Welcome Jeanne Kramer-Smyth to the BOTM podium
Happy July everyone! This month we've got Jeanne Kramer-Smyth with us. Among other things, Jeanne is a blogger at Spellbound Blog, a really interesting blog about the intersection of archives, digital humanities, cultural heritage institutions and technology -- here's her full biography. Take it away Jeanne! We also want to thank Molly and Lori from the Internet Archive for being our guests for the month of June. They turned us on to a bunch of cool Archive-it digital collections hosted at the archive. We really hope they'll continue to keep us posted on the Archive's happenings. Thanks again Molly and Lori!! Continue reading
Jeanne Kramer-Smyth: BOTM for July, 2009
Jeanne Kramer-Smyth is the author of Spellbound Blog. A recent graduate of the University of Maryland's iSchool Archives, Records and Information Management program, Jeanne comes to the field of Archival Science with over 18 years of experience designing relational databases, creating custom database software and participating in web based software development. She has brought her great interest in information visualization, structured data and helping individuals find what they are looking for to her studies, personal research and writing. She is interested in the ways that access to government information can be improved -- especially ways that free structured government data can be reused, analyzed and visualized. Jeanne currently holds a position as a Metadata Analyst and SEO Coordinator within the Interactive Technology division of Discovery Corporation. She divides her time between doing search engine optimization (SEO) for Discovery's network websites and working on taxonomies and controlled vocabularies. Continue reading
North Carolina State Archives and State Library of North Carolina’s Web
The North Carolina State Archives and the State Library of North Carolina teamed up in 2005 to create Archive-It collections that collect, preserve, and utilize the state's historic and evidential resources so that present and future residents may better understand their history. This contributes to their overall goal to safeguard the documentary and material evidence of past generations for the education of all citizens and the protection of their democratic rights. You can find the North Carolina State Archives’ portal to their Archive-it collections here. The North Carolina State Archives and State Library specifically used Archive-It during the 2005 Archive-It pilot period to capture former Governor James Hunt’s website which they had been unable to obtain from other sources, and the site came down from the web shortly after they captured it. The Archives reports that it has gotten many requests for information from Governor Hunt’s website and being able to point folks to the website archives collection has elicited very positive feedback. They also captured then Governor Mike Easley’s August 2003 video message to President Bush regarding the closing of textile mills in North Carolina (these mills were very important to NC’s economy). The video is no longer available online due to a change in administration, so having it archived will ensure continued access. The Archives and State Library are now working to capture their current governor’s Facebook and Twitter accounts as a way to document elected officials use of technology to reach large communities with their message. -Lori Continue reading
More Gov Info Presentations @ ALA Annual
If you are going to the ALA Annual 2009 Conference in Chicago next week, please come to the "ALA Unconference" where I will be leading a broad discussion on Friday, July 10th from 11:10-12:00 on the library's role in current & emerging trends of civic engagement, transparency, preservation and access to Government information. The supporting materials and presentation will be linked in the Unconference wiki. Also, please come to the LITA BIGWIG Social Software Showcase to discuss and learn about Government Information Mashups! I will be presenting on this topic and would love to have you help out and/or join in on the conversation! The presentation will be posted on their website but the face to face portion of the BIGWIG Showcase presentations will take place Monday, July 13th from 10:30am - 12:30pm in the McCormick Convention Center West, Room W-184. Continue reading
Librarian Guide to Honduras
By now, most FGI readers should know about the coup in Honduras. You may not know that the ALA GODORT Handout Exchange has some resources to help people learn more about Honduras:
- Honduras Country Guide from the University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library
- State Department microfilm documents on Latin America from the University of California at Berkeley.