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College & Research Libraries News

National Information Policy Urged in New Government Report

Development of a coordinated information policy for the nation is urged in an official report made available by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.

The 233-page report, National Information Policy, details the findings of a year-long study by the Domestic Council’s Committee on the Right of Privacy.

Principal recommendations of the report are that an Office of Information Policy be established in the executive office of the president, to be assisted by an interagency council of officials of federal agencies and an advisory committee of representatives of the private sector, local government, and concerned academic and professional disciplines.

The report says advances in computer and communications technology, the shift in the U.S. economy from a manufacturing to an information base, plus the demands of citizens for clarification of their rights to have and control information have generated many public policy questions.

Among questions addressed in the study are those of privacy, freedom of information, and “sunshine” concerns, and their effect on governmental and private sectors of information.

“A key question,” says the report, “is how to structure the policymaking process so that the country can begin to develop a national information policy that is comprehensive, sufficiently sensitive to new technology, and responsive to the implications of the Information Age.”

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, which published the report on behalf of the Committee on the Right of Privacy, also announced that it will convene a special task force to consider the committee’s recommendations.

Alphonse F. Trezza, executive director of the commission, said the task force will include representation from the Congress, government agencies, the private sector, and the library and information services community.

“The questions addressed in this report have long been of concern to the library and information services community,” said Trezza. “We believe this report represents an important milestone in bringing the issues to public attention. The task force will carefully weigh the recommendations and also consider problems of implementation.”

Last summer the commission conducted a two-day conference for the privacy committee, to assist in the study and analysis of the issues addressed in the report.

Single copies of the report, National Information Policy, are available at the commission’s offices, 1717 K St. NW, Washington, DC 20036. It will also be on public sale through the Superintendent of Public Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, at $4.65 a copy.

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