Looking to do something in 2009 that you couldn't do in Pennsylvania before?

Well, if you've had questions about the operation of a state or local government agency, Pennsylvania's new and improved Open Records law that went into effect Jan. 1 should make it easier to get some answers.

The biggest change under the law is that a record is presumed to be open to the public. If officials believe a document is not covered, it's up them to establish why it shouldn't be released. Under the old law, it worked the other way around and citizens had to prove they deserved access.

That change in attitude should trickle down to every public office, but some persistence might be necessary at first. It took Pennsylvania a long time to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of allowing access to records, so don't be surprised if some officials aren't entirely up to speed on the details.

Financial records of the Legislature are covered for the first time, as are any contracts and financial records for the state's community colleges.

Did you miss a meeting of your township supervisors? If they make audiotapes, those are considered open records, so you should be able to listen to a recording.

Did it seem as if it took the fire truck a long time to reach the scene of a calamity? Emergency 911 time response logs are public records, which should reflect the time of a call and the time the unit was dispatched, for example.

Which intersections are considered the most dangerous? The state Department of Transportation maintains a list, and that's a public record.

Curious about the background of city employees? Their applications and resumes should be public documents.

Those are just some examples of what should be obtainable under the law. A more comprehensive description of what is covered and what is not is available from the state's newly created Office of Open Records, open records.state.pa.us.

Right-to-know requests can be made by mail, e-mail, fax or in person, although it's best to do so in writing because you'll need a record if you are turned down and want to appeal the decision.

Each agency is supposed to designate an open-records officer. Make sure that person gets the request and date-stamps it, to start the clock running. The agency then has five business days to produce the documents, to refuse by citing the legal basis for doing so or to invoke a 30-day extension for complex requests -- ones that require staff time to black-out confidential portions or to retrieve records stored at a distant site.

If you get no reply within five days, consider the request denied. You then have 15 days to file an appeal with the state's open-records office.

There are directions and form letters on the office's Web site, which can be used to make requests and file appeals. The maximum charge per page is 25 cents, and agencies may not assess additional fees for the time it takes to get legal reviews of requests or to redact private information from public documents. Mailing is extra, but it cannot exceed the actual postage required.

Citizens and numerous organizations, including the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, worked long and hard to get a broader, more user-friendly open-records law for Pennsylvanians. Now's the time to put it to good use.