Authentication Initiatives
from the Fall, 2007, FDLC
[NOTE: GPO conducted an online review of authentication initiatives on October 30 and this presentation can be viewed through their OPAL Archive.]
This presentation reviewed initiatives at GPO and AALL concerning the authentication of online material, a major concern of law librarians, lawyers, judges, etc. GPO's FDSys will authenticate deposited content based on who makes the deposit, retain the authentication information as part of the "package" that all material is stored with, and will display the authentication/integrity mark to the end user, to prove that the document is authoritative and unaltered. A complete "chain of custody" documentation can be viewed if desired. They are currently individually authenticating 110th Congress laws but hope to have a batch authentication system in place for laws early next year. Here is a page that outlines GPO's authentication initatives.
AALL convened a national summit earlier this year on this important topic and a couple of librarians involved in the meeting, and associated surveys of AALL members, reported on the status of online authentication around the country. They are somewhat concerned that some states have completely eliminated print distribution of official documents, but do not have in place sufficient authentication safeguards, not to mention permanent public access commitments. The summit proceedings linked to above include a wealth of material presented there, including survey results. AALL is currently working to find model state laws and procedures and best practices to address the problems they see in this area.
There were two other presenters at this session who provided very interesting, although somewhat "old-fashioned," viewpoints on this issue. They were from the House of Representatives office which provides the U.S. Code, and from the Supreme Court, the Reporter of Decisions who is in charge of distributing the U.S. Reports. Both of these gentlemen came down firmly on the side of having the print version as the ONLY official version of laws and legal decisions, and gave very persuasive arguments in favor of their views. However, what about those states that aren't printing things anymore? [KA]
