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Issued on 1966, the Freedom of information act is certainly the most famous law regarding the right of access to public information. Often mentioned with the Privacy act, this text could be very important also for services to users for public, research or other kind of libraries. Importance connected with the necessity of giving to a user who is looking for a subject all the possible kind of information, traditional or not. So the opportunity to give the access to the documents produced by the United States public administration could be very useful for a library user.After a brief talk about the problem of the sources that can be useful for a panoramic view on the Freedom of Information Act, the law is examined more detailed.Using the FOIA. it's possible to ask government agencies to disclose certain types of records.FOIA defines an agency in that way: the agencies, offices and departments of the Executive branch of the federal government; independent federal regulatory agencies; federal government-controlled corporations. But FOIA does not apply to the federal entities, like the Congress, the Federal Courts or executive office staff such as the White House Chief of Staff, State and local government agencies or private organizations.There are also three exclusions and nine exemptions. If a record falls within any of these, an agency may refuse to disclose it, or denies the existence of the record itself if it falls within the three exclusions.It is important to remember that these exemptions are not mandatory, but discretionary. That means an agency can choose to release records to you even after it has determined the records fall within one or more of the above exemptions. The agency can also choose to give access to a record after the portions which are exempt have been deleted from it. There must be other two circumstances to access the record required. The agency record must already exists, because FOIA does not require an agency to create a record just to satisfy your request. The record must be within both the possession and the control of the federal agency at the time you make your FOIA request.The law establishes also times and costs for the answer of the agency and the eventual administrative appeal.It's a good practice to make a request under both Freedom of information act and privacy Act.The Privacy act, issued in 1974, give the right to U.S. citizens or permanent residents to ask government agencies about records regarding themselves. The Privacy act provides low costs and less exemptions.In 1996 the Freedom of information act was amended to be confirmed to the electronic documents.At last a brief comparison between FOIA. and the Italian situation gives the evidence that the Italian law n. 241 of 1990, Nuove norme in materia di procedimento amministrativo e di diritto di accesso ai documenti amministrativi, is better comparable with the Privacy act that with the Freedom of information act ; Issued on 1966, the Freedom of information act is certainly the most famous law regarding the right of access to public information. Often mentioned with the Privacy act, this text could be very important also for services to users for public, research or other kind of libraries. Importance connected with the necessity of giving to a user who is looking for a subject all the possible kind of information, traditional or not. So the opportunity to give the access to the documents produced by the United States public administration could be very useful for a library user.After a brief talk about the problem of the sources that can be useful for a panoramic view on the Freedom of Information Act, the law is examined more detailed.Using the FOIA. it's possible to ask government agencies to disclose certain types of records.FOIA defines an agency in that way: the agencies, offices and departments of the Executive branch of the federal government; independent federal regulatory agencies; federal government-controlled corporations. But FOIA does not apply to the federal entities, like the Congress, the Federal Courts or executive office staff such as the White House Chief of Staff, State and local government agencies or private organizations.There are also three exclusions and nine exemptions. If a record falls within any of these, an agency may refuse to disclose it, or denies the existence of the record itself if it falls within the three exclusions.It is important to remember that these exemptions are not mandatory, but discretionary. That means an agency can choose to release records to you even after it has determined the records fall within one or more of the above exemptions. The agency can also choose to give access to a record after the portions which are exempt have been deleted from it. There must be other two circumstances to access the record required. The agency record must already exists, because FOIA does not require an agency to create a record just to satisfy your request. The record must be within both the possession and the control of the federal agency at the time you make your FOIA request.The law establishes also times and costs for the answer of the agency and the eventual administrative appeal.It's a good practice to make a request under both Freedom of information act and privacy Act.The Privacy act, issued in 1974, give the right to U.S. citizens or permanent residents to ask government agencies about records regarding themselves. The Privacy act provides low costs and less exemptions.In 1996 the Freedom of information act was amended to be confirmed to the electronic documents.At last a brief comparison between FOIA. and the Italian situation gives the evidence that the Italian law n. 241 of 1990, Nuove norme in materia di procedimento amministrativo e di diritto di accesso ai documenti amministrativi, is better comparable with the Privacy act that with the Freedom of information act

