Government Information in Canada/Information gouvernementale au Canada, Volume 4, number/numéro 1 (Summer/été 1997)
The Internet presents many possibilities for librarians and researchers who are looking for information by and about local governments. Strategies for identifying and evaluating Web sites are presented and selected key sites are discussed. L'Internet offre plusieurs possibilités de dépistage de l'information par et aux sujet des gouvernements provinciaux pour les bibliothécaires et les recherchistes. Des stratégies dévaluation et d'identification de sites web sont présentées et des sites principaux choisis sont discutés.
The local documents field has traditionally been a difficult one for both librarians and researchers, due to the fragmented and dispersed nature of local information. The absence of a coordinated system for selecting and acquiring the publications of local governments has made the maintenance of a local documents collection a very labour-intensive process. It is a challenge to stay on top of what is happening locally and very difficult to provide any kind of national or international coverage of other urban centres. A further complication is added by the premium on currency in the urban field. Many urban information seekers are looking for current statistical and financial figures, new data on population and economic trends, and recently released policy papers, reports, and council decisions. All of these questions require an up-to-the-minute knowledge of what is available (and where to look for it) before they can be answered. In other words, this is an area in which there is a great deal of emphasis on finding topical information on local policies, trends and issues from an almost limitless number of geographic areas whose publications are not coordinated in any meaningful way.
Enter the Internet: How Can the Internet Change the Ways in Which We Find and Access Urban Information? 1) Regional, National and Global Access The Internet has suddenly made it possible to find out what is going on in Halifax, Houston, or Helsinki. Hundreds, if not thousands, of municipalities worldwide have established Web sites. Of course, the quality and content of the site may vary widely, depending on the municipality's commitment to this form of information dissemination. However, even in the case of those less-than-perfect sites, the Web provides a starting point where once it was impossible to know how or where to even begin a search. In the case of associations based outside the immediate area, it is now much easier to find out what new conferences or publications are planned. 2) Currency In the past, libraries have usually been dependent on annual (at best) directories or publications lists for information on names of key officials and new documents. Again, depending on the municipality's or association's commitment to updating its Web site, researchers now have the ability to find information that is updated to the current month, week, or even day. 3) Publications, Documents, and Legislation The process of identifying new titles, finding out who is distributing them, and what they cost is a time-consuming process. Someone may have heard that a new report has been released, but not have its title or know exactly which agency has issued it. For a locally-based municipality or association, this may mean that several phone calls must be made before the title can be tracked down. For material from beyond the local area, the process of writing a letter, waiting for a reply, trying to guess which items might be useful and then sending in an order, may mean that several months elapse before the "new" document is in one's hands. However, the Internet makes it possible to greatly expedite this search. One of the primary ways in which both governments and associations are utilizing the Internet is to publicize new publications and provide ordering information. It is not unusual for executive summaries or abstracts of new publications to be included on the Web site. In the case of local documents, some municipalities may actually use the Internet to distribute the full text of reports on which they wish to receive public comment. In the areas of minutes and legislation, always difficult to collect beyond the local area, it is now possible to acquire council documents, bylaws, and zoning codes from a variety of cities. 4) Contacts One of the original purposes of the Internet was to allow people to keep in touch with others with whom they shared a common interest. This is particularly important in the urban field. If you are a municipal government official, it means that you can identify and communicate with your peers in other cities who may be facing the same issues as you are. If you are a professor, student, or association member, you can also keep yourself informed about conferences and current research by linking with others working in your area of interest.
Use of the Internet by Local Governments and Urban Affairs Groups or Institutions An excellent overview of the ways in which local
governments are using the Web has been compiled by the Association of Bay
Area Governments and is available on their Web site at http://www.abag.ca.gov/abag/local_gov/examples.shtml.
