The Government Accountability Office recently identified Preparing for Public Health Emergencies as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue.

There appear to be two librarian produced guides that touch on public health emergencies:

• Government Documents on Health (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999) Last updated 3/10/2008
• Chemical and Biological Disarmament (Grace York, University of Michigan, 2000) Last updated 1/9/2005

Bert's guide is to documents about health in general, but he points to resources like Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Reports, Public Health Reports, the Senate Homeland Security & Govt. Affairs Committee and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which all deal with public health emergencies. There is also the usual Chapman catalog instructions on how to seach for government health policy and reports.

Although Grace's guide is titled "Chemical and Biological Disarmament", the government's response to a mass epidemic would be similar whether or not the disease was man made. Some of the resources Grace includes that policymakers might find helpful are:

• PubMed
• Reading List for Princeton Biodefense R&D Workshops and Seminars
• Rand Corporation bioterrorism page
• World Health Organization

On an unrelated note, Grace's guide has a graphic illustration of boolean logic using Russians and Soviets that I think you'll find very helpful in sharing with the uninitiated.

There is more in both guides. I hope you'll read both and then share both if you find them useful.

I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised by what didn't show up on the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki. There was nothing about bird flu (pandemic influenza) or specifically about bioterrorism. I know some librarians somewhere must have produced SOMETHING on these topics and I encourage you to post your guides to the Handout Exchange.

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "Food Safety" So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified Care for Service Members as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. The page on care for service members explains why this is an urgent issue:

As of October 2008, over 33,000 servicemembers have been wounded in action, resulting in serious injuries such as amputations, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We have identified a number of weaknesses with the health care returning servicemembers are receiving as well as the complex and cumbersome disability systems they must navigate.

Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue.

Although there is no guide currently on the wiki that focuses exclusively on Veterans Care, here are three guides that should provide helpful information to people studying this issue:

• Budget (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008
• Government Documents on Military History (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999) Last updated 3/10/2008.
• Chemical and Biological Disarmament (Grace York, University of Michigan, 2000) Last updated 1/9/2005

Bert Chapman's Budget guide provides a link to the Veterans Affairs budget page as well as to resources about the federal budget process. His guide on military history provides links and catalog information regarding the House and Senate veterans affairs committees.

Finally, Grace York's guide provides resources on Gulf War Syndrome, the now officially documented disease and example of how difficult it can be to get appropriate care for our veterans.

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "preparing for public health emergencies." So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week.

I and I'm sure others would be grateful if you posted any current Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) guides you have laying about.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified Finalizing plans for the 2010 Census as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. If you're not a docs librarian or a policy wonk (there are a few of you reading FGI, right?) you might not realize the importance of this issue. The GAO spells out why every American should care about this issue:

The results of the 2010 Census are central to apportionment, redistricting congressional boundaries, and distributing around $300 billion in federal aid to states and localities each year.

Translation - The results of the 2010 census will redraw the legislative districts in your state, possibly changing how you are represented. The results will spark the redrawing of your congressional district, unless you live in Alaska or Wyoming, which have statewide Representatives. This redrawing could make it easier or harder to unseat your current Member of Congress. In addition, the 2010 results will affect how much federal money each state will receive.

In terms of Census planning, I'm afraid that for the first time in considering these critical transistion issues, I can't find any guide from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that would help you understand planning for the next census. For that, you had best just read the GAO page on the subject.

On the other hand, if you're looking on how find and use census information once it's published, librarians can help. A lot. Check out these guides for a start.

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "caring for service members." So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week. Hopefully next week I won't get caught flat-footed again.

Note: Below is the entry that should have appeared last Saturday. My apologies for the delay.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified Improving the US Image Abroad as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue.

There appear to be two librarian-produced guides that look helpful in this area:

• Government Publications on Islam (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Public Opinion Sources (Univ. of California--Berkeley, 1999) Last updated 5/9/2006

The Islam guide provides a few links to efforts in American "public diplomacy" as well as hearings and studies about current thinking and opinion in Islamic countries. UC Berkeley's guide on public opinion sources provides information on current and past public opinion trends at home and abroad. It has a mix of print and electronic resources.

Next time I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "finalizing plans for the 2010 Census."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified defense spending as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue.

