Dept. of Labor Web Archiving Project
Starting on January 5, 2009, the Department of Labor (DOL) archived all DOL agency Web sites as they existed at that time.
- DOL Web Site Archive
- Labor Department launches digital snapshot project, By Wyatt Kash, Government Computer News, Jan 15, 2009.
Call to Action: Document Good Ideas at Change.gov
Throughout his "75 Days to Government Information Liberation", John Shuler has been exhorting documents librarians to look for ways to inject themselves into the transition-fueled interest in civics and citizen participation. I think one opportunity is upon us and I call on you to join me. Change.gov has established a Citizen's Briefing Book to give President Obama ideas from America at large. This site allows you to submit ideas, vote on others ideas and make comments. What I think we could be doing in a non-partisan way is to provide comments on ideas that point out studies and reports (especially govdocs!) that either support or detract from the proposed idea. For example, one idea is titled School Libraries need Librarians which requests federal funding for school libraries. I did a quick search in ERIC at http://www.eric.ed.gov and found two studies that appear to show the presence of school librarians is associated with academic achievement. I then posted a comment linking to the two studies and mentioning ERIC. So here is your mission, should you decide to accept it:
- Decide a subject that is important to you and that you have subject expertise in.
- Visit http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov and use the search box to find an idea in your area of passion.
- Vote the idea up or down and leave a short comment pointing to at least one resource that supports your vote.
- Tell at least one other librarian friend what you have done.
FOIA and other documents in the Government Attic
governmentattic.org describes itself this way:
governmentattic.org provides electronic copies of hundreds of interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Fascinating historical documents, reports on items in the news, oddities and fun stuff and government bloopers, they're all here. Think of browsing this site as rummaging through the Government's Attic -- hence our name.Bruce Schneier says of one document that has recently show up at governmentattic, "Just declassified by the NSA, this document -- A History of U.S. Communications Security (Volumes I and II); the David G. Boak Lectures, National Security Agency (NSA), 1973 -- is definitely worth reading. The first sections are highly redacted, but the remainder is fascinating." Continue reading
Children’s Health Care Bill Expanded
Yesterday, the House voted on the expansion of the Children’s Health Care Bill with the support of Barack Obama. This bill will increase the coverage of insurance to 4 million uninsured children. It is expected that Obama will sign it within a few days after taking office and then, the Senate might act on it soon. According to the news article, the bill has a provision that would permit states to reinstate the health insurance benefits of legal immigrants. At present, legal immigrants have a five-year waiting period (after their initial entry into the U.S.) before they can take advantage of Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Continue reading
Wiretapping Program – Soon to be Legalized by Intelligence Court
Today, New York Times reported that the Wiretapping Program will be legalized by a federal intelligence court. It will authorize both the president and Congress to monitor overseas phone calls and e-mail messages without a court order, although this may include Americans’ personal communications. The report states that “in validating the government’s wide authority to collect foreign intelligence, it may offer legal credence to the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that the president has constitutional authority to act without specific court approval in ordering national security eavesdropping.” Continue reading