Read, Listen, Inform: Government Publications in Action (August 2018)

This essay first appeared in the August 2018 issue of Choice (volume 55 | issue 12).

Introduction:

Graft, greed, and corruption are some of the terms used to describe American government publication prior to the creation by Congress, during the tumultuous Buchanan administration, of a central printing agency now known as the Government Publishing Office (GPO). These harsh terms are resurfacing in the mainstream news media as well as in daily conversations partly due to the removal of vast amounts of scientific-based government information from federal web pages. The Trump administration’s refusal to fill many vacant positions is leaving reports and studies unpublished and citizens uninformed. While federal information production slows, states and local governments that re…

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About the author:

Aimée C. Quinn is an assistant professor and government publications librarian at the James E. Brooks Library, Central Washington University. She is responsible for developing federal and state depository services and outreach to Central Washington citizens and helping with e-government services to the campus and broader citizenry. She teaches the foundations of library and information science and civic engagement courses in the LIS program. She has over thirty years working in academic libraries primarily in government publications services. She has published and edited numerous articles, essays, and chapters related to the preservation of government information and e-government services.