While there do not appear to be any guides that specifically address defense spending alone, the guides below and taken together should be helpful:

• Military Information Resources and Periodicals (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Resources for Weapons Systems Policy Research (John Hernandez, New York University, 1999) Last updated 6/2004
• Budget (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008
• U.S. Government Documents: The Budget Process (Jerry Breeze, Columbia University, 1999) Last Updated sometime in 2008

I'm juggling several projects this week so I'm hoping you'll be willing to check out the above guides without teasers from each. I will say that John Hernandez's guide has a full section devoted to the budget and procurement process relating to weapons purchases. This section also helps you find out information on specific defense contractors.

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "improving the U.S. image abroad." So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week.

Continuing with our special "Guide of the Week" series relating to Presidential Transition issues:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified protecting the homeland as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue.

"Protecting the homeland" is a broader topic than it sounds. GAO itself broke down "protecting the homeland" into five subtopics - Prevention, Preparedness and Response; Critical Infrastructure Protection; Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Radiological Threats, Homeland Security Acquisitions and Information Sharing. With these subtopics in mind, here are some guides that might better inform you on most of these issues:

• Depository Library Web Sites on Terrorism and Homeland Security (Karen Hogenboom, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 2004) (GODORT Education Clearinghouse)
• Homeland Security (University of Colorado Boulder Government Publications Library 2008)
• National Security Policy (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008
• Climate and Weather (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Intelligence (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008

I think three of the guide titles are fairly self explanatory as why I've included them. I included Climate and Weather from UCB because it links to a number of resources to major weather disasters and how to prepare for them. Statistically speaking, very few people will be object of a terrorist attack, but 90% of the country will be affected by natural disasters, including hurricanes and the like. Bert Chapman's guide on Intelligence contains links to resources that specifically address information sharing between agencies and with Congress and the public.

Since I'm not covering each guide listed here in my usual "Guide of the Week" depth, you know that there is lots more in each of the guides. So go check them out. If you find them helpful, send the guide links to your Senators and Representatives. It's their transition too! And if you're a docs librarian with a guide to some of the urgent issues listed above, then please QUICKLY post your guide to the Handout Exchange.

In addition to the government resources covered in this entry, I'd strongly recommend the book The edge of disaster : rebuilding a resilient nation by Stephen Flynn. It's a book that contains policy solutions in addition to diagnosing problems with how we handle both natural and manmade disasters. For specific information on nuclear and radiological threats, the book Physics for Future Presidents by Dr. Richard Muller would be helpful. Or you could just watch his lecture on Nukes:

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "undisciplined defense spending." So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week.

The Government Accountability Office recently identified our efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on these countries.

Your first stop should be these three excellent country guides produced by the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB):

• Afghanistan: Country Guide (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Iraq: Country Guide (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Pakistan: Country Guide (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)

Each of the country guides above is divided into the following sections: Government Information, Country Profiles, Articles & Databases, Diplomatic Relations, Health, Peacekeeping & Military Information, Resources in the UCB Catalog and Related Topics. The "Government Information" section contains links to information direct from that country's government. This can be useful if you are looking for an unfiltered view of a country. One thing I really like about the "Country Profiles" section of UCB's country guides is that they don't stop with the CIA World Factbook or the State Department's Background Notes. These sources, while good, are just one perspective. The UCB guides adds profiles from a number of countries plus international organizations. So have a look at how Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan are viewed by Australia, Human Rights Watch, the European Commission and the BBC, among others.

Once you're done with the country-specific guides, check out the guides below if you need more background (historical, social, etc) on these regions of the world.

• U.S. State Department Microform Collections on Middle East and North Africa Last (Univ. of California--Berkeley) updated 9/11/2006
• Intelligence (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008
• Middle East Conflicts (Grace York, Univ. of Michigan, 1997) Last updated 7/26/2006
• Depository Library Web Sites on Terrorism and Homeland Security (Karen Hogenboom, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 2004) (GODORT Education Clearinghouse)

The microform collection at Berkeley provides historical background on America's activities in the Middle East going back into the 19th Century. This information is not online, but knowing about these collections might help you order materials through Interlibrary Loan.

Bert Chapman's guide on Intelligence contains some links to reports on Iraq as well as information about the intelligence communities role in our current wars.

Grace York's guide reminds us that the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are not the only conflicts going on in the world and provides materials on the various conflicts going on in the Middle East.

Finally, since both Afghanistan and Iraq were portrayed as being part of the "War on Terror", it seemed appropriate to include Karen Hogenboom's guide to terrorism resources from Federal Depository Libraries. Karen's guide has a link to Kathy Amen's War in Iraq/Afghanistan page that I think you will also find helpful.

