Guide of the Week: Indiana
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
Guide of the Week: Guide Search Engine
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:
Try some searches of your own. Give us some feedback in comments. Continue reading
Guide of the Week: Human Rights
UC Berkeley contributed this annotated bibliography to the ALA GODORT Handout Wik: Human Rights Resources (Univ. of California--Berkeley, 1999) Last updated 7/7/2006 It is separated into the following sections:
- Encyclopedias, Guides, and Handbooks
- Guides to Research
- Document Sources
- Directories
- Bibliographies
- Annuals
- Library Catalogs
- Periodicals Indexes/Databases
- Periodicals
- News Sources
- Government Information
- Internet Sources
- Censorship
- Civil rights
- Detention of persons
- Dissenters
- Government, resistance to
- Human rights
- Human rights workers
- Political crimes and offenses
- Political persecution
- Political prisoners
- Race discrimination
- Refugees, political
- Self-determination
- Sex discrimination
- Social justice
- Torture
- Encyclopedia of human rights. 2nd ed. E. Lawson. Doe Reference JC 571 .E67 1996 Comprehensive compendium including texts of 200 instruments, descriptions of human rights organizations, status of human rights in countries, etc.
- Guide to human rights research. J. Tobin. Doe Reference K 3236 .T63 1994 Comprehensive guide to the literature
- Multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General Doe Reference JX 1977 .A3652 .M8 Govt/Stat; latest.
- World refugee survey. Main Stack HV 640 .W63; latest in Doe Reference - Govt/Stat
- International journal of human rights.(JC571 I593 Main)
Guide of the Week: Housing
Housing has been an issue both this year in general and as an election issue. So this week I'm highlighting another Bert Chapman guide that he allowed the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki to link to: * Housing (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) Last updated 6/18/2008 In his introduction, Bert notes:
Housing affects our lives in many ways. We buy and sell homes, rent apartments, and invest in residential and commercial properties. Government agencies produce many publications on various aspects of housing. These publications can be found in various Purdue Libraries with the HSSE and MEL libraries having the largest collections. Examples of Library Catalog subject headings you can use to search for government documents on housing include:He then identifies a number of resources including:
- Government Sale of Real Property United States
- Home Ownership United States
- Housing Policy United States
- Housing Surveys United States
- Rental Housing Law and Legislation United States
- A Chronology of Housing Legislation & Selected Executive Actions 1892-2003 HSSE DOC Y 4.F 49/20:108-D
- American Housing Survey (various cities) HSSE DOC C 3.215:H-170/
- Census of Construction Industries MEL REF, MEL, & STOR C 3.245/
- Mortgage Insurance Companies of America/Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Reports MEL REF FR 1.63/
- Germany Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, & Housing (In German)
Guide of the Week: History
I had a pretty humble beginning in government documents. In June 1993, I began work as a documents clerk at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). UTSA was enlightened enough to send a paraprofessional to the local government documents users group. It was there that I first met Kathy Amen, the author of today's ALA GODORT Handout Exchange guide and someone I consider to be both a mentor and friend even though we don't keep in great touch. Kathy's Guide: Government Information in the Study of History (Kathy Amen, St. Mary's University, 2003) makes it's purpose clear with this intro statement:
This set of guides has 2 purposes: * to identify historically significant materials in the Blume Library documents collection, housed on the main floor of the Library * to provide convenient access to government (and related) web sites of interest to the historian and history students Therefore, each of the guide's sections is subdivided into * annotated listings of the Library's print holdings (with online versions noted if they are available) * major web-based resources * references to relevant links in our Government Information on the Web Subject Index, as an aid to finding more detailed online information.Those guide sections would be: General, Archaeology, Archives, Area Studies, Biography, Institutions, Military, Places, Science/Technology, Social/Labor, and Sources. In addition to browsing these pages, a search is available. Some of the many resources that Kathy identifies in the area of history are:
- Honor Bound: The History of American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973 (D 1.2:H 75/3). This volume draws upon research in official records, published literature and interviews with former POW's to chart the history of those taken prisoner during the Vietnam conflict.
- Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. This collection, part of the Library of Congress' American Memory project, "document achievements in architecture, engineering, and design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types and engineering technologies." The website includes drawings, photographs, narrative descriptions, etc. You may search by keyword or browse by subject or location.
- Bibliography of the History of Medicine. (HE 20.3615:). Annual. 1964-1993. Covers articles, monographs, and conference proceedings world-wide. One section contains references to biographical information on the medical histories of famous persons, medical aspects of artistic works, and biographies of those in health related professions. A second section indexes references by subject, subdivided, where appropriate, by geographical or chronological headings. There is a detailed contents list of subject headings which includes cross references.
- Famous American Trials. Many, though not all, of the trials covered on this site developed by a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City were held in the U.S. Information given includes links to official documents, background and analytical studies, contemporary and later reactions, maps, photographs and other illustrations as relevant.
- Guide to the Research Collections of Former Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-1987. ( Y 1.1/2:13872). Identifies repositories of papers, oral history tapes and tape transcripts.
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