George W. Bush Archives

While the papers of George W. Bush, our 43rd President, are still being processed and are not yet available to researchers, historians, and the general public (that won’t be until January 20, 2014), the National Archives has preserved and is making available the WhiteHouse.gov site as it was on his last day in office.

For more information on GWB’s presidential papers and records, visit his Presidential Library website.

Health-e Cards

Did you know that the Centers for Disease Control has e-cards?  Well, they do.  On the CDC website are more than 150 “health-e cards,” on topics ranging from handwashing and the flu to pregnancy and STD awareness.  Some even have music!  Some of the card covers seem to be a bit over-the-top (and yes, there are Valentine’s Day cards), but the inside message is generally helpful – all of them give tips for handling the relevant health topic, either linking to CDC or outside resources.

(fyi, there is also a Spanish version.)

Happy Memorial Day!

Today most of the nation is observing Memorial Day, a day when we honor those who fought and died for our country.  The ‘official’ Memorial Day is May 30th, and according to the VA:

“Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.”

For a listing of Memorial Day Ceremonies by State, check out the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs web site.  (There are 3 noted ceremonies in Alabama – unfortunately one of them was conducted at 9 this morning.)  In case you’re doing other things with your Memorial Day (such as cooking out or boating), USA.gov has a variety of links to helpful safety tips.

The National Moment of Remembrance also takes place today; established by Congress in 2000, it “asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity.”

Wherever you are, and whatever you’re doing, please have a safe day – and remember to give thanks to those who’ve fought and died to protect our liberties.

Patent and Trademark Seminar at BPL

The Birmingham Public Library is hosting a seminar on researching patent and trademark information later this month.  The event, on May 28th from 9-4, is free of charge, and open to the public.  For more information, including the seminar’s schedule, see the BPL blog.

[Note: BPL is a federal depository library, and is a great source for historic govdocs!]

Annual Meeting of Alabama State Data Center Affiliates

Yesterday I attended the annual meeting of Alabama State Data Center affiliates – this year’s location was Decatur, home of NARCOG (North Alabama Regional Council of Governments).  Representatives from the Census Bureau attended to give various updates regarding Census 2010 (April 1, 2010 is Census Day!)

Some quick info that I came away with:

• there will be a local Census office in Tuscaloosa opening this fall (they’re still hiring people to staff that office)
• this time there will be no long form – that data is now obtained via the American Community Survey, an ongoing project.  the form that you will receive will consist of 8 questions: name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship and housing tenure
• the 2010 Census data will be made available (via American Factfinder) by April 1, 2011.
• technically, a person can be charged up to $5000 for not answering the Census questionnaire.  Given that less than 70% of people filled out the questionnaire in 2000, I think it’s safe to say that this isn’t something the Census Bureau really enforces.  (Census employees swear an oath to keep your information confidential – and if that is violated, they can face up to 5 years in jail and a substantial fine.)
• it’s been estimated that every person counted is worth ~$10,000 in funding to local governments
• out of an estimated 134 million housing units that will be mailed Census questionnaires, the Bureau is estimating that they’ll have to knock on 40 million doors when they’re following up on all of the non-responses.  (So if you’re concerned about wasting taxpayers’ money, send in your form and avoid having people come to your house!)
• the form will be available in 6 different languages; Questionnaire Assistance Centers will be established (with paid employees) and they will have language guides for an additional 53 languages.
• the TIGER files continue to improve re: accuracy of geographic boundaries, following the implementation of the MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Program (MTAIP)
• they’ve developed a website, Census in Schools,  as a way to teach kids (and their parents) about the Census, and how important it is.  The site contains games, quizzes, lesson plans, and more, with special areas aimed at teachers, parents, kids, and teens.  (We had a great time checking out the Alabama State Facts for Students, and as a group we scored 80% on the advanced quiz for teens.

Although I am a user of census data (I’m one of those people who wanted to get the long form, but never did), I never really think about how much local government involvement there is when it comes to collecting that data.  Local governments are the ones who know their boundaries better than anyone; they know where development is occurring, etc. – and they can benefit by cooperating with the Census.  (The decennial census determines a LOT of funding for local governments – and the data can be used until the next decennial census).

I also got to hear about some of the work that data center affiliates have been doing – the presentations were very interesting & I learned a bit more about different data sources in the state, as well as how they use data in their day-to-day work.  I had quite an interesting time – it’s always fun for me to hang out with people who love maps & data!

Changes at Gorgas Library

This summer there are quite a few changes taking place in Gorgas Library, the library on the UA campus that houses the majority of government documents.

1. 1st floor restroom renovations + addition of an ADA-compliant restroom. Due to this construction, the computers available for members of the public (ie, not password-protected) have been removed and relocated to the 2nd floor.

2. Single service point: the main desk on the 2nd floor is now a combination reference/circulation desk.  There you can ask for research/reference assistance, check out books, laptops, etc.  There is an information desk on the 1st floor if you have directional questions.

3. Relocation of materials in the large reference room (West wing).  Due to the move to the 2nd floor desk, the reference collection is being downsized and relocated to what is now the Current Periodicals Room.  The majority of government documents in the Reference Collection will be moved into the Government Documents Reading Room, and placed on the Reference stacks there.

The changes should not impact access to government information – in fact, the changes may end up improving access because some titles will be cataloged, with complete holdings, for the first time!  However, if you have any concerns about accessing government information (either in print or electronically) please don’t hesitate to contact me.

