Articles Posted in Library Technical Services

David Badertscher*

How trustworthy are state-level primary legal resources on the Web? The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) published the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources (Authentication Report) that answers this very important and timely question. The comprehensive report examines and draws conclusions from the results of a state survey that investigated whether government-hosted legal resources on the Web are official and capable of being considered authentic. The survey was conducted by the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee of AALL. The principal authors and editors of the comprehensive report were Richard J. Matthews, Editor in Chief of the 2005-2006 Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee and Mary Alice Baish, Executive Editor, AALL Washington Affairs Office; volunteer authors were responsible for sections within the comprehensive report devoted to individual states. The survey and comprehensive authentication report could not have been completed without their efforts.

The Authentication Report follows the publication in 2003 of AALL’s State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information that researched and reported what, if anything, state governments were doing to meet the enormous challenges of ensuring permanency and public accessibility of government information on the Web. The Permanent Public Access Report raised national awareness and encouraged states to take steps to ensure permanent public access to electronic state government information. As a result, several states have enacted legislation requiring permanent public access.