Week 11 Reading Response

I really liked this week's articles on government documents and libraries. Sometimes with the readings we have, I'm left wondering how to connect the information given to librarianship, but with these readings the connection was clear and informative. Two of the articles seemed to promote the traditional library goal of greater access to information. One article, however, seemed took the more interesting stance that government communication could be dangerous.

The first article I read, "Examining the Role of Website Information" was very well laid out, with clear objectives and findings. Basically, the authors, Eschenfelder and Miller, advocated for greater use of textual information on government websites. More than that though, they propose that website information be constructed and evaluated not just on quantity but on type and quality. I agree that it is important not only to have basic information on government policies and actions available to the public, but that there should also be information regarding information behind those policies, how the government came to the solutions it is proposing, and alternative theories and actions that could be taken. This allows for greater citizen involvement in the workings of government, which is essential to a democratic society.

The article "Documents for a Digital Democracy" also emphasized the importance of disseminating government information to the populace in general. This article emphasized the importance of digitizing printed government documents, and the proper management of digitized and born-digital information from government sources. I enjoyed the section that described how librarians should rethink their roles. The role of the modern librarian, in a simple sense, is to provide people with access to information. To do this in the context of government information, librarians must assist with the digitization of records and keeping of digital records, as well as be familiar with all of the varied types of information made available by governments and how users can access them.

I honestly wasn't really sure what to make of the final article, "The Nerves of Government." It had some good elements, but overall it seemed to lean a little on the side of paranoia/conspiracy theory stuff. Generally, government communication with citizens is seen as a positive thing, something that encourages democracy. In this article though, government communication is seen as a propaganda tool, a way of indoctrinating Americans into thinking the way government wants them to think. I can see that sometimes the government uses communication tools in an attempt (that is probably somewhat successful) to influence citizen's opinions. But we can't simply ask the government to stop providing information, as much of it is useful or even essential to functioning in our private lives and as a country. As I said, I'm not sure how to make sense of this article in terms of the other articles assigned or in terms of librarianship in general.