President’s Budget, FY2010

Today President Obama unveiled the first part of his FY2010 Budget.  This is the document (or set of documents) which communicates his funding priorities to Congress.  In his transmittal letter, the president indicates that “This Budget fills out this picture by providing full programmatic details and proposing appropriations language and other required information for the Congress to put these plans fully into effect.”  It is now up to Congress to approve a FY2010 budget for the federal government.

This budget consists of several volumes: Terminations, Reductions and Savings, which indicates certain programs that should be discontinued or scaled back; Appendix (where the real details are, broken down by agency); and the budget overview, “A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America’s Promise,” which was released on February 26th.

In addition to the official budget documents, there are various fact sheets about the budget – fact sheets for each state, fact sheets on key issues, and fact sheets for government agencies.  Some highlights from the fact sheet for Alabama:

• “The President’s budget will mean lower taxes for 1.7 million families in Alabama.  Through the Making Work Pay tax credit, the budget provides a tax cut up to $400 for individuals and $800 for families.”
• “The budget provides Alabama $47.7 million to help increase students’ academic achievement by boosting teacher training efforts and expanding recruitment efforts for effective teachers and principals in high-need school districts.”
• “The budget increases VA funding by $25 billion during the next five years to ensure quality health care close to home for all our veterans, including the more than 416,900 veterans in Alabama.”

Personally, I found it interesting to check out some of the programs slated for termination – and the rationale for that termination.  Some of the proposed terminations are for grant programs – so I’m wondering how that will impact states or universities who receive those grants.  Guess we’ll find out!

DLC09: FDLs and GPO as partners

The Monday afternoon sessions at the DLC meeting were devoted to relationships – the one between GPO and depository libraries, and the one between regionals and selectives.  These sessions were primarily aimed at administrators in the audience (Deans/Directors of all depository libraries were invited to attend the meeting), and we definitely heard from some of them.

Unfortunately, these sessions were a bit frustrating for me.  A) because the same people got up and spoke;  B) because I didn’t really hear anything new.  There were charges that the program is inflexible; there were calls for simplifying the disposal process; it was noted that this program is based on geographic boundaries that don’t mean a whole lot anymore; and there was a call for a “more realistic view of preserving the print collection” and investing “more resources into digital collections.”

[Folks from GPO did indicate that they would soon be announcing the organization that "won" the ability to digitize the older materials & provide them free of charge to GPO.  No announcement has been made as of this posting.]

The 2nd session of the afternoon focused on the relationship between regional and selective depositories – questions were asked about communication, flexibility, etc.  A lot of people find that email (and occasionally a phone call) are still the best methods for communicating.  And the regional/selective relationship varies widely from state to state – even from regional to regional.  I was disappointed that not as many selective depository librarians spoke – because sometimes I think regionals paint a rosier picture of their state than is actually the case.  (And I could be guilty of doing that same thing, but no one’s called me on it yet!)

And really, if I hear one more person complain about disposal lists…I don’t know what I’ll do.  I thought that Ann Sanders (State Library of Michigan) made a very good point in this session.  Basically, she said that we started hearing more about how horrible disposal lists are when academic libraries realized that they need to find space quickly.  Public libraries have already gone through this situation & have dealt with it – but now it’s a big deal because the academic libraries have to do it.

[Again, I think that I'm very lucky here in Alabama. I don't have a lot of selectives; the majority of them have not traditionally selected a huge percentage of material; and we have a few who send requests for disposal on a regular basis.  Those who have had to downsize quickly have reached out to me & asked for help - and we've tried to work with them as best we can.]

So, my impressions of the first day? A bit frustrating for folks – particularly for people who are used to acting, not discussing things to death.  I do wish that the Public Printer had been able to stay for the afternoon sessions – I found it insulting that Library Deans and Directors were invited specifically for the Monday afternoon sessions, and he couldn’t manage to stay past the morning.)

Notes from the Spring 2009 DLC Meeting

[Note: the conference proceedings are available on the FDLP Desktop]

I’ll have some more postings soon – those will be more of a narrative.  Here are just a few items that Depository Staff should know about:

• GPO Access will be going away this fall – once all content has been migrated to FDsys.
• ANTS will be going away at the end of 2009. It is being replaced by a new and improved WEBTech Notes database, which will provide closer-to-real-time updates.
• A new gpo.gov will be launching soon
• The current Public Printer has indicated to the President that he’d like to continue in the position.  He hasn’t heard anything re: staying/not staying.
• GPO received an increase in funding for FY2009 in the Omnibus Appropriations Act (H.R. 1105).  Money has been designated for:
  • Data Storage ($500,000)
  • FDLP Outreach and Online Educational Training ($100,000)
  • Modernization of Item Selection Systems and Other Mainframe-based Applications ($150,000)
  • Cataloging and Indexing Program ($1,000,000) – to cover several projects, including the shelflist digitization/cataloging, authority file work, and automated distribution of records.
  • Continued FDsys development ($1,000,000)
• GPO’s FY2010 request is $166,300,000 [Note: Alabama's District 4 Representative, Robert Aderholt, is the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch .]
• We viewed a video about GPO’s continued efforts to be environmental stewards. (related: GPO is still trying to move to a new building)
• The Fall 2009 Depository Library Conference will be held October 18-21 in Crystal City, VA.