GODORT (Government Documents Round Table)

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The mission of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) is to (1) To provide a forum for discussion of problems, concerns, and for exchange of ideas by librarians working with government documents; (2) to provide a force for initiating and supporting programs to increase availability, use, and bibliographic control of documents; (3) to increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians; (4) to contribute to the extension and improvement of education and training of documents librarians.

Learn more about GODORT on the ALA website.

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May Help! Webinar: Declassification of Federal Records and the Establishment of the National Declassification Center

  • 1.  May Help! Webinar: Declassification of Federal Records and the Establishment of the National Declassification Center

    Posted May 01, 2023 02:52 PM
    Edited by Larry Eames May 01, 2023 02:52 PM

    Hello everyone!

    In partnership with the Education Committee, we're excited to present our May Webinar: Declassification of Federal Records and the Establishment of the National Declassification Center.

    The modern classification system for Federal records was established in September 1951 when President Truman issued Executive Order 10290.  This order formalized the definition Top Secret, Secret, Confidential, and Restricted levels, and set guidelines for how this information was protected.  For this and subsequent Executive Orders, protecting "sensitive" information became the primary focus, with declassification addressed without any deadlines or oversight. In fact, declassification did not become a government priority until President Clinton issued Executive Order 12958 in 1995.  This order set an automatic declassification date for classified Federal records and required agencies to identify specific records that were still classified.  The emphasis on classification led to a system that was buried under a mountain of classified information.  When the NDC was established, there was an estimated backlog of 400 million pages of classified information waiting at the National Archives for declassification review.  In a push toward government transparency, President Obama established the National Declassification Center (NDC) in 2010 and directed all agencies to support the Center in the elimination of that backlog.  The NDC led an interagency effort to fix the declassification process and successfully eliminated the backlog in 3 years.  Interagency declassification efforts continue, ensuring that the people have full access to essential documents of the Federal government.  Despite our successes, declassification continues to be a topic of interested with the public and Congress.

    The webinar will be May 11 at 11:00 PT/2:00 ET. You can register here: https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WzrpIwk3RnyuiDhc02tvdg#/registration

    We look forward to you joining us!

    Best, Larry Eames



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    Larry Eames
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