With the June quarterly link check looming next week, activity continues at the State Agency Databases Project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. For a full listing of activity in the past week, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are the customary highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

CALIFORNIA (Joel Rane)

Nautical Fiction List - An annotated bibliography of novels, along with some short stories, poetry and drama, on the subject of the oceans or seafaring. Searchable by author.

Georgia (Chris Sharpe)

OASIS (Online Analytical Statistical Information System) - Set of interactive tools used to create maps, tables, or charts from Georgia's health data repository. It is currently populated with Vital Statistics (births, deaths, fetal deaths, induced terminations, pregnancies), Hospital Discharge, Emergency Room Visit, Arboviral Surveillance, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), STD, Motor Vehicle Crash, and Population data.

TEXAS (Ann Ellis)

Texas Medical Board "Look Up a Doctor" - Within this database, patients, consumers, doctors and other health care professionals can locate health care providers and institutions, medical suspensions, various rules and regulations, statistical reports, and practitioner demographics arranged by date.

NEW MISSOURI RESOURCES ADDED TO BIOGRAPHICAL DATABASES

Despite the page name of Biographical Databases, this page also contact static biography resources because project volunteers thought this would be valuable. Missouri volunteer recently added these resources to the page:

Governors - Chronological list of the governors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Lieutenant Governors - Chronological list of the lieutenant governors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Secretaries of State - Chronological list of the secretaries of state of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Auditors - Chronological list of the state auditors of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Treasurers - Chronological list of the state treasurers of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
Attorneys General - Chronological list of the attorneys general of Missouri with party, term, home county, and dates of birth and death.
State Legislators - Alphabetical list of state legislators including party, office, county/district elected, and years served. Covers 1820 - 2000.
Officers of the Missouri Senate and House - Chronological list of officers, including President Pro Tem-Senate, Secretary of the Senate, Speaker of the House, and Chief Clerk of the House, for each session. Covers 1820 - 2011.
Judges of the Missouri Supreme Court - Chronological list of judges with home counties and terms served. Covers 1820 - 2011.
U.S. Representatives - Alphabetical list of Representatives of the U.S. Congress with district, party, and year elected.
U.S. Senators - Alphabetical list of Senators of the U.S. Congress with party and year elected.

In addition to the changes mentioned above, Joel Rane, volunteer for California also added a large number of links to California university library catalogs.

Activity continues at the State Agency Databases Project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. For a full listing of all activity during the past two weeks visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d. Here are some highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

MARYLAND (Siu Min Yu)

Maryland Vital Records -- Search for death records in the State of Maryland. Please read the Vital Records Indexing Project information before starating your search. To search, click the link "Search MD Vital Records" from the upper left hand side of the page.

WASHINGTON (Marilyn Von Seggern)

Search Case Records - Search for a case by court date, case number, or personal or business names associated with a case. A separate Name Search looks across court levels, and an Attorney Search finds district and municipal court proceedings associated with a Bar Number.

WYOMING (Karen Kitchens)

Wyoming Legislation - This library of legislative materials contains journals, or digests of the journals, from the first territorial legislature that convened in 1869 up to the present. It also contains digitized bills from 1873 to 2000, in addition to bill actions—a record of actions done on each introduced bill—from 1957-2000.

LET US KNOW ABOUT PRESENTATIONS OR DERIVATIVE PROJECTS

If you have used information from the State Agency Databases Project in a presentation or in a derivative project, we would love to hear from you! Send an e-mail to the project coordinator at danielcornwall@gmail.com and we will note and/or link your talk/project from our page.

The past two weeks have been active ones at the State Agency Databases Project (http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases). For a full listing of activity during the past two weeks, see http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d. Here are some highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

ALASKA (Daniel Cornwall)

Alaska Geologic Data Index - From the website: “AGDI includes information about industry reports and maps, field notes, drill logs, and other unpublished geology-related data. The archived data are held and controlled by government agencies, institutions, and private companies; the index points to the physical location of the data, provides a basic description, and contains information on accessibility.” Data can be selected by clicking on a map or conducting a search. The "more options" search allows one to search by keyword, author, title, project, year range and location. The search may be limited by data source, data set type, themes or commodity.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (Susan Paterson)

Legislation Information Management System - The Council’s Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) is available for the public to view the status of a Bill or Resolution, Legislation by Council Member, Legislation by Committee, Text of a Bill or Resolution, A Council Member’s Voting Record, Contract Summary, Legislation by Co-Sponsor, A List of Legislation, Text of an Act, Legislative Meeting Agendas. You can search for legislation by keyword.

