Video: What maps can tell us
While not specifically about government maps, this five minute video from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is a nice overview of the different uses of maps and why old maps remain important. It also makes a decent case for why at least some maps ought to continue in a physical format. Continue reading
State Agency Databases Report 6/29/2011
State Agency Databases Report 6/29/2011 There's been new activity for the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project on the ALA GODORT wiki. I've decided to start making occasional reports when it seems like there is enough activity to justify a report. Databases removed from project pages due to dead and apparently unrecoverable links: Arizona - Who's Who in Arizona GIS - WRA/WRITE Project Database - Brownfields Search Utility New Jersey - Brownfields SiteMart - Bike project database For details on the above, click on the "history" tab of the state page and click on a previous version. If you know of a new link for one of the above items, please let me know. Databases ADDED to project pages: Arizona - Doctor Search (Arizona Medical Board) - ADWR Image Records Database (Water Resources) - AZURITE License Application Query Utility Volunteer Changes - Alabama - Paula Webb taking over from Valerie Glenn. - Maryland - Page is now open for adoption. General Notes - Project volunteers who have not updated their pages since January 2010 are being contacted about their continued participation in the project. - Project pages without volunteers are in the process of being link checked. If you have questions or comments about this project, feel free to contact me at dnlcornwall@alaska.net Continue reading
How Data is Presented Matters: Arizona
While working on the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project updating Arizona databases, I ran across this resource: ADWR Imaged Records Database - Searchable database of digitized records, including: Well Registry, Statement of Claiment, Surface Water Files, Groundwater Authority Files, among others. This database has a number of technical hurdles: Windows Only, Internet Explorer Only, Javascript enabled, PowerWeb ActiveX viewer. The plug-in is free, but Windows Vista and Windows 7 users need to follow an illustrated, six page MS Word document to install the plugin. I don't think this is a deliberate attempt on Arizona's part to discourage access to records, but it does illustrate that there is much more to providing access to public records than simply putting them online. Ideally an agency considers the formats that citizens are likely to use and uses technologies that require low levels of involvement from users. Or, failing that, posting the data in an easy to manipulate format (spreadsheets, xml, pdf, etc) that other people and organizations can use to provide better access. Continue reading
New Blogging Team for Lost Docs Blog
On behalf of Free Government Information (FGI), I am pleased to announce that a three member team of volunteers is taking over the posting and management of the Lost Docs Blog at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info. Your new maintainers are: Meredith Johnston - Self described independent scholar with an MLIS and a MA. GODORT member since 2007. Jeffrey Hartsell-Gundy - Government Information & Law Librarian of the Miami University Libraries. He blogs documents for the University at www.lib.muohio.edu/blog/71. John Cash - Catalog specialist at Wells Library, Indiana University with over 10 years worth of documents experience. We at FGI are pleased that these three documents community members are stepping forward to continue the process of illuminating the fugitive document submissions to GPO. How the blog works will remain the same. Keep sending your fugitive documents receipts from GPO to lostdocs@freegovinfo.info. I am still in the process of training the new team in posting, tagging and reporting on new fugitive reports. Thanks in advance for your continuing patience during this transition time. Continue reading
Needs Work: Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011
As part of the search to save federal dollars, Senator Tom Coburn has introduced S 674, the Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011. This act may save up to $8 million a year by reducing "unnecessary" printing of the Congressional Record. You can find the text through Open Congress. We at FGI are not opposed in principle to printing fewer copies of government publications as long as permanant public access and preservation issues are adequately addressed. We don't believe this particular bill does so. We see three main problems with the "Congressional Record Printing Savings Act of 2011":
- The bill only gives gpo 45 days to determine the appropriate number of printed archival copies. - There is little published research on the appropriate number of printed copies for preservation purposes, and most of the available research deals with periodicals. Some original research needs to be done specifically for government publications and this couldn't be completed in 45 days.
- The bill is silent on where these copies should be stored. - This legislation directs GPO to determine a number of preservation copies, but doesn't state where these copies would be stored. Will the copies provided to Congress count? Will geographic distribution be taken into account? Will some be mandated to be stored in libraries? We the public don't know and we should before accepting a diminished number of copies.
- It misses an opportunity to deposit the electronic CR to depository libraries as an additional anti-tampering safeguard. - If the printed copy of the Congressional Record is going to be diminished, then assuring the authencity and permanent public access to the electronic Congressional Record will gain in importance. Keeping multiple electronic copies in non-federal hands would be an important safeguard against future alterations of the Congressional Record and ought to be considered by Congress.
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