editor’s note: this blog post was written by Gbemende Johnson, an Associate Professor of Government at Hamilton College. Her research areas include executive-judicial relations, government transparency, and race and politics. She received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2012. During the fall of 2021, I worked with the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) as … Continue reading Thinking About OGIS’s Work: An Academic Perspective
Did you know that October is Conflict Resolution Month? While we at OGIS believe that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is important every month, we are also happy to have an excuse to highlight our ADR activities. OGIS’s Mediation Program We offer dispute resolution services, including mediation and other informal processes such as facilitation or conciliation, … Continue reading Happy Dispute Resolution Month from OGIS!
The Chief FOIA Officers Council will be meeting on July 27, 2017 at 10 am to discuss strategies for improving customer service and improving coordination between agency FOIA Public Liaisons and our office. Be sure to RSVP today to join the audience in the William G. McGowan Theater and ensure you have an opportunity to … Continue reading Register Today to Share Your Thoughts with the Chief FOIA Officer Council
In his welcoming remarks at Monday’s Sunshine Week celebration at the National Archives (video), the Archivist of the United States noted the substantial effort our agency has put towards improving open government over the last few years, and noted that there is – of course – a lot of work left to do. Our newly-released … Continue reading OGIS Releases its Fiscal Year 2016 Report
We play a valuable role in facilitating communications between a requester and an agency. A recent request made by National Public Radio (NPR) to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) provides an example of this function. NPR reporter Caitlin Dickerson made a request to the NRL for records about a World War II-era medical experiment that … Continue reading Case Study in Clarity
Since OGIS opened in 2009, we’ve worked to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process by providing mediation services to help resolve disputes between requesters and Federal agencies. We handled more than 1,200 requests for assistance in Fiscal Year 2015 alone. In addition to mediating cases, we provide twice-yearly training to help agency FOIA … Continue reading Every Day is Conflict Resolution Day at OGIS
OGIS recently set up a pop-up shop, of sorts, on the West Coast offering one-on-one mini ombuds sessions with journalists and gathering ideas for improving the FOIA process. I’m pleased to have represented OGIS at the annual conference of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving investigative reporting. The conference, … Continue reading OGIS Sets Up Shop at IRE
The OGIS team is expanding, adding an additional three positions to the staff at its Washington, D.C. office. Two of the new positions will be part of OGIS’s review team, which works to review agencies’ FOIA policies, procedures and compliance. One position will carry out OGIS’s mediation services, working with agencies and requesters to prevent … Continue reading OGIS is Hiring!
Our last post offers some practical tips for FOIA professionals wishing to incorporate alternative dispute resolution into the FOIA process. We picked up more good ideas later in the American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) 7th Annual National Training Conference during a session titled “Customer Service—It’s the Law!” The session, which included FOIA professionals Jay … Continue reading Customer Service: it’s a Smart Practice—and it’s the Law!
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