Purpose of 1969 Nuclear Alert Remains a Mystery in new FRUS volume
Steven Aftergood says that State Department historians are still, in a new volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), unable to provide a definitive account of an event in October 1969 when the Nixon Administration secretly placed U.S. nuclear forces on alert.
- Purpose of 1969 Nuclear Alert Remains a Mystery, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, (October 25th, 2011).
- Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXXIV, National Security Policy, 1969–1972. [PDF, 3.4MB] This volume documents U.S. national security policy in the context of the Vietnam War and the changing Cold War strategic balance between the United States and the Soviet Union.
State Agency Databases Activity Report 10/23/2011
It's been a few weeks since the last report for the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases, but our volunteers have stayed busy. VOLUNTEER AND ORPHAN NEWS Ann Ellis, Metadata Librarian with Stephen F. Austin State University Library, answered the call of Texas and has begun adding databases. Our last official orphan remains Rhode Island. Will you be the one to take the last "unadopted orphan?" If you're interested in adopting Rhode Island, check out our volunteer guide at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/SADATFS_Volunteer_Guide and then send me an e-mail if you'd like to adopt it. If you adopt Rhode Island, be prepared to put your name and contact information on the main project page AND your state page within two weeks of receiving your wiki login. See the Volunteer guide for more details. WIKI ACTIVITY See our last 14 days of activity at http://tinyurl.com/statedbs14d for a blow by blow description of changes to the page. Here are a few highlights: DATABASES ADDED CALIFORNIA (Joel Rane) Recommended Literature for Math and Science - A database of outstanding science and mathematics-related literature for children and adolescents. The recommended titles reflect the quality and the complexity of the types of materials students should be reading at school and outside of class. Searches can be performed by author, title, keyword, grade level span, language, science or mathematics subject area, etc. Extensive explanations of the search indexes are available. Joel has been extremely busy the past few weeks adding and reorganizing California resources. If you haven't checked out the page since mid-September, you should. NEW MEXICO (Adrienne Walker) Physician Profile Search - The New Mexico Medical Board provides and maintains physician data as part of this official website, and is the primary source for physician and physician assistant profiles and other related information and data. Information on the website is normally updated weekly, and the date of the most recent update is always provided on the search page. NORTH DAKOTA (Kathryn Thomas) North Dakota Courts Records Inquiry - Search criminal, traffic, civil, family, and probate case records; judgments; and court calendar. This is one of a number of court system databases that Kathryn has added. OHIO (Audrey Hall) Treasurer's Transparency Project Search for state public employee and teacher salaries. - Links to The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions for local, higher education and federal salaries. TEXAS (ANN ELLIS) Texas Plant Information Database - Database includes information about native and naturalized plants used for landscape restoration. It lists species that when planted appropriately provide landscapes that are similar to those that naturally grow in Texas. Continue reading
U.S Department of Labor, Facebook, and Others Announce Partnership
Via INFOdocket: From a DOL News Release: Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced an innovative partnership that leverages the combined audience and expertise of officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, Facebook, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of Colleges and Employers to provide crucial employment resources to job seekers through the use of social networks. [Clip] As part of the announcement, Facebook officials debuted a "social jobs partnership" page that highlights available training programs, educational opportunities and job search resources, which can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/socialjobs. Facebook also made a commitment to drive traffic to the page through targeted online public service announcements that will appear to users in geographic areas experiencing high unemployment. In the coming months, public and private-sector partners who have committed to helping Americans find jobs through resources and technology will be added. Watch Today's Announcement Read the Complete Announcement Continue reading
Census: Updated QuickFacts Tables Available & Release of 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year PUMS
Summary profiles for geographic areas have been updated with the most recent information from frequently requested statistics from various Census Bureau programs including the 2010 Census, 2010 American Community Survey and 2007 Survey of Business Owners. These easy to access and easy to use tables are now available for the nation, state and counties and have expanded from places with populations of 25,000 or more to places with 5,000 or more. Tables also provide links to more detailed data sets.Direct to U.S. Census QuickFacts and U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year PUMS
We are pleased to announce the release of the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. PUMS files from the ACS show the full range of population and housing unit responses collected on individual ACS questionnaires. These files enable users to design tabulations that aggregate responses differently than the published data products. The PUMS files contain records for a subsample of ACS housing units and group quarters persons. As required by federal law, the confidentiality of ACS respondents is protected through a variety of steps to disguise or suppress original data while making sure the results are still useful. In addition to modifying the individual records, respondents' confidentiality is protected because only large geographic areas are identified in the PUMS. To read more about how the PUMS files are created, browse code lists, and look-up subjects in the PUMS, please visit the PUMS Documentation Page. The PUMS data is accessible now via the FTP site. Links can be found on our PUMS Data Page. On October 27, 2011 the data will also be accessible via American FactFinder.See Also: Poverty: 2009 and 2010 Also new from the U.S. Census. Continue reading
Posted Online: Letter from 31 Regional Federal Depository Coordinators to GPO & Other Letters
The letter, made available by ARL, is dated October 19, 2011 and begins:
We write as coordinators of regional depository libraries to express our deep concern over GPO's recent responses to two initiatives within the FDLP system. Given these responses, and the rejection of the 2011 Ithaka S+R report (Modeling a Sustainable Future of the Federal Depository Library Program in the 21st Century), we do not believe that GPO recognizes the gravity of the current situation in many regional federal depository libraries, and does not appear to be making efforts to understand this situation or to creatively partner with regional libraries or groups of depository libraries to help ameliorate the situation.Read the Complete Letter (4 pages; PDF) Here are two more letters re: FDLP made available by ARL today. 1. Greater Western Library Alliance Strongly Supports ARL’s Position On Recent USGPO Decisions 2. Association of Southeastern Research Libraries Strongly Supports ARL’s Position on Recent GPO Decisions 1 page; PDF. Continue reading