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ALA engages in promoting the public's right-to-know information created and collected by or for the federal government. The challenges to right-to-know impact public access to records of the federal government through statutory restrictions, administrative actions, and Executive Orders. The ability to obtain access over time to government information that is born digital is another problem.

ALA Council Resolutions

• 2011 Resolution on Access to and Classification of Government Information
• 2008 Resolution Commending the FBI Whistleblower Who Exposed Abuses on the Use of Exigent National Security Letters
• 2004 Resolution on Securing Government Accountability through Whistleblower Protection

Open Government

• August 26, 2022 - Coalition letter to President Biden in response to guidance issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy regarding public access to taxpayer-funded research
• May 9, 2013 - The White House has issued an Executive Order, and a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies,
• February 22, 2013 - John Holdren, director of the White House’s , released a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies. The memo, , is the Obama Administrations response to last year’s .
• May 23, 2012 - President Obama his memo; introducing a new strategy created by the Federal Chief Information Officer, Steven VanRoekel. The memo, ” builds on prior initiatives, including one on improving government websites that were born from .
• December 6, 2011 – The the public’s input on one of the National Action Plan initiatives.
• September 20, 2011 - President Obama released the as a part of the Administration’s participation in the international initiative – .
• January 28, 2011 – CRS released a report, .
• 2010 – ¹Ü¼ÒÆŲÊͼ participates in of the open government plans.
• April 7, 2010 – are by federal agencies.
• March 5, 2009 – Federal Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra announced the creation of .
• December 8, 2009 – The is .
• March 19, 2009 – In response to President Obama’s memo, the Attorney General released a FOIA memo with further guidelines (pdf). According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the guidelines will direct all executive branch departments and agencies to apply a presumption of openness when administering FOIA.
• January 21, 2009 – President Obama released his and his .
• ALA signed on to "."
• Correspondence Archive

Less Access to Less Information

From 1981 until 1998, the Washington Office published Less Access to Less Information by and about the U.S. Government, a selective chronology of efforts to restrict and privatize government information.