A rare opportunity to discover international trends and developments in access to government information is presented to you in selected papers from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East , Oceania and Russia. Originally presented at seminars and open sessions of the IFLA Government Information and Official Publications Section (GIOPS) over the past five years, the papers have been thoroughly reviewed and updated by their authors. As this volume illustrates, providing access to government information in whatever form presents enormous challenges. Issues range from basic to sophisticated: public access, including censorship; legislation, facilities for the user, including training; and the possibilities for enhancement of on-line information, through maps, statistics, videos, and sound. Underlying all is access and use of government documents to increase political literacy. The editors highly recommend this book to practitioners of government document management, to Reference and Public Service staff, to library educators and to the information literate in all walks of life.
