The Government of Canada’s recent commitment to open government is part of its efforts to share knowledge, increase transparency, and empower citizens. By providing open access to public sector information and data, the government seeks to improve the availability of data to researchers and the private sector with fewer restrictions on reuse of these information assets; citizens are able not only to obtain electronic access to government documents and services, but also to interact with them and give feedback on issues from services to statistics and policy. While the shift to open government offers Canadians greater opportunities to learn about and participate in government, it also raises questions about what it means to be an engaged citizen, how the concept of citizenship might be changing, and how participation in the democratic process might be influenced by the citizenry’s knowledge (mastery) of information literacy: an issue familiar to librarians, but largely neglected by government and policymakers. This session will focus on open government, citizen engagement, and the direct involvement of academic librarians in the promotion, use, and evaluation of different government information available online. Following a short discussion of the concept of open government, the presentation will examine several examples of government information web portals in Canada and present key strategies for academic librarians to empower students and researchers to participate more directly in the democratic decision-making process, focusing on the types of IL skills and competencies that will contribute to shaping an information culture that meets the needs of our time.
