With the spread of the Internet, some people may think the need for librarians is shrinking, but the Web has created a greater need for librarians not only to manage all the information but also to fight to keep public information open to the public.

Aimée Quinn, associate director of the Montoya Campus Library, spent the last year as the chair of the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association (GODORT). As chair she led her committee to monitor Congress on the issues of increased secrecy of public information, closure of federal libraries and the role of libraries in E-government initiatives.

The U.S. Government is the largest printer in the world, Quinn said. In 1895 the Government Printing Office was established so that records would be available to the people. Now massive amounts of information come from the Government Printing Office, everything from government studies to legislation.

“A lot of information that people use comes from the government, even though they may not realize it,” she said.

The Internet adds a new dilemma to the archiving equation. Quinn said 98 percent of government information can be found on the Internet, but the remaining 2 percent is what people request the most. Depository libraries, which can be found in every Congressional district, house information from the Government Printing Office, but there has been talk of these libraries being closed.

“I don’t think this Congress will close the depositories,” Quinn said.

But the threat remains, and how the information will be saved and archived is still uncertain. The Environmental Protection Agency has already closed some of its libraries.

“The EPA doesn’t archive well,” Quinn said. “They’re closing libraries and there is nowhere to store the information.”

Losing the information forever is now the threat, but GODORT remains committed to seeing that the information is not lost. The group – composed of librarians, publishers and policy makers – works to prepare testimony for Congressional hearings.

Even though Quinn’s term as chair is over, she will still be busy with GODORT work as a committee member and past chair, which means scheduling the national conference for 29,000 participants.