Disappeared: Google’s U.S. Government Search Sites and Other Special Search Interfaces Gone
Greetings. On our INFOdocket site we've posted about what appears to be either a glitch (that has gone one since at least last Thursday), the elimination of, or something else because Google's Uncle Sam and USgov.Google.com government search tool now takes users to the Google homepage. You can find the post here. Two final points: 1. We have sent an email to Google a few hours ago asking for a comment. If/when we do hear back from them I'll update this post. 2. In our INFOdocket post we point out that Google is free to do as they see fit just as users are free to go elsewhere or come up with new search tactics. However, we would hope that Google would at least let users know before or as they make changes to their web search products and services. Continue reading
May 2011 Lost Docs Report and Appeal
REPORT In May 2011, we received and posted 60 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 March and May 2011. This month of the 60 reported documents posted by us, 8 (13%) 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 May 2011 dates. We are appreciative of these new records. From May, 50 items remain listed as "fugitive documents." Two documents reported to GPO appeared to already have public CGP records and we classed them as "false positives." However, neither of these online documents have been assigned a PURL as of the date of this report, so we classed them also as "preservation needed." 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.
State Agency Databases Activity Report: June 5, 2011
Since last week, project volunteers have been busy at the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project on the GODORT wiki: Florida Volunteer Rich Gause updated many links on one of the most comprehensive project pages. Kansas Volunteer Bill Sowers updated a number of legislative database links. North Dakota Volunteer Kathryn Thomas updated links on the North Dakota page and added a number of new databases, including: Company Profiles - A database of "new wealth creators" like manufacturers, food processors and various information technology businesses. New wealth creators are businesses that bring new money into the state by selling a significant portion of their products outside the state. Search by city, company name, NAICS, or product. Search Available Property - Cities and Counties with currently available properties for sale or lease. Virginia Volunteer Nathan Verilla updated page links and added two databases: Burned Jurisdiction Database - This database contains a growing collection of records originally recorded in courts or jurisdictions that subsequently suffered record losses. These records are from higher or appeal courts, most of which do not presently exist. Among the jurisdictions included in this database are the General Court, the [Supreme] Court of Appeals, the High Court of Chancery, the various Superior Courts of Chancery, and the various District Courts. These records were found while processing chancery causes and other locality materials. The database contains records from collections housed and processed at the Library of Virginia as well as those processed in localities. Virginia Military Dead Database - The primary purpose of the Virginia Military Dead Database is to honor those Virginians that have given their lives in defense of freedom. It pulls together information from a wide variety of sources and makes that information more accessible. For more information consult the Introduction to the Virginia Military Dead Database and the Source Guides. Washington Volunteer Marilyn Von Seggern updated links on the Washington page and added new resources including the Environmental Information Management system. In addition to the activity above, project coordinator Daniel Cornwall undertook the following actions: - Established a draft guide for volunteers - Created a volunteers mail discussion list as part of an effort to bolster communication and community among project volunteers. - Did some fixes to the Wyoming page as a result of user e-mail - Continued to contact project volunteers who had not updated their pages since January 1, 2011. Continue reading
Video: What maps can tell us
While not specifically about government maps, this five minute video from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is a nice overview of the different uses of maps and why old maps remain important. It also makes a decent case for why at least some maps ought to continue in a physical format. Continue reading
Privacy in the value chain: an important role for libraries past and future
The new report Surveying the Digital Future from the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School, says that internet users are increasingly concerned about their privacy:
The annual study of the impact of the Internet on Americans conducted by the Center for the Digital Future found that almost half of Internet users age 16 and older -- 48 percent -- are worried about companies checking their actions on the Internet. -- press release and highlightsUsers are more concerned about corporations than governments:
By comparison, the new question for the Digital Future Study found that only 38 percent of Internet users age 16 and older are concerned about the government checking what they do online.It is not clear from the press release that respondents were asked about any specific activities or behaviors of governments or if they were asked about any specific laws such as the "PATRIOT" Act. Providing users with privacy and confidentiality when they read is one of the key, long-term values of libraries. As we look to our future, we should invest in our ability to continue to do that by hosting digital content and providing users a way to securely and privately browse and read digital content. See also: Privacy: "I have nothing to hide" Disintermediation Continue reading