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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.

Guide of the Week: Patent and Trademark Information

Patent research is one of more obscure things one can do. It is hard enough to determine whether there is a US patent for a given invention, and today's globalized world often requires looking at international patents as well. Where to begin? One place to start is this week's Guide of the Week from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki:

Patent and Trademark Information (Univ. of California--Berkeley, 1999) Last updated 2/9/2007
This guide is divided into the following sections:
  • Introduction
  • Pre-1872 Patent Information
  • Foreign and International Patent Information
  • Other Patent Collections
  • Bibliography of Patent & Trademark Sources
  • CD-ROM Sources
  • Internet Sources
  • Step by Step Patent Research
They use a mix of print and electronic resources with varying date coverage. A small set of the resources they highlight include:
  • Japan Patent Office: A searchable database of Japanese patent abstracts, which includes the patent number, title, inventor, company, and abstract of the patent.
  • Foreign patents: a guide to official patent literature by Francis J. Kase. 1972.
  • Code of Federal Regulations, Title 37: Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights.
  • Finding List for United States Patent, Design, Trademark, Reissue, Label, Print, and Plant Patent Numbers. - Gives the volume number of the Official Gazette in which a given patent number will be found for the years 1872-1993. Includes information on earlier patents.
  • Google Patent Search - Access over 7 million patents from 1790-2006. Does not currently include patent applications, international patents, or U.S. patents issued over the last few months. Includes tips for advanced patent searching.
Finally, since the librarians at Berkeley realize that no one has all the answers, they end with links to several other helpful patent searching guides:
  • Searching for pre-1976 U.S. patents via University of Maine
  • Patent Search Tutorial and Information via University of Texas
  • The 7-Step Strategy via the U.S. Patent Office
  • U.S. Patent Searching via Oregon State University
To view these guides and to check out the rest of the Berkeley patent resources, go visit this guide. And if you are a librarian with a guide of your own, please post it to the Handout Exchange. Continue reading

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Guide of the Week: Los Angeles

The ALA GODORT Handout Exchange has librarian-produced guides using resources from every level of government, from international to local. Today's guide is a case in point:

Official Links for Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County (Mary Finley, California State University-Northridge, 2008)
This guide is broken up into six sections:
  • Official Links: City of Los Angeles - Los Angeles County
  • Directories and Guides: Services & Help - Business Assistance - Transportation - Education & Culture
  • L. A. City/County Statistics & Facts: Economic/Demographic - Crime - Environment - Education - Health - Other - Budgets
  • Election Issues & Results
  • Politicians: Who represents you? - Contact the politicians - Lobbyists and Campaign Contributions
  • Local Codes and Regulations
I am particularly impressed with the "statistics and facts" section as it draws Los Angeles related information from several levels of government. Sources here include: When you take all of the linked resources together, there are dozens of them. So if you have any interest in Los Angeles or large urban areas, go check out Mary Finley's guide. Are you a librarian with a guide to local government information? Then post a link to the Handout Exchange. Don't know of a guide to your area? Then go create one. Your patrons and your peers will thank you. Continue reading

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Guide of the Week: US Foreign Policy

For historic background and access to current foreign policy information, try this week's "Guide of the Week" from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki:

Government Documents on U.S. Foreign Policy (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999) Last updated 3/10/2008
Bert truly starts his guide at the beginning with The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.) and moves on to such current resources such as:
  • Foreign Consular Offices in the U.S.
  • United States Contributions to International Organizations
  • Legislation on Foreign Relations Through (year)
  • Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
  • European Union "Common" Foreign and Security Policy
There's a lot to wander through. So please go wander. And if you're a documents librarian with a handout of your own, please post it to the Handout Exchange Wiki! Continue reading

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Guide of the Week: International Documents Collection

If you want a quick way to find International Government Organizations or their publications, start with today's Guide of the Week from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki:

International Documents Collection (Northwestern University Library, for the GODORT International Documents Task Force, 2008)
Northwestern is attempting to keep a comprehensive list of International Government Organizations (IGO) that maintain a web presence. They currently list many IGOs from the African Development Bank to the World Tourism Organization (WTO). To facilitate access to the publications and other IGO information, the guide maintains a Google Custom Search Engine. Northwestern staff use the following criteria to add IGOs to their list: Criteria used to maintain the Northwestern University Library IGO list:
  • The primary audience for the site is the Northwestern University community.
  • The international organizations included in the list are intergovernmental organizations (IGOs).
  • International Documents staff intend the list to be comprehensive. They include all the IGOs of which they are aware. However, an IGO must have a web page to be included in the list. If any person recommends an IGO to add to the list, staff add it to the list.
  • The list links to sites in English, when available.
  • In general, the list links only to the main page (i.e. welcome or home page) of the IGO's web site. The list links to web pages that are located within an IGOs web site if:
    • it is the web page of the IGO's statistical division or statistical publications.
    • it is the web page of the IGO's publications, if there are a substantial number of full-text publications available there.
    • it is a web page that is often used.

    • it is a web page which had been used by staff or a patron as a source of information, but which is extremely difficult to locate using the site's navigation functions.
  • If you have any questions or suggestions please email them to mailto:govinfo@northwestern.edu.
While I think this guide would be even stronger with either a one or two sentence annotation next to each organization or a link to the organization's about page, the comprehensiveness of the list makes it worth visiting. Check it out. And if you're a librarian with a handout or guide of your own, please post it to the Handout Exchange! Continue reading

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Guide of the Week: U.S. Intelligence Community

Today's Guide of the Week from the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki is for people wanting history and background relating to the US intelligence community: U.S. Intelligence Community (Jerry Breeze, Columbia University, 1999) Last updated 1/29/2008 This guide starts out with an introduction worth quoting:

This is a selective guide to resources at Columbia University Libraries and on the Internet, for conducting research on U.S. government agencies involved in intelligence activities, the classification and declassification of government documents related to intelligence activities, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Some of the items included may also have information about commercial espionage or intelligence activities of foreign governments, but that is not the focus of this guide. Please consult CLIO [Columbia's catalog] for other materials in the Columbia University Libraries.
For a selective guide, it is chock full of print and internet resources relating to the intelligence community. The guide contains links to secondary and primary intelligence materials and is divided into the following sections:
  • General
    • Background Information
    • Bibliographies & Indexes
    • Periodicals/News/Blogs
    • Intelligence Reform
    • Congressional Oversight & Budget
    • Classified/Declassified
    • FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)
    • Other Web Sources
  • Agency Specific
    • Office of the Director of National Intelligence
    • Central Intelligence Agency
    • Defense Intelligence Agency
    • Department of Energy
    • Department of State
    • Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
    • National Reconnaissance Office
    • National Security Agency
    • National Security Council
    • Other Agencies
    One feature I particularly like about this guide that I hope others emulate is the clear way the author distinguishes resources only available to the campus community. Anything with a key next to it can only be accessed by the Columbia University community. But that still leaves dozens and dozens of other resources for the rest of us to explore. If you have an interest in spies or foreign relations, check out this guide. And if you're a librarian with a guide of your own on this or any other subject, please link it to the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange Wiki. Continue reading

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