Since I'm not covering each guide listed here in my usual "Guide of the Week" depth, you know that there is lots more in each of the guides. So go check them out. If you find them helpful, send the guide links to your Senators and Representatives. It's their transition too! And if you're a docs librarian with a guide to some of the urgent issues listed above, then please QUICKLY post your guide to the Handout Exchange.

Next week I'll be dealing with librarian produced guides relating to "protecting the homeland." So if you have any guides relating to that topic, please try and post them to the Handout Exchange this week.

Today, thanks to subscribing to the "fdlp" tag on del.icio.us, I was introduced to the first video that GPO produced as part of it's "Easy as FDL" campaign:

Since GPO is allowing ratings and comments on this video, I really want you to go and watch, rate and comment. You need to have a YouTube account to rate and comment, but it's easy to set up. If you'd prefer not to set up a YouTube account, please leave your name and comment and I'll post it for you.

I rated the video a 3 out of 5. It's a great video for people already interested in the Federal Depository Library program. If I weren't a former depository librarian, I don't think I would have hung out until 3 minutes in when they started talking about what the program could do for me.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciated all the librarians and GPO staff who appeared in the video. Plus the production values were excellent and light years beyond what *I'll* ever come up with. It just didn't feel user oriented until the middle. And today's potential users won't wait that long.

Here are the suggestions I left at YouTube:

I'd strongly recommend flipping the content of this video and lead off with Cindy Elkins talking about the types of questions that can be answered at an FDL, then Mary Alice and the others highlighting material (Adventures of Echo the Bat, etc) that's available. Then end with background on the program. Hook people first, then explain. Finally, the end URL should be to the Depository Directory and not GPO Access. Though you should make videos about GPO Access!

GPO also posted several versions of the video and more background information at http://www.fdlp.gov/promotion/easyasfdlvideo.html.

Watch the video for yourself and let us know what you think, preferably at YouTube, but here will do.

Finally, despite the comments above, it is a GREAT THING that GPO is producing videos and other promotional content. Let us, the librarians who work with users every day, help them tweak what are decent products into real user creation machines. But bless them for giving us something to work with!

As promised, starting this week, Guide of the Week is supporting the "__ Days to Government Information Liberation" initiative by highlighting guides from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki that shed light on important Presidential transition issues as defined by the Government Accountability Office's urgent issues page at http://www.gao.gov/transition_2009/urgent/. This page highlights the following 13 "urgent issues":

• oversight of financial institutions and markets,
• U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,
• protecting the homeland,
• undisciplined defense spending,
• improving the U.S. image abroad,
• finalizing plans for the 2010 Census,
• caring for service members,
• preparing for public health emergencies,
• revamping oversight of food safety,
• restructuring the approach to surface transportation,
• retirement of the Space Shuttle,
• ensuring an effective transition to digital TV, and
• rebuilding military readiness.

Today, we focus on oversight of financial institutions and markets. The Handout Exchange Wiki offers several items that look helpful:

• Banking, Banks and Credit Unions (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
• Government Documents on Banking (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999) Last updated 3/10/2008
• Housing (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 3/10/2008

I've actually covered Bert Chapman's guide to housing in a prior edition of Guide of the Week, so I won't cover that guide in detail again. His banking guide provides the usual intro and helpful catalog terms. Then it highlights a number of resources helpful to monitoring oversight efforts, including:

• Annual Report Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
• House Financial Services Committee
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
• Australia Parliament House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance, & Public Administration

The UC Boulder guide provides links to national and international banking information including such resources as:

• FDIC Institution Directory contains demographic data and financial profiles of each FDIC-insured depository institution derived from quarterly reports filed with Federal regulators.
• Community Reinvestment Act Database "The Community Reinvestment Act is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods." The database includes bank ratings and performance evaluations.
• Credit Union Data Detailed data on individual institutions and tool for data comparison.

The guide also offers a link to the informative yet lighthearted AmosWEB ECONOMIC GLOSS*arama.

As usual, there is a lot more in all three guides. Look them over. If you find them helpful, send the guide links to your Senators and Representatives. It's their transition too! And if you're a docs librarian with a guide to some of the urgent issues listed above, then please QUICKLY post your guide to the Handout Exchange.

Kudos to John for counting down the days to "Government Information Liberation!"

