Libraries and E-Government: Current Status and Key Issues
In recent years, libraries have taken on a range of roles and responsibilities in the provision of e-government services and resources. John Carlo Bertot, professor and associate director of the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University, addresses this topic in the UIC Library’s Nakata Lecture on October 25. Bertot’s lecture, Libraries and E-Government: Current Status and Key Issues, begins at 2 p.m. in the Cardinal Room, Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted, Chicago. A reception follows.
Federal, state, and local governments increasingly refer residents to libraries for e-government assistance, services, and resources. Library patrons without computers or high-speed Internet access at home use library computers to transact e-government business, for example, to apply for Medicare plans or state-provided child and family welfare services, complete FEMA forms, submit papers for immigration, or register for federal water rights payments. How can libraries best serve these patrons’ information needs?
The Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection (FDLP/EC) , through its network of depository libraries, identifies, points to, acquires or creates metadata for, and in many cases archives electronic publications from all agencies, and pledges to provide ongoing free public access. How does the dissemination of government-produced information change as more public documents are produced electronically?
Bertot will discuss the current status of e-government and libraries, identify key issues, and offer recommendations for libraries to better work with government agencies in the provision of e-government services and resources. His remarks will be based on on-going research efforts at the Information Institute,
Bertot’s research interests include public library use of and involvement with the Internet. He is co-author of the 2007 Information Institute’s report E-Government and Public Libraries: Current Status, Meeting Report, Findings, and Next Steps.
The UIC Library’s Nakata Lecture honors Yuri Nakata, documents librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1966 to 1979. Prof. Nakata was responsible for building a collection of over 500,000 government publications for the campus, and she developed a model for public use of government documents that has been widely studied and emulated. Bertot’s presentation is the 27th Nakata Lecture.
For more information about this event or to request disability accommodation, please contact Linda Naru, UIC Library, 312-413-0394., field_56ba6f8fdb00c