Jennifer LaFleur is the data journalism editor at the Center for Investigative Reporting, and has years of experience filing requests for government data. She shares indispensable tips on working with agencies throughout the process, knowing your rights as a requester and crafting stories about transparency.

NYPD is notorious among reporters as being about as transparent and open as a bank vault. But with the release of the complete listing of all forms used by the agency allowing users to make targeted requests, they’ll find it a lot harder to fall back on the blanket “too vague” rejection.

After reading a bit about the Guantánamo Bay library, and how John Grisham’s books were banned from it, I filed a few requests for more information. Three years and a half-dozen agencies later, and what little information that has been released came from a completely unrelated inquiry.

The FBI file of James A. Hood, who led the push to desegregate the University of Alabama, includes a letter he sent to J. Edgar Hoover seeking reports about crime statistics, which the Director denied. A year later, the Freedom of Information Act went into effect to ground such requests in legal entitlement rather than an official’s good will.

MuckRock teamed up with MIT researcher Chris Peterson to conduct an unprecedented public records survey of complaints submitted to Massachusetts public and school libraries. Out of more than 1,000 libraries that have responded so far, fewer than 20 have had challenges since 2010.

The Department of Education’s enforcement wing has spent nearly $100k on guns since 2001, including Glock pistols and Remington shotguns. Since when does Glock qualify as a “small business” for government contracts?

Contracts are often the ideal starting point for investigative projects like MuckRock’s Booz Allen Hamilton deep-dive. Here’s what to look for in a dissecting contract, and how to draft follow-up requests based on what you find.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein has recently opined that the NSA’s call record collection does not fit the definition of surveillance, and that Americans don’t have a right to privacy for this kind of information. So we’ve asked the NSA for hers.

In response to requests for assisting in tracing drugs, the DEA lab developed a method for detecting traces of cocaine as small as .25mg. The problem? A study of Chicago Federal Reserve Bank cash found a third of high-value bills in general circulation failed the test - and that the bank itself was responsible.

The FBI has released 3,853 pages on the March 2004 Madrid train bombing. Root around them yourself and tell us what you dig up!

The government shutdown closed down the majority of FOIA offices, and forced many requesters and transparency advocates to put their requests on ice. As federal employees return to work, request responses are pouring back in.

MuckRock was proud to testify at the Massachusetts Statehouse on Tuesday in support of amendments to the state public records law, which was written in a pre-Internet era when printing cost 20 cents per page. The proposed amendments will streamline public records requests and incentivize agencies to cut costs.

The federal shutdown has forced the closure of numerous government offices, but some departments have kept their FOIA operations up and running.

Complaints submitted to the Federal Trade Commission against Scribd allege everything from copyright violation to conspiracy.

With your contributions, MuckRock has cut a check to the NSA for its electric bills and utility rate agreements for the Bluffdale dataplex. Sharpen up those Sharpies, NSA – we’re coming for your docs.

With the WSJ reporting that NSA’s Bluffdale, Utah data megaplex is melting down every few weeks, MuckRock wants diagnostic reports and the center’s electricity tab. Can you help flip on the lights?

An internal email released to MuckRock shows just many citizens have turned to FOIA after learning of government data collection programs. Thousands of requests have flooded into the NSA FOIA office since June, far exceeding average totals.

Weeks before Edward Snowden’s leaks came to light, MuckRock asked dozens of agencies for contracts with mega-consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, his former employer. We’ve been deluged with the records that have come in so far, so here’s a chance to give them a look yourself.

The government shutdown that took effect on Tuesday has had widespread impact on a variety of public services and infrastructure. This includes a number of FOIA offices that have gone dark, a number of which have vowed to resume processing requests once a compromise is reached. One bright spot: the Pentagon’s fax machines are still on!

When MuckRock asked numerous government offices for copies of their contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton from the last five years, we received a range of responses, from digital copies within a few days to flat out denials, stating that the agency couldn’t, or wouldn’t, find the contracts at all.

The stalemate in Washington that has brought the government to its knees is stemming the free flow of information, too.

The City of New York’s Law Department says it will need five weeks to work on a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. In this time, officials might determine an answer. Or they might just figure out how long it will really take.

In most of America, you could buy a home for $270,000. Or, if you were a public documents wonk, you could get all of the 95,000 pages the FBI says may relate to its work with Booz Allen Hamilton in the last five years.

Massachusetts-based disability civil rights activist Eileen Feldman has sharpened her records request skills considerably since filing her first FOIA in 2005. She insists that using public records in activism takes effort and vigilance, and pleads for everyone to demand documents in electronic format.

In 1952, the U.S. Military appears to have commissioned a report from Duke University’s Durham NC School of Medicine on ExtraSensory Perception in Dogs. The final report was 16 pages. 16 pages that have never been, as far as I can tell, released publicly.