Events and Presentations
Outreach is an important component of OGIS’s work. We hope to see you at a future event.
FOIA Requester Roundtables
OGIS, along with the Office of Information Policy (OIP), co-hosts a series of roundtable discussions with FOIA professionals and the FOIA requester community. These regular sessions focus on issues surrounding requests made for various types of records, such as law enforcement records, records about third parties, and contractor and other business-related records, as well as the procedural issue of document referrals and consultations. These sessions provide an opportunity to participate in the exchange of ideas and help increase understanding of the issues surrounding these various topical areas.
Previous Roundtables and Topics:
*May 19, 2011 – Topic: Law Enforcement Records
*July 14, 2011 - Topic: Document Referrals and Consultations
*October 19, 2011 - Topic: Contractor and Other Business-Related Records
*January 24, 2012 -Topic: Records on Third Parties
*April 25, 2012 - Topic: Searches for Records: Challenges and Opportunitites. Hosted at OIP
July 25, 2012 - Topic TBD. Hosted by OGIS
Upcoming Roundtables:
October 24, 2012 - Topic: The Intersection of the Privacy Act & FOIA. Hosted by OIP
Where:
OIP's Conference Room
1425 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 11050
Washington, DC
or
National Archives and Records Administration 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (enter on Constitution Ave. side between 7th and 9th streets)
Washington, DC 20408-0001
Time:
10:00 - noon
Registration is required to attend each Requester Roundtable. If you are interesting in attending, for OIP hosted roundtable, please e-mail your name and phone number to OIP Training Officer Bertina Adams at DOJ.OIP.FOIA@usdoj.gov. For the OGIS hosted Roundtable, please send your name and phone number to ogis@nara.gov. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note, you must also present government-issued picture identification to enter the buildings. If you have any questions regarding these events, please contact OIP's Ms. Adams at (202) 514-1010 or OGIS at 202-741-5770.
Previous Events and Presentations
Dispute Resolution Brown Bag/Teleconference: "Dispute Resolution’s Impact on the FOIA Framework"
Tuesday, October 16, 2012 – 11:00 a.m. to 12:30
OGIS -- 800 N. Capitol Street NW, Suite 795, Washington, DC
Sponsored by the Interagency ADR Working Group
Open Government is on everyone’s minds these days and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a key component -- not to mention the original Open Government law (FOIA was first passed in 1966). FOIA also can be a contentious arena for requesters and agency personnel alike. Preventing or resolving disputes that arise in the FOIA context, and avoiding litigation, is a natural. To that end, Congress recently created a federal office – the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), within the National Archives and Records Administration – to provide mediation services to FOIA requesters and federal agencies, as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation.
OGIS, in collaboration with NARA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, presented (slides
) a short introduction to how Dispute Resolution (DR) and FOIA are offering a common meeting ground. How does OGIS work with requesters? How can agencies use OGIS’s services and how can they use DR skills at the earlier possible time to make the FOIA process go more smoothly? What kinds of cases has OGIS handled in the past three years? Where are the opportunities for DR practitioners and for FOIA professionals? What are the barriers to this emerging area of DR?
Presenters: OGIS staff, including Director Miriam Nisbet, along with the Director of NARA’s RESOLVE Alternative Dispute Resolution program, Jean Whyte
Congressional Testimony
March 13, 2012: Director Nisbet testified on "The Freedom of Information Act: Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure and the Public's Right to Know" to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate.
March 17, 2011: Director Nisbet testified on the "Administration of The Freedom of Information Act: Crowd-Sourcing Government Oversight" to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Watch the Congressional Hearing Part One | Part Two
- About the Hearing
- Miriam Nisbet’s testimony
March 15, 2011: Director Nisbet testified on "The Freedom of Information Act: Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in the Digital Age" to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate.
March 18, 2010: Director Nisbet testified on the "Administration of The Freedom of Information Act: Current Trends" to the Information Policy, Census and National Archives Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives.
September 30, 2009: Director Nisbet testified on "Advancing Freedom of Information in the New Era of Responsibility" to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate.
Presentations
OGIS staff members have attended a variety of conferences and sessions to discuss freedom of information and open government issues including:
- American Bar Association
- American Society of Access Professionals
- Brookings Institution
- Coalition of Federal Ombudsmen
- International Council on Archives (ICA) Congress (OGIS Director Nisbet's keynote address)
- Investigative Reporters and Editors
- National Freedom of Information Coalition
- Society of Professional Journalists
- World Bank
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