About Us

SIG/IFP helps ensure that ASIS&T members are aware of legislation and regulation affecting the information field and/or members of the information professions. It provides venues that encourage research on and discussion of current and emergent information policies as they affect society. It also promotes awareness of state/provincial, national and international policies of public and private entities.

Officers

At the end of 2004, Shelley Warwick (Queens College) stepped down as chair, and John N. Gathegi (Florida State) was elected 2005 Chair. Dr. Gathegi put together a team to run the affairs of the SIG, which consisted of the following individuals: Jeffrey Forrest (Metropolitan State College of Denver) as Secretary/Treasurer; Suzanne Maze (William Woods University) as Web Manager; Anastasis Petrou (London) as Newsletter Editor; and Cindy Campbell (California Lutheran University), Janice Swiatek-Kelly, Albert Arko-Cobbah, Keith DeWeese (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago), Nadia Caidi (University of Toronto) as Correspondents. Terry Maxwell (University of Albany) remained as the Listserv Moderator.

Activities

1. The SIG's most important achievement this year has been the development of its web site. Although this was a priority of both the outgoing and incoming chair at the beginning of the year, the goal was not realized until recently, when we found the services of Eric Allam, a student at Florida State University's College of Information who volunteered to design the SIG Website. The College also agreed to host the web site while it is being developed. This website may be viewed at www.ci.fsu.edu/ASIST-SIG-IFP.html. The other priority has been to develop a newsletter and this will probably be folded into the website.

2. SIG-IFP also donated $500 to the SIG-III for their International Paper Contest on International Digital Libraries and Information Science & Technology Advances in Developing Countries.

3. For the 2005 ASIST Annual Conference, SIG-IFP sponsored the panel The Moral Legitimacy of Intellectual Property and Copyright as Policy and Code: Librarians, Pirates, and the Myth of the Intellectual Commons. Randall Kemp, Pnina Shachaf, Kenneth Einar Himma, Cavinda Caldera, and Kathryn Clodfelter were the presenters for this panel.

4. SIG-IFP also co-sponsored, with SIG-III and SIG-HFIS, the panel Re-Visiting the Neutrality of Technology. Marija Dalbello, Kalpana Shandar, Nadia Caidi, and Thomas Froehlich were the presenters for this panel.

5. This year's business meeting, as well as a program planning session for 2006 are scheduled to be held on November 1, 2005 from 7:30am to 8:30 am in the Park Room of the Conference Hotel in Charlotte, NC.

Finally, I am formally requesting by this report that any funds in the SIG account be rolled over to next year.

Respectfully Submitted,
John N. Gathegi