FOIA Libraries
Investigating Government, One Document at a Time
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of Information | March 15, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 12
✨Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter exploring how our love of information and connections can help us all thrive, individually and collectively. 🤗
Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, March 15). FOIA libraries: investigating government, one document at a time. Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 3 (12).
Announcements: A big thank you to Canadian reader, Bill Badke, for bringing Evidence for Democracy's new tracker, "Trump’s War on Science and Its Impact on Canadian Research," to my attention. Online trackers and fact-checkers have become popular tools for handling the overwhelming flow of information that defines current political news. You might have already encountered the Trump Tracker when I shared UCSD’s LibGuide on U.S. Government Information a few weeks ago. I've also mentioned before that I use perplexity.ai as one of my go-to fact-checking tools—just copy the content, add 'factcheck this' at the beginning of the search prompt, and hit enter. And prepare to be amazed at how often content—especially political news—even from your favorite credible writer—contains inaccuracies or exaggerations!
In FOIA Libraries: Investigating Government One Document at a Time (Part 1), I introduce FOIA libraries as crucial public resources for accessing federal government records, highlighting two journalists renowned for their skill in hunting down primary sources. I then reflect on internet information behaviors, from the early days to today’s generative AI tools, including imagining kind AI systems and features for tracking and handling FOIA requests and government records. I am developing the concept of civic infophilia, and distinguishing it thoughtfully from civic information literacy. Enjoy!
Jason Leopold, the “FOIA Terrorist”
Jason Leopold, nicknamed the "FOIA terrorist" for his relentless pursuit of government documents, has been documenting a troubling development in his Bloomberg newsletter FOIA Files. Just weeks into Trump's second term, the machinery of U.S. government transparency began to show signs of strain.