SLA forms Government Information Division

Information Outlook, Jan, 2005

SLA has created a new Government Information Division, the 25th professional interest network within its membership. The SLA board of directors approved the new unit during a recent meeting.

SLA member Richard Huffine, manager of the National Library Network for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, led the petition drive among SLA members to create the new division. "I saw a need for stronger community among the staff of libraries and information centers within the U.S. government," Huffine said. "But the fact remains that government information professionals at national, provincial, and local levels around the world, as well as those who care about or depend upon government information and data, should come together to build community and strengthen one another."

Huffine and John Butsch, project manager at the U.S. Department of Labor's Wirtz Labor Library, will serve as interim co-chairs of the division.

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The new division was created to bring together those interested in the value, organization and management of government information sources with those responsible for the provision and improvement of government information services. It will serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on the value and use of government information and government libraries and information centers.

The SLA Government Information Division has begun to accept members effective. Queries should be directed to membership@sla.org until the division's Web site is operational.