Brown’s Ferry update

Apparently the reactor at Brown’s Ferry Unit 1 was shut down early yesterday morning, after workers discovered a hydraulic leak.  More info is available from the Birmingham News.  So far there’s no updated information on the TVA or NRC web sites.

What Difference Does It Make What Congress Published? – conference program

ALA GODORT’s 2007 Conference Program is entitled ‘What Difference Does It Make What Congress Published? American History in the Earliest Congressional Documents’

2007 ALA Annual
GODORT Program
Washington, D.C.
Monday, June 25, 2007
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

It is not known, for certain, what Congress published during the early years of the Republic, especially prior to the 15th Congress (1817).
Although many Congressional publications from the period 1789-1817 are reproduced in the American State Papers, an indeterminate number are not included, some of which are known from scattered individual library collections. Others appeared with historically significant textual variations from the officially reprinted versions in the American State Papers, or are known through contemporary newspaper or later secondary bibliographic citations. Still others remain undocumented, scattered in individual library collections, unbeknownst even to their collection managers. As a result of the burning of Washington by British armed forces on August 24, 1814, which resulted in the complete destruction of the Library of Congress as it existed at that time, this problem is all the more acute for these very early documents. Due to the pre-eminent importance of Congressional publications as primary sources of information concerning the early history of the United States, establishing a complete inventory of all Congressional publications from this period is a task of basic importance.

The 2007 GODORT Program, co-sponsored by the RUSA-History Section and the ACRL – Rare Books and Manuscript Section, will examine the origins of this state of affairs, the mystery concerning what Congress published prior to the 15th Congress, the variability in the text of individual surviving publications, the consequences for librarians and scholars, and the implications for an understanding of the earliest American history. A presentation by August A. Imholtz, Jr., will address “pre-Serial Set” publications which are not included in the Gales and Seaton American State Papers, and the importance of examining individual library collections, to locate and identify otherwise unknown fugitive early publications of Congress. A presentation by Fred Beuttler will focus on one significant early Congressional publication concerning the “John Jay Treaty,” and the historical repercussions for the longer term of the debate which it inaugurates. Finally, a presentation by Jessie Kratz will discuss early archival material and its implications for an understanding of early Congressional publications and related issues in the early history of the United States. These will be preceded by a Keynote Address by U.S. Congressman Rodney P. Frelinghuysen.

List of Speakers

Hon. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, United States House of Representatives Keynote Address

Mr. August A. Imholtz, Jr., Vice President, Readex Digital Documents Division “The American State Papers: The Incomplete Story, or What Was Selected and What Was Omitted”

Dr. Fred Beuttler, Deputy Historian, United States House of Representatives “The Early House and the Early Presidents: Conflict and Compromise”

Ms Jessie Kratz, Archives Specialist, National Archives and Records Administration “Recovering the People’s Voice: Unpublished Petitions and Their Impact on Publications, Legislation, and History”

Update, June 7, 2007:

I am afraid that I have some bad news – Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen will not be able to speak at the annual GODORT Program, co-sponsored by the RUSA/History section and the ACRL/Rare Books and Manuscripts section, “What Difference Does It Make What Congress Published? American History in the Earliest Congressional Documents.” The Congressman has business back in his district that requires his presence and will not be in town.

However, as every cloud has a silver lining ours is the exciting news that Professor Charlene Bickford, director of the First Federal Congress Project has agreed to step into the breach.

In addition to her work as Director of the First Federal Congress Project Dr. Bickford is affiliated with The George Washington University’s History Department, has been an editor on 17 volumes of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789-1791.   She is he co-author with Kenneth R. Bowling of Birth of the Nation: The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791 and the curator of an exhibit of the same name.  She has authored several articles and lectured on many topics relating to the First Federal Congress.  Known as an advocate for history programs and funding at the federal level, Bickford has also served on the Congress’s Committee on Congressional Records and as president of the Society for History in the Federal Government and of the Association for Documentary Editing.

I hope that you will join us on Monday, June 25th (10:30-12:30 p.m.) in the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel for the GODORT annual program: “What Difference Does It Make What Congress Published? American History in the Earliest Congressional Documents.”