MARYLAND (Siu Min Yu)

Attorney Listing - Search for attorneys admitted to practice in the State of Maryland by name.

MISSOURI (Annie Moots)

All Contributions & Expenditures Search - Search for campaign contributions, expenditures, and committee to committee contributions multiple ways back to 2002.

WEBINAR USING PROJECT PAGE POSTED

This past week project volunteers were happy to see a presentation on Alaska agency databases and other information resources that relied heavily on our Alaska project page. The webinar is titled Databases By Alaskans and the archived version is viewable at http://library.alaska.gov/is/video/databasesbyalaskans2013.html.

It was another busy week at the State Agency Databases Project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases.

For a full list of last week's activity, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are the week's highlights:

PAGE REORGANIZATION

April Sheppard reorganized the Oklahoma page into the project's standard format. We hope this will make Oklahoma resources more directly comparable to those listed for other states.

DATABASES ADDED

COLORADO (Samantha Hager)

Minority and Women-Owned Businesses - a searchable database of minority and women-owned businesses from the Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Find businesses by name, topic, or NAICS.

MARYLAND (Siu Min Yu)

Waste Kitchen Grease Transporters Search - From the website, "Search here for certified transporters of waste kitchen grease. You may search by the type of certificate, the name of the company registered, or the license plate of the vehicle registered."

SOUTH CAROLINA (Ed Sperr)

State Salaries Over $50,000

WYOMING (Karen Kitchens)

Wyoming State Trademarks - This database covers state trademarks issued between 1906-current located at the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. New applications and renewals are added monthly. This database will ultimately include the inactive applications and mark images for Wyoming trademarks located at the Wyoming State Archives, back to the first state trademark in 1881.

PROJECT WIKI SEEN AS USEFUL TO JOURNALISTS

We were pleased to learn that State Agency Databases Project got a brief shoutout from staff at NPR Stateimpact. At around the 52 minute mark of Basics of Data Journalism (April 11, 2013) at http://vimeo.com/63929281, the "State Agency Databases wiki" compiled by ALA is cited a very useful resource. We're happy to see the news of this project get beyond the library community.

Finally, this will be the last activity report for April due to some vacation time. We expect the next activity report will be May 5th.

Video from NPR Digital Services on the value of government information resources in journalism. Provides examples of data driven stories, discusses where to find data and how to effectively use data without making "rookie mistakes." Also contains information on using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to get data not currently accessible.

If you watch till the end, you'll see a mention of the usefulness of the State Agency Databases project at about 52:00.

As March link checking was completed, activity has slowed at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. But we reached a a major milestone as we once again have full coverage of the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

We started the year with six or seven "orphan" states but that was quickly whittled down to just Hawaii, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Those stayed in the orphanage for a couple of months and recruiting here and govdoc-l wasn't helping.

So three of our project volunteers stepped up and took on second states. I'd like to offer a loud round of applause to:

• Jenn Zuccaro, for taking on Hawaii in addition to West Virgina.
• Paul J McDonough, for taking on Minnesota in addition to Vermont
• April Sheppard, for taking on Oklahoma in addition to Arkansas.

Now, for this week's activity. You can find a full listing of all the week's changes by visiting http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are some highlights:

DATABASES ADDED:

MICHIGAN (Michael McDonnell)

GeoWebFace - GeoWebFace is a mapping service provided by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. It can be used to access all kinds of geologic information. Accessible layers are too numerous to list here but include; mine and quarry data, geologic and hydrological information, land ownership and leasing information, and the location and type of oil and gas wells. There are also links to USGS topographic maps.

WASHINGTON (Marilyn Von Seggern)

Fertilizer Product Database - Database of fertilizer products currently registered for distribution in Washington. Two major pieces of information in the database are the nutrient guarantees and the levels of nine heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, mercury, molybdenum, lead, nickel, selenium, and zinc) found in the product and for which the state has developed soil loading standards.

