Principles and Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Web Sites

At its March 24, 2007, Executive Board meeting, the American Association of Law Libraries adopted the Principles and Core Values concerning public information on government Web sites developed by AELIC (Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee). AELIC and AALL believe these Principles and Core Values are essential guidelines that all government agencies should follow when developing websites that provide information to their citizens, the legal community and other users. The Principles as adopted by the AALL Executive Board are available at http://www.aallnet.org/committee/aelic/AELIC_Core_Values.pdf.

Why is this important to law librarians? Because equitable and permanent public access to legal information is the heart of law librarianship. However, changes in technology and the way legal information is recorded, distributed and authenticated are affecting permanent public access to official government pronouncements of current and past statutes, court decisions, administrative actions, etc. The Principles and Core Values address these issues.

Accessibility

Information on government Web sites must be accessible to all people without charge. Government Web sites should provide guidance documents issued by the agency. Web site navigation should be intuitive and easy to follow and the information should be easily searchable.

Reliability

Information on government Web sites must be reliable and trustworthy. Safeguards should be established to protect the integrity and authenticity of materials published in all formats. Government Web sites must provide users with sufficient information to make assessments about the accuracy and currency of legal information published on the Web site. Persistent URLs (PURLs) should be developed for essential information.

Official status

If an electronic version of legal information is official, it should be designated as such by statute or rule. A certifying mark on each item must be used to designate official information. If the electronic version of legal information is not official, the government Web site should name the official version and direct the user to the official version.

Comprehensiveness

Information should be in full text, or instructions should be provided on how to obtain full text.

Preservation

Government entities must ensure continued access to all their legal information including superseded laws, regulations, and other official rulings. The archives storing or housing the information must be comprehensive, including all supplements. Snapshots of the complete database content should be taken regularly and archived in order to have a permanent record of additions, changes and deletions to the data. Lastly, governments must plan effective methods and procedures to migrate information to new technologies.

Three of the core values AALL identified in its 2005 - 2010 Strategic Directions - the role of the law librarian in a democratic society, equitable and permanent access to legal information, and continuous improvement in the quality of justice - are reflected in the “Principles and Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Web Sites.” AELIC is committed to these principles and is working hard to establish these core values.

You can help too - read and share information included in AELIC's Authentication Survey; help AALL monitor government Web sites that provide legal information; communicate your discoveries of exemplary Web sites to AELIC; and attend program C-4 “Official But Not Authentic: The Future of Electronic Legal Information” to be held on Sunday, July 13, 2008 during our annual meeting in Portland. We invite you to comment on our draft guidelines for evaluating a legal Web site at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=dyUaYL8sHNbDz5mCOW_2fyjQ_3d_3d. You can also request from AALL headquarters brochures containing the guidelines which can be distributed at meetings, events, and exhibits.