Happy birthday US Census!

Happy birthday [w:United State Census]! It was on this day in 1790(!) that the counting of the first US census was begun. Title 13 of the US Code defines the census and the collection and publication of the census and other statistics required to make the federal govt run. So happy birthday census! You don't look a day over 200 :-)

The first enumeration began on Monday, August 2,1790, little more than a year after the inauguration of President Washington and shortly before the second session of the first Congress ended. The Congress assigned responsibility for the 1790 census to the marshals of the U.S. judicial districts under an act that, with minor modifications and extensions, governed census-taking through 1840. The law required that every household be visited and that completed census schedules be posted in ‘‘two of the most public places within [each jurisdiction], there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...’’ and that‘ ‘the aggregate amount of each description of persons’’ for every district be transmitted to the President. The six inquiries in 1790 called for the name of the head of the family and the number of persons in each household of the following descriptions: Free White males of 16 years and upward (to assess the country’s industrial and military potential), free White males under 16 years, free White females, all other free persons (by sex and color), and slaves.
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July 2010 Lost Docs Report and Appeal

Note: There was no report for June 2010 owing to scheduling difficulties. Reports sent to us in late May through July were posted in July. REPORT In July 2010, we posted 32 "lost docs" e-mail receipts sent by GPO to the librarians who reported these missing documents. These civic minded librarians in turn e-mailed us their receipts. Of the 32 reported items that were posted to the blog in July, two items have been cataloged by GPO since the initial report. You can view this list by visiting lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/category/found/ and looking at the postings with July 2010 dates. We are appreciative of these new records. This month we reluctantly concluded that two of the items reported to GPO and posted to the blog in July were already in the Catalog of Government Publications. You can view these items by visiting lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/category/false/ and looking for items with July 2010 dates. We say "reluctantly concluded" because of two factors. First, the people who made these particular reports have a reputation for checking the catalog before submitting their reports. Second, both of these reports were for electronic documents and it appears from the 005 Marc fields that the records were worked on after the date of the fugitive document report. This almost sounds like URLs were added to a preexisting record. Were this the case, then we'd class these two e-docs as "found" rather than "false positive". But since the most recently published GPO cataloging policy we're aware of says they create new records for every format, we can't say for certain that adding a URL to an existing print record is what happened. If you have a good explanation for these records or are aware of a change in GPO cataloging policy, please let us know. 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.
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Oil Spill Docs Past & Present Posted to LostDocs Blog

A number of documents reported to GPO in May/Jun/July and posted by us to the Lost Documents Blog in July 2010 were related to oil spills. Mostly to the current spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but some reported documents went as far back as 2002. For a full list of what we know about, visit http://lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/tag/oil-spills/. This is being posted without judgment as to why these documents have not been cataloged yet. We are not asserting ill will or a coverup on part of any part of the government just because these documents have not made it into the Catalog of Government Publications. Having said that, we at Free Government Information urge GPO to catalog these documents as soon as possible so they'll be easier to find in literature searches about oil spills and government response. For those looking for it, the full July 2010 Lost Documents Report and Appeal will be published later today. Continue reading

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FDsys enhanced functionality and collections update

FYI the Government Printing Office (GPO) has announced a scheduled maintenance and update of their Federal Digital System (FDsys). New collections and functionalities will be added. Please be aware that there may be some intermittent downtime over the next day or two.

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) will be performing scheduled maintenance on FDsys . During this time, new collections will be added and enhanced functionality will be introduced. * Start Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 05:00 p.m. EDT * End Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010 12:00 Noon EDT During the scheduled maintenance, FDsys may experience brief intermittent downtime. The new collections are being added are: * Independent Counsel Investigations * House Journal * Privacy Act Issuances * Unified Agenda * Education Reports from ERIC As part of ongoing efforts to enhance FDsys, the ability to only display the most recent edition of a publication as well as one-click access to view all editions from simple search results is being introduced for selected applications. The affected applications are: * United States Government Manual * Congressional Directory * Privacy Act Issuances * United States Code (U.S. Code) * House Rules and Manual * Senate Manual * Economic Indicators * Economic Report of the President * Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) The new functionality being introduced requires reprocessing of selected U.S. Code and CFR data, which is expected to be completed within 2 days of launch. Select U.S. Code and CFR data may be inaccessible during the reprocessing period. Thank you for your cooperation during this time.
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End of Senate Secret Holds Moves Closer

Reid moves closer to ending secret holds in Senate, By Michael O'Brien, The Hill (07/28/10)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added a bill to eliminate the practice of secret holds on nominees to the Senate calendar on Wednesday.... Adding the legislation to the calendar has the effect of moving the legislation closer to the point where Reid could bring it up for a vote. If Reid does bring it up, it appears that he may have the votes to do away with the practice after Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) lobbied Senate colleagues to end it. Sixty-seven votes are needed to change Senate rules, and McCaskill, as of late June, had said she'd gathered 68.
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