LISNews: Librarian News

Executive Order No. 12958 states that, with a few exceptions, federal records are to be automatically declassified when they become 25 years old. Even so, said the Archives' Jeanne Schauble, "no agencies have been willing to let their records be automatically declassified without them having some opportunity to make sure there's nothing in them they feel needs continued classification."
"It gets to be a rather complex process," Jeanne said. "I can say that after review generally somewhere from 85 to 90 percent will be cleared."

In some agencies, the number of documents that are declassified is classified.

Presidential records act passes Congress: A bill aimed at creating a public-private grant matching program for the preservation of presidential papers passed Congress last weekend.

Someone sent over a link to This Federal Register Notice from the EPA: SUMMARY: EPA is enhancing access to library services for the public and Agency staff. EPA will open previously closed libraries in its National Library Network, with walk-in access for the public and EPA staff. Other library locations will expand staffing, operating hours, or services. This notice provides information regarding how members of the public can access the libraries and services beginning September 30, 2008.

A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction yesterday ordering Vice President Cheney and the National Archives to preserve all of his official records.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's order came in response to a lawsuit filed this month by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group, joined by several historians and open-government advocates, warned that Cheney might destroy or withhold important documents as the Bush administration winds down if he interprets the Presidential Records Act of 1978 as applying to only some of his official papers.