Das Abkürzungsverzeichnis gibt in seiner, verbesserten, 2. Auflage den Stand bis März 1990 wieder

In two articles the author presents some key elements from his recently completed thesis about functional, non-intrusive information infrastructures for interorganisational public policy implementation. The development of these information infrastructures requires a new approach, chain-computerisation, based on new concepts and practices. This methodology is vital for public administration, if the problems associated with interorganisational policy implementation are to be overcome. Chain-computerisation recognises the impossibility in many interorganisational settings of implementing government policy, because no single organisational actor has authority over the system. Thus, for example, a Dutch requirement that prisoners serving longer prison sentences must notify the Benefits system so that benefit paid can be adjusted, cannot be enforced because this multi-agency setting is too complex to allow adequate co-ordinated control. What is needed is an informational solution which automatically signals to the Imprisonment system that a prisoner is receiving benefits. Such highly automated communication systems can also protect privacy, in this particular example by signalling that a note must be sent by the prisoner to his benefit agency rather than by triggering enforcement by the Imprisonment system without the prisoner concerned knowing it. This methodology can be seen as emerged from 'lessons learned' during the period that the author was responsible for the development of information policies at the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Chain-computerisation is explained here by means of examples taken from the penal and social welfare systems, but it should be emphasized that the methodology of chain-computerisation can be applied to many other situations where public policy is to be implemented by close co-operation of many autonomous public and private organisations.

The Humbul Humanities Hub was launched in November 1999 as one of the five subject gateways forming part of the Resource Discovery Network's information system, the national British network funded by the Joint Information System Committee with additional support from the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Economic and Social Research Council. Contrasting the alarming spread of the "invisible Web", the RDN, led by the University of Bath (UKOLN) and King's College in London, aims to provide the British teaching and learning community both with an efficient access to high-quality and cross-searchable subject-selected resources and with a series of value-added free tools such as online tutorials and alerting services, making the user feel part of a living virtual community, tailored to his needs. The relationship between the main network, the RDN, and the inner subject-dedicated gateways, the so-called "hubs", relies on a new strategic interplay of mutual, structural and functional, self-mirrorings that exploit the interlinking nature of the Web and inside which the traditional concept of subject gateway is transformed into something more flexible and malleable, easily adaptable both to envelop something external and vaster and to respond to specific, even individual needs. The idea of the hub model is to create inside the broad network a cluster of subject-cut portals, each conceived as a dynamic, self-planned and self-maintained centre of gravity within its own area. This relationship between the parts and whole is developed through a seemingly paradoxical harmony of centralization and decentralization in an interplay of centripetal and centrifugal forces, inventing a new way of connecting resources in a structured yet flexible data Web, never accessible one way only but, rather, always open to a strictly user-conditioned reading, from the general to the specific or viceversa, depending on the user's needs. Imitating the matrix of the main information network, The Humbul Humanities Hub, which originated as a collaboration project between the Oxford University Computing Services and the Oxford Library Services, hosts both a selected collection of Web resources and a collection of value-added subject-orientated news, tools and broker services. Currently Humbul's database can be searched either by keyword through a simple input box or browsing through subject-selected and then type-selected, period-selected or audience-selected areas. Records are catalogued according to the Dublin Core metadata description scheme and following a precise collection development policy which highlights Humbul's overall target to provide access to a selected database of Web resources broad enough to meet the needs of the Web community as a whole but specifically tailored to meet the information demand of a particular audience such as the British teaching and learning community. Never loosing sight of its aim to build a highly-qualified centre of gravity for online