For an in-class assignment.
I. The Arkansas FOI
1. Read the on-line version of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act Handbook. (click on the link).
Read the information under these links:
2. Think about what public records might be available and determine who would be the custodian.
What you have to know to file an FOI Request:
Be sure that you have the correct name of the custodian and the correct address of the place where the records are held. Be sure that you ask for records that are held by the custodian you write to and that you ask the right agency for the information you seek. In other words, don't ask the City of Fayetteville how many tickets have been issued in the parking lots on campus. Those are records kept by the campus Transit and Parking Department.
Set a time limit for the records you want. In other words, don't ask for "how many parking tickets you have given" but "how many since September 1995."
1. Go to the site: http://www.rcfp.org/foi_lett.html, a Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Web site that walks you through the composition of a letter under the federal FOI.
2. Make some notes on how the federal FOI must be different from the state FOI, judging from the questions asked by the letter generator.