Archive for September, 2012
Talking FOIA in a Land Down Under
Note: This year’s International Right to Know Day is September 28, 2012. OGIS Director Miriam Nisbet marks the day with the following post about a recent meeting with right-to-know advocates from around the globe. Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in several events Down Under, where the talk was all about access to [...]
Posted by Carrie McGuire on September 28, 2012, under About OGIS, Message from the Director, Open Government.
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New to FOIA? Get the Citizen’s Guide
Interested in making a FOIA request for government records, but don’t know where to start? If so, we’ve got the resource for you! The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform just released a report titled The Citizen’s Guide to Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request [...]
Posted by Carrie McGuire on September 26, 2012, under About FOIA, About OGIS.
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Teamwork Brings the Past to Life
We at OGIS talk a lot about the importance of teamwork. Though we mostly think about teamwork improving everyday agency processes (such as FOIA) so that they run more smoothly, we recently heard about a cross-agency team recognizing a small opportunity and turning it into a big reward. Between 1946 and 1995, the Immigration and [...]
Posted by Carrie McGuire on September 20, 2012, under About OGIS.
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Checking it Twice: Appeals Provide Necessary Second Look
The FOIA process, as with much in life, provides an opportunity to give our actions a second look. After all, most of us don’t file a major report without asking someone to proofread for errors, right? Or walk out the door without one last check in the mirror? FOIA directs that requesters can appeal “any [...]
Posted by Corinna Zarek on September 13, 2012, under About FOIA, About OGIS, Best practices.
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Back to (FOIA) School: Requester Categories vs. Fee Waivers
It’s back-to-school time—you can practically hear the rumbling of school buses and smell the new No. 2 pencils. As students across the country turn their focus from the swimming pool and summer camp toward reading, writing and ‘rithmetic, what better time for us to revisit some FOIA requester basics? FOIA requesters frequently contact OGIS for [...]
Posted by Carrie McGuire on September 6, 2012, under About FOIA, Best practices.
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