Governor Robert W. Scott, January 14, 1971, State Legislative building. From the General Negative Collection, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
North Carolina state government publications ensure open government — through their ”windows,” the sun can shine on state government information. The Minnesota Historical Society recently published an important paper entitled Best Practice Principles for Opening Up Government Information. This report lists some best practices that could be applied to state publications to ensure open, transparent government.
First, state publications should appear in a timely manner, particularly when information is time-sensitive or needed to inform the public on a ”hot” issue. State agencies can use digital publishing to get publications out quickly.
Second, publications should be easily accessible electronically and, if printed, physically. By submitting copies of state publications to the North Carolina State Publications Clearinghouse, state agencies drop their publications into a distribution system that gets copies into libraries around the state. The Government & Heritage Library’s copy can be checked out via interlibrary loan at any public library in the state or viewed here at the State Library. Finally, state agencies’ digital publications are easily accessible at the North Carolina State Government Publications Collection.
Third, use common standards for digital publications. Almost all digital state publications are published as Portable Document Format (PDF) files, the open standard for electronic publications. Indeed, this is the format used by the Clearinghouse for storing and viewing state publications in the North Carolina State Government Publications Collection. According to Wikipedia, PDF is ”the de facto standard for printable documents on the web.” It is a good standard for state agencies to use due to the ubiquity of PDF readers on personal computers.
Fourth, clearly label state agency publications as works of the government and available without restrictions on use as part of the public domain. As the Minnesota Historical Society notes, “imposition of `Terms of Service,’ attribution requirements, restrictions on dissemination and so on act as barriers to public use of data.”
Fifth, state government publications, whether paper or digital, should be permanent. The citizens of North Carolina should be able to read any state publication over time. Digital state publications should remain available online in perpetuity.
This is where the North Carolina State Publications Clearinghouse’s mission of preservation comes in. By donating paper publications to the Clearinghouse, state agencies ensure that those paper publications will be permanently retained. Digital publications that are emailed to the Clearinghouse also have a safe future. The highest standards of digital preservation are applied to these files, guaranteeing their permanency. Thus, agencies can remove older digital publications from their websites, knowing that carefully curated copies are being preserved into perpetuity.
By following these practices when producing state publications, agencies can ensure the continuation of open government in North Carolina.
