Harold C. Relyea

A specialist in American government with the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service, Harold Relyea provides detailed reports of how journalists use FOIA that have supported efforts to preserve and expand the act.

He has been responsible for principal research and collection of FOIA data for the past 25 years. Joining the library in 1971, he quickly became involved doing research and analysis for the House Subcommittee on Government Information, the successor to the Moss committee, which developed the Freedom of Information Act.

Over the years, Relyea has played a strong role in the formulation of government information policy, during the time of the 1974 and 1986 amendments, the 1976 Government in the Sunshine Act, and in the 1996 campaign to pass EFOIA, the Electronic Freedom of Information Act.

In May 2008 Relyea received the Director’s Award from the Congressional Research Service. “The award recognizes excellence in work that serves the Congress, directly or indirectly, in research, analysis and writing or operations, service and support,” CRS said.

He has received at least two dozen CRS Special Achievement Awards and two Library of Congress Meritorious Service Awards (1988, 2001).

Relyea has served on editorial boards for Government Information Quarterly, International Journal of e- Government Research, Journal of EGovernment, and Journal of Information Technology and Politics. He has written more than 300 articles and reviews and is author, editor or coeditor of 13 books and monographs.