The Obama Administration’s Commitment to Open Government
The White House has released a new report, on open government:
- The Obama Administration’s Commitment to Open Government: A Status Report [the report, pdf, 34pp].
- A Status Report on the Administration’s Commitment to Open Government [announcement] by Steven Croley, The White House Open Gov Blog (September 16, 2011).
- An Ambivalent White House Report on Open Government, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (September 19, 2011).
Economic census could get reprieve
Economic census could get reprieve, by LIZ ENOCHS, Housing Wire (September 17, 2011).
The 2012 economic census, which was at risk of being eliminated after the House of Representatives sliced the Census Bureau's funding 25% two months ago, could be retained after the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations voted for a smaller funding cut and specifically voiced its support for the report.... It's still unclear whether the Senate's smaller budget cut will leave the bureau enough financial wiggle room to continue producing the report, which costs $124 million, according to figures from NABE.Continue reading
State Agency Databases Activity Report: September 17, 2011
The past few weeks have been a busy time at the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases. Part of what has kept us busy was the first official quarterly "link check" of our pages. This is a new initiative designed to keep project pages fresh. Thanks to the many volunteers who spent the last week checking and fixing page links and posting the date of link checking to their page. ORPHAN NEWS A big thank you to Carlos A. Diaz for adopting Mississippi. He fixed all the broken links and added a number of new resources. Now the official list of unadopted orphans stands at just two Rhode Island and Texas. I still think it would be a public service for someone to adopt Gov. Rick Perry's home and expand the list of Texas databases in order to provide a broader view of the Texas record. I'd do it if I didn't have Arizona in addition to Alaska. If you're a librarian in either Texas or Rhode Island, I'd really appreciate it if you would forward this message to appropriate listservs in your state. If you're interested in either Texas or 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 one of the above states. If you adopt a state, 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. TRANSFER NEWS Not sure if this was mentioned in a previous report, but Liz Paulus has taken over the Oregon page. WIKI ACTIVITY See our last seven days of activity at http://tinyurl.com/statedbs for a blow by blow description of changes to the page. Here are a few highlights: DATABASES ADDED CALIFORNIA (Joel Rane) Publicly Traded Disclosure Search - This search allows you to search for all publicly traded corporations that have filed a Corporate Disclosure Statement with the Secretary of State, search the full text of information contained in a specific statement, and view abstracts of reported information. Searchable by corporation name, the names of officers, or an auditor name; there is also an advanced search. INDIANA (Kimberly Brown-Harden) Oral Arguments Online - Oral arguments are webcast live and are available in Windows Media format. The link to view a live webcast will be available two minutes prior to the start time of an argument, and no sooner, unless the courtroom proceedings are delayed. The link to the archived video and the audio podcast (if available) will be accessible two hours after the start time of the hearing. Can search the arguments by keyword, title, case number, summary, etc. Also able to browse by year,court, month, and county. MISSISSIPPI (CARLOS A. DIAZ) Market Development Company Search - This database is part of the Make Mine Mississippi marketing campaign so people can get in touch with Mississippi companies. CHANGES TO SUBJECT PAGES BIOGRAPHICAL DATABASES North Carolina Builders & Architects: A Biographical Dictionary - This biographical dictionary highlights architects and builders who have produced North Carolina's architecture for more than 300 years. Clicking on "show more options" opens up Gender, Race, Trade, Styles & Forms, Building Types, and "Flourished Dates." Records includes locations where the builders and architects did projects. Continue reading
Senate legislative appropriations released. Future for GPO and FDLP in doubt
Last month the House released its legislative appropriations ("Privatization of GPO, Defunding of FDsys, and the Future of the FDLP"). As we noted then, "the future of long-term preservation of and free access to government information is in the hands of Congress today." And it doesn't look any better today with the release of the Senate's legislative appropriations markup, S.Rept. 112-080 (see p.42 - 44). The Senate added $500,000 to the House's revolving fund appropriations of ZERO (GPO had requested $6million!) -- but looks to be thinking that FDsys funding will come from there (GPO requested $6million for FDsys!) -- added around $6.8 million to congressional binding and printing and kept $35 million for salary and expenses for the Superintendent of Documents -- the same amount as the House. There's none of that restructuring language in the House appropriations (requesting GAO to research the efficacy of GPO privatization and splitting functions between LC and GSA). The Senate is recommending a 12.4 percent reduction in overall funding for the GPO from the fiscal year 2011 enacted level, which is only slightly less ugly than the 20% reduction recommended by the House. Please call, write and email your Senators TODAY and express your support for FULL GPO funding, *especially* if you happen to live in a state whose Senator sits on the Appropriations Committee. Continue reading
The Pentagon Papers: All Three Versions Posted Allowing Side-by-Side Comparison
The National Security Archive at George Washington University announced today that they have posted all three major editions of the Pentagon Papers.
- Complete Pentagon Papers At Last!, National Security Archive, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 359, (September 16, 2011) Edited By John Prados. For the first time ever, all three major editions of the Pentagon Papers are being made available simultaneously online. The posting today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org), allows for a unique side-by-side comparison, showing readers exactly what the U.S. government tried to hide for 40 years by means of deletions from the original text. Today's posting includes the full texts of the "Gravel" edition entered into Congressional proceedings in 1971 by Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) and later published by the Beacon Press, the authorized 1971 declassified version issued by the House Armed Services Committee with deletions insisted on by the Nixon administration, and the new 2011 "complete" edition released in June by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).