Homeland Security Digital Library Catalog (Naval Post Graduate School)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

The current catalog for the Homeland Security Digital Library. It is described here (https://www.hsdl.org/c/) as containing 179,800 resources. Please produce the catalog as a spreadsheet (not as a PDF document).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Matthew Hoppock

Thank you. I do have a question. The response addresses the availability of the library's holdings to the public. I have not requested that information. Rather, I have requested a copy of the library's catalog.

By this response are you saying the library does not have a catalog?

Thank you.

Matthew Hoppock

The agency failed to produce responsive records it notes do in fact exist. We have requested a list of the library’s holdings. The most recent response says it is not a “catalog” but rather a “searchable database.” Semantics aside, a searchable database should have a list of its contents. We are not asking the agency to create records but to produce the records that already exist.

We can’t search the database ourself. The website says “[o]ver half of the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) resources are not openly available to the public at large.”the agency has not provided an applicable exemption preventing it from producing the list of holdings. Accordingly the adjudication should be reversed.