Help build a govdocs comics collection!
In a posting related to the recent partially private release of the Iraq Study Group Report, Geeky Artist Librarian announced that she has begun to research govdoc comics. She's already got Sprocket Man from our Best Titles Ever! page, but I'm sure there's many fed and state comics you know about that she doesn't. So please check out her posting and suggest some titles. We'll show those NPR folks that most govdocs are NOT stodgy! Full Disclosure - I am quoted in her posting, but I would have highlighted this anyway! Continue reading
State Library 2.0 – Could depositories follow?
Recently the Washington State Library (WSL), the Regional Depository Library for the State of Alaska established a blog. While it is only partly related to government information, I think this blog is worthy of study by every federal depository with any kind of Internet access and any possible Internet readership. Why? Because the Library is making some cheap and easy use of social software. If you look at the right hand side of the Washington State Library blog, you'll notice two things - "State library photos" and "New Books at the Washington State Library." The photos come from Flickr, which a number of libraries are using these days. The new books listing right on the web page comes not from their catalog, but from a free Library Thing account. I think this is clever. If your ILS won't accomodate RSS feeds, throw a subset of your collection into something that will! If you go to WSL's Library Thing catalog and profile, you'll see this statement showing how they're leveraging the exposure their subset is gaining through being on their blog and Library Thing:
Another nice thing about the WSL blog is how publications can feature cover art while being highlighted. It seems pretty inviting to me. And how much did this cost besides staff time? Pretty close to zero I expect. The LibraryThing and Flickr acounts were free. WordPress has tiered service, so I don't know whether WSL is paying for that, but they don't have to and neither do you. What about you? Does this give you ideas? Does your institution have the flexibility to carry it out? Want to customize your existing govdocs blog with these kinds of features? If you've already got a setup like this, let us know! Continue readingWelcome to the Washington State Library's LibraryThing space! Our account displays new books at the Washington State Library, as well as books selected for bibliographies and our Washington Reads program. This is not a complete or comprehensive list of our entire collection. To search our complete online catalog, to find out about our collections specializing in Washington State history, genealogy, government, and culture, or to contact a reference librarian, please visit our website.
New Poll: Why are you silent?
Now that we've learned a little about our visitors, we've started a new poll to explore why we don't see many comments here at Free Government Information despite our significant readership. Due to the nature of this poll, we're not asking for comments here, but if you feel very strongly about the reason you don't comment on our stories, please consider making your first comment one on our poll. Otherwise, please use a single mouse-click to give us some much needed feedback. Why do we care? Well, reaching back to our mission statement:
By creating this nexus, we hope to facilitate collaboration among the various stakeholders and participate in the design of a truly robust system for the digital age where government information is freely accessible, fully functional and usable, and preserved in a distributed system of libraries.It's hard to collaborate when people aren't talking much. So help us figure out how to stimulate dialog by identifying the barriers to commenting. Continue reading
Digital Distribution Response and Comment Submitted to GPO and DLC
We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to comment on the GPO/DLC Digital Discussion questions that we at FGI prepared responses to. Our input along with your comments and a cover letter, have been submitted to selected GPO staff and all members of the Depository Library Council. If you have thoughts about how either the Government Printing Office or the Depository Library Council could broaden the discussion on digital distribution of federal electronic documents, please comment here or consider sending a suggestion through the GPO Help System, available from any page on GPO Access. Continue reading
Comment Submission to GPO and Depository Library Council
On November 26, 2006, the volunteers at Free Government Information passed along all comments received on our DLC Digital Distribution page to the people named below. For a PDF copy of our responses and your comments, please see the file attached to this page.
Dear Mr. James, Ms. Russell, Mr. Davis, Mr. Wash and members of the Depository Library Council: As you are well aware, the Depository Library Council held a session on Digital Distribution in Washington DC on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 as part of the Fall 2006 Depository Library Council meeting. In hopes of broadening the discussion on digital distribution beyond the confines of in-person Council meetings, I and the other volunteers at Free Government Information posted responses to the Digital Distribution discussion questions presented at Council on the FGI website (http://freegovinfo.info) and invited others to add their own comments. We are attaching to this email a copy of our comments and the responses from other librarians. We do not pretend to represent the whole depository community, just a few voices from people unable to travel to Council. We appreciate the fact that you are addressing this issue and reaching out to the depository community for their comments and ideas. Because this issue is so important and because so many depository librarians cannot attend Council meetings, we suggest that you reach out to the community even more and take input from a broader section of the community before major decisions are made. Some of the actions you might take include:Continue readingThank you for taking time to receive more input on an issue that will shape citizen access to federal government information for years to come.
- Using your OPAL meeting room to hold a set of “virtual town meetings†on the topic of digital distribution.
- Survey either the entire FDLP or the subset of libraries indicating willingness to take digital items on issues related to digital distribution.
- Send GPO/DLC reps to State library association meetings to given presentations on FDSys and take suggestions on Digital Distribution.
Latest Comments