Public Librarians Help Citizens Access Their Government for Services and Information

I attended a great session at the ALA Conference on E-Government from a librarian’s perspective, stressing the role of public librarians in helping citizens to access government information and services that are increasingly being migrated online. The point was made that libraries are positioned to expand their traditional role of providing Information and Referral (I & R) to proactive assistance for customers accessing services online. Since federal and state agencies are reducing traditional services, citizens are increasingly seeking help in libraries to interact with their government. The current administration is in the process of rebranding e-government through the Open Government Initiative (Usa.gov) to encompass participation, interaction, and engagement, including: •Commenting on a regulation or policy •“Voting” on new regulation, policy or direction (not really voting, but weighing in) •Idea banks (Asking the question, “How would you like your government to do this?”) •Contests •Data sharing (data.gov is a central portal for all government data) Resources for public librarians who are helping citizens access their government include: •Webinars (including some offered by Webjunction and the ALA Washington office) •E-government tools (including Florida’s Best Practices Toolkit) •Other resources (including those offered by Techsoup and the E-gov subcommittee of the ALA Washington Office) •Social media tools •Go.usa.gov shortens government URLs into short, trackable links How do you think that Nebraska libraries can help our citizens engage with this new government environment and how can we help prepare librarians to expand their traditional I & R role? Click on Comment below to share your thoughts…Thanks, Mary Jo