Interesting, illustrative, informative, bizarre… polar bears in the Federal Register
The Government Printing Office in a press release today announced a success story in the use of the Application Programming Interface (API) for Federal Register. It is certainly interesting and illustrative of how an API can be used to deliver information to a particular community of interest, but I think you may also find it unexpectedly unusual. A researcher used the FR API to create a tracking system for polar bear protection documents.
GPO AND OFR SHOWCASE OPEN GOVERNMENT SUCCESS STORY WASHINGTON-The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National Archives' Office of the Federal Register (OFR) report a success story from the Application Programming Interface (API) for FederalRegister.gov. GPO and OFR introduced the API in August 2011, enabling information technology developers to create new applications for regulatory information published in the Federal Register. A researcher utilized the API to create a tracking system for polar bear protection documents. The API tool automatically grabs Federal Register items that mention polar bears from 1994 to present, displays the items in a formatted list with browsing capabilities, and links back to the full text on FederalRegister.gov. Link to Polar Bear Feed: http://polarbearfeed.etiennebenson.com/ "This is another example of how GPO and OFR continue to find ways in achieving the goal of making Government information more transparent and giving users the ability to adapt Federal Register data to their own needs," said Public Printer Bill Boarman. "We are thrilled to see the use of the API source material to develop a live feed on the subject of polar bears. This is precisely how we hoped this information would be used when we made it available to the public. We couldn't be more gratified," said Director of the Federal Register Ray Mosley. The print and online versions of the Federal Register are the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other Presidential documents.Continue reading
State Agency Databases Activity Report 12/4/2011
Our volunteers remain active and productive at the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. SUBJECT PAGE ACTIVITY Health Practitioner Databases (Lynn McClelland) With the addition of ID, KY, LA, MA, MN and NH. Lynn now has 44 states plus the District of Columbia represented on this page. This page has gotten so comprehensive, the wiki made Lynn split the page in two. The original page now covers states A-M and the second page covers states N-Z. This is the kind of problem I love to have as project coordinator. OTHER WIKI ACTIVITY See our last 14 days of activity at http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d for a blow by blow description of changes to the wiki. Here are a few highlights: DATABASES ADDED ALASKA (Daniel Cornwall) Alaska Film Locations Database - Operated by Reel Scout on behalf of the Alaska Film Office. Searchable by keyword or by category/subcategory, location name, region, town or distance with zip code. Records have name of location, nearest community, id code, photos, description and general notes. CALIFORNIA (JOEL RANE) California Information File - This database contains more than 50,000 references to California people, places, events, and subjects. GEORGIA (Chris Sharpe) Georgia Procurement Registry - Able to search state governments, municipalities, county governments, and K-12 school districts NORTH CAROLINA (Jennifer Davison) North Carolina Board of Nursing - Database of North Carolina licensed RNs and LPNs. OTHER NEWS Mid-December marks our next mass link check update. This should be less extensive than our link changes in September now that our volunteers have committed to checking pages at least quarterly. Some volunteers link check once a month. Also, after January 1, 2012, I will be examining pages to see the last time a volunteer touched them. Any pages that haven't been edited since January 1, 2011 will be reassigned. New for 2012, we will be changing our practice of permitting state listings where it is simply one link to a page of databases maintained by a state agency such as the case for New York. This change is intended to allow the inclusion of search results for that state in the wiki search. The libraries involved will be individually notified before the end of the year. Continue reading
November 2011 Lost Docs Report and Appeal
REPORT For November, we posted 6 reports from librarians to GPO reporting documents that had seemingly fallen through the cracks of the cataloging process. The reports were originally sent to GPO during November 2011. This month, of the 6 reported documents posted by us, one has been cataloged for the Catalog of Government Publications (CGP), and 5 remain listed as "fugitive documents." To find out more about these fugitive titles visit the Lost Docs Project Blog at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info and view those posts with November 2011 dates. The one cataloged title is… Legislative proposals to determine the future role of FHA, RHS, and GNMA in the single- and multi-family mortgage markets [electronic resource] : hearing before the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing, and Community Opportunity of the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, first session, May 25, 2011. Y 4.F 49/20:112-32 http://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo14993 Please remember that our listing of "fugitive documents" reports is only as complete as you make it. APPEAL If you like the concept of a public listing of fugitive documents reported to GPO, there are a number of easy ways to help us:
- If you report a fugitive document to GPO, send your e-mailed receipt to lostdocs@freegovinfo.info. We welcome any item reported to GPO in the past month. It is best if you can send us the receipt the same day you get it from GPO. Some e-mail programs will support auto-forwarding. If so, please consider autoforwarding items where the subject contains "lostdocs submission."
- Visit the blog at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info and comment on the listed items. Comments can include -- Did your library receive the item? Did you find it in the CGP? Do you think the item is out of scope for the CGP? Did you report the item as well and so on.
- Post the blog link to your website or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.
- Subscribe to the blog feed at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/feed/ or better yet incorporate the feed into your website or blog.
Research Briefing Papers from UK
Gary Price at INFOdocket reminds us that "The UK House of Commons and House of Lords Libraries publish and update a large amount of research briefings each day." These are analogous to US CRS reports. Check out Gary's post on this for more links and suggestions:
- Selection of New Research Briefing Papers from UK House of Commons and House of Lords Libraries, by Gary D. Price, INFOdocket (December 1, 2011)
- Research briefings, UK Parliament. This page provides access to research briefings produced by the Libraries of the House of Commons and House of Lords and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). You can find research briefings by sorting by date, type, or one of 350 topics.
Roundup of Government Info News and New Resources
Time once again for a selection of news and new resources that we hope will be an interest to the FGI community. The posts are from INFOdocket.com (@infofodocket) where we compile and post new items daily from a variety of resources. 1. “Obama Wants Better Digital Archive of Federal Records” + Full Text of Presidential Memorandum 2. Now Available: EPA Releases Formerly Confidential Chemical Information 3. San Antonio, TX: New Online Database: Historical Election Results are Digitized 4. Statistics Canada to Make All Online Data Free 5. UK Parliament: MPs to Investigate Library Closures 6. TR Center Officially Launches the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Collection 7. Idaho: Libraries to Adjust to New Internet Filtering Law 8. U.S.: National Archives Trust Fund To Sell Copies of the 1940 Census (Digital & Microfilm Versions) Available 9. All Thing Preservation: New NARA (National Archives) Twitter Stream & Tumblr Page 10. U.S. History: Senator George Mitchell Oral History Project Debuts Online 11.New Social Media Resource: “PolitickerUSA is the Best Way to Track Politicians’ Tweets” 12. Video Now Online of NARA’s “What’s Next in Social Media” Forum 13. Child Welfare Information Gateway — State Guides & Manuals Search 14. GPO Releases Its First App 15. New UN Database Available: Expert Panel Launches Tool to Fight Arbitrary Deprivation of Freedom 16. State of Minnesota Posts Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD) 17. U.S. Government: USAID Launches New GeoCenter 18. Public Access to Indiana’s Historic Sanborn Maps Provides Treasure Trove of Information 19. California: More than 13,000 Online Maps Provide Historic View of State 20. UNESCO’s Global Open Access Portal Now Online Continue reading