Alabama State Websites: The Commission for Action in Alabama’s Black Belt

In 2004 Governor Riley created the Commission for Action in Alabama’s Black Belt. The Commission aims to “measurably improve the quality of life in Alabama’s Black Belt region by actively working with all citizens of Alabama and any other supportive parties. As someone who is still getting to know the state, and its geography, I was happy to see that the Commission defined Alabama’s Black Belt as consisting of the following counties: Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox.

The Commission’s web site includes some useful information – one of the most useful publications I came across was Overview of Black Belt Action Commission, Commission Charge, Polling, Statistics and Members’ [pdf file]. Unfortunately, many of the other links to publications ended up as broken links. The statistical sources that were linked did not apply directly to the Black Belt counties – although an interested party could compile data on each county from several Federal government sources listed.

The site also links to various newspaper articles containing information about the Commission’s work, and lists Press Releases issued by the Commission. From what I could find, the Press Releases for the current year only are included on the site. While links to newspaper articles go back to previous years, many of them are broken due to redesigned sites.

One feature that I found very helpful is the directories provided on the site – not only are the names of the Executive Committee given, but everyone down to the Project Volunteers has contact information provided.

Bottom line: the site has some very nice features, such as the Directories, and is pretty user-friendly in my opinion. However, it is disappointing that there are so many broken links, and that only the most recent Press Releases and Annual Reports are made available. There’s definitely some room for improvement.

Update: I contacted the Commission staff re: the broken links, and they have now been fixed!

Update #2: I recently found out that Governor Riley has appointed members to the Alabama Rural Action Commission.   Look for more info on that in the coming months.

webcams

Did you know that the State of Alabama’s web site has a listing of several webcams around the state?  Gulf Shores Public Beach has a camera trained on it – in case you’re sitting at work, wondering what you’re missing down on the beach.  They also link to ALDOT Traffic cams that cover the Birmingham metro area.

And apparently, at least two universities in the state have webcams – Auburn and Troy.  Anybody know of others that aren’t linked from the state’s page?

Brown’s Ferry update

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the possibility of Unit 1 being restarted at the Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Power Plant.  Yesterday, the NRC issued a release indicating that they authorized that restart.  This means that Alabama now has 5 operating nuclear power reactors.

HealthInsurance Alabama

Yesterday Governor Riley & Dr. Don Williamson, state public health officer, announced the creation of  healthinsurance.alabama.gov, a web site designed to educate Alabama citizens on health insurance – how to get it and/or how to provide it. As such, there are sections aimed at employers and at individuals.

The web site is a product of theAlabama Black Belt Action Commission (BBAC) Committee on Health – Medicaid/Uninsured Subcommittee and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), includes a listing of all Alabama Health Plans, with phone numbers and links to company web sites. I found the Choosing a Health Plan Checklist to be really handy – along with the glossary. [I never seem to remember what some of those terms mean!]

State Government Tax Collection

I recently discovered a wealth of data on the Census Bureau’s web site related to tax collection.  From the site,

“The State Government Tax Collections (STC) report provides a summary of taxes collected by state for up to 25 tax categories.  These tables and data files present the details on tax collections by type of tax imposed and collected by state governments.”

Data is available from 1992 to 2006 – and the taxes are broken down pretty specifically.  For instance, you can see how much the state of Alabama has collected in taxes on motor fuels, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.  Or see where a particular state ranks in terms of total taxes collected.  [In 2006, Alabama ranked #25.  California was #1 and South Dakota was #50.]  Some of the data is available for download in an excel spreadsheet.

NAL Digital Collections

The National Agricultural Library continues to add historic content to their digital repository, NALDR. In addition to the Agriculture Handbook, the Yearbook of Agriculture, and Annual Reports of the Commissioner/Secretary of Agriculture, NAL is also in the process of digitizing the publications “Fruit and Vegetable Market News Report” and “World Poulty Conference Proceedings.”  The Fruit & Vegetable Market News Report can be pretty useful for determining what crops were shipped or received in particular Alabama counties.  Currently the publication is available back to 1952.

Council Proceedings

While I’ve been posting my take on the proceedings of the Spring DLC meeting, GPO has now posted the official proceedings. They even have podcasts!

And if you have time, check out the beta FDLP desktop – that’s got even more DLC content.  [including photos!]