The types of uses generally fall into the following categories:
A detailed evaluation of the best city Web sites would perhaps have to be the topic of another article. However, to get some idea of the innovative and clever ways that local governments are using the Web, check out the sites for Calgary (http://www.gov.calgary.ab.ca) and Vancouver (http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca). Calgary includes such interesting facts as crime statistics by community, while Vancouver includes full text access to its Council Decisions and Reports. Metro Toronto (http://www.metrotor.on.ca) has recently added its minutes from 1989 to the present and the City of Toronto (http://www.city.toronto.on.ca) has published demographic information on the Greater Toronto Area from the 1996 Census. For a look at a noteworthy American site, try the City of Seattle's PanSeattle site at http://www.pan.ci.seattle.wa.us. It is a good example of a citizen-friendly site whether you are looking for neighbourhood profiles and services or checking out traffic conditions on local freeways. Many local government associations and institutions have also established Web sites. For some, this provides a means of linking with a much larger audience than they would normally be able to reach. As well as a higher profile, this may also translate into increased membership and more publication sales. Even in the case of free publications, the high costs of printing and distribution may make publishing journals or reports on the Web an attractive alternative to print. Examples of professional and institutional uses of the
Internet include:
How the Web has Played a Major Role in A Key Local Issue: The Toronto Megacity Debate A recent and dramatic example of the power and possibilities of the Internet was provided by the ongoing "Megacity" debate over municipal government reform in Metro Toronto. The Ontario provincial government introduced and eventually passed legislation, which will significantly alter the local government landscape within Metro Toronto. Metro Toronto's famous two-tier metropolitan system of government will be dismantled and will be replaced by a single local government. The six constituent municipalities (the cities of Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, York, and the borough of East York) that make up Metro Toronto will cease to exist as legal entities, but will all become part of the new [Mega]city of Toronto. At the same time, other proposed changes to the municipal financial structure province-wide will result in shifting funding responsibility between the province and the cities for the educational system and social services such as welfare and long-term care facilities. The magnitude and nature of these changes excited great controversy amongst the citizens of Metro Toronto and was vigorously opposed by most of the affected local governments. What has been fascinating to see throughout this whole debate is the way in which governments (both provincial and local) and citizens have used the Web to inform and persuade. The Web has been used by both the provincial government
and local municipal governments to disseminate:
It has also been used by citizens' groups (primarily the
anti-amalgamation groups) to release:
Both governments and citizens have also used the Internet as a channel for allowing public feedback, via email messages to provincial and local politicians. How is this different from what would have happened in the past with an issue such as this? For the library, it has meant almost instantaneous access to legislation, transcripts, judicial decisions, and reports that would have taken days or weeks to acquire in print form. For individual citizens, they now have the ability, in the comfort of their own home, to access a staggering range of information on this issue. For a look at the range of information that has been made available on this issue, have a look at both the Metro Toronto (http://www.metrotor.on.ca) and City of Toronto (http://www.city.toronto.on.ca) Web sites, as well as the site of one of the major anti-amalgamation groups, Citizens for Local Democracy (http://community.web.net/citizens/). In the case of the Metro Toronto and City of Toronto Web sites, much of the amalgamation legislation information has been moved from the main page of the site in favour of newer material on the transition to the Megacity. However, as of this writing, most of the information is still available, under "Your Tax Dollar" in the case of the Metro Toronto site and "City Issues" in the case of the City of Toronto. There are now two new Web sites, which are inviting citizen participation on the amalgamation process: the so-called "NewCity" site at http://www.new.city-toronto.org/; and the site of the Toronto Transition Team at http://www.newtoronto.com.
How to Identify and Evaluate Urban Sites
(Plus How to Find What You Want When You Want It)
(3)
There are some general rules and strategies to follow
when trying to find and evaluate any Web site. If you do not already
have an address for a site you want to go to, you will have to create a
search plan. This may involve using search engines or subject trees, or
going to sites that bring together a variety of urban resources as a
jumping-off point. Always keep in mind that the Web has no controlled
vocabulary, no subject headings and there is no way of predicting what
words individuals or groups have used to describe their Web pages.
Before you start any search, you should always clarify
exactly what type of information you are looking for and ask yourself if
the Web is the best place to find it. There are still occasions when
picking up the phone, searching a library catalogue, or using a magazine
index may be the best use of your time.
If you decide that the Web is the best place to look,
take a minute or two to compose your query and think about which search
tools are most appropriate. If you are going to use a search engine,
take the time to learn how to use the ones that you consult most
frequently and always be prepared to refine your search as you go along.
Once you have found a site or group of sites, your work
is not done. You must be prepared to evaluate every site and decide if
it is reliable, authoritative, and provides the information that meets
your needs. The fact that almost anyone can create a Web site is at the
same time the Internet's greatest strength and its greatest weakness.
You, as the user, must be prepared to apply your own criteria when
evaluating any Web site. Some of the questions you must ask yourself are:
Use bookmarks to organize frequently visited sites. As
soon as you start to collect a few sites, separate them under different
subject or geographic headings so that you can find the site you want
easily.
Identifying Local Government Sites
How, then, can one go about compiling a list of useful sites?
Some Key Sites in the Urban Affairs Field
In the world of the Internet, sites change so quickly
that this month's list of "must-see" sites can quickly become outdated.
So, with that caveat in mind, here are some sites that should give
researchers a good start on getting a handle on local government
resources. In almost every case, following the links found on each site
will permit the construction of an impressive list of useful sites.
1) Directories of Local Governments
While it may be useful to bookmark the cities that you
consult frequently, there are so many local government sites that letting
someone else do the work of compiling a list of sites and then using that
site to find the city you want according to an alphabetical or
geographical index is often the most effective way of searching. Using
one of these local government directory sites is often more efficient
than using a search engine or even going through a site such as CityNet
(http://www.city.net), in which you may
have to wade through various tourism and commercial sites before you find
the "official" local government page.
For Canadian cities, one of the best sites is the
Intergovernmental On-line Information Kiosk for Canadian Municipalities
site at http://www.intergov.gc.ca/mun/index.html.
For U.S. local governments try the National City Government Resource
Center at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1389/
or the Local Government subsection of Cyburbia at http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/pairc.
