Paul T. Jaeger - Foundations of Information Policy

ALA Neal-Schuman purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide.

2019 by the American Library Association

Extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of the information in this book; however, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

ISBNs

978-0-8389-1802-9 (paper)

978-0-8389-1896-8 (PDF)

978-0-8389-1894-4 (ePub)

978-0-8389-1895-1 (Kindle)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jaeger, Paul T., 1974 author. | Taylor, Natalie Greene, 1987 author.

Title: Foundations of information policy / Paul T. Jaeger and Natalie Greene Taylor ; foreword by Alan Inouye.

Description: Chicago : ALA Neal-Schuman, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018059482 | ISBN 9780838918029 (paper : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780838918944 (epub) | ISBN 9780838918968 (pdf) | ISBN 9780838918951 (kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Information policy.

Classification: LCC ZA3260.J34 2019 | DDC 020dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018059482

Cover image marylia17.

This book is dedicated to Abigail Taylor, who was born while the book was being written. On the Fourth of July, no less.

Welcome.

The world is a pretty good place, even if the policies can be a bit confusing.

A bove all else, we are grateful to Rachel Chance at ALA Editions for giving us the opportunity to write this book. For many years, the glaring need for a book that introduces the concepts of information policy to library and information science students, current information professionals, and others interested in these topics has been evident, but Rachels suggestion that we could try writing it was the impetus that previously was missing. So, we tried. We hope the resulting book justifies her faith in us. The books copyeditor, Carolyn Crabtree, also deserves our heartfelt thanks for helping us to convey the ideas presented in the book in a clear, consistent, and orderly fashion.

We would like to acknowledge three of our long-term collaborators for the large amount of impact that working with them has on the way we think about information policy issues. You will notice all three names frequently in the citations in this book. Ursula Gorham is our coeditor at the journal Library Quarterly and a constant collaborator and a dear friend. When we began to contemplate this project, she was originally going to be our coauthor but had to drop out due to other commitments. We greatly appreciate her thoughts on the structure of the book and the topics that should be covered in the book. John Carlo Bertot is also a frequent collaborator on information policy topics and was a mentor to both of us when we were each PhD students. Not only have his ideas heavily influenced how we look at policy issues but without Johns guidance, neither of us might be studying policy issues at all.

Finally, and sadly, we must mention our recently departed collaborator John Shuler, who, aside from being big-hearted and an enormously creative thinker, probably worried more about ensuring access to government information than anybody else. With his unexpected passing in 2016 at way too young an age, one of the most important voices in information policy was silenced. As John would frequently remind us, save the cheerleader, save the world is a pretty good metaphor for thinking about policy. We still havent figured out how, but were working on it.

We have workedindividually and collaborativelywith many other folks as well through the years on information policy projects. These collaborators have worked with us on a wide range of information policy issues and encompass an equally wide range of areas of expertise and professions. They include Bradley Bishop, Gary Burnett, Stephanie Cork, Keren Dali, Elizabeth DeCoster, Courtney Douglass, Beth Douthirt-Cohen, Stefanie Ebrahimoff, Kenneth Fleischmann, Jennifer Golbeck, Justin Grimes, Loni Hagen, Derek Hansen, Renee Hill, Kelly Hoffman, Shannon Jette, Gagan Jindal, Sarah Katz, Hernisa Kacorri, Karen Kettnich, Christie Kodama, Jessica Koepfler, Lesley Langa, Elizabeth Larson, Chris Law, Jonathan Lazar, Jimmy Lin, Ruth Lincoln, Lauren Mandel, Erissa Mann, Christopher Mascaro, Miriam Matteson, Charles McClure, Kathleen de la Pea McCook, Abigail McDermott, Jessica McGilvray, Elspith McKay, Rebecca Oxley, Scott Paquette, Johnna Percell, Natalie Perkins, Kaitlin Peterson, Brian Real, Sophie Reverdy, Miranda Rodriguez, Lindsay Sarin, Jeffery Seifert, Katie Shilton, Kate Sigler, Shannon Simmons, John Snead, Beth St. Jean, Amanda Strausser, Mega Subramaniam, Kim Thompson, Emily Wahl, Amanda Waugh, Brian Wentz, Kim White, Susan Wilson, Bo Xie, and Erin Zerhusen. Kelly Hoffman in particular deserves special mention for also giving feedback on some of the specific points in the text that relate to her research on algorithmic literacy. And thats not even a complete list, but it gives a sense of how important collaboration and a wide range of expertise are in the development of perspectives and the creation of new knowledge in an area as complicated as information policy. Youll also notice many of these names in the citations in this book.

We are also truly grateful to Alan Inouye, director of public policy for the American Library Association, and Nancy Kranich, a faculty member at Rutgers University and former president of the American Library Association, for kindly agreeing to share their wisdom and insights in the foreword and the afterword to this book. You will see the ways in which their wealth of experience conveys how very real and important the topics discussed in this book are to the professional life of our field and institutions. Carol Jaeger, mother of one of the authors of the book (you can probably guess which one), copyedited and commented on the entire book and deserves much thanks for helping to make it readable. Brian Taylor, husband of one of the authors (again, you can probably guess which one), provided necessary feedback on our attempts at humor, and Abby Taylor, said authors daughter, is probably the most knowledgeable four-month-old around on information policy due to her (mostly) patient listens to the book read aloud (were considering the board book version as our next project). And, lastly but not at all leastly, a thank-you to Jennifer Cotton of the University of Maryland Libraries for the suggestions related to wombats and goats in the (it will make sense as you read on) and for pointing us toward the Terry Pratchett quotes about the magical power of libraries.

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