In support of this great concept, I will try to focus our "Guide of the Week" series on subjects related to the Presidential transition until the week of January 20th, 2009. I'll highlight guides related to subjects from the GAO transition page and the Agenda page at change.gov once it returns.

This week tho, I'd like to highlight two guides from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki concerning Presidents and their documents:

• POTUS: Presidents of the United States (Bob Summers, University of Michigan, Internet Public Library, 2008)
• Presidential Papers (University of California, Berkeley, 2006)

The POTUS guide is focused on information about individual Presidents - their biography, their margin of electoral victory, etc. A useful feature of this guide for the transition is the list of Cabinet members. Looking at the Cabinet members for the Clinton and Carter years might provide hints on who President Obama might pick or provide background on nominees who served during these years.

Berkeley's Presidential papers guide is a pathfinder to published materials published by Presidents. It includes sections on:

• About Presidential Papers
• Biographical Information
• Guides
• Elections
• Vetoes
• Executive Orders & Proclamations
• Official Papers and Speeches
• Personal papers and correspondence
• Declassified Documents
• Selected Internet Resources

There is a lot in both guides and I encourage you to look at them. And if you're a librarian with a guide to some other aspect of government information, please add it to the Handout Exchange.

I'd love to see more librarians highlighting their resource guides over the next few months. Between the transition and the major issues facing our country, this may be a great teachable moment to demonstrate the value of government information and the experts who deal with it on a daily basis.

The GPO just released a new video promoting the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), a network of 1250 libraries across the US where the public can get access to government information in a variety of formats. This is a nicely done, succinct explanation of the FDLP. It's nice to see friends and fellow government documents librarians expounding on the FDLP! Thanks GPO!!

Today's Guide of the Week from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange comes to us once again from Bert Chapman:

Government Documents on Immigration (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999) Last updated 6/18/2008

As Bert points out in his introduction, "Immigration has been and remains an important and controversial issue in U.S. history and contemporary public policy." After pointing helpful subject headings with which to search the Purdue library catalog, he turns to highlighting a number of sources including:

• Administrative Decisions Under Employer Sanctions & Unfair Immigration Related... HSSE DOC J 1.103:
• Immigration: Analysis of the Major Provisions of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Congressional Research Service)
• Office of Immigration Statistics
• United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees
• New Zealand Immigration Service

There is, as usual, much more. Go check out the rest of the guide. Mark it and the Handout Exchange in del.icio.us, Facebook or whatever you use to share with your online friends. If you're a docs librarian with a handout or resource guide to share, then please add it to the wiki. Let's show people what librarians are made of.

In case I haven't made it clear by now, the ALA Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) Handout Exchange Wiki has guides for all levels of government information. For instance this week's guide:

Indiana Government and Politics (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2008)

is dedicated to the US State of Indiana, which has emerged as a battleground state in the 2008 Presidential Election. So what has Bert Chapman found out about Indiana resources? Here is a sampling of the materials he has listed:

• Here Is Your Indiana Government HSSE REF 353.9772 In2c
• Election Report: State of Indiana HSSE REF 324.772 In22a
• West's Indiana Law Encylopedia HSSE REF 347.03 W52
• Indiana Campaign Finance Database
• AJR Newslink Indiana Newspapers

This is actually one of the shorter guides I've highlighted so far, but there is more, so go check out the rest of the guide. Then check to see what else is available, either by browsing the guide or using the guide's custom search engine. And if you're a docs librarian, please post your handout!

Hi all. I just landed in Washington D.C. and gearing up for Depository Library Council meeting for the next three days. I'm trying out this new tool called CoverItLive that will allow me to live blog the conference (if you want to help, let me know and I'll add you as a panelist!!). Please check back here as the window below will *hopefully* be in real time. This also depends on wireless access. Check out the meeting agenda and leave me a comment if there's anything from which you really want a report. Wish me luck!

This week, instead of highlighting a specific guide, I'd like to highlight the fact that the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki now has a Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) that covers 611 sites linked to from the Handout Exchange.

You can find the CSE at the bone crunchingly long URL of:
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=004167096080728781323%3Aglzqvfjgqky.

If I were you, I'd just bookmark it now. There is also a link to the CSE from the front page of the guide.

It's not perfect because Google itself is not perfect, but it can be a good way to do cross disciplinary searches of guides or to find professionally selected information on countries. Here are some searches for you to try by clicking:

• Iran
• terrorism
• banking
• secrecy
• Cold War

Try some searches of your own. Give us some feedback in comments.