FW: Request for Support: Yes We Scan
Patrice McDermott
This may be of interest to folks on this group.
The petition and letter can be found at:
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/start-national-effort-digitize-all-public-government-info/15vthgVB and https://yeswescan.org/.
From: Prue Adler [mailto:pr...@arl.org]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 2:05 PM
January 4, 2012
TO: Directors of ARL Libraries
FROM: Prue Adler
RE: Request: Please Sign White House Petition on Digitization of Public Government Information
The White House has instituted an initiative entitled, “We the People, Your Voice In Government.” This new tool allows members of the public to petition the Obama Administration on a range of issues they believe important and that merit greater focus. If a petition garners enough support—25,000 signatures within 30 days—White House and policy experts review it and issue an official response. This is a request that you and your staff sign a recently posted petition on how best to approach digitizing public government information and to do so prior to January 20, 2012.
Digitizing the records and public information of our Government has been a long-standing priority of ARL and its members. A petition entitled “Yes We Scan” was posted on December 21, 2011, by Carl Malamud, President of Public.Resource.Org and John D. Podesta, Chair, Center for American Progress. The petition calls for the establishment of a Presidential commission or a high-level interagency Task Force that will answer within 1 year "what would it take to scan .gov?" What are the federal holdings at the National Archives, the Smithsonian, the National Libraries, and more; what would it take to digitize them; how much would it cost; and what are the economic and non-economic benefits? The petition and letter can be found at:
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/start-national-effort-digitize-all-public-government-info/15vthgVB and https://yeswescan.org/.
Signing any petition included in this new initiative requires signing up for a White House account. Having done it yesterday, it is delightfully easy and quick. Once this is accomplished, signing a petition is very simple.
My thanks in advance and please let me know if I can provide additional information.