UpFront with NGS: FOIA

Showing posts with label FOIA. Show all posts

06 July 2016

50th Anniversary of FOIA Recently Celebrated

50th Anniversary of FOIA Recently Celebrated

Hard to believe that we’ve been able to make Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for 50 years!

Better yet, as we celebrated the anniversary of this bill on the 4^th, President Obama Signs FOIA Reform Bill into Law on 50th Anniversary.

Some features of the reform, as reported above are:

· the law's mandate for agencies to operate from a presumption of openness, ensuring that information is withheld only under one of FOIA's nine exemptions

· paves the way for the creation of a single online portal to accept FOIA requests for any agency, similar to FOIAonline, already in use by 12 agencies and offices

· FOIA exemption 5, which allowed agencies to withhold privileged information indefinitely, will limit the withholding of "deliberative process" documents — such as memoranda, letters and drafts — to 25 years

FOIA is a great resource for genealogists and family historians. It’s also NOT just about Federal records. Open government initiatives exist in most states and may also be found in effect for local government also. The National Freedom of Information Coalition has information on State-level Freedom of Information (FOI) resources. You also might want to check out the Open Government Guide.

Here is a video about the 50^th anniversary of the Federal Law.

In my experience, there are many genealogical queries that I made historically using FOIA that are now handled in a more streamlined fashion. Have you found the same?

What FOIA requests have you made as part of your genealogical research? Were the records acquired through such an FOIA all that you hoped for?

Editor’s note: Related Upfront with NGS posts -- FOIA Mapper -- FREE tool to facilitate making FOIA requests (2016), FBI Records -- The Vault (FREE Access to select FOIA requested documents) (2015), New Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Portal! (FOIAonline, 2012), National Freedom of Information Coalition (2012)

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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15 April 2016

FOIA Mapper -- FREE tool to facilitate making FOIA requests

Earlier this week we posted New York City marriage Records Indexes 1908-1929 online & FREE to access which was about the eventual success of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) type request for access to records by Reclaim the Records.

Last month there was a new tool released to actually help you figure out about doing FOIA requests and it is discussed in What should you FOIA? There’s a new tool to help you figure that out.

Years of FOIA requests taught Galka that there was no easy way to determine which organization had the information he wanted. What format was the information stored in? What language should he use to ensure his request actually got fulfilled? Over time, he realized there were ways, including requesting FOIA logs, to get a sense of the hidden landscape.

"There exists an enormous body of information sitting out there, not documented," he said. "So in theory, everyone has access to it, but practically speaking, it's hard."

As a result, Galka launched FOIA Mapper, described by him ...

I have learned a few ways of identifying these hidden record systems.

In some cases, information about these record systems can be inferred from online documents (for example: public RFP documents, Federal Register notices). In other cases, information about record systems can itself be obtained via FOIA (for example: database relational schema, lists of FOIA requests made by other people).

FOIA Mapper compiles this information into a centralized catalog of government records, searchable by topic.

It seems like it would have applicability to genealogists and our research with regard to federal government agencies.

I haven’t yet played around with it much and if you have, what do you think?

Will it benefit family historians and if so, how?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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15 July 2015

FBI Records -- The Vault (FREE Access to select FOIA requested documents)

It’s amazing how a couple of years can go by and then I’m reminded of a resource. That is the case with FBI Records: The Vault.

Obviously the description provided has not been updated since it says the same things it did back a couple of years ago! The collection has definitely expanded in the intervening years and the best way to get a summary view of how is to click on “Recently Added” (right hand side navigation). You can also search, check out the A-Z index, or look into a particular category.

This is the type of resource that is unlikely to talk about your ancestors directly, unless they were infamous, and it is great for giving you historical context.

I was reminded of Emma Goldman after watching a historically-based TV show where she was mentioned. I had done some research on her and various collaborators back in 2006 and I put in a bunch of FOIA requests to the FBI, NARA and elsewhere. Maybe some of those papers are now part of this collection!?! Most of her entries in this database are related to Julius Rosenberg.

Did a particular topic catch your eye?

Did you find a relative mentioned?

Editor’s Note: Related posts include FBI Digitizes Millions of Files -- I wonder if in the future genealogists will benefit ?!?! & Using FBI Files for Genealogy Research

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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18 October 2012

New Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Portal!

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) queries are often very important to our genealogical research. Though, we are often challenged on how to best make our request given that every Federal agency, State agency and County agency seem to have their own means of handling such queries. I don’t know about you and I will do just about everything possible before I start jumping through hoops to make an FOIA query.

Historically, I would make requests and because the responses would come in 6 months or longer afterwards, I’d have to figure out why I had placed the request! And, I'd have to dig through my files for any related paperwork.

Now, making our life a little easier, a few of the Federal Agencies have banded together and created a centralized online site, FOIAonline. This website lets you request information and track your requests from participating agencies. Also, you can search other people's requests without a need to submit your own request. Information you can search varies by agency.

Currently, participating agencies are: The Department of Commerce (except the US Patent and Trademark Office), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of General Counsel of the National Archives and Records Administration, Merit System Protection Board, and Federal Labor Relations Authority.

To learn more about the nitty-gritty of using this site, check out the FOIAonline Public Users Guide.

I do hope that in the future, we find more and more agencies participating.

Have you recently filed an FOIA request via FOIAonline or elsewhere? How did it work out for you?

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

24 September 2012

National Freedom of Information Coalition

Serendipity again! I recently stumbled across a website for the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC).

This happened as I reading an article “Pike County (Indiana resident, newspaper sue health department to access death records” (published in the Evansville Courier & Press) and wanted to see if there was a follow-up.

EVANSVILLE — A Pike County resident and the Evansville Courier & Press are suing the Vanderburgh County Health Department to obtain access to cause of death information contained on death certificates maintained by the health department. The newspaper and Rita Ward of Winslow, Ind., contend the death certificates are public records, while the health department interprets state law to require it to restrict access to them...

I found that the blog for NFOIC summarizes state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and local open government news items every Friday and then other news items are blogged regularly.

Additionally, there is a section where information for ALL State Freedom of Information laws is provided (along with sample FOIA Request letters for all states).

FOIA laws are very important to genealogists since documentation generated by local and federal entities can be very important to our genealogy and family history research.

Sunshine Week, celebrated around the March 16 birthday of James Madison, reminds us of the importance of records access and also the power of grass roots initiatives to keep our government open. And “open records” are vital to us!

Part of the Sunshine Week Toolkit of Editorial Cartoons -- Credit Steve Greenberg, Los Angeles

Tell us of a recent success you’ve had in gaining access for yourself or other genealogists and family historians into records previously unavailable and yet invaluable!

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com