College Records are Public Documents Too

David Cuillier will be speaking at the upcoming COGI-tations lecture, "Digging Digital Docs: The Law and Practical Strategies for Acquiring Government Electronic Records," on September 27, 2010.  Cuillier wrote The Art of Access with Charles Davis of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.  Since there will always be more stories about public records being concealed or revealed, they maintain an blog with the same name. An  interesting recent post described a lawsuit filed by an open government group in California, asking California State University to disclose their speakers contract for a recent appearance by Sarah Palin.  The contract was a public record, Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ruled.  See the story: "Bendable Straws.. Really?"

Upcoming COGI-tations Lecture (in which you will learn there is nothing dry about government records)

If you can get up early on a Monday morning, there's a great lecture coming up on September 27, part of the COGI-tations series from the   Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI). The guest speaker is David Cuillier, Professor of Journalism at the University of Arizona and co-author of the newly-published book, The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records.

Cuillier's talk is "Digging Digital Docs: The Law and Practical Strategies for Acquiring Government Electronic Records."

His book is filled with government record research tips - questions to ask, examples of request letters, and interesting real-life stories.   Fascinating pull-out "Pro Tips" by journalists and attorneys throughout the book are inspiring.

This MNCOGI session will be energizing for journalists, librarians, researchers, and citizen activists.  You'll learn about where to look for government records and how to work with government agencies to get them (and never take no for an answer!). 

The details:

Digging Digital Docs: The Law and Practical Strategies for Acquiring Government Electronic Records

8 - 9:30 a.m.  (Doors open for coffee and rolls at 7:45)
Monday, September 27, 2010

WomenVenture  (map)
2324 University Avenue
St. Paul, MN  55114
(free parking!)

Quote from THE ART OF ACCESS:  "Just as Trump is in charge of his private company, we the citizens are quite literally in charge of our public companies - federal, state and local agencies.  Government employees work for us.  We pay their salaries.  As their bosses, we have not just the authority but the duty to make sure out employees are doing what we pay them to do.  If they aren't we point them to the door.  That's democracy.  Thomas Jefferson said our country is based on government "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.""  (p. 21)