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Free Government Information (FGI) is a place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information. FGI promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research.

JSTOR: 500,000+ Articles (6% of JSTOR Database) Now Free to Anyone in World

JSTOR has just announced that they're beginning to rollout free GLOBAL access to more than 500,000 articles (from about 200 publications) published published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870 elsewhere. We've just posted a number of links on INFOdocket that include: 1. Comments by Laura Brown, Managing Director of JSTOR, who talks about the program and DOES discuss the timing of the announcement given the recent Aaron Swartz news. 2. The Terms of Service 3. A One Page PDF With Links A Few Representative Articles Available 4. FAQ (Worth Reviewing) 5. Info Abt Where Users Might Be Able to Find Access to More of the Database (e.g. Public Libraries) http://infodocket.com/2011/09/07/just-announced-500000-articles-6-of-jstor-holdings-now-free-to-anyone-in-world/ Note: I realize that this might not be on topic but since JSTOR was recently mentioned on the FGI Blog so I thought I would post the news. Plus, who doesn't enjoy new tools to share with friends. Continue reading

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UK: National Archives Releases Public API & Government Licensing Policy Extended Making More Public Sector Information Availa

Via INFOdocket: From Computer Weekly: The National Archives [UK] has made details of 11m records available through an application interface it published today as part of an ongoing programme to get more official records online. The API allows anyone to search for and retrieve the metadata that describes records in the archive in XML format. The data can then be used without restriction or charge. But the archive, which is simultaneously an executive agency of the Department of Justice and a government department in its own right, continues to charge £3.50 per document to retrieve actual records online. More Info on INFOdocket or Direct from Computer Weekly Also from the National Archives (UK) "UK government licensing policy extended to make more public sector information available" Continue reading

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New Database: “See Who’s Lobbying the California Legislature”

Via INFOdocket From California Watch: California interest groups have filed nearly 7,000 reports in the first half of 2011 disclosing what bills and issues they have lobbied in state government. We've taken those forms and created a one-of-a-kind database that allows you to search who is lobbying any bill before the Legislature. Simply type a bill number into the system and get a list of all the interests that declared an intent to lobby that bill on their Form 635s [PDF]. There are a few important caveats to keep in mind. In order to extract the individual bills from the filings, California Watch relied on human data entry workers -- a necessity, given the varied, unstructured nature of the filings. Anytime human beings perform large-scale data entry, some errors are inevitable. We took a statistically significant sample of our data entry results and found that between 2 and 7 percent of the records in the database likely had some kind of problem caused by human error: mostly typos and omissions. We fixed the most obvious issues, but the point remains: Don't look at these results as gospel. Each result returned by our database also includes a link to the original reports, so if something looks out of place, by all means verify it. Read Additional Caveats and Access the Database Here See Also: More California Watch Online Databases Continue reading

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Archives.com Now Providing Access to Some U.S. Census Material and Pledges $5 Million for Future Digitization Projects

Archives.com properties include Fold3.com (formerly Footnote.com) and NewspaperArchive.com. Archives.com is owned by Inflection.com. From an Archives.com Blog Post: Today Archives.com, the web's most affordable and easy-to-use subscription-based family history site, announces the addition of the U.S. Federal Census, the single most valuable collection of U.S. historical records. The U.S. Census collections were made available by FamilySearch International, the world's largest genealogy organization, as part of a joint effort to introduce more records to family historians worldwide. In conjunction with the Census effort, Archives will also embark on a joint project with FamilySearch to digitize tens-of-millions of additional historical records, the majority of which are not currently online. Archives has pledged a minimum of five million dollars to this important project which will positively impact the entire community. [Clip] Archives has integrated the full set of U.S. Federal Population Census indexes from 1790 to 1930 consisting of over 500 million names along with 3 million images from census years 1850, 1870, and 1900. In the near future, the full set of census images will be accessible. Leading the effort is former FamilySearch veteran Anne Roach AG®, CGSM as Director of Content Development. Read the Complete Announcement See Also: Archives.com U.S. Census Info Page They currently provide access to approx. 54 million records and 10 million images. Fyi, a one year subscription to Archive.com costs $39.95. They offer a one-week free trial. See Also: For a Limited Time, 1940 U.S. Census Will Be Free on Ancestry.com Continue reading

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New Database: UN Office on Drugs and Crime and World Bank Group Launch New Anti-Corruption Legal Library With Legislation From

From INFOdocket: The UNCAC Legal Library is a comprehensive database of anti-corruption and asset recovery legislation and jurisprudence from over 175 States, systematized in accordance with the requirements of the Convention. The Legal Library, which will be regularly updated, identifies laws that have been successfully used to recover assets as well as barriers to asset recovery caused by inadequate or incompatible legal frameworks. This practical and user-friendly resource will aid countries as they design and improve their legal frameworks so that these are more conducive to the recovery of stolen assets. Finally, you'll find a link to background about the new TRACK (Tools and Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge) portal also from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Continue reading

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