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 readingLunchtime listen: Help! webinar on Homeland Security Digital Library now available
I was signed up for the Help! webinar on Homeland Security Digital Library, but unfortunately was unable to make the session. But luckily, all sessions are recorded and posted along with slides for future access on their site. This was a particularly interesting session presented by Greta Marlatt, the Outreach and Collection Development Manager for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Dudley Knox Library and the Content Manager for the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL). Greta pointed out several interesting aspects to the HSDL site:
- Compile hearing transcripts, prepared testimonies and video links from Committee pages
- Get permissions for hosting publications from other agencies and organizations (similar to our Everyday Electronic Materials (EEMs) project described earlier)
- Weekly email alerts for targeted search strategies
- Post CRS reports
- Homeland security related blogs aggregated
The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association welcomes you to a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them. The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation's premier research collection of open-source resources related to homeland security policy, strategy and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA. Greta Marlatt is the Outreach and Collection Development Manager for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Dudley Knox Library and the Content Manager for the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL). She has over 30 years of experience working in libraries in various capacities. Ms. Marlatt has published several articles and is the author of a number of bibliographies and help guides for topics relating to Intelligence, Information Warfare, Special Operations, Homeland Security, Mine Warfare, Directed Energy Weapons, NBC Terrorism and more. She has given numerous presentations on topics related to conducting research in the homeland security and military arenas. Ms. Marlatt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Arizona State University, a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Arizona and a Master of Arts degree in National Security Studies from California State University, San Bernardino.Continue reading
Impact of the Sequester on GPO
Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks testified before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations on Feb 26, 2013. She discussed the potential impact of the upcoming sequester scheduled for March 1, the results of the recent National Academy of Public Administration study of GPO, and GPO's appropriations request for FY 2014, which will be submitted to the House and Senate later this week. The GPO press release about the testimony does not mention the NAPA recommendation to charge fees for access to FDsys (see NAPA releases report on GPO). Excerpt from press release, emphasis added:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 26, 2013 No. 13-07 ACTING PUBLIC PRINTER TESTIFIES BEFORE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE WASHINGTON - Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks testified before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations today, discussing the potential impact of the upcoming sequester scheduled for March 1, the results of the recent National Academy of Public Administration study of GPO, and GPO's appropriations request for FY 2014, which will be submitted to the House and Senate later this week. Under the sequester, GPO will see its appropriations cut by 5.3%, or approximately $6.7 million, which will affect the agency's statutory and essential functions. To offset the cut, GPO's plan is to freeze hiring, overtime, performance awards, outside training, administrative travel, and nonessential maintenance and repairs. GPO may also face a decrease in revenue from Federal agency customers who order less printing and other information services due to the impact of sequester on their budget. The extent of this revenue impact is unknown at this time. To offset it, GPO will cut back on technology and other investments, which would delay the development of digital products and services, such as mobile apps for Congress and Federal agencies, as well as other technology upgrades and projects to improve public access to Government information. If necessary, a furlough of GPO's workforce may also be implemented. The recent study of GPO by the National Academy of Public Administration underscores the value of GPO's products and services in Keeping America Informed, and makes useful recommendations to better position the Federal Government in the digital era, strengthen GPO's business model, and build the GPO of the future. Vance-Cooks voiced support for the recommendations and said the agency is already at work on them. For FY 2014, GPO plans to request $128.5 million, a 1.2% increase over the funding currently provided for FY 2013. The request includes a decrease of $11.5 million in congressional printing costs and an increase of $12.4 million in investments for continued growth for GPO's digital systems and investments. "Regardless of budget constraints, GPO is committed to serving as the digital information platform and provider of secure credentials for the Federal Government," said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. "GPO is prepared to make the necessary cutbacks in order to continue to carry out its mission of Keeping America Informed."Continue reading
White House announces policy of open access to federally funded research
Thanks in part to a We the People petition signed by 65,000 people(!), President Obama's science advisor, John Holdren, issued a directive on Friday to all research funding agencies to develop plans to make the results of federally-funded research publically available free of charge within 12 months of publication. It also requires that scientists receiving taxpayer dollars to improve upon the management and sharing of scientific data. This is huge! By my rough count, that means that approximately 20 US agencies will now make the science they fund available to the public. The only thing better would be for President Obama to support FREE access to ALL federal govt publications by assuring that FDsys remains freely available (one of the recommendations of the recent NAPA report was the tremendously backward and short-sighted suggestion that GPO charge for access to their FDsys database!) See the policy memorandum, Expanding Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research
The Obama Administration is committed to the proposition that citizens deserve easy access to the results of scientific research their tax dollars have paid for. That’s why, in a policy memorandum released today, OSTP Director John Holdren has directed Federal agencies with more than $100M in R&D expenditures to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication and requiring researchers to better account for and manage the digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research. OSTP has been looking into this issue for some time, soliciting broad public input on multiple occasions and convening an interagency working group to develop a policy. The final policy reflects substantial inputs from scientists and scientific organizations, publishers, members of Congress, and other members of the public—over 65 thousand of whom recently signed a We the People petition asking for expanded public access to the results of taxpayer-funded research. To see the new policy memorandum, please visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf To see Dr. Holdren’s response to the We the People petition, please visit: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/increasing-public-access-results-scientific-research Michael Stebbins is Assistant Director for Biotechnology at OSTPContinue reading
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