FOIA requests have become so numerous at most federal agencies that the wait to get a request processed can be as high as four years. The Justice Department, in particular, receives so many requests for huge amounts of information that it's "killing the system," said former Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern, now a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Stern said there are 750 Justice Department employees assigned to fulfill FOIA requests, but the backlog still is long. Requests generally are processed in the order in which they are received.

Stern and others have suggested avoiding a formal FOIA request to obtain the needed information if possible.

In some cases, both reporters and citizens can avoid such a request by taking other routes to the information.

If a request asks for everything on a subject, for instance, it's going to take a long time. Often requests are overly broad because the requester doesn't know what records an agency has.

A requester would do better to talk to an agency's public affairs office to explain what he really wants to know. Such a narrowed request often can be fulfilled by the public affairs office quickly without the need for a formal FOIA request, Stern said.

"You should encourage tighter requests," he said. "If they ask for everything we've got, they're going to have to wait."

For instance, if the requester needs copies of certain letters, reports or audits that are covered by FOIA, the public affairs officer can send them out without a FOIA request.

"It's an alternative to the FOIA route that still uses the FOIA standards but gives a reasonable document request in a timely manner," said Stern.

Tony Mauro, Supreme Court reporter for USA Today, agreed with Stern that the first phone call should be to determine whether the information is available without a FOIA request.

"At many agencies, a public-minded bureaucrat will sometimes help you get the documents or at least help you fashion a request to improve your chances for quick success," he advises in a tip sheet for reporters.

However, not all public affairs offices are willing to cooperate.

Elizabeth Marchak, a Washington reporter for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, said she filed more than 65 FOIAs with the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies in the last two and a half years for her award-winning investigation of ValuJet safety violations.

"Some were complied with in a relatively short space of time. Some have been in the works for more than two years with no signs of getting resolved," she said.

"I've found some FOIA officers who really love to help reporters who write frequent and detailed FOIAs. They call with suggestions, gossip, file numbers, encouragement," said Marchak. "They seem to take great interest in FOIAs that ask for information others aren't looking for. Then there are those who it appears to me almost gleefully withhold information, as if to say, 'If you want it, sue me.' "

Marchak, like Stern, said knowing how to write FOIA requests is critical.

"And writing appeals is even more critical. Sometimes they make honest mistakes. Sometimes they are just testing you to see what they can put over on you," she said.