About CNS Library
CNS promotes access to information
(CNS): In the same spirit of reader participation with which we launched our FOI section, today Cayman News Service has started the CNS Library, which will provide ready access to valuable information and a place, in this age of transparency and open source technology, where the people of the Cayman Islands can share documentation. The library will be for public documents only – this is not designed to be a place for gossip or to expose any personal information – but the hope is that this will become a useful resource for the general public, including students and journalists, both local and international.
“One of our main goals at CNS has always been to deliver to our readers as much information as possible,” said CNS owner Nicky Watson. “Traditionally, news organizations have been gatekeepers of information – they obtain access to the documents and data and then supply their interpretation of them to their consumers. This is what our hardworking journalist Wendy Ledger does – summarise and interpret the news so that it is easier and less time consuming to digest – but we also, wherever possible, supply the original documents, so that it is available for anyone to read and draw their own conclusions.”
Generally you will find these documents attached to a relevant article in the CNS news pages, but there is also a need to have some documentation in a more accessible format, and this will be the function of the CNS Library.
Over time we will be uploading all the documents we have into our library, including some important laws, with relevant links to more information, and we will also post documents that are sent to us that we think are in the public interest. In addition, if there is a particular document that readers would like to view, the CNS staff will see if it is in our files or post a note to see if any of our readers have it in their possession.
“This is an ongoing and may be a slow process, since it is something that we will work on when we have time, and we are relying on our readers to tell us what they want, point out gaps and to help us collect documents,” Watson said. “This is a project that will evolve as we find out what works and what doesn’t and, as ever, we will be taking note of feedback. However, it is also a never-ending project and one that has enormous possibilities. We could, for example, create a space for photographs if our readers express a desire for this.”
Right now we have begun the process with the Cayman Islands Constitution, the most recent budget and the immigration, labour and freedom of information laws, which we think are some of the most useful. “The laws of the land are not effective if people do not have access to them or know where to find them,” Watson said, “and we have also linked to the relevant entity so it is easy for people to find out more. The FOI Unit, for example, has an excellent guide to making a request but we want to give the public one more pathway to find their website and use this guide.”
She added, “The process gives us and members of the public the opportunity to assess government websites to see if they are up to date, easy to use and comprehensive. One strange omission that we have found so far is that the website of the Employment Relations Department does not appear to have a link to the labour law.”
The link to the CNS Library is on the menu bar. If anyone would like to share a document or comment privately, please email nickywatson@caymannewsservice.com.