Libraries Supporting Open Government: Areas for Engagement and Lessons Learned

Abstract

Open Government is an umbrella term that covers principles and practices of re-defining the relationship between government and wider society towards more openness, transparency and participation. Relying on their capacity and expertise in ensuring meaningful access to information and supporting user engagement, libraries can help deliver on these goals. This report explores the roles libraries play in different countries’ Open Government Partnership Action Plans. Within the OGP framework, states and civil society actors work together to set out commitments for reforms, implement and review the impacts in recurring two-year cycles. In different countries’ OGP commitments over the years, libraries and library associations assisted other agencies with the implementation of their commitments, or lead their own initiatives. Offering venues for civic engagement, helping develop tools and platforms for easier access to government records, providing valuable cultural Open Data and more - libraries can play a versatile role in supporting and enabling Open Government. The report outlines the Open Government policy areas that libraries have been engaged in, the roles they took up to help deliver on OGP commitments, and some of the key ways to maximise the impact of library interventions, drawing on the lessons from earlier OGP cycles.