SUBJECT PAGE ACTIVITY

HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER DATABASES (Lynn McClelland)

Louisiana

LPN Disciplinary Actions - Current disciplinary actions, by type

Historical LPN Disciplinary Actions] - Lists of disciplinary actions, back to November 1997.

It's been a very busy two weeks at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. For a blow-by-blow list of everything that happened, see http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d. Here are some highlights:

DATABASES REMOVED

The following searchable databases appear to have disappeared from their state web presence.

Illinois Facts - Search for business and quality of life information about Illinois. Areas that can be searched include agriculture, energy and recycling, film, industry, taxes, technology, and transportation. Formerly at http://www2.illinoisbiz.biz/ilfacts/.

Montana Statewide business directory. Formerly at http://www.b2bmt.com/.

West Virginia inpatient condensed database - Searchable databases of patient discharges. There is a separate database for every year since 2000 which can be searched by many criteria, including sex, age, diagnosis, procedure, provider type and payor group. Database includes this disclaimer, "Data elements which alone are not sufficient to identify an individual, but which in combination raise unacceptable possibilities that patients could be identified, are classified as protected. All data will be released only in cell sizes greater than thirty. Data with cells with thirty or fewer cases will be suppressed" Formerly at http://www.hcawv.org/DataAndPublic/data.htm. Some static data appears to be available at http://www.hca.wv.gov/data/Pages/default.aspx.

DATABASES ADDED

ALABAMA (Paula Webb)

Local Government Records Microfilm Database - contains records from local, county and municipal offices, such as the probate office, tax assessor, and orphan's court. Most of the original records remain in the originating office.

ILLINOIS (Blaine Redemer)

District/Official Search - Using either a mobile version or the desk top version one can enter an address or district number and find the Congressional and Legislative information superimposed on a map and detailed in a box to the side. There is also a drop down box to find contact information by County. One may also choose between road, aerial or both types of maps.

MASSACHUSETTS(Ellen Richardson and Jennifer Ekblaw)

Massachusetts Archives, 1629-1799 - 18 digitized volumes of documents from the Massachusetts Archives, ranging from international affairs to local concerns. A range of documents covers the early statehood period, religious affairs, tax records, judicial actions, legislative activities, and relations with London, other British colonies, the French colonial government, and Indian Nations, and many other things. See the http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arccol/colmac.htm volume descriptions for more information.

MONTANA (Susanne Caro)

Traveler Information Map-Search for directions and road conditions.

NEW JERSEY (Qraig de Groot)

New Jersey Mayors Directory Search - Searchable by county, municipality, or name of mayor. Provides basic contact information as well as start and end dates for each mayoral term. (Note: Added by a GODORT wiki user)

SOUTH DAKOTA (Brenda Hemmelman)

South Dakota State Parks Directory - From the website: Home to breathtaking scenery, abundant wildlife, and exciting geological wonders, South Dakota offers visitors a range of things to do and see!

ADDITIONS TO SUBJECT-BASED PAGES

OFFICIAL RECORDS DATABASES

Alabama

Alabama Church and Synagogue Records Collection Database] - This is an index to the Alabama Church and Synagogue Records Collection.

Massachusetts

Passenger Manifest, 1848-1891 - Record of immigrants who arrived by ship in Boston, MA from 1848-1891. Search by first or last name, name of ship, or date.

Vital Records 1841-1910 - Birth, death, and marriage records for all of Massachusetts from 1841-1910. Search by first or last name and/or town. Note: searching alternate spellings, e.g., Smith and Smythe recommended.

With the advent of the March updating season, the past two weeks have been very busy for volunteers at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases.

That is, except for Hawaii, Minnesota and Oklahoma. These pages have languished for over a year without a volunteer documents specialist to care for them.

If you would like to brighten the day of one of these pages by adopting them, read through the project's volunteer guide, then contact Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com.

On to our extensive activities. For a full blow by blow report of updates and other activity for the past two weeks, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d. Here are the highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (Susan Paterson)

Recreation Centers and Pools - Find swimming pools, basketball courts, before- and after-school care programs, and other programs at parks and recreation centers in the District of Columbia. Also can find status of projects improvements and permit facilities.

