The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act has been broadly welcomed by contemporary British historians as a means of increasing access to public records within the thirty-year rule. But the benefits of this formal commitment to open government are untested, and experiences in other countries with FOI or Access to Information legislation have raised a number of shared problems and concerns.

These problems are common among countries with FOI legislation. But there has been very little discussion among historians and archivists internationally about dealing with these issues as well as reflecting on the benefits of access legislation.

This volume will be the first to compare and reflect upon both the successes and difficulties of FOI across the world. Written by an international mixture of senior archivists and historians, it will appeal across the disciplines of history and archive studies.