by As I try to catch up on the backlog of rss feeds in my Bloglines account, I came across this and thought I would share (for all those gov pubs enthusiasts – and I know you think it’s your dirty little secret but it’s time to be proud of your love for gov pubs). FirstGov now has a list of many of the US government RSS feeds. A nice neat place to sign up for feeds. I’ll pass on any other neat things that I may have missed over the summer.
Author: theweelibrarian
Declassification System
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the National Archives of the United States new declassification system. After the scandal earlier this year in which NARA removed documents secretly, the archivst is working hard to keep the system more open. It seems fewer documents have also been removed. Let’s see how long this keeps up. Read more about it from the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required).
E-gov Pubs
As I do collections in gov pubs, am I very interested in figuring out what to do with e-gov pubs, especailly when it comes to access and preservation. Two reports have been released from the University of Albany’s Center for Technology in Government. Guess what I’ll be reading over the next while. I’ll pass on any good hints and tips. I’m still intrigued by the use of Internet Archive for documents and will continue to mull over this.
Google’s Done It Again!
Google is now offering a new service: news archives. You can now get newspaper archives, some going back to the 1700s, although not all will be free. You will have the ability to target dates or browse. Take a look at this CNN report on Google’s project for more info.
Update: Also, in case you haven’t heard the news (and you likely have), Google is also providing access to public domain books, making them nice and ready for printing. Check it out here.
Info! Get your Info!
An intersting item from Free Government Information. It seems that 56 000 maps from USDG were held for ransom. Jared Benedict purchased the public domain maps from the USDG for $1600 and threatened to keep them unless he could recoup the cost. Once the cost was recouped, he offered to make the maps freely available to all via Internet Archive. Needless to sat, the money was raised, in less than a day! A very interesting and proactive way of creating access and preserving these maps and offers possiblities for the future, at least in the US.
More free info is being offered by Google. Now you can print off books from the public domain in print-ready format.
Learning all over again
At least, that’s what it feels like when I start to try to walk or sit in Second Life. My adventures in this virtual world continue. I finally left the island to see what else the world has to offer. I’ve been nervous to leave the comfort of an area I understand.
I’ve signed up to provide some virtual reference on the island. The meetings before the service starts (Sept. 6) have been very interesting. A whole new host of issues to consider in a virtual world, along with the standards (ie. privacy, service standards, etc). I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea that a library has to have a place in a world like this. However, this will likely change, for the good or bad, as I continue to read up on gaming and education and become more proficient in Second Life.
Although it seems to be taking up a lot of my time (so much to learn!), I will continue to write about other issues.
The Wee Librarian 2.0
Well, I’m starting my adventure in the Second Life Library 2.0! I’ve created my avatar but she’s still pretty basic. I’m still a pretty wobbly walker and I just learned to sit. I’m hoping to do some virtual reference and maybe even some Canadian gov pubs collection development in the SL Library. I’ll keep you posted. If you’re in the Second Life Library, look for me, I’m Danu Dahlstom
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Trouble coming?
I’m sure many have posted on this, but as a Canadian, this was the first time I took a look at the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) in the States (House Resolution 5319). If passed, it will force schools and libraries to block anything that allow users to post profiles, personal information and allow communication among users or lose federal internet subsidies. This could be a terrible blow to the Web 2.0 movement and seems to be mostly backlash at MySpace. I understand the need to prevent predator’s from approaching children, but educating children on proper use of the web may be the most important step. Despite this being an American resolution, I will be keeping my eye on it, just in case Canada feels the need to follow our neighbours to the south. For more info, check out the post from Techcrunch, which offers links to other sites talking about DOPA.
At Last!
Well, now that you’ve probably everything you ever wanted to read about the major conferences this year, I’m finally able to put in my two cents worth. Today I’ll be concentrating on CLA.
I actually only attended 1 day of the Canadian Library Association Annual Conference in Ottawa, but what a day to go. I attended the Government Information Track, sponsored by the Access to Government Information Interest Group (more news on this group in a moment). The day consisted of 3 panel discussions.
What are you talking about? Interpreting, understanding and answering government reference questions
This panel included Mike McCaffrey, Ian McDonald and George de Zwann. Mike went over the types of questions (bibliographical, directory/services, statutory/regulatory, legislative/political, administrative, statistical and historical) and stated that the road to improvement incorporates literacy (political, arithmetic or statistical, legal), literature in the field, a systematic study of your collection and library schools and colleagues. Ian highlighted the activities of the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC), including the recent merge with the Archives of Canada. George followed with the activities of the Archives of Canada. This was the best attended session, despite it’s early time slot. This highlights librarians ill-ease with government publications and the need to know more about them. With libraries losing gov docs librarians, seeing gov doc reference desks merged with reference desks, and the increasing number of gov docs on the web, it’s not surprising that interest in gov docs reference help is high.
Preservation of Web-based Government Information
John Stegenga, Annemarie Toth-Waddell, and Julie Schwartz formed this panel. All three gave examples of different approaches to preserving web-based gov pubs. John noted LAC’s use of a more homegrown approach. Annemarie of the Ontario Legislative Library spoke of her library’s use of a commercial software. Julie, of the Connecticut State Library, shared her experiences of using a more supported commercial service (OCLC Digital Archive). All stressed the importance of partnerships for the future of web-based gov pubs.
The Future of Accessing Government Publications
Gay Lepkey, Liz McKeen, and Nancy Brodie tackled this daunting topic. A number of problems were highlighted, including the need to keep better statistics for gov pubs use. Statistics will make it easier to fight to keep these important documents. They also highlighted what is being done, particularly by LAC.
Well, a very brief overview of what happened in the panels. As usual, while the sessions were enlightening, I found many of the conversations held between the sessions particularly useful. Conferences are essential to keeping connections and sharing knowledge.
I mentioned CLA’s Access to Government Information Interest Group (AGIIG) as the sponsor of the above track. In addition to teaching a distance course on reference this fall, I have also agreed to become the new Convenor for AGIIG. I’ve got some big shoes to fill and hope I can forward this group further in their work. Wish me luck!
Soon
Yes, the conference wrap-ups are coming soon, the manual should be done soon. Just a thought I came across at The “M” Word that I quite liked to tide you over:
It isn’t about how the library can change your life but how you can change your life at the library.