State Agency Databases Activity Report 4/7/2013

As March link checking was completed, activity has slowed at the State Agency Databases project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. But we reached a a major milestone as we once again have full coverage of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. We started the year with six or seven "orphan" states but that was quickly whittled down to just Hawaii, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Those stayed in the orphanage for a couple of months and recruiting here and govdoc-l wasn't helping. So three of our project volunteers stepped up and took on second states. I'd like to offer a loud round of applause to:

  • Jenn Zuccaro, for taking on Hawaii in addition to West Virgina.
  • Paul J McDonough, for taking on Minnesota in addition to Vermont
  • April Sheppard, for taking on Oklahoma in addition to Arkansas.
Now, for this week's activity. You can find a full listing of all the week's changes by visiting http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Here are some highlights: DATABASES ADDED: MICHIGAN (Michael McDonnell) GeoWebFace - GeoWebFace is a mapping service provided by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. It can be used to access all kinds of geologic information. Accessible layers are too numerous to list here but include; mine and quarry data, geologic and hydrological information, land ownership and leasing information, and the location and type of oil and gas wells. There are also links to USGS topographic maps. WASHINGTON (Marilyn Von Seggern) Fertilizer Product Database - Database of fertilizer products currently registered for distribution in Washington. Two major pieces of information in the database are the nutrient guarantees and the levels of nine heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, mercury, molybdenum, lead, nickel, selenium, and zinc) found in the product and for which the state has developed soil loading standards. SUBJECT PAGE ACTIVITY HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONER DATABASES (Lynn McClelland) Louisiana LPN Disciplinary Actions - Current disciplinary actions, by type Historical LPN Disciplinary Actions] - Lists of disciplinary actions, back to November 1997. Continue reading

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Its Not Your Grandfather’s Web Any Longer

David Rosenthal gave another fascinating talk about the state of the web and whether or not we can expect to preserve it by harvesting it. This talk was at the 2013 Spring CNI Membership Meeting in San Antonio, TX. David presents an edited text of his talk with links to the sources on his blog:

David and co-presenter Kris Carpenter Negulescu note, among other things, that the days of a document-centered web are long over and that today, what most web pages do "is download and run programs in the current Web's primary language, Javascript. Javascript is a programming language, not a document description language. Your browser is only incidentally a document rendering engine, its primary function is as a virtual machine." This presents problems for those wishing to preserve information. Among these problems:
  • Database driven features & functions
  • Complex/variable URI formats & inconsistent/variable link implementations
  • Dynamically generated, ever changing, URIs
  • Rich Media
  • Scripted, incremental display & page loading mechanisms
  • Scripted, HTML forms
  • Multi-­sourced, embedded material
  • Dynamic login/auth services: captchas, cross-­site/social authentication, & user-­sensitive embeds
  • Alternate display based on user agent or other parameters
  • Exclusions by convention
  • Exclusions by design
  • Server side scripts & remote procedure calls
  • HTML5 "web sockets"
  • Mobile publishing
For more about these problems, see also: IIPC Future of the Web Workshop -- Introduction & Overview, International Internet Preservation Consortium (May 17, 2012). Read David's complete post for a rich discussion of the issues. Continue reading

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Twenty Awesome Covers From The US Space Program

We love our gov-docs, don't we? Enjoy:

  • Twenty Awesome Covers From The US Space Program, Space Kinja. The upcoming 2013 April 18 Space Exploration Signature Auction by Heritage Auctions brought us these fine document covers. Manuals, guidebooks, press kits, reports, brochures - all with cool artworks and typography. Enjoy!
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Wilson Center makes declassified documents accessible and searchable

There's a new digital archive in town, from the Wilson Center's Cold War International History Project and its new Digital Archive of declassified official documents called www.digitalarchive.org. Digital collections include: the Berlin Wall, Chinese nuclear history, Cuban foreign relations, Geneva Conference of 1954, Mitrokhin archive, and much more. From the Wilson Center Web Site:

The Wilson Center [recently] launched a new Digital Archive of declassified official documents from nearly 100 different archives in dozens of different countries that provide fresh, unprecedented insights into the history of international relations and diplomacy. [Clip] The new website – www.digitalarchive.org – features uniquely powerful new search tools, an intuitive user-interface, and new educational resources such as timelines, analysis from leading experts, and biographies of significant historical figures. The Digital Archive will continually expand with new documents, translations, and analysis as they become available. [Clip] The new Digital Archive has been designed from the ground-up to make these historical document collections available to the broadest possible audience, from high school students through world-renowned scholars. Thousands of official documents from dozens of governments are now accessible through intuitive searching with filters such as location, date, subject, or language. Users can also browse topics by exploring themes or collections like the Database on Inter-Korea Relations and popular subjects such as the Warsaw Pact or the Cuban Missile Crisis.
[HT to InfoDocket!] Continue reading

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Acting Public Printer names new cohort to Depository Library Council

Congratulations to Greta Bever, Roberta Brooker, Elizabeth Cowell, Kate Irwin-Smiler, and Hallie Pritchett for being named as this year's cohort to the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer! Looking forward to seeing you all on the dais at the fall 2013 DLC conference.

The five new DLC members for the June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2016 term are: Greta Bever is the Assistant Commissioner for Central Library Services at the Chicago Public Library, which has been a Federal depository library since 1876. In that capacity, she oversees the Government Publications department. From 2003 to 2008, Ms. Bever served as a member of the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board/Illinois State Archive Advisory Board that makes recommendations to the State Archivist and provides advice and assistance to the Illinois State Archives. She has been a member of the Cook County Local Records Board from 2003 to the present. Roberta Brooker is the State Librarian at the Indiana State Library, a regional Federal depository library that began collecting Federal laws and other Federal materials when it was established in 1824. She brings to Council a government documents background as well as experience as a coordinator for the Indiana State Data Center. Ms. Brooker has an extensive background in training, including teaching government information courses at the Indiana University, School of Library and Information Science. She is a member of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and the Indiana Library Foundation. Elizabeth Cowell is the Associate University Librarian for Public Services at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she provides strategic leadership for public service activities locally and UC systemwide. She has extensive government documents experience in several academic libraries and was an active participant in the LOCKSS Alliance. Ms. Cowell also served as one of two regional librarians at the Wisconsin Historical Society. She has contributed numerous presentations and publications to the field and actively participates in professional associations. Kate Irwin-Smiler is a reference librarian at the Wake Forest University School of Law’s Professional Center Library in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she also serves as coordinator of the depository library collection. She brings to Council expertise on legal information and legal training. Ms. Irwin-Smiler is a member of the American???? ?Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and serves on the association’s Federal Depository Library Program Task Force. She is also a member of AALL’s Academic Law Libraries, Government Document and Social Responsibility Special Interest Sections. Hallie Pritchett is head of the Map and Government Information Library at the University of Georgia, the state’s regional Federal depository library. Ms. Pritchett participates in numerous library associations, including the American Library Association (ALA) and the Georgia Library Association (GLA). She is permanent executive secretary of GLA's Government Information Interest Group (GIIG), immediate past chair of ALA’s Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT), and current chair of the Regional Government Information Librarians (REGIL).
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