information in a defined subject area, the current tendency of the hub is, however, to move in the direction of a new concept of gateway where the user is called upon more and more to participate actively in the life of the virtual community through a series of services, such as the possibility of suggesting resources to be catalogued, or thanks to new tools, such as My Humbul and the recent My Humbul Include that highlight this new user-orientated approach to the subject gateway model, no longer conceived as a closed, static cluster of selected data but as a subject-focused fulcrum, modelled to cater efficiently for a variety of functions: the hub as a flexible, living entity, with infinite possibilities of adaptation and growth according both to intended targets and to the somehow unpredictable rhythm of the Web itself. ; Lo Humbul Humanities Hub è stato lanciato nel novembre del 1999 come uno dei cinque gateways disciplinari facenti parte del complesso sistema informativo del Resource Discovery Network , il portale nazionale britannico sovvenzionato dal Joint Information System Committee con il supporto dell'Arts and Humanities Research Board e dell'Economic and Social Research Council. In contrasto con l'allarmante diffusione del cosiddetto 'invisible web', scopo dello RDN, sotto la guida di una commissione scientifica facente capo all'Università di Bath e al King's College di Londra, è quello di fornire alla comunità britannica del mondo dell'istruzione e dell'insegnamento un punto di accesso funzionale ed efficace sia ad una rete di risorse disciplinari qualitativamente selezionate e fruibili in modo interdipendente che ad una serie di servizi online gratuiti aventi valore aggiunto, come tutorial e servizi di segnalazione, in modo tale da far sentire l'utente parte di una comunità virtuale attiva, ritagliata sulla base alle proprie esigenze. Il rapporto tra il network principale, lo RDN, e i cosiddetti 'hubs', si fonda su un nuovo gioco strategico di rispecchiamenti reciproci, strutturali e funzionali, che sfruttano in modo ottimale la natura interdipendente della rete e in cui il concetto tradizionale di subject gateway si trasforma in qualcosa di più flessibile e duttile, facilmente adattabile sia ad abbracciare qualcosa di esterno e di più ampio che a rispondere a bisogni specifici o addirittura individuali. L'idea del modello 'hub' è quella di creare all'interno del network principale una costellazione di microportali ritagliati su base disciplinare ciascuno concepito come un centro di gravità dinamico, auto-programmato e auto-gestito, all'interno della propria area specifica. Questo rapporto tra le parti e l'insieme si sviluppa attraverso un'armonia apparentemente paradossale di centralizzazione e decentramento, attraverso un gioco interno di scambi reciproci tra forze centripete e centrifughe, inventando un nuovo metodo di connessione delle risorse realizzato all'interno di una rete di informazioni strutturata eppure flessibile, mai accessibile in un unico senso di marcia ma, al contrario, costantemente aperta ad un tipo di lettura strettamente condizionata dalle esigenze dell'utente, dal generale al particolare o viceversa, a seconda delle necessità contingenti dell'utilizzatore. Imitando la matrice del sistema di informazioni principale, Humbul –nato originariamente come progetto collaborativo interno tra il Centro per i servizi informatici e il Settore Biblioteche dell'Università di Oxford- ospita sia una collezione selezionata di risorse di rete che un'ulteriore raccolta avente valore aggiunto di notizie, strumenti e servizi per l'utente entrambe ritagliate su base strettamente disciplinare. Attualmente si può fare ricerca nella banca dati di Humbul sia per parole-chiave attraverso un semplice box di interrogazione che in modalità browsing attraverso aree selezionate per tipo di risorsa, periodo di riferimento e pubblico di destinazione. I record sono catalogati secondo lo standard Dublin Core di individuazione e descrizione dei metadati e seguendo una precisa politica di sviluppo della collezione che evidenzia l'obiettivo fondamentale di Humbul di fornire accesso a una banca dati selettiva di risorse web abbastanza vasta da incontrare sia le necessità della comunità della rete in senso lato che la domanda di informazioni di un pubblico specifico come quello del mondo dell'istruzione e dell'insegnamento britannico. Senza mai deviare dall'obiettivo-chiave di costruire un centro di gravità altamente qualificato per l'informazione via rete in uno specifico campo disciplinare, l'attuale tendenza del modello 'hub' è quella di muoversi comunque in direzione di un nuovo concetto di gateway in cui l'utente è chiamato sempre di più a partecipare attivamente alla vita della comunità virtuale attraverso una serie di servizi, come la possibilità di suggerire nuove potenziali risorse da inserire a catalogo oppure grazie a recenti strumenti come 'My Humbul' e il nuovo 'My Humbul Include', che mettono in primo piano questo nuovo approccio squisitamente orientato all'utente del concetto di subject gateway, non più concepito come un agglomerato chiuso e statico di dati ma come un nodo vitale ritagliato su base disciplinare e modellato per assolvere in modo efficace a una varietà di funzioni: lo 'hub' come un'entità duttile, viva, dotata di infinite possibilità di adattamento e di crescita, in sintonia sia con i propri obiettivi e intenzioni che con il ritmo in qualche modo tuttora imprevedibile della Rete.