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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.

State Agency Databases Activity Report 3/3/2013

Activity this week at the State Agency Databases project (http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases) was focused on renovations to the Maryland page. More on that in a moment. ORPHANS - WE'RE STILL STUCK AT THREE, PLEASE HELP OR SPREAD THE WORD Our tally of states in need of volunteer document specialists is stuck at three as no one came forward this week to claim any of the following:

If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting. If you're NOT interested in adopting one of the states above, would you please forward this note or blog about the opportunity? Maybe someone you know would like to share or deepen their knowledge of Hawaii, Minnesota or Oklahoma produced databases. Thank you in advance for your forwards and reblogs. DATABASE ACTIVITY As mentioned at the top, all of the database activity this week can be attributed to Siu Min Yu, volunteer for Maryland. Some of the databases added to Maryland this week include: Appellate Court Opinions in PDF - From the website, "Only reported opinions are available here. Reported opinions appearing on this website may not be the final, official version of the text of Appellate Court opinions/orders. Only the bound volumes of the Maryland Reports and Maryland Appellate Reports contain the final, official texts of the reported opinions of the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals." General Assembly, Code of Public General Laws of Maryland - From the website, "The Code is arranged by subject matter and organized into “Articles” (e.g. Transportation Article), which are further subdivided into “titles”, “subtitles”, “sections”, “subsections”, “paragraphs”, subparagraphs”, etc." Maps and Map Data - Search the GIS Map and Map Data Portal. Water Quality Mapping Data - A searchable database containing hundreds of water quality maps. Trademark Search - Search the Trademarks & Service Marks Database in the State of Maryland. From the website, "The list which results from your search is made up of summary information filed with the Office of the Secretary of State of Maryland. This information may not reflect the most recent information on file. The last updated date below does not necessarily pertain to the database information to be searched." Continue reading

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State Agency Databases Activity Report 2/24/2013

This week featured continued activity at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. WELCOME PAM! Pam Crawford officially adopted the Kansas page this week and immediately got to work on a number of updates. ORPHANS - THEN THERE WERE THREE The adoption of Kansas leaves us with just three states waiting for volunteer government information specialists/enthusiasts to adopt them:

  • Hawaii
  • Minnesota
  • Oklahoma
If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting. DATABASE ACTIVITY For a complete picture of activity on our project this week, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are some highlights: DATABASES ADDED FLORIDA (Wilhelmina Randtke) CHARTS Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set - Includes such health statistics as births, deaths, disease morbidity, behavioral risk factors, communicable diseases, chronic diseases, maternal & child health, environmental health, injury & violence, social & mental health, and population characteristics. KANSAS (Pam Crawford) Addiction Treatment Centers - Searchable by zip code, county, or city. MARYLAND (Siu Min Yu) Maryland Funding Accountability & Transparency - Search by agency making a payment, by vendor receiving a payment or by zip code of a vendor receiving payment. From the website, "This is a public web site which allows citizens of Maryland and visitors to search and view summary information on payments made to vendors that received $25,000 or more for the respective fiscal year. Information is currently available beginning Fiscal Year 2008." Continue reading

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State Agency Databases Activity Report 2/18/2013 – Final Four edition

This week featured a burst of activity at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. We saw many, many link fixes in addition to the new databases featured below. WELCOME WILHELMINA! Wilhelmina Randtke officially adopted the Florida page this week and immediately got to work on a number of updates. ORPHANS - THE FINAL FOUR The adoption of Florida leaves us with just four states waiting for volunteer government information specialists/enthusiasts to adopt them:

  • Hawaii
  • Kansas
  • Minnesota
  • Oklahoma
If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting. DATABASE ACTIVITY For a complete picture of activity on our project, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are some highlights: DATABASES ADDED FLORIDA (Wilhelmina Randtke) Accommodations Finder - makes planning your trip to Florida easy by searching accommodations and activities by category: attractions, birding, boating, campgrounds, cycling, dining, diving & snorkeling, fishing, golf, hiking, historic attractions, historical lodging, museums, natural history, parks, performing arts, romance, shopping, spas, and visitor services. MONTANA (Susanne Caro) Montana Place Names - This traveler’s guide, based on the places found on the 2003 Montana highway map, explores the origins of more than 1100 Montana place names, hundreds of geographic features and historical locations. INDIANA (Stephanie Martin) Business Entity Name Search - From website, search database to "Get information on Indiana companies, download official Certificates, order Business Entity Documents, and locate Control number." DATABASES REMOVED FLORIDA Institution Search & Profiles (formally at http://www.facts.org/) - provides details on a particular postsecondary school in Florida such as admissions information, cost, degrees offered, total enrollment, or activities and sports available. Continue reading

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Government documents and hidden indian heroes

We all know about the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, but did you know there were Code Talkers in World War I? Or that the very first US military code talkers were Choctaw and Comanche? Suzanne Marshall, an MLIS student at Florida State University and reference librarian at West Florida Public Library serves up these facts and more in an article titled "A hidden story: American Indian Code Talkers" in the Winter 2012 Student Papers Issue of Dttp: Documents to the People. The story of the Indian Code Talkers and belated efforts to honor their work is a story interesting in and of itself. But Suzanne uses this story and some unanswered questions as a springboard to explain the current state of affairs in government archival material and to argue for facilitated access to such material. She concludes with:

Citizens rightfully own government documents and must be granted not only access but facilitated access to those documents. Important facts are, by default, invisible and virtually inaccessible without facilitated access. As this case of the American Indian code talkers highlights, we must strive to reveal the rich heritage we share in our co-owned government documents.
We agree. Reference: Marshall, Suzanne. A hidden story: American Indian Code Talkers. Dttp: Documents to the People, v. 40, no. 4, Winter 2012, p. 27 Continue reading

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State Agency Databases Activity Report 2/10/2013

This was a mostly quiet week at the State Agency Databases Project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. Quiet enough that I would not normally put out an activity report, but there are two notable things I wanted to share with you. ORPHANS - THE FINAL FOUR? The adoption of Florida is pending. That leaves us with just four states waiting for volunteer government information specialists/enthusiasts to adopt them:

  • Hawaii
  • Kansas
  • Minnesota
  • Oklahoma
If you are interested in adopting one of these pages, please read our volunteer guide and make sure you can accept the responsibilities of a project volunteer. Then contact project coordinator Daniel Cornwall at danielcornwall@gmail.com with a statement of interest and your favorite database from the page you are adopting. CALIFORNIA'S DATABASE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS As most government information specialists are aware, local government documents are probably the most elusive of all. California has taken a step to try to make their local government documents easier to find and use. I (and any other user of the State Agency Databases wiki) was made aware of this by Joel Rane, the volunteer for California. Here is his annotation of California's new resource:
California Local Government Documents - An extensive database of local government documents across the state; if a document is not online, a scanned copy is hosted by the Berkeley IGS. Includes access to local municipal codes and charters, searchable by city; documents related to land use and development issues, searchable by jurisdiction, type of planning document and year (at both county and city level); and budgets and financial reports for Bay Area cities, county budgets and annual financial reports, and annual reports from county grand juries, all searchable by keyword. A tremendous resource.
Hats off to UC Berkeley for putting this together and thanks to Joel Rane for making the rest of us aware of this new resource for one state's local documents. Continue reading

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