Public Library
One controlled knowledge base for the authorities, records, standards, system practices, decision materials, claims, conclusions, disputes, and unresolved questions used across Awake Foundation research, education, case studies, reform work, practical tools, and public media.
Public Knowledge is the method and discipline. The Public Library is the organized collection produced through that discipline.
A public library is more useful when each consequential proposition can be traced back to the material capable of supporting it. The objective is not merely to accumulate files. It is to preserve a controlled source trail that can be inspected, reused, corrected, updated, and connected across projects.
Keep different kinds of knowledge distinguishable.
The Public Library uses the same seven-category taxonomy as Public Knowledge. These categories describe what kind of knowledge a record contains or helps establish.
1 · Authority
What governs? Statutes, regulations, judicial authority, enforceable rules, contractual duties, and other controlling legal obligations.
2 · Facts & Records
What happened? Documents, communications, dates, payments, reports, observations, recordings, measurements, data, and other records of events or conduct.
3 · Standards & Policies
What is supposed to happen? Policies, professional standards, manuals, guidelines, protocols, ethical rules, promises, and stated procedures.
4 · System Practice
How does the system actually operate? Workflows, scripts, routines, incentives, tactics, information flows, and recurring administrative practice.
5 · Decision Record
How was this result produced? Investigation, inputs, calculations, reasoning, recommendations, approvals, denials, notices, responsible decision makers, and review.
6 · Claims & Conclusions
What is asserted, interpreted, or inferred? Allegations, explanations, interpretations, competing claims, inferences, and conclusions remain connected to their supporting basis.
7 · Unknowns & Disputes
What remains unresolved? Missing records, conflicting accounts, disputed propositions, incomplete information, unanswered questions, and genuine uncertainty.
Build records that can be reused, tested, and corrected.
A useful library record should tell the reader not only what the source is, but what role it plays, what proposition it can support, and what limits apply.
Knowledge Type is not Proposition Status.
A record may be an Authority record, a Facts & Records record, or another knowledge type while supporting propositions with different epistemic status. Keeping those axes separate helps prevent classification from being mistaken for proof.
Directly checked against the relevant source within the stated limits.
Material support exists, though qualifications or competing interpretations may remain.
Credible conflict remains among facts, sources, authorities, parties, or interpretations.
The available knowledge does not permit a responsible conclusion.
A claim has been made, but the underlying factual proposition has not been independently established.
A conclusion has been drawn from known information and should remain distinguishable from the underlying facts.
A recommended change remains distinguishable from current authority and current system practice.
One library. Different functions.
The surrounding pages serve different purposes. Keeping those purposes separate reduces duplication and makes the source trail easier to follow.
The method and discipline for distinguishing what governs, what happened, what should happen, how the system operates, how decisions were produced, what is claimed, and what remains unresolved.
The controlled repository for the records produced, collected, classified, preserved, corrected, and reused through that discipline.
The specialized collection for statutes, regulations, judicial authority, procedural rules, official guidance, legislative materials, court practice, and related sources used to determine what governs.
Analytical work that draws from controlled records while making the question, source trail, limits, status, and unresolved issues visible.
Applied examination of real events that connects experience to record, authority, system question, Public Knowledge, Systems of Trust, and informed conclusion.
Applied bodies of work that may draw repeatedly from the same controlled records without requiring the source to be duplicated for every project.
Begin with controlled collections that are already mature enough to use.
Authorities Library — Insurance Transparency Reform Collection
- Federal, California, and Colorado authority records with stable source links and structured entries.
- Material includes governing authority and related sources such as official guidance, court-practice material, legislative history, and opinion mirrors where identified.
- Use / limit notes help prevent a source from being asked to establish more than it actually supports.
- The collection can support multiple projects without requiring duplicate source records.
Library Governance
- Create one controlled source record where one source supports multiple projects.
- Let webpages, research papers, projects, and case studies point back to that controlled record.
- Preserve superseded material when history or version control matters rather than silently replacing the record.
- Record corrections and verification history so an improved source record can improve every publication that depends upon it.
- Keep proposition-level support and limitations visible.
Keep the Axes Separate
- Knowledge Type describes what kind of knowledge the record contains.
- Proposition Status describes the status of the proposition being asserted or examined.
- Source Type describes what kind of source the item is.
- Analytical Role describes how a source is being used in a particular analysis.
- Source Host identifies whether the material is official, mirrored, archived, preserved, or otherwise hosted.
- QC History records verification, correction, supersession, and review.
A source should not be asked to establish more than it actually supports. Authority establishes what governs. Facts and records help establish what happened. Standards and policies show what is supposed to happen. System Practice shows how the system actually operates. The Decision Record shows how a result was produced. Claims, conclusions, unknowns, and disputes remain visibly distinguishable.
Learn what governs. Examine the relevant facts. Distinguish what is known from what remains unresolved. Test the system to reach informed conclusions. Decide where trust is justified, then choose an informed path forward.