2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

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BEST PRACTICES 2012
agencies. We can see from many government agencies’ websites that they have used all
kinds of modern digital communication technologies, including email, blogs, Twitter,
mobile devices, Facebook, Flicker, You Tube, etc. As shown in the screen shot below,
public visitors can easily communicate with White House officials through these modern
devices by clicking on their communication medium of choice.
Figure 1: White House website (Retrieved January 5, 2012 from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/presidential-memoranda)
As the White House Blog recently announced, “WhiteHouse.gov” has created a new
platform called “We the People” to improve the public’s online communication engagement
with the White House. 6 This new tool allows individuals to create or sign petitions which
are automatically reviewed and commented on by the White House staff once a signature
threshold is reached.
On January 6, 2012, the website of the U.S. Department of State announced that the
Secretary of State had declared the month of January to be “21 st Century Statecraft
Month” at the State Department. The Secretary is encouraging everyone to use new
technology and innovation as a key part of foreign policy agenda. In a wide variety of
ways, social media allows agencies to adopt new approaches to meet diplomatic and
development challenges around the globe.
6 White House. We the People: Announcing White House Petitions & How They Work. Retrieved
January 12, 2012: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/01/we-people-announcing-whitehouse-petitions-how-they-work