Cyburbia also provides some Canadian and International coverage. Two other
sites specifically devoted to keeping track of city governments
internationally are the International City Government Resource Center at
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/9925/
and the Worldwide Local Government Web Page at http://world.localgov.org/.
2) Local Government Institute (http://www.hsd.uvic.ca/PADM/research/lgi/lgi.htm)
The Local Government Institute Website, under the School
of Public Administration at the University of Victoria, is designed to
assist local government managers across Canada to improve local
government service delivery. For searchers, it provides an easy way to
link up with Canadian municipal associations, such as the Federation of
Canadian Municipalities (http://www.fcm.ca) and other U.S. and
international sites, as well as subject specific urban information.
3) Cyburbia (formerly Planning and Architecture
Internet Resource Center, University of Buffalo) (http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/pairc)
Cyburbia is more than just an information
source for the planning and architecture fields. It is an excellent
example of a site that attempts to bring together a wide range of
resources--almost like an electronic library of sites. It can be used as
a starting point for a specific query and is endlessly interesting as a
place to just surf around. As well as looking at the directories of
local governments, check out the "Governance" section of this site for
links to many, many local government organizations and the "Planning
Documents" and "Land Use--Zoning Ordinances and Regulations" sections for
examples of model ordinances and other documents of interest to planning
officials.
4) Magazines
Municipal World (http://www.municipalworld.com),
a Canadian title, is the oldest continuously published municipal magazine
in the world. Its Web site provides information about local government
and links to other local government resources. The U.S.-based Planning
Commissioners Journal (http://www.webcom.com/~pcj) is an
example of a magazine that offers a Web version with selected articles
reproduced in the full version. Other magazines or newsletters are
sometimes available through local government professional association
sites, such as the ICMA (International City/County Management
Association) site (http://www.icma.org), which includes a
very interesting full-text periodical called Cities International
Newsletter under its "Publications" link.
5) ICURR (Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and
Regional Research) (http://www.icurr.org/icurr/)
This Canadian information clearing house is particularly
interesting because ICURR has chosen to put its library holdings in a
searchable form on the Web. Anyone may search the catalogue and
registered members can order items by email.
6) LOGIN (*subscription required) (http://www.lihost.com/login/index.html
BUT user ID and password required to move to the first screen)
The Metro Urban Affairs Library is a subscriber to this
U.S.-based information service, which is composed of local government
innovations, submitted by municipal government officials. You must be a
subscriber to use this service and, unlike ICURR, you cannot browse any
part of the site without being a member. For more information on the
LOGIN service and a sample of the database, go to http://www.login-localgov.com.
Some Unresolved Information Storage and Retrieval
Issues
I hope that this article has demonstrated not only the
very real usefulness of the Web today, but the tremendous future
potential it has for making local and urban information readily
accessible to a worldwide audience. While our experience with the
Internet in the library has been overwhelmingly positive, there are a few
issues (beyond "why has the *$! system gone down?") with which we are
currently struggling.
One relates to downloading and printing. As we saw in
the section on the Megacity, a tremendous amount of background material
is available on the Web. How can we incorporate this material into our
collection and library catalogue, so that when, a year or ten years from
now, someone comes in and wants a specific report we will be able to find
it? Do we have to download and print everything in order to be assured
of a hard copy? What happens in the case of a document or set of
submissions that is several hundred pages long if the issuing agency does
not offer the option of purchasing a print version?
Another issue relates to retrospective coverage. Even in
the short time (i.e., the last nine months) that we have been monitoring
the local government sites for amalgamation information, some material
has been dropped from sites in favour of newer documents. Again, does
this mean that we should download or make a hard copy of everything as
soon as we see it, in case it is not there next week? Retrospective
coverage of minutes or committee transcripts is another area where
librarians have concerns over future government policy. Is there a limit
to how much retrospective coverage will be provided on the Web? Must we
continue to receive (and, in some cases, pay) for print copies in case
one day, a year from now, we go on the Web and realize that last year's
agendas, reports, transcripts have been archived and are no longer
accessible?
In a way, both of these issues are part of a larger
question: how will we integrate the Internet into our network of
information resources, whether it be in a library setting or on a
personal level? In the library, we are just now getting over the "Oh my
gosh, will you look at that!" stage and heading into the "Yes, that's
fantastic, what do we do with it now?" period. Since what we have looked
at today would have been completely unimaginable five years ago, it is
probably futile to predict where the Internet is going. What we can do,
as librarians, academics, and government professionals is to make sure
that we involve ourselves by being as knowledgeable as we can
and making our information needs known to Web site publishers
everywhere.
Notes
[1] May be cited as/On peut citer comme
suit:
Judy Curry. "Finding Local Government Information on the
Web," Government Information in
Canada/Information gouvernementale au Canada 4, no. 1 (1997).
[http://www.usask.ca/library/gic/v4n1/curry/curry.html] [3]
The section on general rules and strategies for finding and evaluating
Websites is based on training material prepared by Heather Kessler of the
Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library's Systems Development Department.
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