The archived email messages were released earlier today and are now beginning to roll out into searchable databases and/or PDF files.

Scanned pages are being added to databases as they become available. Many news organization are asking the public for assistance in reviewing all of the pages. Yet another example of crowdsourcing government records.

Here are three of several source provin

1. NY Times
Search NY Times: Palin E-Mail Search
http://projects.nytimes.com/palin-emails/date/2008-08-01

2. MSNBC/Mother Jones/ProPublica
Search: MSNBC/Mother Jones/ProPublica
http://palinemail.msnbc.msn.com/

Updates at @openchannelblog and #palinemail

MSNBC Live Blog With Additional Information as it Becomes Available. Also, info about documents being withheld.
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/10/6825771-heres-your-liv...

Background from Bill Dedman at MSNBC
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/43281157/ns/politics-more_politics/

3. Washington Post
PDF Files of Raw Email Messages (#1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/palin-emails/pdf/D...

Additional Material
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/sarah-palin-emails/post/for-micro-up...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement earlier this month and the transition of power to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell gave the Alaska State Library a great chance to preserve this "at risk" content. 

Using Archive-It and the manual "start on demand" feature inside the web application  the Alaska State Library crawled Governor Palin and Lt. Governor Parnell's web sites on the eve of the transition of power and was 
able to capture valuable information that is now offline and no longer accessible.

The Alaska State Library’s Alaska Governor/Lt. Governor Web Sites collection was originally conceived to archive these government websites over time.  Once Sarah Palin left office, the governor’s website changed to reflect Sean Parnell as governor, and the lieutenant governor’s
website changed to reflect Craig Campbell as lieutenant governor. Thus all of the information on former Governor Palin’s website as well as speeches and press releases from Sean Parnell’s time as lieutenant governor are no longer available on the live web. 

The foresight of the staff of the Alaska State Library and the availability of the Archive-It web archiving service made it possible to preserve the final changes to these "at risk" websites before they were taken offline.

Yesterday, I posted an entry about Maryland's new accountability website. There are other states and non-profits that have taken similar efforts. The ones that I came across are:

On 01/05/09, Georgia launched the Open Georgia: Transparency in Government - Not only does it provide information, but also solicits feedback from the public.

On 01/01/09, Kentucky started the Open Door: Kentucky's Portal to eTransparency. There are plans to provide a new Budget Builder Game and also educational materials.

Websites launched in 2007 & 2008

Missouri - Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP)

Nebraska - Nebraska.Spending.com

Oklahoma - Open Books: Oklahoma's Finances Online

Texas - Window on State Government

Alaska - Checkbook Online

Kansas - KanView

Louisiana - Louisiana Transparency and Accountability (LaTrac)

Maine - MaineOpenGov.org

New York - SeeThroughNY

South Carolina - South Carolina Spending Transprency

I just found out that the Alaska State Library has a new blog called "Since you asked: questions and answers from the Alaska State Library." Way to go Daniel!!

There are a couple of library sites that I know of that are blogging their questions and answers. There's Radical Reference and Stanford Library's Information Center. Anyone else doing that? I had a brainstorm (or maybe a squall :-) ) that if there are lots of libraries publishing their questions and answers, we could build a Google custom search engine of all the library Q&A sites. It'd be the best Q&A site on the 'net (no offense Jessamyn @ ask.mefi :-) )!

Leave me a comment if your library is currently doing that or you know of a library doing that.

A few years ago I started an e-mail list where I sent people listings of newly cataloged Alaska State Publications and Federal Publications about Alaska. In hopes of spreading the news about "Governmental Alaskana" and giving an example for other states to consider, I've set up a blog which may or may not replace the mailing list.

Try it. If you like it, please subscribe at http://feeds.feedburner.com/GovernmentalAlaskana and tell your friends. Feedback on the blog is welcome, too.

Consider commenting on the documents you see at the blog.

Being the chair of the Alaska Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable is a little like being the Maytag Repairman. There are about 20 registered members, but only about four or five of those folks are active in association activities. Our usual business meetings vary from two to four and last year I didn't get anybody.

Today I was pleasantly surprised. I got a special visit from Cam McIntosh, Seattle-based Information Specialist for the Census Bureau's Seattle field office. Cam is wonderful to work with and a great trainer. If you work anywhere in Cam's region, you should call her office and arrange a training. If you don't work in her five state area, find your nearest Census field office and see what training resources they can offer your organization.

In addition to Cam, three other RT members showed up. Lacking a formal agenda, I put Cam on the spot and she gave us a brief overview of the American Community Survey, which included these helpful tips:

By 2010, All communities in the United States will have THREE population estimates - one based on a one-year sample of population, one based on a three year rolling sample and one based on a five year rolling sample. This combined with the reporting of "margin of error" in populations may make for some interesting educational opportunities for library patrons who "just want to know what the exact population of ___ is."

It is best to report percentages or proportions in the American Community Survey rather than raw numbers. But be sure to say + or - x percent. Cam compared this to political polling as a way to get folks comfortable with the concept of sampling.

Nationwide, the American Community Survey surveys 1 in 464 addresses every month. This proportion is much higher in smaller areas, reaching at least as high as 35% in really small towns.

Data for the 2005 American Community Survey data DID NOT include any numbers for people housed in "group quarters." Group quarters are places like military bases, boarding schools, homeless shelters, prisons, etc.

State Ranking Tables are available for American Community Survey Data and they can be filtered by the criteria of "with statistical significance." This can be a real eye opener and halt some of the jockeying for position some people have for state ranking tables. If I'm right, the phrase "with statistical significance" should link you to a table of 2005 data ranking proportion of people 85 and over. Looks like Alaska is last by any measure.

Aside from Cam's courteous impromptu ACS presentation, I also got to meet a new librarian from Ketchikan and introduce my new federal documents librarian. All in all, it was a fun hour. If you've got a documents roundtable report to share, send it to me and I'll post it LISNews, Alaskan Librarian, and Free Government Information. If you've already posted your report to the web, feel free to send me a link.