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Why is the 1957 Census of Govts deemed under copyright?
I just talked with a researcher who was interested in getting his hands on a digital copy of the 1957 Census of Governments. My momentary joy at finding a copy at the University of Michigan (my go-to library to find digital govt documents!) quickly turned to disappointment on seeing the message:
Page images and full text of this item are not available due to copyright restrictions.There ought to be a way for people/librarians to check the document for copyrighted bits and then quickly flip a switch to release it into the public domain and make it accessible to everyone. Is that too much to ask? Over time, we could lessen the impact that Google's scorched earth copyright policy has on documents that should rightfully be in the public domain. And another thing, why didn't they scan statistical resources to .csv files?! That is all. Continue reading
A non-partisan U.S. Census Bureau
For fascinating, provocative reading about where the Census Bureau will reside in the federal government organization, read the Feb 10, 2009 Wall Street Journal: "Why Obama Wants Control of the Census: Counting Citizens is a Powerful Political Tool" (author: John Fund). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123423384887066377.html. Serious changes may be happening, and more quickly than imagined. Even the seven former Census directors who support turning the Census into an independent agency recommended doing so after the 2010 Census. To quote the article, "[S]tatisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think [Obama's changes] would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the Commerce secretary." Lots of food for thought. Continue reading
Good News from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report reveals that crime rates declined in 2008. The report revelas that from January-June 2008, violent crimes decreased by 3.5 percent and property crimes by 2.5 percent. FBI's press release states that a full report for 2008 will be released in fall. The main points are: "Violent crimes in all population groups declined: murder by 4.4 percent, aggravated assault by 4.1 percent, forcible rape by 3.3 percent, and robbery by 2.2 percent. On a regional basis, law enforcement in all four parts of the country reported a drop in violent crimes: 6.0 percent in the Midwest, 5.0 percent in the West, 2.9 percent in the Northeast, and 1.5 percent in the South. Overall, property crimes fell in the Midwest (4.7 percent), the West (6.1 percent), and the South (0.4 percent). Among population groupings, each category of property crime was down: motor vehicle thefts by 12.6 percent, larceny-theft by 1.2 percent, and burglaries by 0.8 percent. Arsons dropped in all four regions of the country and among all population groups (with the exception of cities with populations of 250,000-499,999, where it actually increased 2.0 percent)." - Main points quoted from the FBI's Press Release Continue reading
Calls for Comment on Proposed Federal Data Collections
I'm forwarding this heads-up from the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) list. Over the last two weeks, there have been quite a few calls for comment on proposed data collections published in the Federal Register (see below with due date). Maybe it's because I haven't had my coffee yet this morning, but I was a little peeved by my failed information search. I found the Census Bureau's FR posting (Federal Register: January 7, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 4) Page 672) (btw, I tried in FDsys.gpo.gov but they've not loaded Volume 74 yet) but at first was stymied because the summary page has no link to the Census Bureau's Web site, and does not have contact information or any link to more information. The full listing has the information, but comments must be written, no Web submissions :-| Ok fine, I go to www.census.gov and after more than 5 minutes of search/browse, give up on finding exactly *how* to submit comments on the proposed "Quarterly Financial Report" or "Survey of Local Government Finances." What's even worse, census.gov does not have a "contact us" link on it's first page. I finally found it in the footer of a second level page, but could find nothing in the Question and Answer Center about RFCs, proposed data sets etc. *sigh* I guess this is turning into an FDsys comment. I noticed in FDsys that you can sign up to receive the daily Federal Register Table of Contents which is cool. But there needs to be a way to browse only the requests for comments (or rules changes, notices...) of specific agencies in the FR as well as receive email or RSS of requests for comments. There also needs to be a link in the FR to the agency in question and not just their top level site but to the place on the site with information on the RFC and directions for how to submit comments. And lastly (this is not an FDsys comment but a general agency comment) RFCs should be submitted online. So go ahead and submit comments for the proposed data collections below, I dare you.
- Census Bureau
Quarterly Financial Report (February 9, 2009)
Survey of Local Government Finances (School Systems) (March 13, 2009) - Office of Management and Budget
2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)-Updates for 2012 (April 7, 2009) - Bureau of Labor Statistics
Labor Market Information (LMI) Cooperative Agreement (March 3, 2009) - Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor
O*Net Data Collection Program (January 30, 2009) - Science Resources Statistics, National Science Foundation
Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges (March 10, 2009) - National Institutes of Health
Information Program on Clinical Trials: Maintaining a Registry and Results Databank (February 5, 2009) - Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services
Feasibility Test for Design Phase of National Study of Child Care Supply and Demand (February 5, 2009) - Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services
The AHRQ Data Inventory (January 30, 2009) - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services
CAHPS Home Health Care Survey (March 10, 2009) - Surface Transportation Board, Department of Transportation
Class I Railroad Annual Report (February 9, 2009)
Quarterly Report of Freight Commodity Statistics (February 9, 2009)
Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2009 edition
The 2009 edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States is now available from two sites:
- The 2009 Statistical Abstract. PDF and Excel
- Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006-2009. PDF only.
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