Smaller Parcels Quicker Service! (National Archives ID: 44267059) The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) has delivered the Final Report and Recommendations of the 2018-2020 term of the FOIA Advisory Committee to the Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero. The report is the result of two years of hard work by the Committee’s … Continue reading Final Report of the 2018-2020 FOIA Advisory Committee Delivered to the Archivist
In a recent statement, Turning the threat of COVID-19 into an opportunity for greater support to documentary heritage, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic, which many countries have already declared to be modern history’s gravest health emergency, will one day become a part of our shared history. In … Continue reading The Importance of Preserving Pandemic Records
McLain, Miss., Feb. 22, 2013 - FEMA assesses damages from flash floods in Greene County. (National Archives ID: 24475833) Federal agencies are generally complying with FOIA’s mandate to create procedures for preparing documents to post on FOIA reading rooms, and more often than not, the responsibility for prepping the documents rests with the FOIA staff. That … Continue reading OGIS Publishes Report Based on Agency Self-Assessments
The intersection of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and records management will be the focus of the next FOIA Advisory Committee meeting on November 29, 2018, in the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The meeting, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., is the second of the 2018-2020 term … Continue reading Next FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting: November 29, 2018
Yesterday we published our analysis and observations of FOIA compliance issues based on the responses to FOIA questions included in the 2017 Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA). This report is the result of our continued collaboration with the Chief Records Officer (CRO) of the United States Government to gather government-wide information about FOIA policies and procedures. … Continue reading 2017 FOIA Compliance Self-Assessment Survey Results Now Available
Here at OGIS, we love good record keeping practices. Not only are we housed within the National Records and Archives Administration (NARA), which has responsibility for setting the federal government’s record keeping policies, we also know that strong agency record keeping is the backbone of a good Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office. If an … Continue reading Record Keeping for FOIA Requesters 101
We welcome guest bloggers! The following post is from Government Information Specialist Mark H. Graff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: At the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s FOIA, Privacy, and Information Collections branch, we’ve been looking for ways to streamline our internal processes and increase the use of technology to better respond to FOIA requests. … Continue reading Guest Post: Catching Up with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
In his November 28, 2011 Presidential Memorandum -Managing Government Records, President Obama noted “proper records management is the backbone of open Government.” Sound records management helps agencies carry out their missions, promotes accountability by documenting agency activities, and fosters open Government. As we’ve written before, good records management is essential for good FOIA programs. That’s … Continue reading Managing Emails & Government Records: Are your ducks in a row?
As the government strives to find ways to improve FOIA, proactive disclosure seems to be one strategy that everyone agrees on; if agencies make more information publicly available, people will not need to make FOIA requests for those records. In many cases, this strategy has worked. Thanks to efforts like data.gov and agencies’ FOIA libraries, … Continue reading Making “Publicly Available” Records Available
As we move toward a more digitized society, we’re continually looking to build upon electronic access and management of government records. FOIA requesters and agency FOIA professionals came together this week to discuss issues they face working with electronic records. Records management was a key point of discussion — electronic records can be incredibly time-saving, … Continue reading Surging ahead into the electronic world
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