President Barack Obama is moving fast to restore transparency in the Executive Branch, and confidence in the nation’s libraries and archival systems. On his first day in office, he made two major decisions with a significant impact on how we regard our libraries and other means of access to public documents. Quoting Justice Louis Brandeis‘ observation that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” Obama reversed two substanital policies of the Bush administration. For one, he overrode the “Ashcroft memorandum” regarding the Freedom of information Act. His new presidential directive, addressed to all Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, states, “The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” The memorandum mandates that agencies “take affirmative steps to make information public” and not to wait for specific requests. This is in direct contrast to former Attorney General John Ashcroft‘s memorandum directing government agencies to withhold information wherever possible, effectively stonewalling FOIA requests. And in his second move toward greater openess in government, Obama revoked the November 2001 Executive Order of President Bush restricting the release of presidential papers. The bill had passed the House earlier but was stalled in the Senate. Now, with the President’s move, Senate approval is no longer necessary. In an article in The Dallas Morning News, Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University said, “This is the earliest and probably the most emphatic call for more open government from any president.” The article goes on to stay that President Clinton took nine months to issue his first directive regarding government records. “‘It’s a whole new attitude,” said Steven Aftergood, head of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. Not bad for day one. Justice Brandeis would be proud.