Tips for Locating FOIA Responses Online

 The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) recognizes the public right to access government information and enables the public to submit requests to federal government agencies for information that has not otherwise been made publicly available already. Agencies are required to disclose the information in response, unless it falls under one of the nine exemptions, covering information related to national security, law enforcement, and more.

Where else can researchers find FOIA responses? A recent article in the College and Research Libraries Newsletter highlights several electronic reading rooms, government, and non-government websites. For example, the CIA and the EPA are among the agencies with their own agency-specific FOIA archive online. Other governmental websites that are helpful in FOIA research are presidential libraries, data.gov, and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).