KANSAS (Pam Crawford)

Photo Library - From the web site: "The KGS Photo Library is a collection of photos of different subjects from around the state. These photos may be used for any non-commercial purpose; if you use a photo, please credit the Kansas Geological Survey. To select photos to view: (1) click on one of the terms under the Subjects menu, (2) enter a term (or terms) in the Keywords search, or (3) use one of the three maps to select photos by county, physiographic region, or highway."

NEVADA (Kathy Edwards)

Teacher Licensure - Search for the credentials of a public school teacher by entering the teacher's name or license number.

NEW HAMPSHIRE (Linda Johnson)

New Hampshire Vital Records Information Network Web Query] Search for birth, death, marriage, and divorce events. Data very current for most statistics. Password required.

OHIO (Audrey Hall)

Utility Information - Find utility information by street address.

NEW MATERIAL ON "NOT DATABASES" PAGE

In the course of searching for databases, our project volunteers come across interesting and/or useful resources that fall outside of our project scope. Rather than just forgetting these resources, we post them to our "not databases" page.

In the past two weeks, two resources have been added to this page:

Smart Consumer - From the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, separate pages directed toward parents and children, teens, young adults, adults, and older adults raise awareness of potential scams. Recommendations about what to know and what to do are given for various scam topics.

New York State Vital Statistics - The tables listed here provide information on vital statistics in New York State, such as mortality, birth rate, marriage and population.

Activity this week at the State Agency Databases project (http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases) was focused on renovations to the Maryland page. More on that in a moment.

ORPHANS - WE'RE STILL STUCK AT THREE, PLEASE HELP OR SPREAD THE WORD

Our tally of states in need of volunteer document specialists is stuck at three as no one came forward this week to claim any of the following:

• Hawaii
• Minnesota
• Oklahoma

If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting.

If you're NOT interested in adopting one of the states above, would you please forward this note or blog about the opportunity? Maybe someone you know would like to share or deepen their knowledge of Hawaii, Minnesota or Oklahoma produced databases. Thank you in advance for your forwards and reblogs.

DATABASE ACTIVITY

As mentioned at the top, all of the database activity this week can be attributed to Siu Min Yu, volunteer for Maryland. Some of the databases added to Maryland this week include:

Appellate Court Opinions in PDF - From the website, "Only reported opinions are available here. Reported opinions appearing on this website may not be the final, official version of the text of Appellate Court opinions/orders. Only the bound volumes of the Maryland Reports and Maryland Appellate Reports contain the final, official texts of the reported opinions of the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals."

General Assembly, Code of Public General Laws of Maryland - From the website, "The Code is arranged by subject matter and organized into “Articles” (e.g. Transportation Article), which are further subdivided into “titles”, “subtitles”, “sections”, “subsections”, “paragraphs”, subparagraphs”, etc."

Maps and Map Data - Search the GIS Map and Map Data Portal.

Water Quality Mapping Data - A searchable database containing hundreds of water quality maps.

Trademark Search - Search the Trademarks & Service Marks Database in the State of Maryland. From the website, "The list which results from your search is made up of summary information filed with the Office of the Secretary of State of Maryland. This information may not reflect the most recent information on file. The last updated date below does not necessarily pertain to the database information to be searched."

This week featured continued activity at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases.

WELCOME PAM!

Pam Crawford officially adopted the Kansas page this week and immediately got to work on a number of updates.

ORPHANS - THEN THERE WERE THREE

The adoption of Kansas leaves us with just three states waiting for volunteer government information specialists/enthusiasts to adopt them:

• Hawaii
• Minnesota
• Oklahoma

If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting.

DATABASE ACTIVITY

For a complete picture of activity on our project this week, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are some highlights:

DATABASES ADDED

FLORIDA (Wilhelmina Randtke)

CHARTS Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set - Includes such health statistics as births, deaths, disease morbidity, behavioral risk factors, communicable diseases, chronic diseases, maternal & child health, environmental health, injury & violence, social & mental health, and population characteristics.

KANSAS (Pam Crawford)

Addiction Treatment Centers - Searchable by zip code, county, or city.

MARYLAND (Siu Min Yu)

Maryland Funding Accountability & Transparency - Search by agency making a payment, by vendor receiving a payment or by zip code of a vendor receiving payment. From the website, "This is a public web site which allows citizens of Maryland and visitors to search and view summary information on payments made to vendors that received $25,000 or more for the respective fiscal year. Information is currently available beginning Fiscal Year 2008."