National Academies Reports (1863 to 1997) Now Available in Open Access
The National Academies (The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council) have a long history of advising the government. Now, they have announced "the completion of the first phase of a partnership with Google to digitize the library's collection of reports from 1863 to 1997, making them available – free, searchable, and in full text – through Google Book Search. The Academies plan to have their entire collection of nearly 11,000 reports digitized by 2011."
- More Than 9,000 National Academies Reports Now Available in Open Access, press release, April 10, 2009.
Lunchtime listen: Free Culture Conference @ Berkeley
This is actually about a month of lunchtime listens / views! Last fall, there was a Free Culture Conference held at UC Berkeley. Now the entire slate of panelists can be seen on blip.tv. Speakers included a who's who of internet law and free culture activists -- Laurence Lessig, Pam Samuelson (who just wrote a paper on excessive copyright infringement awards!), our buddy Josh Trauberer of GovTrack.us, EFF's Jason Schultz and many more!
FDA 1906-1963 Documents Digitized
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the availability of the FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1906-1963.
The FDA Notices of Judgment Collection is a digital archive of the published notices judgment for products seized under authority of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. The NJs are resources in themselves but also lead users to the over 2,000 linear foot collection of evidence files used to prosecute each case. The evidence files are a rich documentary resource filled with legal correspondence, lab reports and data, photographs, and product labeling and containers. This digital library, created using the SPER system, allows for browsing the collection as well as searching the collection's metadata and full-text. Currently only the Drugs and Devices portion of the collection is available in the digital library. As we complete work on other portions those will be released on an ongoing basis. Users are welcome to visit NLM to use the hard copies at any time.The collection uses DSpace and provides technical information about the project: System For Preservation of Electronic Resources (SPER). Continue reading
Dept. of State Office of the Historian
There is a nice overview of the "new, sleeker, and more interactive" web site of the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, on the blog of the American Historical Association: Office of the Historian’s New Web Site, By Elisabeth Grant, AHA Today, April 06, 2009. Note, particularly, that the series Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) is being transferred to this site. Continue reading
EBRI Databook on Employee Benefits
Sometimes, the best source of government statistics may be published by someone other than the government. A case in point:
- EBRI Databook on Employee Benefits, Employee Benefit Research Institute, (EBRI) [Updated March 2009].