New & Free: USGS Releases More than 200,000 Historical Maps From 1884-2006
Via INFOdocket: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Historical Quadrangle Scanning Project (HQSP) is in the process of releasing all editions and all scales of more than 200,000 historic topographic maps of the United States dating from 1884-2006. [Clip] The historical topographic map collection includes all States and U.S. territories mapped by the USGS. The HQSP creates a master catalogue and digital archive for all topographic maps and provides easy access to the public to download this historical data to accompany topographic maps that are no longer available for distribution as lithographic prints. Historical maps are available to the public at no cost in GeoPDF format from the USGS Store. These maps are georeferenced and can be used in conjunction with the new USGS digital topographic map, the US Topo. News Release and Links Continue reading
State Agency Databases Activity Report 7/10/2011
Activity continues at the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project. See a blow by blow list of changes from the previous seven days at http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Some highlights from this week are: DATABASES ADDED Arkansas Licensed Athletic Trainer Search - Searchable database of licensed athletic trainers, by first name and last name. Connecticut Arthropod (i.e. bugs) Management Database - Intended for commercial plant growers, this database "allows you to search for insects and mites that are pests on trees, shrubs and other plants in the landscape, the nursery or Christmas tree farm." Searchable by damage type, pest and plant. One of each, plus a "profession" must be selected to ensure a successful search. Louisiana Confederate Pension Applications Index Database - This database consists of alphabetically arranged pensions granted from 1898 for veterans and widows. The pensions may include service information, occupation, place of residence, and number of children. The collection also contains a few applications for individuals other than veterans or widows that were not granted. This particular database was also added to our Official Records Databases page. South Carolina Orders - The database of Orders of the Public Service Commission is being expanded to cover orders and rate requests from 1990 to present. Searches can be by keyword, with filtering by industry. Washington Classics in Washington History - A searchable database of more than 160 scanned Washington history publications in 14 subject categories such as geography, territorial and state government, exploration and early travel, and women's stories. DATABASES REMOVED Arkansas Parenting Program Directory - Basic information about existing parent education programs in Arkansas. Directory is searchable by county and keyword. ---- In addition to the changes above, the SADATFS Volunteer Guide was updated with some style guidelines and a clarification was made to the "What is a Database?" page. We continue to need people to adopt the following orphan state pages: California Connecticut - Links fixed this week through govdoc-l crowdsourcing! District of Columbia Illinois Indiana Mississippi New Jersey New Mexico South Dakota Tennessee Texas Vermont West Virginia Wisconsin Continue reading
Lost Docs Report/Update on July-October, 2009 Fugitive Documents
Report/Update In addition to our usual monthly report, we at the Lost Docs Blog will from time to time revisit, check, and update posted document receipts that at the time of their corresponding monthly report were still classed as fugitives. The following report focuses on the receipts posted from July-October 2009, the beginning of the Lost Docs Blog project. Of the 46 reported fugitive documents posted July-October 2009, 19 (41.3%) have been cataloged, 5 of these since July-October 2009; 27 (58.6%) documents remain fugitives, as of July 1, 2011. We are appreciative of those records that have been created. For more information visit the Lost Docs Blog at http://lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/. To view a list of cataloged titles visit the spreadsheet of documents at https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en&key=tl4VYlDzjJMGqw-3WLAYA1g&hl=en#gid=0 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. Continue reading
June Lost Docs Report and Appeal
REPORT In June 2011, we received and posted 63 reports to GPO from librarians reporting documents that had seemingly fallen through the cracks of the cataloging process. The reports were originally sent to GPO between April and June 2011. This month of the 61 reported documents posted by us, 3 (5%) have been cataloged and are in the Catalog of Government Publications (CGP) as of this writing. See these records for yourself by visiting lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/category/found/ and looking at the postings with June 2011 dates. We are appreciative of these new records. From June, 54 items remain listed as "fugitive documents." Four documents reported to GPO appeared to already have public CGP records and we classed them as "false positives." Please remember that our listing of "fugitive documents" reports is only as complete as you make it, since GPO does not yet publish any statistics we're aware of on fugitive documents/document discovery. 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.
President’s Twitter Town Hall
Good coverage of the Twitter Town Hall:
- Plenty of 140-character questions, few new answers in Obama's Twitter town hall, by Joseph Marks, NextGov (07/06/2011). ...fewer than two-dozen questions asked during the 75-minute town hall included one question by [the Speaker of the House] and [one from a] New York Times columnist. ...White House staff posted several Tweets to summarize a single answer, sometimes leading to strange non sequiturs...
- The 'Twitter Town Hall' that so really wasn't, by Megan Crepeau, Chicago Tribune (July 7, 2011) Obama's event wasn't really Twitter, and what's more, it wasn't really a town hall.