State Agency Databases Activity Report 8/28/2011
ORPHAN NEWS This week was relatively quiet at the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project. The list of orphan states in need of adoption is unchanged from last week: Mississippi Rhode Island Texas It would be particularly nice to have Texas adopted out as an accurate annotated list of Texas databases would likely be used by people evaluating Governor Rick Perry's record now that he's running for President. If you're interested in one of the above states, 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. 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 NEW MEXICO (Adrienne Walker) Licensed Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors - Search for licensed professional engineers and licensed professional surveyors by license number, last name, first name, city, state, zip, license type, branch or status (there is a key available on the search page to assist in the selection of license type, status or branch). New Mexico Coal Mines Query - This database displays information from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. This site includes general data and statistics about active mines, notices of violation and water quality samples. LOUISIANA (Rita Franks) Restaurant Inspections - This state website provides access to restaurant inspections that include critical and non-critical violations, along with corrective actions that have been taken or are pending. DATABASES REMOVED MISSOURI (Annie Moots) Local Telephone Exchange Companies - Searchable by town/city. Continue reading
Hurricane Irene: Listen to Live Online Stream 24×7 From First Responders From Throughout Region + FEMA Daily Update
Here's a post we just put up that offers a brief overview to a directory where you can listen live to first responders (police, fire, ems). The directory is free to use and the streams are free to access. Of course, not every county or city has a feed but, for the most part the I-95 corridor is well represented. Also, the directory is always online (not just a storm resource) and is national in scope. From the Juneau Police Dept. to the Pinellas County Fire and EMS and many other locations. http://infodocket.com/2011/08/26/hurricane-irene-listen-live-online-to-first-responders-throughout-entire-storm-area/ A second post points out the fact that the FEMA National Situation Daily update is available online (can also be of use after the event) as well as a number of mobile tools from the National Hurricane Center including an option to be alerted to new updates via email or text. http://infodocket.com/2011/08/25/reference-hurricane-irene-femas-national-situation-daily-update-natl-hurricane-center-mobile/ Transportation You can always listen live to most major airport towers and centers in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. http://liveatc.net and finally, the AMTRAK Northeast Corridor Twitter Stream and Amtrak (National) on Facebook. Continue reading
Lost Docs Report/Update on November-December 2009 Fugitive Documents
Report/Update In addition to our usual monthly report, we at the Lost Docs Project Blog will from time to time revisit, check, and update posted document receipts that at the time of their corresponding monthly reports were still classed as fugitives. The following report focuses on the receipts posted from November-December 2009. Of the 149 fugitive document receipts posted November-December 2009, 49 (33%) of the titles have had records added to the Catalog of Government Publications (CGP), 26 of these have been added since the November and December 2009 monthly reports. Three of the cataloged titles had not been assigned a PURL (Persistent Uniform Resource Locator) so we also marked these as "Preservation Needed". While the low percentage of items cataloged is disappointing, we are appreciative of those records that have been created and added to the CGP. A list of cataloged items, based on the posted receipts, can be viewed at https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjA1ChZ8rDu5dGw0VllsRHpqSk1HcXctM1dMQVlBMWc&hl=en or visit the Lost Docs Project Blog and view the "found" items with November-December 2009 dates. We have highlighted a few of the document titles cataloged since the 2009 monthly reports, they are listed below. Read you Loud and Clear!: The Story of NASA's Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (EL) Mineral Investigations in the Bristol Bay Mining District Study Area, Southwest Alaska (EL) Nuestros hijos, nuestra responsabilidad (EL) Behind International Rankings of Infant Mortality: How the United States Compares with Europe (EL) 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: 1.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." 2.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. 3.Post the blog link to your website or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. 4.Subscribe to the blog feed at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/feed/ or better yet incorporate the feed into your website or blog. Lost Docs Project Blog Team Meredith Johnston Jeffrey Hartsell-Gundy lostdocs@freegovinfo.info Continue reading
Tracking Hurricane Irene
National Journal's "Tech Daily Dose" has a list of links useful for for staying up to date on Hurricane Irene. These include resources from FEMA, The National Hurricane Center, and the National Weather Service, as well as state, local, and commercial resources.
Continue readingGPO Disapproves of Report on the Future of Federal Depository Libraries
As reported here earlier, GPO rejected the Ithaka S+R report on the future of the Federal Depository Library Program (Modeling a Sustainable Future for the United States Federal Depository Library Program's Network of Libraries in the 21st Century: Final Report of Ithaka S+R to the Government Printing Office, by Ross Housewright & Roger C. Schonfeld, Ithaka S+R, May 16, 2011). Here is coverage by Information Today of that rejection :
- GPO Disapproves of Report on the Future of Federal Depository Libraries, by Barbie E. Keiser, Information Today, (August 25, 2011).