Minutes of the Predecessor to the Congressional Research Service http://www.thememoryhole.org/crs/lrs_minutes.htm The Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress, has for decades produced thousands of fact-rich, unbiased, nontechnical reports to members of Congress regarding a variety of issues. The CRS itself does not distribute these reports to the public in any way. You can't order paper copies from the CRS, read them in the Library of Congress, or officially get them online (although copies of some reports are posted without CRS approval). Nor can you get an index of reports that they have produced in the past. CRS publishes a website only for members of Congress that contains some, but not all, of its recent reports and briefings. As an arm of Congress, CRS is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Service has stated that it works for Congress, and that it is not responsible for making its reports available to the public. The CRS has actively opposed dissemination of its reports on congressional member websites, and has terminated one or two such experiments during the last few years. Unlike almost every other government agency or establishment, the CRS has neither opened for historical research nor deposited in the National Archives and Records Administration its permanent historical records, including decades of analytical reports, reports that are primarily factual in nature. The CRS has recently become embroiled in controversy when one of its reports suggested that the President's warrantless electronic surveillance of Americans appears to be illegal. Last year, researcher Michael Ravnitzky reviewed and obtained copies of selected minutes from staff meetings of the CRS's predecessor, the Legislative Reference Service, from 1947 to 1953. Interestingly, these meeting notes show the organization wrestling with the same problems over 50 years ago - distribution of the reports; avoidance of controversy; whether the reports should contain analysis and recommendations or simply state facts; whether reports should arrive at conclusions; etc. We also see issues that likely are still cropping up behind the scenes at the tightlipped agency - whether other governmental bodies should be allowed to clear reports before they're presented; how to handle classified material; and so on. A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>